I don’t know about you, but from January 1st to around March of every year, I find myself having to search a little farther and dig a little deeper to muster up the inspiration to design new fashions and eventually create new works of art with the decorative fabrics and novelty prints laying around. Add on top of the already shorter days and longer hours of darkness experienced during these winter months plus the extra snow and ice Mother Nature has packed in across the nation, and one can see how easily a slight bout of seasonal depression can take its effects to a whole other level. Too cold to go out and buy new exciting spring prints, yet to restless to stay in, often times these winter blues of mine have a way of bringing out the worst of my creative potential rather than the best.
Feeling somewhat alone in my experience, I asked a few other crafters how they were faring and oddly enough, it seemed I wasn’t the only one. Matter of fact, some 15 million Americans suffer from some form of seasonal depression or ‘winter blues’ each year, with women being affected at a rate 3x that of their male counterparts. Guess that should be an sign to give us even more reason to plan our tropical escapes ahead of time to revitalize our spirits and keep us in the mood and groove!
With this idea in mind, we thought it only apropos to ignite the fires of imagination just a little bit by posing a related question in our HEY! post for our fabulous Facebook fans to discover other ways crafty folks get their imaginations going to survive the winter blues or creative blocks year-round. Check out some of their tips below:
HEY! ” What sparks your creativity?”
” Children!” – Marvel LaPorte
” Creativity never goes away…creativity’s sibling, curiosity, is really the one who gets things going…so mostly the missing ingredient is free time.” -Secondine
” Seeing something really cool at a store that’s way too expensive….so I run home and try to make one!” -April Aldrich Blais
“Images of a bright sunny day with a hint of spring/late fall in the air.” – Kimé Moore
” The smell of spring, a good conversation and the creative expressions of others… and awesome fabrics.” –Esther Leupen
“I Love Lucy” and classic movies spark my creativity every time.” –Thia Ennis
” Watching decorators on HGTV.,,, gets me in trouble everytime!” – Laurie Galbraith Miller
” Fabric and yarn do it for me. It’s more likely to happen if I can touch them. When my kids were young a trip to the fabric store was an exciting creative experience followed by days of cutting and sewing..” – Christine Patterson
“The beautiful sunlight in my workroom has been known to throw me into a creative fit but mostly its coffee :)” -Karla Cohee-Todd
” Shopping!” – Donna Mae Jackson Wallace
” When ‘me’ time is long overdue and I just need an escape. Also new fabric or going through my HUGE stash and finding something lovely that I had forgotten that I had ;-)” – Angella Partridge
” Color!” – Sue McLauchlan Faulkner
” FABRIC! FABRIC! and FABRIC! Nothing sets of my creativity more than beautiful fabric. I will find a new print and my mind just goes wild.” -Elaine Jackson
*Special writers note: Though the above artical is written to address general loss of creative inspiration and motiviation, SAD (seasonal affective disorder) can be a very serious condition. If you feel that you are experiencing this degree of depression, consult your primary care physician .
