Finding inspiration through online stores

I'd bookmarked MacCulloch & Wallis, a UK fabric site, because they sell silk tulle (a fabric I covet and would love to own but that I have no idea what to do with) and today I looked through their whole site. I already knew that they have amazing fabrics and millinery supplies but today I really explored their trims and notions.

I discovered that there's more than one kind of invisible zipper - and the difference isn't just the length. There are open- and closed-ended invisible zippers, dyeable cotton-tape invisible zippers, polyester- tape invisible zippers, and a heavier weight of invisible zippers than the "normal" weight. I had no idea that invisible zippers came in different weights! I just want to make things out of all these different types of invisible zippers but I have no idea what those things would be.

They also carry fusible thread! I'd heard of this stuff before but I'd never seen it around here. I think it's amazingly cool and I really want to buy some and make something out of it but I have no idea what I could do with it. They have a lot of other stuff that I think is completely, totally awesome: cotton satin ribbon; felt, leather, braided vinyl, and reflective insertion piping; bag hardware that I'd love to use; and more. It's a treasure box of a website.

All of these amazing trims and notions are inspiring me to want to make things using them. I've been thinking that I might want to make a purse because I need a new one, and I've even been thinking of making one out of leather. This site has pretty much everything else I'd need I haven't felt this creative, sewing-wise, for quite a while.

I also took a look at their buttons and it occurred to me that it would be easy (and rather decadent) to use metalsmithing techniques to make buttons. Think of all the things people put on rings, like cabochon stones in a bezel setting or discs of metal - they would make great buttons. Of course, it would be prohibitively expensive to make them out of sterling silver and they would tarnish but they could be made out of another metal. Wouldn't that be cool?