Category: Inspiration

Christmas · Inspiration · No Stamp Design

More Than Cards

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

One of the fun things about the art of papercrafting is that it is so much more than just cards or scrapbooks or gift packaging. You can also create beautiful 3D projects using the supplies you already have in your crafting stash. Today’s designs are just 2 of the most recent projects I’ve created with current Stampin’ Up! products.

I love a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, and sometimes all you need is a little prompting to get the wheels turning. For me, that came in the form of a team event. I needed an ornament and a 3D project for our team Bingo event, so I got to work looking for inspiration on Pinterest.

After seeing a lot of different ornament designs where circles were layered to created an ornament, that got me thinking about the dies I had in my stash that could be layered in the same way. On the left is a super fun Christmas ornament I put together using the Joy of Christmas designer series paper and the Merriest Trees die set. I used a repeating pattern of 2 different patterns from the Joy of Christmas paper pack. I really liked the look of the green plaid with the sheet of evergreen branches. I used a combination of red festive pearls and green iridescent discs as ornaments. The star tree topper is diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock.

For my 3D project, I knew that I had an upcoming Advent Tea for which I volunteered to create table decorations. I knew I wanted the design to be elegant to fit the occasion. The lantern I created was inspired by a small votive box ornament that our team made together during a recent craft-together. I decided a tabletop lantern would be more appropriate for my tea, and I was able to find a tutorial created by Rick Adkins. This beautiful lantern was created with the O Holy Night suite of dies. I substituted current products from my stash to meet the theme of the tea. The lantern and window elements are constructed of Early Espresso cardstock, and a layer of vellum in each window provides the backdrop for the ethereal glow of the tealight. Don’t you just love it?!

What do you have coming up that could be accomplished with your craft stash rather than a trip to the store? I would love to see what you create!

Products used for today’s projects:

Christmas ornament
Joy of Christmas DSP
Crumb Cake cardstock
Merriest Trees dies
Festive pearls
Iridescent discs
Gold trim
Adhesives

Christmas lantern
Early Espresso, distressed gold cardstock
Gold shimmer paper
Vellum
Night Divine, Stars at Night dies
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Inspiration

Finding Inspiration

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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?