There are days when ideas don’t flow… everything seems too hard, everything has been done before, and we find ourselves stuck in a rut.
Our core businesses—Crave for Crafts and Make It Like Mine—require us to find ways to make crafts happen. All the time! But I am sure you have experienced feeling overwhelmed—artistically exhausted, less creative, less capable.
We’ve discovered some great books that ignite our creativity and we’re happy to share. Here are our all time favourites; I hope they help you too.
1) Steven Pressfield’s “Do the work” and “The War of Art: Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles”.
These books are short, sharp and worthwhile reading—they will shake you up, make you stop procrastinating, break through your resistance! We bet you won’t feel the same way after reading them.
As Steven states in The War of Art: “It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance”.
2) Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit”.
A must-read book if you are interested in how to set up rules and rituals that will help you create on a daily basis.
Twyla explains that creativity is just a habit. It is nothing extraordinary, reserved only for those ‘gifted ones’, for artists or writers. You just need to set up rituals that set you in the mood to create things.
3) Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way”.
Julia is well known for the ‘morning pages’—she recommends journaling around three pages every morning, just after awakening to release your subconscious. No editing, no over thinking (or even thinking), just writing. The best thing is that if you do this, you will have already achieved the first creative habit of the day, writing!
4) From fellow Australian Pip Lincolne’s “Craft for the Soul” as well as Pip’s website “Meet me at Mike’s”.
This is a lovely book to read while you are cosying up on the couch, with a good cup of tea. It is like a nice talk with your old time friend on a wintery Sunday evening.
In this book Pip shares how to become more creative in your everyday life. She also shares some yummy recipes and craft patterns. And in person, she is absolutely lovely and friendly.
Have you found any inspirational reads? Please let us know in the comment section below!
Ana Garcia del Barrio is one half of the Crave for Crafts team who established a crafting business in 2014 with Imogen Holt as a way of making craft workshops accessible across Brisbane and surrounds. Crave for Crafts has successfully undertaken many workshops, both independently and in collaboration with other makers and institutions, including the State Library of Queensland Distant Lines exhibition. Crave for Crafts also offers private events organisations and crafty parties.
Ana has a background in Law and Financial Services and Imogen has a background in Nursing and Health Science. Their love for crafts and pretty handmade things is what has brought them together. They desire to share their passion with as many people as possible, and make new friends along the way.
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