I know that most of you have felt this feeling, the one you get when you're standing in the middle of a scrapbook store. Maybe it's a few weeks after a CHA and the new stuff has shown up on the shelves, and you're surrounded by _________ (insert your favorite scrapping supply there; my personal weakness is for alphabet stickers), and your creative side is sparking all over the place. You're filled with inspiration from being surrounded by scrapping supplies.
But today's field trip isn't to your LSS. Because that feeling doesn't have to be limited to just the scrapbook store; you can also find it in other crafty places. So! Today's field trip is to a non-scrapbook craft store. The choices are many: you could visit an art-supply store, a needlepoint store, or maybe even a model-airplane store. A music store would be a good bet, or a bead store if you can find one. Is there a ceramics-supply shop anywhere near you? or even just a general craft store?
That rush of creativity you feel in a scrapbook store is fed by the possibility of what you could make with all those raw materials. Visiting a non-scrappy store accomplishes almost the same thing—but with a twist. Since the products on the shelves probably won't make it directly onto a layout (although some of them definitely could!), your mind will start making unexpected links.
It's very invigorating!
Celeste Smith visited her local yarn shop. Yarn shops are just bursting with ideas and interesting color palettes. Celeste was inspired by the shelving unit that the yarn was display in:
and she created this interesting chevron pattern out of triangles of solid cardstock:
I love how the chevrons draw your eye right to the ice cream ball, which seems like such a cool invention I think I just might need one!
I decided to visit my favorite fabric store, where I fell in love with this quilt:
I love everything about it, from the color palette to the pattern to the quilting itself. As I am dismal when it comes to piecing with triangles, however, this is not a quilt I'd probably ever make. Translating it to a layout was much easier! I dug into my orange, yellow, teal, and grey scrap bins and hand-cut a bunch of single chevrons and then just stacked them up:
Notice that Celeste and I both ended up making chevrons? This was totally not on purpose! It just illustrates how different craft types are influenced by each other—chevrons aren't just popular for scrapbooks.
Today is my kids' last day of school. On Tuesday when I was driving the carpool, I told all my little passengers, "hey! Today is your last Tuesday of school until the fall." My first grader, Kaleb, sighed a little sadly. "I'm glad school's over, but I will miss the field trips," he said. (He will also miss recess and art and second recess!) Today also marks the end of this week of inspiration field trips—but it doesn't have to bethe end. Next time you're feeling inspirationless, take a little field trip somewhere and search out some new ideas. You're sure to come home loaded up with creativity!