Recovering Your Crafting Mojo

The other day Brigitte said that she usually loses her blogging mojo when she loses her crafting mojo. How does a person get that back?

1. Browse Pinterest or your pattern stash or some craft magazines or...Sometimes seeing what is out there will get me interested in something I've been working on, and I'll get back to work. Looking at the colors or thinking about how happy an item I've run across would make a recipient turns on the right switch.
2. Do an Easy Craft or a Small One Maybe when you're on Pinterest you can find a teeny tiny thing to make. Or something that will be done quickly. Or something that involves gluing one thing to another. The easy peasy stuff that looks good can get the ball rolling. Something like this where you are rubbing on a vinyl cling and filling a frame with something. Quick and cute.
3. Make a Whole New Craft Maybe your stitchy mojo is gone--try knitting! Or jewelry making. Or card stamping. You get the idea. Don't force your one hobby to carry all your creativity.
4. Start Something New As a serial starter, this is very appealing. I just seem to get momentum from new beginnings. 
5. Finish Something What's that you say? Having too many projects causes you anxiety? Well, then, look for the project that is closest to being done and just work on it until you finish. That finish will give you a boost and you'll be on to finishing the next thing.
6. Schedule Time to Craft Unless you're retired (and even then) you're too busy. I know you are. We all are. My father used to tell my mother "you can't stuff 10 pounds of stuff in a five pound bag," which is the physical corollary to this. You can't do 28 hours of things in a day. If you have a million other things to do, you are not going to be able to stitch. Put it on your calendar. Seriously. Tomorrow, I'm heading to a stamp party. It's on my calendar!
7. Do It First If you come home from work and then do the dishes and clean up the house and do the myriad other things that need doing, you are going to be too tired to stitch. So skip the dishes. Unless you have some kind of infestation, the dishes can wait. Do those when you don't have the energy to go on. 
8. Go to a Museum I think this is the 3-D version of No. 1. You can be inspired by other people's craft. I once took my six year old niece to the Brandywine River Museum. She raced through it in about 45 minutes. I thought I had failed miserably bringing her there, but when we got home she asked if she could draw. And I took out her paper and crayons and she drew for hours. Literally hours. If a six year old can be inspired by the Wyeth family, your local museum might work for you.
9. Fondle Your Threads Pretty pictures are one thing to get you inspired, but sometimes you need textures too. Looking at the rainbow of colors you've amassed in silk and cotton and petting the angora and very velvet (oh, that sounds dirty) may stimulate (I'm not doing it on purpose, I swear) your creativity. (oh, is that what we're calling it now?)
10. Take a Class Letting someone else make some of the decisions, and in fact tell you what to do, may be the jump start you're looking for. That's one of the things I love most about my jewelry making classes--I'm more the conduit than the creator. I'm putting someone else's idea into action (with my own colors, natch). It takes some of the thinkiness out of the equation.
11. Revisit Successes Look at the things you've made. If you've given a lot of them away, reread old blog posts to see your record. Sometimes looking at one piece, or a series of pieces, will motivate you to finish one that is similar or part of the series. 
12. Turn Off the TV The tv is just a symbol here. Maybe you are spending too much time on Facebook or Pinterest (irony). Turn off the electronics and pick up the analog needle and thread. 
13. Turn On the TV I stitch more when the television is on. Much more. But the dude reads a lot so we don't have the tv on very often (seriously we go weeks without turning it on) (sometimes I just turn it on so that it won't stop working completely). Maybe you're like me and you'd stitch if the idiot box was on. Seriously there is something about my hands that can't keep still if I am just sitting there.
14. Live Through It Maybe you've got big heavy stuff going on in your life or even small annoying things. This too shall pass. You'll get back to it when you are ready.
15. Get Help My health system requires my doctors to ask during regular exams if I feel safe at home or if I'm falling down a lot or if I've lost interest in things I used to enjoy. Pay attention to that last one. It's a sign of depression. And if you need help, go get it. You're worth it.