100 Ideas | Write A Letter To Someone You Admire
One of the ideas on Keri Smith's 100 Ideas list is to write a letter to someone you admire. So this week I did that and painted this makeshift postcard using the back of an old children's book and sent it to Pip Lincolne. I painted it with gouache and a tiny paintbrush and sealed it with some fancy new gouache varnish I found at my local art shop (I had to video chat with my brother as soon as I got home after finding the varnish because I knew he's the only other person who would be as excited about it as me and he was!).
Recently Pip wrote a really delightful book. I knew for a while that she had a new book coming out, but I didn't know what it was about and when I picked it up at my local bookshop I expected to see lots of cute crafty projects, but instead, it was full of really excellent advice about being a creative person (with some crafty projects interspersed for good measure of course).
"You Make Me Happy" is a really sweet song by Clare Bowditch who wrote the foreword in Pip's book.
It is full of lots of practical solutions to issues that crop up in the life of a creative person and it gives great advice about having nice times ("I like great times, ace times, rad times, but nice times are generally what I'm aiming for"), waking up early and having a daily morning ritual, making movement/exercise part of your daily routine, writing your own mission statement and life rules, how to spark ideas and ways to look for inspiration, ways of doing new stuff, the importance of connecting with others and about being authentic and being yourself. It has some greats lists in it too including ideas for morning rituals and routines, things to do to spark ideas, inspiring people, project ideas, tips for doing good work, nice moments to be made and goal ideas.
I loved reading about Pip's daily routines and simple things she has implemented to make life more enjoyable. At the back of the book are a bunch of great crafty projects like Pip's pompom rug, safety pin bracelets and cute knitted blankets. There are also some fabulous recipes.
It is the best book I've read in a long time in terms of what I got out of it personally - it was like a breath of fresh air and I've found myself revisiting it several times over the past few weeks when I am lacking clarity or need a bit of a pick me up. I've been carrying it around with me so much that my copy is a looking a bit battered and grubby. Five glittery stars from me. I now want to buy a dozen copies and give them to all my friends.
If you're in Australia you can get a copy here.
