Category Archives: creativity

Good Reuse

Another canvas from our friend @thepaintery_com who donated to us for creative reuse gets revamped with this good vibe saying.

Dream Big

Join CReATE STUDIO and Girls Club Strong at The City of Agoura Hills 2nd Annual Girls Night Out event tonight, geared toward teen and preteen girls. We’ll be hosting a free “Dream Big” booth with dream catchers making and big dream exploring from 5-8pm. See you there!

 

Happy May!

Spring is in bloom, Cinco de Mayo, Mothers Day and Memorial Day are special days to commemorate with treasures handmade at CReATE this month!
Let’s spend creative time together, reusing our resources wisely, exploring hands on making fun, working on school projects or just spending time tinkering with ideas and imaginings.
We can’t wait to see what you create!

Not Grandmas Dishpan

Don’t dismiss the dishpan!
This simple container does way more than dishes. If you keep an open mind it contains; wonder, curiosity, freedom, play, discovery, order, assistance and inspiration because it can contain things that ignite those happenings. It’s tidy, easy to clean and very easy to use.

We use these bus bins at CReATE and LOVE them. We’ve seen first hand how many uses they can have. They are a great creative tool for the family home that suits a variety of needs and interests for babies ages 6 months (*under parent supervision) as in-the-tub wash up for little ones who sit up all the way to teens who want to make slime all the time!

We use them as “bus bins” for quick table clean-ups, they are our  toddler hand washing and water play go stations, we mix slime in them, we make shredded paper-mache in them, this month we are making paper in them, we use them in our splatter room with water colors and we have mixed all kinds of creative combinations in them. They clean up easy, they are light weight and storable. At home you can put dry ingredients like rice in them for kitchen play while you cook, dolls can be bathed in them, chalk can get soaked in them for creamy sidewalk coloring and the possibilities go on. They are lightweight with built in handles so that even little ones can carry their toys in them. They are great for use inside and outside too.

As parents we are all always hearing about the new great things we have to get but, this is an old one that is tried and true. Add a Sterilite Dishpan to your parenting tool box. They run about $3 a tub and can be found in the kitchen section of stores like Target and Wallmart that carry Sterilite products. Once you have one you’ll wonder how you ever didn’t. I promise

* For more on water safety for kids of all ages visit https:/kidshealth.org.

Just For Reuse Fun

#30daysofreuse day 13 on instagram @createstudio says reuse your old crayons for a different kind of color fun by melting them to make art!.
This is a great idea for old crayons that just don’t have pizzaz anymore. Try gluing them whole or in bits to a canvas (we used hot glue) in different patterns, then use a blow dryer to melt them in their place. The results are sure to be wow worthy!

Eco!

It’s almost here!
Come see our Recycled Fashion Show tomorrow at 2pm.
Eco is the word!

On the road…

Had fun with an on-campus field trip visit to a Spring YMCA camp yesterday. The campers had a blast creating, constructing and building whatever came to mind.

I’m not creative.

I have heard this sentiment before. “I’m not creative” so I ponder it.
It sounds like a disclaimer, and it may be in the way that not knowing what to do in obviously creative spaces can calm the discomfort the space brings.
I believe they are creative and I often say so.  Who decided who was creative anyway? An uncreative parent comes to the studio because their child likes art. They are creative they say. That’s Interesting. They can recognize their child’s interest in art, which is a creative outlet but not creativity itself. Art and artistic fields have been places under the umbrella creativity but what about all the other fields there are in the world? That may have to be another blog post someday.

I have had Parents express that they feel like they have to lead their kids in our open space, give them directions but because they are not creative as they say, they don’t know how to get started. It can be uncomfortable for a few minutes as they settle in, especially if they like to follow rules. Self doubt seems to be a factor in the sureness of creative lack these parents have. Perhaps along the way during their growing up, creativity wasn’t nurtured. But now, as parents creativity is back on the table. Don’t worry, creativity is kind.

Through my work with the studio I have come to understand that we are all creative. I believe it’s wired into our thinking capabilities, a thinking muscle in our brains if you will.  The great thing I’ve noticed about creativity is that it strengthens when it’s nurtured and, ironically when we are helping to nurture it in others, it gets nurtured in us too.

During their visit to the studio children start creating in the organic way that they know how, letting what they are doing unfold into simply exploring their ideas and curiosities about what happens and how. In this process they are free to think their way and creativity just flows.
It is my desire that after a session at the studio, the adults who weren’t creative when they came in are creative when they leave.

Family Fun.

I had a great time teaching these ladies to machine sew. The family that sews together has more fun together…

Our Arpil sewing classes start on Tuesday with Intro to Machine Sewing and continue on Thursday with Machine Sewing Two.

Come build your sewing skills with us!

Love.

This was Nina’s mini-kindness wall from last week’s Girls Club Strong Kindness project. Can you think of a kinder word?
When we create from a free space within ourselves, Love it was what comes of it.