Every project we undertake has an underlying inspiration — a photo, a magazine article, an object, nature…the list of inspiration is endless. Personally, I find that a lot of my craft designs are inspired by nature.

I love to garden, and this time of year there is so much inspiration to be found in the garden. We really love to grow plants that attract pollinators — the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Our year-to-year favorites are morning glories, pentas, petunias, milkweed, zinnias, alyssum, and lantana. But I think my favorite is the morning glory, and this year we added a new variety that is just so lovely in its details.

I’ve found that the stunning details in our favorite garden flowers often provide inspiration for project color palettes and focal images. And I often study our backyard garden flowers in order to create more realistic designs on my projects. I have a number of floral images in my stamp library. I especially love one called Morning by Morning by Papertrey Ink and a retired set called Touch of Ink by Stampin’ Up!.

I’m really looking forward to the arrival of a new SU! floral set in the coming weeks, and I will share some of my new designs here once it arrives. Where do you typically turn for your design inspiration?