Wednesday 8 March 2017

Finding Your Craft Mojo

Many thanks to Jane from Onions and Paper blog for writing this for me particularly as I have lost my crafting mojo of late and I really enjoyed card making when I did it .


“I’ve lost my mojo!” How often do you hear that said? Well, here are some tips for finding it again (assuming you’ve already looked down the back of the sofa). My tips are written with crafting – in particular papercrafting – in mind, but the five point plan could equally well apply to almost any hobby. So I’ll give you the five points first and then go through them one by one telling you how I apply them to my own hobby. Then you can think about how you would apply them to yours.

  1. Go back to basics
  2. Do your research
  3. Try something new
  4. Buy something new
  5. Take a break

1. Go back to basics
Think about what attracted you to the hobby in the first place, and how you got started – then go back and try to re-create some of those first steps, the ones that excited you and got you motivated to make it a regular hobby. In my case, I started off by watching the shopping channel on TV and ordering several kits containing everything except the glue and scissors. They were perfect for beginners, and I still have a little of some of the kits left so when I am not feeling inspired, I get out one of my oldest kits and make a card from it. Here is a card made using papers from the very first kit I bought from QVC, a Hot Off The Press kit.



2. Do your research
Look at the places you find inspiration for your hobby. For crafting, I have a small collection of old craft magazines, follow lots of blogs, and regularly visit Pinterest. Choosing a photo from one of these sources and then setting out to copy it is a great exercise – naturally I don’t always have the same materials, the same stamps or dies, or the same papers. And I might change a colour here, the position of a ribbon there, or the words of a sentiment. By the time I have finished, I have a completely different card from the one I am “copying”. For instance this card was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest, and yet now it is finished,  the only resemblance is the heart shaped die cut.


3. Try something new
Try using the tools and materials you already have in a different way, one that maybe you’ve been thinking about trying, or one you’ve chanced upon during step 2 and not seen before. Thinking differently about what you have is a wonderful way to reawaken your creativity. Here I have used some papers and embellishments I have had for years to make a card with an unusual fold that I hadn’t tried before.



















4. Buy something new
If you can afford to treat yourself, now is the time to do it! There’s nothing like having something new to play with for getting you in the mood. It doesn’t have to be a major shopping spree - for me it might be a craft magazine, a small die or a single rubberstamp. And once you have your new “toy”, resolve to  make at least three things with it while you are filled with enthusiasm.  I bought a craft magazine that came with a pack of printed papers in it, and immediately made six cards from thre papers – here is one of them.



5. Take a break

If you’ve tried all these steps and you STILL can’t find that lost mojo, then you are really not in the mood and you’ll probably be dissatisfied with anything you DO produce. Instead of trying to push yourself, take a break. It may be a few minutes, a few hours or a few days, it may even run into weeks or months, but if you truly love the hobby you will find that eventually you miss it and are itching to get started again. And if that doesn’t happen, then either you have really fallen out of love with the hobby or it wasn’t ever right for you in the first place. When that happens, it’s time to think about trying something completely different!

4 comments:

  1. Oh I LOVE card crafting too, and this is brilliant, as I haven't been able to find time to do it - I just seem to get distracted by so many other things. I am now going to take a look back at the mags, and all my bits to remember why I liked doing it all in the first place!

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  2. I find Pinterest a great source of inspiration for all kinds of design and creative projects, it seems to fire up my mojo when I'm lacking!

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  3. WHat a great post - I tend to go to Pinterest if I need some inspiration x

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  4. I am useless at crafting although have been doing more recently

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