Follow these tips and you may just find yourself on your way to the land of creative mojo.
#1. Don't go shopping!
Hey, isn't it my job to convince you to go to the store and buy all the latest products? Well, I guess it would be OK if you were to buy all the Cosmo Cricket stuff, but other than that, try improvising. Improvisation will force you out of your box. You will HAVE to try and solve the problem with something you didn't think of first and that could just turn out to be a brilliant new idea!
#2. Clean your desk.
Ahhh, I know we all hate to hear that right! But a messy area will make you feel overwhelmed and that feeling is NOT going to get your creative juices flowing! I am the queen of messy desks, but since we put our house for sale, I have had no choice but to keep it clean. Here's what I've discovered, for my 10 minutes of clean-up time each day (yes that is really all it takes), I have been 100 times more productive! It is well worth the investment.
#3. Take a walk.
It doesn't have to be a walk necessarily, I get great results with showers too. It's funny though, on almost every walk I come home with at least two new ideas. There's something about the repetition of movement, the sound of my steps and being outside that let's my mind wander to little creative places.
#4. Expand on what works.
When you get a good idea, try to extend it out to as many new ideas and uses as possible. Turn your spark into a flame and your flame into a fire. I was amazed how many ideas I got for sewing tissue paper after I started thinking about it.
#5. Bounce ideas off friends.
When I posted the DIY activity book, one of our facebook fans suggested Golden Books for the cover. I didn't think of that on my own, but it's a great idea and it sparked other ideas for me too like giving a new life to a child's favorite book that may have been loved too much to be readable.
#6. Re-Define
Sometimes we get so caught up in what something has been, that we neglect to see what it could be. Is it a book or a purse? Is it a sewing pattern or artsy tissue paper? As you walk through stores constantly ask yourself, what else could this be?
#7. Take a Break
If you find yourself in a creative rut on a project, take a break. Walk away. Give yourself a time-out. It's amazing how after coming back from a break you can have a completely new perspective.
#8. On your break, drink a coffee
Studies show that after only 20 minutes of drinking a cup of coffee, people's brains are more alert and creative making better and faster connections.
#9. Keep a notebook nearby
I especially find a notebook on my bedside table to be handy. I often get good ideas right when I'm waking or falling into sleep. I jot these down and then look at them when I'm fully awake. About 50% of them make sense and about 50% of those are actually good.
#10. Live your Life
You can't have new ideas without new inspiration and I don't mean Pinterest. Get out there, enjoy a picnic, play a game with your kids, go see a movie. Creativity is actually just coming up with new and useful connections, but you need things to connect and that comes from living!
So, now that you've got your creative thinking caps on.... tell us, what do you think we'll do with this bamboo placemat I picked up for $2.99 at Ross?
We'll show you some great ideas with it for tomorrow's Thrifty Thursday.
