A Bit Of YouTube For You

Monday, August 31, 2020

I have been making D.I.Y. project based YouTube videos weekly since we closed due to COVID 19.
My goal has been to bring the Creating-A-Home series, a long standing post series I have been sharing on instagram to a more personal level with kids and families through video. I want to not just give you an idea but do it with you.

Through it I hope to engage a more connected creating at home connection to viewers. To give you a hand to hold, encouragement to create with a simple idea, then fly your own way with it.

Most materials I use can be found around the house, if not easy replacers. That’s the fun of it, wok with what you’ve got. There’s a White Stripes Song, Rag and Bone, where Jack White talks through the the song about making stuff from things he finds around a house.

Creating-at-home is the kind of activity that brings you to the moment, gets you in a fun zone.
Join me on my creative reuse journey on YouTube. We’ll make something together and you’ll enjoy a little creativity in your day.

What Kids Make

Monday, August 24, 2020

Creating things shows us who they are.

Freedom happens when they have time and space to use their own imagination to make what they desire.

This Barbie Room is really a few sheets of paper, a little bit of fabric, a box or two, and some pieces of plastic. The pieces come together harmoniously to create an amazing little space that sure I’d like to relax in. We can see what the creator imagined.

My heart sings at the sight of creations like this, seeing what kid get inspired to dream up. I feel like I am seeing them in a most authentic state where the only person they truly need to impress is themselves.

Your kids will impress you and surprise you and after all is said and done you’ll know them that much more.
Visit our other blog posts to see some of the amazing projects kids make.

Jemma W.
Founder & Owner

Expose Your Kids To Art

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
-Edgar Degas

Edgar said it pointedly, art makes us see things. Often in our daily lives we may not see things the way we do in art because we live them. We are too close to them. We have expectations, we anticipate outcomes.

Art takes us away, it pulls our thinking in new directions. The pieces we see stir curiosity, wonder and sometimes a strong sense of feeling. What a gift art is for us.

Art stirs the same expansive openness for children too. Once when my girls were small we were in London and visited the National Gallery. They had a room where all the art was placed on the lower third of walls with little question prompts for kids and families that invited the open thinking pathway. This is the stuff we want our kids to keep as they grow.

We are fortunate to have museums in abundance in and around the Los Angeles area that welcome kids. Even more so we have great museums right here north of LA. Just a few to note in Malibu’s Getty Villa, Thousand Oaks’ CMATO, Camarillo’s KidSTREAM, Ventura’s Ventura Museum of Art and Santa Barbara’s Moxi and Museum of Natural History.

Though museums are not open right now, most have interactive programing that invite art exploration. Here’s a list to explore.

Lastly, my favorite go-to museum app for well rounded access to art is Google’s Arts & Culture where you have regular prompts to view art pieces, themes, history and more.

Women in Business

Monday, August 10, 2020

A monthly blog series

A list of women leading Fortune 500 Companies came up on Google the other day. I don’t know how I got there but, curiously I looked over the list. There are 37 Female CEO’s on this years list, making up 7.4% of the total Fortune 500 CEO’s. That count is a record high but this area isn’t really my interest. It did get me thinking of women in business though.

I’m a woman in business. I running a small company. I don’t think of myself unless I have something about woman in business to frame it against. I have two daughters who are entering the work force and have interests in particular career fields. As a mom, I want them to have the freedom to pursue whatever their career interests become so, in that mindset I would like to see the Fortune 500 list expand to include more women and more diversity with women.

Aspirations to make the Fortune 500 list is not my desire today, but I do like being in business for myself. I enjoy being my own boss and doing the deciding. Contributing my community through my investment in creative reuse the way I envision it is gratifying. I love marrying the less likely but more importantly connective nature of creating and recycling. I like how it connects kids to their ideas, families with each other and communities together.

I’d like to share the being my own boss-experience without all the paperwork that goes with being a boss. I want to connect other women with their desire to lead their own paths.

Working on the next steps for CReATE STUDIO includes women in communities across our counties ( we border two here) and beyond. I don’t need to be on someone else’s list of women, I want to build a list of women to create with me.

This journey is just beginning. The lists I am making now will help me have the list of women I am envisioning.

This blob starts an ongoing series around women in business. Monthly I’ll share about women I know and women I meet. This is part of my process for creating.

Jemma W.
Founder & Owner

Shining A Spotlight

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

This month we spotlight Ceramics of all sorts.

“Spotlighting” as we call it is our way to explore materials we receive and provide for reuse at the studio.

Through the donations we receive we get broken mugs, chipped plates and cracked bowls from time to time. I have long seen value in reusing them for artistic explorations.

After the 1994 Los Angeles Earthquake I ended up with a fair amount of broken plates and the like. Even back then I thought there must be something else to use them for so I started making mosaic pots for indoor and outdoor plants. I even started collecting scrappy dish ware from thrift stores and garage sales. I was such a fun outlet for y creativity the value of reusing broken pottery has stayed with me. It has been a material on our Donation List.

Nowadays ceramics of all sorts has become one of the materials we explore each month. Follow CReATE on instagram to see curious looks at this material and its wide range of forms that are sometimes china, sometimes, ceramic and sometimes pottery. They may all come from similar beginnings. We’ll explore how they are made, what source of the earth they come from and whether or not they can be recycled. We’ll also see who is getting creative with them near and far.

I enjoy exploring the materials we reuse and I look forward to sharing my learnings with you.

Jemma W.
Founder & Owner
CReATE STUDIO

This tip gets kids creating at home.

Monday, July 27, 2020

Kids need to create. It’s part of how their brain works.

This tip gets your kids creating at home-fast. Save the various packagings for foods, packages that are delivered and the items you buy. Save T.P. rolls, pen caps and even printer paper that didn’t print right. Need more ideas for things from around the house? Our donation list is a great start.

Recyclables are awesome materials for your kids to reuse by creating with them. They help ideas come to life. They may be playing with all their favorite figures and decide they need a time machine. They can make one with some of the recycled supplies you’ve collected! They may need a room, a car, a bed. All kinds of things become possible when they have these raw materials on hand.

Using the tissue box or the paper towel role as they play amps up their thinking and creating to a new level. Creating with the random things around them is brain food for kids!

So save packaging bits and pieces as they come through your home. It’s a simple tip with amazing benefits for your kids brains!

It’s time for Big Magic

Monday, July 20, 2020

I need some magic in my days this summer. As the inevitable changes that come with COVID 19 ebb and flow, I need to regroup. Do you?
It’s time for Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert to offer just what I need. I think it will be good for you too.

We’re all recalibrating, hopefully dreaming about how we want to go forward. What do we want to come away from this time having learned? I want to stay dialed into my creativity as I continually regroup.

I have read and recommended this book here before so I know how good it will be to re-read and re-recommend. It should be required high school reading!

Re-reading this book, I anticipate soothing words and inspiring stories like the one about “ideas”. I expect a little push to get my creativity on, also inspired by the story she tells about “ideas”.

Big Magic is just what I need to feel validated right now. I think it will inspire good things for you too. Don’t be surprised if you want more on the subject once you finish the book. Elizabeth also has a companion podcast called Magic Lessons which connects people who have creative blocks to artists, writers and other wise folks that help them get unstuck.

There’s even more! You can seen Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk on creativity for more food for thought on living a creative life.

I’ve got my audio copy of Big Magic all cued up. I hope feel inspired if not just ready for something new to think about over the coming summer days.

Jemma W.
Owner & Founder
CReATE STUDIO

Creating at home with fabric

Monday, July 13, 2020

In last week’s blog I introduced our Spotlight series on Fabric.
We had a chance to explore the tip of the ice berg on what fabric is made from and how.

This week I thought it would be fun to share a recent creating at home project I put on YouTube, making Homemade Hacky Sacks using socks. I categorize socks in the fabric family as part of the clothing we wear for comfort and protection. Socks are notorious getting lost or going missing in households everywhere, usually leaving a solo sock behind.

Thinking of ways things can be reused through our creating at home series is a passion for me. Turning socks into puppets are always fun but hacky sacks are something different. They create a whole different level of engagement with the creator for more physical fun. Using a few stray socks to make a hacky sack to play alone or with someone else gives those solo socks a unique sense of purpose and of course, reuse.

Fabrics aren’t always recyclable in their original states, (TerraCycle can help route the items that can), but they are reusable in many ways. I believe we do important work at CReATE, reusing things, inspiring other ways of reusing things and the mindset that everything has potential to be used again. It’s important to reuse, we are already taking so much from the planet then throwing it away. I want you to have fun exploring your creativity. When you do, it eases some of the pressure our planet carries.

We spotlight different materials each month to create space for awareness, curiosity, creativity and responsibility. I am so glad your here.

Let’s create!
Jemma W.
Owner/ Founder

Let’s explore the world of Fabric.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

I am a curious person by nature so my propensity to wonder where things come from is natural. I find myself thinking, Let’s explore the world of…fill in the blank.
Developing the Spotlight program here at CReATE allows me to share my curiosity findings with you. Each month I explore where the Spotlight materials we use at the studio come from. Casting a little imaginary light creates space for more inspiration and awareness about the things around us every day.

This month we focus on Fabric. Of all the genres we look at throughout the year, Fabric is the one that spans such an array of manifestations. From ribbon, to shirting, to coats to shoes to carseat covers, fabric has us covered.

As for where fabric comes from, the old category breakdown of Animal, Vegetable or Mineral seems to fit as the root sources. I found a short YouTube video from Don’t Memorise that provides a good overview on Fabric.

Stay tuned throughout the month at I explore the Fabric and it’s realm through our creative ways to reuse.

Jemma W.
Owner

Painting rocks with our activities means extra summer fun

Monday, June 29, 2020

This summer make painting rocks top notch on your activity list, but that’s not all. Let painting rocks lead to continued family fun.
Explore our list of activities for added learning, playing, exploring, connecting and discovering this summer. Let them continue throughout the summer to truly enjoy the simple gifts they have to offer.

Learn about the history of painting- who painted first? Hint- they used rocks.
Learn about how rocks are formed by the earth and what rocky varieties there are.
Paint rocks to create games like tic-tac-toe or hop scotch that can be played throughout the summer.
Turn your painted rocks into a garden sculpture for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.
Hide your painted rocks around the neighborhood for other people to find. Use a sharpie to mark the back of your rocks with the city you live in such as @westlakevillagerocks
Try painting rock pets that each family member can care for over the summer. Talk about those processes over dinner.

The great thing about painting rocks is how it’s fun for any age. All these activities are thoughtfully made with toddlers to seniors in mind.
I hope they create feel good summer memories for your family.

-Jemma
Founder/Owner