Inspiration Station...prepare to be creative!

So many of my friends ask, *How do you always have so many ideas, Mish?* I'll let you in on some of my secrets. Settle in for a nice little story, get your coffee if you need to and come back. OK. Well, rarely do I just plop down and an idea comes to me. I *prepare to be creative* just like the title of this blog thread states. What does that mean, you ask? I surround myself with inspiration and ideas. I am constantly on the lookout for *stuff* that inspires my creative side.

For example, in the first photo you will see my *Inspiration Station*. I got this idea from a current issue of Home Companion magazine. A designer had all kinds of fabric, ribbon, papers, etc on a giant bulletin board and in baskets nearby. I LOVE that idea! So I made a smaller version of that Inspiration Station in my own craft room. At the time of this photo, I had some beautiful papers, ribbon, ric rac and some paint daubers all grouped together. You can't just purchase supplies and expect them to hop on the card. They need a little help....a little time to get to know each other....a little time to hang out together at the Inspiration Station! Then after you've looked at it all for while, an idea is surely bound to pop into your head.

Another source of inspiration is my sketch book...or piles of sketches that I have drawn, like in the second photo. I do this while I watch tv, or am waiting for the girls at soccer practice, or while I'm subbing at school during breaks. I have a little idea book that I put my tried and true sketches into, and I keep my *maybe* ideas on grid paper. LOVE that stuff! Can you see how my strawberry card is next to a sketch that looks similar? Just a little idea is all that is needed to spark a bigger idea!

Something else you can do is keep some of your current supplies out in the open where they can be seen, like with my green shelf in the photo. (By the way, don't you love my shelf...my green shelf....my favorite color shelf?) I love to hang rub ons, stickers, acrylic stamps, magazine pages,etc on those giant rings and then put a ribbon through that and hang on a knob or hook. I have this kind of stuff hanging all around in my craft room. It's organized and easily accessible...not stuck in a drawer. And I love my clear jars, perfect for buttons and baubles. I'm sure by now you've also noticed my messy ribbon collection(in my wire basket...my green, wire basket.....my favorite color wire basket..see a theme here?) I have tried to keep my ribbon in order but this is how I like it. All Mishy Mashy like a kid's toy box. I can dig around in there and find all kinds of good stuff!

Lastly, you can see how all of this inspirational stuff came together in my mind. I made this cute flower card using the ric rac and paint daubers that were grouped together on my Inspiration Station. No, I didn't use the pretty papers but I'll get around to those later. For this card, I used the Papertrey Green Thumb set that I can't get enough of. I just gathered up my supplies and a sketch and here's what I created. So I hope I have given you some food for thought with my creative process...and I wish you all could come stamp with me, oh the fun we could get into!

Tip of the day: Geez, that was the mother load of tips up there, but here's another one. When you are working with paints like the cool Adirondack Paint Daubers (from Eclectic Paperie), don't expect crisp, clean images. Paints give a textured, sometimes smudgy feel to your project. The results are unpredictable but that is the fun part. Go with it girls, it's fun!! Let loose, woohoo!! Also.....clean up after yourself after each stamping session. When you are done with a grouping of supplies, put them away. It's refreshing to start out with a clean table and much easier to put away supplies a little at a time.