Inspiration Machine 60

Clockwise from top left: tvdavisid, Mathieu GUY, publik_oberberg, nikki.jane

1. Make a vintage recipe.

2. Play a glass harp.

3. Listen to opera.

4. Make a secret handshake for you and your friends to use.

5. If you were in Top Gun, what would your handle name be?

6. Tie a cherry stem with your tongue.

7. Invest in a jaunty hat.

8. Write down your top ten favorite memories, in precise detail.

9. Create the dirtiest curse word on the planet.

10. Give yourself an awesome hug.

Inspiration Machine 59

Clockwise from top left: nikki.jane, Edgar Thissen, vball * LoveR, Kate Doodles

1. Kiss all your business cards with bright red lipstick.

2. Wear a teacup as a pendant.

3. Try to make the tallest stack of pancakes you can.

4. Wear a hat. Doff it often.

5. Skip the small talk.

6. Try to move every muscle in your face at once.

7. Practice your queen wave.

8. Describe your perfect weather to the utmost detail.

9. Draw your own skull.

10. Speak gobbledygook.

Inspiration Machine 58

Clockwise from top left: carakatze, nikki.jane, misspaq, marc50

1. Donate your hair to Locks of Love.

2. Smile once every hour.

3. Give blood.

4. Stock up on spooky books and movies for upcoming fall reading.

5. Roast marshmallows and hotdogs, with pizzaz.

6. Start planning your Halloween costume.

7. Make homemade pizza. Invite your friends over, and have a pizza party.

8. Make a fall mixtape for all your friends.

9. Decorate a big box, and keep a candy stash in it.

10. Make a rainy day chore list.

Inspiration Machine 57

Clockwise from top left: oneredpanther, oneredpanther, AlexEdg, AlexEdg

1. Take your sweet tooth for a night on the town.

2. Begin your fall cleaning.

3. Build a bonfire.

4. Make and can your own tomato sauce

5. Write a list of books you want to read, and organize it by season.

6. Read a banned book.

7. Compose a poem to your toes.

8. Invent the longest word you can think of.

9. Find the anagrams in your name.

10. Try speaking Parseltongue.

Inspiration Machine 56

Clockwise from top left: AlexEdg, verhext, publik_oberberg, verhext

1. Listen to ABBA.

2. Make it your mission to make a new friend today.

3. Try transcendental meditation.

4. Scream as loud as you can.

5. Make your own war cry.

6. Think of three things in your life you would like to change, and then work on those changes for the next three months.

7. Whisper sweet nothings to yourself.

8. Make a rap song about how awesome you are.

9. If you could can anything, conceptual or physical, what would you choose (ie, "hope in a can")

10. Remember this moment matters more than anything.

Inspiration Machine 55

Clockwise from top left: °flo, Rödel LA, yyellowbird, Bibimorvarid

1. Have a light switch rave.

2. Eat icing out of the container.

3. Pick a wildflower bouquet.

4. Make the biggest sundae imaginable, and share it with friends.

5. Design your own tarot deck.

6. Wear a locket.

7. Have a ten second kiss.

8. Write your own vows, to yourself.

9. Write a list of your top 10 favorite memories of this summer.

10. Write a haiku about the thing you love most.

Inspiration Machine 54

Clockwise from top left: °flo, Rödel LA, yyellowbird, Bibimorvarid

1. If you could create a combination animal from any two other animals, which animals would you merge? Which traits from each would it have?

2. Start a cheerleading team with your friends.

3. Fill your home with old fashioned candy.

4. Make crowns and tiaras from thrift store jewelry.

5. Capture fireflies in your palm.

6. Make daisy chains.

7. Design your own bookmarks, with your favorite book quotes written on them.

8. Have a Frida Kahlo themed garden party.

9. Make a pinhole camera.

10. Laugh until you can hardly bear it; then laugh some more.

Inspiration Machine 53

Clockwise from top left: kevin.allenjr, misspaq, P.Retuta, tdub303

1. What would you title your personal biography?

2. Write your own story about how the earth was formed.

3. Learn how to beatbox.

4. Name your own star..

5. Go on a no-yeast diet.

6. Instead of a rain dance, do a sunshine dance.

7. Try to incite a creative revolution.

8. Discover your personal legend.

9. Have a walking-backwards race.

10. Sing your heart out, every time.

Inspiration Machine 52

Clockwise from top left: _Neverletmego_, Trois_Merlettes, margolove, Island_Kerstin

1. Take a one-hour vacation every day.

2. Remember the restorative powers of an ice cream sundae.

3. Hold a paper airplane contest.

4. Remember the most important parts of life are forgiveness and learning.

5. Create a power mantra for yourself, asking the universe to give you the things you need in times of doubt and stress.

6. Invest in a tambourine.

7. Preserve particularly sunny days in your memory bank, to draw out on the rainy ones.

8. Remember that if a plant needs sunshine to thrive, then so do you.

9. For a full minute, do nothing but smile.

10. Nurture your spirit with the same care as you would a child.

Inspiration Machine 51

Clockwise from top left: misspaq, weirena, Bibimorvarid, Ms Reed

1. Create a tempest in a teapot.

2. Have a paper-doll party. Invite all your friends over to make paper-dolls and paper-doll clothing. And extra points if anyone wears a life-size paper dress!

3. Write a letter of encouragement to someone you admire.

4. Read the classics.

5. Have your friends write out lists of their favorite flowers, then visit a botanical garden a have a scavenger hunt.

6. Make a cardamom rose cocktail.

7. Invest in a hammock.

8. Volunteer at your local library.

9. Embellish your tights.

10. Remember you are bright, brilliant and utterly, utterly beautiful.

Inspiration Machine 50

Clockwise from top left: massdistraction, JenniPenni, LightSpectral, *Yueh-Hua 2009

1. Have a conversation with your heart.

2. Give your favorite books to your best friends.

3. Learn to love the crisis.

4. Visualize yourself on the world stage, in the role of the greatest juggler alive.

5. Master the crow pose.

6. Make Hello Dollies. (Trust me, you will thank me!)

7. Learn to give amazing hand massages. Apply liberally.

8. Have a crab walk race.

9. Make your own pink lemonade.

10. Find a pool of water to sit by. Admire nature's simple brilliance.

Inspiration Machine 49

(Due to the upcoming holiday weekend, Inspiration Machine & Link Kaboom will each run a day early this week.)


Clockwise from top left: Corey Hamilton, ipushthebuttons, Diyana Kamaruza, misspaq

1. Make a cat's cradle.

2. Learn your moon sign.

3. Whisper secrets to your houseplants.

4. Learn sign language.

5. Learn how to spell your name in katakana.

6. Make macaroons.

7. Do a cannonball.

8. Spit up in the air, then RUN!

9. Do a somersault.

10. Climb a tree.

Inspiration Machine 48

Clockwise from top left: misspaq, aragost, Gina Marr, Miss Lulu & The Teaspoon Shortage

1. Keep a bowl of wishes by your bed. Every morning, take one, and do everything you can to fulfill that wish that day. At the end of the day, return the wish into the wish bowl.

2. Pick a weekly color palette, and try to dress to it.

3. Hold hands.

4. Remember to make yourself happy.

5. Eat locally.

6. Make yourself a sacred space.

7. Make your own teepee.

8. Build a firepit.

9. Adopt a tiger.

10. Dress like a tiger. Inside and out.

Inspiration Machine 47

Clockwise from top left: misspaq, Karla Jean Davis, aragost, eclectic gipsyland

1. Feed yourself with the same sensibility as you would a child.

2. Make a play date with your inner child.

3. Surprise your friends with flowers.

4. Collect rain water in jars. Use it to water houseplants, rinse hair.

5. Write the story of your life in 100 words.

6. Make your own mud mask.

7. Make a list of all the dirty words you can think of.

8. Compose your own underwater ballet.

9. Jump up as high as you can.

10. Sit in stillness, in gratitude and happiness for you life.

Inspiration Machine 46

Clockwise from top left: verhext, aragost, Fairytale Vegas, Kunio Monji

1. Take a milk bath.

2. Make your own aerobics video, and give to friend's as a gag gift.

3. Wander through your house donned in a beautiful house robe a heels, whilst eating bon-bons.

4. Acquire a crystal ball.

6. Start participating in hand written correspondence.

7. Carry a cloth handkerchief.

8. Plate unusual objects in gold.

9. Paint your front door your favorite color.

10. Try to have at least one adventure a day.

Inspiration Machine 45

Clockwise from top left: yyellowbird, Gina Marr, Kate Doodles, yyellowbird

1. Give yourself a round of applause.

2. Make strawberry shortcake.

3. Invest in a trampoline.

4. Attempt to invent a brand new, never before seen facial expression.

5. Find an old picture of your mom/dad, and try to replicate the photo, with you standing in as them.

6. Go find Girl Scout cookies.

7. Love greenery, but lacking in the space department? Plant a window box garden.

8. Spread the love.

9. Coordinate a neighborhood yard sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to a local charity.

10. Find a way to celebrate the spirit of summer each and every day this season.

Inspiration Machine 44

Clockwise from top left: fofurasfelinas, shutterblog, Allison Sommers, Miss Lulu & The Teaspoon Shortage


1. Collect antique teaspoons

2. Remember that everyday, in every action, you are changing the world.

3. Blow kisses to beautiful days.

4. Go to your local hangout, but with the intention of making it a great adventure.

5. Wear mismatched shoes.

6. Instead of smoking cigarettes, invest in a bubble pipe.

7. Make your own granola.

8. Practice laughing every day.

9. Become a collector of bad jokes.

10. Lose yourself in the moments.

Inspiration Machine 43

Clockwise from top left: Sally Jane Vintage, I N W, verhext, .B®am.

1. Make your own tea.

2. They are making a new flavor of ice cream in your honor. What flavor is it?

3. What song would you prefer to do a striptease to?

4. If you were a shoe, who designed you?

5. Smile at children.

6. Order a banana split.

7. Have impromptu picnics.

8. Have a stylish business card made up with just your name and telephone number. Give out your calling card to potential suitors/acquaintances.

9. Learn how to breakdance.

10. Are you living to be great, or to great in the eyes of others?

Inspiration Machine 42

Clockwise from top left: lucycat, Gina Marr, lucycat, Camilla Engman

1. Make a "Calm Down" mixtape: compile some of your most soothing, enoyable music top play at those moments when you are uber stressed out.

2. Write down 10 ways you can optimize your life. Begin to implement them into your existence.

3. Try to look at each ddifficulty you encounter in life as a fun strategy excercise for you to hone your awesome skills.

4. Invent 3 new curse words.

5. Start jump roping daily.

6. Inundated with arbitrary emails? Create yourself an escape email address, and commit yourself to only using it for contacts and important things. You'll be amazed how much freedom you will gain in the move.

7. Learn how to give yourself a perfect pedicure.

8. Invite your best friends over for a spa party: give each other facials, pedicures, manicures and makeovers

9. Tile your floor in old pennies.

10. Host a Bring-Your-Own-Cocktail Party: Invite your friends over, and ask each to bring the fixings for their favorite drink. Have them set up their individual drink stations, and spend the evening sampling everyone's contributions.

Inspiration Machine 41

Clockwise from top left: Rebekah + Justin, UNIFORM Studio, David John Harris, .B®am.

1. Become an expert about a certain time period.

2. Treat yourself to an eccentric umbrella.

3. Where all the bracelets you own at once.

4. Bring back the eighties, and start making friendship bracelets.

5. Take a picture of the same outside location everyday, and then animate it's progression over a year.

6. Instead of lamenting them, treat rainy days as Meditation/Resuscitation Days: treat yourself to home facials, manicures, and relaxation methods, to make sure you are in top, shining form when the sun starts shining again.

7. Ground yourself with ten quiet breaths each day.

8. Learn how to waltz.

9. If you could have your own eighties hair-metal band, what would it be named? What would be the names of the members?

10. Practice laughing.

Inspiration Machine 40

Clockwise from top left: Olly Moss, organ splitter, David John Harris, organ splitter

1. Have a cupcake bake-off with some friends. Whoever wins, everyone wins!

2. Keep a diary of your laughter.

3. Try to eradicate the negative from your life: thoughts, words, relationships. Consider it wiping the cobwebs from your soul.

4. Attempt to make the biggest sandwich in the world. Document the endeavor!! Eat the results!!

5. Seek out your first crush, and find out what they are doing now.

6. Stage a "mock break-up" with one of your more adventurous friends/partner. Go somewhere very public, and pretend to have a very passionate argument, the more melodramatic and over-the-top, the better. Aim to attract a crowd. When things reach a fever pitch, say, "THANK YOU!," and take a bow.

7. Recite poetry in crowded subway cars.

8. Sing, "Singing in the Rain," whilst in the rain.

9. Host an annual High-Five Championships.

10. Develop a signature pose. Try to get it into as many photographs as possible.

Inspiration Machine 39

Clockwise from top left: abless, carli kirstin, joelinner.net, yyellowbird

1. Make your own Dreamcatcher.

2. If you could create one piece of apparel/accessory, what would it be? What would it look like, be made of? What color would it be?

3. Learn all the words to a popular wordy rap song. Impress everyone, and earn mad street cred at the same time.

4. Go on a quest to discover your spirit animal.

5. Dress in homage of the spirit of spring.

6. Write a poem about the thing you love most in this world.

7. If you had your own killer robot, what would you name it?

8. Bling your nails.

9. Become an expert of star constellations...

10. ...and remember that you are one of them.

Inspiration Machine 38

Clockwise from top left: Cajsu, (Laura Schlipf), yyellowbird, non no yes

1. Eat odd sandwiches.

2. Shatter something intentionally - a plate, glass, anything that makes a fantastic noise upon destruction.

3. Go to a museum or zoo you are familiar with, and give free tours.

4. Along with your home, remember to spring clean your body and soul.

5. Cut out all your favorite pictures & articles from your old magazines, and paste them into a scrapbook to create the "best magazine ever." It takes up less space than keeping all those rags, and every page is sure to dazzle!

6. Prepare an "overnight beauty bag": stock it with an extra set of your daily beauty supplies and overnight essentials, so you are always ready for an impromptu adventure!

7. Keep a master list of all the projects and ideas you come up with on a day-to-day basis. Keep it on the desktop of your computer, or pasted somewhere you can see it, for a continual inspiration fix.

8. Seek out a mentor in your chosen or dream profession. Send a letter of introduction, and don't be afraid to put yourself out there.

9. At least once a year, apply for a dream job. Especially if you don't think you don't stand a chance at getting it.

10. Remember to give the world something beautiful every day.

Inspiration Machine 37

Clockwise from top left: I N W, .B®am., tomhide, yyellowbird

1. Incorporate feathers into your outfit.

2. Learn how to tell people's fortunes.

3. Keep jars of old trinkets on your windowsill.

4. On rainy days, keep yourself amused by pretending to be an eccentric shut-in.

5. Go to the zoo, and pretend the animals have all come to watch YOU.

6. Experiment making your own fantastic and strange pizza.

7. Wear a nightcap, whilst drinking a nightcap.

8. Become a hat person.

9. Walk around in public with headphones on but no sound, and pretend you're listening to the most amazing music you have ever heard.

10. Bask in nature's wanton creativity. Remember you are a part of it.

Inspiration Machine 36

Clockwise from top left: Sally Jane Vintage, .natalie, verhext, magic fly paula

1. Eat a Sundae.

2. Don a pair of tap shoes, top hat, and spats.

3. Keep a journal of your favorite compliments.

4. Incorporate peanut butter into EVERYTHING.

5. Learn how to perform a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

6. Start a tennis league with your friends. Wear adorable little outfits and perfect your serve.

7. Write your own love song.

8. Bake cookies for no reason.

9. Play a clapping game from childhood.

10. Remember your only obligation is to breathe.

Inspiration Machine 35

Clockwise from top left: whidbychick, Willi Pinheiro, 3amfromkyoto, anneso_cachemireetsoie

1. Wear it messy.

2. Eat it anyway.

3. Try saying "I love you" backwards.

4. Turn off your lights.

5. Craft your signature recipe.

6. If you were a member of the opposite sex, what would you like your name to be?

7. Dress in the spirit of your favorite animal.

8. Take a dance class.

9. Reveal a great secret.

10. Imagine you contain a great secret, and your mission in life is to reveal it to the rest of the world.

Inspiration Machine 34

Clockwise from left: non no yes, (Laura Schlipf), Will Govus, (Laura Schlipf)

1. Practice your animal noises.

2. Write down your ideal daily routine, and then write down your actual routine. Compare the two: how can you integrate them?

3. Create a "Getaway" fund: put away, $10, $20, or $50 of every paycheck into a special account, whose balance will someday allow you to whisk yourself to some wonderful tropical island.

4. Write down your financial goals somewhere you can see them daily. Before purchasing something, ask yourself "Does this purchase work me towards these goals, or further from them?"

5. Learn to play croquet.

6. Carry a tasseled fan.

7. Reenact your favorite movie scenes, with your friends as extras.

8. Dance like a marionette.

9. Draw your own mandala.

10. Make the commitment to honor your body and mind.

Inspiration Machine 33

Clockwise from left: non no yes, UNIFORM Studio, persephassa, UNIFORM Studio

1. Make your "Spring" List: all the stuff you have put off doing until the weather is nice.

2. Invest in a sweet new pair of galoshes for all the puddle-jumping you plan to do during April!

3. Learn about the love life of your favorite artist.

4. Have a "Silver Screen Party": Ask everyone to come as their favorite film star on the Silver Screen. Run a projector of old movies on the wall, and serve champagne and canopies.

5. Make a mix tape representing every decade you have been alive. Call it, "The You Compilation"

6. Create your own camouflage.

7. Bring back an old-timey word. Some examples include: Rastabout, Rapscallion, Scuttlebutt, Hoosegow...

8. Have some sweaters you didn't wear this winter? CHUCK EM OUT! OR better yet, felt them and make cool things with them...

9. No time for a pet dog? How about a pet chicken? Two words: FREE EGGS.

10. Have a Daylight-Savings Garden Party to celebrate all that extra sunlight.

Inspiration Machine 32

Clockwise from left: Big Fat Rat, Historicus, fofurasfelinas, *dans

(my count got all wonky - I am in the midst of fixing it!)

1. At the exact moment of the time change this weekend, kiss your beau. You will have smooched through an hour!!

2. Find out your parents and grandparents favorite musical artists. Make a mixtape of your families favorite songs.

3. Buy some bright neon accessories to jazz up your wardrobe this spring.

4. Let a child paint on a white dress or t-shirt you own for an original piece of wearable art.

5. Designate yourself a theme song.

6. Designate all your friends a theme song, and then make a mixtape compilation of your gang.

7. Pile on as many knits as you can, a la Missoni.

8. Listen to the Cure album, "Disintegration," and marvel at how freaking timeless it is.

9. Learn the names of your great, great grandparents.

10. Promise yourself this will be the best day, everyday.

Inspiration Machine 31

Clockwise from left: rebecca *, blueoneiam, Allison Sommers, UNIFORM Studio

1. Learn how to say "I love you" in 100 languages.

2. Visit a museum by yourself with a special mixtape created just for this occasion.

3. Aim to be that "crazy aunt."

4. Rather than ordinary bookshelves, line your walls with rows of plexiglass from floor to ceiling, and stack your books on them. The effect will look like your books a lined up against your wall, hanging in free space.

5. Rather than spreading them throughout your home, try displaying every piece of art you own on a single wall.

6. Dedicate different walls in your home to different art "objects": mustaches, bunnies, mustangs, artichokes, etc...

7. Decorate every room in your house entirely in a specific color - it will be like living in a rainbow.

8. Designate a "color" for each day for a week: try to live each day in the spirit of that specific color.

9. Instead of a sports team", create an "art team". Have games with other art teams and compete against each other on group art projects.

10. Try not to concentrate.

Inspiration Machine 30

Clockwise from left: D L Ennis, vanessa~ho, Okinawa Soba, Quizz...

1. Do not fear the funny pants.

2. Wear gloves out of season.

3. Develop a signature color palette.

4. Have surprise champagne.

5. Pick one person you see daily each day, and make it your job to make that person smile.

6. Start a collection of miniature food.

7. Create your own Pseudonym.

8. Hire a photographer to take detective-like pictures of you off your guard.

9. Create a fictitious past.

10. Concoct a get-away plan.

Inspiration Machine 29: Valentines Edition

Clockwise from left: boopsie.daisy, r e n a t a, ajpscs, D L Ennis

1. Whisper sweet nothings into your beloved's ear (and by that I mean say repeatedly "Sweet nothings, sweet nothings, sweet nothings...") - it's guaranteed to make them giggle and cringe.

2. Alone on V-day? Celebrate the love of your life - yourself! Take yourself out for a fancy dinner, a luxurious massage, or whatever tickles your fancy. Remember throughout the day to remind yourself how wonderful you are, and how lucky you are to be you.

3. No date? Go Valentine hunting: grab a group of your favorite single pals. Before the going out, each decorate an elaborate valentine each out of construction paper, glitter, or anything you have lying around. Then hit the town and find the perfect beau to give it to!

4. Avoid crazy lines, messed up reservations, and crowded restaurants - plan a romantic evening at home. Prepare a sumptuous candlelight dinner, followed by a romantic movie and a bubble bath. Your snuggling potential will be triple what it is in public!

5. Make Valentine crafts: heart-shaped paperclips, and valentine bookmarks will keep love on your mind the whole year through!

6. Get Away! Desperate to flee to some romantic destination, but short on money and time? These weekend get-away ideas are sure to fulfill your need for romance without breaking your budget.

7. Seal your love with tasty, tiny burgers: White Castle offers intimate, candlelight dinners at their establishment every Valentines Day. And yes, you CAN get fries with that.

8. For those who appreciate the odder sentiments, Times Online offers some of the stranger alternative ideas to celebrate this holiday.

9. For those that want to avoid the blatant v-day consumerism: make your own Valentines Day chocolates at home!

10. Remember that love knows no boundaries: support the movement to Invalidate Prop 8, and allow thousands of Americans the right the gift of legally loving one another.

Inspiration Machine 28

Clockwise from left: D L Ennis, stephaniedan, Jane Diamond, Walt K

1. Dress as your exact opposite.

2. Carry fine chocolates in your bag, and offer them to those you meet through the day.

3. When you have a particularly bad day, write down the circumstances, and see if anything you did that day encouraged the day to go particularly poorly. Inversely, when you have a great day, write down why that day was good. Soon you will be able to see trends, and can start applying some of the good day habits on days that are going downhill.

4. Hang a mini disco ball in your bathroom.

5. Become a master of origami.

6. What's your favorite sound?

7. Organize a thumb wrestling championship game.

8. Make large jpgs of daily affirmations, and them set them to cycle as your desktop wallpaper.

9. See how many rings you can get on one finger.

10. Take a moment each morning to visualize the kind of day you want to have. Then spend the rest of the day going after it.

Inspiration Machine 27

Clockwise from left: supernab, Dona.Elga, Kate Doodles, floridapfe

1. Read a book about how to manage your personal finances. I am currently reading Suze Orman's "Women & Money" - I am only on the third chapter, and am already inspired to make the most of my finances!

2. Get to Zero. We are literally INUNDATED with information on a daily basis. By taking control of your inbox, you take control of what takes up your attention, ultimately earning back precious time to create awesome stuff.

3. Write a list of 10 people you care about greatly. Ask yourself when the last time was you told them how much they meant to you? If it's been a while, reach out and let them know. And no, it can't wait until tomorrow.

4. If you could name your own species of butterfly, what would you call it? What would it look like?

5. Make and share friendship bread.

6. Display your shoes like pieces of art around your home.

7. Wear a racer-backed tank backwards over a regular tank, a la Battlestar Galactica.

8. Get in the habit of sporting a toothpick.

9. Make "Dress Up Mix-tapes": compilations of songs that evoke different moods, and will consequently change the way you dress up when you listen to them.

10. Decorate blank books with collages of their favorite things, and present them to your friends to write their memoirs in. Write "So-and-So's Memoir" on them in shiny gold ink.

What is inspiring you today?

Inspiration Machine 26

Clockwise from left: Big Fat Rat, Ryan Brenizer, fofurasfelinas, AehoHikaruki

1. Dip-dye/Bleach a pair of cloth covered shoes.

2. Try to draw a sketch entirely with your less dominant hand.

3. Try dressing in black and white.

4. Next time you are out with friends, bring a camera. Look through it constantly. Eventually, your friends will stop noticing or reacting to the camera, and you will be able to take some of the best, most personal pictures of them you ever have before.

4. Refine your Daily Routine.

5. Try to wear a completely different hair style every day for one week.

6. Decide to break a bad habit. Get a small notebook, and record your progress breaking this habit for one year. At the end of the year, assess your success, and read back through the book to discover how far you have come.

7. Commit to yourself and your community to do one charitable act each month.

8. Purchase additional copies of your 5 favorite books, and give them as gifts to friends.

9. Keep a journal of small miracles.

10. Remind yourself that each day is a new opportunity to wow them all.

Inspiration Machine 25

Clockwise from left: yyellowbird, Allison Sommers, verhext, flair to remember

1. Make a plaster cast of your face. Give masks of your face to your friends.

2. Paint a canvas with the list of your New Year's resolutions in bright, beautiful colors, and hang it somewhere you will see it often.

3. Go through your jewelry box, and sort out all the jewelry you have not worn for a year. Give it as gifts to your closest friends.

4. Sing in the shower. Use the soap as a mike. Rock out!

5. Have an indoor picnic: light the candles, lay out a tablecloth on the floor, and fest on all your favorite picnic foods, sans ants.

6. Tell your parents/guardians you appreciate everything they have done for you, and that you think they did a good job.

7. If you could design your own toy, what would it be? What would it look like? What would it be made of? Who would it be for?

8. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister, and help a young child reach their dreams.

9. Invite friends over for a breakfast dinner. Make pancakes, sausage links. Encourage friends to arrive in their pajamas, and have cartoons playing in the background.

10. Try to make the economic crunch fun: compete with a friend on who can spend the least each month. The loser foots the bill for dinner one night.

Inspiration Machine 24

Clockwise from left: rjdesq, emmily shaw, jera <3, dawn(rise)_lewis

1. Buy a BeDazzler, and begin decorating everything you own with shiny jewels!

2. Mail distant friends and family "Update" postcards, telling them what is new in the life of yourself or your family. Include photographs, funny quotes, and well wishes. A great way to stay connected to those people you don't see often!

3. Take old band t-shirts and clothes you no longer wear that have sentimental value, and make a banging memory quilts to keep you cozy without cramming up space in your closet.

4. Shop your closet. This is the trend of digging deep into your stowed away clothes you no longer wear, and pulling out those prize pieces that have not seen the light of day in nary a year. In a recession-fest like we are in today, this is a great way to re-coup some of that new-item joy we are all lacking from budget crunching.

5. Create a "couture" fund - each day, drop a dollar in a piggy bank every day for as long as you can bear it. The longer you wait, the more you will be able to afford something really bling!

6. Keep a picture of something expensive you really, really want to buy in your wallet. Everytime you go to purchase something, take a hard look at the picture as a reminder that if you save money now, you will have more to spend on THAT.

7. Steal His Jeans: With boyfriend jeans on the rise, don't spend a mint buying jeans that look used - get the real McCoy. Snag your beau's old jeans, and alter them to fit, preserving a bit of the slouch.

8. Make a mixtape of your 20 favorite songs of all time. Distribute it to your closest friends.

9. Decide to make someone you don't generally talk to your "best friend for the week" - treat them exactly as you would treat your closest friend. You'll be surprised how receptive people are, and how many new friends you'll make!

10. Keep a collection of "true love." Write down your own stories, and catalog others.

Inspiration Machine 23

Clockwise from left: kevin.allenjr, verhext, kevin.allenjr, Headshot London

1. Embrace the concept of paying it forward.

2. Give something of yourself to the world each day.

3. Take a photograph of your hands each day - after a year, see if you can watch them age.

4. Think of the nicest thing someone can give to you, and then give that thing to someone else.

5. Learn how to press flowers. Make a scrapbook of all the flowers given to you.

6. Keep a journal of how the sky looks every day.

7. Before it ends, decide what to name this last year. (ex. "The Year of the Small Gestures," "The Year of the Red Rose"). Let the name be representative of all that this year encompassed for you, be it through a symbol, a memory, or a motto.

8. Write a holiday wish list for your soul.

9. During this season of gift giving, remember to donate to organizations that aid those that have less than you do. (Ideas include: Unicef, Kiva, Doe, Doctors Without Borders)

10. Remember regardless the gift, it represents love.

Inspiration Machine 22: Gift Maker

Clockwise from left: dodidoune, dodidoune, verhext, Tinta China

Strapped on what to give this season: make it yourself! This Inspiration Machine is dedicated to gifts you can give from your own 2 hands:

1. Get out your needle and thread: Sew, Mama, Sew! offers a full 30 days of easy-peasy hand sewn gift tutorials and patterns.

2. Deck the Halls: Make your own set of playing cards for your friends. Buy some pre-cut small cardstock, and make a full 52 card deck. Create your own suites, and have a blast with the face cards!

3. Gorgeous Glassware: Go to your local thrift shop, and purchase vintage glassware, and then hand paint over them with glass paint. The result will be a one-of-a-kind piece of usable art your friends will treasure.

4. Cast On: Hop over to Knitty, my absolute favorite knitting pattern website. Not only do they have HUNDREDS of free knitting patterns available online, but they categorize them by experience level, so you can pick a project that won't leave you all tangled up.

5. Book, Covered: Got a book nerd on the gift list. Absolutely delight them with a handmade book cover. It's a personal touch to any book gift that is sure to thrill them. Sweeten the deal with custom bookplates that you can design.

6. Clothe Them: Utterly wow your pal with a handmade shredded tee. For those friends who live on the eccentric side, offer them a pair of fantastic bleached jeans.

7. Shoe Fly: No one can have too many shoes, especially original hand-painted shoes. They'll get quite a "kick" out of them ;)

8. Sketch Betch: Add a divine touch to a blank book: purchase a Moleskine blank notebook, and decoupage the cover with beautiful images. personal notes, and lovely paper. Dabble inspirational quotes and sentiments throughout the pages.

9. Sculpture, Reanimated: Go to a thrift store, and hunt out unique sculptures and figurines (you will find a wealth of owls and gnomes, I promise you). Pay special attention to form, and positively none to color. Once home, lay them out and spray paint them a uniform color (black or white looks fab: or match the color to your friend's interior design).

10. Spice it Up: Every cook-happy pal on your list will flip over these Chinese Papercut Spice Jars. Take that extra step, and give them along with a hand-written recipe. Fill the jars with the spices necessary to make it!

Today's inspiration machine was inspired by Avrille Lavallee. Thanks for the suggestion, Avrille!

Need some inspiration? Email me inspiration machine requests at kissandvinegar((at))yahoo((dot))com.

Inspiration Machine 21

Clockwise from left: mhatilda, Dona.Elga, MustaXD, sosij

1. Make your hair as messy as possible.

2. Dress as your favorite playing card.

3. Give yourself and your friends spy names.

4. If you had your own race horse, what would you name it?

5. Begin starting seedlings to plant in the spring.

6. Design your own holiday card.

7. Hang an antique pocketknife from a chain, and wear it as a necklace.

8. Invest in a monocle.

9. Take a vacation, but travel only by train.

10. Be your own secret admirer.

Inspiration Machine 20

Clockwise from left: non no yes, ©dinamarie originals, Dona.Elga, Dona.Elga

1. Create a "Laundry Rescue" gift for friends who have just moved into a new apartment: fill a laundry basket with fabric softener, detergent, and rolls of quarters and brand new towels: trust me, they will love you!

2. Shred your own t-shirts.

3. Start a Bookclub. (Goodreads is an excellent tool to keep in touch with the gang).

4. If you are a girl, try dressing boyishly. If you are a boy, dressing girlishly.

5. Have a Beat Generation party. Have guests come as Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, et. al. Serve red wine, and make each guest have to perform impromptu poetry throughout the night.

6. Feeling winter blues? Purchase a Balanced Spectrum lamp", lots of indoor houseplants, and a portable fireplace and bring the spring inside.

7. Collect Indian jewelry.

8. Get in the habit of sending thank you notes.

9. Bundle up in your warmest clothes, and take a slow walk on a cold day, and learn to appreciate the weather.

10. Remember the 10 funniest moments of your life.

Inspiration Machine 19

Clockwise from left: ©dinamarie originals, KillToLive, artd!va, anneso_cachemireetsoie

1. Write a list of 10 places you dream about working at. Then start applying.

2. Give yourself a home pampering day, complete with scented bath, facial and pedicure.

3. Keep a diary of all the good things that happen to you. Pull it out when you are feeling glum.

4. Collect sand from all the beaches you visit (Bakerella has an amazing collection here).

5. Hate holiday consumerism? Sign up for Buy Nothing Day - and join the fight against Black Friday fever.

6. Have a bunch of random art supplies, wasting away? Stick them all in a box, close your eyes, and stick your hand in (make sure to leave out the Exacto blades ;) - whatever comes out, you have to work with.

7. If you could take part in any great movement in history, which would you choose, and why?

8. Bleach your jeans. Go ahead, you know you want to.

9. Who says you have to be stuffed on Thanksgiving? Organize a Thanksgiving cocktail party instead - create turkey (or tofurkey) hors d'œuvres, cranberry-vodka shots, and decorate wine glasses with feathers.

10. Make your friends fall over laughing with an absurdly funny alternative ecard from Someecards.com

Inspiration Machine 18

Clockwise from left: joelinner.net, Aspirin Photo, Danz in Tokyo, persephassa

1. Design your own tattoo.

2. Write a dirty limerick.

3. If you could have tea with any five people alive or dead, who would you choose? Why?

4. What alternative to driving automobiles would be your preferred mode of transportation?

5. Volunteer at your local youth program.

6. Try to wear red, white and blue in a way that doesn't look cheesy.

7. Contribute your essay to NPR's "This I Believe" archive.

8. Invest in Smart Wool socks, to keep your toes cozy, warm and dry in all those big boots you'll wear this winter. (I just got a pair of these, and I am hooked!)

9. Try knitting your own winter hat.

10. Begin your holiday shopping now. (It may seem obscenely early, but when you can spend all December enjoying the holidays rather than preparing for them, you will thank me ;)

Inspiration Machine 17 : Something Wicked...

Clockwise from left: .min., Rödel LA, *BOOJOO*, Walkabout Wolf

1. Make plaster casts of your hands. Then use the cast as a mold to make creepy hand candles.

2. Have a mask-making party. Decorate papier-mâché masks as skulls and animals, then later in the evening, don the masks, dim the lights, and hold a creepy dance party.

3. If you could be any supernatural creature, what would you choose, and why?

4. Give your sweetheart a gift of edible scorpions.

5. Creep yourself out with some spooky "true" ghost stories.

6. Buy a cassette of spooky music, dim the lights, and practice your door opening routine to thoroughly frighten trick-or-treaters (make sure you have a tame one for the little guys)

7. Take a walk through your local cemetery, taking gravestone rubbings of interesting graves.

8. Have a dinner on Halloween night, with an extra place setting for departed loved ones. Give the place setting an apple, and a shot of spirits. Spend the evening reminiscing on stories and memories of those who are no longer with us. At the end of the evening, take the apple and brandy, and leave it on your doorstep overnight in honor of those who are gone.

9. Watch the classics: Charlie Brown, Garfield and SpongeBob are great ways to be festive and still be able to get to sleep at night.

10. Whip up a batch of Halloween Lady Fingers (my friend Linda whipped these up this week, and I helped decorate them with nails & blood) - simply scary & delectable!

Inspiration Machine 16

Clockwise from left: KillToLive, M.Omair (The Perfectionist), rosiehardy, dodidoune

1. Try wearing rings on every finger.

2. Pick an item you absolutely hate (crop tops, leggings, stripes) and try to incorporate it into an outfit you are proud of. Everything has potential.

3. Make your own leggings, a la Queen Michelle.

4. Ask yourself, "Are you happy?" Then ask yourself what you need to be so. Then go after those things.

5. Make your own marshmallows.

6. Organize a fall cleaning: pack up summer clothes, bring out the heavy blankets and humidifiers, and decorate your home in warm autumn colors. Personal favorite: stocking up on delicious pumpkin candles. Or even better, make your own pumpkin candles, out of real pumpkins!

7. Begin making "goody bags" for trick-or-treaters. Fill them with toy jewelry, old fashioned rock candy, and gold chocolate coins. Write spooky ghost stories on burned scraps of paper for a perfect finishing touch.

8. Each morning when you wake, take a few moments to set your intention for the day.

9. Think up five ways to wear a scarf.

10. Wear a kimono.

Inspiration Machine 15: Costumed

Clockwise from left: gashlycrumbs, verhext, manganite, carli kirstin

Going to change things up this week! In honor of my favorite holiday quickly approaching, here are some ideas for that perfect Halloween costume...

1. Dress as your favorite movie character. gashlycrumbs does a brilliant job here, dressed as Jack Skellington and Sally from "A Nightmare Before Christmas"

2. Paint your face in honor of "Dia De La Muerta." In Mexican folklore, death is often celebrated as a freedom from pain, and skeletons drawn in vivid colors, decorated with flowers. Verhext does a fantastic job here.

3. Dress as your favorite literary character. Persephassa has an excellent rendition of Nancy Drew.

4. Static Cling: Burda Style shows how to make a last minute costume from all those leftover socks.

5. Go as your favorite hobby. Flint Knits has a remarkable shot of her friend Vanessa's clever bowling costume.

6. Want to be classy, and sexy? Go Burlesque.

7. You can never go wrong with a simple little indian costume. Heck, I am tempted to wear this every day!

8. Anyone can be a pirate. Now, a newspaper pirate, THAT takes a little imagination.

9. I like the idea of dressing as a drunken bride - it's a great excuse to wear a beautiful dress, and carry a bottle of champagne around all night. And it is pretty darn funny.

10. Go as your favorite painting. helveticaneue's depiction of "Girl With a Pearl Earring" is simply stunning.

Inspiration Machine 14

Clockwise from left: Rödel LA, Bleu spark, verhext, Bleu spark

1. Read the poems of Pablo Neruda.

2. Find the perfect fall perfume.

3. Go for a walk in the falling leaves.

4. Coordinate a pen-pal on the other side of the world, to tell you about the warm or cold season they are experiencing.

5. Give yourself a porcelain face. (Courtesy of Doe Deere)

6. Begin researching your family tree.

7. Register to vote!!!

8. Actually roll down your stockings.

9. Drink Pumpkin Ale - or better yet, MAKE it.

10. Each year, write a letter to yourself, in ten years. Rent a safety deposit box to keep the letters in. Wait ten years, and begin reading correspondence from your yourself ten years younger.

Inspiration Machine 13: Halloween Cometh...

Clockwise from left: Walkabout Wolf, persephassa, Lynn Morag, persephassa

1. Go for a walk in the woods in the dark, with a solitary candle for company.

2. Dress entirely in black (but try not to look goth ;)

3. Try to make one cryptic statement a day. If anyone questions you about it, just smile.

4. Compile a list of spooky movies to watch and books to read throughout the month.

5. Work on your evil laugh.

6. Have yourself and your friends each compose a scary story. Then host a party with a bonfire, and tell each of your stories in turn.

7. Make candy apples, pumpkin pie, sugar skulls, and popcorn balls.

8. Keep a witch's hat around your house, and put it on at random moments.

9. Howl at the moon unexpectedly.

10. Watch "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" with all your friends. Dress as the characters, and make sure to sing and shout all the lines.

Inspiration Machine 12

Clockwise from left: abless, abless, FrizzText, kitty227

1. Name your computer.

2. Display your shoes by color or height.

3. If you could create your own personal sanctuary, what would it be? Where would it be?

4. Take a moment to feel everything you touch.

5. Make a collage/digital video of all your favorite things.

6. What is your mantra?

7. Outline the steps of your spiritual quest.

8. If you could have your own magazine, what would you name it? What would it be about?

9. Listen to opera.

10. Begin planning the trip of a lifetime.

Inspiration Machine 11

Clockwise from left: ieganai, Zack Schnepf, boboniaa, shoobydoo

1. Lose yourself in an adventure.

2. Describe what your perfect bag would be: size, color, fit, magical powers...

3. If you could have a super power, what would it be? Why?

4. If you could have any creature on Earth for a pet, what would you choose?

5. Take your old tights and stockings and make banging wristlets from them.

6. Make a quilt from all your favorite worn out clothing.

7. Start planning your fantastic Day of the Dead party.

8. Spend 20 seconds laughing everyday.

9. Start keeping a diary.

10. Make the decision to never dwell on disappointment.

Inspiration Machine 10

Clockwise from left: ieganai, borfis_, gwen bell, ieganai

1. Dress to clash.

2. Dress in homage of your favorite artist.

3. If you could choose one supernatural thing to actually exist, what would it be?

4. Tell secrets to flowers.

5. Make a mixtape of all your favorite songs from high school.

6. If you could have a one night affair with anyone on the planet, free of guilt or repercussions, who would it be?

7. Paint your nails the color wheel.

8. Braid scarves into your hair.

9. Invest in and learn to play ukulele.

10. What would your Inspiration Machine look like?


Let's here and see some magic, kids.

Inspiration Machine 9

Clockwise from left: Divisible Eye, victoriarikaheke, lebonbonmulticolore, borfis_

1. Take a photo each day of something you love. At the end of the year, print out books of the photos to give to your friends and loved ones.

2. Keep a book of beautiful names and words.

3. Make a pile of all the seasonal clothes you haven't worn in 6 months. Each day, grab a piece from the pile and try to make an outfit around it. If you can't, chuck it out!

4. Reread the first book you ever read.

5. If you had a zoo, what animals would you fill it with?

6. Buy a bouquet of all your favorite flowers. Keep them in your home, or give them out to the people you encounter through the day.

7. Paint a dress, shirt, pair of jeans.

8. Start planning your Halloween costume.

9. Go horseback riding.

10. What would your hot air balloon be in the shape of?

I'd love to hear some answers to 5 and 10 - or better yet, what's in your Inspiration Machine?

Inspiration Machine 8

Clockwise from left: stellalee523, abless, ~fb~, FrizzText

1. Go a whole day without saying "no."

2. Everyday write down something you have learned.

3. Embroider a denim vest or pair of jeans with all your favorite things.

4. Try wearing your favorite shirt/dress backwards.

5. Set up windchimes in all the windows of your home. Open them all up and have a "windchime orchestra."

6. Make sun tea. (a la French Toast Girl)

7. Write a list of all the things you haven't had a chance to wear this summer, and try to coordinate them into your remaining summer wardrobe.

8. Get your boots polished for autumn.

9. Design your own chess set.

10. Give a random hug today.

Inspiration Machine 7

Clockwise from left: Bonnie Shulman, Gatochy, Steve Hopson, Shutterhack

1. Decorate your own pair of sneakers.

2. Begin holding dinner parties.

3. What would you choose to float in the air instead of clouds?

4. Eat a piece of fruit everyday.

5. Dress monochromatically.

6. If you had your own company, what would you call it?

7. Replace all the doors in your home with filmy curtains.

8. Write down the 10 nicest things that ever happened to you.

9. Invent a fantastic new hairstyle.

10. If you were in a band, what would you play?

Inspiration Machine 6

Clockwise from left: ~fb~, Gatochy, Meanest Indian, Pink Sushi

1. Coordinate your closet by the colorwheel.

2. Dress up your best friend.

3. Hold a cupcake-tasting tea party

4. For the apartment-bound, grow grass in window boxes in all your windows.

5. Handpaint your own nesting dolls.

6. If you could create the ideal pet, what would it look like, and what would be its key traits?

7. Write a letter to your living hero, telling them how they have inspired you in your life.

8. Channel the spirit of the missing color.

9. What noble title would you prefer?

10. Make a necklace of braided scarves.

Inspiration Machine 5

Clockwise from left: ulisses barbosa, kelco, rosefirerising, ~fb~

1. Choose a language, and teach yourself one word from it each day. Say the word in greeting instead of "hello."

2. Dress as your favorite character from a book or movie.

3. Determine what will be your "great work."

4. Start carrying cloth handkerchiefs.

5. Create postcards from scratch of imaginary locations, and send them to friends.

6. If you could start your own charity, what would it be based around aiding? How would it accomplish it?

7. Start your own charity.

8. Whenever you get angry at someone, make yourself tell them an earnest compliment instead of brooding.

9. Cultivate a vanity table.

10. Live each day like its going in your memoir.

Inspiration Machine 4

Clockwise from left: anneso_cachemireetsoie, !.keesssss.!, ♥chimidoro♫♪, kozika

1. Take up haberdashery.

2. Decorate dollar bills, and give them out to panhandlers.

3. What would be your name if you were a pirate?

4. Learn the Latin names of all your favorite flowers.

5. If you could create your own language, what would the words be for "love," "hate," "beautiful" and "war"?

6. Attempt the highest hairstyle you can muster.

7. Take ten deep breaths, acknowledging and thanking each for keeping you alive.

8. Pick a color, and draw everything you see in that color throughout the day.

9. Compose your speech to the world.

10. Make the decision to live bravely.

Inspiration Machine 3

Clockwise from left: xelia., idgie., unaerica, olivia ew

1. Imagine your own tribe. Decide it's name, belief system, and customs.

2. Create a brand new holiday around your favorite thing.

3. Reenact your first kiss.

4. Design your personal amulet.

5. Summon your guardian spirits: what are their names, and what do they look like? (Takashi Murakami has two)

6. Buy a globe, and decorate all the places you have been with paint and glitter.

7. Imagine what you would be like if you had lived your entire life in another country. What country would you choose? How would you be different: in dress, habit, and profession?

8. If you could have a twin, what would be their name? Would you prefer a boy or a girl? What would they be like?

9. Choreograph your own personal dance. Perform it frequently, in celebration of yourself.

10. Decorate your hair daily with something that starts with every letter of the alphabet.

Inspiration Machine 2

Clockwise from left:sadandbeautiful (Sarah), flint knits, martianmermaid, Sarajea

1. Learn how to do a handstand.

2. Invent a signature drink, and name it after yourself.

3. Give names to all the dogs you pass throughout your day.

4. Give yourself a french manicure, but with bright, brilliant colors.

5. If you could have a castle, what would you name it?

6. Think of the perfect date, then take yourself out on it.

7. Reach out to a distant friend once a week.

8. Design your own coat of arms.

9. What would you name your own planet?

10. Swap back rubs for hugs. Or vice-versa.

Inspiration Machine 1

Clockwise from left:Miss Lulu & The Teaspoon Shortage, anneso_cachemireetsoie, ElisabethD, Fjola Dogg

1. If you could decide the uniform of the planet, what would it consist of? What would the the color palette be?

2. Dress as the spirit of your favorite food.

3. Name each of your toes.

4. Pick a day of the week. Dub it your day. Make sure to celebrate it throughout.

5. Eat everything with chopsticks.

6. Keep a journal of all the animals you encounter.

7. Drink a glass of water the same way you would an expensive glass of wine.

8. If you could make a totem pole, what animals would you stack?

9. When you are in a particularly great mood, mail a postcard to yourself about why.

10. Carry sparklers in your purse for fun emergencies.