As part of my random 3 digit reading project, I discovered a Smithsonian book on different types of shells. Of all of the books that I got that I probably never would have picked up on my own, this one is the one that has drawn my attention most so far. (Thanks to @adanishheart for a really great lucky number!)

The whole point of this project was to inspire something new for me and this totally has. Although I have occasionally looked for shells on the beach, admired beautiful shells and even kept a handful of them in a vessel in my home for awhile, I’ve never thought one way or the other about them. This book has taught me that there are sooooo many different kinds of shells, that they all have histories and their own unique parts and stories.

And I’ve just fallen in love with the language in the book, the language of shells with their whorls and spires, their iridescent pearlized insides and concentric ribbed outsides … It has been awhile since I’ve felt like writing any kind of poetry but this book totally re-sparked my poetry bug. In fact, I went to a coffee shop today with a new notebook and the book on shells and five poems came flooding out of me. Of course, they are the bare bones of poems. They need to be edited, explored, worked on. But the structure, the spark, is totally there. I felt inspired. I love inspired!

I also have an idea for crochet shell art that I’m developing in my mind. We’ll see, we’ll see. What a fun adventure!

Tags: poetry, reading project, shells

March 20th is Obscura Day, a day designated for celebrating wondrous, curious and esoteric places. The celebration is going on in cities all around the world. There are special events going on at strange places ranging from visiting a dead body in a sculpture park in Lucas, Kansas to checking out giant potholes in Nighoj, India.

This is one of those things that is a little random and weird but is also really cool. There are tons of interesting and unusual things to see in various places around the world. They exist in large cities as well as small towns. Sometimes you go see them and they turn out to be kind of boring but often you discover things that you never would have known anything about. Broadening your experiences makes your world bigger.

Here in my own neck of the woods, some of the things going on for Obscura Day include:

• Wine and snacks at the Long Now Foundation Museum. This place is working on a project to make a 10,000 year clock. I’ll be honest; I’ve been here and I think this project is just a little bit too smart for me because I couldn’t quite follow the point of it. Nevertheless, I got to check out some cool machines and try to get a grasp on a really unique project.
• Tour of Musee Mechanique. This is a really cool old arcade museum that features arcade games from years and years ago. It’s located at Fisherman’s Wharf here in San Francisco and it’s always tons of fun to go to it.
• See a huge pneumatic tube system. In nearby Palo Alto you can tour one of the world’s largest pneumatic tube systems for Obscura Day.
• Berkeley’s Bone Room. I haven’t ever been here but I’ve heard it’s a must-see thing for people who are into strange stuff. It’s a collection of bones and for Obscura Day they’re providing a talk about what you can see there.

Tags: obscura day

I was just reading an article in a design magazine about a very unique design approach that has been taken by a Japanese mental health clinic located in Tokyo. The design uses a variety of different tricks that would likely confuse the mind. For example, there are doors located all throughout the mental health hospital but the doors don’t actually open. How do you get into the rooms if the doors don’t open? Well, there are hidden doors located behind bookcases and in the center of walls adorned with decorations.

It sounds almost like a form of torture doesn’t it? Here you are, trying to gather together your sanity, and everything that should be normal around you is different from the way that it’s supposed to be. It sounds confusing. It sounds frightening. But perhaps it’s exactly the opposite. Perhaps this unique approach to design could be the thing that helps to heal patients.

The thinking behind this design is that it’s a truly hands-on, day-to-day method of getting everyone in the facility to think outside of the box. When your normal surroundings are altered in a very unusual way like this, you are forced to think differently. You are forced to be more creative. This could have a very beneficial impact on altering the negative states of mind of the patients who come to receive help at the mental health clinic. It might even have a positive effect on the thinking patterns of staff and visitors.

As beautifully described by the magazine:

“By providing alternate perspectives for viewing the world, and avoiding being trapped by pre-existing perceptions, the interior allows visitors–and staff members–to experience opening new doors in their hearts, one after the other.”

It’s a fascinating idea isn’t it?

Tags: design, hidden rooms, japanese design, mental health clinic, unique design

As I mentioned before, I’m one of the lucky 300 bloggers participating in Blog It Forward, an idea launched by SFGirlByBay. We’re all writing about what inspires us personally. We’re each being introduced by the blog before us (thanks to my intro blog, Diary of a Budget Fashionista!!) and we’re making sure that you know to check out the blog after us (definitely check out Dig Under Rocks tomorrow!). I’d really encourage you to check out all of the different posts, though, because they have been so amazing and inspiring in and of themselves!

For my part, I have to say that I really get inspired by everything. I see things and read things and hear things all throughout the day and they inspire me. Some inspire me to write a certain blog post. Some inspire my creative writing or poetry. Some inspire my desire to learn new things. Some inspire me to be kinder to others. Some just give me that wonderful feeling of vague inspiration that doesn’t get channeled into anything specific but makes me feel a little bit brighter about life.

I could go on and on forever about every little thing that inspires me but I’ll keep my list down to 100 inspiring things:

1. Live sketching events where artists gather together, create art as you watch and post it on a wall for sale right there
2. Watching children do anything that reveals that childlike wonder for things that we adults consider normal or mundane
3. Watching people work on computers or consumer electronics because I just can’t do it well myself
4. Hearing about the memories of elderly people
5. Reading books on creativity and artful living
6. Huge libraries filled with floors and floors of so many books that I’ll never be able to read them all
7. Wandering around the city people-watching
8. Indie arts and crafts events where hundreds of crafters gather together to show off their work
9. Browsing through Etsy
10. Watching absolutely any film that’s shown in IMAX 3D
11. Being handed a plate of food that’s almost too beautiful to eat but tastes so good that you can’t help it
12. The smell of coffee
13. Taking walking tours especially through areas I’ve seen a hundred times but want to see in a new way
14. Those grand things that inspire everyone like magnificent sunsets and huge ocean views
15. Finding pictures in the clouds
16. Stop-Motion video
17. People who can take really amazing pictures and then make them even better with photo editing software
18. Listening to auctioneers do their thing
19. Checking out antique stores in small towns in the Midwest
20. Long road trips with just me, myself and the radio
21. Pandora and how well it seems to know what I want to hear!
22. Anyone who can find the silver lining in a tough situation
23. The amazing women who have entered my life over the years
24. Great quotations from authors both known and unknown
25. Magic shows
26. Cirque du Soleil performances
27. Lomography
28. Random links posted on social networking sites for me to click on
29. Vintage postcards
30. Learning new crochet stitches and making something I haven’t made before
31. Scrapbooking the photos taken throughout the month
32. Journaling
33. Reading the published journals/diaries of other people, especially writers and artists
34. Documentaries that are both interesting and informative
35. Reading “strange news” websites and blogs
36. Fingering the fabrics in luxury clothing stores
37. Piecing together outfits from the items bought in second hand clothing stores
38. The changing skyline of San Francisco
39. Everything about my little sister
40. Doing things that scare me at first like riding ATVs
41. Long hikes
42. Long conversations
43. Live theatre events where a single actor plays multiple roles
44. Listening to people beatbox
45. Open mic poetry readings
46. Coloring books
47. Those 3D posters that you had to really stare at to see the picture
48. Crazy competitions like the fastest texters or the fastest Rubik’s cube solvers
49. Elaborate sandcastles
50. Project Runway
51. Women who can walk in six inch heels
52. Elderly people who are trying new things, performing in plays, really out there living life
53. Anything that manages to actually make me laugh out loud
54. Coming across really funny typos
55. Stunning strange shoes like these
56. Seeing videos of people doing free running and parkour
57. Terrific slideshows of beautiful things set to music that just really goes with the images
58. Daydreaming
59. Unique architecture, bionic buildings, upside down houses
60. That moment when you feel like you’re really connecting with a stranger
61. Collage art
62. Watching glass blowers in action
63. The smell of used bookstores
64. Burlesque performance
65. How people come together in a crisis
66. Getting groups of adults together to do things like color Easter eggs or make gingerbread houses
67. Stunning Christmas light displays
68. Seeing people use creative approches to doing the things that we do every day
69. Viewing other people’s random collections – music or salt shakers or aprons or whatever they may love that I didn’t until I saw their passion
70. Children twirling around until they fall down
71. Science museums
72. Car shows and museums filled with vintage cars
73. Articles that show specific changing technology (like how cell phones have changed over the years)
74. Fingerpainting
75. Yoga, pilates, meditation, and hula hoop dancing classes
76. People who speak half a dozen languages or more
77. The Northern Lights
78. Rainbows
79. Conventions for odd interests like the movie The Blob or the merging of sex and technology
80. Weird niche books on topics like pedestrianism or obituary writing
81. Unusual museums like the Liberace Museum in Vegas
82. Stumbling upon unique free events
83. Travel memoirs
84. The fact that scarves can be worn so many different ways
85. People who can make crazy outfits or makeup look good
86. Costumed events
87. Meteor showers
88. When you find the exact word to specifically describe something
89. Keeping a list of “ugly words” with my dad and getting excited about coming across a new one
90. Those moments when I actually feel like I’m really living in the moment
91. Weird hotels
92. Funny signage especially when it’s not intended to be funny
93. Leafy sea dragons
94. Visiting aquariums
95. Trying to cook something new and having it come out exactly right
96. Setting and meeting random goals like trying twenty different sugar-rimmed drinks or watching all of the movies with a particular actor in them
97. Riding on the back of someone else’s motorcycle
98. Collaborative projects with cool creative people
99. Exploring caves and lava tubes and ruins and old mines
100. Falling in love

Tags: 100 inspiring things, blog it forward, creativity, inspiration

As I mentioned not that long ago, I’m going to be participating in a really cool project called Blog it Forward (or The Blogger Mashup). Over the course of the next month, three hundred of us bloggers are going to be sharing what inspires us. That’s a lot of creativity being shared in one place! I’m super excited about it.

The whole thing kicks off today with the first ten bloggers:

1. SFGirlByBay: This inspiring blogger is the one who started this whole thing. Be sure to see what inspires her!
2. Creature Comforts. Beautiful photos of inspiring things along with a description of why they’re inspiring.
3. The Paper Pony. Picture-rich post of inspiring photography.
4. Design for Mankind. Great A-Z list of inspiring things.
5. Ink on my Fingers. Inspired by some surprising things!
6. Poppytalk. The Olympics, the elderly, art … and more.
7. Heart Fish. If you’re a fan of typography then you’ll love this post!
8. Smile and Wave. Inspired by illustration art.
9. Oh Hello Friend.
10. Hula Seventy.

Tags: blog it forward, blogger mashup, blogging inspiration, sfgirlbybay

I regularly read a few design blogs just to get some inspiration and see some pretty pictures. One of the blogs that I really like is SF Girl by Bay. And there’s a post over there this week that I’m adoring. It’s a selection of different inspiration boards (and walls of inspiration). I don’t have any sort of real inspiration board here in my apartment but I’ve been drawn to the idea of having one for a long time.

I’ve had things that were similar … an ever-changing wall of photos in my old house, a steady stream of quotes put up and taken down around the house … but I’ve always kind of wanted a more organized sort of place to put the things that inspire me until I figure out how I want to use them (or if I don’t anymore).

And I think that one style shown off in the blog post has defined it for me – finally! It’s a set of ten different clipboards hung up in an orderly fashion on the wall. Each clipboard holds different bits of inspiration. I never would have thought of this myself but it’s perfect! I could put everything for one project on a single clipboard. I could move things around as I see a better place for them. They’d be on the wall where I can get inspired but neat and orderly so I don’t feel cluttered.

It’s genius! I need to go buy clipboards now.

Tags: art, clipboards, creativity, home organization, inspiration board

I just came across a really cool article about some neat stuff that math-loving physicists are doing with light. They’re actually taking math skills and applying them in an artistic way to knot light beams into cool designs. Things I learned from this article:

• Light doesn’t always travel in a straight line. It might also travel in swirls and curlicues. Cool stuff.
• There are dark lines that fill in the space between light. Makes sense but who knew?
• Holograms can be used to alter the shape of light. That’s basically what they did to create these light knots. Basically each point of the hologram is used to shape the light around a dark knot.
• Knots have been made from light before but not like this. Previous attempts to do this have created a series of intertangled knots whereas the knots from this scientific project were all single knots.
• You could do this yourself … if you had a hologram and a laser beam.

Tags: hologram, light knots, livescience, science, science knots

There are a wide range of different topics that I write about on a regular basis. My favorite topic of all is probably creativity. In fact, I try to take a creative slant to almost any other topic that I write about (although I wouldn’t say that I always succeed). I believe that writing about creativity makes me more motivated to be creative in my own life. I hope that it encourages other people to be creative as well.

Several of my recent articles on HubPages were about being creative. These included:

• 10 Fun and Creative Projects to do with your Camera Phone. It was so fun to try to think up different projects that you could do with just the camera on your phone. I have to admit that I haven’t done all of these myself but now that I’ve thought of them there are certainly some in there that I plan to try. I think your camera phone is a great tool for little daily bits of creativity.
• 7 Fun, Free Tag Cloud Programs for Creating Word Art. Tag clouds can be so inspiring. I put this HubPages article together as I was trying to find a good tag cloud program for myself. (I like Wordle best, big surprise). This inspired another article on my own blog about using tag cloud programs to benefit writing.
• 15 Ideas for Using Your Writing to Make Christmas Presents. I believe that your writing can always be used as a gift. Here are some creative and fun ideas for how to turn your writing into affordable and appreciated presents for Christmas.
• 10 Terrific Niche Books for Curious Readers. Creative people are usually readers. These are a bunch of books that I’ve read that are on unusual topics that you don’t normally get the chance to read about. How fun!
• 10 Stunning Surrealist Artists. Finally I recently wrote an article highlighting the work of ten different surrealist artists who are not from the original era of surrealism but instead are putting out amazing works of art today. I’m so inspired by these people!

Tags: art, creativity, inspiration, smartchick, writing

I recently wrote an article featuring 20 ways to say congratulations to someone who is celebrating a special occasion. There are lots of things that you can do to congratule someone ranging from simply saying that you’re proud of them to buying a pricey gift for them.

What I discovered when writing that article is that the methods of saying congrats that interest me most are the ones that have a personal touch. Here’s the Top 5 homemade personal congratulations gifts that I’d like to receive if I was celebrating an accomplishment:

1. Scrapbooks. I love making scrapbooks and I’d really love to receive one from someone as well. A scrapbook of the events leading up to the celebrating would be ideal for me!
2. Home video or photo slideshow. Even better than a scrapbook is an active visual presentation put together to celebrate the event!
3. A letter. There are some accomplishments that are best celebrated with a letter. The letter might describe why someone is proud of you or offer you advice for the new stage of life that you’re entering. I’d love to get this one from my parents or other older people in my life.
4. A song. Even better than a letter would be a song or poem!
5. Cookies! Someone who didn’t know me very well but who wanted to congratulate me would not go wrong with a home-baked gift!

What would you want someone to make for you to say congratulations?

Tags: congratulations gifts, diy, gifts, homemade presents, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, say congratulations, ways to say congrats

I do a lot of different types of crafts. I do fabric crafts. I do scrapbooking. I do collage work.

Doing crafts means that I frequently have to figure out a way to adhered one thing to another (such as a photo to a scrapbook page). I have used all different types of glues and tapes in an effort to find the best adhesive for different crafts.

You know what I’ve learned? I really only like double-sided tape.

Believe me, I know that there are a lot of crafts for which other types of adhesive are recommended. There are dozens of different types of glues out there which are recommended for crafts (including scrapbooking). I’ve tried them. I don’t like them.

I keep trying to use something other than double-sided tape for my crafts. Whenever something else is recommended, I try it. But it never seems to work for me. I make a mess wtih glues. I don’t like other tapes. I seem to just be a double-sided tape kind of girl.

Why fight it right?

Tags: art, crafts, creativity, double sided tape, double tape, hubpages, kathryn vercillo