Inspiration

One of the things I love so much about the blogosphere is all the inspiration out there, mere clicks away. I'm really astounded by the number of creative, crafty, artsy, gifted, talented women who are so generous that they freely share their ideas on their blogs. It was Angry Chicken's blog, after all, that inspired my magnet-making obsession, resulting in cute sets like this one:



And it was Cocoa's blog that inspired me to try making my own lip balm - which I lovelovelove; it far surpasses any store-bought lip balm in my opinion.



I love the occasional Saturday, like today, when I have time to sit down and catch up on unread items in my Google Reader. I subscribe to feeds from quite a few design, craft, and sewing blogs - as well as lots of cooking blogs and coupon blogs - and it's always a pick-me-up to see the creativity of others and subsequently feel renewed inspiration of my own.



My "inspiration" folder on the computer overflows with tutorials, documents, and photographs - zillions of things I want to do someday. Here are just a few of the projects I'm dying to try:



Amy at Angry Chicken claims that this skirt takes five minutes to sew, so I'm guessing for a wannabe like myself that means five hours. I'm okay with that; it's so cute! Definitely on my to-do-before-summer list right now. (This woman is super-talented. If you don't read her blog, you should! Also, she does home birth and cloth diapering, and she even made a dress for her daughter to draw on.)



How cute are these barrettes? (If only my sister would add a niece to my pile of nephews, I'd have a little girl to make cute stuff for!)



Look at these adorable bitty booties from Little Birdie Secrets.  My friend Story and I are going to make some for her daughter Gwendolyn.  





And while we're at it, we might have to make some of the little Stardust Shoes I came across on Homemade By Jill.  



Check out these cool, modern-looking wall hangings, made of nothing but styrofoam and paper!  





A project like this is perfect for my obsession with scrapbook papers; I always feel like I could look at cute paper all day, and if I hung some on my wall, well, I could.  



This girl makes earrings and other jewelry out of recycled Starbucks gift cards!

 



The creativity just kills me! I'm hoping someone gives me a cute gift card soon so I can try my hand at the idea (once I've used the card, of course).



These framed monograms at Bless Our Nest are beautiful; I'm hoping to find some frames with potential at a thrift store and copy the idea for our bedroom.



I can't mention talented, creative women without putting in a little plug for my sister Emily's Etsy shop.  Emily sews beautiful slings for carrying babies, and cute burp cloths as well.



I'm so wowed and inspired by Do-It-Yourself-ers like these bloggers and so many others. It's my dream to be a DIY-er, but my little attempts at sewing, crafts, and cooking don't yet allow me to qualify, I'm afraid.



Many of the blogs I enjoy the most these days are mommyblogs, and whenever I see something particularly awe-inspiring that was recently created by, say, a mother of three, four, or five, I find myself thinking that when I'm a mother, I can't imagine being quite so ... capable. Something like this would be neat:



FavoriteBoy: Hey, honey, what did you and the kids do today?

SarahMarie: I made them delicious and nutritious meals, I sewed clothes for them while they napped, we made crafts and art projects together, their home schooling is going so well that they are reading chapter books at the ages of three and five, I baked two loaves of bread, and I have dinner in the oven and cookies in the cookie jar and...



But I picture something more like this, instead:



FavoriteBoy: Hey, honey, what did you and the kids do today?

SarahMarie: I kept them alive.