how to: get creative juices flowing.

There are a lot of things that boost my creativity whether I'm going through a drought of inspiration or if I'm stuffed full of ideas in my head, planner, and phone. I find that my creative juices very much burst out of the glass at times and at other times I'm cramming the straw into the bottom of the glass to slurp up whatever is left. When I feel like that straw is coming up air-only, I turn to a few different sources to restore faith in my creative tendencies.

Books. Cookbooks, idea books, books of photography, DIY/handmade books, basically anything bound together with flipping pages. Even novels inspire me from time to time. When I can't think of a single creative thought I turn to a book to inspire me and get me creating/baking/thinking. Cookbooks are good when I feel like I need to get into the kitchen and relieve some stress. In creating foods in the kitchen created by others, I always either add my own twist on things or get inspired to create a spin off dish. ABM's photo idea book did wonders for my creativity, even just in terms of my life in general and photographing the every day.

Coffee + an empty desktop. When I flip open my computer and there aren't any unfinished projects popping up in photoshop or a half finished blog post looming over my internet pages, I feel like I can conquer the world. While I sip my coffee I check out the blogs I read on the regular (see a few in the blogroll on the bottom right of this blog), and pinterest for whatever new and exciting my favorite followers are pinning. Usually just by doing that the creativity starts coming in like a wave and my blank sticky notes don't know what hit them.

Surroundings. Sometimes when I know I have a lot of blogging to do I head over to a Barnes & Noble or a Starbucks just to get a nice coffee and a change of scenery. I get a lot done in these types of places for whatever reason, and it's nice to get away from the house sometimes so that I can come back feeling accomplished. On the flip side of that, sometimes I get the most inspiration from my desk. If I give it a good clean, put some new stuff on the shelves or pin something new to the corkboard at my eye level, I find that I can get a sh*t ton done in no time and feel really inspired to jot down some new ideas while I'm at it.

Shopping. I know, I know, this seems like a scam, but I promise, it's not! After a good walk around Michael's or Paper Source I could have a week's worth of ideas in my head and a fresh new creative mindset. Even taking a trip to lush or sephora inspires me because I do like to post about beauty and makeup from time to time. It half gives me an excuse to try new makeup (it's for the blog, wallet...get on board!) or buy a bath bomb or seven so I can read a book or scour pinterest on my ipad for an hour in the steamy water and clear my head. Hey, whatever works psychologically, I can sell it myself with ease.

There are definitely a few other random things that get me going creatively, but these are my go-to's and they haven't failed me yet!