The Little Spark - 30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity

by Carrie Bloomston

Overview

You were born with a creative spark inside. Do you look at yourself now and wonder if the spark has gone out? Ignite that inner fire with the 30 engaging exercises, fun activities, inspirational images, and motivating ideas in this book. Learn what your Little Spark of creative passion looks like, how to capture it, and how to make room for it in your life. Read the book cover-to-cover and use it as a month-long creative roadmap, or just dip into the exercises as your time and inclination allow. Either way, you will change your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607059608
Publisher:	C&T Publishing / Stash Books
Publication date:	11/14/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	448,963
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Carrie Bloomston is a fabric designer and the artist behind SUCH Designs. Her work has been featured in magazines including QuiltMania,Stitch, Cloth Paper Scissors, Generation Q Magazine, Quilts and More, and Studios. Carrie lives in Phoenix, Arizona. such-designs.com

Table of Contents

Dedication How to use this book Introduction 1. Just start 2. Take a class 3. The Crazies 4. Break your own rules 5. Jar of markers 6. Create the space 7. Make a huge mess 8. Go to the mall 9. Get in your body–get out of your head! 10. Inner-kid care 11. Doubt 12. Have a secret 13. Inspiration 14. The Pleasure Principle 15. Make a vision board 16. Create a mission statement 17. Fear 18. Be who you are 19. Repetition 20. Shine your light 21. Take a day off 22. Share your work 23. Give it away 24. Permission 25. Time 26. SoulBox 27. Process 28. Grace 29. Leave it on the field 30. Trust yourself Resources About the Author

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/06/2014
Don’t judge this book by its understated cover; open it and plunge into a riot of color and shape, slathered with a big helping of encouragement. Bloomston, a fabric designer trained as a painter, offers 30 tips for finding and nourishing the inner artist. Creativity books can be a bit pious, but this one emphasizes the fun of creation. The book is chock-full of concrete, hands-on tips that can help the newbie develop habits of creativity by making things and then making some more things, the principle of repetition (spark #23). It’s less strong on the psychology of creativity, and specifically the demon of inner criticism, who doesn’t go away after a single stern talking-to. But art is about making, not just thinking about making, and Bloomston’s book is prettily made. There’s nothing particularly new here, but makers can enjoy this as a small manifesto that affirms them, with just a little theory and a peek inside a number of creatively different studios. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

I haven't felt this way about a book since The Four Agreements, which I purchased and gave away repeatedly.

11/25/14 One Girl Circus

Everyone is born with a creative spark inside, although many may feel that it’s gotten lost amongst their hectic lives. Thirty engaging exercises, fun activities, inspirational images, and motivating ideas help creative minds recapture that spark and make room for it in their lives. Whether done once a day, once a week, or once a month, these exercises inspire a more creative life.

Spring 2015 American Sewing Guild Notions

Learn techniques you can use to cultivate your creative life and live a more creative life.

January 2015 The Applique Society Newsletter

Carrie Bloomston’s new book, The Little Spark – 30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity, has completely blown us away with page after page of absolutely inspiring exercises and images to get you out of any creative funk. As much as I wish every single day I woke up with a list full of new ideas, it doesn’t always exactly happen that way, so a book like this is perfect for getting the wheels turning again.

12/4/14 Pretty Prudent

Carrie writes with great passion, joy and honesty about her creative life. She shares her enthusiasm, her struggles, and her discoveries on her path to greater creativity and personal fulfillment. This is a deeply spiritual book. Not a religious book, but a book about finding meaning and contentment through personal growth, connections, and giving back. It’s about harnessing your essential core – your creativity – and why it is so important to finding your bliss.

Quilting Arts TV, 12/4/14 - Susan Brubaker Knapp

You may know Carrie Bloomston from her work as a rising star in the world of fabric design... Bubbling up inside of her was an idea about an unusual how-to book that would lay out in a playful fashion "all the pieces of wisdom that I've learned about creativity from my teachers, or picked up over the course of my life." She says at the beginning "Your creativity is like a pilot light — it's always on, even if you aren't using the stove.” Some of her exercises will help disrupt your normal way of working or looking at the world. Others help you deal with fears or figure out your working style. There are a few projects, including a vision board and something called a Soul Box. How can you not love a book in which the final spark is "Nothing You Need to Know is in This Book Or Any Other"— but still guides you to be more playful and creative? This book is for any person you know who wants to make stuff, any kind of stuff, that is an authentic expression of themselves.

Quilt Journalist Newsletter, 11/24/14 - Meg Cox

A look back at 2014 best crafts books - Finally, there’s The Little Spark (Stash Books), by Carrie Bloomston, which calls itself an interactive workbook for igniting creativity. It’s peppered with tales from dancers, yogis, artists and more, and is filled with fun ideas. Bloomston’s point: Unleash the “spark” of the creative life. It’s a fine motto for embracing the new year.

Associated Press, December 2014 - Jennifer Forker

I haven't felt this way about a book since The Four Agreements, which I purchased and gave away repeatedly.

11/25/14 Onegirlcircus.com

12/01/2014
According to fabric designer Bloomston, creativity is not something you do, it's who you are. Therefore, the author's exercises are designed to help readers think from their hearts and outside the box. Some of her "sparks" advise to get involved with physical materials by looking online for craft or community education classes or creating a ritual or talisman. Other ideas comprise removing doubt through positive self-talk and developing a sense of wonder through slowing down. The color photographs and layout of the book are particularly pleasing and inspiring. VERDICT A beneficial and enjoyable title for people who need a bit of a nudge to try something creative, or those who used to paint, write, or sew, who want to do it again.

Library Journal

2014-12-18
A professional artist presents a guide to unlocking one's inspiration and inventiveness.In her debut how-to manual, fabric designer and artist Bloomston offers hands-on techniques and hand-holding encouragement to help overcome an inert imagination. The author recognizes that inspiration can be blocked and that creativity is sometimes offset by procrastination. In this book, she presents practical advice, motivational words, fun suggestions and write-in exercises in a colorful, highly attractive format designed to produce tangible results. The book's design beautifully weaves together text, blank write-in spaces, stellar photos and a host of other charming design elements. The titular "spark" refers to a person's creativity, which the author says is "like a pilot light—it's always on, even if you aren't using the stove." She explores how to get cooking creatively in 30 short chapters that advise readers to, among other things, not be stingy with materials, begin with tiny goals ("achievable, quick steps you can take every day until you are less intimidated by starting"), carve out workable work spaces, discover personal learning styles and disrupt normal patterns of activity to "see the world with new eyes." Along with encouraging quotes, the author offers practical ideas, such as keeping mugs and jars filled with markers and colored pencils at the ready for when inspiration strikes. The book also offers ways to "share your creations with the world." Extremely valuable "Do This" exercises in each chapter invite readers to make specific items, such as a "soul box" or a "vision board"; to answer soul-searching questions; and to do activities outside the home that may be beyond one's comfort zone: "Step outside the normal. Step outside the expected to find your creative self. Be curious." Bloomston also offers her own personal anecdotes as well as stories and tips from numerous others; the extensive list of contributors includes designers, artists and business owners.A sparkling blueprint for stimulating creativity.

Kirkus Reviews

Carrie Bloomston’s new book, The Little Spark – 30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity, has completely blown us away with page after page of absolutely inspiring exercises and images to get you out of any creative funk. As much as I wish every single day I woke up with a list full of new ideas, it doesn’t always exactly happen that way, so a book like this is perfect for getting the wheels turning again.

Pretty Prudent

Learn techniques you can use to cultivate your creative life and live a more creative life.

The Applique Society Newsletter

A look back at 2014 best crafts books - Finally, there’s The Little Spark (Stash Books), by Carrie Bloomston, which calls itself an interactive workbook for igniting creativity. It’s peppered with tales from dancers, yogis, artists and more, and is filled with fun ideas. Bloomston’s point: Unleash the “spark” of the creative life. It’s a fine motto for embracing the new year.

Associated Press - Jennifer Forker

Carrie writes with great passion, joy and honesty about her creative life. She shares her enthusiasm, her struggles, and her discoveries on her path to greater creativity and personal fulfillment. This is a deeply spiritual book. Not a religious book, but a book about finding meaning and contentment through personal growth, connections, and giving back. It’s about harnessing your essential core – your creativity – and why it is so important to finding your bliss.

Quilting Arts TV - Susan Brubaker Knapp

I haven't felt this way about a book since The Four Agreements, which I purchased and gave away repeatedly.

One Girl Circus

Everyone is born with a creative spark inside, although many may feel that it’s gotten lost amongst their hectic lives. Thirty engaging exercises, fun activities, inspirational images, and motivating ideas help creative minds recapture that spark and make room for it in their lives. Whether done once a day, once a week, or once a month, these exercises inspire a more creative life.

American Sewing Guild Notions

You may know Carrie Bloomston from her work as a rising star in the world of fabric design... Bubbling up inside of her was an idea about an unusual how-to book that would lay out in a playful fashion "all the pieces of wisdom that I've learned about creativity from my teachers, or picked up over the course of my life." She says at the beginning "Your creativity is like a pilot light — it's always on, even if you aren't using the stove.” Some of her exercises will help disrupt your normal way of working or looking at the world. Others help you deal with fears or figure out your working style. There are a few projects, including a vision board and something called a Soul Box. How can you not love a book in which the final spark is "Nothing You Need to Know is in This Book Or Any Other"— but still guides you to be more playful and creative? This book is for any person you know who wants to make stuff, any kind of stuff, that is an authentic expression of themselves.

Quilt Journalist Newsletter - Meg Cox