Tips: Inspiration & Creativity

A Beautiful Mess photo idea book - £12.99 from Amazon

If you're anything like me you start out a new year with all of the hope, spirit and joy in the world and are completely looking forward to being your most inspired, creative self in the year ahead. Two weeks in you're wavering, your creativity is floundering and your inspiration is lurking in the back of hidden books with dust covered jackets or in crevices of the internet you couldn't find if you were actively looking for it. Reality settles in and it's back to the daily routines of work, children, school, paying the bills and really, you're feeling a little bogged down.

I felt that way a few days ago. I promised myself this year was the year that I'd earn money from doing what I love, forge a career path for myself, become inspired and help to inspire others and so far I haven't felt that jolt of happiness that was surging not too long ago while thinking about these things. So I thought I'd write a little post with a few tips on how to find your inspiration and creativity and also how to sustain it. It may not work for you but I do hope this helps just a little.

♥ Take a break
What I like to do when I'm full of worry and stress is to relax by ordering a coffee to go and sitting outside somewhere I can people watch. Usually I have my headphones in listening to something mellow and acoustic but the point is to just relax. I find if my mind is crammed with a lot there's no room for any inspiration to seep in so to just sit, be quiet, feel the cold fresh air on my face and watch the world go by it gives me just a few minutes of breathing room. Often I'll notice someone's style or mannerisms and it'll spark an idea even if it's just a word that pops into my head and I'll write it down for future reference.

Silk flowers in empty Jack Daniels bottles on my kitchen windowsill.

♥ Jot it down
Carry around something to take notes in be it your phone, a notebook and pen or a pad of post-it's and a pencil but have something to make the ideas in your head a visual reality. Most of my inspirations come while reading or being quiet on a train or a bus ride and I find having a place to jot down key words or sketch an idea roughly is a great way to help remember that inspiration at a later time. If, like me, you find inspiration by reading blogs or looking at websites print screen the page and add it to a folder on your desktop (I'm not advising plagiarism here). Websites such as Polyvore.com are lifesavers if I'm browsing as I can quickly clip images from webpages with the Polyvore Clipper browser add-on and create visual wish lists or mood boards.

♥ Surround yourself with beautiful things
Beautiful things can be found everywhere but if your space is a little drab consider little pick me up's that inspire happiness and nostalgia. A bunch of flowers for less than £5 in a vase on your table, voiles at the windows in summer if you can get away with no heavy curtains for an airy feel, trinket boxes or photos can make all the difference when you're glancing around the room looking for a tiny bit of inspiration. I am a huge fan of printing my Instagram photos as I take a lot of photos with it and I use mini pegs to hold them on to ribbon attached to the wall like a little clothing line. I buy mine from Printstagram but there are lots of companies doing them now.

♥ Browse blogs and magazines
I'm usually stuck in a rut with photography as I live quite a simple, super boring life and sometimes it's hard to find ideas of what to take photographs of. In this case I turn to blogs and magazines that inspire me to look at objects differently and every day situations in a new way. An outfit post against a new background can make all the difference as can the placement of a product in a photo. I'm still learning and have a very long way to go but in magazines and on lots of blogs there are people already many levels above that can inspire and coach people like us into taking better photography. I love Nylon, COMPANY, ELLE and Your Home for photography inspiration in magazines along with the obligatory National Geographic which is just beautiful. Blog-wise I love Wish Wish Wish, What Olivia Did, Milk Bubble Tea, The Sartorialist and Cider With Rosie.

Running helps clear my head, even if I don't run very fast at all.

♥ What do you love?
For me it's books, films, clothes, homes, fresh flowers and music so I try to incorporate those into my daily life. I read a little every day, watch films that have made me stop and think or stop and stare in the past (American Psycho, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), listen to music when I can, wear my feelings in colour and texture and for homes? Well the most simple way is to set my dream home as my laptop background. It fills me with inspiration of that dream life whenever I open it up to look for more inspiration or work and it really helps to visualise how to get there, even if only in my imagination.

♥ Keep a haven
I need one area of my house to be pristinely tidy and to my tastes. This is where I sit and think, work and design and it's very much my space uncluttered with toys or paperwork from boyfriend. This is really important for me so I can be as messy as I need to be and know where everything is at the end of it, put it back properly like a ritual and really love being in that space. Even if it's just a corner with great light and a comfy cushion, make it yours.

♥ Enlist help
Ask around. Ask people what brings them happiness, calm, inspiration or elation. Ask people you know, your family, your close friends, your followers on Twitter but do ask. It's surprising how often I've asked only to come back with echoes of what I love myself and things that I am also inspired by but hadn't fully registered. Ask about negativity too. So much good can come from loathing something and ranting about it as so much passion goes into it. I find myself most inspired after a good debate or rant on something I feel terribly for or against.

♥ Appreciate the little things
Everyone seems to say this but it's a big one. Appreciate the smile on your boyfriend, daughter, mother, sister's face and the way their eyes wrinkle when they do so genuinely. Appreciate a good latte and stemless wine glasses, soft cheese and the fact that Tom Hiddleston and Ryan Gosling exist in the same world and are utterly perfect. Appreciate that people do great things for and in aid of others every day right alongside people who want to destroy everything and also in spite of that. There is so much to appreciate and I found it easier and easier the more I read through 14,000 Things To Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer which you can buy here. Go for a walk and appreciate the day or a run and appreciate your health but just let them come and allow yourself to be made happy by those tiny, seemingly inconsequential things.