creative spaces

For years I have fought for my creative space.  With a growing family and living quarters that did not always accommodate or grow along with my family.  Let's just say it was low on the list of priorities.

One day I spoke with my husband about this need to have a creative space.  He suggested I take a corner of our bedroom and make it my own.  So, for years that is what I did.  Where we live now I have a craft/exercise room.  I love the craft side of the room.  I have my Inspiration boards, my supplies, a little desk, everything I need to create.  It is my little slice of heaven but that little slice of our room worked out just fine too.

I think it is important to at least have an inspiration board somewhere.  You will be surprised what it can do for you.

Do you have a creative space?  An inspiration board?  Inspiration notebook?  Share with us your creative places.

shine your sink

This may sound crazy but it is very difficult for me to feel inspired if I have housework or other duties to do.  I feel to guilty spending that euphoric inspiration time if I have a stack of dishes in the sink.  

My sink has become this symbol of freedom for me.  If you think this crazy lady is kidding you, I am not.  Just take a stroll through my Flickr or my Instagram feed and you will come across images like the one above.  My sink.  

I have a routine.  I wake up, make my bed, clean the bathrooms, consolidate all the garbage cans into the main one, vacuum, start a load of laundry, do a 15 min zone clean, unload the dishes and load the breakfast ones and go to the post office.  Then I shine my sink after everything is done.  It is a significant part of my day.  It means I am free!  

I can take the rest of my day and spend it how I wish.  Normally that means exercise, shower and get dressed.  After that I go for a photowalk, photodrive, any kind of photoshoot I can come up with.  Sometimes it is so cold outside I just take a picture of my sink.

What do you do to help those inspiration gates to open up?

Be inspired by YOU

In 2013, I joined the NOW YOU Workshops to do a project 365.  As you can see I did not hit every week but I am still proud of what I did accomplish. 

My husband is in a dangerous field of work. A couple of years ago he had a particular scary thing happen while he was working.  I remember looking around my house for pictures of us together.  I found very few.  I remember thinking about how much I loved to take pictures. Why couldn't I find very many pictures of us?  There had to be more pictures of us and I looked again.  Again, I could only find very few.  Trying to find pictures of me in general was just as difficult.  I realized I had to change that. 

I believe in photography.  Capturing moments that you cannot get back.  Holding on to people you may never see again. 

When I figured out I had this love of photography I made a goal to photograph all the people I loved and admired before I die.  Didn't I owe that to my children and their children to see me in photographs?  That is why I decided to make a change and take more "selfies".  I am so grateful I did.  Now it is so much easier to take a shot of myself and see me with out a lot of stress.  It does get easier the more you do it.

Selfie:  A picture taken by you with any part of you in the picture.  This includes shadows. 

Share with us your "selfies" and maybe some tips and tricks if you have some.

Where do you gather inspiration?

Inspiration can come from some of the strangest places.  Commercials, thoughts, images, songs, the list goes on.  Then there are times the inspiration well runs dry.  I think this is when we need to take a new approach to inspiration and look where you might not have looked before. 

Today I gathered my inspiration right outside my front door.  I gathered with family and friends and went on a walk in snowshoes.  

Places I have been going lately:

Instagram

Flickr

Okdothis

Brainy Quotes

Utata
Shutter Sisters
Now You Workshops

Cookbooks

Journals

Nature

Family

Friends
I almost forgot Pinterest.

Share where you are gathering your inspiration from these days and image that came from that place.



Also, we started a thread to post your daily walk pictures.  Each month we will start a new thread.