Monday, January 16, 2012

Motivated Mondays

Well, we had no participants last week :(.  But, I will forge ahead with this little series in hopes of motivating you to try something new, do something different, learn something about yourself.  We are focusing on creativity.  Last week I challenged you to use a common object in a new way.  This week we are focusing on inspiration and using creativity to make something your own.  

Magazines have always been a great source of inspiration for me.  Sadly, so many of my favorites are gone, but I still enjoy thumbing through what is left.  Of course, Pinterest is another wonderful place to peruse for inspiration, and I do with sketchbook in hand.  I often force myself, yes force because many times I think I don't see anything, to come up with five or more ideas from a magazine.  Can you force creativity?  Yes, I believe you can in a sense.  I make myself find ideas where my non-thinking, working brain wouldn't.  When I tell myself I have to find and sketch five ideas, I do.  

Take for example, an issue of House Beautiful that I recently picked up for free at the library.  This isn't a magazine that I normally read, but the price was right.  On my initial glance through I saw pretty colors and some beautiful design, but nothing that I thought I would want to try to recreate or make.  But, when rereading through it with the sketchbook near by, I did find some things that I was able to take a piece of or the general idea, and create an idea that made it my own.  
Case in point, this fun rolling side table. 
I decided I could recreate something similar, but I would use scrap wood or plywood and paint the layers bright colors.
Or this chair made me think of a mirror and how some big upholstery tacks would look good around a mirror frame.
This fabulous lamp inspired me to sketch a similar idea. 
 I would make mine out of an embossed brass tin or wastebasket.
Pushing yourself to see something that may not on first look inspire you, imagining it in a new way, your way, helps to expand your creativity cells.  Try it, even if you do not actually make anything you sketch, seeing something in a new light is good for the creative soul.  If you do this exercise, or last week's, link up here and tell us about it! 

Thanks for linking up and for sharing you with us :) !!
Linky Party Rules
1. Please link to the specific post, not your blog!
2. Please check and make sure your link works. If it doesn't you can delete it and try again.
3. Please no direct links to sales sites, i.e. ETSY or just a plain ol' commercial site, we are looking for inexpensive ideas we can recreate, thanks!

8 comments:

  1. I apologize, I thought this was a linky party, so I linked up but now can't delete :(

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  2. Oh I am sorry that no one participated last week. I will this week!! Don't give up, I think this is a great idea!!!

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  3. Hi Becky,
    I really enjoyed your post and I plan on picking up one of my magazines and putting your idea into action. I think it will be fun finding something in one of the magazines and putting my own spin on it. Posting has been difficult for me lately so I don't know if I'll be able to link but you have inspired me to give this a try.
    Jane

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  4. Ugh, so sorry! I clicked over here from a linky party list, I thought it was a regular linky party . I should have read it first! I blame it on my husband for distracting me! Please delete my linky's.

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  5. I read your post. I agree, you can force creativity. At times I will try to take something that doesn't look inspiring and try to find a new way to create it. It works!

    Most of my creativity happens at night for some reason. When I'm dozing off, tons of ideas start popping in my head. I wonder why this happens at night?
    It's something I have been wanting to look more into. It's not while I'm dreaming like a lot of people say, it's more just while I'm in between wake and sleep.

    On a side note, I have a mirror like you drew. It's huge with large tacks and leather-ish. It was on sale at TJ Maxx for 16 dollars. I ended up painting it white, like I do most things I decorate with.

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  6. I'm so sorry I thought this was regular link party. I will return on Wednesday. Thanks for the heads up. I should pay attention lol

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  7. Yes, don't give up! I wanna see if my stuff is a good fit here!

    Spotted a comment you made on someone's blog (comment area) about your party(ies) so I'm checking you out! Like what I see so far :)

    Off to go check out more- I think your blog is right up my alley!
    Smiles, Suzanne in NW Illinois

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate your kind words!