The Pattie Wack Formula For Creativity

Gooooood Morning Santa Paula! All I could say was" WOW" when Scott and I got to the GMSP Breakfast this morning at 6:30 and saw my huge stand-up in the window of the Glen Tavern Inn. The attendance was also huge, compared to the usual group, and I was shocked to find out that gals had come all the way from Santa Barbara, Oxnard and Ventura to see me. Thank goodness I wrote notes on cheater cards and had practiced my "Pattiewack Formula for Creativity" on Scott the night before. I was a little nervous, but excited to find out that so many people were eager to learn how to become more creative.




To rev up their creative juices, I threw some crafty things in a decoupaged suitcase to sit in the foyer as the 80-something guests filled the room. They cracked up when they saw the bra purses, and loved the huge tassel and adored the high-heeled shoe, cowboy boot and purse, and the clapping hands, all made with the ProvoCraft PattieWack Coluzzle Templates. I threw in some placemat purses, and photo boxes that I made with the 123D Papercrafting System. Of course, I had some decoupage pieces, like the bust and luggage, too. Crafty ideas started flowing fast!




















That's me and Frank waiting for the breakfast to begin, and as you can see, I brought my mannequin with decoupage and chalkboard paint. Scott helped me lug everything in, and I think the mannequin was the star of the show!

I want to thank the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to share my creative formula with this fun group. Here are some of the highlights of my 10-minute speech.

My personal FORMULA for CREATIVITY is simple:
1. Take something from your surroundings.
2. Draw from your past experiences.
3. Ponder your need or desire for something new.

In other words, what we have to work with are:
What our resources are right now,
what we perceive out of the past,
and what we hope for in the future.

Being creative is like using a muscle;
Like the runner, the more he runs,
the more he builds up those muscles,
the more he can run....
And the more creative you are,
the more you develop your creative muscle.

It is important to draw upon your surroundings. I personally think that this is the strongest part of the formula for me. It can be other people, things you see, smell, hear and touch…

Even Albert Einstein said,
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

Here’s a good example:
When Michelle Neuhauser from Krylon Product’s craft division called me for creative direction on new ways to use their spray paint….

I used my formula of:
taking something from my surroundings,
past experiences,
and a desire for something new.
So, I put on my lab coat (literally) with the desire to make something new, grabbed some old spray paint, and started adding things from my surroundings, such as spraying water on an item to resist the spray paint to create a mottled effect.

I dropped mineral spirits onto wet spray paint to create a tortoise shell effect. And so on….until I had created
13 faux painting techniques!

Everyone is creative! But we are not creative in the same way. How many of you remember Kindergarten? Remember when you got your first big box of crayons?

Well, what each of us did with the crayons was different… some of us drew clouds and butterflies, some of wrote notes to our friends, some of us wrote on the desk,or gave ourselves a temporary tattoo, and I’ll bet SOME of you ATE the crayons!

At that point, I asked everyone to take a crayon from the pile in the middle of the table. Then I asked everyone to create something, using their crayon (the present), their kindergarten experience (the past), and their desire to make something new (the future). It was amazing!

We came up with some fun ideas:
1. Melt the crayons and pour them into butterfly molds to create butterfly shaped crayons.
2. Cover the sides of a box to look like a fence.
3. Turn the crayons into rocket-shapes to toss like toys.
4. Draw on fabric with the crayons and drop dye onto the fabric, then iron to create a batik.

What a fun group!

We started a list of peeps who want to start a PattieWack craft group for the Ventura County, as I shook hands and signed autographs at the end of the meeting.

Thanks, Santa Paula Chamer of Commerce and City Manager, Wally Bobkiewicz for this amazing opportunity!
I promise to organize another crafty meet-up very soon.