Leone Candy Tins
I have a confession to make, I've been in a kind of creative rut lately. My ideas don't form as quickly as they used to. And for the ones that do surface, I have no desire to actually make them. That's how I've been all summer until now. I realized the problem stemmed from a few things. One, I worked on a large project that sucked all the creative energy out of me. Two, I've been
obsessed distracted with searching for a new home. And three, I just don't have a moment to myself to think. By the time my children are in bed and the house is quiet my brain is basically mush. So to change things around I decided to visit one of my favorite places, Fourth Street in Berkeley.
A lot of things inspire me but what I draw the most inspiration from are visual things, store fronts, toys, clothes, displays etc. It's like a creative switch turns on in my brain when I see new and unique things. So today I thought I would share a few things that inspired me on my trip to fourth street.
Leone Candy Tins (pictured above) - I discovered these candies in a past trip to fourth street and have been purchasing them ever since. I like to save the containers for small gift boxes and travel candles.
One of my favorite stores for inspiration is Castle in The Air. It's a stationery store filled with pretty paper, glass glitter and other treasures from around the world. I was instantly charmed by these vintage dime store watches. I purchased one for my daughter and one for me. I'm already brainstorming Valentine card ideas inspired by the toy timepiece.
Saving the best for last, I stopped at Anthropologie. They could be selling me rusty cat food cans and I'd want to buy them because the merchandising is
that good. Of course they didn't disappoint, upon my arrival there were giant paper flowers that looked like they were growing out of the store's floor. But what captured my eye was the tiniest of details, a shirt label. It's like a little piece of art hidden in the inside of a garment. I love that it looks like a little air mail stamp. I love that it's embossed. It makes me want to cut it off and use it in a collage.
How do you conjure up inspiration when you're suffering a creative block? Go to the museum? Spend time with nature? Learn something new?
