The creative assignment: within arm’s reach is due today. Most people–including me!–completely forgot, because Thanksgiving. But I do better with time constraints, so having absolutely no time left to dream about “maybe I’ll do this, or maybe I’ll do that,” I whipped up this little pattern.  (more…)

It’s time for another creative assignment! Are you ready? No? That’s okay neither am I, but that is the point of these creative assignments.

It might seem counterintuitive, but the easiest way access your boundless creativity is to limit yourself. When I was in middle school, I was part of the academic triathlon team (nerd alert!). My favorite event was called Party in a Box (this is a sample and wow! it’s kind of amazing) . We were given a problem to solve and a box of random prop/craft things.  We had to write and star in a play that solved the problem–and do it all in 30 minutes. We had a time limit, a limited theme, and a limited amount of supplies. The creative rush was absolutely exhilarating! and the plays were not half bad either. (more…)

Last week I gave you guys an assignment, a creative assignment. First, you gave me a list of words. Then I paired them up randomly and gave them back to you. From those two words you were to make something, anything! And you made all kinds of awesome things! There are actually too many to show here, so I thought I’d feature them on the elsie marley facebook page throughout the week. But I can’t not show you a few of my favorites:

Erin is an artist who make fantastic plush dolls. She sells her creations in her shop, Boolah Baguette. She made this alligator sailor for the creative assignment and I totally fell for him: stripy tank, jaunty hat, how could you not love him?! (more…)

I sent out all the creative assignments earlier this week.  I took all the words you gave me, numbered them, and then had a random number generator spit out pairs. Some of the pairs were super random! Check these suckers out:  (more…)

It’s been a little while since our last Creative Assignment and I’m ready for another! How about you? Just the promise of Fall has me feeling refreshed.

1. lincoln 2. banana 3. dj felix 4. cyclops 5. doorbell 6. diy sticker mandala

New ideas are the new thing these days. It sometimes seems our economy is riding on the hope of “new ideas.” As humans we are always looking for the exciting new thing. As modern humans we are looking to wow our boss or get famous or make bank, all with the one new idea. (more…)