What inspires a design for your personal/fun websites?

Question

What personally do you do or experience that gives you inspiration in the design aspect of a website you build just for fun? Do you look at other websites and see their layout? Do you talk to friends? Draw something? I'm simply curious as I kinda hit a rut -- that is, I noticed a majority of the sites I've done are nearly the same layout. There's no real pizzaz, if you will, to the actual design aspect of it all.
Well, that or my disgusting lack of skill in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash

Answer 1

This is a very vague topic to discuss! Creativity - is the keyword. When/ Where/ How/ What is something we should figure out.
Personally, I follow the diamond principle. What > Why > How > What Else in every design initiative I take up.
What is it that has to be built/ made for this project? Brainstorm and shortlist many ideas, finalize on one. Also ask yourself why are you finalizing on the one you just did and why not the other concepts? Once you have an answer that justifies your choice, proceed.
Why am I doing this project the way I'm doing it? Many reasons - what is in it for me? Financially & for my love for design. The first one pays your bills. 2nd one helps you set benchmarks of your work. No two work that you take up should be the same. In fact, the 2nd work you take up should always be better than the 1st. Not always the case though - your 2nd client may not pay you the same that your 1st client did. Time crunches. Lack-of-creative-juice. Many. Also, this may be a good time you sit back and ask yourself if you're sure that you're not just doing it for 'making money'. To me, that is always secondary. Satisfaction in what you do is foremost in putting you on the right track on being a 'good designer'.
How will I do this project? Resources required, role clarity, paper sketch - actual design, wireframes, mock-ups - basically making sure everything you need (including little details) are all concrete before you begin. At no point during the project you want to look back and say 'Oh, I missed out on that! How am I going to move forward?'.
What Else can I do to: a. make this client happy so he stays with me on long-term projects, b. improvise this project to ensure it is a big plus in my portfolio, c. recommend to the client about making it better, d. help the client understand how he can plan his roadmap to improvement?
That said, the layouts - if they're the same in the work you do, it is either a mental-block that you've created for yourself or a standard you've set for yourself. It cant be that bad. All it takes is a few tweaks, lots of coffee, lots more of sleep. As a creative guy myself for almost a decade, I think the best way to overcome a 'creative-roadblock' is to have a good night's rest - I know it is very difficult to get. But when you do have a chance, take that break. You deserve it and it works wonders!
Coming to your other point, it aint wrong to take a look at other websites/ others' work as long as you don't do a Cmd + X/ C, Cmd + V. But, it's always good to get good inspiration from people whom you think 'inspire'.
Finally, you must take into consideration that a FOB designer, a 'wannabe' designer and an expert designer - all have 1 thing in common. The tools they have access to. Fine, some can't afford expensive calibration devices or super-expensive design tablets. But, as a designer, 2 major elements are your creativity and the softwares that bring them to life. They're common. Like you said, I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash & Dreamweaver myself - day in day out. These softwares are standard, the tools they offer are also standard. What differs is how each one uses it and leverages its functionality to bring to life what they pictured in mind. If this still doesn't work, there's something fundamentally wrong with their 'creativity' or 'creative ability'. No offense here, but this is the fact!
Off the head, I'd also like to share with you a website that I've fallen in love with in the past 4 months. I visit it almost once every week! Beautifuly made. www.blacknegative.com - jQuery is king and this site is a standing proof!
Also, I've recently been inspired by a TED bestseller Simon Sinek. His concept is very similar to mine. Of course, not mine - but a world standard roadmap building concept that I mentioned here - What, Why, How, What Else. Simon talks about it in terms of companies that excel vs companies that fell - How great leaders inspire action - marketing concepts per se. You may want to take a look at his video here - http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
PS: Creativity is not limited to 'design'. It's everywhere. We just have to capitalize.
Cheers,
ST