Creativity

Looking at the pictures I've taken over the last month or so, I was struck by how I'm drawn to created objects.

Quilts.
Of course.

This is just one of many photos I've taken while visiting numerous fabric stores over two states.

But any kind of created object is fair game. As we were driving to the Art Museum in Indianapolis, we passed this mural on the side of a building:

I really have a thing for murals on the sides of buildings.

And then once we arrived at the Art Museum, before we even entered a gallery we saw this in the front lobby:

I also have a thing for bicycle art.

And for starburst mirrors, like this one at Meijer's:

Yes, I like 'em even though I know their "star is fading". [Sorry, couldn't help myself.] I took that photo a few weeks ago, and then saw this tutorial on Addicted2Decorating. And I actually like the one Kristi created even better. Looks like I have some creating of my own to do in the future.

I could blame my fixation on interior design on the fact that we just moved into the casita last September and will be building a house in the next few years. But the truth is, I've been fixated on interior design since I was a teenager.

My original plans after high school included interior design school.
Obviously God had other plans.
But my love for making things pretty never abated. I've still got notebooks with ideas on what to do in homes we've lived, going back over 20 years. I think that's when I got a little more intentional about the process. Before then my "look" was whatever we had on hand; we used a lot of hand-me-down furniture and accessories for many years. But with the advent of shows like Decorating Cents and Room By Room on PBS, and the debut of HGTV, I started taking notes and clipping pictures out of magazines. I ended up with two big binders of clippings, to say nothing of the notebooks full of ideas and notes.

These days I pin rather than clip, being a big fan of both Pinterest and Houzz.

One of the things I really like about Pinterest is that I don't have to limit it to interior design. I can pin recipes, quilting tips, craft ideas, party decor... I'm up to 47 boards and almost 3,000 pins there. [So far my Houzz account trails far behind, although I do actually spend more time reading the "This Week on Houzz" articles than I do looking at pictures on Pinterest. I'm just not saving as many photos on that site.]

I have both apps on my iPhone too, so that when I have some downtime while in line somewhere, or traveling, I can check out all the pretty pictures.

Here's one I came across yesterday, and it made me think of Rita who collects nativities.

Maybe one of these years you could create a gingerbread nativity with the grandkids, Rita!

But I don't find ideas just online. I was flipping through magazines recently when this caught my eye:

What a fun idea -- creating a clock out of paint chips. I thought it might already be on Pinterest, and while there are a lot of other paint chip clocks, I didn't find this one.

 So many ideas, so little time.

What have you created lately? Something for your home? A new recipe? A gift?