Getting Ideas for Crafts
From LoveToKnow Crafts
Are you struggling with getting ideas for crafts? Sure, it’s fine to pick up a book or a magazine (or cruise to a website like LovetoKnow), find a project and follow it to the letter, but if you’re like me I’m sure there are days you’d rather do something a little more creative.
Here are some thoughts on getting ideas for crafts. I hope they will help to inspire you.
Take a Walk
I know, leaving your craft space doesn’t exactly sound like the thing to do when you’re working on getting ideas for crafts, but it really is a great idea. Getting out in nature can fill you with energy and happiness. Take inspiration from the natural beauty all around you. A 20 or 30-minute walk before crafting time can give you great ideas.
Look at the way colors blend in nature. Consider the beauty of a bed of spring flowers or a pile of autumn leaves. Do they suggest a color combination for a scrapbook page, beaded necklace or card?
Nature also offers a great source of materials for crafting. On your walk you can pick up stones, leaves and twigs (or, if you’re really lucky, shells, sand dollars or arrowheads) and incorporate them into your projects. Why not make a mirror framed in twigs or a candle holder with rocks glued to the bottom?
Properly preserved leaves and flowers can be used in wreaths and swags, while twigs can make a great winter centerpiece, a “log cabin” box for holding small treasures or a trivet for your table. Let your imagination run wild.
If you’re pressed for time but would still like to get some natural inspiration, go into your back yard or take a quick walk around the block. Randomly pick up five or 10 things that you find, without thinking too much about what they are or how you might use them. Go back inside and use at least some of your treasures in a project.
Periodical Inspiration
Magazines are a wonderful tool for getting ideas for crafts. You don’t need to subscribe to a whole lot of magazines, though. Most libraries subscribe to a few craft magazines. While you can’t rip them up and take them home, you can make photocopies of projects you would like to try or that give you ideas for more unique projects.
When I talk about using magazines for crafty inspiration, though, I’m not really talking about craft magazines. Any magazine can become a source of inspiration if you look at it the right way.
Pull out a stack of magazines (I know you have one) and look for images that you like. These could be things that you find beautiful, things that surprise you, things that puzzle you, anything at all. It could be a color in the background that you really love, or a design in a fashion magazine that you want to try to copy.
Look at these pictures when you have 10 or 20 and see what they tell you. Does what you learned about yourself from these images suggest a craft project to you?
Another way to use magazines is as a medium in your arts and crafts projects. You could take those images you pulled and make a collage to hang in your creative space to inspire you.
You can also use magazine pages for your art by making them into beads, using them in a decoupage project, even creating a little book for your children.
Mixed Media
A great way to bring some spice into your crafting is to think about combining your crafty interests. For instance, I love to knit and I also like beading, so I should try knitting with beads (beads can be strung on the yarn and knit into the fabric or attached after the knitting is done).
If you love scrapbooking and fabric crafts, try incorporating fabric into a scrapbook design or making a T-shirt quilt or something similar that works as a scrapbook in fabric. You could add scrapbooking touches to a quilt by making a crazy quilt with all sorts of meaningful things sewn onto the fabric.
You could also try a new craft that is similar to a craft you know and love. If you’re feeling a little burned out on soap making, give candle making a try. If you like beading necklaces, try using beads in home décor projects. If you love garment construction, try making a quilt.
Remember that there is no right and wrong in crafting, only creative expression. Don’t be afraid to try new things and venture beyond the instruction book. When you come up with something fabulous, don’t forget to share with your friends at LovetoKnow Crafts!
Learn More
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