I was just introduced to a new site that essentially allows you to make an online inspiration board.  And not only can you create your own inspiration boards, you can peek at other people’s as well!

On Pinterest, you can set up several inspiration boards, one for fashion, art, interior design, whatever it is that fluffs your peanutbutter.  After you’ve created these boards, browse the web as usual.  When you see something that strikes your fancy, you can “pin it” by simply clicking on the Pinterest button on your browser, and it adds an image of your item to the appropriate list.

This is brilliant not only for inspiration, but also for cataloging.  Planning a special project, designing a room, and need a place to keep all your sources and images in one place?  Pinterest is perfect for just that.

I like to go poking through other people’s boards.  By doing this, I find new shops I’ve never been to, blogs I’ve never read, photographers I had not yet discovered.  Take a poke through my board here.

You need an invitation to join Pinterest.  If you are seriously interested, I have four remaining invitations.  Pop me an email.  The first four people to request an invitation will get one!

Creativity is all about coming up with new ideas. It’s about seeing, experiencing, and savoring the world around you. It is a way of life.

The Born Creative workshop series will be starting on March 4, 2010.  This 4 week course aims to help people reconnect with their life through creativity and curiousity.  Even for those of you that say you’re not creative.  Especially for those of you that say you’re not creative.

Take a stroll on over to the Born Creative Facebook Fan Page.  Once you’re there, become a fan!  You won’t just get boring old updates about the course (because the course is fun and exciting!), but also fascinating information on how people are using creativity in ways that you never imagined.

Below you’ll find a list of the workshop descriptions, and all the necessary details.  If you know someone in the Western MA area that would be interested in being happier and more effective in their career (isn’t that everyone you know?) then forward on the details!

Schedule

Thursday, March 4 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Overcoming Obstacles to Creativity
In this class we redefine creativity, conquer old stories and beliefs, bust through creative roadblocks, learn to trust our ideas, and grow through play.

Thursday, March 11 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Developing Awareness
Learn valuable techniques to help you become
more mindful in your everyday life, and how paying
attention and being an active learner can increase your joy and creativity.

Thursday, March 18 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Gaining New Perspective
Begin to see different possibilities and points of view. Understand how looking at things from a new angle
can aid in generating new ideas and in building and maintaining relationships.

Thursday, March 25 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Creative Problemsolving
Creativity isn’t just for artists. Pick up new
brainstorming strategies to assist with challenges at
home, and in the workplace.

Pricing

Classes are available in a 4 week package for $100,
and can also be purchased individually for $25*.
All prices include materials.
Please call to reserve your space.
Limited seats are available.

*we recommend the package plan (like people, the classes work better together!)

To sign up for this workshop series, simply send me an email at BornCreativeWorkshops@gmail.com.

Payment will be accepted through Paypal, cash, or check.

I’ve hinted at a new project that I’ve been working on for a few months a few times on this blog.  It’s finally ready to be unveiled, and I am very excited to share it with you!

Beginning in March, for those of you in Western MA, I will be presenting a new workshop series called Born Creative.  I believe that we are all born with a capacity for creativity, and by reconnecting with it, we can live happier and more productive lives.

Below is a description of the series, as well as all the details for any of you that might be interested.

Live a more joyful life. Have fun.
Build better relationships. Be a problem solver.
Become a better job candidate (yes, you heard right!).

Overview

It’s high time we redefined creativity. You don’t need be an artist, a musician, or writer to be creative. We were all born with the capacity to be creative. Let me say this another way. You are creative. And I can hear you saying, “No, I’m not.”

Creativity is all about coming up with new ideas. It’s about seeing, experiencing, and savoring the world around you. It is a way of life.

In this four week workshop series, we will uncover the simple
acts that creatively inclined people do everyday, and learn how to incorporate these acts into our own lives. Each class will include special exercises, projects, discussion, and of course, fun!

You won’t become an artist. You’ll simply change the way you see the world.

Schedule

Thursday, March 4 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Overcoming Obstacles to Creativity
In this class we redefine creativity, conquer old stories and beliefs, bust through creative roadblocks, learn to trust our ideas, and grow through play.

Thursday, March 11 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Developing Awareness
Learn valuable techniques to help you become
more mindful in your everyday life, and how paying
attention and being an active learner can increase your joy and creativity.

Thursday, March 18 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Gaining New Perspective
Begin to see different possibilities and points of view. Understand how looking at things from a new angle
can aid in generating new ideas and in building and maintaining relationships.

Thursday, March 25 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Creative Problemsolving
Creativity isn’t just for artists. Pick up new
brainstorming strategies to assist with challenges at
home, and in the workplace.

Pricing

Classes are available in a 4 week package for $100,
and can also be purchased individually for $25*.
All prices include materials.
Please call to reserve your space.
Limited seats are available.

*we recommend the package plan (like people, the classes work better together!)

To sign up for this workshop series, simply send me an email at BornCreativeWorkshops@gmail.com.

Payment will be accepted through Paypal, cash, or check.

Become our fan on Facebook!

Have you ever heard about an event, that sounds so mind-blowingly amazing, you wished you knew about it sooner, so you could actually go?  That’s me with the Alt Design Summit, which is going on now in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Next year, Alt, next year.

Alt is a three day conference on design.  Not just graphic design, but everything design.  There are discussions about what’s new, and why design is important in our world.

The Alt people say this is who should attend the Alt Design Summit:

- People that love talking about design in all its iterations. What it is. How it’s changing. Why it’s important.
- People that read sites like Apartment Therapy/drive German cars/subscribe to magazines from Europe.
- Design or lifestyle bloggers who want to (finally!) meet their fellow design and lifestyle bloggers.
- People from across all the design disciplines: graphic, industrial, fashion, interior, product, textile. Plus illustrators and photographers too.
- Business Owners who make pretty things and want to figure out how to get their products on design sites.
- Advertising Agencies and Marketing firms that want help creating social media campaigns for their design-minded clients.
- Employees who would love to get credit for working while actually hitting the slopes.
- People who create inspiration boards.
- People who look at inspiration boards.
- Star-struck film fans obsessed with the Sundance hype who want to spend a weekend celebrity sighting.

Yes. Yes. Yes, and yes.  Did I mention Sundance?  I am so there.

One name that keeps coming to me over and over again is Keri Smith.  You may remember her from when I mentioned the book, How to be an Explorer of the World.  I recently picked up Smith’s book Living Out Loud, and turned each page with sheer excitement.  This book, much like How to be an Explorer of the World, offers exercises in creativity.  These are not exercises meant to make you a better drawer, or painter, but to get you to pay attention, see the world from a different perspective, and conjure fresh ideas.

After visiting Keri Smith’s website, I have to admit, I have a little professional crush.  Her ideas are fantastic and witty, and I only wish that I thought of them first!  Take a trip to her site, and make sure you take a look at the Artist’s Survival Kit.

All images are property of Keri Smith.

Today I picked up How to be an Explorer of the World, a book I’ve been meaning to pick up for quite some time, and now that I have it, I’m pretty excited about it.  It’s filled with endless exercises in creativity.  Not art projects, but projects designed to make us mindful.  Most of creativity, after all, is paying attention.

Today I learned that Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind, How Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, will be speaking (for free!) at Westfield State College on October 5th.  Color me intrigued.

From the publisher:

“Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities — inventiveness, empathy, meaning — predominate. That’s the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.”

I am looking forward to this- as a creative and a businessperson.  According to the book, I may be living in the best of both worlds.

Ken Robinson makes the point that we are all born creative, but because we were brought up in a society that decided that art is not practical (for supporting ourselves at least), importance is not placed on it in our school systems.  We are constantly reinforced with the idea that making a mistake is the worst thing that we can do, and so people don’t take chances– and how can original art exist without chances?

I am currently working my way through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and after discussing it with some of my artist friends, it’s amazing how many people have had this experience, and are working their way through it now.  If I had a nickle for the amount of times I’ve heard, “I’m not creative”, or “I’m not good at art”, well, you know.  I encourage anyone who does not believe that they are creative to really explore the idea, and don’t accept it merely because it was what you were told.  If you were supported in your creativity as you grew, appreciate your experience as one of the lucky ones!

“We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it.  We are educated out of it.”

I’m looking forward to the challenge, and the new and interesting people and perspectives that I will meet along the way.  If you are in the Western MA area and would like to join us, comment on this post with your email and I will send you more information.