Category Archives: creativity

Lemons Into Lemonade

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

I got a text the other day with a picture that brought me so much joy. It was a simple picture but the meaning behind it was inspiring. I saw lemons into lemonade.

I had dropped off a few of our Grab Bags to my friend who was watching her sick grandkids for a stretch of days. It was nearly St Patrick’s Day then, so I included some shoebox Leprechaun houses I had made along with the bags.

I had hoped the kids would have fun with the bags for at least the night they got them. You never know since they range in age from wee little to pretty big but the text I got showed me that this was a project that was going to keep ongoing.

Leave it creativity to add a bright spark to sick at home days. Looks like everyone decided to pool their resources and try something entirely new, make one big house with lots of room for expansion. Using creativity (which expands when shared ) made way for fun and a project that everyone could be a part of. I just love that. Creativity always saves the day, makes things lighter, brighter, funner, and now with more rooms. Lemons into lemonade.

Jemma W.
Owner/Founder
CReATE STUDIO

Let’s Take A Trip

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Have you been to Watts Towers? I have lived in Los Angeles nearly all my life and I still have yet to go. It’s an iconic Los Angeles Landmark location that is all about art. Its 17 Tower structures speak to my “use what you have to create” nature.

Since the Pandemic started I have had more time to think about the places I have long wanted to visit in So Cal but, many are closed, including Watts Towers. I visited the Watts Towers website and got an idea, they offer a virtual tour! Now, I can go, at least in part, so why not invite you to come along. It’s an opportunity to explore some LA culture and history with a peek into their arts community.

Let’s go! Click here to go to the Watts Towers virtual tour page on their website. Click here to learn the history of the Tower’s creations. Let’s saunter through the Towers and take it all in. I think we’ll feel refreshed, a little more curious, and a lot more creative.

See you there,
Jemma W.
Owner/ Founder

*Photo credit Watts Towers

Beginning

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Hurray!
As Plato once said, “the most important part of the work is the beginning. The new 2021 is creating that beginning.
The beginning Plato refers to reminds me of making art. Art always begin with a fresh idea, a blank canvas, an empty box, and builds from there. I am envisioning a blank canvas for myself. It has layers of other art that I can now paint over to begin anew. I am looking forward to this process. I plan to apply all that I learned in 2020 to my fresh start 2021 canvas. On top of that I plan to work with my “materials”; flexibility, positivity, a few solid goals, people and planet connections and, a good dose of wonder to start. I don’t know how it will look but I want it to be vibrant, fun and a work I will be proud to keep.
How will you make your 2021 art?

It’s time for Big Magic

Monday, July 20, 2020
Big Magic

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

We come to you

Tuesday, June 9, 2020
We think it’s great.

Mobile making with CReATE is our new approach to art into our community.

Yesterday I provided a small social distance gathering for one of our CReATE Families and a few neighborhood kids who’d spent the last few months together.

It was so good to start creating again, watching kids explore materials that inspired them, then creating to their hearts content. They were busy and engaged throughout my time with them which felt like we had never stopped creating together.

When our time together done I was talking to the host parent. He wondered if I needed to bring all the things that I did? “it’s my goal to provide you a studio experience at home”., he replied, “oh, you have done that”. What may seem like a simple response from him felt like a huge compliment for my efforts to bring families and the community at large the studio we’ve always known studio four walls.

Anywhere four wheels can go we’ll be there to provide a creative experience. Whether it be outside, in the shade, under the stars or even indoors I am excited about where we can be. Fresh air is a favorite of mine and a huge part of my mobile inspiration, a little like art in nature.

Mindfully Speaking

Monday, May 11, 2020

I don’t know about you but I need to focus on positive experiences.
There is so much information arising daily. Managing this Pandemic is a full time job that is tiring.
That’s where mindfulness comes into play. Its self preservation, an act of self respect really.

As Jon Kabat Zinn said, “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience”. Doing something creative has always been a go to get myself into the present moment and out of the past or worse, the impending future.

Before having children, I did wardrobe in the film business. Stress and future tripping were easy roads to take when clothing was needed yesterday or we were coming in over budget. A costume designer I worked for had a great escape from the stress of our department. She would disappear from the set to the wardrobe trailer and color in kid coloring books she had stashed to calm herself down.

I always thought that was a healthy self preservation tool. Now, I turn to this idea in the biggest future tripping era I try daily not to experience.

I have a mindful coloring book that is on the small side. I lack the patience to color inside the tiny lines of it, though I know that causes focus, the intention for it. I decided to take a creative spin on coloring it, instead painting the page with watercolor. Painting instead of coloring proved to be a great alternative for me.

Try it yourself. If you have a coloring book at home, even a princess coloring book, it can work. Grab a watercolor set and start painting. It’s sure to bring you right to the present moment, mindfully.

It’s a good time to be us

Sunday, January 26, 2020

S.T.E.A.M., S.T.E.M., Whole Child, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Self Confidence, Process, Leadership, Creative Play, Collaboration and Innovation. These are words I hear a lot around the subject of children, especially connected to education.

Woo Hoo! We connect with all of them! At CReATE STUDIO and CReATE ON YOUR CAMPUS we connect reuse with creativity and find it naturally matches up to these words, phrases and acronyms, organically.

I was talking to a teacher at one of our C.O.Y.C. schools and she shared that she noticed two boys creating walkie talkies from empty crayon boxes during their Art at Recess through our program. They had a whole story and imaginative experience going on with just few recycled campus materials. It’s a good time to do what you’re doing she said. It totally floats my boat to see kids create then play with what they make. When she described what she saw them doing I could see it too.
In the process of making and imagining kids are tapping into their own learning wells. They have skills to apply of of the terms I listed above. When they get excited or inspired these skills come into play and kids get engaged. I am excited about what we are doing at the studio and in schools. It’s creating a pathway for bright thinkers with the simplest materials.
The future is looking bright from here.

Jemma W.
Owner

We’re On the Road Again.

Monday, October 21, 2019
We love to take creativity on the road and make connections as we go.

This coming weekend we head to Malibu and two community school campuses to be a part of their fall festivities with our creative reuse fun.

Join us for Halloween inspired crafting for little ones at Bluffs Park in Malibu on Friday, October 25th from 3-5:30pm. We’ll be making Pine Cone Pumpkins and more!

Connect with us Saturday, October 26th from 2-5pm at E.A.R.T.H.S Magnet School for their Halloween Carnival. We’ll be providing spooky crafting from small Amazon boxes. Cardboard boxes are a favorite reuse of ours.

On Sunday we would love to see you at Chaparral Elementary Schools Fall Festival in Calabasas where we’ll be creating festive treasures with Shredded Paper galore!

We love to be out in our community creating. The studio is open while we’re on the town.
We can’t wait to see you around!

Kids do say the darndest things.

Sunday, October 13, 2019
Funny and inspiring things kids say.

I see why things kids say are viewed as darndest, they call it like they see it. Their astute natures continue to surprise me. Sure, they say things they over hear from adults or what adults tell them but they also say what is.

Five year old Sophia saying “If you keep making things, you’ll get more creative” was just the kind of thing I might find on a tea bag tag. I want to save it and hold it close. It’s truth for me and just the right message to share with kids and adults who don’t see themselves as creative. I say “Creativity is a Thinking Muscle in your brain”. Just like any other muscle, it strengthens when exercised. Sophia’s words hit the point home.
Let’s keep making things to strengthen that muscle.

Welcome to Club CReATE!

Monday, August 26, 2019

A subscription membership program for our community.

We are over-the-moon excited about our new Club CReATE Monthly Subscription program which launches September 1st!
With unlimited drop-in creating sessions for kids, our monthly subscription membership program is the perfect way to bring more free-style art to your child’s life all month long, month after month! That means your kids can pop-in for an hour, 2 hours, 30 minutes or whatever time your family schedule permits to have creative time to draw, paint or build their ideas and imaginings.
The benefits of creative freedom are explained in this article from pbs.org and I couldn’t have said it better myself though in short, kids need creative opportunities to develop their whole, healthy selves. An important added benefit of time spent at CReATE STUDIO is independence. That’s kids learning to do for themselves. A skill they’ll carry into adulthood.
At CReATE kids get all these benefits and you get one more. You need not worry about the mess that creativity can unleash because it all happens with us!
Starting September 1st we’ll have easy online registration for our automatic monthly subscription on our Happenings Page.
$19.95 for a single membership / $38.95 for two
We can’t wait to share more creative time with your kids.
We want to spend lots of creative time with your kids and your family.
Let’s create together!
Jemma W.
Owner