How frequently do you find yourself in a cookie rut or totally cookie-blocked? (Answer the poll, please!) And what's your best way of getting out of a rut or block? (Elaborate in the comments, please!)
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It is not so much that I am cookie-blocked but that my skills don't match my visions. Thanks to Sugarbelle, I see cookies everywhere now but can't always execute them.
If I am totally stumped for a design, I brows the sticker section at Michael's to get a little inspiration...but not all of the time...sometimes, I just pray that I come up with something exceptional 
and then go for it!
I have a lot of designs in my head but when I go to sketch them out, it's like they get lost in thin air. Or there are times I just can't come up with anything original. I think it's cause I work a full time job and I am sometimes to braindead ! 
I can sometimes get in a rut if I have been overdoing it and have CBO (Cookie Burn Out). I solve it by trying to clear my mind and step back a bit. I also keep files of sketches or jottings of ideas for future designs so I have those already on hand when the time comes. That helps me.
I decorate all kinds of cookies in my mind but have found little time to actually do them! (Stooopid full-time job!) Then when I do find time, I have to do cookies for other people that I can't get excited about. I'm supposed to do a couple dozen SpongeBob cookies for a relative, and I've got nothing new or different or even interesting to work with. Sigh.
When I get in a rut, I just go online and start looking at cookies pix from all you cookie artists and that pretty much inspires me again.
Wow I thought it was just me. It allot of things combined that get me in a rut, it is mostly trying to keep up with 2 kids in college and one getting his life started in business that I , as always,put my life on hold for- then there is the house, garden, cooking, cleaning, mom this mom that.....I find this site a haven,I love looking at all your work and am in awe at the amount of diversity in creativity here. The talent is unbelievable.
Everything becomes an idea for a cookie. I sleep and think of designs.
I look at collections of china patterns since I love flowers for ideas and color combinations otherwise I just look at what is out there, either on cakes, cupcake, cake pops and cookies and try to increase my creative brain storage.
I go in cycles - because I am a hobby baker/decorator, I find myself thinking a lot about cookies and ideas...but I don't actually act on the thoughts beyond "every so often". I work, I Zumba, I like to go to the beach, and cookies aren't my job or a huge part of my life at the moment. I find myself sitting down once or twice each month and really rocking out cookies (I do bake and cook other things besides cookies). I have a blog, which I used to be very regular with. It has suffered recently. The past nine months, though, both my mom and my older sister were very ill (and subsequently passed away) and I had a really hard time being inspired to bake and write and post with all of the traveling to where they were (350 miles away) for months on end. Cookie Connection has renewed my excitement about cookies and I have actually sketched some ideas to try out. I am also making some cookies for a charity event in mid-July so I won't be able to spend so much time surfing around Facebook and Cookie Connection starting next week!!! The slump is mandated to be OVER!!!
If you're ever stuck, Target has the cutest designs in their stationary section and I love to walk through there and just soak up all the ideas and color combinations. I don't always have time to go to Target though, so a Google image search also helps me find patterns and other things to put on cookies.
I love searching the net for inspirations, amazing creative cookie creators out there! There was a cake bakery shop around the corner that I would go into every couple of weeks and the smell that greeted you at the door was icing! There is nothing like it to wander in the isles, look at all the cutters and baking goodies and not get inspired. I miss that shop, I have to find one in this city.
Originally Posted by GeminiRJ:
I decorate all kinds of cookies in my mind but have found little time to actually do them! (Stooopid full-time job!) Then when I do find time, I have to do cookies for other people that I can't get excited about. I'm supposed to do a couple dozen SpongeBob cookies for a relative, and I've got nothing new or different or even interesting to work with. Sigh.
Oh my goodness GeminiRJ, you took the words right out of my mouth! My mind is exploding with ideas but it is rare for me to find time (or should I say make time) to do a set just for the fun of it. Lately the only time I make time to get my cookie on is when someone else requests them.