Emily‘s creative notebook and pen remind me of warm, energetic, sunny, easy summer’s days! And it reminds me of birthdays! Wrapping paper, whispers and early mornings. You’ll find more of Emily’s creative expressions on her blog Mousy Brown’s House where she records “things I have made, things I have seen and the things that help me to enjoy my life“.

Here is Nina‘s creative space. This space looks so inviting in the cosy light of the lamp. A place for action! ”I looked all over the place for one of those lovely stashed-away notebooks, but maybe I mislaid it in our last move (in February – haven’t finished unpacking yet!) or gave it to my daughter who also loves beautful things. Am eager to see where this exercise will take me!“ It’s so easy to put things off just because we don’t feel we have the perfect tools or spaces or long, uninterrupted passages of time. Using what we HAVE got, is often part of getting going.

This is designer and illustrator Jennifer Lynn Bishop’s creative tools. A yellow notebook with a swirly and organic pattern that contrasts with the straight, diagonal and checked lines. A very clever composition! Jennifer loves music and is currently working on her online coloring book. You will find her work on her portfolio/design blog Color My Designs or on her Flickr page.

This is John’s creative tools and space. “The book is from the Tate Gallery in London and I love these pockets that are spaced throughout as a way of adding to my thoughts, sketches etc.” At once peaceful and energetic, poetic and practical! Discover more of John’s photography and design on his web space.

Here’s Tracy’s morning moment & essentials. Tea, light, and rainbow pens. This Dream journal is a moleskine journal that Tracy’s embellished. Such a soulful and tranquil creative space!  You’ll find her art and jewelry on her blog Prana Light, along with Tracy’s writings about “creative living where art & spirit meet”.

Lisa is using this gorgeous natural paper and leaf notebook as her creative tool. She says “to be honest it has been sitting in a drawer waiting for my inspiration for about 5 years!”. How bold and what a great gift Lisa gave to herself!

Have You Been Saving Your Best Notebook in a Drawer?

Oh how I can relate to that! Keeping my best stationery, notebooks and journals in a drawer, waiting for that perfect time! Does that ever happen to you? 

Creative Spaces and Tools

I’m blown away by these photos by members of Club Marmalade Moon who are getting their creative tools ready for the free Creative Jumpstart Course!

The lively, vibrant and colourful creative tools in the first photo are from Esmee.  You’ll find more of her creative iPhone photography on Pingram.

The next photo is by Gilbert. What a stylish, bold and minimalist set of tools!

Last a photo of my creative tools.

Pictures of creative spaces and tools are a picture of creativity itself. A picture of the anticipation, of creative excitement.

It’s so inspiring with a peek into other people’s creative spaces, isn’t it?

Ignite Your Creative Spark

A new, free course to boost your creativity and build creative momentum, begins this week! Members of Club Marmalade Moon will be getting this course for free!

Why Now?

Every week I get questions from club members asking “how can I make time for creativity and how can I build creative momentum?” This class will help you break your creative time down into tiny managable pieces and get you started building momentum.

This summer my new ecourse about iPhone Photography is released. The course will be about awakening your inner creative using the tool that you have in your pocket, and delivered in doable chunks for 6 weeks. But you need to get grounded in your creativity before you spend more time on expanding your creative life. This free course will get you ready for creative growth.

Jumpstart Your Unique Creative Expression

• • spark your creativity
• • start building creative momentum
• • explore your unique creative expression
• • use simple tools that you’ve already got

To make it easy to succeed, the course will be delivered to you in 8 tiny, to-the-point, practical and bite-sized chunks, so that it’s really easy for you to follow through and be successful. Creative Jumpstart is a free four week course, delivered to your inbox on Mondays and Fridays.

In this course we’ll work on a practical project that you can complete with pen and paper. Optionally document your creative process with a camera (any old camera will do, a mobile phone works great).

This will be a time for you to spark your unique creativity and begin weaving creativity into your days.

If you’re an Instagram user, your photos will look different and unique in the stream of photos, when you use other apps to make your photos, and then share your photos on Instagram! 

Wood Camera

Flexible, fast photography app with an intuitive work flow and an elegant interface. Use the in-app camera to shoot with 22 lenses in real-time or import photos. Crop, and rotate. Add and tweak effects, texture, tilt-shift and frames.

What makes Wood Camera stand out

Create unique and interesting effects with Wood Camera‘s customisable filters that give the user more control over the final look.  

Photo sharing

Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Instagram.

Platforms

iOS devices.

Snapseed

Powerful, intuitive and sophisticated photo editing with a gesture based interface. Add drama, grunge, tilt-shift, frames, vintage film or make selective adjustments. Auto Correct analyzes your photo and automatically adjusts color and exposure. All effects can be fine-tuned and adjusted to taste. Excellent in app help makes it easy to learn Snapseed.

What makes Snapseed stand out

Versatile & powerful. Innovative touch based interface that’s easy-to-use.

Photo sharing

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Flickr.

Platforms

iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac OSX.

Pixlr-o-matic

Turn your photos into art in three easy steps. Begin by picking a moody filter, then add a special effect (such as bokeh, scratches, rainbow or a vignette) and finally a border. Use the Shuffle effect for a random combination.

What makes Pixlr-o-matic stand out

Autodesk’s Pixlr-o-matic is easy to use and free.

Photo Sharing

Facebook, Flickr, Imm.io and Dropbox.

Platforms

Android, iOS devices, Windows, Mac OSX.

Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic brings the romance of the analog experience into the digital age. With this unique camera app you can emulate analog photography by swapping your lens, flash, and film to create artistic photos. Shake the camera for a random combination. Hipstamatic creates beautiful, artful results and offers incredible versatility and control. “Digital photography never looked so analog”

What makes Hipstamatic stand out

The feeling of shooting with an analog camera.

Photo Sharing

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and Tumblr. Order analog prints right from the app.

Platforms

iOS devices.

TouchRetouch

Remove undesirable elements from your photos by painting over them with your fingers with TouchRetouch. It works like magic.

What makes TouchRetouch stand out

Fast, easy and can save the day photo. 

Photo sharing

Facebook, Flickr, Picasa and Twitter.

Platforms

iOS devices, Samsung Bada and Google Android.

Which is your favourite photo app?

Do you use any photo apps? Do you find it easy to find your own style, and express it through iPhone photography? Let me know in the comments.

A new Routine. A new blogging pattern is emerging so you know what to expect to find at Marmalade Moon, and when. This is the plan:

Mondays

Marmalade Moon will be updated on Mondays. Some of the topics you’ll be able to read about are:

Tools & Tips

Tutorials, apps, reviews, tools, accessories & techniques for creative iPhone photography and mobile art.

Creative Time & Space

Making time and room for creativity.

The Creative Mind

It’s all in the mind. Creative habits, myths, psychology, practice & process.

Before and After

A peek into the creative process of my iPhone art and photography. Sometimes I’ll give you the recipe for my secret sauce.

And sometimes on Thursdays

This will be when I post something more personal, perhaps a studio tour, a page from my creative journal and sketchbook, thoughts and reflections, a photo or an announcement (like this post).

Path

Path is a smart journal that lets you share your life with a small group of friends and family. Instantly shoot, modify, and share photos and videos. Share the music you’re listening to, where you are, who you’re with, your thoughts and notes.

While social media like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are designed for building an army of followers, Path lets you create an intimate social network that’s open to 150 friends. Users feel that Path is a lot like Facebook, but private and less cluttered.

Path is smart and learns about you as time goes by. It can help you see interesting patterns in your life. Over time, it takes less effort to maintain because Path learns about your life.

What makes Path stand out

Intimate, private sharing in journal style.

Sharing

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Tumblr.

Platforms

iOS and Android.

A big thank you to my brother Edmund England for the tip! 

It’s here, it’s out, it’s been published, it’s not just a dream, or a project, or an idea – it’s really here. Swedish Illustration, a ”guide to the most exciting and innovative Swedish illustrators today”. And I’m in it!

The book release happened during my extremely busy week, and sort of vanished in the rush. It even took me days to pick up my free copy. And the exhilaration I thought I’d feel never happened. The thrill went missing amongst busy days.

Do You Ever Lose Sight of Your Accomplishments?

Does that ever happen to you? Do you lose sight of your achievements? Let me know in the comments?

Sometimes it Goes Quiet

You know that feeling you get when you’ve got young children, and suddenly you realise that it’s been quiet, way too quiet and far too long. They’re up to something…

Well, it’s like that here at Marmalade Moon too. When it’s been quiet a while, no blog posts, not even any responses to comments, then I’ve been really busy.

On the Go

• Helping to host the first Northern Light art & illustration workshop.
• Designing an album cover.
• Tinkering with the layout of the Marmalade Moon website and making new illustrations and graphics for it. The layout is going to be responsive, so that it looks great both on a desktop computer and on mobile devices.
• Writing the first free course to spark your creativity, for members of Club Marmalade Moon
• Looking for a replacement for Instagram (to solve the Facegram = Facepalm situation).

My Pocket of Creative Time

Standing at the air port, waiting for one of the teachers for the Northern Light workshop to arrive, I noticed an exhibition of Scandinavian Airlines aviation history and snapped a few photos.

Have you had any unexpected pockets of creative time recently?