Inspired

Recently, Cassandra mentioned how her busy life was getting in the way of crafting. I'm in a similar boat - I'm traveling a lot in the next few weeks and I seem to have an inordinate number of chores to do around the house. Of course, if we extend the definition of crafting (as we like to do here at Mighty Distractible) then all the cooking and gardening and flower arranging gets to count.

I'm even too busy for most of that right now...

What I'm not too busy for is finding inspiration. If this seems like a rehash of Cassandra's post of last week, you wouldn't be too far off but, hopefully, I can introduce you to some additional sources for creative motivation.

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting some new social media site these days. What I've noticed is that they're getting more and more specific based on interests. However, there's one that I just love and have been using for regular inspiration. Pinterest is, ostensibly, a social media site - you can "follow" people and "invite" people and connect with them via common interests - but even more than that, it's a place to catalog things you love.

Tara Jacoby via @pinterest

The way it works is that you "pin" a website or an online item to one of your "boards." Boards are simply self-determined categories of things. When you enter Pinterest, the homepage is filled with various pins from other users. The pins are not necessarily from people you know, but from categories you've expressed interest in. It's a little cumbersome at first - you feel like you should be able to "do" more - but, in the end, the beauty of Pinterest is that it's like walking into the best flea-market ever - you're just meant to browse and fall in love with beautiful, interesting things and ideas and discover some very creative people. It's a treasure trove of inspiration.

Also on the inspiration roll recently is Anthropologie. This retailer has a very distinctive style - a little bohemian, a little trendy, and a lot high-quality. While the items are usually well beyond my price range for purchase, browsing and being inspired is always free. I'm very often taken with the detail on the clothing or the simplicity of some housewares item that they carry. I love that they tap small, independent artists and artisans and will carry an item or two for a period of time. This give the artist amazing national exposure and is a stamp of approval about the quality of their product. I may have mentioned it before but I want to create an apron pattern based on one that I saw at Anthropologie last year. That's the big sewing project that's in my queue.

Finally, I've been getting a lot of inspiration lately from high-quality design in film and TV. Specifically, the new episodes of Masterpiece Mystery's Poirot are stunningly designed - the detail of the art deco sets and costumes makes me swoon. Also, HBO's Game of Thrones' costumes and sets are just incredibly well-conceived and executed from the young, future queen's exquisitely simple dresses to the dark, dank interior of a northern castle.

There's something about having sunshine until 9pm that makes the whole world inspiring right now. I find myself staring at my plants each morning to see if I can discern any growth and staring at the pink sky at night to enjoy the last bits of daylight. Maybe soaking up the summer is my craft for right now.


- Alex