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I had this happen last year, I was going to sell off every thing I had, but I ended up going to my friends house who is a SU demo and we played with toys and stamped for hours, my mojo was back!!
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Rebekka
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Happens to me a lot! It's either flowing and flowing good or nothing at all!
I usually just kind of steer clear of my stamp room for a while and before you know it, I'm itching to get back in there. Occasionally, cleaning or organizing it makes me get back quicker.
I think it's a contagious disease - LOM - Loss Of Mojo! I get it every few months too. Try looking through a few blogs, especially quick and simple yet stunning cards, like LateBlossom's http://simplicitybylateblossom.blogspot.com/ Start off quick and simple again and build on that. I hope your mojo resurfaces soon!
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Pick a stamp set to work with. Check out the gallery and pick a few cards to case. Use different paper or change up the layout a bit.
I just made 6 cards recently and 4 of them are pretty much cased. I have'nt uploaded yet cause of the gallery problems.
I took a basic copic class a few weeks ago. Have meet a new friend that gave me great tips on copics and shared a few images with me of stamps I don't have. I tell you that class really helped me out. First it got me out of the house, meet some nice ladies and had a few laughs. Then I learned a new technique.
Next would be to clean up you stamp area or weed out what you just don't need or used any more. Check out the card sketchs, but shopping I would not advise. I have done that in the past and did not use the new purchase for a long time afterward. Then I flet guilty for spending money and not using the item right away!
Good luck on finding your mojo!! I know sometimes it can be real hard to find!!!
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I fixed mine up with a black card
I had this black textured card from the back of an old booklet. I thought ummm should I keep this ot toss.
I had just bought a new embossing folder with butterflies on it and thought I wonder what it woiuld look like in creamy satin paper. I then decided to cut a stip of that and put it on the black card. Brain started whirring.
Where is my butterfly stamp?
Found it and stamped it on acetate with black stazon. Cut out the butterfly and stuck it on the embossed strip with glue dots so it looked floaty.
Voila! I had made a lovely card out of 3 elements. I then started thinking what else would look nice on the black (all my old booklets had the backs ripped off) so I embossed the butterflies in rich purple and also in gold and then in silver card. So before too long I had half a dozen different cards.
sometimes i have too much mojo and can't stop myself....a pile of cards, fun/therapeutic time playing......but what to do with them all? and sometimes i like them so much, i can't send them....have to "collect them".
i play cards once a week and sometimes i bring a bunch of them and have a "take one or two....etc for a RAK day". i also send cards for no reason at all to good friends far away.....
i really need to find a place to send some that i have "collected"......maybe they would bring a smile to someone in need of one that day, any suggestions?
Glad to know I'm not alone....I keep walking by my stuff and hoping it's going to call my name...maybe I will clean it up though so once "it's back" I will be ready to go. Thanks everybody!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatomom
Glad to know I'm not alone....I keep walking by my stuff and hoping it's going to call my name...maybe I will clean it up though so once "it's back" I will be ready to go. Thanks everybody!
Total hijack here but is your avatar you dog? What kind is it? I have a toy fox terrier and it looks a bit terrier-ish:-)
I'm so glad to hear this is happening to someone else too......My Dad became ill Feb 12, we moved them 6 blocks from me, and now I am helping w/ both Mom AND Dad. Taking care of them has zapped every ounce of creative energy.....its just GONE!! It makes me so sad to walk by my box of Sale-bration toys STILL IN THE BOX.....:( And there is no end in sight to this......
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I also busied myself making some flowers from the various tutorials going around Splitcoasters - there is a new one here which is fantastic and simple. My mojo has pretty much returned this week & feeling more inspired than I was. I find that looking at tutorials here on SCS and You-Tube is often enough to get my mojo going again.
Your mojo will return - just don't force it - we all have creative slumps and it's perfectly normal. Sometimes it just takes a while to come back.
I do something else - read, knit, crochet, sewing (hand quilting/embroidery/ cross stitch), etc. After awhile, I get the 'itch' to create a card so then 'all's right with the world' again.
I have read 5-6 books within a short time, knitted socks for my daughter (she would have to be a caterpillar in order to wear all the pairs at one time), etc.
I just have to be 'doing/creating' something so I just changed the medium from paper to fiber. Or, sometimes I read so I am in a 'different place' altogether. (Of course, I have read novels that include knitting/crocheting or scrapbooking or quilting in the books but other topics also.)
Sometime, I think we pressure ourselves because we have overbooked our energy - commit to a craft fair, make invitations for an event, church bazaar, etc.
Kind of scary that others are in the same rut as me. I keep saying I want to sell everything, it seems to swallow me sometimes! Yet I am going on a stamping retreat. Go figure--I collect not use!
I've taken as much as 6 months off when my mojo left me. I still looked at my favorite blogs and websites for inspiration, eventually my head was bustin with ideas and came back even better. Actually it was a nice break to concentrate on other things in life. Look at lost mojo as a good thing. Sometimes we just try too hard to keep up with the Joneses and it just isn't fun anymore. That's when I make something just for me, a minibook or something, nothing I have to show off, then the creativity really shines and your back again.
I had to read this thread because I have not stamped since before Christmas. I think maybe I have too much stuff. I look at it all and nothing inspires me. I really want to get back into it and after reading all your wonderful suggestions, I think maybe I just need to get in there and create something and see if that gets my mojo to come home.
The other thing is that I had my SU catty out to try to figure which reinkers and paper I should buy since so much stuff is retiring. Then I heard that if SU is out of the paper you want, they will be sending the textured stuff instead. I don't know if that is a good thing or not, so I sort of decided forget it - why bother spending money on stuff when I am not even using it!
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My mojo leaves when I get too swamped with cardmaking responsibilites. There is nothing like needing to make 70 Christmas cards in 48 hours to take the joy out of being creative. I love to scrapbook, but the card making has taken over. It is impossible to buy a card for anyone anymore. They all expect something homemade. I don't get anything done, but making cards anymore. I spent 3 hours the other day making the "perfect" graduation card for my niece. I need to get some sort of balance in the cardmaking so I can get back to the scrapbooking that I really enjoy.
I even bought a Cricut for myself at Christmas time......that didn't even motivate me. My dh teases me about it and I gently remind him of the hundreds of tools he hasn't used in years..........:???:
Kind of scary that others are in the same rut as me. I keep saying I want to sell everything, it seems to swallow me sometimes! Yet I am going on a stamping retreat. Go figure--I collect not use!
Yep thats me too!!!
You'd think I would have all kinds of Mojo flowing seeing how I'm not working at the moment.. but I think the problem is I spend my TV time.. computer time.. all my time in the same room as my stamping stuff.. When I'm not out doing something.. cleaning house.. or something I'm in this room.. I dont watch the television in the living room .. that's DH's domain.. not that I cant when he isn't home, I just find myself in this room.. I even sit and read in here unless its late at night THEN I sit on the sofa.. but my Mojo.. HA it has been gone for a LONG time and I have to.. not want to.. do a lot of cards for different things..
So I think everyone is in the same boat as of late it seems.. I know blame the economy .. global warming.. uhm uhm.. the politicians.. (and no I dont "do" politics) *shrugs* everything else gets blamed on those things figured why not our Mojo!!
Wow...so many people in the same shape! I haven't been in the mood to play in my craft room much at all lately. It seems like I get these ideas and get in the mood to create when I'm at work or having to do something else and can't play in my room. Then when I have a day off, I can't get myself going. Why is that??? ugh!
My mojo leaves when I get too swamped with cardmaking responsibilites. There is nothing like needing to make 70 Christmas cards in 48 hours to take the joy out of being creative. I love to scrapbook, but the card making has taken over. It is impossible to buy a card for anyone anymore. They all expect something homemade. I don't get anything done, but making cards anymore. I spent 3 hours the other day making the "perfect" graduation card for my niece. I need to get some sort of balance in the cardmaking so I can get back to the scrapbooking that I really enjoy.
Trixie
Hijack here:
Sometimes I have felt trapped in the same way, and in times when I feel desperately lazy, I have considered (but have not yet done) buying homemade cards off of Etsy or Ebay. But I wonder if I did that, would my card recipients know that I didn't actually make them? <nervous grin>
Maybe it's not your mojo, but the time of year. I find that spring makes me want to stop making cards, stop knitting, stop reading, and just get outside and get my hands in the dirt and start gardening. And when I have to make a card (my mother's birthday is next week), I really struggle for ideas - luckily a SCS challenge inspired me. And then when fall arrives, I have a yearning to do indoor crafts again.
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I broke my ankle in 3 places and dislocated it 6 weeks ago...have been just sitting for all that time and it would of been a PERFECT time to do nothing but play with my paper...and you know something I only made 1 scrapbook page and 1 card for my stampin up clubs...I couldn't even attend them because of stairs...(I have the bestest customers, they STILL wanted to meet..)...
anyway, I just know that once I'm able to get around then I will WANT to craft..kwim?....but for now it's just GONE...
I've even thought of selling everything and quitting being a demo....though my customers would miss me...oh well....maybe today I can do something...
I broke my ankle in 3 places and dislocated it 6 weeks ago...have been just sitting for all that time and it would of been a PERFECT time to do nothing but play with my paper...and you know something I only made 1 scrapbook page and 1 card for my stampin up clubs...I couldn't even attend them because of stairs...(I have the bestest customers, they STILL wanted to meet..)...
anyway, I just know that once I'm able to get around then I will WANT to craft..kwim?....but for now it's just GONE...
I've even thought of selling everything and quitting being a demo....though my customers would miss me...oh well....maybe today I can do something...
That is a terrible injury!! I'm so sorry! I tore all the tendons off my ankle one year at convention of all places, and it's why I now live in a one story house with no split levels! I didn't want to do anything during that time either. It will come back. I'm so so sorry - be careful during your recovery!!
I lost mine when my father passed away. It was gone for almost a year. Then I was looking up something on You Tube and found some wonderful videos. Now my muse is back and I'm addicted to You Tube, lol. Plus I've made some new friends there. So I recommend watching You Tube for some inspiration.
I double dawg dare ya! Triple dawg dare ya! Come to a teaparty! Next Tuesday.....I promise you will have fun, there are no rules, just be inspired by the teapot and the story and make a card, keyword it and have fun! That's it....its light hearted fun and we eat cookies, cake, pies. Drink tea and sometimes the girls get rowdy and throw stuff at each other!
I double dawg dare ya! If you want you can even do a sample card for me for the challenge. That'll get ya going, a deadline! I can send you the story a little early and you would have to have your card made by Monday? Up for a dare? Giggle!
Call me crazy, but I think this actually worked for me...
I read the 1st novel of the Scrap Mystery series, and she had a tip in there that when you are feeling less than creative to do something revolving around water. Ex. Walk around a lake or pond (body of water of some kind), or drink lots of water, or take a shower, etc...
I read it while I was sick and de-hydrated, and the doctor had me full of fluids and drinking lots of water, gatorade, popsicles, soup, etc... I cranked out 2 "album in a day" and a mother's day scrapbook, and 8 thank you cards. So I wonder if that really holds some truth?
Call me crazy, but I think this actually worked for me...
I read the 1st novel of the Scrap Mystery series, and she had a tip in there that when you are feeling less than creative to do something revolving around water. Ex. Walk around a lake or pond (body of water of some kind), or drink lots of water, or take a shower, etc...
I read it while I was sick and de-hydrated, and the doctor had me full of fluids and drinking lots of water, gatorade, popsicles, soup, etc... I cranked out 2 "album in a day" and a mother's day scrapbook, and 8 thank you cards. So I wonder if that really holds some truth?
Wondering if my mojo showed up here yet! Nope, no sign of it yet. But as mentioned, I have been gardening and getting my fingers in the dirt. I would probably snag the cardstock now if I handled it, my hands are so dry. And when I put on lotion, it would just leave a greasy smudge... guess I'll keep gardening until my mojo comes back home.
(It didn't ask for a leave of absense either; just up and went so it will likely return the same way.)