Oooh, it’s November 10th already! Which means I have another instalment of Inspired by to share with you!

Inspired by is a monthly challenge my friend Riikka and I started over 3 years ago. We decide on a theme (and that theme can be anything from a film, a book, a painting, to an item, colour scheme or material) and then we create something with that theme or thing in mind.

We keep what we’re making a secret until reveal day on the 10th, when we show you and each other our creations.

For this month’s theme Riikka sent me an envelope that I shared on Instagram.

In the envelope I found some awesome goodies and… the October issue of the Finnish home decor magazine Deko!

I love all things magazine and I’m especially fond of home decor magazines. Flipping through the magazine I immediately saw plenty of jumping-off points.

As it happens I also had my own home decor on the brain. This has everything to do with Marie Kondo’s magic tidying up method. I read the book in May and I dove right in: not a thing in my home was left unturned.

After a while I became less of a fanatic and there is still plenty to de-clutter left, but… Loads and loads of stuff was purged and most rooms and closets became a lot more spacious. And although that was the point, it also became painfully clear that some of my stuff and some of the rooms are in dire need of an update.

So if I’m honest, seeing the clean and perfectly styled Scandinavian homes on the magazine pages made me a bit sad. Because I wish I could update everything in a flash. And I just can’t…

I can also partly blame this on Marie Kondo, because after reading her book I became much more conscious about what I buy and even where I buy. In a nutshell I’ve discovered that there really isn’t much stuff that sparks my joy. Also: the stuff that I do think is amazing usually is high quality and doesn’t come cheap.

And then there was something that came up in a conversation I had with Petra last week. We spoke about scrapbooking, journaling and documenting life among other things. I’m not really documenting anything on a regular basis right now. Not in a journal, not in a scrapbook, not in a planner and not even here on the old blog!

Petra gave me more than a couple of things to think about and when I came home I went through my 2015 photo library. I was curious to see what events I had photographed, what events I probably would have scrapbooked in previous years and if there were any photos that would make more sense if there were some words written about them.

Cue Marie Kondo again… In my May/June library there were loads of photos of piles of stuff, tidy shelves and neatly folded towels! And I had a story to go with them!

Accompanied by some of the decorative elements that I found in Deko – of course! Like black and white doodled wall paper, yellow accents and blonde wood. I even formatted the text like in a magazine, just because it sparked my joy!

Do you have a favourite home decor magazine? Tell me in the comments, so I can check it out!

Then go to Paperiliitin to see what Deko-inspired project Riikka has created!

I’ll be back later today with an Elizabeth Craft Designs project, so be sure to check that out too, especially if you’re looking for an easy peasy Christmas project to make!