creativity

“It’s alright for you, you’re artistic. I haven’t got a creative bone in my body!”
If we had a dollar for every time we hear that at daisy chain we’d be rich!
But creativity isn’t about having to create that perfect scrap layout or card. We all have imaginations, we all work with the same products, and although our photos may vary they are all of a similar theme.
So why can one person seem to create from absolutely nowhere a thing of absolute uniqueness and beauty, while others struggle to find colours that “go”?
According to recent research into explaining creativity (Hidden secrets of the creative mind; Time Magazine January 16 2006) it has less to do with a sudden burst of magical inspiration and more with the kind of problem solving skills you would use to get yourself out of a traffic jam. Creativity is not one brilliant flash but a chain reaction of many tiny sparks while executing an idea.
We’ve all heard it before that it just fell into place! Like a domino effect. So to use a scrapbook layout as an example the steps would be deciding on the project, choosing your photo’s, matching the theme with the patterned papers, then coordinating plain cardstock. Crop and mount your photos, build the foundation to the page, place your photos then add embellishments, and ephemera and “voila” a layout emerges. Not planned, but grown from lots of little decisions.
Insight is another form of inspiration where you may have been thinking about a particular project, considering and dismissing many ideas until at an inopportune time when your thoughts are elsewhere you will suddenly think of a solution. When we take time off from working on a problem we change what we are doing and can activate different areas of our brain. If the answer wasn’t in the area of the brain we were using it might be in another! Hence those bursts of brilliance as you zone out watching TV , soaking in the tub or drifting off to sleep. Mine happen in the few moments before I completely wake in the morning .
Collaboration can also get those creative juices flowing. Daisy chain has such a wonderful sharing culture that an idea from someone in our team will snowball right though all of us ( and we love it) That’s why you’ll often see us sitting in at each others classes! Just sitting with a group of papercrafters in a workshop can give that one seed of an idea that will grow and grow! I’ve always found this to be helpful for when you’re feeling stale and need fresh inspiration!
So my advise to turn yourself into a creative genius.
Stop trying so hard. Relax and enjoy it.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, art is knowing which ones to keep. Don’t be too hard on yourself!
Be systematic about the process, it really will evolve by itself. Build the project step by step. Move onto something else if you feel “blocked”
Spend time with likeminded people to share ideas. Enthusiasm is infectious.
Just do it! While you wait for the lightning bolt of inspiration, you are wasting precious creating time. Enjoy!

Love Linda