Tips and Tricks Tuesday - Top 6 Ways to Find Inspiration!

Sometimes mojo just ups and leaves without permission. Hands up if it has happened to you. Well it has certainly happened to me on many occasions, usually just as I have a deadline of some sort looming on the horizon. So what can you do to get it back?! I have given you my 6 top ways to get the creative juices flowing again, hopefully one of them will work for you.

In no particular order:

1. Take a walk: Sometimes the simplest things can make you stop and think. I like to visit gardens, but even a walk to the newsagent can be inspiring! Take a look at the front covers of glossy magazines (Vogue, Glamour and Good Housekeeping are good examples) at the shapes, colours and styles used. Maybe there is a shop window display that has some features you can use. Here are a couple of pictures I took on a visit to Borde Hill Gardens that inspire me:

   

   This photo immediately suggests a colour scheme to me, of bright blues, greens and two different neutrals. The other idea being a layout for a card (the strong vertical element to the right).

   

   This photo of the 'Italian Garden' provides me with inspiration of mirroring elements on a design (the reflections in the water), also of using strong linear / geometric designs, and finally of perhaps creating a frame for a design (as suggested by the dark overhanging leaves around the edge of the photo)
2. Pinterest: Well when things get tough, and you can't go out, and you have run out of ideas, and even chocolate leaves you dead in the water, this is where I turn. If you want to see what inspires me to create take a look at some of my boards HERE.
3. Restrict your materials: I love having access to different designs of papers and stamps and colours and ribbons and buttons and... the list goes on. But sometimes it can just be too overwhelming! In these circumstances I like to take a piece of Designer Series paper, and limit myself to ONLY using colours that appear on there. Alternatively, limit yourself to only using those offcuts of ribbon and card that you have been hoarding (yes, you have been squirrelling them away - admit it!).
4. Enter a Challenge: There are literally hundreds of craft challenge blogs with different themes, days, materials etc... Take a look and find one that suits you - you may even win a prize!
5. Catalogue Browsing: Have you checked out the Stampin' Up! catalogues? If you haven't then you need to as they are full of samples and ideas to inspire. All the projects are beautifully photographed, and full material lists are also available.
6. Sketches: Nope, not the pencil with exquisite shading kind! Sketches are basically layouts for cards or scrapbook pages, and act like a map or a recipe for you to follow. These are what I use when I know what I want to put together, but I am just not sure how it is all going to lay out. Try searching 'free sketch' followed by 'card' or 'scrapbook page' online and take a look.

I hope you have found this useful, and that the creative juices are now flowing! 

Happy Crafting,

Becky