How do YOU create?
 

I have absolutely no creative juices flowing in my body. Okay, maybe I have a few, but nothing like you ladies here. I'm really good at CASEing, maybe changing things a little bit, but creating originals?? not me!

What process do YOU go through when creating? Let's say, you just got a new stamp set, like some of the summer mini sets? You cut them out and mount them and sit at your favorite workspace. Then what? How do you decide what to do? Do you think about colors first, about embellishments, about what kind of layering? Do you think, "hmmmm, I want to use some background paper" or vellum or 'I think I'll do some poppin' pastels'?

Help me out here, please, ladies. I want to get those creative juices flowing, too! Although I DO know some of us are given a talent and some of us have gifts in other areas! Thanks. Hope this isn't a stupid question.

This isn't a stupid question at all! I am curious to see what everyone's responses are.

Personally, there are a couple of ways I get started when I am stamping. The first is when I "need" to stamp something for a specific occassion (ie- swap, birthday, thank you, etc). I think about the occassion and who it's for. I try to make things the reciever will like and appreciate. The first thing I do is think of what stamp sets I want to use. Then I choose my colors (of cardstock, ink, etc) and embellishments. That way is a lot easier a lot of the times.

The second way I get started is when there really isn't any occassion and I just want to stamp. :) This is usually the case. I LOVE looking at examples I see on this website and others. I get ideas from websites, magazines, swaps.. This may be weird but when I am stamping I have to have the television on. lol. I don't neccessarily have to be watching something in particular but I like to have it on for background noise. I love the use of color and I would say that that is one of my favorite elements of rubber stamping. I also LOVE embellishments and I like to try new things. Right now I am really into using felt. It's inexpensive, fun to use, and I love the way it looks on greeting cards and scrapbook pages. :) Personally, I have yet to CASE a project. I am definitely inspired by others though! I've always been a pretty artistic person and stamping is just another awesome tool. I can't really give you much advice but there is my experience. :) Sorry for the novel. :wink:

How do you create?
 

:?: I usually get ideas at the most unusual times. I create in my mind lots of cards and then I concentrate on colors. I also look on line and in magazines to get further ideas. I twist lots of ideas around and fit them to the stamps. Sometimes I receive a card that is one I borrow for that stamp set. Most times I create in my mind as the day goes by or night. :wink: This is a very good question and hope to see how others create. Grammie

Between this site and the Idea Book & Catalog, I get tons of inspiration. I set my thoughts on what it is I want as an end result........and then once I start it is NEVER the same as what I wanted to begin with!! But, after I've had that much fun, I don't really care!!

:D

Creativity
 

What a great question!

I guess my creativity can start from many different directions. Sometimes I have a technique I want to try, so I cruise through my stamp sets for one that would work well with it. I might decide to use a set I haven't presented to my customers before or an old favorite. Then I look at ink and cardstock colors...what is the season? Is this a bounce in your face Tigger card, or a shy Piglet card? Is it a cool, elegant look I'm going for? This will influence my choices; plus, if it is for a class project, I have to consider what I have on hand, LOL!

At other times, I'll see a set and start dreaming up possibilities. I'll get a vague idea of what the finished card will look like and start stamping. Sometimes it works out exactly, other times I change it dramatically as I go. Sometimes it's a big flop. That's okay. Everyone makes mistakes and I throw these in a bin and go on. Sometimes I cruise through the boo boo bin and find a previous reject that leads me in a whole other direction. In fact, boo boo bin stamping can be even more rewarding than regular stamping!

Sometimes, a color combination will strike me and I'll start from that direction. Sometimes I see a photograph, product ad, fabric, or something that isn't stamping, but gives me an idea for color or design that I translate into stamping!

I read, read, read all the stamping publications I can get my hands on and copy ideas that I like. I rarely copy something exactly as I see it, but usually add my own twist to whatever I view.

Sometimes I sit down and start creating on the fly, other times I'll jot notes and little sketches of ideas I want to try. But what I almost always start out doing is cleaning up my desk. I like to stamp, and push things aside, then stamp something else, etc. By the time I'm done with a stampin' session, my desk is a real mess. By then, it's 12 M and I'm tired, so I just leave it. Then the next time, I spend some moments cleaning away the detritus of the last session and tidying up. It's a kind of zen thing, because it really helps me prepare my brain for the next creative frenzy!

Like everyone, I run dry on occasion. So what I do then is read books to escape into someone else's life for a while. I like mysteries, fantasy fiction, and chick novels, especially anything set in England...I'm a real anglophile! Once I've rested my brain in this way, I find I'm refreshed and ready to start creating again!

Like Joleen, if it's a card for a specific person I try to think of their favorite color, or personality, and gear it toward them. If I'm making a card to show at a workshop, I try to think of accessories rather than color. The color tastes in a group will vary, but I can concentrate on one or two accessories to try and show. If you show too many accessories it can be overwhelming, but if you concentrate on just a couple, people will want to purchase them at the workshop.

Emily, I must confess there are are sometimes projects that end up being "circular filed" before you see a post from me--but that's a secret between you and me! : ) LOLLOLLOL!

I also keep a package of extremely cheap white card stock around for experimentation--in case the color combo I'm trying doesn't work, I hate to waste my favorite stuff on failed experiments. . . But usually, that's where I start if I'm drawing a blank space--I lay down some of the images and try to find a color combo I like, layout is usually something I've already formulated ahead*.

IF my gut instincts tell me it's gonna work out, I by-pass that and go for the good stuff!

I subscribe to MANY art-stamping and paper crafting magazines and spend HOURS admiring all the eye-candy!

*Another thing I've done, is I've created my own book of card layouts--I've computer drawn numerous sketches (At this point 50+) and I keep this book near my work station and when I get a set of stamps, the first thing I do is pull out my layout book and go thru selecting the layout formulas I believe will really make those images shine.

And, here's the BEST tip I ever learned:

When you admire a sample, study it--take notes on the layout, the color scheme, look at it many times, as long as you want!

BUT, when it comes time to create, put it away. The information in your brain will roll around and rather than ending up with an "identical" card, you will come out with a version all your own that incorporates all the favorite elements you saw in the first card.

BTW, I have created cards I consider ugly (case in point: the recent post of my PEXd Leaves using Petal Prints). I'm extremely dissatisfied with it and hesitated to even keep it--it was actually headed for the circular file.

BUT, I've also learned that sometimes, some thing I consider hideous, another finds attractive and beautiful--beauty in the eye of the beholder . . . So, difficult as it is I've learned to put "my" rejects on my display boards--someone else will fall in love with it and be inspired by it, and that's not a bad thing! LOL!

HTH,

I often feel the same way. I feel like I must have creative bones in my body in order to enjoy stamping so much, however I just don't have ideas spilling out everywhere. One thing I started doing recently that helps so much, is to carry a journal in my purse. When I come across something, either in nature or at the store, etc., I write down the idea or sketch out a design. Just the other day I was on an elevator with a woman who had the prettiest patterns in her dress. I could see petal prints or watercolor garden all over her. I made a note about the colors in her dress and later went through my ink to duplicate. Also, I suggest finding a great "sketch" book. I think Becky Higgins has written one for cards. I know she did for scrapbooks. Also, as far as color goes, start simple like the color wheel. The more you play around the more creative you become. :)

Oh, gosh, the story of the woman in the elevator hits home.....if we're shopping and my husband says "I like that color..." I start to murmur "Eggplant Envy....Barely Banana...." LOL I see Stampin Up colors everywhere. Great tip to write them down :lol:

I used to think that I had no creative juices either but, I think it's just a matter of observation. You just start looking at the world around you and seeing color combinations and images that spark ideas. I love the story of the woman in the elevator. I find childrens clothing to be very idea provoking. But most of all, all of you are like my muses. I see cards in the gallery and it just triggers ideas. I'll start out CASE-ing something and get other little flashes of inspiration. It's great! I feel like I've found my creative juices especially since being a member of Splitcoast! Thanks for the inspiration. You all are great! :wink:

craetive process
 

one of the things I like to do.. especially when I get a new stamp set, but even with my older sets.. I take a fresh piece of white paper (I go directly for the US white.. just incase something is fabulous and I have to use it) and just start stamping stuff on it.. try different colors, clor in different ways.. an usually those images end up turning into something..LOL

I will do the same with technique.. once I learn a technique... example crayon resist.. I take a sheet of glossy.. pick some stamps I want to try out... and stamp away to see what I come up with.

As for laying out your stuff onto cards and scrapbook pages.. I fully believe in when you are passionate about something to absorb anything that relates to it.. I have tons of books, magazines, sketches of stuff I keep around. And don't be afraid to copy something you like.. the more you copy.. the more you learn about the process and the more you will develop your own style.

Keep a sketchbook of things you like. Draw pictures of layouts and glue in samples of things you like. I have one book devoted to stamping sample tidbits I have done.. I have examples of cracked glass.. papers I have marbled using several techniques, etc.

Overall just relax and play.. its okay to just stamp something in black and color it in.. you don't have to do anything super spectacular everytime you stamp. My favortie thing to do.. is stamp a paper full of images and them just watercolor them in.. its soo relaxing. Too much stress leads to a creative block for me.


Have FUN!

Heather

You ladies are GRRRREAT!!
 

This was so fun reading your thoughts on creating!

Guess I AM heading in the right directions--I read lots of magazines and just stare at the cards over and over and over and over. My magazines are so dog-eared from looking at them!!

I also look at clothes and call out the SU colors or think about what stamp sets the patterns look like! I thought I was the only crazy one to do that! :lol: I should have known better.

Everytime I get my haircut, I see this bottle of shampoo thats colors scream "Make a card with these colors!!!" I can't figure out the colors, exactly, though, darn it. There's a bright yellow, a gable green, and then a periwinkle blue--don't know that SU has a match for that color.

I guess I just spend so much time looking at examples that I don't make time to actually stamp. In the time it takes me to look through all the new posts here for a day, there are 5 or 10 more creations posted sometimes! You women are so wonderful! I just know that by the end of the summer I will have signed up to be a demonstrator. The peer pressure here is so great! hee hee! Really, it's not, you all are just such an inspiration and are so kind towards everyone. I cannot remember ever seeing an unkind word said towards anyone in the months and months I've been coming here.

Sure hope more people chime in on this post. Quite interesting reading, wouldn't you say?

How do YOU create?
 

I've never thought of myself as creative, either because you wouldn't want to see anything I trie to draw. But, then a wonderful artist friend said, "Any time you put two ideas or two objects or two designs together in a way that no one else has done, you have created. You are creative." That encouraged me and I began to have more courage to experiment and found that I could create, not only what I like but that gets positive comments from others. I guess that I was taught to color in the lines and never outside so I was afraid to experiment before that.
Now, I often CASE the first card just to get going, then, look at my scraps, and, surprise - there are some more ideas. It seems that once I start putting stamp to paper, the ideas begin to come. Maybe not flow, but at least trickle in enough to build up. Like others - read, look at samples, read, look at samples..... let some ideas sink into the subconscious and who knows what will pop out? LOL

I don't really have a "process" per se. I have always been the type of person that colors and shapes and things have floated in and out of my visual memory -- even when my profession had nothing at ALL to do with art or color. (My hobbies did, tho') So, if I'm drawing a blank, I usually concentrate a bit on the images a bit, getting a feel for the "essence" or the style of the set. Then I may go away for a bit, if I still can't comeup with something, or duty calls me to somewhere else in my life. As soon as ideas pop into my head, I either write short notes to myself, or I try to commit them to memory until I can sit down at my stamping station. A LOT of times, ideas come to me as I am about to drift off to sleep -- or just after I've lied down for bed. That's the LAST time I want them to! :lol: And when I sit down to stamp, I think about what my favorite color combos are, and then think about what colors work best for background (i.e. it's kinda hard to stamp light colors on dark cs unless you're using craft pads), what would make a good accent color, and what I should use for the image. And then I start to play. A lot of times, what I think will look good doesn't look as good as I thought, so I have learned to stamp just a sample of something before I go hog wild on major creations. But then I play, and just let stuff come out. Like last night, I made 17 different designs using Petal Prints, and how I did it was choose colors, gather cardstock and inks, set up stamping station, pick images and how I want to stamp them, (sometimes I do a full sheet of seomthing and use it as a background, other times I'll do individual images), and then when I have several sheets of complementary colors stamped, I start looking at them and visualize how they will come together. Sometimes I have to take them and lay them out, rearrange them a few times, before I get to what will work. Then I cut and paste.

How do YOU create?
 

A famous composer said, "Creativity is simply rearranging what you already know." Forgot who said it, but I remember it from a music history course.

I personally do a lot of sitting and staring.... and then moving papers around...and then sitting and staring....and so on. Eventually something comes from it! :)

My creative juices...
 

I love the story about the lady in the elevator. I was sitting behind a lady in church a while ago and she had on an outfit that was gable green with brilliant blue palm trees all over it. My husband leaned over to me and asked my what I was thinking about (it was before the service started) and I said, "Stamping." He said, "You like that lady's outfit?" It was too cute! Only problem is that for me to stamp the blue on the green, I'd need the blue craft pad or the blue embossing powder...I don't have either!

I do get alot of inspiration from people's clothes. My latest inspiration is from those pretty toile purses with the fringe. I've made several monogramed cards (also CASE'd a portion of the idea) and other cards like that. I'll have to upload some!

Thank you all for your ideas that help me get going!

I pick my paper first. I go to my cutting station and just pick something at random. That gives me a direction of how the card will look. Then I just stamp :wink:

My "process"
 

I must say, at the beginning, I look at all my magazines,websites, etc. I bombard myself with wonderufl ideas. Then I usually CASE a lot! Love checking out what everyone has done, case 4,5,6 of them and the next thing I know, I made 4 or 5 of my own! If I have particular theme (birthday,anniversary,etc) then I change it over to that theme. Colors are just whatever hits me at the time - usually depends on the season too.

Jenn