Inspired by a Thesaurus?

One of my New year's resolutions was to blog more consistently and I was so proud to get 2 posts in early last week and thought I was well on track to meet my goal.... then my dh got in a car accident and flipped his truck 3 times. Thankfully he is OK, but the truck is totaled. I have been spending much of my time taking care of him, so my computer time has very much been reduced, but I'm back until the next disaster strikes (feverishly knocks on wood).


I have to start working on my entry for the PCAGOE February "Love" Challenge, so that coupled with almost losing my dh last week has had me thinking and brainstorming about love. I already created some fun things for Valentines Day, so I may incorporate my XOXO design in my piece. I have something in mind, but will I have the time to get it done?

A fellow PCAGOE member, pollyhyper, turned me on to a fun site, Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus that can help you brainstorm visually with words. Just type in a word and the thesaurus will give you some related words that can really help inspire some ideas. Love is a pretty broad word and can be used in several ways and can inspire any number of ideas, but if you are like me, you get too many ideas all at once and need some help narrowing it down. I found the visual "spiderweb" helpful in getting me to narrow my focus. Here is what you get when you when you type in "Love"
Click one of the red dots and you will get a whole new chart. Here is what I got when I selected emotion:

From this chart, the word heartstrings caught my eye and made me think of the phrase "pulling at my heartstrings" and now I have a visual in my head of something I would like to create. I don't know if it I will enter it into the challenge, but either way, this little exercise has helped inspire me to create, which is what I hope it does for you too! So take a little time this week to explore the online thesaurus and see what words inspire you. Create something inspired by the words you choose or find a way to actually incorporate them into your art.

Here are some items I found on Etsy that use words (just click on the picture to be taken to the artists site). I wonder if they used a thesaurus to pick them? A dictionary? Well, no matter where they got their inspiration, their use of words have inspired me:

























PS : My new XOXO rings (sort of a word, right?) are featured on Cuteable today. Stop by and leave a comment! This design will also be coming soon to the shop as magnets, cufflinks, hair pins and pendants. So check back often!