Inspiration Week: Day 4

Inspiration is all around us, if we open our eyes to see. I've already mentioned this week that I keep a little notebook in my purse to write down ideas I encounter as I go through daily life...my brain is a very busy place, and if I don't write things down those things disappear forever or until I happen to bump into them again, an act of serendipity I'm unwilling to trust. So I write things down, sketch them out using my primitive drawing ability that only I can understand.

But that's okay. It's recorded, and I can come back to it easily. Inspiration is largely private and personal. Where one person sees a really cool card, another may only see, let's say, a set of hotel toiletries:


These were in the bathroom of our hotel room in Madison. Aren't they pretty!?!? The colors and crisp, clean design caught my eye immediately, so I snagged them to take home to my craft room. No need to write them in a notebook.

After a number of failed efforts at duplicating this super-simple design that left me banging my head on the table in despair (don't let anyone tell you CAS is easy...it's NOT), I finally hit gold by using a limited edition Thank You set from Clear and Simple Stamps. BTW, I felt entirely justified in having a bazillion stamps while trying to figure this card out.


I love words (*snort*) so making cards with just words really appealed to me. But the sentiment I chose to put under the large Thank You (because the length of the line worked best) says from the heart. So I added a heart to the envelope flap. Because I could. (Note that these little cards are 4.75" x 3", to fit into the envelopes I already had.)

The second inspiration piece today was a photo in a decorating magazine. I really loved the color combination here, a sort of orangy reddish shade plus a very clear green (left to my own devices, I would have paired that orange-red with olive green...so NOT original or fresh!).


Adding cream and two shades of brown means this card has five colors on it. FIVE. Ordinarily, using five colors on a card would make me break out in hives, but with inspiration like this bedroom decor, it really was quite easy.


The stamps here are PTI's Floral Frenzy, which has this wonderful two-part sentiment, so I also stamped the inside of my card. I really need to start paying more attention to the inside of cards.



Today's Give-Away

Today is the grand opening of Shady Tree Studio. Nancy used to work at Cornish Heritage Farms, and when it closed, she felt the push to start her own company. Happy Day for all of us!!!!

I'll be placing an order today for Naturally Imagined (how appropriate!) to get started with Nancy's line. I love the look of that set and how easy it is to color...no large empty spaces to fret about blending. Plus, the sentiments are wonderful.

I'll also give a $15 gift certificate to Shady Tree Studio to one random lucky person who comments on this post by answering this question: Where, outside of nature and the world of papercrafting, do you like to look for inspiration for your stamping?