Photo Friday: How to discover (or rediscover) your style

To switch things up a bit, I'm throwing in a little 'how to' as part of this week's Photo Friday!

I need (and when I say need... I mean NEED) to have a creative outlet or I start to go stir crazy. Just ask Erik! If I'm not working on something or at least coming up with a list of things to work on, I start to have one of those, 'oh my god what am i doing with my life' moments...when I have something to keep these crafting hands busy, I'm at complete peace with the world. I'm learning, as I mentioned in my last post, that things seem to go in waves, we have ups, downs and somewhere-in-betweens. What do I do to keep sane during the slower times? I get out my old magazines and rediscover my style!

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to visit a few furniture factories, fabric mills, and textile design studios in North Carolina. It was an amazing experience but one woman stuck out to me. She was a color specialist at one of the design studios (ummm...officially my dream job). Her job was to research color trends and come up with colors and color combos for the fabric and trimming collections her studio produced. One way she researched color was by taking a stack of the newest magazines and cutting out everything she found visually interesting. Even if it was the background color of an ad, she would cut it out. She then took the pile of magazine clippings and sorted them into smaller piles. There wasn't really any trick or method to sorting them, she just thought the colors and images looked good together...the 'just beacuase' method- my favorite reason for choosing colors for my own work.

This would be a fun project for anyone, though, not just the crazy, color-obsessed weaving lady...Maybe you're trying to put together some new outfits for work? Or trying to decide what color to paint your bedroom? Anyone who is trying to discover (or rediscover) their style should try this out. And who doesn't have a stack of magazines?

My fancy flowery sketchbook, a big stack of old magazines, tape and scissors

Cut out everything you love....EVERYTHING!

My big pile of every image I thought was interesting...yeah, I started tearing out pages. Maybe I LOVED too many things. 

Sort into smaller piles...HINT: DO NOT THINK TOO MUCH...just go with your gut and what you think looks good together. I tend to go more by color but you be the judge! I try to let it just happen...

Glue or tape the smaller piles in your sketchbook and VOILA!
This one of my finished pages that turned into a lemon, lime, pink, and red color combo.

An ode to the celedon/aqua/'spa-qua' (spa + aqua) --this one's for my work mates.

Indigo and Red

I go through this little process every once in a while and it has been really interesting to look back through the pages I did months (or years!) ago. You should try it...Even though the colors and images change, you will start to see a common theme or 'look'. That common thread is YOU! It's your style...embrace it! :)