Inspired by...

Do you ever get in a creative rut? Find your mojo has left the building? What do you do to get out of that funk? Restart your artistic engine, so to speak?

I've had a bit of one over the summer. The kids were insanely busy and I was exhausted just trying to keep my mom-taxi running on time. And dealing with the whole this-is-the-new-normal, I'm-gonna-feel-crappy-often Wegener's bit, I didn't spend a whole lot of time in my creative space. Well, I did, but it consisted of a whole lot of staring at photos, blank pages, wandering around the room...and ordering more yummy scrappy goodies on-line. Retail therapy! Ha!

When Mason started pre-school three weeks ago and I realized I would have a few kid-free hours, I knew I wanted to spend at least a little bit of that time creating. And not laundry mountains, for sure! But I was almost paralyzed as I sat down at my scrap table - for a couple of days, that's all I did! Sat. And thumbed through a few magazines. Pulled out photos...and put them back. Picked some pretty patterned paper and embellies from my stash...and...nothing! Oh, I made a few cards - because they had to be done and I'm great under pressure, but that daily flow of inspiration was just missing.

I knew I needed some intervention and it came in several forms. I pulled out a couple of my fabulous Studio Calico kits and started perusing the Design Team galleries. My plan was to simply lift a few of my favorite layouts - hardly any mojo needed at all for this exercise. Great designs and me using the exact same materials. What could be easier?!

From the delightful (and blessed momma to two adorable girls, soon to be four!) Stephanie Howell. I loved how she used the brackets and die cut paper, with three small photos in a row. Mine is a pretty straight-forward lift, though I used just half the So Sophie paper. And I'm kinda liking journaling on the edge lately.

And the divine Sasha Farina! Her attention to details is amazing. I always have to look...and look again to notice all the little pieces of her layouts. Fabulous! More journaling on the edge for me.

I've been a fan of Stephanie's since I first saw her work! Sadly, she is no longer on SC's design team, but I follow her blog to keep up with her innovative designs. Again, pretty straight-forward lifting. I added a little misting, but definitely kept the machine sewing, especially over the corrugated alphas (they didn't feel like they were going to stay stuck very long...)

And last, but certainly not least, is a lift of the wonderfully talented Maggie Holmes. I loved how she used the entire Hambly rubon sheet on one page. Her photography is divine! And I highly recommend her on-line classes - I've taken both the beginner and the advanced classes and they were wonderful. I rotated my page and didn't have as many bits and pieces, but I love how it turned out.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more things that inspired me!