Sincerest form of flattery...

Do you ever lack creativity? I have days, if not WEEKS, where I feel like I am sitting in a creative drought. I will walk into my studio, sit down at my desk, and feel at a loss. I used to page through my old issues of scrapbook magazines but then found that looking back further and further caused me to lose even more creativity. Nothing was NEW or fresh! Going out and purchasing a stack of new magazines is WAY too costly these days so what is a crafty girl to do when her mojo is missing? With the invention of sites like Flickr and Pinterest, these days are becoming few and far between for me. Add in my BFF Google Reader and I can peruse all of my favorite blogs on one site (and trust me, I have 100+ that I follow...sick, I know). Mason Cooley once said, "Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation" and I find this to be so completely true. I found this photo quite some time ago and made a note of the source of the file so that when I got around to using the idea, I could properly document where I obtaining my "jumping-off point".

(Source)

Pinterest cleans my desk of any sticky notes and torn corners from my sketch book! It literally bookmarks the image for me for later reference! Wicked. (And if you need an invite to this completely ADDICTIVE site leave your email in the notes and I will send one off to you!). Back to imitation. I love the above image. From the simplicity of the project with typography to the clean lines and pop of color, it captures my heart AND my creative process. After seeing this project I immediately knew that I would be doing SOMETHING like this in the near future. This weekend started off with a creative drought; enter my digital muses. I pulled up this image and started taking notes on how I could possibly spin this into a project that was more "me". And then it hit me! Hats!

I used almost every Paper Trunk line to create these little beauties too!

Jellybean and Socialite Collections.

Wrangler and Batik Collections.

1974, Maybe Baby, and the most recently released, Rockabilly.

I started off with a simple female-head silhouette and then found some vintage hat images that I could recreate with Paper Trunk's lines! Ended up making a set of "everyday" cards that I can use myself or give as a gift! LOVED how these turned out!

When you are wallowing in the wastelands of a creative drought, don't forget these fabulous sources** of creative mojo! I hope you have a beautiful and INSPIRING week! **Please keep in mind that when/if you do imitate someone's design to always give proper credit; even if you aren't copying the idea in it's entirety. Someone might have worked really hard on creating that project and the most disheartening thing to happen is to see someone else take the credit for the idea.** Thanks Trunk fans; you're the best! -B