New Beginnings: An Update on Seasonal Affective Disorder

In January last year I wrote a post about Seasonal Affective Disorder. To my surprise lots of people have been in touch since, to tell me that they suffer from SAD too, or to say that they read this post and came to realise why it is that they feel like a different person during the dark winter months. I've come to a significant decision in my dealings with this disorder in the past week, so I thought now, as we emerge from another winter, might be as good a time as any to give you an update on how I've coped with it this year, and other little positive habits I've picked up in doing so.

You can read about my own past with SAD here. If you've not visited this subject with me before you'll find it helpful to read that first, then come back, (hello!) But just to clarify - for some people SAD can take the form of crippling, life halting depression during the darker months of the year. They can become suicidal even, and have no choice but to rely on anti-depressants to help them through until Spring. SAD does not manifest in that way for me. I have suffered mild depression in past years due to SAD - enough to make me very unhappy and feel the need to seek official diagnosis - but I cannot comment on what it's like to have chronic depression, and wouldn't even try to. I feel it's important to make that distinction for the sake of those who will tell you that this is a disorder that can be incredibly debilitating, so we must be aware that there is a spectrum of suffering.

Anyway, I'm pleased to say that the Autumn/Winter of 2013/14 has brought no symptoms of depression for me at all this year. I'm not sure why this is, whether it's the result of coping strategies or luck. I have felt down and frustrated at my lack of energy and productivity, but I could see that had a direct cause. The downside is that I have noticed feeling much, much more tired than in previous winters. That feeling of being a bit like a badger, the desperate need to crawl into bed and hibernate, has been particularly strong. I have felt physically tired, and wanted to sleep much more.

This isn't surprising, because if you think about it, this very wet, mild winter has meant that we haven't had that very bright winter sun in the mornings and at sunset. As much as I have appreciated not having to drive to work on icy roads, the absence of the sun that tends to accompany very cold days has meant that we in the UK have spent weeks at a time in dull grey light - the very worst for those of us who need as much sun exposure as we can get at that time of year.

I work full time, work part-time on the side and have a very active life around my work. While I have functioned in my jobs, I've really felt the need to ration other activities over the winter. I have never said no to a social activity, but it might mean that a coffee with a friend is all I do that day. I might spend the whole of Saturday on a day out, but it would be a few days before I scheduled anything else. I found myself doing this subconsciously, allowing gaps in my diary for recuperating and going to bed as early as I liked.

The side-symptom to this need for hibernation has been feeling mentally sluggish. I've been more forgetful, preoccupied and felt generally less on-the-ball than I would normally. I feel like I've dropped a fair few brain cells somewhere! This can feel very frustrating, and has meant high-concentration activities like driving and keeping track of ongoing projects at work have been more tiring. I've had to stop myself during tasks, to re-focus and step back and check what I'm doing. I've definitely been making more silly mistakes and felt more ditsy, and that has meant having more 'bad days' where I chastise myself and get annoyed that my brain won't work at full capacity.

So that's the negative. Onto the positive and my decision. You can read my post of last January to see how I cope year to year with SAD, and if you're starting to think you're a sufferer too I hope you'll find the tips useful. Here's what I've added this time round:

• I have bought The World's Best Alarm Clock. I need to wake up at 6am every morning for work, and SAD sufferer or not, most people say it's the worst part of the day during the winter. This clock by Lumie starts to very gradually light up half an hour before my get up time, and wakes me with imitation daylight. No more being jerked awake by a harsh alarm, then having to fight to find the light switch before my body pulls me back into sleep again. No more tiredness headaches in the morning. Huzzah! It's a bloomin' expensive alarm clock, but has been the single best investment I have ever made for dealing with SAD (and mornings in general), because it works with my natural circadian rhythm. It's also going to help now that the clocks have gone forward an hour and mornings will be darker again for a while. It's not nearly so hard to get out of bed now. It also helps to have a dog who is very fond of breakfast.

• Happy music in the car. Like many people I spend a lot of time every week in my car. I'm a morning person so the drive to work is usually okay, but the real danger when you have SAD is that it's either dark or getting dark when you're on your way home. Dark = drowsy. Drowsy = very dangerous. My most sleepy time of the day happens to be the time I need to be most alert. So it's happy, bouncy music only in my car during the winter! The boppier the better. It keeps me singing (badly), improves my mood, and keeps me awake. I also listen to lots of audiobooks on familiar journeys, to keep my brain ticking over (it's been quite nice, driving home through the rain, listening to Harry Potter, Enid Blyton and Paddington Bear, you should try it!), and I vary the route I take whenever I can. If you have the option of walking part-way or cycling to work, I'm sure that will make a big difference to your mood and energy levels. 

• Wee Willie Winkie ain't got nothing on me. I don't care if it's only 9pm. If I'm so tired during the dark evenings that I'm getting a headache, I allow myself to retire to bed. It's far better than languishing on the sofa, unable to function and feeling miserable, and the extra sleep helps me to function better at work the next day. If I have something on in the evenings, fine, I'm there and I'm taking part, but if the day's work is done and I start sighing and wondering whether to flop in front of the tv, I don't. Bedtime. I've also started getting ready for bed much earlier, so that by the time I decide I'm sleepy I don't have to start having a mental argument about taking my make up off, showering, making lunch for the next day, blah blah blah.

• I'm like a whirling dervish in the mornings. I refuse to let SAD steal away six months months (half my life!) of energy and productivity every year, so I have to work smart when I'm at my best each day. For me that's the mornings. I make a colour-coded to-do list without fail the night before (usually while sitting in bed with just the one eye open!), and I try to do as much of it as I can by lunchtime. It's pretty good practise all year round, actually. SAD has forced me to become much more organised!

• I still believe exercise is the best answer. Yep. It's the toughest part. The last thing in the world I want to do is stride around the streets near my house in the dark during the winter. It's cold, I'm sleepy, and it takes an age to wrap up in layers. Not to mention cleaning the mud off Bea when we get home, and that annoying thing where my socks come off with my boots. Gah. But I got a dog to trick myself into exercise, because she needs it every day, and I know exercise wakes me up, puts me in a better mood, and stops me feeling quite so sluggish and lethargic. I've also just bought some running shoes...

• It's the simple things. It's always a good thing to notice the small pleasures in life and be more mindful, but I find it particularly helpful during the winter, when I'm more easily stressed and a worrier. I've planted seeds to grow in the office at work, made sure I always had a craft project on the go, varied my packed lunches much more, and dozens of other little things to brighten the day and give myself something to look forward to. Not one of them took much energy, but it's nice to wake up in a morning and think, "I wonder if my seedlings have appeared yet," or "ooh, houmous for lunch today!"

So, onto my decision. I'm a great fan of planning, making lists and setting myself big and little goals. The traditional time of year to do this is, of course, New Year. The prospect of a fresh new annum, full of possibility has always appealed to me, and it's one of my favourite rituals to spend some time in December planning ahead and setting exciting new challenges. 

Except. We're now a quarter of the way into 2014. I have spent that first quarter feeling like my biggest achievement has been to get out of bed every morning and just about function until it's time to flop, exhausted, back onto the pillows again at night. Some days are better than others between January and March, but generally it's not the ideal time for me to be springing into action on my new year's resolutions. I adore Christmas, but I tend to find it tiring (I had a three-hour nap on Christmas Day last year), and by New Year I'm worried about where on earth I'm going to find the energy to bounce into January with much enthusiasm. I'm just too tired.

I was musing on this problem one evening last week in the bath. I thought about how happy I am that it is now Spring. I'm starting to feel back to my energetic Tigger-like self, interested in everything and anything, bursting with creativity and plans and feeling full of mischief. And it occurred to me (as the best ideas do when in the bath) that it's a really rubbish idea for me to run my year from January to December. What's the use in making all sorts of exciting plans and goals, then feeling so tired that I can even begin to make a dent in them, and ending up declaring myself useless and a failure? Would it not be better to turn a little bit Pagan about the whole thing, and shift my year to begin when I'm at my best, in the Spring? 

So there, folks, is my significant decision. My year now runs April to March. This means I can put all that enthusiasm for a new year into action immediately and see results as the new leaves are forming on the trees, the lambs are skipping round the fields, and the sun is shining. 

"Aha," you might be thinking, "Aha, hold on there Skippy. You still have to have winter at some point in your year. What then?" 

You see, it's just a mental shift. By the time Autumn and Winter come along, I'll have had my most productive time of the year, instead of starting it in my worst. I'll be winding down my year as the weather turns colder and the nights draw in, and I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that the biggest challenges of my year have been met (or not, but I will have tried) and I can plan for the more slow-paced goals, such as maintaining my current fitness levels, learning a new craft or reading certain books, etc., when I start to feel woozy again. As I've mentioned before, I actually enjoy many elements of autumn and winter, and it would be nice to be able to relax and enjoy curling up and resting, without beating myself up and rushing to meet un-ticked goals before the year ends. 

If Spring is all about new beginnings and rebirth, it doesn't make sense for me to start my year in the cold and dark, when the natural world is sleeping and my body wants me to do the same. So I am realigning my year to fit with nature's way of doing things. 

So, Happy New Year from me! What about you? SAD sufferer or not, would you change the very fabric of how your year works? I'll be interested to read your thoughts!

PS: Check out my SAD Pinterest board. 

The Creative Life Series: Overcoming Creator's Block

source

So here we are, we have arrived at the last in my Creative Life series. You can read the rest of the series right here.

I want to address the problems of creative inspiration and ideas generation. It’s well documented that anyone who creates regularly will experience barren phases. The well of creative ideas runs dry, the bucket comes up empty. It happens to bloggers, crafters, artists… in fact everyone with a need to regularly produce fresh creative ideas.

For me the adage, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got,” rings true every time I have this problem. And I’ve learned this:

If my bucket keeps coming up dry, continuing to lower it into the well is senseless. It’s time to go out there and find fresh sources of water.

In other words, get out more.

Each time I’ve found myself stuck for new ideas, whether for this blog, or for craft projects or new button designs, it’s been because I’ve fallen into the trap of doing the same old, same old. Namely, getting up, going to work, coming home again, doing dull tasks like my laundry, making the next day’s packed lunch or washing up… and going to bed. The need to keep money coming in and my awareness that I struggle to be efficient without a dependable routine means that I become dull and my creative output dries up. No wonder when I next sit down with my notebook and try to plan the next few blog posts or designs I keep coming up empty. It’s incredibly frustrating.

So here is what I do whenever the Creative Block of Doom arises.

I’ve said I struggle without a routine. If I threw my routine entirely out of the window I’d always be late to work, my car would run out of fuel, my emails would never get answered and this blog post you’re currently reading wouldn’t exist. And you’d hate me, because I’m incredibly stressed when I’m not organised. So I do little things around my everyday routine to find fresh sources of inspiration. Here are a few:

• I wear a different hairstyle.

• I change the music or radio station in my car on my drive to work.

• I take Bea on a different route on our regular evening dog walk. Twitter followers will know I often ring the changes by seeking out new creatures to talk to as well, which is how I recently came to trip over a goat. Did I just share too much?

...This is Thomas!

• I spend my lunch half-hour researching something I’ve always wanted to learn about. This week it’s how an engine works.

• I try a different lunch recipe. This has been fun because I’m so lazy when it comes to packed lunches usually. Dry ham sandwich and a strawberry yogurt, anyone?

•  I read a new magazine or journal.

• I challenge myself to photograph a small detail to prove inspiration really is everywhere if you look (more on that next week).

These are all tiny little things that help to keep my perspective on life fresh and interesting, because I know that if I’m interested, the inspiration will always come. The main approach I take to tackling this problem though, is to get out more!

Actually, I don’t have a problem with not getting out enough. In your average week I’m lucky to have more than one evening at home (yet another reason why I love the anchorage CreativesUnite provides!), and there’s always something happening in my weekend. Some weeks are so busy that I’m not at home at all. I like to have a full diary, it means I’m challenging myself and life stays fun, but I’ll often find I’m so busy rushing out from work to my evening plans, that I don’t stop and take inspiration from the activities themselves.

Notice more

Now I try to take stock and notice more when I’m out and about. And it’s amazing how much inspiration there is, absolutely everywhere you look. That interesting-looking building reminds me of my love for Art Deco. Could I incorporate that style into my next craft project? I’ve never seen that butterfly species before. Wouldn’t it make a lovely button design? I like her hairstyle. Maybe trying something similar will cheer up Monday? That song lyric about being stuck in a rut, heard in the pub… I can identify with that feeling, so maybe a blog post about getting over creative block? And I write all this down, either in a notebook or on my phone or iPad, because I’m a sod for scribbling notes and then losing them.

I noticed these interesting buildings in Sheffield recently so I snapped them,
thinking they'd work well in a story.

Photograph more

If you find something remotely interesting, quirky or thought-provoking, snap a photo. With all this modern technology around there’s no excuse. Next time you’re at home feeling creatively stifled you won’t need to get out to find inspiration; you’ll have a bank of images from your last adventure. A good way of getting into the snappy habit is to take part in a photography challenge through Instagram or Twitter. ‘Things I’m Thankful For’ and ‘Simple Pleasures’ are popular ones which I’ve found truly inspiring to participate in. #snappyhappy! 

Talk more

People often bring inspiration to me. Because I blog, my interests are pretty much worn on my sleeve, and because those interests mean I spend a lot of time with similarly-minded people, I regularly find that when I’m at WI or book club, round at a friend’s for tea or seeing regular faces at a craft fair, people say things such as, “I was at a flea market the other day and I thought of you when I saw a load of Pyrex.” or, “Anna, they serve Yorkshire Tea here! Have you tried their new blend?” or “Those buttons I bought from you last month. Have you thought about making them into brooches?”

       This made me realise that quite often people know me better than I know myself, but they have a different perspective on my world than I do, so they’re able to present solutions to problems, opinions and fresh inspiration. By telling people about my interests they then reflect ideas back to me, and share similar stories; “Ah yes, I have a friend who loves doilies too. She sews hers onto her handmade quilts.” Bingo! Another idea to play with.

     Social media is invaluable for this as well, with online friends sending me links to sites and events they think I’ll find interesting. Just talk more.

Find events

When I say get out more, you need somewhere to get out to, right? Get on Twitter or Google and you’re bound to find all sorts of events going on in your area. Some cost money, yes. I’m very excited to be going to Folksy Summer School this weekend but it has cost and I can’t afford to go to many of the events in Sheffield I’d really like to. But most of the events I go to are very cheap, costing only my transport, or are even free. I attended a lovely bloggers’ event at Lush recently. Craft fairs, art exhibitions, live music down at the pub, beautiful gardens, picnics, country walks, town walks, craft or book clubs, library events, food fairs… the list is endless. Set yourself a challenge of having a full day out on a fiver. Start a club. Organise a crafters’ picnic. Get out a proper map and plan a five mile walk. See if you can find some live music for free. If you can’t find anything to interest you, sign up for an event you know nothing about, like a medieval joust re-enactment or a mushroom forage – you never know what wondrous inspiration may hit you, and if nothing else you’ll have a tale to tell! I do love a fungi foray.

Some activities don't cost a penny.

Doing the same things every day means that the brain has to look inwards for inspiration. While this can be a useful exercise in resourcefulness the brain does also need a constant supply of stimuli to keep the creativity flowing. I promise you that a world of inspiration waits for you just outside the window of the room you’re sitting in right now. Have the adventure of your life finding it.

Creative Life Series: My Favourite Books on Creativity

As we start to near the end of my Creative Life series, I'd like to bring your attention to one of the main pillars of my own creative soul - books. You all know how much I love books, and I really love books about creativity. I've racked up quite a reading list over the past few years, and here are some titles that I return to over and over. It's so comforting to think that if you have any of these to hand, you need never be without inspiration or your creative mojo ever again!

 

I love Keri Smith. I bought this book, Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life in 2007, and it changed my whole perception on how grown ups create and view the world. I realised I had lost that unique magical perspective kids take on life, and I was inspired to start embracing creativity through play once again. This book contains all sorts of fun activities (and stickers. STICKERS!) and I must have come back to it dozens of times in the last six years. 

Speaking of which...

If you're nervous about being free and messy in your creativity, I wholly recommend you get yourself one of these. Keri Smith is a genius. Fact. 

Next up, a more refined, disciplined approach to creativity. Twyla Tharp is a professional dancer and choreographer, and I must admit that her book The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it For Life took me a little perseverance to get into at first, and I ended up listening to the audiobook as well. Once I did, I was hooked, and really found myself identifying with Twyla's way of thinking. This really is a book about habits, which of course can be hard to form, but if you want to make creativity an everyday habit in your life and work, this book is really worth investing your attention. 

 

One of the bastions of the world of books on creativity is Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity; a book I've mentioned a few times on this blog. Don't be put off by the quasi-religious undertones, Cameron makes it clear that spiritual leanings are not necessary to getting the most out of this course-in-a-book. The way I practise creativity is based heavily on what I garnered from this book. From the concept of morning pages to the idea of the artist's date, if you want to become more creative you really can't fail with this one. I've even backed my copy to stop it wearing out with use. 

 

Time for a fun one. Jurgen Wolff is a rather clever thinker, and here he's come up with one of those 'dip into any page for instant inspiration' books. A lot of ideas in these sorts of books can be a little samey, especially if you read lots of them like I do, but this one genuinely contains lots of fresh notions, and it acts as an excellent confidence booster too. It also introduced me to this! 

So those are my staples. Now for a couple currently on my Kindle:

Image source

I'll report back when I've finished them both! Do you have any recommended books on the subject of being creative? I'd love to hear them!

Creative Life Series: The Creativity Date and the Creativity Box

 "Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once we grow up." ~ Pablo Picasso

I think of myself as a creative person. My interests, my approach to solving problems, my button business and my dreams for the future all revolve around creativity. It has had such an influence on my life, particularly in the last two years, helping me to discover new crafting hobbies, make things I can be proud of and that build my confidence, introducing me to lots of fellow creative sorts through this blog, and acting as invaluable therapy during the tough times, that I am increasingly passionate about helping others to discover and strengthen their own creativity too. The benefits it can bring are boundless.

Creativity, in my view, is a muscle. The muscle is always there, but some people carry it around with them their whole lives, never using it, or even being aware they have it. Others use this muscle when they need or want to ‘push’ something; when they need to come up with a solution to a problem, when they want to make something or write something or perfect dancing the foxtrot. The most creative people actively invest time and effort in the ‘creativity gym’, exercising this muscle. These folks know that the more you use your creative might, the faster the ideas come to you, the stronger your creativity gets, and the more creatively fulfilled and happy you can become.

This knowledge, combined with the fact that, let’s face it – being creative is ridiculously fun – is the reason I started doing two things a few months ago.

1. I started scheduling in a ‘creative date’ in my diary every month. This is different to Creatives Unite in that I don’t actually work on a craft or art project during this session. It's a little like the idea of an 'Artist's Date' Julia Cameron puts forth in The Artist's Way. 
2. I put together a Creativity Box, to use during the date.

So what do I do during this date?

Well, I make a cup of tea.

I take my box and some cushions and plonk myself down on the floor, or on a grassy spot at the park.

Usually my canine companion joins me.

I take my brightly coloured felt tip pens and my sketchbook…

…and I play.

I write down my creative goals for the coming month, and decorate them with bright swirls and squiggles.

I plan blog posts, recipes and craft projects.

I cut snippets and pictures out of magazines, stick them in my smash book and scribble whatever ideas they bring to mind.

I make a mess.

I read about creativity.

I pin inspiring images and craft ideas on Pinterest.

I draw.

I journal.

Children have a natural gift for playing. They spend their days pretending to be dragons and doctors, princesses and puppies. They can make a house out of a cardboard box, a smiley face out of a pizza, and a castle from toilet rolls. They run for fun, cover blank pages with bright colour without an ounce of trepidation, notice the small things and make up stories as easily as they process facts.

Somewhere along the line, we start being told to ‘sit still’, ‘walk, don’t run’, ‘stop being noisy’, ‘don’t make a mess’, ‘don’t waste paper’, ‘think before you act’, ‘it’s time you got your head out of the clouds and faced up to reality’, ‘work is serious and should be taken as such’ and ‘write neatly’. These things are all instilled in us by grown ups who care, and who want to us to become considerate, thoughtful, self-disciplined and self-aware adults.

But we do lose that ability to play, and I don’t believe we’re supposed to. I think we’re supposed to stay curious, supposed to be able to creatively express ourselves, supposed to run through a field of daisies going ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!’ just because, and hey, if you want to pretend to be a dragon it might brighten up that Tuesday afternoon team sales meeting. Just don’t expect Marjorie to ‘get you’.

A creative date once a month is your chance to play, and can bring a world of benefits:

·         Relaxation, or a way to work through problems. Mindless activity can provide a distraction from worry.

·         This is a brilliant way to generate more ideas than you can possibly handle!

·         Gets you ‘in the zone’ ready to work on another creative activity, or tasks such as essay-writing. I often have creative playtime before button-making, and before writing blog posts. It’s a little like the concept of morning pages as also outlined in The Artist’s Way. It readies the mind.

·         Use the time to write in your journal, or cut and paste. This encourages self-reflection and centres your soul so you can think more clearly about what you want from the month ahead.

·         Just for the pure joy of being creative, being messy, playing, not worrying about being perfect, and expressing yourself.

And the creativity box? Just what it says on the tin. A special box in which you keep all sorts of fun stuff for your creative dates. In mine I have:

• My sketchbook/smashbook
• Fun pens
• A colourful messy list of creative goals for the coming month
• Whatever creativity-themed books I'm reading
• A magic glittery, swirly thinking stick. Not sure why. 
• ...And often a selection of crafty bits and bobs for being messy and creative with.

If nothing else, this is a great excuse for some time away from everyday life each month. A chance to do something that requires no planning, special supplies, money or precision, but that can produce really valuable results.

PS: Apologies for the little gap in blogging there; as you'll know from my going on about it constantly, I'm doing my first craft fair today so it's been full-on preparation lately. Will share photos this coming week! 

Creative Life Series: Writing Down Your Creative Goals

We're approaching the halfway point for 2013, and because my birthday is around the same time, I have two 'life assessment points' fairly evenly spaced in my year. I often find myself taking a breather at the proverbial halfway house and reviewing the goals I set at New Year. In December I invested in the inspiring Leonie Dawson's Create Your Incredible Year workbook and one of the most valuable things I have got from it is the encouragement to write down this year's goals, rather than just saying to myself, 'this year I'd like to...' I came up with 100! Some big, some tiny, all important to me. 

It's a funny thing, this writing down of goals. Funny how this simple action has made me so much more focused in the first half of this year. Funny how many of them are being met, seemingly without all that much effort on my part. Others are taking a gigantic amount of regular effort, don't get me wrong, but often simply writing the goal down can seal it in your mind and you'll subconsciously work towards ticking it off the list. 

But something I was really keen to do this year was to write down some creative goals. Last year I came to realise just how vital my creative life is to me. It's my inspiration, a source of happiness, my therapy and gives  me a sense of accomplishment. I had a really creative 2012, and I wanted 2013 to be even better.

Here are some of my 2013 creative goals:

• Learn to crochet 
• Make banana bread
• Come up with five new button designs
• Knit a scarf (and finish the last one!)
• Reach 100 button sales
• Do a 'big' painting (ie, not button-size!)
• Go to the theatre
• Start a new journal
• Make another candlelit project

We often see creativity as something comparable to water. It ebbs and it flows, it comes and it goes, and it's pretty impossible to pin down. I have always viewed it as a force, something that would only come to me if I was having a good day, was lucky, prepared my mind properly. And so it's often the case, but I do believe that writing down your creative goals means you are committed to reaching them, and making that commitment seems to automatically increase the chances of creativity showing up on the day you decide to work on them. 

You know the phrase, 'when the student is ready, the teacher will appear'? In the first half of this year I've met three lovely people who offered to teach me to crochet. A colleague gave me a scarf knitting pattern which should be one step up the knitting skill ladder from my current point. An opportunity to do a craft fair came up so I'm making lots of buttons in the hope of meeting my 100 sales in 2013 goal, and this recipe for banana bread turned up last week. 

Whatever your goals - creative goals, lifestyle goals, health goals or work goals - write them down. What have you got to lose? Any time is a great time to do so... and you now have the perfect excuse to buy a shiny new notebook! (Yeah, as if you needed one.)

What are some of your creative goals?

PS: If you fancy getting started on your creative goals tonight, see you for Creatives Unite at 8pm.

Creative Life Series: Cutting and Pasting for Inspiration

Creativity is a subject that has always fascinated me. Over the last few months I've been investing a lot of time in exercising my own creative muscles and learning more about how they work, and whether creativity really is something everyone has access to. So welcome to the first in a new series of posts where I share some of the techniques that work for me, and muse on some of the bigger questions around this subject.

Between blogging and my many creative pursuits, I'm always on the lookout for inspiration. Quite often it floats into my life through little effort on my part, simply through living life, but I'm also a great believer in actively seeking inspiration. One of my favourite ways to do this at the moment is cutting and pasting from magazines.

It's so much fun because I was an expert at this as a kid! A pair of scissors and Kay's catalogue could keep me quiet for hours. 

Lots and lots of very posh, often hardback, publishers' catalgoues turn up at my workplace. No one else has use of them, so... in a snip, home they come with me!

Once I have quite a collection of these and used magazines I make a cup of tea and have a session of leafing through all this paper goodness and cutting out any images that interest me in some way.

And what do I do with them all? 

Sometimes I stick an interesting image to a plain page in my sketchbook and mind map it - anything at all that comes to mind is scribbled down. It's amazing how many ideas emerge that way. A picture really does paint a thousand words.

Other images go on to inspire creative projects such as stationery making - I can scan in an image and print it to make writing paper - or use them to make envelopes, gift tags, etc.

Others go to play in my smash book, or I create moodboards. I love moodboards because they can act like goal-setting to keep me motivated, or simply act as a board of inspiration next time the creative ideas are being sluggish.

All this is made easier by a discerning expert in image selection...

It's great to know I have a go-to pack of images and real-life clipart stashed away. These clippings both inspire creative projects and provide materials for them. I absolutely love Pinterest, but there's also something wonderful about the smell and texture of paper, and the therapeutic snip snip snipping of an afternoon spent sitting on the floor surrounded by beautiful pictures.

Of course, the magazines and catalogues then go on to be recycled!

Do you collect images from magazines, etc.? And if not, what do you do with the magazines you won't read again?