FREE Printable 2007 Calendar Posted December-18-2006
Featuring Monthly Creativity Inspiring Quotes
One of my favorite projects I do for the Creativity Portal Web site each year is design a printable monthly quote calendar using snippets from actual articles published on the site in the previous calendar year.

You don't need to be famous or rich or brilliant to be quoteworthy in my book — you just need to speak honest truth from your soul and it will resonate in the vast sea of humankind. I'm a fish in that sea, by the way.

The quotes I snagged for each 2007 month have been inspiring me all day today as I've toiled long and hard on finishing this calendar before the new year arrives. For example, one of my favorite quotes about "truth" is by Lynda Lehmann from her article ART and POWER:

"The truth wears six billion faces, each with different life circumstances, a different life script, and a different mode of emotional being."

Wow, that's powerful, isn't it? And if you liked that one, there's plenty more thought-provoking quotes embedded into this calendar o' mine. Do check out my FREE Creativity Inspiring 2007 Quote Calendar and feel free to pass along the link to all of the calendar enthusiasts you know. Hurry though, because the clock is ticking down to 2007 as we speak! Time is literally sprinkling into the other side of that hourglass. Don't let another day go by! <smile> •

A Chris-Must Story Posted December-16-2006
AND a FREE Merry Christmas Tree Coloring Page!
"A stitch in time saves NINE days until Christmas!" How's that for a mixed-up cliche? This week has been a working example of how one creativity enthusiast (that would be me) has built upon previous projects to produce more fun creative stuff. Of course, the theme this week has been Christmas tree-ativity. ...

Free Printable Christmas "Christmastreess" Coloring Page
Posted December-15-2006
Based on Nit Wits #29 (PDF 60KB)
This free printable stressed Christmas Tree "Christmastreess" coloring page is based on my Nit Wits comic #29 of the same title and is all about the Christmas holiday stress. ...

Reducing the Christmas Stress Posted Dec-14-2006
"Let it Flow, Let it Flow, Let it Go"
It's 11 days until Christmas — are you feeling the Christmas-crunch stress yet? Are thoughts of crowded shopping malls and imperfect gift wrapping seams invading your dreams? Are you baked out on cookie making and ornament hanging? Are you ready to create some new Christmastime traditions?

If you answered "YES!" to any of the above, I encourage you to read Anne Marie Bennett's article Shed Some Inner Light On Your Holidays AND another inspiring piece by Marcia Phillips titled Let it Flow, Let it Flow, Let it Go on reducing the Christmas stress. Neither of these is a quick and easy "7 Ways to Reduce Your Holiday Stress" kind of article. Instead, they cut right down to the soul of the matter — your soul — and promote doing what feels right in YOUR heart during the holiday season. Marcia is absolutely right: "It's your holiday." Experience the true joy of the season — the joy that's right within you. •

Christmas Ornament Crafty Gift Tags Posted Dec-13-2006
For My Creative, Frugal Friendsters
If you're needing a quick and easy way to print your own gift tags at home or in the office for those last-minute gifts, my fun Christmas Ornaments and Happy Snowman gift tags are the perfect solution. And they're free!

Yes, my Christmas Ornament gift tags are just right for Secret Santa Gifting, office gift exchanges, and cheapskates who don't want to shell out their own dough to buy their own gift tags. Well, it's true! But 'tis the season for giving and all... <smileysmirk>. It's my gift to you, dear reader. •

Christmas Word Search Puzzle Posted Dec-10-2006
For Creative, Playful Brains
Isn't it amazing that no matter how many e-mails are written, books are published, or paragraphs deleted, we never run out of letters? How cool is that?! Case in point, my latest creative puzzle creation is built upon the letter. Letters which form hidden words embedded in a grid of other letters to form a puzzle. When the brain is asked to solve a puzzle (or find a solution to a problem), it goes into this neat little mode called CREATIVITY. Why not stretch your creativity muscles today and print my free Christmas puzzle. Then do it. Can you find all of the hidden words? Right down to the last letter? I challenge you! •

Reflections in a Gettysburg Hotel Lobby Posted Dec-8-2006
Journal Entry: Wednesday, November 22, 2006, 8:20 a.m.
I am sitting in the lobby area of the Holiday Inn, right in front of the registration desk in a carpeted area with plush chairs in front of a gas-faux fireplace. I can feel the warmth from the fire before me — it’s roaring and the faint smell of holiday potpourri fills the air. ...

Warm & Fuzzy Days Posted December-5-2006
7th Grade Fuzzy Doodles
Cold wintry midwest snowstorms make me thankful for warm blankets and hot beverages. Which reminds me, I learned at least one life-transferable skill in the seventh grade: how to draw Fuzzies.

Fuzzies are simply friendly soft-looking creatures with googly-eyes, big noses, and smiling mouths. Thanks to a wonderfully eccentric hipster of an art teacher, Mrs. S., Fuzzies used to postscript my high school notes and snail mails to family members. I still doodle Fuzzies today. I did the one above months ago and needed to stick it in the Slush somewhere, so here you go. Maybe someday I'll create a drawing lesson for it. Cute, isn't it?

MUSE, PA, UPDATE: Thanks to a reader named Judy, I learned that Muse, Pennsylvania "is an old coal mining community with several churches, a small store, post office and the well-known Italian club." Wow, that reminded me of my recent travels to Bisbee, Arizona, which I need to get a-writing about. Thank you, Judy! •

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