You are a creative person... seriously!

One of the things I do to fill my well is spend all my free time on creative little projects. I never took any classes for art or sewing or anything like that. I've learned some from Dannon {who has a degree in fine art} but I mostly just experiment and play around with paper and felt. I know so many people who think they are not creative because they are not "artsy" or don't have training in the arts, but that's just not true. We all have the ability to be creative because we were all children once. All kids have this amazing ability to play and experiment and color things the "wrong" colors and draw scribbles that mean something. Somewhere along the way we get discouraged and our inner critic develops. The critic tells us we are not creative.

Two really awesome books which are all about quieting the critic and breathing life into our inner child are:

1. The Artist's Way {a more serious, in-depth approach}2. Living Out Loud {a lighter, sillier approach}

Please don't be deterred by the first book's title. It is not a book for artists about art. It is a book for everyone about finding creativity even when you think you don't have any. Both of these books are great and I highly recommend them to people who want to explore creativity in their lives, whether it's for crafty/artsy things or just becoming better at finding creative solutions in life.

Another awesome idea is to think back to when you were between the ages of 4 and 10. What were your favorite things to do? Did you play with clay, swing, play pretend, color, look at picture books, play blocks, dolls, t-ball? Now how do you play as an adult? Do you still include your childhood favorites in your adult life? If not, take 15 min. out of your day or week and play like a little kid again. It may feel weird at first, but after you're done see how you feel. It's hard not to feel refreshed and energized after you've let loose and played like a kid!

Here's me and Dannon playing like a kid on the beach for one of my psychology grad school assignments:
And here we are playing in the woods:
And here we are playing in a candy store:
So this weekend take a little time and do something completely silly and completely ridiculous! Play like a little kid and have fun!