Missing Your Mojo? Here are 5 “Keeper Ideas” for Kick-Starting Your Creativity . . .

Missing your mojo?  Here are 5 “keeper ideas” for kick-starting your creativity . . . (or at least they helped resuscitate mine :-)

1. Explore another artistic avenue

I recently took a class from the Brave Girl Club http://bravegirlsclub.com/ called Soul Restoration – Life changing & so healing & INSPIRATIONAL.  Awesome is all I can say! 

One of the many wonderful things about the class is all of the cool art technique videos that are included.  (You can also find some of them on Youtube so check them out.)  One of my favorite new techniques is draw with hot glue and then paint over it. 

Here is an example:

I also tried some new stamping techniques to make these embellishments

2.       Listen to music that feeds your soul and makes you happy!  Some of my recent favorites . . .

I Lift My Hands by Chris Tomlin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of4fvzKnId0&feature=related

Always Enough by Casting Crowns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dNFrDIuJc

Lest you think that I’m a spiritual giant . . . thanks to my tween daughter and her younger sisters my list also includes Taylor Swift &

Disney songs like Mulan’s I’ll Make a Man Out of You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqIsB98a1E

3.       Check out some layout sketch books or on line.  (Check out my friend Janet’s sketches on Kitchen Keepsakes here is June’s http://www.freewebs.com/kitchenkeepsake/apps/forums/topics/show/4998414-june-sketch-challenge )

Here is a layout of my daughter opening gifts at her birthday party that I completed thanks to a sketch.  I love that the sketch helped me to capture all of her many facial expressions!

4.       Dig out some photos of an event that has sentimental value for you.  Thanks to a sketch and inspiration provided by the photos, I finished this LO highlighting some costumes that I made last year for my girls.

If the coloring is off on the photos change them to black and white like I did with this LO.

5.       Dig through your stash and get out those special embellishments that you’ve been saving "for something special".  

Here are some embellishments that I LOVE from the pages above: 

Isn't the little origami bird the cutest!

 I was really intimidated by the idea of trying to scrap the mystery scavenger hunt from my daughter's Nancy Drew birthday party The Case of China Town and the Missing Jewels, but these adorable Asian stickers & the chop sticks got me through :-)  (Check out my mom, Nancy, that dressed up as Nancy Drew in the bottom right hand corner . . . she is an awesome Nana :-)

Sugary candy and pumpkins made this simple LO sparkle :-)

I have been holding on to this bamboo bangle for years knowing that it would make the perfect embellishment for the right page.  I originally envisioned it as a frame but I like the way that I finally used it on this recipe page for Hawaiian Chicken Salad.

Mental black holes that suck our creativity sometimes find the best of us, but hopefully these simple hints will help you get back on track.  Above all, feed your soul with things that you find beautiful and nurse yourself liberally with chocolate and good coffee (like the vanilla/hazelnut blend that my friend brought me back from Hawaii :-)