I've just looked at this website: www.sfgirlbybay.com, it has links to loads of inspiring design websites and blogs...
It also had a link to this blogspot: www.inspirationboards.blogspot.com, which has an interesting interview with Maira Kalman (an artist, designer,author, illustrator and photographer) - she talks about collecting and found objects, and the way they can tell stories. Here's an extract from the interview with Maira Kalman by Lori Pickert on 23.03.08:

'What do you collect, and how does it inspire you?
First and foremost I collect books. Those are my treasures and if I had to give everything up, I would in a second, but not the books. Then there are all the collections of odd ephemera. Old notebooks, boxes, fezzes, cafe napkins, moss, doll clothes, interesting packaging. Inspiration comes from shape, color, text, misuse of text, humor, honesty of intent. All of those things play in making something. The endless possibilities are always encouraging.

Can you say something about found objects and how they inspire you?
First of all a found object is free. And that is always exhilarating. It was waiting for you and you took it. It had a life and now the life continues. You may pass it on to someone. Or forget it for years and then refind it in a box. It is mysterious and yet tells a story.'