On creativity...

When you create, do you feel that it is WRONG to copy? Do you feel a sense of guilt that you didn't come up with the idea all on your own?

Well, my friends, there is nothing wrong with copying an idea (as long as you don't promote it as your own). Through my glorious experience as a demo, I've had the opportunity to meet and be-friend women from all over the country... even several women in the top echelon of Stampin' Up demos. EVERY demonstrator that I know gets inspiration from other demos! In fact, we have a website FULL of ideas just for demos from which to copy ideas from. :)

Creativity requires time, which we don't always have a lot of to spare, so if you COPY an idea, embrace it, enjoy it and have FUN! It just feels good to make something with your own two hands, look at it and say, "I made that". Now tell the whispers in your head to shut up, so what if it wasn't your idea!

Happy Stampin'!

On creativity....

Do you ever find that your expectations of yourself are a little too high? Do you expect that every time you sit down you should be able to create a masterpiece? I was browsing blogs of some very talented demonstrators and I found that I had idea overload. When I sat down to design cards for some upcoming classes, nothing I made seemed good enough. I was in a creativity drought!

What to do? I asked myself what it was that I liked about the projects I had just seen. Layers, layers and more layers, unconventional sizes, layouts and texture.... So I started playing. The first card I made looked a lot like this one except instead of old olive, it was turquoise. I liked it for a day or so and then ripped off all of the layers and re-made the card on Old Olive card stock. I kept playing for a while longer and ended up with the cool butterfly card that is featured in my June 4th stamp-a-stack class!

To me creativity is about trying new things, persevering when you doubt yourself, the courage to make things you aren't sure are going to turnout, keeping your expectations reasonable and just PLAYING. :)

Friends 24-7

This card features the stamp set, Friends 24-7, and our Basic Black 5/8" grosgrain ribbon. It's another Leadership Swap. :) What a quick-and-easy card!

Part of learning to be more creative is looking at things differently. Instead of looking at this card and deciding if you like it or not look at it and ask...

- What techniques could I use with this stamp set? (chalk on versamark (a.k.a Poppin' Pastels), watercoloring the line image, crystal effects inside the flower...)
- What other two color combination would be interesting? (chocolate chip and very vanilla, sahara sand and vanilla, going gray and white...)
- What other cards could you make using this layout changing colors and/or stamp sets???