"The only thing you can control is your own effort."  That is so true.  It's easy to get caught up in the web and see how much other people are getting done on their blogs.  How do they even find the energy?  The time?  Or even the amount of inspiration to always be creating?  What's wrong with me that I can't come up with enough ideas?  Or that I don't have much to show for it?

It's easy to feel like I'm so far behind, deficient somehow.  But you know what?  That's them.  It's great that they are able to do all of that!  All I can control is myself.  All that is limiting me is myself.  I need to get off my own butt and get cracking!  Those people out there who have everything together are a source of inspiration and all I need to do is keep moving forward. 

One of my favorite parts about being creative is the act of documenting life as it happens. 

I like to read old journals/scrapbooks and relive my memories twice.  Sometimes I come upon old notebooks with a couple of pages of notes about my life at the time and it's just plain interesting.  A lot of the time, I don't even remember writing them, but something on that page will trigger a memory. 

I like to dream that, one day, Aiden will read through the scrapbooks I've put together about him and he'll smile at them, reading about his early years and how his mama saw and interpreted his life.  

I love this quote.  There are so many times when I feel like I've become a dry lake bed.  All those ideas I used to had all over the place, they just up and disappeared.  I find myself sitting at my desk, staring at some new supplies that just arrived, and I can't come up with anything.  Does that ever happen to you? 

But like anything else...

Creativity is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised. It needs to be used.

It's not surprising that I have no ideas because I haven't been practicing coming up with ideas. Here's to using more creativity in my life.  Here's to building up my creative endurance!

On another note, I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July weekend! 

All my life I have collected quotes of all kinds.  Quotes that inspire me, quotes that touch me, and most especially, quotes that make me laugh.  At this point in my life, I need quotes for creativity.  Quotes that remind me that being creative is fun.

It's been a long while since I've done anything creative.  I closed up shop to celebrate and enjoy the holidays, and I haven't been inspired enough to reopen and brainstorm new products until now.  Half a year is a long time to not make anything.  I have this wonderful craft room filled with supplies, but lately I walk in there and I just can't do it.

Maybe it's because Aiden entered this stage where everything that went into his mouth had to be visually inspected.  Wasn't that supposed to happen around 2 years old?  Gone were the days of easy feedings and here were the long days of constant fighting, trying to get him to eat all of the important food groups, but eventually giving up and letting him eat all the fruit he wanted because I just wanted him to eat.  I never knew how stressful my non-eating child could be.

But this past week, he hit some sort of turning point and I'm seeing my sweet baby boy again.  The one who liked to at least try new things and would eat until I could see his little round belly peek out from the bottom of his shirt.

So here I am back in my craft room.  Feeling less weighted down by worry and more open to ideas.  I like that feeling.  I need to do things for me again, just because.

I've been coming across a lot of quotes that I really enjoy reading and I would like to share them with those who need a little push or inspiration to be creative.  What do you have weighing you down and stopping you from being creative again?

Hope you enjoy them!