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Help - I've been in a nasty stamping slump...I haven't made ONE card in literally two weeks.
It's terrible, I look at this site - I get inspired, I get to my stamping table and nothing.
Any ideas on how to get my creative juices flowing again? In my mind I want to stamp but I just can't do it. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?
Over the last 15+ years that I have been stamping, I have been through a couple major slumps. I would love to look at everything but was just not inspired when I reached my stamping area. I have learned over the years to just let it ride out and all of the sudden it comes back with a vengence! One of my slumps lasted for several months. I made a few necessary cards but not much else. Then one day I saw the most darling card in a magazine and bingo, I went back to my table and couldn't stop!
So don't think anything is wrong. I love to cook too but sometimes just get a bit bored or uninspired with it. I ride it out and then all of the sudden, I am in my kitchen enjoying every second of it.
Most of us have been through this. Don't worry! It will be fine!
I hate when that happens!! Check out some SCS sketch challenges, or maybe the featured stamper challenge. Those usually seem to help me snap out of it!
Oh... I'm so sorry... I think it's something that happens to us all. My mojo has been on a strike for awhile too. Some things I do to get inspired again:
* Look through a magazine - not just a stamping / crafting / scrapping magazine (although they do help). I found a few great ideas the last time I whizzed through a Better Homes and Garden magazine... colors, layouts, themes...
* Set out with the intention to CASE a card. Sometimes just making something helps.
* Go shopping... at Target and Walmart and look at the stationary aisles, fabric patterns and framed prints for color, layout and theme inspirations. Pier 1 always has things that interest me. I always take a sketch book to jot down my ideas. No shopping is required... it's just a bonus. ;)
* Purchase a new crafting item. It doesn't need to be expensive... maybe some rub-ons (especially if this is something you don't routinely use) or a new ink.
* Review how you usually start your creative process. Do you always grab your stamps first and try to make a card around an image? Change it up! Grab the paper, colors, embellishments and hunt for the right image that will work. You might find somethng that really sparks the creativity by changing your routine.
* Clean your stamping space. Yep... it's painful sometimes to pick up and organize, but I always find something that I can alter, paint or an embellishment I'd forgotten.
* Walk away for a day or two. The more I force it, the more frustrated I get.
Location: prolly in my 'rubber room'... in the mid-west
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Originally Posted by ked
I hate when that happens!! Check out some SCS sketch challenges, or maybe the featured stamper challenge. Those usually seem to help me snap out of it!
ditto!
i never really like what i create when i am not 'feeling IT'
THANK YOU ladies - ALL great ideas and will help. I think you are all right, just roll with it and look for inspiration in everything - when it happens it happens. just have to get over the frustration!
Sometimes looking at someone else's gallery helps me. I check out a gallery of a fellow stamper who has commented on one of my recent cards. I look at some of their older cards because, it inspires me sometimes just to see some technique or embellishment, etc. that I haven't thought about for a while. Or perhaps, check out the technique and experiment. If all else fails ,,, go shopping. What could it hurt? Good luck!!!
Start small and try making a 3 X 3 card. Try a color or sketch challenge. It will come back......
__________________ Design Team Member: Digital Tuesday Challenge, The Cutting Cafe, The Townscrapper, Pixie Dust Studio, Some Odd Girl, Fred She Said
My blog: Jaspere's Little Corner , Fred She Said
Sometimes I can get going by just pulling out a favorite stamp and coloring it. By the time I put the work into all the coloring, I have to dress it up...so I start layering it...and pretty soon I have a card! Then I feel like I accomplished something and have some motivation to do more.
__________________ Cher No longer stamping...on to bigger things.
I thought it was just me! I finally figured it out. Subconsciously we all hear the political news and get bummed-no matter who you are for. It is simply too much of the same ol' same ol'. i turned the tv to another station (I always watch the old movie-TCM-while scrapping) and Voila! I had the urge after a few hours!
My advice-turn the tv/radio to something fun and get away from it all. Oh, and I treated myself to a new paper crafting mag! I actually have a gallery now!
I feel your pain! I have been the same way for awhile. Last week I went to my craft room because I had some extra time and I hated the card that I made. There was just nothing creative about it. For awhile I was doing all the sketch challenges. Now I'm still printing out the challenges with the intention of doing them but I just can't seem to get creative. Hopefully, we will come out of this soon!
I would try a search for stamp sets I already have in my collection,
maybe that will inspire you. do something in the home that is rewarding,
that needs to be done; I can subconsiously feel quilty because I let my
other household duties get behind then I'm overwhelmed. When I have done
something rewarding or an accomplishment, I can have a clearer head and
be more inspired
__________________ Carolyn
my avatar: (such desparation), Dear God, if you can't make me thin; make my
friends fat"
Same thing happened to me last week! I spent a long time reorganizing my stamping area and stuff then nothing! Here's what helped me:
1. Picked five sets to work on ASAP then just whittled down the stack, making a few cards from each set.
2. Did two challenges (one sketch, one technique)
3. Found a really simple card on Hero Arts website that I cased exactly, using all SU materials.
4. Posted everything, even the ones I didn't love, then read and reread the comments a bunch of times.
I feel like I can stamp again!
HTH
Good luck!
Mary Beth
I've been in a slump also. I was a month late for my sister's birthday, and still haven't made the things I intended for her gift. I'll take one of the suggestions, and go clean up my stamp room today. Procrastination has hit me big time. Eileen
__________________ The best things in life aren't things.
Help - I've been in a nasty stamping slump...I haven't made ONE card in literally two weeks.
It's terrible, I look at this site - I get inspired, I get to my stamping table and nothing.
Any ideas on how to get my creative juices flowing again? In my mind I want to stamp but I just can't do it. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?
Two weeks isn't terrible. I am at about two months now. I have faith I am going to get it back soon. (I had better I have Christmas cards to make!!!) I have stamper's block. Kinda a numb feeling to stamping...I have been feeling sparks lately though. Everyone has posted great ideas for inspiration. Nothing is wrong with you. We get burnt out on a good thing from time to time. Takes time to recharge the batteries.
Sometimes I can get going by just pulling out a favorite stamp and coloring it. By the time I put the work into all the coloring, I have to dress it up...so I start layering it...and pretty soon I have a card! Then I feel like I accomplished something and have some motivation to do more.
I'll vote for this method, too! Coloring an image usually leads to a card and that little success usually snowballs.
And as others have mentioned... don't worry. I really think it happens to everyone. Can you remember when you first started stamping? What you loved about it? What inspired you? Getting back to basics can help, too.
For some reason, the official challenges tend to get me even more frustrated when I'm in a slump, but I like to make up my own "challenges" - find some patterned paper I love but haven't used in a while and make myself use it on something, pick out some neat ribbon and see what I can do with it... whatever comes to hand, usually as I'm cleaning up and organizing.
My other favorite thing lately is hulu.com - I know that sounds weird, but I like to have something to watch while I'm stamping, but I like to find shows that don't take a ton of concentration. I found several seasons of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and his other show on hulu this weekend, and they're great for watching while you stamp - you don't have to have your eyes glued to them every minute, and the characters and settings are so old-Hollywood elegant that they're inspiring in themselves.
In a Stampin' SLUMP!
