The Suitcase Is Just Too Heavy
What a journey… we keep trundling across the South West and Wales with our suitcase bursting with art and craft materials – too heavy for me to really carry and far too big for my mini height at 5’1 – luckily today I am co-facilitating with a much taller (6’3) I Am All Stories worker.
We are sat in the car, with the rain battering the windows waiting to be able to get into the building for our next workshop.
Who will we meet today, what little bits of their story will come out as we all sit around the table chatting and creating – and what will everyone make?
We are feeling so lucky to have been able to enjoy this journey, to meet so many people, and also collaborate with organisations that are doing the most incredible working supporting those most at need in our society – big shout out to all the community organisations making a difference to people’s lives!!!
And big to shout out to our funders, Arts Council England and Big Lottery Fund England and Wales who have made all this possible!









Meeting People Is Why We Do This
After receiving funding at the beginning of the year we have been working away behind the scenes to plan our workshops and plan dates that suit the organisations we are partnering with. As well as sending out hundreds of creative prompts in the post to people across the UK and beyond – we were excited to send to Ireland, Italy and France to name a few!
But the time finally came where we got to step into different spaces with different people in real life and share a couple of hours with them. Each participant received a hand decorated envelope and support to create something – and what people have created has been incredible! We have been overwhelmed by the creativity, people’s generosity and vulnerability and for the gorgeous conversations we have all had, sat around tables covered in craft materials, paints and glue!!!
We look forward to workshops that are coming up over the coming months and the opportunity to meet new people, hear more stories, and watch as people get incredibly creative!!!






A little look back
A little look back
As we re-launch this project with funding and already over 700 people signed up to receive prompts in the post we thought we would offer you the option to have a little look back at where it all began – please scroll over the ‘Project History’ Menu to see posts and pictures from when the project first began!
The Inspiration Behind The Project
The inspiration behind the project
This project was an idea born out of the pandemic, people talking while in lockdown, imagining the world we wished to see going forward. Creativity cannot stop, it is in all of us, everywhere we look, it is the central part of being human and exploring who we are and the world we live in. This project has been created with that in mind, to offer creative moments, to inspire creativity, offering opportunities to explore creativity together. This is a project that says, ‘we will still be creative however hard, we will still be creative whatever the world looks like, we will still find inspiration however complicated that may sometimes feel.’ And through our creativity we can provide uplift, we can shape the world in which we wish to live, and we can change the paths of others and offer the possibility of hope and joy.
In every one of us there are so many ideas, so many life stories to be drawn upon, so many creative moments just waiting to be heard and seen. Every life has a unique journey, a journey that if asked can create unique and amazing moments. There is untapped creativity that sits in our memories, our dreams, our emotions, and our conversations, spoken and unspoken. It is in every one of us, whatever our background or life experience, we have an infinite ability to be creative, just sometimes we forget it.
Our Aims:
• We aim to inspire people to be creative, opening creative spaces for people to step into, offering new ways of thought, new creative journeys, and opportunities for people to discover their brilliance in creative ways. Always looking to inspire creativity in all people, whatever their experience or background.
• We aim to create a collective movement, where we can explore creativity together, and through this have a greater understanding of creativity, inspiration, and possibility.
• We aim to lift the veil on the creative process. So much creativity is done in isolation, so much is unseen, but we all walk the similar human journey of trial and error, of ups and downs. We will fail, sometimes will come up short, and we will have triumphs and moments of euphoria. With this project we wish to open up the creative process to everybody, and in so doing humanise the creative process, allowing others to walk similar journeys and be inspired and through that inspiration find the bravery and courage to be creative themselves.
• We aim to create an online space of brilliance, beauty, ideas and experimentation. To create a space where people can touch, read, view, experience and explore creativity in all its forms, offering colour, thought, brilliance, beauty, honesty and uplift. A space that people could connect with, and in so doing immerse themselves in creative moments and share in creative thoughts with other creative minds.
• We aim to be part of creating a more creative world. Creativity and the arts should not be something that is on a pedestal, creativity should not be for some of us, but for all of us. This project says you do not have to be experienced but just be creative. Be creative, react creatively, snatch those 10 minutes to create, be creative in your interactions, in your movements, in each moment explore, experience and live in that moment. Make it part of your everyday life, try things you would not normally try and see things you would not normally see, explore, encourage, engage. Together, just by committing to a creative moment we start to build a more creative world.
Why Get Involved?
Why Get Involved?
This project has been created with the creator at the core, it’s about offering you the time, inspiration and permission to explore your creativity in a way that is engaging, new and with freedom. As creative’s we know how hard it can be to find the space, beat the creative block, feel brave enough to do something you’ve never tried or just find new excitement in what you might have done for years.
I Am All Stories is about combating creative challenges – you will be asked a question that your brain will uniquely answer, and that you will uniquely respond to, drawing on your life experience and using your unique ways to explore it.
Some people may ask, what does creativity offer me in the ‘real world’ – when we explore creativity, we have to connect with ourselves, overcome challenges, believe in ourselves, learn to adapt, and be spontaneous to name just a few things – and these are tools that translate into almost every life experience – by learning these tools doing something we love we then have them in our tool box for any situation we may need them in!
The team at I Am All Stories have a foundational belief in the power of creativity and it’s ability to, affect the world in positive ways, change lives, heal people, inspire play and ultimately offer people the space to explore, be and exist in themselves and with others.
Creativity is very individual, but it is also nice to know that there is a community of people exploring creativity at the same time as you, just in their own unique way – and that is a part of this project that we think is really beneficial. Whether it’s just knowing other people are exploring prompts at the same time as you, or if you choose to look back at this site and see what people have done, or choose to wait for inspiration from other people’s creations, we believe that this sense of doing it together is of real benefit to each individuals personal creative potential.
Documenting Your Creative Process
Documenting Your Creative Process
Below are some practical suggestions on how to collect beautiful moments and document your artistic journey for when you share it with us, and the community, on the website or social media. We are looking for anything that you are willing to share with us, from your creations, your ideas, your everyday life, your interactions with others, your deepest most personal thoughts, or the colour of your paints. There is no right or wrong, nor too much or too little.
1. Think about capturing the first thought you have when you see the prompt – a handwritten note, a voice record.
2. Without revision put down the first ideas that come into your head on paper.
3. Put a timestamp on your camera and make sure you’ve got at least one picture a day.
4. Make short diary entries about your creative journey – handwritten? Typed? Recorded?
5. Write down five words that have been triggered by the prompt.
6. Write lists. Lists about things you want to do, lists of ideas you’ve had, lists of moments or creative thoughts.
7. Think about audio – just say a few words, capture and forget – you could do this at random points or just when it feels like an important moment.
8. Think as though you were writing to a trusted friend – what is the process making you think. What is your day and life making you think?
9. What have I learnt, what have I thought, what have I noticed differently, what do I see, what do I do, what have I said today that was important, what made my heart flutter, what made me feel alive, what made me feel more awake, what was the one thing of note that crossed my mind – all these can be answered through handwritten notes, typed notes, recorded voice, video etc.
10. Self-reflection – capture your last thoughts of the day.
11. Look at things and take photos – capture them in different ways. When taking photos take them at different angles, zoom in and zoom out, do the same with videos. Learn from the process and try to see things in new ways.
12. Things to photograph: Your workspace, your notes, your creations in process, your completed creations, video your movement, video your journeys, take pictures of your cup of tea or coffee, your pets, other people’s pets, trees, your shoes, your hands, your creative tools, your doodles or sketches etc.
Closing thoughts
What if you could reach up and take pieces from the sky, collect moments from the world, catch conversations touch and keep colours, and keep emotions in bottles, shelves stacked high with different feelings.
What if you could see your life, your physical journey stretching back through time, what if you could walk back along the path you have taken. Every step, still physically there to be revisited.
Contact
Contact Us
If you need to make contact with us you can use the contact box below or email us at: hello@iamallsories.com – you can also send us a message on any of our social media platforms.
Please bear with us as we are a really small team, but we will get back to you as soon as possible! Thanks!
Submit Creations
Submitting Creations and Being Highlighted
Submitting your creation on the website is really simple and you can do it by Clicking Here!
Please also share your creations on all your social media platforms, tagging us @iamallstories and using the #iamallstories – this means we can see what you are doing and so can everyone else in the community.
Remember when you upload to the website you will need to have all your files, and any text you want to include ready, maybe you would like to include some images from the process.
• For Video you will need a URL (this can be Vimeo, Facebook or Youtube)
• For images you can upload them straight from your device.
• For written text you can paste up to 5000 characters, or for longer work you can upload a PDF or Word Document.
For any submission there is a maximum of 10 media uploads (eg: word docs, images, audio etc) and in addition a maximum of 5 video links.
When you upload your creation it would be lovely to hear a bit more about you, your creation or your process ~ here are some suggestions of what you could tell us:
• Tell us the journey from first seeing the prompt to the final creation?
• How are you creative?
• When have you felt your greatest moment of creative breakthrough?
• What is your most treasured possession and why?
• Describe yourself?
• What keeps you awake at night?
Things you might want to include in your submission:
• Pictures/video/audio files of your process.
• Doodles or sketches.
• Personal diary entries
• For more suggestions click here.
We will endeavour to highlight as many people’s creations as we can but we can’t promise what you submit will be shared on the site so please remember to share on social media so the whole community can see what you have done. We cannot wait to see everyone’s creation!
Help
Help
This project is exquisitely simple, We have created beautiful and thought-provoking prompts. Open-ended questions that should connect with your creativity, moments to creatively step into and explore in any way you choose.
Once you receive the prompt what you do next is up to you, but we do get asked a lot of questions so we wanted to try and answer some of them below.
Q. How long should I take on the prompt?
A. This is totally up to you. Some people take 10 minutes, some people take days or months, whatever feels right for you is right.
Q. Do I have to do anything particular with the prompt?
A. No, do anything in any creative art form. Any creation or exploration is brilliant. There is no right or wrong, just explore, create and do.
Q. Why do you suggest documenting and sharing your experience and creation?
A. Because you, as a creator, and others seeing your process can learn from your experience – documentation can be one photo or a photo every five minutes. By documenting and sharing your process you give it life in the world and in turn inspire others to also be creative.
Q. I have created something that I would like to be highlighted on the website/social media, how do I share it?
A. You can submit your creations to be highlighted on the website by clicking here. We can’t highlight everything as we only have a small team, but we would love to see anything you create at any level and we will do our best to share it. To be highlighted on social media please @iamallstories mention us and use the hashtag #iamallstories so we and the rest of the community can see what you’ve done and we have the opportunity to highlight you on our social media. Please always send/show us what you have created we would love to see it, even if we can’t share it.
Q. Does anybody ever do the prompt twice?
A. Yes, absolutely, people sometimes do the prompts a number of times exploring different ideas and nuances of creation. Sometimes it is interesting to come back to a prompt a few months later to see how you may have changed and how your reaction may change. It can also be interesting to explore the prompt using different creative disciplines.
Receive Prompts
Would you like to receive prompts in the post?
Here’s how:
Receive 2 free prompts in the post by emailing us your name and postal address to hello@iamallstories.com
We are able to send these free prompts to those who want them thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and The Arts Council England.
You will receive 2 prompts in the post that will encourage you to think and engage with yourself/the world/your creativity in new and exciting ways. We then hope that once you have created you will share on social media, or with those around you, to help spread the creative ripple!
Receive prompts in the post every month and support the project
If you would like to receive prompts every month you can support the project on Patreon ~ by doing this you are keeping the project alive and giving yourself permission to explore your creativity in different ways. A little gift that gives you the permission of time and space to explore your creativity, yourself, the world or anything else ~ every month!!!
As well as valuing yourself you will be supporting this project with such generosity, allowing these prompts to be sent to others who may not have the funds to afford them themselves, allowing these prompts to be sent to people who may not normally explore the parts of themselves that these prompts encourage you to explore!
You also support us to continue supplying creative and well-being programmes to homeless groups, youth organisations, mental health support charities, refugee centres, and women’s refuges.
To sign up click here!
About
About
I Am All Stories ~ A Creative Journey Through Prompts
I Am All Stories is about sending people creative prompts through the post ~ ideas that will allow people to think in new creative ways, words or images that will offer people space to think differently about their creativity or themselves or engage in creativity for the first time!
All prompts arrive in bespoke artistically decorated envelopes, as we believe in the benefits of receiving something physical through the post!
This project is about reacting to a prompt we send you, and then if you want to, sharing your creations, explorations and process with a growing collaborative community!
Here’s how it works:
-
You receive a prompt that will encourage you to think and engage with yourself/the world/your creativity in new and exciting ways.
-
All you have to do is react to the prompt however you want.
-
Once you have a creation you can share it on social media, inspiring others to be creative and helping to spread a creative ripple! And you can also upload your creations to the I Am All Stories website!