Inspiration station - Striped plate

Hey there,

I mentioned the other day that staying inspired with crafting is necessary in order to want to craft.

Being inspired is good.

Not being inspired is good too. It means you need to take a break and do something else for a while to re-charge, that's normal.

These inspire me...

(not the greatest photo, they're better in real life, but still, they inspire me)

Some are old, some are new.

Some were gifts, some I bought.

They've formed quite the little collection, which I love.

This is what I've realised (and I mentioned this before) - if you like something in decor, you'll probably like it in papercraft too.

I like these colours. I have them in paper too.

I like flowers. I have those too (in paper form, as punches, as embellishments).

I like seeing all colours together. I have papers with lots of colours on them. And lots of papers with single colours on them that I can combine to make colourful projects.

I like the fancy edges. I have punches that can do that. And scissors.

Get my drift?

Does your home decor match your papercrafting style? I reckon it does.

Remember I said I used plates to give me a jump start on a card idea?

(I didn't want to reproduce the plate exactly, just use it as inspiration).

This is what I ended up with.

It's a big card - A5, in fact.

I found the paper in my stash - I've always liked it. It's quite old, I think. I usually like cream bases, but because my patterned paper was white-based, I went with a white card base to match.

The Martha doily punch is along the bottom - it doesn't relate to the plate, but that's not the point. It doesn't have to. I used it because I wanted to.

I did two red and one yellow flower with leaves like on the plate.

(The inspiration piece can give a jump start, but it also can make some decisions for you if you want it to. I did this time because I didn't want to think up every little detail. So, I did the same colour flowers and added red middles. I always add red middles.)

I also misted the whole card - unusual for me, but I did it.

You can see a little of the mist here. And the neighbour's shed!

Got a fun item around your house that you can use to inspire you?

Take it to your craft area and let it be the jump start for your next project. I had plates piled on my desk for weeks!

I've had a jug for ages that I love and one day I'm going to use it as my starting point for a card. I know I have paper in my stash that'll work too. Love that.

:o)