Happy New Year!

Welcome 2014!

Only a few hours from the last year, a new year is exciting and holds much promise for creating something new and different for our lives. It feels so refreshing to have a blank canvas on which to design the next 365 days.

As 2013 drew to a close, I had been reflecting on my own life and creative practices.  I had a little more free time during December since my dear friend and favorite No Weapon Productions CEO gave me a little costume creation break. I took advantage of the opportunity and used the time to make some of my Christmas gifts.  I made a cute crochet beret for my daughter and some Happiness Jars for my family and friends (still in progress - smile - photos are forthcoming). I also have a fleece robe in progress for my daughter. It has been fun to create fun and useful items (my mantra when I create is to make sure the item is useful as well as beautiful) and I always yearn for more time to just be creative. I was careful to maintain a calm attitude toward the timing of the completion of my projects, but I did have a big goal in mind and did not set aside enough time to complete everything in "timely manner."  My take-away from this experience is that in order to accomplish the goal of giving unique hand-crafted gifts, I must start a little earlier!

And so I've decided to challenge myself to be creative everyday. #PlanetCreative365 is my way to learn and grow creatively and stretch myself with respect to the daily discipline of creating.  As you may know, discipline and routine can be a challenge for creative types, yet the most prolific creators have an established routine of working on their craft EVERYDAY.

Will you join me?

The rules are simple...make something each day and document it with a photo. Some projects will be bigger and take more time to complete, so document your progress. Some of your creations will be "top secret," so feel free to photograph only what you are comfortable with the public seeing (i.e. a corner of the item, an artistically blurred version). Occasionally I may post an inspiration for your creativity, just to mix things up a bit.  Use the hash tag #PlanetCreative365 when you share your creations. I will feature some of them here on the blog.  You can follow my daily progress on Twitter and Facebook and weekly progress here on the blog.

What will you create today?

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Estella Banks

Chief Creative Officer
Inspiring, Nurturing, Sharing Creativity