In all things creative, I find that I must "flood" my imagination with images from many sources to find the inspiration for a design of any kind. Years ago, my husband's aunt criticized me for doing this, calling it a waste of money. I told her it was my "research". Thank goodness for the internet--- we have lots of inspiration at our fingertips so I don't have to buy so many magazines, etc. I wish I was able to create from scratch so I wouldn't spend so much time with this, but for me, it's necessary to the process.