5 Ways to be Creative in the month of March

It's Dr. Seuss's birthday! He was a man of creative whims and so in his honor, I feel it's appropriate to share five websites/communities that will expand your creative horizons.

Jewelry making is my go-to creative outlet. I enjoy working with my hands and creating wearable pieces of art. But that does not mean that I limit myself to it. Creativity is a muscle and working it in different ways and through different mediums  can help inspire you and yield more fantastic and beautiful creations. Here are some ways to exercise your creative mind:

• Life: Captured Inc.'s #lifecapturedproject for journaling and photography: Life: Captured Inc. focuses on preserving memories and documenting one's life. They recently started the #lifecapturedproject in which they post a list of journaling/photography prompts for each month. Journaling has proven benefits (here is a great article from lifehacker to convince you), it can help you make sense of your life so you can take control of it (here is another article about how you should live like you are the star of your show), and it is a fantastic way to get back into writing.

• March Moleskine Madness for journaling and art: This is a month long challenge that is not restricted to art or moleskines. A list of prompts are posted everyday and you are free to choose one, a few, or none. You can then submit your creations onto the tumblr to be featured. To win, you only need 25 entries and you can draw more than one entry a day. This is a great way to work on your artistic skills and be a part of a community.

• National Geographic's Your shot for photography: Speaking of communities, National Geographic has a fantastic worldwide community of amateur and professional photographers. Not only can you submit your photos onto the forum where they will be viewed by other photographers, but you can also participate in their photo challenges which are a great way to master your photography skills and get creative. Plus, there is a plethora of tips on the site. At the moment, photographer Jim Richardson has challenged the community to photograph Transitions: As the World Turns which is open until March 15.

• Writer's Digest Weekly prompts or Writing Boot Camp for creative writers: Maybe journaling isn't your thing but you still want to write. Every Tuesday, Writer's Digest posts a new creative writing prompt. Or if you want to go a little more hardcore, Writer's Digest also offers a free two week boot camp full of writing prompts. Plus, the website is filled with tips, tricks, and information on everything from getting started as a new writer to publishing.

• ArtPrompts.org for everything: Maybe you don't want to journal or do a challenge. Maybe you don't like the creative writing prompts. ArtPrompts.org is a art prompts generator. Just click on a category like character, situation, etc. and it will give you a random prompt. Plus, you can refresh as many times as you like. The site is still a work in progress so some of the categories might have smaller libraries but it is still a fantastic resource for creatives!

Have you used any of these resources? Are you participating in any of them? Do you know any other sites for creatives? Let me know in the comments!