Case in point: I have a tote full of twig wreaths that I bought years ago. Small ones, around 6 - 8", kind of too small to hang on your door and too big to hang on your tree. I don't know what I thought I was going to do with them, I didn't really have a plan, but they were on sale and well made, not junky, so I grabbed them. I had some vague idea involving beads and wire, but although I've mulled THAT over for a long long time, I couldn't ever formulate any kind of design. Last year, I bought these neat berries at Hack and Livery (and if you've not been there, you need to go. I have to go in every once in a while and just take it all in. It's magical.)
They have been sitting on my desk here for about a year now, looking pretty and defying me to come up with a purpose for them. Then at some point a few weeks ago, the hand of inspiration reached out and slapped me. I needed to combine those berries, those wreaths, papier mache birds (which I'd been meaning to make also since last year) and handmade holly leaves. Birds I can do, I've worked with papier mache before many times. But holly leaves? How to do that? Of course I could BUY some and stick them on there and call it handmade, but that just wasn't going to work for me. If I didn't already have the berries, I'd find a way to make those too. But the leaves were enough of a challenge. How to make leaves that are 3 dimensional (as much as leaves are), had a shape, would HOLD that shape, and look as realistic as possible, not cartoony? Percolated about that for the last couple of weeks.

So next I've got to get them all painted and then figure out how big to make the birds. Cardinals? Bluebirds? Goldfinches? Chickadees? Some of each? I've got a lot of wreaths, and a limitless number of leaves. But only one spray of berries. Maybe I'll have to figure out how to make berries after all. And back into the Little Shop of Chaos I go!