Somerset Life Inspiration, Part 2

After making yesterday's card from the inspiration of a tag in Somerset Life magazine, I quickly flipped pages to find another source of inspiration, which turned out to be this.

Lynne Moncrieff designed these delightfully minimalist bags in an article called "French Laundry." They hold sachets of lavender. The red-and-white striped ticking caught my eye and reminded me of my striped background stamp from Tim Holtz. Perhaps I could get a similar look with it. 

So I messed around with little tabs cut from that stamped background and grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of goodness coming out of my experiments. My stripes were smaller and closer together, and I wasn't using kraft paper, so against the white background I love so much, they looked even bolder...which was taking me away from the softness of Lynne's beautiful bags. 

So I walked away for a day and came back with a totally different idea. Since my style doesn't usually include distressing or kraft, I embraced the crisp, clean, boldness of my red-and-white stripes for an entire border strip and combined it with a curvy tag punch. 

This approach worked great because it allowed the bold lines to stand out and take up much more real estate...while still leaving plenty of glorious white space. The sentiment has a lovely handwritten Christmas combined with a very formal serif font. That combination is echoed in the curvy tag and very straight lines, lending greater unity to the card.

Bling needs no excuse, of course.

It's obvious that this inspired card deviated more from the original than did yesterday's card, but it's still got the basic elements: red striped accent, words on a scrap, lots of empty space. If you'll notice there's a little banner of the red stripes adhered to my envelope, which is another nod to the inspiration. But there's no mistaking who made the card...it's pure LateBlossom. 

Note that most of the changes in my design were necessitated by the color change, by moving away from distressed style, and the different proportions of my stripes. That's how inspiration works. Change one thing, tweak another, shift this around, resize that...it's an evolution, not a revolution. 

I truly think that to make something successful from inspiration, you must appreciate and respect the original source. I love those little kraft bags, I love the torn paper and softness of Lynne's design, I love the colors. They are amazing bags! They are not, however, my particular style. Adapting Lynne's beautiful design to make something to please my own creative self...that's what getting inspired is all about. 

Tomorrow, we'll see what happens when two separate sources of inspiration feel the urge to merge!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Supplies

stamps: Papertrey Signature Christmas, Tim Holtz stripes

ink: Archival red geranium, Memento Luxe espresso truffle

paper: Papertrey white

accessories: label punch, rhinestones, craft foam, glue