There’s an Ancient Greek sentiment, from various of the Ancient Greek writers, along the lines of “The Gods help those who help themselves”.
I imagine Inspiration and the Muses work in the same way.
Don’t sit around waiting for the Muses to show up, or to be struck by a blinding flash of inspiration. Work at it even when you don’t feel like it, and they will come to you.
There are lots of places for inspiration these days, for all sorts of creative and non-creative endeavours. Everyone has their favourite. I like magazines, at least for papercrafts and cross-stitch. This has the added benefit, with the papercrafts, of making sure that my stamp and die collection doesn’t grow out of control, because I buy the magazines with the sets which I particularly like and which give me some ideas before I see the projects.
But I need the hint from the stamp or die set. I don’t imagine a card design and then work out what I need for it. Which is also why I like the magazines. They give me lots of projects and ideas, although it’s also true that I’m not very good at actually trying them out.
I’ve found a few simple base techniques which work for me (mostly to do with blended backgrounds) and then work on variations. Why fix something that ain’t broke?
But I still want to learn new techniques
So I’ve decided to challenge myself to try projects, or adapt them to my own supplies. I probably won’t have the “right” ink pads, for example. Some I might collect specifically for a project, especially if there are several I want to try with the same supplies (Distress Oxides keep coming up).
I probably still won’t make very complicated cards – I do like ones I can put together in about 5 minutes and which don’t require a lot of supplies – but cards aren’t the only thing to make with card. There’s a lovely dreamcatcher project in the current Creative Stamping magazine (issue 93) which I plan to attempt.
And, hopefully, along the way, Inspiration will come to me.
Fairy Cake Living 