Bouquets with a difference

Isn't this just the coolest thing you've ever seen in your LIFE!

They are made by a Princess Lasertron and it is how she makes her living. I want to be her!

Check out her amazingly creative blog here.

Day 348: Pixie Play

Isn't this just the coolest hut you've ever seen? I found it in a little connecting garden in Bath near the newly renovated Holborne Museum.

It's amazing what you can make from a few reeds and some patterned material. Who do you think made it and what for? I sat in it for a while and you can see through the material. I felt like some kind of pixie or something...

What could you make today?

Day 329: Sewing, here we come...

On Saturday, I put up a picture of my unopened presents, which is pretty and all, but it's a bit mean if I don't share what's actually under the wrapping paper. There were a few creative gems in there, one being the massive one at the back (scroll down to take a look). My lovely Mum, Step Dad Mark and grandparents gave me a sewing machine!

I am so excited. My creative enthusiasm hasn't been let loose on one of those since I made a Mickey Mouse Apron in Year 8 (which was awesome, of course.) I can use the Meet me at Mikes Book (see Day ...) I got for Christmas to sew toys, coasters, skirts...pretty much anything really. What would you make?

I have banned myself from even getting it out of the box until after Uni. Final slog now. Knitting is destracting enough without a new creative toy to play with.

If you know any good sewing websites/blogs, leave a comment below. Best to help each other out with all this creative stuff, right?

Day 318: Working with Windmills

Here is a story all about a windmill. This windmill:

But this story starts partway through, as I, the story-teller can only retell the second chapter of it's life. It was found, broken and discarded outside a house. Its sails had fallen off, its paint chipped and old. The windmill had been forgotten, in a state of disrepair, or was it?

The lady who found it decided it wasn't the end for this windmill and took it home. With a bit of glue and a few coats of paint, the battered windmill was restored to it's former glory and sits in a sunny garden for all to admire.

And now it's found its way onto a creative blog! What a wonderful example of using forgotten things to make beautiful creations. You know what they say, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. So keep your eyes pealed. You never know what could be waiting for you to restore. It's a great way to get creative and use your talents...

What will you create?

As for the first chapter of this windmills story, well, I'll leave that up to your creative imagination to discover...

Day 241: Preparation alert!

Yesterday I had a meeting with two Graphics students, Fleur and Rhea who are designing the anthology for my writing competition and I found out there's LOADS of stuff I don't know about how you make an anthology! Do you know someone has to type up the copyright page and the contents page and the acknowledgement page...seems obvious, right, but I just didn't think about it.

Being creative is sometimes not that creative, you know what I mean? If you're an painter, you can't just paint all the time. You gotta make up your canvas' and blend the paints. If you're a book maker, you can't just make it. You gotta get all the measurements and materials ready...

BUT, at the same time, all of that stuff is exciting. It's kinda like running a race. If you don't do any training, you're be rubbish in the race. It's the same for my anthology. If I don't make sure all the text is the same throughout all the entries that are given in, the book is gonna look pretty shoddy, let's be honest.

So, all this prep stuff needs to be done and it's part of being creative. The exciting news is, Rhea (the cover designer) is going to make a super cool illustration for the prize winner. This project gets bigger and better and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. (But I will wait, of course. Prep and all that!)

How's your creative work going? Do you need to step it up, do that bit of prep that's in the way of starting? Believe me, in the end it'll be worth it.

Keep up the creative work folks!

Day 83: Calling all makers...

If you are into creating out of ceramics, textiles, wood, synthetics, metal or even recycled materials then I have found the exhibition for you.


Salisbury Arts Centre is calling all artists/makers over the age of 16 to submit their creations by Friday 1st October. Then ALL entries will be exhibited together in November and December. You are even in with a chance of winning £200!


So, what do you make? Don't think it's not good enough. Do you think Michelangelo thought he was good enough to paint the Sistine Chapel? You have to be in it to win it. Leona Lewis would not be doing what she loves if she hadn't started somewhere. Maybe this is your somewhere! Who knows where it will lead...? (Check out Day 69 to see how it worked for me.)

To find out more about it, check out the website and download the submission form.

Start small...think big!

Day 72: Scrabble

Initially, this game does not appear all that inspiring, especially creativity. But, let's just look back over this blog for a sec. Nature, charity shops, rubbish...all of these things on the surface don't appear that creative, but I've managed to produce a creative slant on them all, so here goes...

Yesterday, I was playing Scrabble. When the box came out I thought, 'man, I really don't want to play this. I'm too tired (from all the food and the lack of sleep) and I just can't be bothered.' Somehow I managed to win (yay), but this isn't about me winning. This is about Scrabble!

You know when you play Scrabble, you get those reeeeeally long breaks were another player is desperately trying to find somewhere to put their 'Q' or whatever? Well, there were a lot of them in my game, so naturally my mind wondered into the potential creative qualities of Scrabble.

So, here's the challenge for today; get hold of a Scrabble game and take out 7 letters (no peeking).

Now, that's what you got. What are you going to do with it? Do they spell anything of interest? How does it inspire you? The challenge is, to do something with it.

Use the words, use the letters, use the tiles. Be as imaginative as you like, but whatever you do, be creative.

Got no scrabble tiles? Well, here's some I prepared earlier...

A N D U E M S

Write, sing, dance, draw, paint, make, bake, sew, film...Create.

Day 24: Collaboration!

Today I want a talk about team-work-creativity. Yes, that's right, working together to produce a super inspiring creative masterpiece!

Who do you know? Dancers, musicians, painters, writers, actors, sculptors, photographers, animators, makers, breakers....Creativity attracts creativity, so get it together guys and gals. See what will happen if you combine your creative talents and passions.

This idea was given to me yesterday (of course) where there was lots of websites I could sign up to and collaborate with other artists. You know what I thought? 'What a FANTASTIC idea,' that's what!

Want some examples? Check out INFRA, a collaboration piece between contemporary dance choreographer, Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie.

or

Take a peek at this collaboration animation by David Ellis and BLU.

So, why don't you mix it up a bit. Dancers, get in contact with musicians. Artists, talk to some animators etc etc.

It's like my dad always says, 'two heads are better than one.' (I'm sure someone else said it first, but I'm going to give him the credit today!)