Bringing online inspiration OFFline.

Two posts with no pictures in a row?! BOOOORING. :-)

Sorry for the absence and lack of awesome card posts. Life has been coming at me FAST these last few days. Between a car accident, hard doctor appointments and cat troubles, my craft chair has been cold and my mind has not been in a place to create.

I still have been popping on to my favorite online havens — message boards, blogs and the like — and gathering loads of inspiration.

I'm not sure if this is just me, but I find it VERY hard to bring all of the inspiration that I gain from various online sources into my work. I've come up with some solutions for this, and I thought I would share them here, just in case anyone else has the same problem. These tips are nothing groundbreaking, just what I like to do!

1. Don't look at EVERYTHING.
       — As I'm sure everyone knows, the internet is essentially endless. There are tons of blogs, galleries, message boards and challenges at every click of the mouse. DON'T try to look at and/or participate in all of them. I did this and still find myself doing this and all it does is stifle my creativity.
       First, get a Google Reader account and add subscriptions to a few blogs that align with your style and read those.  If you find yourself feeling like you are seeing the same type of work, find a few new blogs and add those to your Reader. Google Reader keeps everything very organized and allows you to control the amount of information you receive.

2. Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, Ctrl + P
       — Copy, Paste and Print! If you see a card/layout/sketch/whatever you like, copy it and paste it into a Word document. Resize the pictures and try to maximize the space. I hate wasting ink, so I'm pretty selective with what I print. Then I take those papers, three-hole punch them and throw them into the inspiration binder in my studio.

3. Pinterest!
     — Pinterest has taken the papercrafting world by storm. It offers the perfect place to collect all of your online inspiration in one place. I downloaded the Pinterest App on my iPad, and I'm able to access this in my studio. It's the same idea as my inspiration binder, only in an online (and more earth friendly) format. You can check out my Pinterest boards here!

Let me know what your tips and tricks are for bringing all of the online info into your craft space!