Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of: Eat, Pray, Love is talking about the basic fear every creative soul is stricken by. The fear of not being good enough. Not living up to your own success or expectations. In her talk, she is not only talking about the problem but also offers a solution.
Gilbert’s solution appeals to me so much, that I felt I had to share it in this week’s inspiration prompt. Gilbert is taking us back to the ancient Greek and Roman times, where “creativity” and “genius” were not considered human qualities but rather a glimpse of divine entities.
Embracing creativity and accepting your genius is not only humbling, as Gilbert explains, but also a great tool to take the fear and self criticism away and get focused on doing the job. Writing. Painting. Dancing.
I absolutely LOVE this idea.
Watch Elizabeth Gilbert talk and get charmed and fascinated:
Share -
How do you feel about embracing the genius? Leave a comment on this post and share your valued thoughts!
This week I want to suggest another quick and easy way for making an hardbound journal. Covering the thick chipboard with fabric adds additional appeal, the coveted and elusive “je ne sais quoi” . Yet, it is soooooo easy to do (provided you did not cut your finger in the process).
Unfortunately, I DID cut my finger in the process, therefore my journal isn’t really as beautiful as I would like it to be (see the frayed edges in the corners)… So please ignore the imperfections and see the hidden potential in it… Considering you can see this raw potential read on for the full (video) tutorial.
Patterned cardstock & copier paper – 7 1/2″ by 4 1/2″
Chipboard: spine – 1/4″ by 4 5/8″ cover – 2 (3 7/8″ by 4 5/8″)
How To -
[Click twice on the video to get to You Tube and watch in high quality.
While you're there, feel free to rate and comment ]
Step By Step Instructions -
[I hope it is helpful for those of you who cannot watch the video]
Adhere the chipboard pieces to the fabric with a glue-stick.
Start at the middle with the spine. Then attach the cover pieces – one on each side of the spine. Use a brayer to insure a strong bond.
Cut all 4 corners of the fabric in an angle. Leave a 1/8″ gap between the fabric and the chipboard edges.
Adhere the fabric’s flaps with a glue stick. Tuck in the corners, for a nice fold.
Fold the patterned paper (heavy weight) and copier paper stack in half. Crease well with the bone folder.
Straighten up the copier paper stack with a sharp craft knife. To avoid falling finger tips… don’t press hard on your knife, but rather use repeated soft strokes.
Lay your signature (patterned paper + copier paper stack) on a soft mat (I’m using salvaged styrofoam) and staple together. Use your bone folder to flatten the lil’ prongs.
Cover the signature with strong double sided tape. Some added glue stick doesn’t hurt…
Carefully adhere the signature to your chipboard cover.
Voilà! Enjoy!
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share
In an effort to make you share more, I want to show you the FABULOUS notebooks the talented Robin Gibson made, following this notebook tutorial. [Click on the picture to go to her Flickr photo page]:
Back in the days… when I was a teenager, I remember trying to make shift with the supply I had had. One of the things I remember doing was to open my small stapler and staple with it on a soft, yet firm surface, to overcome not having a staple-gun or a larger and cooler office stapler.
Now it’s the time to use my childhood’s creativity and apply the same trick for making a notebook in less than 5 minutes – no matter what size your stapler is OR what size notebook you want to make. If you are interested in watching how to make it, stay tuned for the video tutorial.
I embellished my front cover with 3 strips of 1¼” by 5¼” cardstock which I ran through the Cuttlebug machine with 3 different embossing folders (Spots and dots, Swiss dots and Bubbles).
How To Video -
Measurements -
Copy paper - 5½” by 8¼” (folded in half, and straightened with a craft knife, while folded).
Cardstock - 5½” by 8¾”, scored at 4¼” on each side.
In this video I tried You-Tube’s audio swap option. I hope it isn’t too annoying… Please tell me what you think about it and leave a comment.
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
You can also comment, rate and subscribe to the videos on You-Tube. If you feel like it. Please rate them, so I know how to go about the future videos.
Share the notebook you have made with us. Leave a link at the comment section or upload your photo to the Creativity Prompt Flickr group pool.
After yesterday’s introduction to the new title on Creativity Prompt: “On The Catwalk” here comes a video tutorial on how to make the notebook, featured on yesterday’s post, using Papertrey Ink’s products.
This notebook is made without stitching and is super easy to make, yet it has this special “artisan” look that we all love. This is the notebook that everyone will ask: “Where did you get it from?”.
Some additional peeks at the notebook -
[Click on the photo for a larger size]
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share
Following my last post of the 10 best Journaling Prompts of 2008, comes a list of the best Creativity Prompts of last year. The list includes both tutorials and general prompts that during 2008 have spruced up the creative juices and were particularly popular among my dear readers.
so, without any fuss or delay, the “best of” award goes to:
The year 2008 is coming to an end. It is time to start planing the glorious 2009 which is right at the corner. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to start the year to come with a handmade calendar, to stand beside you as a reminder of how awesome you are all year long. If you are interested – keep on reading for a step-by-step instructions and a FREE 2009 Calendar download.
Print the calendar template (either on cardstock or a regular copy-paper). Cut down the individual months’ boxes with an 1/8″ margin from the dashed frame. Use the marks on your ruler for the alignment and cut with a craft knife.
Work on each of the printed pages individually, as they are not perfectly aligned to each other.
Cut your cardstock at 3½” by 12″.
Score your cardtock strip (widthwise) at: 3½”, 4½”, 5″, 7″, 7½”, 8½”. I used the paper trimmer and a bone folder for the scoring.
Fold all the score lines and burnish with the bone folder.
Apply two strips of strong double sided tape to both ends of one of the 3½” flaps. It doesn’t matter which of them you choose to apply the tape to.
Align both 3½” flaps together and adhere them. That should form the calendar’s stand.
Group all the months’ boxes together and align them on the top flap of the calendar’s stand. Punch 2 holes right below the top edges of the dashed frame. (I was using a crop-a-dile).
Attach all the layers together with the loose-leaf rings or the ribbon and you are done!!!
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own handmade calendars, so do share
Christmas & Hanukkah are on their way… There are so many errands to run and so much work to do by then. It isn’t that unusual to get to the holiday cards at the very last minute. Sometime it can be discouraging.
But don’t worry, I have a little secret which helps me to make cards quickly and easily – that means I don’t have to give up on handmade cards for the holidays, even at the last minute.
My secret is very simple – turning my most used and loved scrapbooking layouts into cards. I already know the design is going to work for me so it’s a foolproof system. Who said scraplifting is for scrapbooking only?
For this week’s creativity prompt I ask you to make handmade cards regardless of how close the holidays are getting.
The Layout -
The Cards -
The Layout -
The Cards -
The Layout -
The Cards -
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your holiday card creations, so don’t be shy and share
The star album has a strong “WOW” factor as it opens, but it is actually very simple to make one. The secret is in the graduating width of the partitions. For a step by step instructions on how to make this album, keep on reading:
8 pieces of 6″ by 12″ cardstock (just cut your cardstock in half).
8 pieces of 6″ by 10″ patterned paper.
8 pieces of 6″ by 8″ patterned paper.
Fold each piece in half, along its long edge, and burnish well with a bone folder.
Apply adhesive to the 6″ edges of the patterned papers.
Then attach the partitions together –
First, attach the 6″ by 10″ patterned paper to the 6″ by 12″ cardstock.
Then attach the 6″ by 8″ patterned paper to the 6″ by 10″ one.
You should end up with this shape -
Now repeat, until you’ve got 8 “legs” for building the star.
After you finish adhering the star’s “legs” – assemble it on your desktop, to make sure everything works well together and to guide you through the next stages.
Pick 2 adjacent “legs” randomly (they are going to become the cover of your album) and apply a double sided tape strip along their midsection.
Note that the adhesive’s strip is bulging out of the creased edge – this is done in order to tuck-in the edges of the ribbon for an elegant and more finished looking closure. Just wrap the access adhesive’s strip over the crease and attach the ribbon to it.
Next, pick one of the outer “legs” and start attaching each 6″ by 6″ partition to the adjacent one.
This is when assembling the star’s shape in advance is going to come in handy.
Repeat the last stage, until you finish attaching all the star’s partitions to each other. Make sure not to attach the partitions with the ribbon to each other…
A glimpse at the star album while it’s closed:
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own star-album creations, so don’t be shy and share
Découpage is a fantastic technique of paper piecing that helps us to create impressive art creations quickly and easily, while actual painting & drawing are unnecessary. This is also a fabulous way to use all your small paper scraps. [or holiday cards' cut-outs...]
I have been using this technique for quite a while but only recently Meital, a childhood friend of my husband, suggested that I should make a tutorial on this technique, so here you go:
Go through your stash [if you're like me and you've got a stash...] and choose a napkin with an interesting illustration. I chose a napkin with some flower illustrations. Each napkin usually has 4 prints.
Next, you need to paint your canvas. Pick a color that goes well with the illustration on your napkin. Using a foam brush, apply an even coat of the acrylic paint to the canvas. [When working with napkins and other light-weight papers it is better to use a very light color, otherwise the illustration will get "absorbed" and lost in the background.]
While the canvas is getting dried, cut the illustration from the napkin and separate its layers so you end up with the very top layer. You can discard the rest of the layers [it's recyclable!]
After the canvas is completely dry arrange your cut-outs on it in a way that pleases your eye. [After applying the glue or the gel medium figuring out the placement of your cut-outs will get trickier.]
Then, when you are pleased with the composition, apply the Mod-Podge glue generously with the foam brush both below and above the cut-out, as the glue works as a sealer as well as an adhesive.
Repeat the gluing and sealing process with all your cut-outs and make sure you apply an even coat of glue and going with the brush at the same direction all over. When you are finished and the glue has completely dried you can embellish your canvas with alpha stickers and glitter glue or anything else you can think of.
Paper Scraps Découpage -
The process is basically the same, only you can use any color for the background. Therefore I am not going to be as verbose…
Paint your canvas.
Choose your scraps and cut to size. On a 10″ by 10″ canvas I used 25 pieces of patterned paper, cut at: 1 7/8″ by 1 7/8″.
Figure out the placement of all your paper cut-outs.
Apply glue or gel medium below and on top of each piece of paper.
Finish off your canvas with your favorite embellishments and enjoy your art!
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your artistic creations, so don’t be shy and share
This card set holder is the perfect handmade token of appreciation to anyone you would like to give thanks to. It takes minutes to assemble and you can use inexpensive envelopes which are available at any convenient store and a couple sheets of cardstock (each sheet yields 4 cards, measured 3″ by 6″) and the holder accommodates 5 cards & 5 envelopes. The holder itself is made out of one sheet of cardstock.
So without further ado lets jump right into this week’s tutorial:
Download the card set holder template. Note that the template isn’t scaled but only designed to give you an idea of the measurements of all the folding and cutting that needs to be done. So don’t print out the template.
Trim one sheet of cardstock to a 9″ by 12″ piece.
Along the 12″ side, score your cardstock at 1/2″, 1″ on each side.
Flip your cardstock to the 9″ side and score at: 4″, 4 1/2″, 8 1/2″, 9″.
Trim along the one inch score line on each side and keep only the 3″ flap at the very end.
fold all the scoring lines and burnish with a bone folder.
Apply double sided tape to the two outer flaps.
Adhere the outer flap to the inner part of the first 4″ section of your cardstock. Repeat on both sides. That would form the pocket of your card set holder.
Use a circle punch to punch out half a circle from the middle of the pocket. That would give your card set holder a finished look.
[You could, and perhaps should, punch out the circle before adhering the pocket. It would be much easier to punch your cardstock while it's still flat...]
Insert the envelopes and cards inside the pocket and your pretty gift is ready to be given.
For an added interest and a finished look you can embellish your cards and envelopes to match by using the same design on both.
Enjoy!!!
If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share
. Yet, it is soooooo easy to do (provided you did not cut your finger in the process).
