Inspiration Book.

I'd like to introduce you to my Inspiration Book. 

It's simply a binder filled with carefully-torn magazine pages slipped into plastic sleeves for safe-keeping - images that conjure up certain feelings in me.  I've been adding to the book here and there for several years now.  Just recently, in our effort to get rid of clutter 'round the house, I sifted through all our magazines - past issues galore of Coastal Living, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Country Living, and Real Simple to name a few - and tore out the bits and pieces I wanted to save. 

Why? Oh, just to be inspired.  Just to admire design and nature, to let my own creativity be sparked anew. It could be a tiny portion of a single photo that I love, or an entire page, like a leaf-scattered street scene in a small New England town, or an autumn tree ablaze...

A deserted wooden dock on a lake with two empty chairs, or a cozy outdoor fireplace...

A perfectly rustic bedroom and kitchen that I could re-create on my own {much smaller} dime...

Other times it's the written copy on the page that catches my eye... 

The page above reads,

"A loon's cry breaks the silence of an early-morning walk along the shore.  A sprinkler throws off long, lazy curls of water that glow in the honey-colored light of late afternoon.  Screened porches serve as boxed seats for showy thunderstorms that rumble and blaze above the lake.  The clothes may have changed, but the pastimes are perennial."

It's wonderful to be inspired.  This book is far from perfect - page edges are torn and small photos are taped to the page quickly, edges overlapping.  It's just like art, though, "Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in." ~ Amy Lowell.  The goal of my Inspiration Book is not to make me pine away for another life that looks glossy on a magazine page.  Rather, I hope it inspires me to savor my own life more.  To see the art and beauty that is all around me, everywhere I look.