Get Inspired

Have you ever sat down with your wonderful Close To My Heart products and had no idea where to start or what to create next? Do you tend to create the same types of cards, layouts, and other projects? Do you browse the Internet for fresh ideas? Do you constantly thumb through your Idea Books, Cherish™, Reflections Scrapbook Program™, and Originals Card Confidence Program™, wondering what you can add to these designs to make them really unique? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need a bit of help getting inspired! How do you do that? Here are some ideas.

Finding Inspiration

There are resources all around us that can inspire our creativity. We need to find new ways to look at the things that surround us every day. Keep an inspiration journal or log book of your thoughts and ideas as you look around you for inspiration. As you discuss the different locations listed below and how you can find creative inspiration, also discuss ways you can think “outside the box” and use your ideas on your layouts, cards, and other paper craft ideas.

At the department store:

What clothes are grouped together? What clothing designs are the hot trends?
What embellishments are used on the clothes? What patterns and color combinations catch your eye?
What shoes and handbags are the latest craze?
What about belts, hair accessories, and jewelry?
Are the accessories simple or extravagant?
What are the designs and patterns?
What do the displays look like?
What shapes and colors are used to grab your attention?

At the fabric store:

Are there color swatches and embellishments the store personnel will give you to add to your journal?
What patterns and color combinations catch your eye?
What are the latest new quilt patterns? Sketch the patterns in your journal.
What do the displays look like? What shapes and colors are used to attract your attention?

At the hardware store:

Collect samples from the wallpaper aisle and add them to your journal.
What wood types and textures can you recreate from the lumber aisle? Are there free samples or brochures of wood finishes or wood textures?
Browse the paint aisle for new wall treatment techniques. Are there free samples or brochures of wall treatments?
In the kitchen display area, what surfaces are the hot trends? What do the cabinets look like? What patterns from the cabinets or the surfaces can you recreate in your artwork? Sketch the designs in your journal.
What drawer pulls catch your eye in the cabinet hardware aisle? What designs appeal to you? Sketch the designs in your journal.

At the grocery store:

How is the produce aisle set up? How do the cucumbers look against the lettuce? Do the various hues work well together? What if you added a yellow bell pepper to the mix? Or an eggplant?
What other aisles can you look to for inspiration? What about the cereal aisle, the candy aisle, etc.?
What do the displays look like? What shapes and colors are used to capture your attention?
At school:
Notice what details grab your attention in the following places: playground, auditorium, child’s classroom, teachers lounge, cafeteria, etc.
What details draw you in to look further on a college campus? Is it the art building, the theater, the food sciences building, the administration building, the horticulture building, the geology building, etc.? What can the architecture inspire in your art?

At the park:

What are the shapes and colors of the leaves? Collect samples and duplicate their fine details in your art. This detail doesn’t have to be used just for leaves in your art; it can be used for a weathered look or for a background.
What kinds of animals and insects do you see? What are the colors in the butterflies, the inchworms, the squirrels, the birds, etc.? What are the intricate details that make up the animals and the insects? Try to duplicate the fluffy fur of the squirrels, the birds’ feathers, or the designs in the butterfly wings.
What inspires you in the landscape? What kinds of designs are created? What are the flower combinations? What kinds of trees are used? What are the landscape decorations and the water features? Could you use Liquid Glass to recreate the flow of the water features?

At the spa:

What decorations do you notice right away? Do you notice unusual paintings, tropical flowers, plush rugs, etc.?
Sometimes spas have very high-end decorations in the rest room; take a gander and see what inspiration you find. What kinds of light fixtures are used? What about the faucet? The sink? What tile and countertops are used? Is brushed nickel used? If so, can you recreate that effect? Try to duplicate the surfaces and patterns.

Challenge this week is to be inspired by somewhere you go on a weekly basis!