Keep The Creativity Flowing

If you sell handmade then you have probably dealt with "creative rut" at some point in time.  Thankfully at the moment for me, this is not one of those times!  However, when my brain fails me (usually at the least convenient time) there are a few things I have up my sleeve to muddle towards the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm sure a few of these things can help you too!

From photo.

To sketch.

To design. Dragonfly Summer Necklace

Jot down everything.  I keep a sketchbook or a notebook handy pretty much at all times.  If I'm out of the house my phone is always with me and I use my notebook app for any ideas that hit me.  Don't ever allow yourself to come up with a great idea for a new project and then not write it down because "you'll remember it later".  Fail!  If you have a camera on your phone take pictures of things that inspire you.  Nice color combos, shapes, patterns, etc.  All these things can get those gears turning later.  I take it one step further and I have an "inspiration journal" full of said photos that I've taken, magazine clippings and doodles I've done that can help me come up with new material when the creativity is just now flowing like it should.

A page from my inspiration journal

Stockpile.  This goes hand in hand with what I said above.  When you are in a creative mood and thoughts and ideas are flying through your head, take note of each and every one even if you don't have a complete thought nor the time to build upon them.  These are the seeds that can be grown later.  I always have several half drawn (or failed) jewelry and painting ideas in my sketchbook from one of my mad brainstorming moments and they have saved me more than once when I had little motivation to think of new ideas.  If you do have the time to make your thoughts come to life then create, create, create!  I almost always have more items on hand than I actually have listed in my Etsy shop.  Why don't I list all them at once?  For starters, I don't like flooding my shop with 10 new items all at once and then have to spend God knows how long promoting each and every one of them without appearing spammy.  I keep all new items as draft listings in my shop and I'll publish 2-3 a week and this gives me enough to work with and keep things fresh for about a month without me having to work my butt off to keep up.  If a new item falls out of season before I get to list or I create a a summer item in the winter, then I just wait till that season comes up and I list it then.

I don't see a bee on a flower. I see an awesome color combo of orange, yellow and olive

Look around you.  Pay attention to everything.  I draw most of my inspiration from nature and I'm a highly visual artist, so I see the world in terms of color, texture and form rather than an object in its entirety.  I take photos of everything, which annoys my husband when we're trying to take a walk (he no longer waits for me).  I've also been known to stash away ridiculous amounts of paint chips from the paint store when there was no painting project in the works.  Those paint chips are wicked awesome for planning a color theme for a new design.  However, I've found an even better alternative (that won't annoy the paint mixing clerk, who acts like you're taking from his personal paint chip stash) with a site called Design Seeds with ready made palettes for you to download.  Hi, my name is Heather and I'm a Design Seeds addict.  I'm beyond help I'm sure.

Spring Blossom, colors picked from a Design Seeds palette

Ask and you shall receive.  Another way to get ideas is to simply ask for them.  Ask your fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter what they'd like to see more of from you or if they'd like to see different colors in a particular design, etc.  Your fans and followers are the people who have made your business possible,  so give them an opportunity to become part of your design process.

Are there any other tips or tricks you use for your creative process?

Crafty Moments: The Start of My Visual Art Journal

Inspiration, I've got it

Creative block.  It sucks.  I get it almost every year around this time.  The holidays are over, the weather sucks, it's cold, and all I want to do is sit on my butt and watch Bones (Booth is hot, isn't he?) all day with Netflix instant streaming on the big screen.  However this year isn't so bad.  I totally admit I've been procrastinating something fierce about listing new jewelry.  Lets face it clicking renew on listings coming due is soooo much easier than taking a million photos, thinking of a great description to make you all drool, and racking my brain for tags to make sure you can all find it when searching Etsy!  Doing that won't have me swimming in dollars (as if I was ever lol!) though so create I must!

The agate beach on Hunter's Point in Copper Harbor MI

Hiking in Copper Harbor

Since I am one of those overly fussy (and stubborn) artists who blatantly refuses to lift a finger unless I'm in the mood for it, it sometimes takes a little motivation if you will.  Over the past years, my Canon and I have amassed quite the stunning collection of photography from my many trips here and there throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula and it's about freaking time I do something with it!  Staring at hundreds of photos on the computer hunting for one to pique my interest has grown rather dull so I decided to make my own visual art journal comprised of my favorite shots.

Page one, there's the apple tree that graces much of my work!

I made a little pocket for the matching palettes so I can take them out

I came up with the idea when I stumbled across this awesome blog about Smash Books.  What is that you may ask?  Basically it's a scrapbook style journal instead of a written one.  It's not a journal and it's not a scrapbook either, it's a little of both.  That sounded like a perfect idea!  I cannot for the life of me keep a consistent written journal and scrapbooking is sooooooo time consuming!  So now I have a reason to use all those super cute little rubber stamps I've been hoarding and I can use scrapbooking papers for something other than handmade cards!  I can have a spot for all my doodles of past wire designs, thoughts for new projects, and someplace to put oodles of pretty pictures!  Yay!

Isn't that just cool?

This journal I've started is meant to help give me ideas for new jewelry, paintings etc when my brain feels tapped out.  To make it more visually appealing I will be basing each page on color coordinated swatches I've downloaded and stuffed in little corner pockets from my favorite color palette site Design Seeds.  I love how they come up with each carefully designed color palette based on a real photo.  Their site is wonderful when I want help picking out just the right color combo for new beaded treasures!  You can search by color themes or color value so if I want to find colors inspired by nature or a particular season it's a cinch to find something I love!  I also know where to go when I get bored with the color scheme in my house :) My first two pages that I've shown in here are based on woodland tones, my favorite!  I adore mossy greens, olive, and woody browns.  Go figure, lol!

I love my mini alphabet stamps, so cute!

Now I have actually been working on new jewelry and got a few new earrings up in my Etsy Shop for you to take a peek at!  They are Bronzed Champagne Vintage Luster Earrings, Amethyst Crystal Vintage Luster Earrings, Angel Wings Earrings, and Lock and Key Earrings.  I've got more that I should have listed soon once I get photos taken as well.

Vintage Luster Earrings in Amethyst Crystal

I can't forget about all these awesome Treasuries!  Take a peek!