We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are even more opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Garden Magic

I know you are thinking you have a black thumb, well get over it. I thought I did to but just until I really started to dabble in my garden and realized that if something didn’t make it, it might not have anything to do with my thumb, but instead the neighbor’s dog, too much sun, or just a finicky plant disposition. Sharing plants and planting tips is a wonderful way to indulge your creative spirit.

Pick a Saturday and plan to spend the time in your garden and a friend’s sharing gardening tips and digging in the dirt. Be sure to take a pot or two to say thanks for the help and these can go in the garden too. (While I love indoor live plants, my pets love them a bit too much too!) I tend to like an organized chaos of blooms with layering of color and species, others are much more orderly and formal in their choices. There is no right or wrong just what blooms and what needs extra care.

Grow your creative spirit with travels in the garden.

Photo Memories

One of the best gifts I ever got was from a friend that had spent Thanksgiving at my home with another friend. She had taken photos and put them in just a small album. They chronicled my oven catching fire with marshmallows from the sweet potatoes (you do know this tradition, don’t you?) then the arrival of the fire department much to my embarrassment. I offered the brigade a bottle of champagne for their trouble but they politely declined. This same friend then proceeded to land the no longer flaming sweet potatoes on her blouse during dinner! It was a riot and the picture album stayed on my desk for over a year, a happy reminder of a wonderful holiday with friends.

The power of photos is often underrated and while until digitals appeared I had the unique knack of cutting off people’s heads and being perpetually out of focus (thank goodness for digital do-overs), I now take photos everywhere and share them widely. It is a way to capture the present for the future. Celebrate your creative spirit with digital memory making, keep it simple.

Paint a Plate

Sometimes we can take a lesson from the craft projects kids bring home. I often see painted plates in client’s homes and I am familiar with the trend of the last few years to go to a do-it-yourself pottery source where you can paint your own plates and have them fired for use at home. This is an easy creative outlet and fun to wrangle friends or family into joining you.

You can either make the plates for decorative purposes or for everyday. You could even make one as a gift and have everyone sign it with a quote or quip. Personal makes a difference in a world where we can buy everything.

Sign a Pillow

I used this idea when I was back in grade school and realize I am going to resurrect it for my next bash. A large canvas style pillow and a package of colorful sharpie markers can take the place of a guest book and then be tossed into your décor for a memory making accent. Each person that comes in signs the pillow with a comment about the event, and it becomes a personal reminder of a great time.

If you really want to carry this a step further, have everyone sign a flat piece of fabric and then when you have collected enough of these from a few years of celebrations they can be put together to form either a wall tapestry of memories or a floor cloth (sealed with polyurethane). Tap into your creative spirit for preserving moments of celebration.

Jewelry Making

There is such a wealth of bead making places available now, sometimes at a craft show but even at the mall. This is another fun way to realize your creative spirit with handmade baubles and bangles. Whether you make something for yourself or family or friends, it is personal and unique.

This won’t appeal to all. I’d just be interesting in picking the beads out and then moving on and letting someone else do the assembling, but then rumor has it I have ADD! There is still creativity involved and I have friends that would defer on the bead selection and delightedly sit patiently and string them all. (It is great when opposites attract!)

Celebrate your creative spirit with the making of bright and shiny objects.

Home Improvement

You may be one of those TV wonders that keeps up with all the DIY shows and can actually DIY a project! I admire you and applaud you, I am not. This is a creative gift and can save you a lot of money in labor costs, and be a rewarding celebration of your own creative spirit.

Whether you want to tackle a dog house complete with lighting and air conditioning (yes, a friend just did this!), or build a deck off the back of the house or maybe you’ll try something on a slightly smaller scale and complete a simple bird house on a stake, have fun with it, get the kids involved if you have any and be open to help from friends and family.

It is not about doing it yourself but in sharing your creative spirit with others in a generous manner that really makes the difference.

We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are some opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Craft Corner

Establish a craft corner or room in your home. This can be as simple as converting the spare (guest) room closet into a place for projects that might include sewing, hot gluing, collage making, scrap booking and more. It could be as significant as devoting an entire room to these pursuits or creating an exterior work room/tool bench for the pursuit of significant home improvement projects.

You are more likely to cultivate your creative spirit when you have dedicated space to it and organized the tools and materials in an accessible and fun manner. Baskets and boxes of assorted craft materials with a table surface to work at is often all that is needed. You may even be able to create a make shift space in a laundry closet by designing a drop down cover to place over the washer and dryer and using shelving above to store art supplies.

The key is to unleash your creative spirit in a way that works for you. This can also turn into a place for children to work on their school projects.

Scrapbooks/Scrap-pillows

Scrapbooking is now an actual art form. Gone are the days when it merely meant sliding photos between sticky pages and leaving it at that. Today it is about incorporating all manner of mementos with photos and including clever captions, family sayings, and priceless quotes. The challenge is still of course when will anyone slow down long enough to truly enjoy such artistry. I encourage clients to create wall collages instead that can be displayed on stairwells and enjoyed by all in the family every day.

Scrap pillows is also a unique idea that would make a great gift for family. It entails creating a memory pillow with a silk screen of photos stitched to the pillow and other mementos adhered for collage effect. This is often most effective in a country or Victorian decorating scheme.

Greeting Card Originals

I have a faux finisher and artist friend that makes his own holiday cards. Each is a work of art and I have to confess I never opened my birthday card as he had caricatured on the envelope and I don’t want to destroy it! You don’t have to be an artist and it may be easier to do this for the occasional birthday than to tackle a major holiday with a host of cards all due. You can use computer imagery, color copies, original photos, and collage items (coins, fabric scraps, charms, trinkets) you can make this a personal statement and it can even become the gift.

I remember growing up that whenever we asked my Mom what she wanted the answer was always the same, a letter from each of us. Yikes, I couldn’t buy that and it sounded too easy, for years I ignored the request and loaded her birthdays and holidays with scarves and picture frames and other goodies. The year I finally listened, she burst into tears she was so pleased.

Handmade is so rare these days, it means that much more. Tap your creative spirit so share an original greeting with a friend or family member.

Recipe Swap

Yes, I can cook and very well when I want to but I hate to follow recipes and tend to keep my favorites in my head, under six ingredients with limitless variety of add-ins to make it special (or as some friends say “weird!”) Other friends are awesome in the kitchen turning out dishes that my caterer asks for the recipes! Let’s level the field a bit and do a recipe swap.

Now the fun in this is that you get to sample all the goodies you are getting recipes for. Often this is done at holidays with a cookie swap but since I am never big on following rules, do this a couple of times a year and make one appetizers and another salads or casseroles. It is not limited to the ladies by any means, many men are better cooks and really enjoy it. Do a kebob recipe swap, a novel idea and it will get everybody grilling. Or plan a beverage recipe swap just in time for the heat of summer so you get some fresh punch and summer cooler ideas.

Looking for more fun way to celebrate your creative spirit? Be sure to check out Part II of this article on Best Life Design.