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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Finding My Mojo with Els Brige

As we continue this week's walk down inspiration lane, we're going to take a look at a fabulously wonderful card by Els Brige.

Will someone please tell me how to make an accent over the e in her name so I can spell it correctly?

Anyway, here is Els' stunningly loose and artistic card from page 24 of Card Creations Volume 10:



Now, if you've been reading Simplicity for any length of time, you know how, um, TIDY my cards tend to be. I love Els' looser style, the splatter background, and the free-form stitching on her card, but I'm uptight and hopelessly in love with right angles.

So here's the best I could do...and I like it muchly!


My splatter background is an old stamp I bought at JoAnn's. I was going to soften the edges of it with the SU Itty Bitty Background splatter stamp, but when I made my strips of paper ('cause I'm allergic to designer paper, remember?), they looked so graphic and geometric that I sorta liked the straight edges of the splattered area. I'm not convinced it's a successful experiment from a design standpoint, but that's really not the point.

And only one element is askew. Ask me how hard that was to glue down.

So hard!

Color totally changes the feel of Els' layout, doesn't it? Hers is warm and soft in browns, black, tan, and white. Mine is fun and funky in pear tart and bahama blue.

I hope this post demonstrates one key element of inspiration: having fun. In the end, I like Els' card WAY better than mine. But playing with her layout really sparked my imagination and sense of my own style again.

I sincerely hope that a few of my cards have that effect on you.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts grid background; Papertrey Background Basics: Circles, Faux Ribbon; Unknown spatter
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: flower punch, rhinestone



10 comments:

  1. I love the card. I feel your pain about gluing down a crooked element. The horror! - lol.

    To make the accent mark, Google "alternate keyboard windows" (or Mac). You'll be able to find a chart with all sorts of nifty codes for exotic punctuation.

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  2. Love your card! Actually all of your cards are wonderful.
    Hold down the alt key and type 130 on your key pad. It will give you the é.
    Kat

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  3. You make me smile regularly Susan but this post made me smile more than most, love your card and it's definitely you:0) Many right angles here:0) Super colours too, xxx

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  4. Love your card! So proud of you for gluing down that strip of paper crookedly!

    To put the accent mark over the last "e" in her name you have to first hold down the option key and type the "e"; that will give you the accent, then type the lower case "e" again ( no option key) and the "e" will pop in under the accent just where you want it. This is how to do it for a Mac anyway...HTH.

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  5. Hi, Susan! For me, your work is always inspiring and makes me smile and what's more fun than that?! Thanks for sharing yourself and your work!
    Hugs, Sherry

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  6. It sure is a gift this glueing things not straight!! I'm also a right angles kind of girl. I do enjoy making splatters though.
    Love your colours.

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  7. I love the colours that you used. Sorry, I only know how to place the "e[acute]" in Word.

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  8. Maybe you and Els will inspire me to try the spatter stamp I just bought! LOL!! I've still not been brave enough to get much into distressing of any sort, though I like it a lot on other people's cards.

    To make the e with the accent open up your Character Map. I use a PC and I'm sorry to say I don't remember exactly where I found it originally... maybe in Accessories, but who knows? It's in my start menu since I use it occasionally for fractions, accented letters, etc. Anyway, click on the e with the accent you want and at the bottom it will give you the keystrokes to type that letter with accent into your sentence. Sorry I can't give you directions if you use Apple. I gave my husband my iMac before I had the need for accents or fractions and he's not here to ask at the moment.

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  9. Of course your cards have that effect on me!! I wouldn't read your blog if I didn't get inspired by the cards you make!!!

    Though I must say, I also like your writing style, your sense of humour, and all the stuff I've learned from you in terms of techniques, layout, etc.

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  10. It's an amazing feeling to read that my cards can inspire other people to create. Thank you very much for featuring my card, and for the link to my blog of course.
    I really love your card, so similar yet so different. Your colors are fabulous, though way too adventurous for me - lol.
    Trust me, it took me quite a bit of practice to splatter and leave the right angles :) But now I'm hooked.
    As long as you enjoy creating and have fun!!
    Thanks!
    Els.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!