Day 82: Fun House!

This morning I got up (pretty early), made some breakfast, turned on the T.V. and guess what I found? Yep you guessed it, Fun House!

When I was little it used to be on every Friday, but I had swimming then (gutted!) so my mum used to video it (yep, none of this Sky Plus malarkey!) We used to get home from swimming and watch it whilst mum was preparing a yummy tea.

This morning I literally felt myself morphing into a small child and wanting more than anything to be covered in gunge, ride the go carts and, better yet, go in the fun house! The sound of that cockerel crowing when they got the best prize...yes!!! Brilliant, they just don't make gold like that anymore.

I know what you're thinking, are we just taking a trip down your memory lane? I assure you, as always, there is a creative layer to my reminiscent thinking.

Just in case you have had a deprived fun house life, here's a clip...



All the shows were filled with wacky and wonderful games like this one. So my challenge to you is to come up with your own crazy game! Be as creative as you can...

Together we will bring Fun House back! Woop!

I couldn't help it, here's a clip of the actual fun house! Thanks Pat.

Day 81: The mystery...

The other day I went to have a 'coffee' with my mum and sister (none of us actually had coffee, but that's just what people say!). After we'd finished having a natter (and a cake) natured called and I had to pop to the loo. As it always is at coffee shops, there was only one toilet, so I found myself waiting.

At this particular coffee shop, the toilets were in a separate corridor which had a fire escape in it. On this door in big red capital letters read the words:

DO NOT OPEN AFTER DUSK

Why, o, why would a fire escape have such words on it? What if there's a fire 'after dusk'? Who even uses the word 'dusk' anymore?

As you can imagine, my mind wondered into all kinds of explanations...perhaps it leads to a twilight zone, where many people have been lost forever...maybe it's the only entrance to the lair of the most vicious vampires ever to appear in recorded history...or, once night falls, opening the door would cause the world to turn upside down, reaping havoc all across the world...

What story could you make out of such a strange sign...let your imagination go!

Day 80: 'My name is Mina'

Today I finished this wonderful book (check out Day 75 for more details). There are soooo many inspirational things in there I want to share with you, but if I did, I might as well call this blog, 'David Almond's blog.' So, for today I will just share one nugget of creativity that it gave me. If I had my way everyone would read it!

Throughout the book, Mina, whose diary it is, gives the reader 'Exterordiary Activities' to do. You must understand that it was REALLY hard for me to chose only one to share with you today, as they were all bursting with creative potential. This, however, is the one I have chosen:

"EXTRAORDINARY ACTIVITY
Take a line for a walk.
Find out what you're drawing when you've drawn it.
Take some words for a walk.
Find out what you're writing when you've written it.
Tke yourself for a walk.
Find out where you're going when you get there.''

So, there you have it, the inspirational thought of the day. Do it, draw it, write it, walk it.

Where will you and your creativity go today...?

Day 79: Face Food

As you all know, I'm always looking for new and exciting creative ideas to fill your heads with. Today I'd like to inspire you with this:

Yep you got it, lunchboxes filled with shaped food! This art form is called caraben. Basically, it's sculpting food into stuff (other than food.) It's a Japanese creation and I think it's really exciting. Check out this blog for more inventive creations. It's an accompaniment to the book 'Facefood: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes'.

Are you into food? Are you into cooking, or maybe just eating? I definitely think this is worth a go whatever you're into. It certainly looks like a lot of fun so get creating!

PS, best not to try it at the dinner table. I don't think your mum or dad would appreciate their roast being turned into a sculpted butterfly!

Day 78: Any ideas...?

I've found another exciting competition that needs ideas from creative people like you!

Tetra Pak is a company that make cardboard packaging for things like orange juice. The great thing about them is they can be recycled so it's better for the planet. The difficult thing about them is getting people to chose them over other (cheaper) products!

So, they have teamed up with WWF (World Wide Fund for nature) to get you guys to send in ideas of how to get people buying environmentally friendly products. If they like your idea, they'll give you £1000 and spend £25,000 on making it happen! There are loads of other prizes to be woon too. Now that's an affective idea!

So it's time to put your creativity to the test. What ideas can you come up with? How can you change the way people chose things when they're walking down the aisle in Sainsburys? Why is your idea the best?

Check out the website to enter and vote on people's ideas.

My advise? See what ideas are there, gage the competition and blow them out of the water with your amazing idea! There's even a page to help inspire you with ideas.

What are you waiting for? Use your creativity to change the world!

Day 77: Waiting thoughts...

Since I was young I have had this constant thought which comes back into my head from time to time. It's all to do with the idea of waiting. The way I see it, we are always waiting for something. Waiting for a bus, for the end of term, for dinner, for a friend, for a T.V. program, for the end of a T.V. program...Even when we are asleep are we not just waiting to wake up?

I remember being about ten when I first mentioned my thoughts to my mum on a car journey. I casually dropped into the conversation how we're always waiting and she told me how pessimistic (well, she probably used the word negative) it all was. Since then I've kept my 'waiting' thoughts to myself.

Today these thoughts don't have to wait any longer. Here they are in my blog! But, is there a positive slant I could give my (apparently) negative thoughts?

What if everything waits? Each day this blog is waiting to be written and each day I come back and fill it up...Isn't a blank sheet of paper waiting to be written on, drawn on, painted on, made into something? Isn't a instrument waiting to be played? Isn't a stage waiting to be used?

I guess the bigger question is, what are you waiting for? What is in the way of you and your creative ideas? Perhaps there's too much waiting and not enough doing?

I encourage you not to see my waiting thoughts as negative, but something inspirational. What is waiting for YOU? Perhaps there really is no time like the present...

Day 76: Where in the world?

Look at this picture. Where is it? I don't know and that's the point. It can be wherever you want it to be. Make it up...

Who lives there? When was this picture taken? Who took it? Do they live there? Has it changed since then? What's it like there...?

I love using picture to tell stories and/or to get creative with. What could YOU do with this picture...?

Day 75: Me and my book(s)

Whenever I read a book that's really good, I get really excited about writing. I'll barely finish a page without having a new idea for a story I'm working on. I stop, quickly scribble it down and carry on reading.

Sometimes (if it's really good) it gives me ideas for old stories I've already 'finished' (a story is never really finished in my opinion, you just chose to stop writing/tweeking/editing it) I want to add an extra chapter, a whole new ending, another character...

Reading makes writing exciting!

Of course, it can have the opposite affect on me too. If I think a book's rubbish, I'll lose all passion for writing. Now the question is, should you see it through to the end, or just chuck it?

I'm a fan of writing in books. Some people are totaly against it, but it helps me remember where the good bits are. The book I'm reading at the moment is a hard back, so I've decided to only write in pencil. If it's a charity shop jobby, then pens fine (a little fact I thought you needed to know!). Do you write in books?

I'm reading My name is Mina at the moment by David Almond. Have you ever read Skellig? Well ,he wrote that too and I think they are both brilliant. He has inspired a lot of my writing with his subtle tone and moving characters. It looks like he's going to influence a lot more stories yet to be written. My name is Mina is FULL of creativity, imagination and wonder (I think these are the right words). This is not a book review, but I DO encourage you to read it if you can. It looks like this:

In September, I am going to a talk by David Almond (as part of the Bath Kid's Lit Fest) and I'm SOOO excited! In case you haven't guessed already, you can expect a quote or two from Mina in the coming weeks. After all, it is my inspirational blog, so I feel it only appropriate to include what inspires me to be creative too!

Watch this space...

p.s. check out this review if you're interested.

Day 74: Gutiar hero?

First off, I want to apologise you all you musicians out there who follow my blog. I realised today that I haven't given you much creative inspiration lately, so this one is for you.

Luckily for the rest of you, it involves this guy who has heeps of creativity to feed a lot of creative minds.

He's called The Mystery Guitar man and he is a video blogger. Follow this link to see his ten latest videos and loads more (I guess it depends how much time you have!). They are all musical and very creative. He must use complicated computer stuff 'cause they're all super clever! It may be, of course, that I am just rubbish with anything electric! What's really cool is he lets you see a bit about how he made his videos.

Ok, because I am so nice, I have put one of my favourite ones here for you. Think of it as a sneak peek:



Anyway, I really think you should give this fellow (more technically advanced) blogger a go.

Be inspired all who call themselves creative!

Day 73: Flowers

For the past couple of weeks I have been surrounded by wedding arrangements. No, not my own, my sister's. She gets married next year and is up to her eyeballs in dresses, table decorations, bouquets and goodness knows what else.

The other day we went to a cute little flower shop in my hometown to find out about bouquets. I went thinking it was just choosing the flowers and maybe a couple of leaves, but it turns out there are millions of options. Do you want ribbons? What flowers do you want? What colours? Oh, those flowers aren't available at that time of the year. Why not add gems, glitter, feathers...

I thought they were going to ask us if we wanted any caterpillars on it next!

All of this got me thinking about flowers. I wish I could say I knew all their names and smells and where they came from, but the honest truth is, I know very little about them. Flowers in themselves are pretty creative, but when you think about all the things you can do with them, the mind boggles. You can make daisy chains, potpourri, head garments, decorations, bouquets or just use the petals...

The also have so much meaning too, sympathy, romance, spring time...there's a flower for every occasion.

What could you do with flowers? Could they feature in your creative work? Is it something new you could explore?

I like to ponder over these kind of things from time to time. Why don't you join me...

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 71: Unique creations?

Technically, I've already spoken about the lions in Bath (check out day 25 if you didn't read it) but today's entry is a little different (so it's allowed!).

Just in case you don't know, for the past couple of months, Bath has been over run with lots of brightly decorated lion sculptors, 100 to be exact, to raise money for local charities. Each lion is painted by a different artist and sponsored by a different organisation (like a shop or the library).

Today, I was walking around Bath and it struck me how every single lion is completely different, but equally imaginative. There is one covered in scalpel knife heads to form it's mane. Another is covered with Mosaic tiles. Another, in material like a collage. One even in scrabble tiles!

Creativity really is amazing and what's even better is how every person has something different to give. All of these lions started the same, white. But each of these artists has transformed them into something unique.

Did you ever get given the task at primary school of decorating boiled eggs for Easter? Do you remember how every one looked different by the end. Well it's the same with these lions. That's the great thing about creativity. Each of us has something new to share.

What can you bring to the world? What are your ideas and skills? Where will your imaginations take you? Anyone can decorate a white lion sculptor, but no one can do it exactly like YOU.

Let it go and see where it takes you...

Day 70: Fiesta

Yesterday, I spent the day with my family at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. It was great. First, we watch the Red Arrows do an impressive display. They tore through the sky in different formations. It seriously looked like they were held together with invisible string, they were so slick!

Then they broke their formation and went off in different directions. Very impressive. If you haven't seen a Red Arrows display, Go! It's excellent.

Here's my first challenge of the day. If you are into dance or choreography, then check out these clips of the Red Arrows. Push your boundaries and try and come up with your own routine for the Red Arrows. They have a dance all of their own. What would you have them do? Maybe you could send off your ideas to them!

After we'd seen the Red Arrows, we made our way to where all the hot air balloons were going to take off (it was a pretty long walk!) We sat down on the grass and had a little picnic. Eventually over 50 hot air balloons floated into the fading sky, all of them different colours and shapes. There was one in the shape of a dragon! It was amazing.

My second challenge is for all you designers. What would YOU put on a hot air balloon? What shapes and colours? Would you have a picture or just patterns?

Today you chose! Use what you've got and make it creative!

Day 69: Networking

Networking? What's networking?

You know they saying, 'it's not what you know, but who you know'? Well, that's networking!

If you're a creative person and you take yourself seriously as one, then you need to know about networking. Everyone who is creative as part of their job speaks to each other and makes contacts. Then they all help each other out.

I'll give you an example of my own networking. I went to a children's event as part of the Bath Literature Festival earlier in the year. Frank Cottrell Boyce (who wrote Millions and Cosmic) was speaking and he was really good to listen to and learn from. At the end of the event, I was cuing up to get my book signed by him and I ended up chatting to this guy called Karl. Turns out he is one of the managers of the event, so I gave him my card (which has my name and contact numbers on it) and now, because I made that contact, I am volunteering with the next festival.

I know what you're thinking, 'I'm not doing creativity for a job, so why do I need to network?' What do you do? Dance, craft, animation, blogging, art? If your into dance, do you go to dance shows and events? If you're a blogger, do you follow other blogs? The great thing about being young, is that you've got everything ahead of you! Learn from people. That's what I'm doing. That's why I'm volunteering, to learn from those who know more than me.

So, be brave and talk to that person at the event. Give them your email address or ask for theirs.

If you liked some of the recycled craft from yesterday's blog, then get in touch with them. Check out their websites and ask them how they started...

There is so many ways you can network and anyone can do it. If you're creative, then be inspired to make things happen for you.

Oh, here's another saying, 'if you don't ask, then you don't get.' True, true, true!

So what are you waiting for, go ahead and make things happen!