Some people are so creative & crafty. It’s as if ideas just pop into their head all day long! Others of us… we have to work to find inspiration & create our unique designs. If you are in the latter group, is there somewhere to go for creative brainstorming? YES, of course! The artistic community is great about sharing. Crafty ideas abound for you to find & adapt into your own unique designs. Inspiration always comes from somewhere… the hardest part is just finding where.
Top 5 sources for Crafty Ideas
I’d love to say that every idea I have magically shows up in my brain & becomes my next great project idea. Obviously this is not the case, or I would be lying. Even if an idea does pop into my head, it was probably triggered from something I experienced whether I realize it or not. It’s important to constantly keep new, fresh ideas in your sketch book and here are our top 5 ways to keep the pages full of inspiration.
Social media is top-dog
Like it or not, but social media is one of the heavy hitters of inspiration. With people’s love of sharing, we as artists have an amazing pool to pull inspiration, crafty ideas & project tips from 24/7! You should always try to share ideas & not just take them. If we all stopped sharing, we’d have nothing left to get inspired by and how boring would our phones become!
- Instagram –
Find great inspiration from photos on Instagram.
If you’re a visual person, IG is a great place to spend some time. Crafty ideas are everywhere in photos! Beautiful vibrant pictures of color schemes, nature, projects, before-and-after images… you name it and IG has it. If you really see something you love and don’t want to forget it, save the photo to a collection for a later time. People on IG love comments, likes and interaction so get involved, follow others and share your work to gather followers too.
- StumbleUpon – Have you been on StumbleUpon? If not, check it out. You set up what your interests and likes are and those will be the pages that come across your screen as you are ‘Stumbling’ along. I find great ideas, articles and websites to follow for even more ideas. Be fair and stumble, like and save posts to be a contributor and then post your own blog articles for others to enjoy. StumbleUpon posts are also great to bookmark and share on Twitter for your own followers to see!
- Twitter – A big one of course is Twitter, especially if you like to read articles & get pointed to links for more details. With a constant feed of current happenings, you’ll find lots of inspiring crafty ideas & articles to keep your design book full.
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Hometalk is a great source of project ideas!
Pintrest – Wow, don’t we all love Pintrest? Of course there’s lots to pin, try, share and all that, but I think the best part is the emails they push to your inbox of ideas. We all get pretty busy and actually aren’t always on our phones, so a gentle email reminder to prod me to get engaged and look around is helpful. Refine your interests so they only send you things you want to spend time looking through. Pin ideas, try them out and then share your own. If you are really good at building boards, others may start following you to see what you post! It’s a great way to intertwine the sharing of other’s ideas & yours in the same forum.
- Facebook – It may seem so obvious, but don’t forget about Facebook. If you have your own FB page, post your projects, photos and other fun facts but also look to join groups and follow others to see what they are doing. There seems to be an unlimited amount of FB groups and pages to follow for a constant flow of inspiration.
- Hometalk, Houzz, HGTV, DIY Network, Google Alerts, etc. – Large craft, DIY & artistic communities have their own websites for a wide range of project ideas, tutorials, products for sale (to inspire you), blogs and tons more to help keep the crafty ideas flowing. Some of these communities encourage you to post your projects and don’t forget Google Alerts. Set up interests and let Google scour the internet for you and send you email ideas of articles to check out! It is quite handy.
Sign up for newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to get ideas pushed to you.
Most internet content today will point you back to a specific website. This is just good practice and a way to keep the traffic flowing back to you as well as your SEO cranking along! If you find a particular website or company that inspires you and they offer a newsletter, sign up for it! This will help ideas come to you instead of you having to remember all the places you should go to find potential projects. The bigger sites like mentioned above in Hometalk, etc. have great newsletter emails that will list a whole bunch of links in a single email for you to quickly cruise through. See something you like? Click the link, get an idea and go craft a new project idea. It can be as simple as that!
With a busy schedule, newsletters help ideas come to you instead of you going to them. Use this to your advantage. Sign up for them and keep on getting inspired otherwise easily unsubscribe and find new ones.
Go to events
In-person, tactile inspiration is what some of us need! The internet is great but real life can be even better for ideas & sparks in our imagination. Attend local events. Communities are inspiring! Craft fairs, home improvements conventions, farmer’s markets, trunk shows, etc. are great idea-spurring catalysts. Take pictures of things you like & talk to the artisans about their products. Don’t go ripping anyone off and make the exact same thing… your local community might not want to see you anymore. Rather be inspired by others and craft your own unique designs. It’s flattering to be someone’s inspiration, not a stolen idea victim. The crafting process and artistic flair is what makes each item unique, special and desired. Put your personal touch on any idea you find & the community will embrace your one-of-a-kind contribution.
Do activities you love
Inspiration comes from life’s enjoyment!
Sometimes it’s as easy as just doing something you love. A positive, happy, engaged mind is a crafty idea making machine! Make sure you have somewhere to jot down your thoughts so you don’t forget them. It’s amazing how while you are enjoying life, you come up with your best projects. For me, I have to get outside each day for Mother Nature to give me a little inspiration. Too much indoor time crimps my creative spirit. What is a catalyst for your creative mind? Whatever it is, make sure you devote some time to it… you’ll appreciate it!
Watch TV & Read your Mail… I’m serious!
You are probably thinking this recommendation is a weird one. Let me explain. Obviously each of the big networks have their own channels as well as internet outlets. If I’m going to sit down and watch TV, I like to learn something. It makes me feel like I’m doing research and work instead of relaxing like a couch potato. And honestly, it’s more fun to watch the transformation than read about it on a blog. Must be a visual thing for me.
The mail can be another source of inspiration. The holidays is a time of catalogs. You may not be buying anything and that’s fine, but don’t just throw away all the ‘junk’ mail. Flip through it… you may surprise yourself. Pictures inspire new color palettes and gift-giving guides have a way of sparking a new design you couldn’t quite finalize. Cruise the pages, get inspired and then recycle all that crazy paper that seems to stuff your mailbox this time of year!
Find & Share go hand-in-hand
We’re all surrounded and bombarded by inspiration every day. Find those outlets that really get your creative juices going and pay attention! When a great idea pops in your head, sketch it down so you don’t forget & then craft it into a unique design of your own. And remember, the artistic communities only work because we all give & take. Make sure you are sharing your ideas to help inspire others! Together we will keep the ideas flowing and designs rockin’! Happy creating.
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