09 Apr Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

Hi everyone,

How suitable a quote like this in times like these right? Would be lovely if I was able to spark the interest in some of you to do something creative in your free time, since I bet you have some more of that on hand right now, righty?
But where are my manners, how are you all? I hope you are staying at home and safe and are still healthy and motivated to make the best out of this time, becaue I think we really can if we want.

I found a wonderful quote a few weeks ago and even if it sounds a bit cheesy, I’d love to share it with you, since I think that it could be a nice little inspiration for some of you, so here it goes:

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and hearltess ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

I honestly love this saying, it brings me hope that everything will be even better after we made it through this, because we then made it through it together. I know it’s super hard on a lot of us and our families, but trying to stay positive in tough times, can make a world of difference.

On a little lighter note I thought I’d share some creative projects with you and probably give you some ideas, for trying a thing or two yourself. I am working on some of them at the moment, or did them at some point before all this started, but I thought I’d share a mix of creative projects, so you can hopefully find one you would like to give a try.

Project 1: Nail-Art

All you really need for this one is some kind of thread, a piece of wood (preferably one that is a little softer, so it’s easier to hammer something into it), some nails and a pencil, with which you roughly draw out the kind of shape you’d like to do.

Project 2: Painting on canvas. 

This one is with oil-paint, which to be honest is kind of a pain in the a** since it doesn’t dry properly for weeks, but still was great fun, since the colours are just beautiful to draw with. Just experiment with acrylic paint or whatever you have at home really and give it a try. The resuluts work as great little art pieces for your room or as a gift for someone you love.

Project 3: Wall decor

Speaking of designing something for your room, ever thought about using your wall as a canvas?

Project 4: Calender

You could either print out some pictures yourself and glue them into a pre-bought calender, which is nice, since you can do different designs with drawings for every month. Another option would be to design one online with your pictures and get it printed. Mine made a good Christmas present in 2018.

Project 5: Jewlery stands or hangers

I made two different ones, which are acutally really easy. For the first one you only need branches, a few nails, a hammer and beads and thread for making it that bit more special.

The other one is a student-home friendly version, so you don’t have to put any nails into your walls. All I did was hammering a few nails into an old picture frame, covered them with some gold wire to make them look more fancy and that’s basically it.

Project 6: Plant pots

All you need are some plant pots, preferably ones that you already had at home and want to give a new life or purpose and some ceramic-paint or whatever will stay on your plant pots, even when it gets wet.

Project 7: Personalized pillow cases

For this lovely DIY you’ll only need white pillow cases and some fabric paint. I chose the pen version over actual colours you have to use paint brushes for, since it allowed me to do some more detailed designs.

Project 8: Photoalbum

I already mentioned that I did one in my last blog-post (What you can do in uncertain times). But this was one I did with polaroid pictures I already had at home. And of course there is the option of designing one online. My dad does one for most of our holidays, which is so special to us.

Project 9: Different techniques and material

I can only recommend trying out different sorts of paint and materials to draw on. This one I did with chalk, crayons and marker, so a very cool mix and I love how it gives it so many different textures.

Project 10: Pen organizer

For this DIY I simply took two old mason jars, put craft glue on it and used very thin tissue paper (or as we call it in German “Seidenpapier”) to stick it on. Afterwards I used the ruffels of a paper-sheet you can lay underneath a cake to make it look pretty and glued it to the top rim of the glass jars.

Project 11: Magnetic wall makeover

I used pretty much the same materials as for the pen organizers, just without glue, but tape at the back, for this magnetic- wall makeover. Super simple but can make something boring look very cute and chice.

Project 12: Bottle-vases

Well pretty self explanatory I guess, but ever thought of using cool glass-bottles as vases? And also you can not only put flowers in vases right?

Project 13: Wire-sculpture

That’s something I created in school. Our teacher told us we would have the oportunity to use all materials available at school and do something artsy with it, so I decided to do this little sculpture. All you need is some fine wire, but not too fine, it should still be sturdy enough to stand upright on its own, a piece of wood and pliers to bend the wire. Preferably draw your design on a piece of paper before that, so you can lay your wire on top and bend and twist it into the right shape. And
et voila, you have your very own little sculpture.

Project 14: Custom shoes

This is my current project. That’s why the left shoe isn’t done yet, but I am currently embroidering my white vans. You can also use fabric paint to draw a design. Have a look on pinterest if you are interested in doing that, there are endless options to be inspired by.

Project 15: Gallery wall

We have a huge one in our hallway, and I head several ones in my room as well, but you really don’t need pictures frames, you could also just stick some printed out photos or art pieces onto your walls.

I also thought I’d share some amazing art of my friends with you, since I am lucky enough to have the most creative friends, who do the coolest stuff.

Project 16: i-pad illustrations

These two gorgeous art-pieces are from two of my wonderful friends, Clara and Pia. They design those creations on their i-pads, which is also such a cool idea, don’t you think?
Pia posts her sketches on Instagram @die.leinwand which I think is so cool, you should really have a look.
And Clara even made those designs into a booklet for her sister, which looks like it is done by a professional illustrator.
They both surly inspire me daily with their cool art pieces and I love that we can share our creativity with each other and get inspired through that.

Project 17: Portraits

My amazing friend Andrea does these incredible looking portraits or as she would probably call them “los retratos”. I love how she uses the combination of black and white and colourful accents, I think it is so special.

Project 18: Bullet journaling

My lovely friend Hana always works on her bullet journal, which I think is such a wonderful idea to make being creative an actual habit, since she draws and writes in hers nearly daily. You can really let your creativity flow freely and make trackers, calenders, write down thoughts or simply sketch whatever comes to your mind.

I personally get inspired through so many resources. through my friends as I mentioned above, from strolling through pinterest, simply being in nature or also from DIY or makeover Youtube videos. I also love the idea of a 30 day creativity challenge, where you do a different kind of project every day, either with a plan for the whole month (you can find hundreds on pinterest) or with just going with what you feel like that day. I haven’t done one yet, but I am surly planning on doing one in the future.

Weeell and that is it.
I think by doing things that spark joy, make you feel good and just happy are essential! We really should do more of it everyday, not only in times like this. I realize now on a completely different level how important it is, for me anyway. I am surly trying to keep some of those good habbits going also when everything slowly will go back to normal. I realize that doing something simply for the reason of enjoying the process, and doing it only for myself and no one else, is not only important but essential. If you haven’t done something like this yet, give it a try, trust me.

Enough rambeling, I already let you in on my thoughts enough today I guess…
I thought about it, but now agreed with myself not to tell you to skip those parts if you are not interested, because I truly hope you simply do so if you don’t feel like reading them.

Sending you all my best wishes and all the love I have!

See you soon,
xx Lena