Who put the peanut butter in the chocolate?

Or was it the other way around? 

Sometimes creativity can be sparked by pairing two completely different things and playing out how those things could be developed together. 

I often say that my favorite craft store is the hardware store.  Not an obvious connection but here's what I do.  The hardware store is, by its nature, a big place with tons of bits and pieces.  I like to go through and look at things that I don't know the original purpose for and think about how it could be used in a project or how it could be paired with something from somewhere else in the store to become something. (Yes, it has been pointed out to me by my longsuffering friends that this is a weird practice.  So what?)

Or sometimes I have an issue like the time a part on one of my spinning wheels broke.  It was a small plastic tube that connected two pieces.  I could have spent boucoup bucks and lots of time trying to track down the "right" piece on the internet and waiting for ages to get it or I could go wander the aisles of my favorite Lowe's store and find something that would work.  And I did.  In the plumbing aisle, I found rubber tubing of different diameters, one of which fit the bill.  I got 4 inches of it for something like $0.26, took it home and fixed the thing and had extra left over as spare.

Plumbing is not often associated with spinning yarn but in this case, it was just the ticket.

While I was in that plumbing section, I also discovered the little packages of o rings looked exactly like what the yarn shops were selling for stitch markers (those are the gadgets you use to mark certain pattern stops and starts on a knitting project).  The ones in the yarn stores cost something like $7 for 10 stitch markers.  O rings were about $1.29 for 20 and they came in all sizes (great for accommodating the size of needles you might use for knitted projects).  What?????!!!!!  Yes, they were a bit oily.  But after they'd had a quick wash, they were perfect.  Plus they have some give which many of the "proper" stitch markers don't so they don't hurt your hands while you're working.  Champion!

After I'd discovered this and really started looking at the stitch markers for sale, I realized that some people were just repackaging the o rings and marking the price up a bajillion percent.  That's just insulting.

If you're not a knitter, the bigness of these discoveries might elude you but take my word for it, they were game changers for me.  Discoveries like this are a constant source of amusement for my dear friends but occasionally they'll let me know they've made a weird connection that works, too, and I love that.

I've started reading books about fields that I really have very little knowledge of or interest in.  There are always connections or thoughts that pop up that illuminate something completely unrelated that I've been thinking about. It's those weird connections with things that you would never think to put together.  Want to grow in your creativity?  Develop a magpie mind.  Pick up thoughts, ideas, concepts and squirrel them away in your mind.  You'll be amazed at how they will pop out at the most unexpected times to make sense of something that has your stumped.

They happen all the time, these weird connections.  Have you ever wondered how that guy happened to find that girl and somehow the relationship works?  What's that about?

With Christmas shopping season coming up, there will be plenty of chances to say, "Who'd ever think to put that with this?" Sometimes it will be with admiration and other times it will be with horror but it will happen and it can help you kick start your creativity.  Make it a point to be looking for these combos - it may ease the pain of having to be in a store at Christmas time.  A little.

Make a list of random words.  Sometimes I open a book (any book) and randomly point at words on different pages.  Write them down.  Now take any 2 of them and play with them.  How could they be put together?  What would it look like?  What could you do with it?  Then choose 2 other words and just play around with them.  That will get your mind started reaching out for seemingly unrelated things and begin to put them together.  You might be amazed by what you come up with!