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    Millefiori Finds

    Friday, August 8, 2008, 10:24 AM EST [Inspiration]
    Posted By: MC Tonia

    A close second to Venetian Glass in my recent fascination with Italian craftsmanship is millefiori. These beautiful and versatile beads lend themselves to inclusion in such a wide stylistic range of jewelry and mixed media. And so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite millefiori-inspired finds on Etsy.

    I love the bright, fresh color palette of this aptly named Ocean Isle bracelet (from shinytrinkets).

    By contrast, these romantic antique brass earrings (from ZuzusPetalsCreations) would make anyone feel like a true Renaissance woman.

    If this Murano glass showpiece (from Leeski) doesn't make you want to hop on the next plane to Venice, I don't know what will!

    What is inspiring your craft--or, at least, your daydreaming--today?

    Happy Friday,

    Jessica

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    Mixed-Media Monday

    Monday, May 19, 2008, 11:16 AM EST [Inspiration]
    Posted By: MC Tonia

    If you look forward to Mondays about as much as I do, then you’ll welcome this distraction about as much as I did! Mixed-Media Monday offers weekly challenges that not only get your creative juices flowing at the start of each week, but offer opportunities for integrating the online mixed-media community, too. Participants post their responses to the challenges on their own blogs with links back to Mixed-Media Monday, and then post comments with links to their completed challenges on their own sites directly on the Mixed-Media Monday blog (which is otherwise a refreshingly straightforward, no-frills site). The result is lots of inspiration as well as a host of new links to visit while you’re procrastinating the start of the week’s less pleasant tasks. This week’s challenge, to use maps in a mixed-media work, has already drawn 27 comments (meaning 27 completed challenges) just in the 3.5 hours since it was posted this morning!

    What’s inspiring you today?

    Happy Monday,
    Jessica

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    Are You Creative?

    Monday, May 12, 2008, 08:40 AM EST [Inspiration]
    Posted By: MC Tonia

    Don't you just love quizzes? Me too. Try this one; it's highly accurate!

    Quiz -- Are You Creative?
    By Michele Pariza Wacek

    Worried you may not be creative or you may not be creative enough? This quiz will help you find out just how creative you are.

    Take a piece of paper and number it from one to seven. For each question, write down the corresponding letter of your answer.

    1. When you come across a rose, you immediately:

    A. Smell it.
    B. Quote every rose poem you can remember.
    C. Write your own poem.
    D. Sketch the rose.
    E. Step on the rose.

    2. One of your dreams in life is to:

    A. Write a novel.
    B. Become a painter.
    C. Travel the world.
    D. Climb all the famous mountains.
    E. Just once, get everything done on your to-do list.

    3. Your desk:

    A. You have trouble finding as it's buried under everything including the kitchen sink.
    B. Resembles a natural disaster.
    C. Is a bit of a mess, but you know where everything is.
    D. Is basically neat -- you use the stacking method.
    E. Is in perfect order -- everything in its place.

    4. The person you admire most is:

    A. Einstein.
    B. Walt Disney.
    C. Your mother.
    D. Jane Austin.
    E. Anyone who can get everything crossed off his or her to-do list.

    5. You consider yourself:

    A. Extremely creative.
    B. Creative.
    C. Somewhat creative.
    D. A little creative.
    E. About as creative as a turnip (come to think about it, turnips may be more creative then you are).

    6. You get new ideas:

    A. All the time.
    B. Several times a week.
    C. Several times a month.
    D. Once or twice a month.
    E. You dimly recall getting a new idea when Clinton was in office. Or maybe it was the first Bush.

    7. You dream in:

    A. Color.
    B. Black and white.
    C. Both black and white and color.
    D. You can't remember now.
    E. Nothing. You don't dream.

    Scoring:

    Throw out all your answers except for number five -- "You consider yourself:". If you answered:

    A. Extremely creative -- Then you're extremely creative.
    B. Creative -- Then you're creative.
    C. Somewhat creative -- Then you're somewhat creative.
    D. A little creative -- Then you're a little creative.
    E. About as creative as a turnip -- Then you're about as creative as a turnip.

    Okay, this was a bit of a trick. But it's true. How creative you think you are corresponds with how creative you really are.

    A couple of studies illustrate this. A big company wanted to increase creativity in its employees. So it hired a group of consultants to come in. The consultants started by thoroughly testing all of the employees. They discovered the only difference between the employees who were creative and those who weren't was this: Creative people believed they were creative and less creative people believed they weren't.

    Even more telling was what happened to the group that wasn't creative. The consultants focused on helping them nurture their creativity. At the end, those employees were actually more creative than the ones who had initially considered themselves creative.

    And that means you too can become more creative. In fact, how creative you become is entirely in your own hands.

    Creativity Exercise -- Assumptions

    Ready to become more creative? Here's an exercise.

    Write down all the reasons why you're not creative. Go on. Write them all down. Every negative reason you can think of.

    Things like:

    I've never been creative in my life.

    I haven't had a new idea in over a year.

    I don't have time to be creative.

    Now reverse those negative assumptions and make them positive. Like so:

    I am a creative person.

    I have lots of new ideas all of time.

    I don't need time to be creative because I already am creative.

    Do this every day and see what happens. This is a great way to start getting rid of those inner demons that keep all of us from realizing our true potential.

    Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michele_Pariza_Wacek
    http://EzineArticles.com/?Quiz----Are-You-Creative?&id=8645

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    Artful Blogging

    Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 02:21 PM EST [Inspiration]
    Posted By: MC Tonia

    If you are a fan of blogs as a source of inspiration, you're going to want to pick up Stampington & Company's latest issue of Artful Blogging. Whether you're a jewelry artist, a collage artist, a fiber artist, or any other sort of maker, chances are you'll find some great new blogs to add to your Bloglines list in this magazine.

    Of course it was fun to see some of my current favorites, like Whipup and My Creative Soul but I also found some other blogs to add to my own list, like Something Sublime and Secret Notebooks • Wild Pages.

    Are there blogs where you regularly find inspiration?

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    Taking Flight

    Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 03:53 PM EST [Inspiration]
    Posted By: MC Tonia

    Hi, it’s me, Christine. I’m feeling lucky today. Lucky that I have a job that can be really, really cool. And inspiring. Today, I get to read Kelly Rae Robert’s book Taking Flight before it heads to the printer in a few weeks. Just sitting here, reading. Soaking in the goodness of her art and her very inspiring words. A lucky day indeed.

    And as I’m sitting here reading about diving into new creative experiences, I couldn’t help but find it fitting that one of Kelly Rae’s featured artists is Laurie Mika, a mixed media artist that incorporates a lot of polymer clay in her work. Whenever someone asks me what crafts I do, I say, “Pretty much everything except polymer clay.” No good reason for that, especially in light of Kelly Rae’s book. What’s stopping me from trying it? What do I fear about this medium?

    Do you use polymer clay in your mixed media art? What got you to try it in the first place? What sorts of things have you made? I’d love to be inspired by your experiences.

    And to get inspired by some of Laurie Mika's polymer clay mosaic creations, check out her book Mixed-Media Mosaics.

    Until next time,
    Christine

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