There are many beautiful, purpose built craft studios out there, but the truth is, you don't need much space to be creative.  I remember the days when all my craft materials could fit into a couple of shoe boxes and I crafted sitting on the floor at my coffee table!  If you don't have a dedicated space, then create some dedicated storage so you can get your stuff out and put it away again when the family need the dining table back.

If you can adopt a table or even a whole room to be your own crafting space, then spend some time organising your materials so everything has a home to go back to when you have finished.  If your stash is overwhelming your space then it's time to be ruthless and get rid of some of it - only keep the stuff you really love and know you will use.


This really is key to getting inspired and staying inspired.  I favour a handbag sized notebook with plain pages that I can take everywhere with me.  I make notes of colour combos I like, draw quick sketches of card layouts or compositions and doodle patterns or ideas while in waiting rooms.  Unlike a journal, I rarely stick things in my design book as I like to keep it flat enough for writing and sketching.

You may think a Pinterest does the same job, but it is not the same.  Use Pinterest by all means, but try jotting down some ideas and notes from your Pinterest boards.  The act of writing or drawing engages the creative part of your brain and will spark ideas of your own much more than pinning alone will.

When I am working with a new set of stamps, I will often stamp some of them into my design notebook and jot down ideas of things I could make with them.  I frequently generate many more ideas than I have time to try out, but it means my notebook becomes a valuable resource when my mojo goes flat.  Re-reading those ideas gets the creative juices bubbling again even if I'm working on a completely different set, or I'm up against a deadline.

This is the one most people find hard.  If you struggle to find time to craft, then break it down into ten minute chunks.  You can do a lot in ten minutes - create some inked or sprayed backgrounds; stamp an image and colour it in; cut out a stamped image; stamp and die cut some sentiments.  Before you know it, you will have achieved as much as if you had set a whole day aside.

If you are a planner or a finisher type, then you can plan your projects out in your design notebook and break it down into sub-projects that suit the amount of time you have available.  You might have half an hour on Monday to make some backgrounds.  Five minutes on Tuesday to stamp out some images.  Ten minutes on Wednesday to colour your images or cut them out and in half an hour on Thursday you could assemble and finish a selection of cards.