Have you ever been working on something and thought what if
I changed the color or the arrangement or the technique or the place or or or.
Did you follow your ‘What if I’? I bet most discoveries or inventions were made
as a result of someone saying what if I.
I find the most creative results and most interesting adventures when I
follow what if I….
About nine years ago I hear a request on the radio to join
an American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event with that station’s on-air
staff. I thought ‘what if I called
them?” I ended up joining the relay team
and have been relaying ever since. I
even get some of the college students I teach involved in the Relay for Life.
There is an organization here in Tyler, Texas called Art of
Peace. Every September they have a week
of events that promote diversity, the arts, community involvement and, of
course, peace. One year they had an
activity to do a mural on the town’s square.
I thought “what if I went?” There
I met the manager of a local Farmers Market and I have been involved with them
ever since. In fact that is where I have
the Kid’s Craft event every month (Check my blog post “Kid’s Crafts at the
Farmers Market”)
Another ‘ What if I’
led me to wonder what would happen if I made a picture with my mini
yoyos and found a cross stitch pattern of a heart and by replacing a cross
stitch with a yoyo came up with my heart doily.
A few years ago I learned to weave on a pot holder loom with
yarn instead of the potholder loops. I
wondered what if I made a doll with this potholder shape. I fumbled with the shape a bit, slept on the
idea (I get great ideas as I drift off to sleep) and ended up with a little
tube shaped doll. Let me introduce you
to Weavy.
In thinking about writing this post, I tried to come up with
some time when I answered the “What if I..” call and the idea didn’t work
out. The only thing I could come up with
was the one time I combined some gazpacho soup (which is a chilled soup) with
the chili mac I was making. Gazpacho has
tomatoes, onions, and green peppers in it.
Not bad for chili (maybe not conventional but not bad). But it also has cucumbers. Yeah, cooked cucumbers; not my best idea.
So the next time “What if I…” comes to your mind while
creating something, follow it and see where it leads (unless it leads to
cucumbers in a chili then ignore it). Right
now I have some “What if I…”s in the works, I will let you know how they turn
out. Stay tuned.
©2017 Cheryl Fillion
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