SO vintage!

It seems Vintage is the thing, the way forward (kind of) at the moment. Everyone is knitting vintage, baking vintage, selling vintage and people love it, don't they? I mean, I do!

I am dying to knit a jumper now that I've finished all the knitted hearts (4 days to go until the big day - crazy!) So, of course, I started browsing the net for yummy designs. That's when I stumbled upon Stone Hill Collections. If you want vintage you need this site.

You name it, they got it: buttons, knitting patterns, lace, jewellery...everything from bits to bobs!

And...I found my jumper pattern there too. Do you like? So the colours are a little 'off', but that's the joy of knitting, right? Knitting patterns, your way. Ask me in a year and I might be able to show you the finished article.

For now I'm working on my not-so-vintage scarf, but more on that as it progresses...

Get creative. Get vintage!

Bertie and Jack in Bath

As promised, here are some pictures of Bertie and Jack's stall in Bath, England. It looks like something you'd find in Europe rather than rainy England! If their work is not worthy of a Creative Thinkers entry, I don't know what is.

All their pictures are one-offs. If you hang these babies on the wall, you'll be the only one that has one exactly like that. Truly unique. And now I work for them!

Check them out on Facebook: Bertie and Jack.

Day 295: The art of looking

Check out this photo which I stole (with permission) from a friend on facebook.

I think it's brilliant. What can you see? What do you think it is? What does it remind you of? How do the colours make you feel?

I know it might seem like I'm just practising my counselling skills on you, but I'm trying to prompting you to look, observe, watch. I always find looking an inspiring experience. Not in a hippy way, but in a creative way.

Try thinking about this image in terms of your own creative work. Can you make any connection? Why? Why not? Does it spark any ideas?

If it's still not really doing anything for you, try making a list of all the things it reminds you of.

Here's a few to start you off:
Steam rising from a cow's back in the morning sunlight.
New York Night Traffic
Fireflies buzzing

So, how ever you choose to do it, spend some time looking today and see where it takes your creative thoughts...

Day 285: Pink and Red makes...

...well, I guess it makes whatever your creative minds choose!

What would you do with pink and red? Would you mix them? Add them to cake mix? Wear them together? Paint with them? Combine them? Alternate them?

...I could go on.

These are some of the creations Google came up with:

Flower arranging, feet decorating, designer furnishings and, of course, a bit of Andy Warhol.

Let your imaginations go with Pink and Red. Where could they take you today...?

Day 247: Never judge a Julia Green by its cover

So, I want to share a lesson I have learnt this week. It's one we've all been told about a millions times, but I just never listen. I'm going to put it down to the fact that I'm a visual person!

I have just finished Julia Green's Breathing Underwater. My friend, Celia gave it to me and told me to read it, but I've had it for ages. It's been sitting in my room getting dusty and I'm pretty sure it's because I don't like the cover. I don't like the colours, or the image. I think it looks kinda dull and I know full well that if I picked it up in a shop I would not buy it based on that alone.

BUT, it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. Julia Green has a real knack of making the reader care for the characters. As I read I wanted to share Freya's story and see what happened, what she found out, how she changed. For me, that's what makes a good story. Freya has a really believable voice and she felt real to me. Her little tale will stay with me for a good while longer. That's what you want as a writer, I guess.

Have you ever read a book where you think about the characters long after finishing? Do you judge books by their covers? The book that's sitting in the corner with an unappealing cover, give it a go...you never know what will inspire you next!

Day 217: Wooly Winters

Good News Folks! I found out from BBC this morning that wool is on the up. More people are buying knitted stuff. More people are knitting. Which means, British wool is making money for our country, yay!

You wanna know why I'm banging on about this, don't you?

Well, the truth is guys, knitting is cool! Creating your own bags, clothes, toys...is the way forward.

So get out there and start creating. There's never been a better time to support our country's economy. Plus, it's real good for the environment too. Hardly any fossil fuels needs to be used to produce yarn and British wool is being sold all over the world.

If you need an excuse to get creative with wool, here it is. No more excuses people. It's time to be inspired by sheep!

Day 212: Make your own thank you cards

There's always people you get pressies from at Christmas who you don't see to say, thank you too. So you need some cards, right? Well, try these ones out.

I spent a few hours making them yesterday and, as they're creative, I thought I'd tell you about them. It's super easy to make them, so get involved if you want to save some cash and make your own funky thank you cards.

All I did was get some old magazines and cut out patterns, colours and textures I liked. Then I cut each bit into a letter and stuck them on the card! Easy.

Here's some tips;

• Chose your card colour before you start cutting. I did mine on black, but had loads of black/dark patterns which I couldn't use. Equally, if you do it with white, you don't want anything too light.
• Work out roughly how big you want each letter, so they fit on your card.
• You could use different magazines for different people. If you're doing one for a boy, maybe use a boys' mag. If you're doing one for a kid, use a kids' mag...it's up to your creative slant, of course!

So, have a go at creating your own cards this year. They make pretty good birthday cards too...

Day 203: Decopatch

Do you like my hearts? Well, actually, mine is the middle one and the other two were decorated by my sisters. Amongst Boxing day's festivities, we took time out to do some Decopatch.

What the heck's Decopatch, I hear you ask? Well, basically, it is covering stuff in little patches of tissue paper to jazz them up. Find out more on their website.

It's proper easy, so if there's a scuzzy old ornament you need to sparkle up, why not try to Decopatch it? You can do it on anything; lampshades, boxes, bowls, chairs...

Chose your colours, patterns, shapes, sizes...see how creative YOU can be...

Day 194: The Little Mermaid

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself. What do you do when you need a rest, a boost of energy before something big's gonna happen?

I tend to revert back to my childhood; I watch The Little Mermaid.

Yep, it's my favourite Disney film and always will be. I pretty much know all the words and I'm not ashamed to admit it. So, the other day, I climbed into bed with some chocolate and my knitting and watched The Little Mermaid, singing along to the songs and laughing at Sebastian and Scuttle. Good times.

It's a wonderfully creative animation. I love the story, the colours, the music, the characters, the songs...Everything about it is gorgeous. And, I get to be creative in my own way by knitting while I watch. (I know it so well, I don't really need to look at the screen anymore. In fact, if I just sat here right now I could probably play the whole thing out in my head, songs and all. Who needs technology, eh!)

So, for your delight, here's a clip. It's my favourite bit (along with the rest of the film!) Sing along...

Day 193: Holidays are comin'

So today is the last day of my term and I have to say, I have never looked forward to going home as much as I do now. Christmas is a time for rest, eating, family...

...but what about creating? Do you guys have any creative plans for this festive season?

Let's decide together to put our hands/ears/eyes/mouths to something creative over the next 3(ish) weeks, people!

I am going to do some knitting, maybe even on Christmas day!
I'm going to read lots of good books...and maybe some writing too(?)
I'm going to do some colouring with my littlest sister, Olivia.
I'm going to do some baking...maybe decorate a gingerbread house in sweets and icing (yummmmm)!

What will  you do this holiday season to keep your creative side full this Christmas. Have a think, make a list and check it twice...

Day 185: And it was all Yellow...

...Or was it?

Sometimes ideas can come out of the strangest places. Yesterday at work I misunderstood a girl called Laura who said, 'someone's stolen the yellow.' (What she actually meant was someone had taken the cleaning product we simply call, yellow spray!)

Can you imagine if someone stole the colour yellow?

What an amazing idea for a story! (As you can imagine, I had a field day with this one. Laura was properly bored by the idea by the time I'd finished with it!) What would happen to all the things that are yellow, like flowers, kid's playground, road markings, my t-shirt?

What about the sun? Would it go white...would it go black? Darkness rules the land!

Well, the truth is, anything could happen and as the writer/creator of that story, YOU choose!

Oh, the power...

What would you do with this idea? It could be used in loads of different areas of creativity. That's the great thing about it!

So, have a little think about yellow today (or the lack of it) and see what crazy ideas you come up with...

Day 182: Be Disney's designer!

Take a look at these logos. The chances are, you will know what company most of them belong too, we see them so much. That's the power of advertising.

But what do these symbols really mean? Why did they chose those colours, patterns, arrangements?

The cool thing is, it's someones job to design them and they get to see their work all over the world. When I was 14, I entered a competition to design a logo for a local bowls club and I won (yay). It was really fun and as far as I know, they're still using it.

Big companies like the ones above are always looking for ways to re-style their brands to keep it fresh and new...My challenge for you today is to design you own logo. It could be for your own future company or for an existing one you think needs to get with the times.

You your creative fingers going and design your way to the top!

Day 180: Blue

Today I want you guys to think about the colour blue.

Ask 5 people what the blue means to them. Then, do something create with that information. Art, Dance, Music, Drama, Writing, Animation...

I can be your first person: For me blue reminds me of my dad. It's always been his favourite colour and his clothes are never anything other than blue. He literally won't be seen without it.

Now it's up to you to do with that info what you want, as long as it's creative. Find four others and see where it takes you. Let me know what you come up with...

Whatever you do, start it with blue.

Day 174: Bridget Riley

For those of you that haven't heard of Bridget Riley, she's a British contemporary artist who is interested in how we look at colour and what our eye does to see it...

Her work was extremely influential on my art last year, so I really excited when I found slideshow. It's about her work and a new exhibition open at The National Gallery in London from now until May 2011. If you get a chance, go see it. I really want to go!

Be inspired by Riley's use of colour.

What could you do with colour in your creative works...?

Day 169: World Beach project

Do you fancy yourself as a installation artist?

Want like working with natural materials like stone?

Do you want to get involved in bigger things?

Well, if there's a yes in there, I've found the perfect project for you!

It's called, The world beach project. I found out about it on the V&A website (an museum in London). The project is open to anyone, any age, anywhere in the world! Basically, it wants everyone to get involved in making art with stones from the beach, just like this one:

Find out more about the project and see what has already been done.

So get creating and get involved!

Day 138: Creative parties and pictures

So, the other day I went round my friends house for, I guess you could call it a party. It wasn't your traditional student party with booze and loud music. Oh no, it was far more safisticated than that.

We spent the evening watching Disney movies and colouring in! It was great! It took me right back to being a kid again. I used to spend hours colouring and drawing. It would seem that not much has changed.

We watched Matilda, which is an incredibly creative story (hats off to you Mr Dahl) and made those swirlly pattern pictures. You know the ones where you take your pencil for a walk on the page and then colour in the sections? Well anyway, it was heeps of fun and I really enjoyed being creative with my friends who I wouldn't normally be creative with.

I also feel like I put my own mark on the old favourite. Instead of colouring each section in one colour, I added paterns too. I feel like I have advanced from my five year old self, even if just a little bit! Here are my much loved pattern pictures:

Psychodelic huh!

Move the page up and down with your curser and see them mooove!

My hope is that this will inspire you to have a party with a difference. Invite your friends round for a DVD and a colour. Boys, maybe you could watch and draw zombies instead of princesses, but whatever takes your fancy...

Give it a go. Creativity is all about having fun!

Day 134: Rainbows

Today has been grotty. One of those days where it feels like it’s about five in the evening constantly, the clouds are so dark and foreboding. Yuk, is all I can say. Rain has been falling on and off all day and don’t my socks know about it!

So, naturally, I chose to get the bus home from town, rather than risk another down pour. You know when you have one of those busy days where you haven’t stopped and everything seems a bit gloomy? There really is nothing that could perk you up. Well, that’s my day.

Anyway, as the bus tootled on down Upper Bristol Road through puddles and drops of rain, I saw a group of lads all looking up at the sky behind me, but I didn’t think much of it. Then we drove past a mum with a toddler in a pushchair. She too was pointing up at the sky behind me and her cute little kid in a bobble hat had a massive smile on her face.

At this point I was thinking, what the heck is going on behind me, so I turned. There in the sky was the brightest rainbow I’d ever seen. As it went up, it disappeared behind a dark cloud, out of sight, like it was just peeping to say hello.

Aren’t rainbows amazing? They completely lift a dark day. But I was thinking...if the day had not been so rubbish, would it make people as happy?

I think the thing about rainbows is their timing. When it’s dark and rainy, a quick burst of sunshine will bring out a rainbow and brighten everyone’s mood. Good old nature inspiring us all once again.

Timing. How do you use it in your creative work? Something to think about, maybe...?

Day 133: On cloud 9...

Check out my word cloud! It's the first chapter of my new story, The Secret in a jumble. What a great way to see what words you've used most often. Apparently, 'get' is my most commonly used word. How not exciting! I still think it looks pretty cool though.

For some reason it's not very big on my blog, but click here to see it in all it's glory.

Have a go at making your own cloud on Wordle. You could use you own writing or maybe a chapter from your favourite book. Use something online you find interesting like a article and see what words they use. I had loads of fun choosing the colours, font, word formation....you can make it your own.

See what words are in your cloud...

Day 104: IKEA Rugs

At the moment I am staying with my mum for a few days, just before term kicks off again. Because it's just been summer, Mum's got a 'summer rug' in the lounge which is brightly coloured and reminds me of one of those pots you make when you go on holiday, the ones you fill with different coloured sand. In winter Mum has a 'winter rug' which is deep reds and looks like something (nice) from the Victorian era.

So, I found myself thinking about rugs as I sat in the lounge, next to the rug and flicking through an old IKEA magazine. IKEA sell millions of rugs with stripes, spots, ruffles, fluffy bits, leather bits....

My question for you today is just a simple one, if you were to design a rug, what would it look like...?

Just to give you a few ideas, have a look at IKEA. I've found 1933 matches in the search for 'rugs.'

Day 40: The new look

Hey guys and gals, I hope you like the new look for my blog. As much as I liked the old one it went a bit scwibbily (I am aware this is not a real word), which just isn't good enough for you all!

So, after much fiddling and tweaking, this is what I have come up with. Do you like the orange? I think it's pretty creative overall. Colours are important to me and I think they are overlooked in many ways...

Anyway, I am short of time today, but creativity is never subject to time! Have a look around my blog today. Do you like the new design? Why? Why not? What would you do differently?

Creativity is individual, but can touch many others. My little creative nugget for today is this; be true to yourself when creating. If you love what you make, it will show in the work and others will appreciate it more. I changed the title of my blog to creative thinkers, because that is what we are. Yay!

Alas, a creative person's work is never done, so I'm sure it will change come time...

...watch this space!