Season's & Holidays Word Search Puzzles Printable e-Book
October-29-2009
NEW! Fun for Classrooms and Workshops!
After months of production, it's finally ready and available for instant download right now, with a free sample page for you to try just in time for Halloween. What am I talking about? My newest printable Creative Slush playbook, Seasons & Holidays Word Search Puzzles (ISBN 978-0-984-3058-1-0). And to further entice you, it's available at a special introductory price of $2.49. If you liked the printable puzzles I've created for Creativity Portal, you'll love this timeless collection of redesigned puzzles, including some never seen before. Try it out! •
Novelist Orna Ross on Free-Writing October-24-2009
Expressions Floating Down the Stream of Consciousness
Thanks to Orna Ross' comprehensive tutorial on free-writing, I am inspired to dig up a piece of stream-of-consciousness writing I did three years ago during a severe case of Crayonusitis tangled with Pumpkinitis — typical creative ailments that inflict me in the fall, in particular, during October around Halloween.
In my sleepy-eyed rambling piece, What if Pumpkins Grew on Trees?, I realize it was a metaphoric purging of pent-up anger and fear in response to the political and social context I found myself in that morning. I recorded the piece on this site (instead of tossing it, which I often do) as a testimony to the power of allowing oneself to wholly partake in free- or stream-of-consciousness writing without censoring. To this, Orna quotes Natalie Goldberg from "Writing Down the Bones" on the 'tremendous energy of first thoughts' and adds:
"From time to time, you will find thoughts rise in you that you don’t want to write, thoughts that feel frightening or silly or disgusting or pathetic. Thoughts you don’t want anybody else to know you ever had. Let them come, raw as they are. Get them out of you. The words you least feel like writing are often those that are most significant. Don’t think, just write."
Most lines in my piece came from the darkness hovering within (the shadow side), which I reserve for special private writing occasions. The fact that the energy worked itself out upon my waking was a strange, yet welcome event, that I now have preserved in my creative scrapbook to share with all.
In the coming months, more rich writing explorations of creative intelligence will be shared on Creativity Portal from novelist Orna Ross, who meanwhile can be found writing and blogging at her own inspiring Web site, www.ornaross.com. •
Try it! Juicy Journaling with SARK October-22-2009
Inspiring Writing eProgram
If you're interested in trying out SARK's new online "Juicy Journaling" program, which includes 30 days of inspiring e-mails delivered to your inbox with creativity-inducing writing prompts, recordings, resources, and more, please feel free to use my special affiliate link to pop you on over.
I endorse this creative program not only because I've contributed something special to day 11, but because I've also gone through it and testify that it "inspires daily creative writing as you nourish your curious, colorfull, inspired writer self." I've even gifted it to a special journal-loving friend.
Need a personal invitation from SARK? Done! She says, "I invite you to join me on this new juicy journey through words, feelings, and fabulously juicy living! I designed this eProgram to inspire writers of any and all levels to go new places with words. It's overflowing with multi-media tools to unearth your new, fresh writing voice and nourish your soul." •
Nit Wits 50: Ballooney (Balloon Boy Hoax)
October-20-2009
Floating Creative Ideas in the Colorado Sky
I'm all for a good gag, but not the kind that cost others substantial time and resources and emotional distress. But I know, as history shows, hoaxes of all kinds have played out through time and space and will continue coax us on this Reality-TV stage of life. ...
Update On Lauretta Lowell's Whimsical Curiosities
October-13-2009
Artist Creates Unusual Whimsical Assemblages
Remember Lauretta Lowell's Inspiring Creativity Story? She's the owner of www.whimsicalcuriosities.com, an online studio chock-full of sculpture, jewelry, and assemblage art dripping with curiosity and whimsy. Today I received this press release from Lauretta with permission to reproduce here for anyone interested in her art.
Palm Desert, CA – Artist, Lauretta Lowell, has utilized her whimsical outlook of life to discover an unusual assemblage style in creating her newest series of whimsical dolls. The style, which she said she discovered less than a year ago, is based on the process of lovingly bringing her memorable assemblage sculptures to life with a mixture of humor, antiques, vintage toys, hardware and costume jewelry. She calls her creations Whimsical Curiosities.
The sculptures take on a personality and story of their own reflected in her titles like: Wish I Had a Pony, Mr. Wolf Gets in Touch with His Inner Rabbit, Is it Too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus, Stepford Monkey, A Caged Bird Still Sings, and Call in a Wish. These unique, whimsical sculptures, as well as her unusual jewelry, are being shown and sold at Heusso Gallery in Palm Springs, CA, as well as Art & Soul Gallery in Bothell, WA and Gallery 873 in Ivins, Utah.
Lowell said this assemblage technique was discovered out of frustration with traditional media and the constant seriousness of most conventional art. “Art is an explosive expression of humanity; the serious and the silly. It's something everyone is touched by and no matter what culture or background people are from, everyone appreciates the soul and message of art," she stated.
In other news, Lauretta will be selling her art at the upcoming Gilda's Club Annual Luncheon, Boutique and Fashion Show, November 20, in the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa, Rancho Mirage, CA. and La Quinta’s Art Under the Umbrellas, November 28. Her work has been shown and sold in Hawaii — Utah — Santa Barbara, Westlake, San Luis Obispo, and San Francisco, CA.
For more information see her website at www.whimsicalcuriosities.com. •
"Do Good" Cards from HelpFromHome.org October-13-2009
Kindness Printables/Trackables
On a random acts of kindness / Found Art-ish kick? If paying it forward or buying a cup of coffee for the next one in line isn't your thing, check out these printable "Do Good" cards from HelpFromHome.org, "a grassroots initiative with a passion for making a difference in the world we live in," designed with simple volunteering suggestions that can be handed out to friends or left in a random place to encourage others towards kinder acts and volunteerism in the world. A cool feature about these cards is they can be tracked online if you so desire to watch the kindness ripple effect. Ripple on, baby! •
365 Pictures October Collaborators October-10-2009
Shout Outs: Web Sites & Blogs
Creativity Portal's perpetual 365 Pictures is on the move! Here's the wealth of creative talent this prompt pool is drawing from during the month of October, alphabetically for your clickiousity:
Muse News You Can Use: Jill Badonsky's Nine Modern Muses (and a Bodyguard) to be Interviewed on Creativity Portal! October-02-2009
Exclusive! Awesome! Imagination-Laden!
Oh, it's true. Collaborative minds at Creativity-Portal.com aren't just creative. They're playful and imaginative and are willing to go that extra mile into the land of creative hallucination to explore all angles of potential and possibilities to inspire others (like you) to become their (your) creative best.
I applaud both Jill Badonsky (themuseisin.com) and Molly Anderson-Childers (stealingplums.blogspot.com) for collaborating on this new series of interviews with Jill's own "hip twist on the Nine Muses of Ancient Greece" The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) from her groundbreaking book of the same name. The first interview in this fun series with a squeeze of humor is with Arnold (the Bodyguard).
Over the next nine months you'll get creative insights like no other in interviews with each of the Modern Muses: Aha-phrodite, Albert, Bea Silly, Muse Song, Spills, Audacity, Lull, Shadow, and Marge. If you want a sneak peek to see what all this muse-fuss is all about, you may take a free muse refresher course. •
The Beckoning of Lovely Update October-02-2009
What happened 9/9/09?
I received an update from Brian, an Ambassador of Lovely with the following update of what happened at the Chicago Bean on September 9:
"...on 09/09/09 we quietly returned to the Bean sculpture (at Millennium Park in Chicago) to honor and celebrate all that has transpired in the life of The Beckoning of Lovely since it began on 8/08/08. Please see what happened that day as Chicago strangers came together to embrace the spirit of cooperation, community and hope.
Here's the video (it's 2-minutes long)
The Beckoning of Lovely: A Year Later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_yN12S6o3Y"
It is lovely. Take two minutes today to see. •
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