Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Christmas Inspiration...or Using Pinterest as It Was Intended to Be Used

I've been in a bit of a creative funk lately. Life's been pretty busy and distracting, and I've had precious little time to stamp. When I do make the time, I am singularly uninspired and feel rather lost and unfocused. It's frustrating, especially because there is so much out there to be inspired by...too much, in fact. And that's the problem.

So today, I decided to take three hours and play with my laptop by my side and my Pinterest account open. I'm so glad I did!

Here's a card that was completely inspired by a photo of bedding. It took a bit of tweaking to make the design work on a card, though, and I'm so glad I made the effort!



First of all, I've always loved color blocking, which used to be hugely in style and now isn't and who the heck cares anyway.

Second, don't you just love the yellow gems in the centers of the poinsettias? A reader gave me hundreds of them in two different sizes years ago, and I pull them out every Christmas just for this purpose!



Third, the inspiration photo is lovely in lime:


Source

Note the sameness of the layout of the bedding...the flower is always in the lower left corner of the "block" of white, whether it's a pillow case or the spread. I tried this with my card and it looked utterly goofy...an example of a three-dimensional arrangement not translating well at all to two dimensions. I rearranged my red flowers to create an asymmetrical triangle of the red that is much more visually pleasing on a card.

But I adore that bed. A. Dore.

If you're curious about the dimensions of the blocks on the card, they are a smidge more than 7/8" by 1" for the smaller ones, and 2" by 2 1/8" for the large one.

And I'm feeling much better about stamping now. Yay!!!!

If you're feeling stumped, go to Pinterest. If you don't have an account or boards, visit mine. These two are the best for visual inspiration: Cards and Pure Inspiration.

Happy stampin'!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Peaceful Poinsettia (yes, it's now in the vault, and no, it's not worth $48 unless you're rich), Signature Christmas
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: SU dimensionals, yellow half beads, glue


12 comments:

  1. Inspiration nothing! I'm copying that card exactly and giving you all the credit. Love that stamp set and haven't used it in a couple of years. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. enjoying your card and your mojo! yeah

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! This might be my favorite card of yours ever!!! Fabulous use of the color blocking technique. Gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was looking for a LIKE button to all the replies. Striking! Yes Striking.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great translation from bedding to card!! Really like your card!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous, thank you for sharing the process, I too sometimes get stumped by the enormity of inspiration available, Cathy x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the bedding! Love your card!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the color of the bedding, but I think the concept is actually working better on your card. More balance!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking time to comment!