The Magic Bean

Create a Spark Saturday - Making Friends with the Green Eyed Monster

Last week's weekly creativity boosting challenge for Create a Spark Saturday was to slow down.  I am not very good at slowing down.  I am probably the most hyper motivated person I know.  I am a full speed ahead kind of a girl. 

But this week I forced myself to slow down.  I did my regular work; sent Etsy orders, sent orders to the suppliers of my patterns, wrote my usual weekly blog posts etc, but I did not fling myself gung ho into new and even more demanding projects.  In essence, I tread water instead of swimming the channel. 

I think I probably need even more of a break to fully refuel the creative gas tank.  This week I've learned that sometimes the best challenge to give yourself is no challenge at all.

This week's challenge:  Find someone whose art and work makes you feel a wee bit jealous (or even a whole lot jealous).  Then, don't stay jealous, get inspired instead.

Watch this video from Marie Forleo, marketing guru/business strategist/life coach where she talks about dealing with jealousy and being intimidated by someone else's success.  In the video she happens to be addressing the concerns of a doll maker: 

  

 Unlike the doll maker featured in this video, I will freely admit to being jealous of other artists and doll makers.  I am not the least bit embarrassed about it either because I don't see it as a negative thing.  Instead of letting the jealousy get me down I let it inspire me to new heights.

When I find an artist that stirs the green-eyed monster inside me (and actually my green eyed monster is kind of warm and snuggly because we've become friends over the years) I ask myself these questions:

- What about this person's work makes me feel jealous?  Be very specific here.  Do you like the colours they use?  Do you think their photography is great?  Do you admire their technical skill?  Or their originality?

- What is this artist doing really well that I might be able to replicate myself?  (and by this, I don't mean reproducing someone else's art and calling it your own - that is just not cool!)  I mean, does the artist have a particularly successful Etsy shop/blog/website/book - what it is about that shop/blog/website/book that makes it different to what you are doing?  Does that artist constantly use new techniques/re-invent their aesthetic regularly/use cool fabrics/successfully sell in galleries? How might you be able to put your own twist on something that you admire about someone else?

Recently, I've been admiring the work of doll artist Jessica Hamilton.  Instead of getting all jealous and erecting a dart board with Jessica's face on it (not productive and just creates negative energy), I wrote to Jessica and told her that I admired the way she is able to blend her creative energies with a good business sense.  I was honest and said I wasn't sure how we might be able to collaborate, but that if she was up for it, I'd love to do some work together. 

Jessica could have written back and said "no".  She could have said "kiss my foot".  Or she could have ignored me.  But Jessica wrote back and we've been bouncing ideas around and sharing our stories about blogging and Etsy and dolls and business.  It was actually Jessica who told me about MarieForleo.com - ironic that the latest video was about jealousy and a doll maker.

Jessica said about this topic:

"I love the idea of reaching out to the competition or people in similar fields you look up to or admire. I was reading the other day that the business relationships you strive for should always be those who you are a little intimidated by or even jealous of, the ones you need to reach up and grab. Because then you will always grow."

Thing is, that sometimes when you reach out to people they won't always be as wonderful as Jessica.  Sometimes they'll say no and sometimes they might even be a bit rude about it.  Most of the time they will ignore you.  As hard as it is to hear a no.  It is just a no.  No can't hurt you.  Move on, until you hit the next yes.  If you stop asking, you'll stop getting.  As Jessica says if you want to grow, you've got to grab on to a person who is headed in the direction you'd like to go. 

And try to think about if there is anything you might be able to offer that other artist in return.  It's only fair if you ask for something to offer something in exchange, it's just good art karma.

I'll be working on ways to help Jessica and to learn from her this week.

Who are you jealous of inspired by?

PS Just a reminder that if what you admire about an artist is a particular technique or pattern, don't expect them to tell you all about it for free.  Remember, in many people's cases their art is their livelihood so ask instead if they sell a pattern, tutorial or teach a class in that technique that you could purchase. 

Create a Spark Saturday - Puzzle It Out

Last week's Create A Spark Saturday challenge meant to boost creativity, was to read absurdist literature in order to force the brain to find meaning and therefore find increased creativity.

I read Alice's in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

I have never actually read the book before, but like most people, I know the story.  Of course, the story itself was pretty absurd, but what I found weirder is how strange Alice herself was.  In movie versions Alice is the "straight" character that we can relate to in a strange world.

However mad the hatter may be, in the book Alice seemed pretty strange to me.  I really found I couldn't get into the book.  Absurd is just not my thing - at least not in literature. 

Strangely enough I think my brain works in pretty absurd ways without the outside stimulus.

This week's challenge:  Do puzzles. 

According to an article on the blog Pick the Brain, "puzzles stimulate your brain to look at a problem from different angles. The easier you are able to open up your mind to new ideas and new approaches, the more likely it will be that you become more creative".

So this week try to fit in more puzzles.  I'm thinking crosswords usually help me to think of things from different angles. 

Did you read any absurdist literature this week?  Did it make you feel more creative?  Will you try puzzling out your creativity?

Create a Spark Saturday - Absurd Stimulation

Last week's Create a Spark Saturday challenge was to read aloud progressively more positive statements about creativity to boost artistic vision.

I printed out the 10 statements about creativity (click the link to go back to last week's post to remind yourself of what I was intoning daily).  With the printed statements beside my bed it was easy to read them out loud to myself at the beginning of each day. 

My verdict?  The last statement "I am a creative genius" made me laugh at my own audacity every single time.  I had of course written the statements myself so it was a pretty bold statement.  But it always meant that I started my day with a laugh - never a bad thing. 

This week I managed to pull two cool new and creative ideas out of my head without really thinking too much about it - just "bam" the ideas appeared.  Was it the re-enforcement of the creative statements?  Who knows, but I don't think it would be a bad thing to read those statements out loud every time you felt a bit flat creatively.  It doesn't hurt and doesn't take a lot of time and effort, so why not?

I'm thinking this creativity booster may just have merit.

This week's challenge:  Read Alice in Wonderland, Kafka's Metamorphosis, or any other absurdist masterpiece.

According to an article I read on the PsyBlog, our brains try to always find meaning in our lives.  When the mind encounters absurd situations it has to work harder to find meaning. 

Apparently in one study into the effect that the absurd has on our minds, participants were asked to read an absurd short story by Franz Kafka before completing a pattern recognition task.  When their results were compared with control participants, those in the group who had read the absurd story story showed an elevated subconscious ability to recognise hidden patterns.

So to enhance creative insight try reading absurd literature like Alice in Wonderland.

If you have a Kindle or one of the Free Kindle apps for your PC or other device you can read Lewis Carroll's absurd masterpiece Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for free.

Or try some absurd, nonsense poetry from Edward Lear , also for free on Kindle.

Did anyone else try reading progressively more and more positive statements about creativity?  Are you up for reading some absurd literature in the name of fostering your inner creative genius?

Bring on the absurd!

Create a Spark Saturday - Progressively More Positive

Last week's creativity boosting challenge was to try something I read about in a magazine, to act out creative expressions to free your creative thinking. 

The article suggested acting out expressions such as "thinking outside the box" and "on the other hand".  In the name of experimentation, I duly acted out both these expressions. 

Then my problem was that I had to come up with other creative expressions to mime.  To be honest, I'm not sure that the actual act of giving the expressions a physical action made me feel more creative, but I certainly had to stretch my mind a bit to come up with other expressions.

I ended up using "in touch with my inner child" (I held a photo of myself as a child between my hands), "free-thinking" (I mimed giving away my thoughts), "free-wheeling" (laid back on the floor and spun my legs in the air bicycle style). 

Truthfully, acting out these expressions just made me giggle.  I suppose having a giggle at oneself is not a bad thing and it probably put me in a more positive mood which I'm sure leads to more creativity.

Speaking of more positive thoughts, that leads me to this week's creativity inducing challenge.

This week's challenge:  Read aloud a series of statements which progressively become more and more positive about your creativity at the beginning of each day.

I read an article in the Daily Mail about the effect of reading progressively positive statements and how they could lift your mood and outlook.  In the article entitled the 10 Second Life Coach (click the link to read the article yourself) participants were asked to read a serious of cards out loud.  The cards started out with statements like "Today is neither better nor worse than any other day."
The following card to be read aloud was: "I do feel pretty good today, though."

The people in the study progressed through 60 cards, with the statements becoming increasingly positive.

The "control group" read simple factual statements such as, ‘Saturn is sometimes obscured by the Sun and isn’t visible from Earth’, and, ‘The Orient Express travels between Paris and Istanbul’.

By the end of the study, the participants who had read the increasingly positive statements had rated themselves as being in a wonderful mood but those who had read the factual statements were described as having a mood that had "flat-lined".

I wonder if the statements were not just about mood but about creativity, would it have a similar effect?

So this week I'm going to try saying 10 progressively positive statements about creativity.  The first two statements are based on the study while the others I've made up. 

1. Today I don't feel any more creative or any less than any other day.

2. I do feel pretty creative today though.

3. I have a good feeling about my creativity today.

4. Nothing is stopping me from being creative.

5. I have some wonderful ideas and I am in the mood to be creative.

6. With how I am feeling, I think I could make something great.

7. I will make time today to take advantage of how creative I'm feeling.

8. I am feeling at my most creative.

9. I am positive that today is going to be a fabulously creative day.

10. I am a creative genius.

I'm going to print out those statements and read them aloud to myself everyday this week and at the end of the week I'll take a stock of my creativity stores.

Did you try acting out creative expressions this week?  Would you ever do something like that or do you think it is too silly?  Will you try read the progressively more positive statements about creativity this week?

Create a Spark Saturday - Acting Out

I took a little two week break from Create a Spark Saturday creativity boosting challenges to enjoy my 10th wedding anniversary with my hubby in Tuscany.  Well, technically I didn't take a complete break I just took two weeks to complete my challenge which was to learn a creative skill from someone else.

In case you didn't realise, much of the photography you see on The Magic Bean, including Wordless Wednesday is the work of my hubby.  Himself does not like taking credit but really enjoys sharing his photos anonymously. Himself is also the person who takes all the photos of my finished dolls.

Since my hubby is pretty darn good at taking photos I decided to get him to teach me some stuff about his very complicated digital SLR camera.

I now know what all the buttons are for.  I know what a F-stop is and what ISO means.   I think I even took some half decent pictures.

See how that flower pot is in focus but the background isn't?  I actually did that on purpose using my new found F-stop knowledge.

I did colour.

I did black and white.

I played around with composition.  Setting things off-centre turned out to look more interesting.  Himself agreed.

I don't think I did half bad.

I'll share more of my hubby's photos of Tuscany over the next few weeks of Wordless Wednesdays, so look out for those.

This week's challenge:  Act out creative expressions.

Now this is the weirdest of my weekly creativity boosting challenges yet.  I was reading the free magazine available to Boot Advantage card customers from Boots here in the UK.  On one page under the heading "Crazy But True:  How to Think (and Act Creativity)" it said:

New research suggests you can help free your mind by acting out creative expressions - such as standing by a box for "outside of the box" thinking, or holding up one hand to show "on the one hand". 

I'm not really sure how acting out things like this could make you more creative, but in the name of experimentation, I'm willing to give it a try once a day for a week. 

So will you mime along with me?  Did you take two weeks to learn any new creative skills from someone else?

Create a Spark Saturday - Learn a Creative Skill from Someone Else

For last week's Create a Spark Saturday challenge, I challenged you to cook yourself creative.  There are certain foods that are supposed to boost your creative output.  According to an article on Monday's Postal, foods that are high in Omega 3's and antioxidants, as well as brightly coloured foods are believed to get you in the right brain space to create.

Because I have to adhere to a rather strict Candida diet, my daily menus are already rich in many of the foods that are supposed to help you get your art on.  Here are some of the recipes I used this week. 

Roasted Vegetable with Couscous and Tuna/Salmon Cakes

Serves 2-3

For the Veg and Couscous

1 courgette, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 red peppers or 1 red and one yellow, or one orange and one yellow, you get the picture, cut into     chunks
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges and peeled obviously
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh red chilli chopped up
1 teaspoon Bragg's Amino Acids (this is a health food substitute safe for Candida sufferers but you     can substitue balsamic vinegar)
Salt and pepper
125 g cooked couscous (I use barley couscous but you could use wheat if you can eat it)
vegetable stock cube

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.  Boil kettle.  Pour uncooked couscous into a medium bowl so it is about a finger deep.  Add a vegetable stock cube to the bowl.  Pour boiling water onto the couscous so it covers the couscous by ¾ inch.  Break up the vegetable stock cube with a fork and mix it in.  Set aside.  It will be cooked by the time you are finished.

Mix the courgette, peppers, and onion with the oil, garlic, chilli, Bragg's Amino Acids (or balsamic vinegar), salt and pepper.  Place in an ovenproof dish and roast in the hot oven until tender.

Tuna/Salmon Cakes - this is my adaptation of my mum's recipe

2 tins skinless, boneless salmon or tuna (my hubby and I love chilli so we buy a tuna infused in     chilli oil)
5 rice crackers
1 egg
1 clove garlic crushed
3 celery stalks
1 tbsp chopped onion
sea salt
black pepper

Blend crackers, egg, garlic, celery, chopped onion, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor.  My mum blends it so it has no lumps, but I like mine a bit more lumpy.  Break up the flakes of tuna or salmon and add to mixture.  With your hands, form the mixture into cakes.  Bake in an oven on 200°C/400°F/gas 6 until browned.

To serve, spoon couscous onto plate, scoop roasted veg on top and serve tuna/salmon cakes alongside.

Spaghetti Giardino

Serves 4

1 onion roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
150ml or ¼ pint vegetable stock
400g can chopped tomatoes in juice
3 tablespoons red pesto
350g spaghetti (I use gluten free pasta)

Begin by putting a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta and if you are using vegetable stock cubes, boil a kettle to make up the stock according to the instructions on the package.
Briefly whiz vegetables in food processor until finely chopped.  If you don’t have a food processor, then make the ‘roughly chopped’ above, finely chopped.  It will take longer but it will be worth it.  Heat the oil in a large pan.   Tip in the vegetables and cook for 5-7 mins, stirring occasionally until the onion has softened.  Add stock and tomatoes, bring to the boil.  Cover and cook for 15 mins until vegetables are tender.   Stir in red pesto. Your pot of water should be boiling so add pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain well.  Divide pasta between plates and add some sauce to each. 

I promise these recipes are yummy, healthy and will get you inspired.

This week's challenge I've decided, is going to be two weeks long in order to give you enough time to make it happen.  This and next week's challenge:  Learn a creative skill from someone else.

That could mean asking a friend to show you how he or she does something.  Or it could mean attending a club meeting or taking a class. 

You know all the great photography that you see here on the Magic Bean?  All those Wordless Wednesday images and photos of my dolls are taken by my fantastic hubby who prefers to be anonymous.  For the next two weeks, I'm going to ask my hubby to teach me how to do it.

You don't have to be taking on a whole new skill like I plan to.  Maybe you just want to learn how to turn doll fingers well or maybe you'd like to figure out how to use soldering iron to burn fabric or maybe you just want to learn a new hand stitch.  Whatever you want to learn, find someone who can pass on their knowledge.

Did you eat creativity boosting foods last week?  Are you going to get someone to share their creative talent with you this week?  What skill are you dying to learn?

Create a Spark Saturday or Should I Say, Monday - Cook Yourself Creative

I was taking a shower on Sunday night and it suddenly hit me - I didn't write my weekly Create a Spark Saturday post.  Gasp!  I've been working so hard on my Mystery Doll Pattern and getting everything set for its release on October 3rd, that I've been working nearly constantly. 

This weekend, however, I took some time off.  In fact, I got so relaxed I forgot to post my regular Create a Spark Saturday post.  But as my faithful hubby pointed out, the world has not stopped spinning on its axis because I forgot to post on Saturday.  So I am going to pretend that today is Saturday and you can pretend with me.  Bending the space time continuum is very, very creative, I think you'll agree.

Last week's creativity boosting challenge was to listen to music that fuels creative thought and hopefully, action.  I took a page out of Albert Einstein's book and listened to Mozart.  Although I often listen to classical music when I get creative, I typically listen to Classic FM which plays a real mix of classics.  Listening to just one composer was an interesting switch.  

Luckily, my mum and dad had bought me a double CD set of Mozart called Zukerman Conducts Mozart a few years ago.

Last week I was doing a lot of illustration work using Adobe Illustrator.  With Mozart playing in the background I noticed something - I concentrated better.   Often with any sort of music, I'll hum, sing along, or occasionally have a boogie, but even though I know Mozart well enough to hum it, I actually wasn't as consciously aware of the music as I would be when I listen to a mix of classical tunes.  But suddenly I'd be finished yet another illustration.

I think Albert Einstein was onto something with the structure of Mozart's compositions fueling creative thought.  You'd think he was a genius or something.   

This week's challenge:  Cook and eat your way to creative genius. 

Certain foods have been shown to help boost brain power and creativity.  I came across this article on the blog Monday's Postal, regarding what foods to eat to boost creativity (click the link to read the article). 

Funnily, enough, my diet is already extremely rich in the foods mentioned here.  Due to some health issues, I have a very strict diet and the foods listed on this website all figure prominently in my everyday menus.  Nuts, fish rich in Omega 3, berries and colourful foods are major staples for me.   The only food mentioned in the article which I don't and can't eat is dark chocolate.  Somehow I'm thinking that most people won't argue with adding more of that to their diet this week!

Lately however, I've been so busy that I haven't been eating quite as much fish or bright coloured foods as I might normally eat. I'm thinking that some of the recipes contained in the article on Monday's Postal look good enough to eat, so I'm going to give those a try. 

Anyone else want to give Nigella a run for her money this week?  Anyone else try using music as a creative stimulus?  How did it go?

PS Did you notice that the blog called Monday's Postal shared that particular article on creativity boosting food on a Saturday?  Did you spot the synergy there?  My plot to bend the space time continuum seems to be working.   I love it when a plan comes together. 

Create a Spark Saturday - Music to Boost Your Muse

Last week's Create a Spark Saturday challenge was to watch no TV and no DVDs with the hope that a lack of television viewing would fire up your creativity.

I successfully managed to avoid watching any TV or DVDs of any sort very successfully.  When I was tired at the end of the day, it was a bit tempting to veg out and let some mind-numbing TV drift into my brain, but not as tempting as I thought it might be. 

I finished a book or two and got lots done. 

I think rather than fueling my creativity, the lack of TV just prevented procrastination. I did get an awful lot done this past week. 

This week's challenge:  Listen to music known to stimulate creativity.

What sort of stuff should you listen to?

According to Albert Einstein he felt he could attribute his creative genius to listening to Mozart. Although Einstein himself wasn't sure exactly what it was about Mozart compositions that helped his innovation but it is recognised that certain songs and compositions allow the brain to be more creative and function better.

In fact, different types of music may affect your creativity differently, giving you passionate energy or a more steady grounding.  Read this article on How You Can Use Music to Increase Creativity on the blog Imagine Out Loud to get more suggestions about what type of music might provide the type of stimulus you need in your creative life.  Scroll to the bottom of the linked article to find lots of other music suggestions to accompany your creative week.

Did anyone give up TV this week?  How did you find it?  What sort of music makes you feel more creative?

Create a Spark Saturday - Shut Off the TV

Last week's creativity catalyst as part of my Create a Spark Saturday series, was to use scent to enhance and trigger your creativity.  I had read in a book, The Scented Home: Living with Frangrance that the scent of jasmine has been found to increase creativity by 30%.

So I decided to conduct my own study and bought myself a jasmine scented candle and got busy being creative. 

Here is what I found out:

I don't like the smell of jasmine.  It did not help with my creativity.  It just offended my olfactory system.  I so disliked like the scent, in fact, that I found it difficult to be creative with that whiff in the air. 

To combat the creativity inhibiting jasmine scent, I lit my regular type of scent.  I am a major scent-a-holic and I regularly use a wax burner that my wonderful Aunt Linda made for me to melt scented Soy Beads from Beanpod Candles. 

With the smell of Cinnamon Bun wafting through the air, lo and behold I began to feel creative again.  Three things occurred to me:

1.  You actually need to like the scent for it to help with your creativity.  

2.  I think I've been unknowingly conditioning myself to associate my favourite baking smells like Oatmeal Cookies and Apple Pie that I light all the time, with being relaxed and creative.  So those scents were already my creativity triggers, even if I didn't realise it. 

3.  Who cares what some study says the property of a scent is, if it works for you, it works.

This week's challenge:  This week, try watching no TV.  And no DVDs. 

I think I just felt a few of you gasp just then.  I know, TV is a major part of most people's lives.  I don't actually own a proper TV.  (Cue a second gasp)  Most people are horrified by that revelation and ask me, "What do you do?".  I think it is sad that we have come to a place where people can't think what to do with themselves without a TV. 

Having said that I don't have a TV, with the growing trend for streaming TV on I-players, TV and movies on demand and DVDs I've unfortunately ended up watching way more television than I have since I was 18.  And I don't like it.  I watch it just because it is there. 

So this week, I'm going cold turkey.  I will listen to the radio more.  I might listen to an audio book.  But no TV, no DVDs.  Let's see what can be created with no TV taking up time and brain space. 

Will you be giving up the box?  Did you try scenting yourself creative?  Let me know in the comments.

Create a Spark Saturday - Scent Yourself Creative

I have a confession to make.  Last week, for my weekly creativity enhancing Create a Spark Saturday challenge, I set myself the task of sketching every day - and I didn't sketch even once. 

That's a bit tough to admit because I am the girl who meets every challenge, completes things before every deadline and has never returned a library book late (except that one fine I got because my husband took a book out on my card, but we won't talk about that little incident!). 

The thing is, when I was in university I sketched every day and my drawing was at its best.  However, this week, I also remembered that the injuries with my hands also started around the same time. 

This week I've been focusing on my latest doll design and I have been getting my very exciting Mystery Pattern underway and I just didn't have any extra life left in my hands by the time I was finished the things I was most passionate about working on this week.

I realised that sketching might be a great exercise.  It would certainly improve my skills.  But what use would those skills be if I used all the time that my hands are working and pain-free to do an exercise, with nothing left over for doing the creative things that I love most?  It felt like I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

So I did something I never do.  I let it go.  Even though I knew I was going to have to write to all my blog readers and admit that I didn't do my own challenge.  I still let it go. I failed to do something and the world has not imploded.

I think I might be growing as a person.

This week's challenge:  Use scent to enhance creativity.

This might seem weird, but scent is actually one of our most powerful senses, but it is not often one we associate with creativity (unless you make soap). But scent is the most closely related to our memory and triggers associated emotions in our brains. 

So before you sit down to do something creative,  put a few drops of essential oil in a diffuser or put a few drops in a cotton ball or tissue and sniff it before you sit down to be creative.  If you use a cotton ball or tissue, continue to take sniffs periodically as you create.  Continue to use scent throughout the week and eventually the memory of that scent will become associated in your mind with creativity.  The scent itself will be your creativity trigger.

Want to know more about this scent idea?  Read this article from Essential 3 Aromatherapy Solutions and read how this idea was used to enhance creativity for writers. This link also includes suggestions for different scents depending on what your needs might be.

Who is going to join me in sniffing their way to creativity?  Did anyone, unlike me, manage to sketch every day?