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Rules of a Creator's Life

I love this. So often I mistake creativity for random bursts of inspiration; when, really it is a lifestyle of experimenting, failing, and trying some more! The people I look up to as my "creativity" role models are the people who aren't afraid to do what no one else is doing. They are the ones who are constantly striving to stretch themselves and their style and it shows in their work. 

Maybe these "rules" can help with those creativity goals of mine...

goals for 2012 // creative

I think New Year's is one of my favorite holidays because it is an excuse to make new goals and have a fresh start. This year I tried to focus on things I could actually measure and complete (e.g. try __ for a week, make three new recipes...etc.) rather than things like "exercise more" (that one always gets me!). I decided to break mine down into four categories: creative, thought, health, and etc. I thought I would share some of my goals for the upcoming year with you this week!

1. CREATIVE

design my own font: I've wanted to design my own handwritten font for a while now, so hopefully this year I can finally do it!
make a photoshop action: If I ever get my hands on a copy of Photoshop CS4 (I use Elements right now) I would love to create my own photo editing action. (An action is basically a pre-set/pre-designed series of edits that you can simply drop onto a photo and it edits it in one step!)
take and print more pictures: (this doesn't exactly follow my "specific" goals idea, but whatever.) I used to shoot everything on my big dslr camera but I found myself not wanting to carry it around very much because it was so darn heavy and it was such a hassle to upload and edit photos! Since getting my iPhone, though, I've found myself documenting (thanks to Instagram) fun parts of daily life. I'm sure I'll be tempted to just leave them on my phone and never do anything with them, so that's why I decided to make it a goal to print them.
try one new craft project a month: When school/life gets busy, normally the first think I cut is craft time. One new craft a month should be pretty easy to tackle and it's always good to keep those creative juices flowing. :)
redesign my blog: Sometime this year I'd like to do another design update here. I love web design and it always proves to be a brain workout (html code/css is like another language!) but tons of fun.
shoot a pack of instax film: I haven't taken any pictures on my little fuji instax camera in a while and I have a new pack of film just waiting to be used!
make a scrapbook album of my China trip: This is a project that has been looming over my head for quite a while and I know it will feel so great to get this done and out of the way! I went to China last January and since it was such a big trip I felt a little overwhelmed about where to start. 

Well those are some of my goals! How are you trying to stay creative this year?

what to do with doilies

thoughts on: creativity

photo found here

‎"Make no mistake about it: There is a deep and divine connection between a God who is Creator and you who are Creative. It is written in between the lines of God’s fingerprint on your life. Your creativity is not your own. It has a source separate from you, a source much greater than you. It is a gift that has been entrusted to you. Your Creator created you to Create, or rather, to “Co-Create” with Him."

source

This ebook was mentioned on Promise Tangeman's blog the other day and I decided to check it out. Within the first couple of pages I read this quote (above) and was taken back by the idea. As someone who belongs to the Creator Himself and likes to think of herself as creative, I was surprised that I hadn't thought about this concept much before. It makes complete sense, though, doesn't it?! We serve the most creative and artistic God who created us in His likeness... of course He created us to be creative! (phew I used "create" a lot! I'm almost done!) 

In the busyness of life I think it is easy to let the "creative side of ourselves" slip to the wayside as more "pressing" matters come up (which they always do). After reading this quote, though, I realized the important role creativity was meant to play in our lives. I think God wants us to use our creativity to bring praise to Him. While I often think of serving or glorifying God as reading my Bible or remembering to thank Him for the many blessings I've been given, or going on mission trips- that kind of thing, I realized that the simple act of being creative and exploring new ways to use that energy is another way God desires us to bring glory to Him. 

You can download the ebook (don't worry...it's free!) here. I'd love to hear what you think!