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stamping lately. I have sooo much stuff, and yet I still can't get creative. It's not like anything is standing in my way, and I have the time right now. I feel like I'm being lazy or something because I just don't feel like it.
Sounds like you just need a break! You're not being lazy...this is a HOBBY! It's supposed to be fun. So take a break, and soon you'll be itching to play again!
The most recent issue of CARDS just gets me all inspired! It may help you too!!! I get the online version and love it! I'm tellin ya this September issue just ROCKS!
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iheartart
Sizzix, Lawn Fawn, Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft, CupCards To Go
Been there too! In fact I'm there right now... I find in the summer I often can't get creative, when I have the time, of course!
I have made a couple cards lately just to try to get back into it. This is what I'm doing: instead of trying to invent something wonderful, I'm going back to a favorite layout, nothing new. Just something to get me making something. I am hopeful that that will jumpstart me into a new layout, or color scheme, or whatever.
Also, I am using some older sets that have been set aside of late. I am making cards in hopes of selling them when I get back to work after summer, so they don't have to be personally inspired, they just have to be made. Know what I mean?
I went thru that from about Feb til last month. I had just finished a club and decided to take a break. I have been working on organizing my room and have slowly been back to making cards and having fun at it again.
Yep, I think we all go through that at some point. I am sort of in the same boat right now. Some other stuff (stamp related stuff) has been bothering me so I haven't had the desire to sit down and stamp much at all. I've had to force myself to make some cards I've created lately and that takes the fun out of it. I've been itching to scrapbook more, though, so all the other stuff may be a blessing in disguise. I plan to sit down this week with Papertrey Ink release stuff and play and that always puts me back in the mood so I am looking forward to that! When my mojo is gone, I love to just sit and play with supplies. You never know what will inspire you.
I call it Stamper�s Block (think Writer�s Block!) and when that happens, I do a couple of the things others here have suggested. First I clean up my stamp area and get re-organized. Sometimes I just take the baskets that hold my stamp sets out and flip through them all.
BUT, my absolute creative jump start comes from going through the SCS gallery. I sit and search for either stamps or designer papers that I have, and then copy/paste and print a few the inspire me. I find when I sit facing blank paper� I just can�t get started.
Of course there are those times when I relax and read a book
For me, the seasons have a lot to do with it. During the summer months, my mind is on swimming or vacation or gardening. I haven't even been on this site to speak of since June. But I can feel my desire to stamp coming back very slowly. I say if you don't feel like it, don't do it! Life is too short to worry about it!
I have several hobbies - papercrafting being the newest. Right now, I don't want to stamp, and I don't want to sew. But I do want to play the guitar again....... I've lost the great callouses that were built up on my fingertips. You need really thick callouses so the strings don't hurt your fretting hand. Anyway, I'm in guitar and crochet mode right now. Probably when fall hits I'll be back in my sewing room non stop. But what I do like about papercrafting is that I can pop in and out of it at whim. Unlike sewing (and especially quilting) there really is no such thing as a long term project. Scrapbooking would qualify, but I only make cards. So, when I get the urge to make a card.... well.....the project is usually wrapped up in a couple of hours. Not so with quilting, crocheting or working on a piano or guitar piece.
And then there is my compulsive collecting of Tarot card decks. But that just requires SHOPPING and EBAYING! :mrgreen:
Anyway, when you get the doldrums for one hobby - move on to something else. The stamps and paper will still be there when you're ready again. And you will be ..........
__________________ A good dog, a sewing machine, and an old guitar......
I was in this exect situation the last couple of months. What finally motivated me was having an event scheduled - a baby shower for my niece. Once I had that target and knew her theme, I started getting ideas and stamped all day Sunday making announcements and doing a scrapbook. I think the main thing is just don't pressure yourself - who knows what your inspiration trigger will be? It will probably come when you least expect it! In the meantime, relax and give yourself permission to not stamp!
This happens to me too ... and when it does, I just dont stamp for a while ... and eventually I FEEL like stamping again. Like someone else said, it's a hobby and it's supposed to be fun. When you dont feel like you're not having fun anymore, take a break for a while. Your stuff will still be there when your mojo returns. And dont feel bad about, it happens to most of us at some time.
You've already gotten some good advice, but perhaps it wouldn't help to get rid of some stuff. I find I reach a point of brain overload with product and tools and such. If I go through it all, reorganize and just get rid of a bunch of stuff or at least move it to the basement (out of sight, out of mind), and then take one stamp set, ink, and paper and make something, it helps.
Any chance you've started taking a new medication or changed anything else lately? My doctor put me on a famous-for-smoking-cessation drug (I don't smoke), and I didn't want to do anything. Nothing was fun anymore, least of all, stamping. I couldn't take not wanting to stamp, so I went back to my doc and asked him to take me off of it. Slowly, my desire to stamp is coming back. I've missed it...
Perhaps there's something making you not want to do it?
When I get in that mode I love to clen and reorganize my area(corner in the basement). I just went through a ton of very old patterned paper that I know I will never use and gave a bag of stuff to my neice so she can create. The other thing I like to do is cut card stock to make card bases and stuff. I feel like I am doing something without the creating part. Do you wonder sometimes ( I know I do) that we spend so much $$$ on stuff we feel like we should be stamping in all our free time??
I just finally got out of my stamping funk. Here are a few things that worked for me...
1. Went to the SCS gallery for all the stamp sets I own and favorited a bunch of cards. That way if I kind of felt like stamping I can just CASE...AND seeing all those terrific cards helps motivate me.
2. Found a reason to stamp...ie. my Grandma was low on her stash and NEEDED some cards so I set about making her some really simple ones out of retired items so that it helped deplete my retired stock somewhat. And now that it is back to school, I just made teacher gifts.
3. Check out the challenges. They won't always be right up your alley, but one might strike your fancy
Hope that helps a bit...
__________________ Amy Stampin' Up Demonstrator My Gallery
I don't know why I don't feel like...
