The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Harlem Library's annual Creative Christmas program is an opportunity for locals to get ideas for Christmas decorations and new holiday dishes. And do some visiting. This year's program to the 27 guests who gathered, was presented by Shannon Van Voast of Turner. A big fan of Pintrest, a social media website that features creative ideas, Van Voast said, "Actually, since I started looking at Pintrest I've not had an original idea."

That statement turned out to be not quit accurate as she shared examples of items she'd made, based on ideas she found on Pintrest. She said, "I take an idea I see and modify how to make it to my skill set and the materials I have available. I often look for projects my six-year old twin girls can help with." Van Voast showed a number of decorating ideas, ranging from candy canes glued together for wall hangings to old bed springs, "found in an abandoned shed that I keep hoping will go away," to a rotted off fence post brought back to useful life as a decorative snowman.

Shannon credited her family with supporting her 'addiction' to being creative. She said, "My husband, Alan, is immune to my trying new ideas. When I asked, recently, if we could stop and buy a roll of chicken wire his only comment was, "Oh, another new project?"" And her twin girls are a big motivator for creativity. She explained, "As they gain new skills I'm challenged to find new projects they can do and keep them enthused to master new skills." Shannon's mom, Betty Billmayer, also got a 'tip of the creative hat.' "Mom always got me and my two sisters involved in her craft projects," Shannon told. "At an early age she had us painting ceramic pieces and doing basic sewing projects."

As Van Voast showcased each creation there was usually a story about how the original idea was modified. She explained, "I've found that a lot of the projects I see on Pintrest lack specificity on exactly how to do the project. That is sometimes frustrating but also forces me to try new approaches to make something work." Her modifications often follow the old proverb, "necessity is the mother of invention," and the completed project is quite different from the original idea.

She gave a concrete example of her creative process as she described a use she found for a set old bed springs. Van Voast said, "I found an old bed spring in a shed on our property. I decided to take it apart and use the pieces to make a wreath. It was a classic case of an idea I saw not working, the pieces just kept falling apart when I tried to shape them into a wreath." With some help from her husband, she bent the springs into various shapes to create table top decorations.

After seeing Shannon's creations and her answering questions about how they were made, the guests moved to the refreshment table. Each food item was labeled so guests could follow up to learn more about a dish that appealed to them. The library staff said they would be posting helpful websites and information on the library's web page at: harlempubliclibrary.org.

Shannon had several motivational posters related to being creative. One that seemed particularly apropos read: "Why buy it for $7 when you can make it yourself with $92 worth of craft supplies?" Creativity can be fun but it's not necessarily cheap.