Thankful for Everything

March 26, 2024March 26, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Do you like to find inspiration for your card designs? Or are you able to just start from scratch on your own each time? Every once in a while, I have a concept that comes to me and I’m able to turn out a card from start to finish without any underlying inspiration. But most of the time, I have an inspiration card from a fellow crafter or a sketch that gets everything started. We’re continuing our look into how sketches can be a super useful tool in the craft room.

Today, I have a sketch from Stampin’ Pretty that serves as the layout for my card. My color palette is inspired by several sheets of designer paper from the Hello, Irresistible paper pack. We begin this design with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose a cloudy pattern of designer paper to serve as the background for the focal pieces. The rectangle element is a sheet of greenery pattern that is matted with a sheet of Pretty Peacock shimmer paper. I used nesting rectangles from the Deckled Rectangles and Everyday Details die sets to diecut these pieces. The greenery dies are from the Painted Lavender die set. The sentiment from Botanical Layers is stamped in Pretty Peacock on another pattern from Hello, Irresistible and diecut using the *soon-to-be-released* Unbounded Love die set. The Pretty Peacock and gold metallic ribbon, brushed metallic dots, and Pretty Peacock sequins are just the ticket to tie everything together.

This card came together with very little change from the original sketch. There are plenty of times when my finished design might look nothing like the original inspiration by the time I’ve moved elements around to get everything just right. But having a place to start is the key.

Tune in tomorrow to see how I use a NEW Online Exclusive and a sketch!

Products used in today’s design:
Lost Loagoon cardstock
Hello, Irresistible; Pretty Peacock shimmer DSP
Botanical Layers stamps
Deckled Rectangles, Everyday Details, Painted Lavender, Unbounded Love (sneak peek!) dies
Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon
Sequins trio
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Celebrate Spring

March 25, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Sketches are such a great crafting tool. I turn to them often when looking for design inspiration. And you don’t have to follow them to the letter (I often don’t), but they give you a great place to get started. I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of the latest sketch by the crew over at Freshly Made Sketches.

For today’s card, I pulled one of my favorite 6×6 paper packs called Meandering Meadow. This pack is full of beautiful watercolor, impressionistic-looking designs and there’s a color palette for everyone! I decided to get out of my comfort zone and try working with yellow. The sheet of black-eyed Susans in Meandering Meadow serves as the square element in the sketch. And I built the remainder of the design around it. A sheet of Daffodil Delight serves as the card base and as the background panel. The background panel has been machine embossed using the Zinnia embossing folder, which is currently available as an Online Exclusive. For the circle element, I diecut a sheet of the white glimmer paper using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. The sentiment from Happy Little Things is stamped in Crushed Curry on a strip of Daffodil Delight and then cut using the paper trimmer and snips. A strip of silver trim, along with some white sequins, help tie the white and sparkly details together. I finished off the design with a paper butterfly.

I don’t often use yellow as a focal color in my designs because, quite frankly, I find it a little intimidating and often very overwhelming to my eye. But I really love how this design came together. Sometimes you just need the right combination of products to make a “hard color” work for you.

We’re going to continue our look into using sketches as our go-to starting point for our designs this week. I hope you’ll follow along and maybe even give one or two a try!

Products used in today’s design:
Daffodil Delight cardstock
Meandering Meadow, white shimmer DSP
Happy Little Things stamps
Thoughtful Expressions dies
Zinnia embossing folder
Silver trim
Neutrals sequins
Paper butterfly
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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