When it comes to creativity, here are the top goals on my list for this year -

1. Update the look and approach of Chrysalis Creativity. I think I’ve outgrown the past ideals of Chrysalis Creativity, so I decided that one of the things that I’d do this year is to change its look and approach. So, if you’re checking out our site, you’ll see a brand new theme/design… And, a magazine-style look to the blog/site. I’ve also cleaned up the categories – and re-structured it. I’m not sure yet if its existing structure will stick. I intend to test out ideas first, so this may continue to undergo some changes in the next few months.

2. Read at least 3 creativity-related books. I love reading. Last year, I managed to read quite a few – from photography and scrapbooking to design and children’s writing. So, I’m being conservative here when I say to read at least 3. But hopefully, part of the plan is that I’d be able to write reviews for at least those 3 books that I get to read and share them here with you.

3. Learn at least 1 new creative practice. Last year, my main “new” creative endeavour was sewing. But, I also learned another skill when creating mixed media art, which is nice. And yes, I attended a workshop in children’s writing. So hopefully, I’ll get to add more this year.

4. Create at least 1 teaching material on creativity. I used to engage in workshops and training. But lately, I haven’t done much of such things. So hopefully, I can start developing new teaching materials again, so I can pass things along.

5. Hold at least 1 creative gathering/party. I’ve been meaning to put together a creativity group for some time now. But, some things keep holding me back. Hopefully, this year is the year that I’d get to go for it.

6. Finish at least 1 “creative work” a month. It doesn’t matter what it is – a new sewing project, a poem, a story, a painting, a scrapbook… I just want to be in the habit of coming up with completed works so I’d feel more creatively satisfied.

7. Interview creatively inspiring people. Last year, I only managed to do a couple of such interviews, which I shared one on my personal blog. It was great fun, so I hope to do it again. It’s definitely a great way to learn – and to get inspired.

8. Keep a more organised study/office/studio. I know things always get “messy” when I’m in the middle of a project. But, I’m hoping that I’ll learn to keep things a lot neater this year.

9. Stay in touch with creative folks and make new creative friends. I guess this is related to #5 and #7. But, this one’s really about growing through networking.

What about you? What are your top creativity goals for the year?

For some reason, typing the search phrase “Altered Arts” on Google doesn’t bring terrific results. Sure, I get the links to two interesting resources on this topic within the first two pages: Altered Arts Magazine and the Altered Book Club. I even got a couple of links to my own work on the first page. But, a person looking for an idea on what exactly is altered arts or a person looking for tips and tricks on creating altered arts just might get a bit lost in the beginning. You see, right now, I think there’s not enough easily available resources on the web regarding this young topic. I’m hoping that I can help change this.

So, consider this piece a first on a series of writings and demos on altered arts — a relatively new field in the world of art. At least, in the modern context. I believe art alterations have been going on for ages. It’s just not recognised and documented enough. Altered art pieces are the sort that you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Obviously, I’m with the former group. There may not be a lot of us, but I know that I’m not the only member of this group either.

What are Altered Arts anyway?

At the moment, I can’t find an official definition. I’m sure there must be something somewhere. In the mean time, I’ll just try to explain as best as I can in my own words.

Altered art is an art form that utilises an existing object to create a new piece. It is closely related to the more popular art form of collage or mixed media. Altered arts, however, are not limited to using traditional ground such as canvas, paper, panel or wood. When it comes to art alteration, anything can serve as the artist’s canvas: shoes, bags, tables, pots, cars, phones… Yes, just about anything. The most popular ground among altered artists is in the form of book arts.

Things that are used to alter materials are varied. Of course, different types of adhesives are pre-requisites. Altered artists also need things such as paint, crayons, pens, wax and various types of found objects and ephemera. Magazine cuttings, homemade paper, ribbons, rubber stamps, dried plants, seeds, buttons, bottle caps, and many other things that may be considered ‘junk’ by most people can all be useful in the making of altered arts.

The great thing about altered arts is that it is a very liberating form of art. It frees your mind from pre-conceived notions of what things should be. A chair is not just a chair. A scrap of metal or a piece of fake fruit can take on a different meaning.

(c)2004 – 2005. Shai Coggins. All rights reserved.

So, dare to create! Create boldy. Create NOW.

Title: Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making
Author: John Fox
Purchase @ Amazon

When it comes to writing, poetry is my first love. I think it was love-at-first-read when I came across my mother’s old notebook filled with poetry she copied from books and magazines. I never thought of my mother as someone who would love poetry and take the trouble of copying poems in notebooks. But then, there are things we don’t always know about our mothers. And, other people we love for that matter.

Yet when we read someone’s writing, someone’s words, a connection sparks. No wonder many women’s hearts had been won over by a short note, an email, a card, or a poem attempted by an ardent suitor. One of my favourite couples who had exchanged written words and ended up in blissful marriage is Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

So, whether you are simply trying to express your feelings, wishing to woo someone, exploring your own deepest thoughts, or wishing to perfect an art and craft, writing is one that can help you along. And, according to Poet- Therapist Dr. John Fox, one good way to do this is through poetry.

He first explored this in his book, FINDING WHAT YOU DIDN’T LOSE: EXPLORING YOUR TRUTH AND CREATIVITY THROUGH POEM-MAKING. In nine exquisite chapters, he shares the wonderful experience of using the language of poetry. Not just through psychological terms, but with the use of formal technique in poetry as well.

- Why do you need poetry in your life?
- How do you reveal yourself in your poems?
- How do you reconnect with your Natural Creativity?
- How do you take delight in Language?
- What are the tools of Poem-Making?
- How can you make poems out of your Journal Entries?
- What is a Poetry Writing Circle and how do you create one?
- How can anyone break through one’s pain with words?
- How do you express what’s sacred through poetry?

These are some of the basic questions that John Fox tries to explore through this book that’s also a workbook. He shares all these with anecdotes of people who went through the same journey of ‘finding what they didn’t lose’. And gives some sample poetry that inspires and encourages.

This book also guides the reader in the process of ‘making poems’ through various exercises and lead questions. It is peppered with quotes from writers, poets, and other creative individuals.

Indeed with this, I have found an inner voice and longing for words and creativity. And according to Dr. Fox, yes, they’re actually something that I didn’t lose.

(c)2000-2005 Sheila Ann Manuel-Coggins

What do you think of when you look at waters, boats and sunsets? Does this photo make you remember of a place you’ve once visited or a feeling you’ve once experienced?

Here are some creative prompts for you:

1) Complete the sentence: “When the sun sets…”

2) Think of the colours of sunsets. What are they? Take your crayons or paints out and choose those colours. Start making a picture using just the colours of sunsets. You don’t need to make another sunset, of course.

3) Look for a poem that has the word ’sunset’ in it. Read it out loud. Savour it and think of what it really means. Create your own piece with the word ’sunset’. It can be anything – an essay, a short story, a poem, or even a word collage.

In more than two decades, I managed to fill piles of notebooks with stories, ideas, clippings, doodles, quotes, drawings, anecdotes, and poems. And, I have been lugging these notebooks from country to country, every time I find myself moving (I’m in my fourth country now). I can throw clothes and shoes, leave stuff toys and gifts, donate expensive ornaments and appliances, but I can never bear to throw or leave any of my writing journals away.

In fact, I still find myself looking through them every now and then to get new ideas for a story or article, to finish a piece I began months or years ago but never had the energy to complete back then, and/or to rehash favourite themes.

What about you? Do you have a journal yet? If not, what’s stopping you from starting one?

Make your journal personal. Give it a title and make it just the way you like it. Some of my favourite journal titles are: “Life’s a Mixed Bag of Nuts”, “Scribbles”, “Sojourns and Seasons”, “New Beginnings”, and “The Crazy World of Me”. Do you have any other ideas for titles?

Play with your journal! You can add stickers, gift tags, magazine clippings, and more. Write with different coloured pens! In fact, why not try writing with different types of pens — glitter pen, gel pen, ballpoint pen, coloured pencils, and markers.

Feel free to doodle, sketch, or draw in your journal. It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself an artist. These things could help to remind you of your thoughts and ideas of a certain time, place, or person. They can even be starting points of your next nonfiction piece!

So, go ahead and get yourself a journal. Then, begin to write!

Here are some more ideas and prompts on starting your journal:

* If you feel self conscious about starting your journal at the very first page, leave the first three to five pages of your journal blank.

* Put a picture of you in one of the pages and write as many positive adjectives as you can to describe yourself.

* Doodle on one page of your journal. You can put anything — spirals, stars, hearts, etc. Afterwards, look at your doodles. Do you have any favourite doodle? Write about that doodle. How can you identify yourself with that doodle?

Happy journal writing!

1) Walk, jog or run. OK, let me first place a disclaimer: I’m not a big fan of exercise. I do, however, acknowledge that it’s good for one’s body, mind and soul. So, even though I’m not an exercise freak, I always feel refreshed and inspired after a good walk, stretch, dance or pilates session. That’s why I highly recommend it too.

2) Read or look at books, magazines, newspapers, photo albums, scrapbooks, etc. I’m a visual person. I can’t help but feel inspired when I read well-written books or look at great images.

3) Attend classes, seminars or workshops. Writing, painting, photography, and many other creative pursuits can be very isolating. That’s why it’s always great to mingle with other like-minded individuals. And, of course, improving your knowledge and skills should definitely help too.

4) Go window shopping! No, really. There are just so many ideas at the mall. It’s probably because shops are often buzzing with colour, shapes, sounds, smells and people. So, go ahead and spend a few hours just taking it all in.

5) Start creative eavesdropping. It’s an embarrassing habit, I know. But, that’s the wonderful part about being a creative individual — you have the license to do embarrassing stuff every now and then. And yes, listening is a great tool for creativity!

6) Just work. Sometimes, when your creativity won’t budge, you just have to kick it in the butt and tell it to keep moving. Face that blank page and start scribbling. Get your old canvases and paints out and start throwing colours. Sooner or later, inspiration will strike. And, even if it doesn’t strike as soon as you want it to, you’ll at least have a few bits and bobs of work that you can save for more brainstorming later.

7) Visit galleries, museums, and/or libraries. Basking in the presence of great artists, writers and historians can often be an awe-inspiring experience.
Socialise. Being surrounded with people can inspire you to create. You can get re-energised if socialising is your thing. And, even if socialising isn’t your thing, you can still pick up ideas from individuals that you meet.

9) Pray or meditate. Looking to a different source of strength, inspiration and motivation may be just what you need at a time when you feel dry in your creative life.

And, finally,

10) Relax! If all else fails, or if you simply feel like doing so, just put your feet up and get some rest. Perhaps, the lack of inspiration may be due to your body telling you that you’re doing too much, too fast. Unwind, get pampered, take it easy.

Inspiration may be knocking on your door soon enough.

Go out there and have fun. Or, stay in your jammies and relax.

Whatever you do, just remember: YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOU ARE CREATIVE. No one else in the world can do the things you do quite like the way you do them.

Revel in your uniqueness. Be happy.

- Stack of old magazines, brochures, and/or newspapers
- Scissors*
- Paste or Glue*
- Lots of Paper or a Notebook
- Dry Container like an envelope, a plastic tumbler,
etc. (optional)

Once you have these materials, you’re all set to start making cut paste poetry. Just follow these steps:

Collecting Words

Go through your magazines, brochures, and/or newspapers. Look for words that you like and then cut them per word. There’s no limit to how many words you could collect. Of course, the more words you have, the better because you’ll have more choices when you start making poems.

Don’t forget to collect nouns and verbs. These would be the most useful words in your word collection. You might also consider looking for adjectives and adverbs, conjunctions and interjections, prepositions, and pronouns. Once you’ve collected enough words, you can put them in a container or just a clear space on your work/play area.

Fun with Words

Now that you’ve got a good collection of words, you can start making your cut paste poetry.

You can do these in three ways:

1) Just randomly choose words in your collection and paste them one by one on the paper. It doesn’t matter if they don’t make sense. Sometimes, you’ll come up with phrases or sentences like: puppy sing very of the good. Don’t worry about it at first. Just have fun and continue choosing and pasting words until your paper is too full or you think that your ’silly poem’ is done. You can leave this cut paste poem as it is, or you can get a pen or pencil and add words that could help your ’silly poem’ find some sense.

2) Give yourself a number and stick to it. For example, you chose “12″. Once you have this number in mind, randomly choose 12 (or any number that you chose) words from your collection. After you picked your words, try to arrange them on your paper and make a poem. Again, it doesn’t matter if some phrases and/or sentences don’t make sense. You can leave this poem as it is or you can get a pen or pencil to add ‘necessary’ words.

3) Lay all your words on your work/play table. Read each one carefully and start choosing words to make phrases and/or sentences for your poems.

You can try more than one approach, if you like. This way, you can select which one is your favorite for future use.

Here are some examples of cut paste poetry:

Title: Succulent Wild Woman: Dancing with Your Wonder.full Self
Author: SARK
Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483376X/indigoinn

I bought this book at Angus and Robertson Book Store in Brisbane (Aus) on the 10th of June 2001 around 12.30pm. A few hours later, I finished reading the book. That’s how fun this is!

I first came across Sark’s work while I was living in California (USA). I wanted to buy her book so badly. But, at that time, I held back. And, every time I came across her books, I kept holding back. After reading

I’m sure that when you try to read Succulent Wild Woman: Dancing With Your Wonder.Full Self, you’ll find many other things that I wasn’t able to mention here. In just 179 colorful and unique pages, you’ll gain a special mentor in Sark, find lots of further reading resources, and know that you deserve to live a succulent, wild, and wonder.full life.

(c) 2001-2005 SAM Coggins