Inspiration

Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot come up with ideas for projects without a little help! I've started to become more aware of opportunities for inspiration as I look around me. Nature, especially, provides fantastic inspiration, but other things do, as well. The next time you pick up a newspaper or magazine, make a concious effort to notice things that you can base a card off of. Ads are a wealth of inspiration!

Take this one...



Isn't she precious? This is a Downy ad from a couple of years ago. I think it came in the mail with a sample. I love the simplicity and the elegance of it - bright white with a splash of lavendar. Simple is a great place to start - I think that's another post! This is the card that I was inspired to make...



The card base is a square of Whisper White a(5 1/4" square after folding); ink is Lavendar Lace and Lovely Lilac; ribbons are organdy and grosgrain in the same shades as the ink. As simple as this is, I think it's incredibly appealing and is still one of my favorites, even after two years. {Sorry about the quality of the images. Sometimes scanning leaves a lot to be desired, but I've ordered a small light tent for taking pictures. That should help quite a bit!}

This next ad is from this week's Target ad. I love Target ads! They're a great resource for color combinations, as you can see here. This one section has three totally different combinations to work with...



For the first color combination, take a look at the lower right of the image. The colors I pulled out of that are Green Galore, Pink Passion, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, and Whisper White. I knew that bright, bold colors were going to be hot this summer - this example really illustrates that well. Here's the card I came up with based on this color combo...



Stamps are from the retiring Office Accoutrement set, except for the "Happy Birthday", which is from Bitty Birthday - a new set in the current Spring/Summer Idea Book.

And the second color combo I pulled from the ad is on the lower left - Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White. The design elements I'm using from that part of the layout are the polka dots and the light pink strip across the bed. Here's what I came up with...



I really wanted the white polka dots to pop, so I embossed them with white embossing powder. Other than that, I wanted to stick real close to the ad, so I kept the overall design pretty simple. Stamps are from the retiring Polka Dots & Paisley set. Can you tell that I love the organdy ribbon? It's been retired from SU for a long time, but you know me... I'm a ribbon junkie so I have a ton of it still!

So now that you've seen my creations, I've got a challenge for you. Use the colors from the Target ad and create something. Email a picture of it to me or post a link to it in the comments and I'll put it on my blog! To recap, here are your three color combos from the ad:

1) Green Galore, Only Orange, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
2) Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
3) Brilliant Blue, Green Galore, Barely Banana, Whisper White

Can't wait to see what you create!