Entries from: December 2012
2013 Creative Every Day Challenge
December 4th, 2012, Comments (16)
Another year is coming to a close (that was fast!) and so it's time to recommit to our creativity with the 2013 Creative Every Day Challenge!
As always, I like this challenge to be low-pressure and wide ranging. When we commit to daily creativity, we find that creative moments can be found everywhere and in everything we do: from decorating for the holidays, painting, doodling on the junk mail, singing with our children, writing poems, knitting socks, baking bread, and taking photographs (just as a start.)
You can read more about the history of the challenge here and sign up for 2013 here.
Again, this year we'll have a (totally optional) theme for each month. Use the theme if it inspires you during the month or go with what's working for you. I like having a theme to bounce off of because I've found having some restrictions or guidelines helps me. I would love to get your ideas for themes for 2013 (brainstorm in the comments!) If I use one of your theme ideas, I will give you credit (and a link, if you have one!)
Each Monday, the weekly check-in will go up. Whenever you create during the week, use the Mr. Linky widget to share a link and/or the comments to share what you're up to.
Thank you to everyone who joined me this year. I look forward to sharing another year of creativity with you in 2013!
Creative Every Day Check-In: December 1 – 9
December 3rd, 2012, Comments (13)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: You can now sign-up for the 2012 Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 12/1/12 - 12/9/12.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter or Instagram you can use the hashtag #CED2012!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for December is Celebrate. You can read more about the optional theme here.
Happy Creating!
Creative Every Day Theme for December: Celebrate
December 1st, 2012, Comments (7)
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At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. For the month of December 2012, the theme will be Celebrate.
As always, this month's theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge is totally optional. Use it if it inspires you, continue being creative every day in your own way if it doesn't, or do something in between. You can sign up for the 2012 Creative Every Day Challenge anytime. More info can be found here and the sign-up page is here.
I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month on the blog to help keep you inspired. You can use the posts here for jumping off points or interpret the theme in your own creative way. If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:
- *Find ways to celebrate your accomplishments this month, big and small.
- *Enjoy creating decorations for the holiday season.
- *Create mini celebrations each day: a tiny tea party, gold stars, a work of art for someone you love.
- *Celebrate your life through gratitude. Keep a list of something your grateful for each day.
- *Celebrate your body through movement. Put on some music and move, get out in nature and take a walk, put on a yoga dvd and stretch.
- *Celebrate your favorite medium with joyous creating. What color is your happiness, what medium speaks celebration to you?
- Write a piece celebrating who you've become as an artist this year.
How to use the CED themes:
If you're feeling creatively stuck or blocked at any point during the month, use the theme as a source of inspiration to get you moving. Feel free to focus on the theme in your creative activities for the entire month or as much as you'd like.
Using the theme is entirely optional for CED participants. Use it if it inspires you, ignore it if it doesn't. I'll be sharing posts throughout the month around the theme (among other things) to get you thinking about how to incorporate it into your life. I'd love to hear how you use the theme in your creative world.
And have fun with it!
People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel
p.s. The art above is adapted from "Releasing Fears" available here.
