Where do you find inspiration?

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I'm an "inspiration" junkie. I can spend hours surfing across the internet looking at, admiring and commenting on some incredible paper-crafted art. I grab my sketch blanks and pencil in ideas. I print of good color combinations. I make notes for challenges.

But then I get home, kick off my shoes and play World of Warcraft. Or Facebook's farming game. My stuff sits all alone in my craft room waiting to be used, but lacking that one final ingredient: mojo.

Today, however, I got a good dose of it! I gave up my desire to have "perfect" pictures of my grandkids. They're going to be dirty for the next few years. There's nothing I can do about it. And waiting for them to be perfectly clean and well behaved...I don't have that kind of time!

Here are a few layouts I did with pics from my niece's graduation party:

And here's one of me and my youngest son having an updated version of snuggle time.

Card Patterns

Here's my take on sketch #16 from the great folks at Card Patterns. While watching the movie "The Prince and Me" I was struck by the color combination of khaki, pink and dark green (from a boquet of pretty roses). One of the actresses was wearing a similar color combo, so I had to try it out. But that made me think about other color inspirations.

So...little challenge! Go look for your favorite outfit and make a project (layout or card or whatever) using those colors.

Butterflies and bugs!

Okay, a while back I won a Scrapdilly challenge for some cute butterfly and bug embelli's. They've been sitting on my table for a while. I look at them. I admire them. I think of ways I might use them. But I end up using something else. This weekend, I made myself "get inspired."

I came up with this little boy card with the bug stickers. The bumble bee and spider were HARD to cut out. Oh my word...each of those tiny legs...*shudder* Anyways, I learned (from Jennifer McGuire) that you can create a pretty sheen on some of these small images using a dot of liquid pearls (from Ranger). Just drop a dot onto one part (it dries very fast) and rub it over the image, then repeat until you've covered the whole image.

Glimmer Mist

Do you have some Glimmer Mist? I have three that I hardly ever use. I like a much finer spray than you get with this product. However, since I spent $$ on it, I make myself use it once in a while. For this card, I used another Tattered Angels product that Mike got me for Mother's Day: Glimmer Screens. They come with three in a package and they're just masks to use with the Glimmer Mist. This one, which you can't really see, looks like a tree branch. I used gold mist over it to create a green branch for my butterfly to perch on.

As for the big butterfly, I saw a great card by Beatriz Jennings that I loved featuring a large butterfly. I wondered how I might either buy or create one. But Mike rescued me also. I have the Fiskars template stuff and he got me one of the templates for butterflies. Very fun! The antenna is jewelry wire. That stuff is NOT easy to bend or twist, but sandwiched between a couple of glue dots they make great antenna!

Shout-out

If you have some time, go here: http://drea-days.blogspot.com/

Back? Great! I've mentioned my friend Drea many times in my blogging. If you've been to Scrapadilly, you know who I'm talking about.

I just wanted to give Drea props for being a great inspiration. I was sitting on my sofa yesterday, watching a late movie (Hitch, with Will Smith - what a hottie!). In my hands were a pair of scissors and a small butterfly that I'd stamped and colored.

Why did that make me think of Drea?

Well, as you may be aware, she's the reason I got into scrapping. Her layouts are a constant source of inspiration. But where she's always so careful and detailed with her layouts, I have always been a "slap it down, glue it and go" kind of gal! Straight lines? Never heard of 'em!!

No seriously!! My lines are NEVER straight. I'm sure it's something wrong with my eyes. But I always admired how Drea takes such time and care especially when she cuts out little details from patterned paper for one thing or another. But instead of being haphazzard or not even trying, there I was, inching around the tiny details of this butterfly. I took my time letting my liquid pearls dry instead of squishing one or two "testing" to see if they were dry. There have been several different techniques I've tried lately that would never have been possible if I'd not learned to take my time and be patient.

Thanks Drea!

Oh the things you can do with ink!

Here are a couple of places to check out if you like to use inks, particularly Ranger's distress inks: http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/

http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/

http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/

These are the top three sites that inspire me right now as far as ideas for how to use inks and embossing tools and stamps to buy. I have to admit that whenever I go to any scrapbook store, I gravitate to the stamps and I look for Hero Arts stamps. One of these days I may even enter a challenge!

Jennifer McGuire had a great tutorial on using embossing powder and distress inks on fabric. I tried and tried to get that one right a few weeks ago, but to no avail. Then I watched the tutorial again and tried something different (I was using clear embossing powder instead of white and a too-complicated stamp). Success! I'm happy with how it turned out.

Some crafting challenges!

What things would we be more careful with if we knew they couldn't be replaced? What if you didn't have any money to buy new scrapbook supplies?

I'm all about scrapping and stamping frugally. My challenge to you is to find a stamp and use it in a new way. If you just stamp on white cardstock and color the image in, try cutting it out. Or try stamping on patterned paper or paper piecing.

If you're the person who has to have lots of stuff on your cards or layouts, I challenge you to use less. I'm going to try to make a card that doesn't involve any extra goodies. Only paper and ink. Maybe you can challenge yourself to do a project with little dimension. THAT would be a hard one for me!!

http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/

I also invite you to hop over to the Hero Arts blog for a fun challenge. They're a stamping company/blog with so many great cards every week! There are also often scrapbook layouts that get shared. This week, they're focusing on recycling and repurposing.

So...I'll throw in the "double dog dare" to the challenge. Look around the house. Check out the trash can. What can you re-use? What can be repurposed? There are a few great examples but I imagine you can come up with more!

Old milk jugs...sand instead of seed beads...I'm thinking of finding some way to use duct tape on a Father's day card. Maybe Mike won't mind if I use a rusty washer or bolt or two!

some new cards

I've been having some fun making some sketches and last night I took them out for a spin.

sketch 3

Okay, here's another sketch.

I have to admit, I am addicted to scouring the internet for the very best in cardmakers. I have dozens of blogs bookmarked and I follow a bunch as well.

At the top of my favorites list are Tami Mayberry (and not just because she spells her name like I do!) and Jennifer McGuire. But there are so many others I couldn't begin to name them all. I want to acknowledge their influence on my crafts. Sometimes I intentionally set out to scraplift something. Many of my cards are examples of seeing something great, drawing up a quick sketch and then taking it home and trying it out. But sometimes, I'll see something and not sketch it out or print it off. I believe that those talented cardmakers are still taking up residence in my brain and influencing what I do.

I have recently purchased three sets of butterfly stamps. I have a couple of new owl stamps. Why? Because that's what I'm seeing others use. Check through the blogs and websites listed on the sidebar. These ladies' work will thrill you and challenge you.

sketch 2

Today, I'm inspired by quotes. Here's a sketch for a card using a vertical quote (a bible verse, Numbers 6:24-25).

my first sketch

Here's my first attempt at making a sketch. I used a heart embellishment (intended to look broken, but it's pretty lame!) because that goes with the quote that inspired the sketch. Obviously you could use a different sort of embellishment instead of a heart for a different sort of quote.

card challenges!

Here's a challenge for you!

Create a card or a layout using stuff you've had for at least a year.

http://www.scrapadilly.com is doing a great challenge this year called Scrap to Spend. In it, participants earn money by creating layouts, cards and altered items. That money is then available to be spent on scrapbook goodies.

Another great challenge is to scour the web galleries and find a project you like. Then find some way to re-create it using inexpensive supplies.