River Rock Critters - Pet Rock

Pet Rocks

Children love to create rock critters. As a school outing or a home project this will surely delight them. Have them collect some rocks of different shapes and sizes. After you have a rock that a teacher or parent feels suitable for painting, the project is ready to begin.

Their finished piece can be used as a shelf decoration, or make a large one that can be used on Mom's desk as a paperweight. While the average ladybug is red, let them use their imagination using several vibrant colors. Their project will turn out to be their own unique design and color scheme.


Supplies:

• Smooth, round or oval rocks, washed and dried
• Acrylic craft paint in colors of their choice
• Black acrylic craft paint
• Acrylic matte sealer spray

How to Paint Lady Bug:

1. Completely wash and dry all rocks
2. Paint rocks in desired colors, and allow to dry
3. Apply second and third coats if needed.
4. There is no pattern needed, simply paint about ¼ inch of the rock any color they choose in the "front" area of rock
5. Use a thinner brush to draw a straight line down the center of the rock, starting at the center of the base of the “head”.
6. Dip the end of a large paint brush, or the eraser end of a pencil, in black (or any color they choose) into the craft paint. Dot on the spots, reloading with paint after every dot.
7. Once the paint is dry, spray the rock(s) with acrylic sealer spray.
   Allow sealer to dry completely.
   

Important Tips:

Paint a lady bug, bee, or anything on a rock that symbolizes a critter of your own. Decorate with dots for an antenna, a straight line or a fun swirl of color. Glue Google eyes on it or paint your own. See your critter come alive with your very own artistic ability. Apply fun stickers on it or swirl colors of paint. Let your imagination run wild and you will see a pretty unique art piece that will treasured for a lifetime.

Pauline Libutti , Artist & Writer
http://www.RiverRockCritters.com/

Your Inner Artist and Healer

The most amazing thing about dreams is their infinite creativity, variety and availability. The mind, regardless of age or intelligence level, generates new material, night after night, spinning endless fantasies that surpass Hollywood’s best efforts. We each have a master artist living in our unconscious, inviting us to a free private screening of works created especially for us each night.

This hidden artist weaves past, present and future into intricate and bizarre patterns that on the surface may seem to make no sense, and yet are strangely compelling. From its unlimited palette of memories, emotions, sensations and images, it creates masterful and sometimes frightening self-portraits.

As your personal healer, your dreams, even your nightmares, can diagnose and heal you at many levels. Facing and owning your "shadow material" through dream work often reveals inner sources of personal power and wellbeing.

Dreams have their own internally consistent logic that is more creative and richer than the linear logic of waking reality. Dream content is not random or accidental, as our culture believes. Instead, it is chosen quite intentionally by the unconscious from infinity of possibilities. A simple example: there is a car in your dream. Who decided whether to make it a new Ferrari or an old beat up pick-up truck with no brakes? Your inner artist and healer chose it, for its symbolic accuracy and its resonance to some aspect of yourself or your life.

Every detail of your dream is a carefully placed brush stroke, representing an aspect of yourself and also having its own external meaning. You may have seen the red Ferrari on the street today (along with the pick-up truck that didn't make it into your dream). But the Ferrari also represents something about you, so your unconscious re-created it in your dreamscape.

Dream Symbols don't have fixed positive or negative meanings. The red Ferrari could mean power, high value, speed, status, success, self-image, or it could as easily mean anger, waste, recklessness, etc. Its "true meaning" is whatever fits you and your life at this moment. The same image may mean different things at different times in your life, or in different dream contexts. Is the Ferrari cruising along? Parked? Stuck in mud? Crashing into a tree? Flying above the pavement? Who is driving and where are you going? But dream contexts also have no intrinsically positive or negative meaning.

Come explore to find your own inner truth -- in your dreams as in all of life!

Ann Klein, licensed therapist

Pauline Libutti, RiverRock Critters.com
Copyright 2008 CraftyCritters Newsletter

7 Easy Creative Rituals to Spark Your Imagination and Inspire Your Soul

Revitalize Your Creative Talents

Creativity is a mysterious force that visits us with great ideas, new ways of seeing the world and the courage to do things differently. Revitalizing your creative talents will help you in the most unexpectedly wonderful ways: a new business idea, a renewed commitment to self-care, an appreciation for the beauty that lies all around us.

Finding a small bit of time each day to feed this force will not only reward you with increased creativity, but also an expanded sense of appreciation and gratitude for the creative process.

The following list highlights simple yet powerful actions you can take to spark your creative energy from the inside out.

1. Keep a Daily Journal

Use a journal to jot down the meandering thoughts of your mind. Write, draw, doodle, and paste collages together. Stuck between your great ideas are random thoughts, mental notes, and menial observations. Use your journal as a place to deposit these thoughts, keeping your creative mental workspace clear. Think of it as feng shui for the mind, a way of keeping the creative juices flowing.

2. Create Sacred Space

Find a place in your home to keep inspiring, motivating and spiritually significant objects. Remind yourself that creativity flows like water and wind, that it is steadfast like earth and powerful like fire. Collect objects from nature to remind you of this. Place things that awe and inspire you, projects you’re most proud of, and photos of people who support and encourage your creative action.

3. Reflection

Reflection can be a minute of appreciating someone or something, or it can be a day of meditation and writing. Find ways to incorporate reflection into your daily routine, noting how experiences and interactions help you grow as a creative person. This is great for surveying what inspires you and what blocks you, what attracts you and what doesn’t.

4. Creative Getaways

If you can, find some time to sneak away and enjoy a creative pleasure. It can be an hour wandering through a craft store, window shopping, a hike in nature or a visit to a special place. If you have kids and can’t get away alone, don’t worry. Enjoy the outing and reflect on it together. There are no rules to creative getaways. It is whatever touches you at that moment.

5. Do Something "Loco "

What’s something crazy you’ve always dreamed of doing but didn’t because of insecurity, fear or intimidation? Make a pact with yourself to get to know your Inner Loco and find ways to let her out to play each and every day.

6. See the World through a Child’s Eyes

Children have the amazing ability to be open to the possibilities of just about anything. Give yourself playtime to see the world through the eyes of a child. Sometimes it can be simply sitting on the floor and looking at a room from a new angle, or giving yourself permission to laugh and have fun.

7. Chart Your Course

It’s one thing to dream of creative things and it’s another thing to make them happen. Look at all the wonderful ideas you have and pick one to act upon. Make a commitment to do at least one daily action to support this idea. Doing the footwork to make your dream a reality will show you how easy it really is to turn ideas into action.

Ritual is a series of repeated acts. By incorporating creative ritual in your life, you will increase your innovation and creativity in ways that will surprise and delight you. Try at least one of these actions and feel your creativity grow!

by: Nancy Marmolejo

Pauline Libutti, RiverRock Critters.com
Copyright 2008 CraftyCritters Newsletter

Myths About Being an Artist

Believe You Have Talent

Fact: Some people do have more of an inherent talent, or an aptitude, for art than others. But worrying about how much talent you do or don’t have is just a waste of energy. Having an abundance of creativity is no guarantee you’ll be a good artist.

The advantage of believing you have talent when you start out is that initially artistic things come easily to you, rather than your having to strive to achieve them. But relying on talent will only get you so far. Sooner or later you’ll reach a spot where your talent isn’t enough. What then?

Develop Your Artistic Skills
If you’ve worked at developing artistic skills, from how brushes work to how colors interact, and are used to actively pursuing ideas rather than expecting creative thoughts to come to you, you’re not at the whim of your so-called talent.

Let’s skip the ideas about everyone having some creative aspect to them and how everyone has some special talent. If you truly believe you didn’t have any artistic ability, you wouldn’t have any desire to paint. It’s that desire, combined with persistence and the systematic learning of painting techniques, not talent, which make an artist.

“What distinguishes a great artist from a weak one is first their sensibility and tenderness; second, their imagination, and third, their industry.” – John Ruskin

Pauline Libutti, RiverRock Critters.com
Copyright 2007 CraftyCritters Newsletter

Setting an Intention

Intention Setting: Intention Set in Stone

Intention Setting
People set intentions on all kinds of dreams; to get married or have children, to get a job or make a career change, to write a book, lose weight, or move to a foreign country. When you set an intention and then act on it to demonstrate your commitment, amazing things occur. Intention can also give us fortitude for dealing with tough times.

I am currently building my home business. My intention is tap into my creativity through rock art painting and turn it into a home business to supliment my income. I am tested daily. It’s often not easy, but this intention has helped me maintain composure, sanity, and on a good day, a sense of humor. Intention setting can be used for anything you wish to manifest in your own life.

Intention Setting Examples:
• Before you get out of bed, you can intend to have a fun or productive day.
• Before you leave the house, you can intend to have quality time with your family or roommate.
• Before you start your car, you can intend to have a safe ride to work.
• Before you enter your workplace, you can intend to learn something new or be helpful.
• Before the meeting begins, you can intend to be brilliant or calm.

First Intention Setting Steps:
1. Get clear about something you want and write it down.
2. Share your intention with someone in a way that will supportively hold you accountable to taking action.
3. Do something today to demonstrate your commitment to your intention.
4. Acknowledge that you did what you said you would and then, take the next step.

By setting an intention, you make it clear to yourself and others, just what you plan to do. Set an intention to redefine what it means to be serious about your dreams.

http://www.riverrockcritters.com/

Affirming Your Life

Creativity
Sometimes, affirming your creativity means first affirming your life. Affirming your life can happen in a variety of ways, but works best when it's an action you initiate through the belief that no matter what kind of adoration or popularity other humans experience, your life, your experiences, and your creative expressions count just as much as everyone else's in the endless ether sphere of human potential. Steps to success include having direction, remaining focused and taking action.

Inspiration
Without inspiration, the obvious tools of creative production are of little use. Sparks that ignite creativity are found everywhere, and can arise from unrelated sources in the most unlikely places.

Persistence
New information triggers a desire to explore, that it will somehow link back to original ideas that will resurface with a difference taking us closer to a desired goal. The journey of discovery may be quite frustrating but there are ways to negotiate this creative path, which is often quite erratic. Persistence, and a thirst for the knowledge, may help fill in the gaps and give direction.

Abridged by: RiverRockCritters.com
© Lyne Marshall 2007