Weekly Photo Challenge: Create

You may not be a Picasso or Mozart but
you don’t have to be.  Just create to create.
Create to remind yourself you’re still alive.
Make stuff to inspire others to make something
too.  Create to learn a bit about yourself.

~Frederick Terral~

We should not forget to enjoy the
experience of daily creativity,
whatever that may entail.

~Diane Carter~

Don’t apologize for who you are
or the art you create.

 ~C.J. Rider~

To be mindfully engaged is the most
natural, creative state we can be in.

~Ellen Langler~

. . . joy is integral to all creativity.
Creativity brings joy.

~Mathew Fox~

The first step to being creative is
to get rid of your unwritten rules.

~Mary M. Byers~

Creativity is an act of self-discovery.

~Sebastian Esteverena~

Sustained enthusiasm brings into
existence a wave of creative energy,
and all you have to do is
‘ride the wave’.

~Eckhard Tolle~

I was excited to see this week’s photo challenge, create,  as creativity is a favorite topic of mine!  I am currently in Wisconsin visiting my family, and my sister, Betsy, and I love to create together.  Collage and beading are two of our favorite crafts.  Feeding off each other’s enthusiasm makes the act of creating even more enjoyable.

It is my niece Jessica’s birthday on Friday so we decided to make cards.  The first thing we did was start cutting up the pages of old magazines and begin to form ideas of what our cards might look like. Then we arranged and pasted the cut words and images onto a blank card.  It’s always fun to watch ideas come together on the page.   The first three photos above, after the Mathew Fox quote, are the front, inside, and back of Betsy’s card.  The following two photos are the front and inside of my card.  As you can see our styles are much different.  I always love Betsy’s creations for their whimsy.  Don’t you love how she super-imposed Jessica’s face on the body of a magazine model, which just happens to look exactly like Jessica in her style of dress.

A few days later we pulled out our jewelry supplies and spent an afternoon on the back porch creating necklaces.  The one on the right is Betsy’s creation, using  beads she received from our cousin Tim when she and Steve visited him and his family in Costa Rica.  The beads hold special significance because they belonged to our wonderful, eccentric aunt who passed away a number of years ago.  I made the turquoise and coral necklace using the  milagro that I bought in Santa Fe a year ago.  In simple terms a milagro is a folk talisman or charm – a physical representation of a prayer –  and my prayer is that Edward and I find the house  of our dreams (ergo the silver house) in Santa Fe.  I believe  wearing this necklace is good juju!

Creativity is contagious.
Pass it on.

~Albert Einstein~