I’m having way too much fun manipulating photos. I have a pair I want to share. The first photo is the image as it was taken by the camera. The second photo is the same image and all that I did was hit “sharpen” about a million times and this is what it became.

Tags: creativity, fotoflexer, photo editing, photography

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

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

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 love to check art books out of the library. They’re too pricey to buy most of the time but they’re also really inspiring so it’s great to get them for a few weeks to get a creative burst and then return them.

One of the creative books that I just checked out is called Fabric Art Workshop. It’s a really interesting book designed for people who are interested in doing art with fabric.

The book is set up in a cool style. It lists a type of fabric technique and describes what it is. Then it gives a few creative tips for how to use it. There are dozens of pages like this so you get a really good overview of all of the different techniques that you can use for creating fabric art.

Some of the techniques that are covered in this book include the use of paintstiks, monoprinting, adding sparkle with foiling, screenprinting and burning the edges of fabric. Some of the more creative techniques include “shaving cream marbling” and using unique fabrics like angelina fiber and gossamer silk.

This isn’t the easiest book to use if you’ve never worked with fabrics before (although it does have some good step-by-step tips for some of the techniques) but if you’ve done some fabric work (like quilting) in the past then it’s a great way to enhance what you already know.

Tags: art, art books, book recommendation, book review, books, creativity, kathryn vercillo, reading

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

Creative Commons is a really great site. It allows artists and writers to copyright their work and to clearly lay out rules for other people to use that work. As someone who publishes content on a near-daily basis, I really love the opportunity to use creative commons to find work that I can publish.

For the most part, I don’t publish writing although you can certainly find writing to publish through the Creative Commons site. I like to do my own writing and don’t typically feel the need to have other writers fill in for me in that respect.

However, there are a lot of other things that I don’t do myself that it is great to use Creative Commons for in order to add to my site. The main thing that I use it for is to find Flickr photos that I can use on my blogs. These photos are easy to search for through the site and the rules for how they can be used on a blog are super clear. Video and music can also be added to a site in the same way.

It’s important to respect the Creative Commons rules and the boudaries set forth by the creators of the content when using the site. If you can do that, you can get a lot of great content to enhance what you’re already putting out there.

Is anyone else using Creative Commons? What has your experience been with it so far?

Tags: copyright, creative commons, creativity

My birthday just recently passed. I’ve read a lot about what my birthday means in different astrological charts and things like that because I’m interested in that sort of stuff even if I’m not sure that I believe any of it to be specifically true.

One of the things I’ve read about in relation to that is the famous people who share my date of birth. I think it’s interesting to see who else was born on the same day as me. Famous people who have the same birthday as me include Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Beckett, Eudora Welty, and Gary Kasparov (the chess champion). Interestingly there are also a few Miss America types with this birthday and the date is also shared with the children of several famous folks including Sean Penn’s daughter and John Travolta’s son.

So what? Well here’s the thing … If there’s any truth at all to the fact that people who share astrological signs may also share some personality traits then it’s possible to get inspired by looking at the famous people who share your birthday. Reviewing the works of great politicians, famous authors and smart chess players can make you feel like you have this potential as well. I think it’s a good idea to reflect on this for a moment during each birthday to refocus on your own goals and to get a sense of inspiration about how to achieve them.

Another example of how to be inspired by famous birthdays (in this case June 3 birthdays) can be seen here.

Tags: birthdays, creativity, famous birthdays, famous people, holidays, inspiration

I really love looking at gadgets and technology that are only in concept form. I’m a huge fan of concept cars (like Terrafugia) and am also really interested in concept phones. Basically I think that any technology that’s only in concept form has the capability of showing us what things might look like in the future. And I think it shows off the kind of innovation that only a handful of designers in any field are actually capable of working on.

For example I’ve been reading lately about the Kyocera EOS Concept Phone. This is a phone that is made from a bendable polymer that allows you to reshape the phone. I don’t know that it would work well in actuality – you can just see it breaking over time – but I think it’s an idea that is going to be worked into handset design in some way in the future. Likewise the phone’s ability to self-charge using kinetic power is something we’re going to see in tomorrow’s mobile phones.

It’s not that I think every single concept phone brings about change and ends up being the device that we want in the future. It’s just that I think we start moving in a new direction with these types of products. Anything that’s different captures my attention and anything that’s cutting-edge in design manages to keep it for at least a little while!

Tags: cell phones, concept phones, creativity, design, innovation, kyocera, mobile phones, Technology

One of the things that I really think is important in life is to find those little things that make your every day a bit more special and to indulge in them. One of those little things for me is having fresh flowers in my home. Yes, there are good reasons to get house plants instead. Yes fresh flowers could be seen as a waste of money. However, I enjoy the whole experience of going out to find the right flowers for the week, arranging them in empty wine bottles and setting them up throughout my house. I also enjoy seeing and smelling them whenever I enter certain rooms. To me, this experience is worth the cost.

Of course, not everyone wants fresh flowers in their home. Some people would rather decorate with flowers in other ways through putting up floral wall paper or having flowery furniture. And for other people, flowers just don’t do anything at all. I’m not saying that having flowers in your home is the way to enjoy life. What I’m saying is that you should ask yourself what your equivalent is of the every day joy that flowers are for me and you should aim to bring that into your life on a regular basis. In the end, it is these little things that brighten our days that add up to a life worth living.

Tags: creativity, decor, floral, flowers, fresh flowers, home, Interior Design, life