Crafting Mojo climbing out of a Creative Rut

If you like to read blogs about craft or cardmaking, or you watch crafty YouTube videos, you might know what I'm talking about.  If you are a crafter you almost certainly know what I'm talking about.  Crafters talk about it on every social media platform there is and they probably mention it when they talk in real life as well.  It's your Crafty Mojo or your Inspiration or your Creative Juices and the problem we all have sometimes... when it seems to just up and disappear on us.  The eternal questions, "what inspires you?"  or "what do you do when you lose your mojo?" or "how do you get past a creative block?" are asked around and discussed a lot.

The answer is different for everyone and it's all about finding what works for you. I know that sometimes there isn't one right way to pull yourself out of a creative rut.  I have a few different strategies that I try.  Sometimes the first one or two tips help, sometimes it takes a few more tries. I will admit that most of these ideas came from crafty YouTubers who I follow so I will link to the videos where they share their stories.

Koren Wiskman (www.korenwiskman.com) shows how she uses a card kit to beat a creative block in this video. She uses the contents of a card kit (or similar products if she doesn't have all of them) to limit what she can use. She then has somewhere to start. I haven't bought any card kits before, but I have limited myself to one or two stamp sets and one or two colours to spark something and off I go. I think, when I'm in a creative rut, it's usually because I feel overwhelmed by all the lovely things in my craft room and sometimes I don't know where to start. I think this idea from Koren is a great way to get past this. Pull out a list of supplies (maybe a list from a blog post of one of your favourite crafters) and challenge yourself to use the same supplies to make a different card. Mary Polanco recently shared a story about how she really struggled with making 5 cards from 1 kit. She loved the kit and the products, it just wasn't working for her. Check out her video here to see how she got past it. Spoiler Alert: she walked away. Sometimes, you have to stop trying to force it and just walk away. Don't worry, your supplies will not gather dust or get upset if you don't play with them everyday. Go and do something else. The time spent making cards (or whatever else you make) should be fun. If it's not fun, and you aren't on a deadline to make a card by tomorrow because you forgot someone's birthday, you don't have to do it. Walk away and spend time with friends, watch TV or You Tube or (if you have nothing else to do) you could do some housework. The creative juices will start flowing soon enough. If you HAVE to make a card for a particular purpose and you just don't know where to start, walking away might not be an option. What can you do? Here are some of my own tips: 1. PINTEREST and other Social Media Check out my Pinspiration for cards. You can create boards and organise them into categories. I have organised my inspiration board by techniques. You could also organise by themes such as birthday, holiday, encouragement and so on. You don't have to create a board, you can just run a search on the Pinterest home page using keywords like DIY, cards, masculine or feminine and the occasion or theme. This is often my go to when I need a push in the right direction. 2. CaSE it CaSEing a card you have seen on social media (or even one you have already made) is a great way to kickstart your creative process. If you don't know anything about CaSEing, you can check out my blog post about it here. There is another blog post, with a video, about how to CaSE cards here. This card was a CaSE of the card below it, which I made at a card class I attended earlier this year.

Mothers' Day card using products from 

Catherine Pooler designs and Kaisercraft

Created during a card class at Michelle's Stamps and Cards

3. Look at your past creations. Jennifer McGuire often uses this tip when she needs to make a bunch of cards and has no ideas of what to create. She reviews cards on her blog. She digs into the archives and finds a technique she hasn't done in a while or a design she likes. I have a private Pinterest board with a photo of every card I have made (since I started photographing them and pinning them). This is another place that I visit when I need some inspiration. You could use Instagram, Facebook or other photo sharing/ storage apps to keep a log of your creations. Most of the cards on my private Pinterest board have been made using supplies I already have in my stash. I like perusing this board for inspiration because I know that I should have the stamps that I would need to make them (or something close to it). Remaking a card you have made before can be quicker and more fun, because you learn from mistakes you made the first time around. The second or third card often turns out being your best. 4. Search for product samples You have a specific stamp set or die or stencil and you want to use it, but you just can't figure out how to pull it into a finished card. It happens to the best of us. Try doing a Google Image (or YouTube) search for the product. Most stamp and die companies will provide sample projects and have design teams who have created some beautiful projects using their products. These can be a great source of inspiration. Go back to Tip 3 and CaSE one of those cards. 5. Just play Play around with the products. Stamp out all the images, colour them (if they need it), fussy cut or die cut them. Play with some ink smooshing or other techniques to make some backgrounds. Have fun. Don't pressure yourself to create anything in particular. As you play, ideas will start to flow. If ideas aren't flowing, play some more. Remember that crafting is supposed to be fun! Just enjoy. 6. Start with one Choose one element of your card design. Decide on the colour combo, or the layout (by choosing or drawing a sketch), a focal point or main image, or a sentiment, or a technique. Play with just that element. The rest will start to come together. Trust me. Do one thing at a time. Check out my Colours and Sketches Pinterest board. There are lots of things that inspire me to make a card. Whenever I see something that sparks an idea (even if it isn't fully formed), I take a photo and pin it to my Colours and Sketches board. This means it's sitting there, ready to inspire me next time I need a little help. Of course the half formed idea is rolling around in my head and developing anyway, but sometimes it gets shoved aside for other things, so a photo can be a great reminder. If you're anything like me, ideas are often flowing and it feels like you don't have enough time in the craft room to keep up with it. Sometimes you have lots of ideas for encouragement cards and you really need to make some birthday cards. You feel me, right? Anyway, I hope these tips have given you some ideas for the next time you need a nudge in the right direction. It sure has reminded me of the wonderful places I can get some inspiration when I need it. Until next week... Happy Crafting!