Hello again my crafting friends. Are you having fun yet? Have you entered either of the TWO giveaways yet? THIS ONE is open til midnight PST on September 29th but THIS ONE closes at midnight PST tonight! Get your comments in today!
Today I thought I’d talk about inspiration. More specifically, where to find it. If can be an illusive beast some times so here are my Top 5 Places to Find Inspiration.
1. Pinterest.
I’ve done several posts on finding inspiration on Pinterest so if you’ve been following me for awhile it will come as no surprise to you that this is my number one choice. For those of you who haven’t heard of Pinterest, it is a website where you can create, collate and share virtual pin boards full of on line inspiration. Here is the link to my own Pinterest page. I invite you to look around it, repin images you like to your own boards, leave me comments, follow my boards … generally have fun and get social.
Here are some of the projects that were specifically inspired by Pinterest. If you’re interested in reading more about them, please click on the photos to be taken to the posts.
2. On Line Galleries.
These days it seems like there are more places for you to upload your scrapbook masterpieces than there are scrapbookers! If you are a member of one of these communities, then in all likelihood you are familiar with your own gallery. I’d love to hear about it in the comments though! Two of the most popular free ones (that I know about) are Two Peas in a Bucket and Scrapbook.com. There are also paid ones like Lain’s own ScrapHappy which comes with free entry into all LOAD (Layout a Day) challenges, access to the free webinars Lain puts on each month (replay access to attendees expires after a certain time but ScrapHappy members can visit the replays forever) as well as challenges, opportunities and super discounts.
On line sites that teach classes also have their own galleries. For example, Big Picture Classes has galleries for each class. As long as you’re enrolled you can browse the gallery for that class. With plenty of free classes going on all the time (like their annual Big Idea Festival happening right now), you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get access to a ton of inspiration.
3. Manufacturers Blogs
Every manufacturer out there has their own site and blog complete with a team of specially chosen Designers whose job it is to supply us with visual inspiration. If you have a favourite manufacturer, make sure you follow their blog. They will usually post challenges too which is a great way to get your own projects seen by others as well as sometimes winning prizes. Some of my favourite ones are American Crafts, Bella Blvd, My Minds Eye, Elle’s Studio and Studio Calico (they also have a great on line gallery by the way). What are your favourites?
4. Magazines
While it is true that there are fewer and fewer scrapbooking magazines on the shelves today, you can still find really great ones out there packed full of inspiration for you. Here in Canada we have Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine which has a full website and blog to back up the printed content. Other favourites of mine to thumb through, are Scrapbook and Cards Today and Creating Keepsakes. For all of them, their physical content is good and their online content, community, challenges, etc are great.
There are also any number of online magazines. I contribute to Scrapbook News and Review and one of the challenge blogs I design for is going to be launching their own ezine soon too (click on the photo below for more information on how to submit). Another beautiful one is Life, Paper, Scrapbook. There are so many that I simply can’t list them all.
5. What’s right in front of you.
No, I don’t mean your computer or even my web site (although I’d be ecstatic to be one of your go to places for inspiration). I’m talking about the world around you. Nature can inspire a colour scheme like it did for me in this layout.
Your daily life can inspire a story like this layout I did talking about … wait for it … soccer gear!
It may be a cop out to say that inspiration is all around you, but it’s true none the less. You just need to be open to it!
Well, I hope these 5 places to go to find inspiration have helped you. Where do you go when you’re stuck? Is it on line or do you prefer a walk through your neighbourhood? Let us know in the comments.
See you tomorrow!
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