Yearly Archives: 2019

Let’s go to CReATE!

Monday, August 19, 2019

We love school field trips to us.

“This is by far the best field trip I’ve ever had!”
Reese H. 2nd Grade Student
Willow Elementary School

We think so too Reese! CReATE STUDIO is a must do place for your child’s next engaging Field Trip experience. Teachers are planning their 2019/2020 events and activities and we want to be a part of their plans.
Whether students are learning about Native Cultures, Rain Forests, Animal Habitats, Family Heritage, California Missions, U.S. State Reports, or any other subject, CReATE provides unique hands-on learning experiences through creative reuse to fit any subject. Our awesome material selection engages learning fun at all grade levels.
There’s more, visiting CReATE STUDIO leads to more good with 10% of the field trip cost going to our non-profit, CReATE ON YOUR CAMPUS. C.O.Y.C. which connects school campuses like yours to creativity through a campus reuse program. Learn more about C.O.Y.C. and our mission here and talk to your child’s teacher about scheduling a visit to CReATE this year- we’re right in the Conejo Valley backyard!
Details and pricing for field Trip visits are listed in the Field Trip hyper-link above. Let’s create together.

Interviewed

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Talking shop

I was interviewed by my friend and money guru, Michelle Perkins for her radio show, Limit Free Life this past Spring where we talked about the business of creativity.
I loved being on her show, we connected on the valuable creativity is and the business it calls me to do.
Check out a little clip here or catch the who interview on Michelle’s Limit Free Life radio show.
It was amazing to make this connection with Michelle. I hope it sparks inspiration in you.

Jemma W. Owner

Creativity for Schools

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Creating on campuses.

We are bringing creativity to school campuses in the Conejo Valley this fall. You may know that CReATE STUDIO has a sister organization, CReATE ON YOUR CAMPUS. Our Board Members refer to it as C.O.Y.C. for short. C.O.Y.C. brings creativity to school campuses through the reuse of campus cast-offs. Think along the zero waste lines for art and curriculum use!
CReATE STUDIO has 10 years of recycled creating under it’s belt so we understand the inherent value of creating with these raw materials for kids. In fact this knowledge was the a big part of motivation to bring the spirit of the studio to school campuses. We have been connecting with materials found on campuses to build out our campus organization for the last five years.

This year brings a positive mascot to our campus efforts. Students made these Forky style friends after being inspired by Disney’s Toy Story 4 character, Forky. For kids and adults alike the Forky character helps communicate a connection that using recycled materials and a bit of creativity can create real fun.
I grew up on the broad possibilities that consumer packaging can have for a child’s imagination. We’re excited to bring that spirit forward through campus materials for the 2019/2020 school year. With our Forky style friends at the helm kids can take their imaginations to infinity and beyond!
Jemma W.
Owner

Community Good

Friday, July 26, 2019

Let’s do good together.

What could be better than teens working together for the greater good through the Agoura Hills Teen Coalition? CReATE joining in their good fun! The coalition has an annual program mission to help economically disadvantaged kids in the Conejo Valley start the school year smart with brand new donated backpacks and school supplies.
CReATE STUDIO is acting as a collection hub for new backpack and supply drop-offs. We’ll also be hosting a craft table at their 2nd Annual Backpack Distribution event at Mamba Sports Academy on Tuesday, August 6th at 1pm as well.
We’re so excited to be a part of this event coordinated with our friends at The City of Agoura Hills, the Los Angeles Rams, Mamba Sports academy and and other awesome local organizations to get things done for kids in need.

Use this community event as an excuse to get out to your favorite store this week to shorten your to-do list by grabbing your kids fall backpacks and other school supplies along with a spare or two to donate to this awesome program!
You can bring your donations to CReATE all week. The box will be out even if we are not open.

I loved the 70’s

Monday, July 22, 2019
Eco Labels

I was a child in the 70’s so I come from an era of resourceful creativity.

Cool clip art, funky animation and lots of catchy song School House Rock surrounded me. My classroom cubbies were made from empty Ice Cream drums from Thrifty Mart. That spirit of recycled art was woven into much of our everyday experiences at school. Colorful paper chains and lanterns were classroom staples.
Finding these Eco-Labels as I sorted donations last week sparked memories and insight into who I am. I realized that imagery like this along with recycling things into new things as the labels promise played a big part in shaping me for good. They were so obviously 70’s, 1972 to be exact. Their graphic fun with an emphasis on recycling was part of a growing environmental movement back then. Encouraging the reuse of tin cans with the graphics contained therein were purposeful, practical and environmental.
My parents were born in the 40’s during World War II, in a time when reuse was necessary. Why did we ever get so far away from that reuse habit? It was so fun as a kid. I grew up steeped in my imagination because my surroundings always prompted it. We lived modestly in the 70’s when my dad was in art school. I remember us remaking a piece of aluminum foil into a crazy cat toy, it was the obvious thing to do. You’ve never seen such happy cats.
My public school education seemed creative as did the whole 70’s era. As I write this blog I become aware that I have built the studio on the fundamentals of my youth. That’s why it’s about open-ended creativity, resourcefulness and recycled art fun.
I’m not saying that life at that time was always easy or fun, there was a lot of turmoil during the 70’s. Somehow, the colorful, playful and creative expressions that surrounded our culture buffered the big stuff and helped round out the day to day. I am so excited to have found these Eco Labels, they have inspired me to connect with my roots and the endearing times of my youth. What do you remember about the 70’s?

Jemma W.
Owner

I Love Forky

Monday, July 15, 2019

I don’t know about you, but I am so excited about Forky! He is my kind of character and I think he is for kids too.
I knew when I first heard about this trashy character from Toy Story 4, we were going to be friends.
I love Forky.
If you haven’t seen Toy Story 4 you should. It tickled me to see a character made from recycled materials! The materials rescued from the trash can have become a mascot for what makes a toy a toy for a child.
Besides the physical materials that are involved in any kind of toy making, what makes Forky the toy he becomes is by intention. Bonnie, the little girl who now has Woody along with the rest of the TS gang creates Forky as part of a first day of school assignment. Though throughout the movie Bonnie isn’t asked what makes her Fork a toy, we know it’s due the spirit of her imagination and creativity that does it. After all that’s all that is really necessary when it comes to toys for a child, does it inspire their imagination.
Forky is a beacon. through this beloved movie Disney helps spread the word that a little creativity goes a long way even when you have limited resources.
I’ve always known that, it’s just so fun to see it on the big screen.

Jemma W.
Owner

Try Being Curious

Monday, July 8, 2019

Try being curious. The word curiosity has really been on my mind lately.
I’ve been practicing thinking curiously to keep me out of fear and worry. Those two seem to be old defaults for me. Through it I have come to appreciate the nature curiosity, it’s openness, always full of possibility.
It occurs to me that curiosity is a natural inclination for children. They wonder about things, finding reasons to explore, say, touch, smell and taste.

Curiosity is innately creative so it must be natural to all of us somewhere deep down. Possibilities open up when I apply curiosity. I like it said this way, “Once you open up that curiosity door, anything is possible.” – Teacher Scott Calvin of the Netflix show Stranger Things. On the show curiosity and creativity go hand in hand to get the characters out of trouble.
Lately when new people come into the studio, I even find myself talking about curiosity as I give an overview of the studio. “Get curious and explore. The ideas will come.”
There is something so comforting in that truth.

Jemma W.
Owner

Happy July!

Monday, July 1, 2019


We’re excited to create with you this month. We’ve got Camp CReATE and Camp CReATE TOTS, our Super Summer Slime Series with 4 great sessions of all you can make slime creating, field trip visits from two CVUSD campuses for Recycled Art fun along with our Wednesday through Sunday (W-F/11am-6pm and Sat/Sun-12-4pm) drop-in creating in our air conditioned studio and Parent’s Night out on Saturday, July 13th. We’ll start the fun with our Free CReATE booth at the 50th annual Westlake Village 4th of July Parade and event. Lets have creative summer fun together

Connection is the Heart

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Connection.
Tomorrow we start our week long half-day Eco Dollhouse Camp with the most important part of any home- the people who live there. That’s connection.
People often say the kitchen is the heart of the home but that is because it’s the place that draws people to it. The heart itself lies in the people who live there and how they connect with one another. Shame researcher, Brene Brown has said that connection is the ultimate human need. I would agree. We may connect in fits and starts but connect in a home we do. It’s how we feel love.
Connection, I would agree, next to food and shelter is the highest human need . It’s how we fit into this vast world. Connection was even woven into the idea that sparked my creating the studio, being one of the key elements to partner with creativity. I feel that connection and creativity go hand-in hand and elevate us. Whether it’s an individual experience in connecting with our own selves or a shared experience with the people in our lives on a creative endeavor.

I am so excited for this dollhouse camp because I believe it will bridge these two C’s in a beautiful way. Decorating a mini home and the people that live there will give our campers an avenue to create a connecting space for themselves as well as the family that lives there while making fellow camper friends and spending time with us, the studio staff. In these created worlds the kids can make everything as they would like it to be and when the week is done, they will take their creations home to their families and  share connections with them as they talk about their amazing projects and their week with us.
Last week was a skill centered camp, this week is a connection centered camp. We can’t wait!

Jemma W., Owner

She had skill

Monday, June 17, 2019

My grandmother, affectionately known in our family as Darling was a sewer. She had skill.
She’s the reason and the inspiration for why I teach kids and adults to sew now. An art studio is not the most likely place to learn to sew but because of the way Darling taught me it was the perfect fit for sewing at CReATE. She taught me with such an open mindset that gave way to endless hours of my creative explorations at her machine each summer. I learned from her that I could sew anything I dreamed up so I did and I loved it. Because of that nurturing I have become a sewer for life. It is a skill that runs deep in me and I want to share it, hoping to pass on a lifetime shill of sewing for others.

Tomorrow begins a week of machine sewing for campers at the studio and I can’t wait to be a part of the unlocking of this skill that channels all kinds of ideas and imaginings. This week Darling, though long passed on will be in my heart and my memories as the hum of machines run and the sparking of creativity flows.