31 Days to Creativity: Daily Exercises for an Explosion of Creativity

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Introduction

Hello, and welcome to "31 Days to Creativity: Explode Your Creative Work in Just One Month." My name is Mary Jane Roussel. Thank you for joining me. I’m excited to begin.

Let’s start with a few questions to think on.

How are you doing creatively these days? Do you have supplies sleeping on your shelves that need to be brought to life? Are you looking for ideas and inspiration, for ways to remove creativity roadblocks? If so, this is for you. You’ve come to the right place.

Inspiration doesn’t come easily - if you want to do creative work but aren’t feeling that spark, it can be a frustrating experience. Fortunately, this course is designed to help you get better at seeking out that inspiration and finding it everywhere in your life. The lessons we’ll be discussing are for all creative souls of any craft - whether you’re wide awake and constantly creating or just coming out of hibernation and looking to get back on the ball.

The course is a 31-day program organized into five units. After this introduction, the first four units will each represent one week, and the fifth unit will represent the last three days, for a total of 31 lessons to awaken your creativity. But remember, this course is for you, so use it however works best for you. You can listen to one lesson every day, or you can listen all at once to use this course as a jumping-off point for your creativity.

Each lesson consists of a short lecture and, even more importantly a project, or follow-up activity, or exercise, as we’ll call them. Doing these exercises is a sure-fire way to spark your creativity. And that’s the goal of the class: to help you get your creative juices flowing. Just listening to the course won’t do the trick. You’ve got to create.

You do not need to possess any special skills in order to benefit from this class. You don’t even need to practice any particular craft or creative outlet. My examples, of course, are related to what I do most--which is paper-crafting, but any creative individual will benefit from this course!

Again, my name is Mary-Jane Roussel. I’m a fashion designer, calligrapher, an avid scrapbooker, a very prolific card-maker, author, and teacher. All of these activities require a certain degree of creativity. And I confess, I generally have more ideas than I have time for. So I know what it’s like to struggle to get going creatively - the lessons we’re going to learn come from my own experience and the experience of other experts and ordinary people alike. These ideas are proven to boost your creativity; and even if some aren’t for you, you’re bound to find the ones that are.

If you’re ready to experience a creativity explosion, let’s get going!

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Week 1

Hi, and welcome back to 31 Days to Creativity, I’m so glad you’ve decided to join me for the remainder of this course! Let’s get started on that creativity explosion!

Like I mentioned in the introductory unit, this course consists of 31 lessons--one a day--and each unit represents each week of the program. So let’s get started on week 1.

Day one: Taking Stock

To begin your creativity explosion on day one, I want you to begin by taking stock. Creativity is not just something that happens when you’re in your workshop, studio, or at your desk - it’s a way of thinking. A way of being. Even a way of life. Some lucky people grow up in