[a winner and some inspiration]

I have a winner to announce...
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Hi Ashley,
I'm mostly inspired by music and quotes I find but I really enjoy reading blogs by photographers and talented scrappers like yourself :)
Jody
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Congrats Jody! I used a random number generator, which picked the number 8 and that's you. Email me your address at ashleylschultz[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks to everyone for telling me what inspires you. I thought it would be fun to list eight things that inspire me (since the winning number was eight).

1. Photography Looking at amazing photography inspires me to take better pictures. Some of my favorite photographers are Tara Whitney, Karen Russell (who I am taking an online photography class from this summer and I couldn't be more excited), Ali McLaughlin, Candice Stringham, and Allison Tyler Jones. Flickr also has a plethora of pictures that keep me visually inspired, such as these. I especially love pictures with bright colors.

2. Music Music inspires me to be creative and makes me happy. Some music also inspires and uplifts me spiritually. Some of my favorite songs for inspiration come from Regina Spektor. She is so creative and talented. I love this song and this song, and this song (and I think it's cute how these girls lip sync to it). I am also inspired by this song every time I hear it. It makes me reflect on my life and how blessed I am. I also love the soundtrack to this movie. As far as spiritual inspiration, Kenneth Cope's music has always inspired me. Many of the hymns also inspire me to be better.

3. People who advocate for change such as Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr., Crystal Lee (Jordan) Sutton, Alice Paul, and many others. I admire that these people stood up for what they believed in and did everything they could to instigate change and secure social justice.

4. Movies














Inspiring movies I've seen lately include Stardust (because I thought it was very creative), The Bucket List (because it was very touching), and Norma Rae (a movie from the 70s - I had to watch it for a class and I just loved it. I was so inspired by the conviction of the main character and her efforts to bring about change). Movies that have inspired me that I saw quite a while ago are Across the Universe, Big Fish, Elizabethtown, and Stranger than Fiction because they are creative and different movies.

5. Blogs. There are too many inspiring blogs to list all of them that I love, but I will list a few of my favorites. Karen Russell, Kelly McCaleb, Karla Dudley, Ali Edwards, Keisha Campbell, Ali McLaughlin, Pioneer Woman, Danielle Thompson (who I already mentioned in another post but I have to list her here to because she really inspires me a lot) Cathy Zielske (I adore her clean and simple scrapbooking style), Elsie Flanningan...so many more.

6. Pretty stores like this one in Seattle:

And this one in Arizona:


And this one in Texas:





And of course I love this store (I never shop there because it's too expensive...but a girl can wish. For example, I think this mirror is pretty dang cute but is it worth $700? I don't think so). And I have to add a few etsy shops to my list that are inspiring me as of late.
I love how simple the things are in this shop.




And Kelly's shop always has the cutest handmade things in it. I love these things especially:





People who can sew really inspire me.
I think the tags are really fun in this store:


And this store:

And the tags in this store are pretty darn cute too.


Okay, enough window shopping for now.

7. People who have faith and live their lives according to their beliefs like my mom and sister and my husband and many of my friends also really inspire me.

8. Wendel. He is so supportive of me finishing school. He really believes in me, which inspires me to reach my goals and my potential.

Wow, this is a marathon post! I could go on and on...so many things inspire me, but I need to get off the computer and spend some time with W.

Have a good night!