Take Stock and Feed Your Creativity

 Flying Bird Felt Medallion Charm/Book Mark

I spent the other day not being as creative as I wanted.... but I was busy the whole day doing things related to creativity. Yes, I did finish up this book mar charm that I was sending out with a package, but I need to confess that I didn't "make" it. Well, yes I did, but I made it a couple years ago. You see, I have this whole bunch of projects that I've started and never done anything with, never finished, never figured out where I should go with them.

One of the things I did was to find all of those incomplete medallions and felt scraps and put them into my felt scraps and projects box. I don't know why this little collection pleases my crafty self so much. Perhaps it's seeing all those little circles of many colors. Or looking back at projects I've put energy into, like that beetle medallion. 

 I was also sorting through the kids' big toy box when I found some stray piece of costume jewelry that no one ever used and I took it apart and separated the beads. I particularly liked the silver beads and thought they'd make a good bracelet some day. And the black beads will be great if I make any small stuffed animals or dolls... which is always a distinct possibility.

And then, when I was looking for my sewing box so that I could finish up that bird medallion, I decided it was time to transfer my sewing materials from the cookie tin I'd been using to this actual sewing box, which I'd found in a thrift store. I detangled all the thread and dug all the little needles and pins out of the cracks of the box with a magnet.Organizing that also made me feel satisfied. Although I think I'd like to do something to the amber plastic... does any one know some way to upcycle that plain old plastic? The form fits my needs, but the color is not my color. *frownie face*

 I even sorted and collected all these little paperclay doodads that I made and never did anything with. I still don't know what I am going to do with them, but I think having them available to me and being able to look at them and wonder helps.

The Harry Potter Experience: G's Birthday 7th ed.

I also organized my thoughts and ideas for my son's upcoming birthday party. He really wants a Harry Potter party, so aside from searching through Pinterest, I have started to write out notes of things that I think would work well, not be too labor intensive, and are crafty and inexpensive. The more I started listing things down here, the more things I thought of, and then while I was bustling about organizing and sorting my crafty stuff, I got more ideas, since my brain was already in creative mode, and looking at the stuff I had sparked ideas for new projects.

It's surprising how much of creating is connected to organizing, planning, thinking, day dreaming, reading, listening, living, staring out the window, sorting, cleaning, etc.

It's a phase that is part of the creative process. Taking stock, I suppose you might call it. Holding those supplies in your hands. Deciding where everything goes. What you might do with them. What things please you and what things need to be recycled into something else.

And in other ways, too. We take stock of ourselves. Who am I? What do I like? Where do I want to go? What is important to me?

In a way, being creative is about choosing. We choose what we want to spend our time with. We choose whether to use this color combination or that one. We choose the medium. We choose the mood. Taking stock of ourselves and our materials and our thoughts helps us to make the right choices in our creating.

Yay. Organizing is not just fun and satisfying, it also has a purpose in the larger scheme of thing.

Think of ways that you can organize your thoughts, your home and your supplies to inform you creativity. What do you need to take stock of so that you can feed your creativity?