Bathroom color inspiration

You never know where you'll find inspiration for a card. The cover of a book, a magazine ad, a child's toy. Anywhere, really. Personally, my eye is often drawn to colors, from the serene hues of a misty morning on the beach (Mother Nature never makes a mistake with colors!) to the bold, bright packaging of a product in the grocery store. Yesterday I made cards inspired by two color combinations I found in, of all places, my bathroom.

My first inspiration was the group of bottles in my shower caddy. I knew I had to try this combo soon -- before the bottle second from the right was empty. (It would look really different without the yellow, wouldn't it?) The colors are: Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, silver glimmer paper, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise. They aren't exact matches, but they're close. I was a little skeptical at first because I didn't think Summer Starfruit would work at all with the bright colors, but I discovered that in this grouping Summer Starfruit looks a lot brighter itself.

And here is the inspired card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Bring on the Cake
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise, silver glimmer paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Petite Curly Label punch, rhinestones, Dimensionals

What do you think? I noticed after I made the card that even the way I used the colors -- not just the colors themselves -- was inspired by the bottles. Each of the four pennants features one main color, just like the bottles. I decided to keep the colors in the same order as the bottles (except for the silver, which I moved to the background) because I really liked how they looked in that arrangement.

My second inspiration was the shower curtain I bought at Ikea last fall when we moved into our new place. Honestly, I would have expected myself to pick a flowery shower curtain, but I immediately loved the colors and funky graphics in this one. And the rest of my bathroom is very, very white, so the bold colors are perfect. The colors are: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, Ballet Blue, Basic Gray, Going Gray. (In the photo, the blue card stock looks pretty different from the blue in the shower curtain, but in reality, they are close to a perfect match.)

Here is the card:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Card stock: Textured Whisper White, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, Ballet Blue, Basic Gray, Going Gray
Ink: Basic Black marker
Accessories: 1" square punch, corner rounder, rhinestones, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue

On the shower curtain the colors are spread around and repeated, so I took that approach with the card, too. The card is 5-1/4" square, and all the margins are approximately 1/4". I added the faux stitching as an afterthought, and I'm not sure I would do it again with this layout. But I love the clean and simple design that really lets the colors speak for themselves.

I'd love to know what has inspired you lately. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday pinwheel

One of the things I got in my last Stampin' Up!^® order was the new Pinwheel Sizzlits die. I was really excited to use this die to make masses of adorable little pinwheels for birthday cards and maybe even coordinated packaging. Well, I now can honestly say that I don't think I will be making masses of pinwheels without a lot more practice. Don't get me wrong, they are definitely adorable. And I love that the die, which is very reasonably priced, cuts them to the perfect shape and even makes a hole on each flap so they can be aligned for placing on a brad. The problem, however, is that my fingers are far from dainty, and it's quite tricky to get everything folded in and held together while trying to slip a tiny brad through five tiny holes.

I did discover that it's easier to make the pinwheels with Designer Series Paper (DSP) than with card stock. And when I have a chance I'll do a little research to see what tips other crafters might have. For now I have one clean and simple pinwheel birthday card to share with you.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Shimmery White, Pool Party, Early Espresso card stock; Polka Dot Parade DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Top Note die, Cloudy Day embossing folder, Pinwheel Sizzlits die, mini silver brad, Brights buttons, white baker's twine

I love the combination of Real Red with Pool Party, and I think the Cloudy Day embossing folder will be one of my favorites. So all in all, I really like how this card turned out, even with a little extra effort for the pinwheel.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ears to You and Hello, Foxy

Today I have a couple of cards to share that use two of Stampin' Up!^®'s single stamps: Ears to You and Hello, Foxy.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Ears to You
Paper: Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Very Vanilla card stock; Print Poetry Designer Series Paper (DSP) stack
Ink: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits dies, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, paper-piercing mat and tool, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, pearls, Dimensionals

I love the little bunnies in this stamp. One of my friends has a pet bunny, so I made this card with her in mind. (Her birthday isn't until June, so I'm actually ahead of the game on this one.) Here are a few details about this card:
~ To make the layered shape for the focal image, I used one of the Labels Collection Framelits dies to cut a piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Then I traced around the same die on Gumball Green card stock and cut it out by hand.
~ I stamped the bunnies with Midnight Muse on the focal layer and then with Crumb Cake on scrap card stock. I cut out one of Crumb Cake bunnies and adhered it to the focal image with Dimensionals.
~ I lightly sponged around the edges of the banner with Midnight Muse card stock so it would stand out against the focal image. To add some dimension to the banner I put two Dimensionals (on top of each other) in the middle of the banner and then adhered the ends to the card base.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Hello, Foxy
Card stock: Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Natural Ivory
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Window Collection Framelits dies, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Festive Paper-Piercing Pack, paper-piercing mat and tool, Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, rhinestones, Dimensionals

I will admit that although I think this image is adorable, I had a hard time figuring out how to use it. I stamped and colored the image several times with different colors and techniques until I finally settled on this one. For the layout, I went with a design similar to the previous card, but I changed it up with a different shape Framelits die and an embossed background instead of the DSP. I' m still not completely satisfied with this card, though; I'll have to keep working with this stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple vintage

I love the look of vintage-inspired cards: the images, colors, layers and embellishments. But while I really admire them, I have a hard time making them. Putting together all the elements so they look "right" is sometimes a struggle for me. So today I made a simple vintage card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps:Vintage Verses, Feeling Sentimental, Lovely Little Labels
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Ink: Crumb Cake (pad and marker), Early Espresso
Accessories: Early Espresso baker's twine, corner rounder, color-spritzer tool, Vintage Trinkets, Little Labels punch pack, sponge, bone folder

I used a neutral color combination of Crumb Cake and Early Espresso. I stamped the bicycle image in Crumb Cake ink on a piece of Crumb Cake card stock for a subtle tone-on-tone effect. Then I used Early Espresso ink to stamp the sentiment, slightly overlapping the first image. To add a distressed look to the layer, I spritzed it with a Crumb Cake marker and the color-spritzing tool, sponged the edges with Early Espresso and then ran a bone folder along the edges to curl them up just a little.

I adhered the Crumb Cake layer to an Early Espresso card base and tied Early Espresso baker's twine around the top of the card. I stamped and punched out two images from the Lovely Little Labels stamp set in Early Espresso ink on Crumb Cake card stock. Then I put the tags on a small safety pin and attached the pin to the knot in the baker's twine.

I really like the way this card turned out with its vintage feel and simple layout. I hope it gives you a bit of inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks a ton

Last week I needed to make a few quick thank-you cards, and here is the 3" x 3" card I designed:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Patterned Occasions
Card stock: Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla
Ink: Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Bordering Blue markers
Accessories: Decorative Label punch, So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, white baker's twine, pearls, Dimensionals

I started with a Perfect Plum card base, tore a strip off the bottom of the card front and adhered a piece of Pear Pizzazz card stock to the inside of the card front. (I used to use this technique a lot when I made cards, and it was fun to try it again.) I wrapped a piece of So Saffron ribbon around the card front so the ends of the ribbon were on the right side of the card. Tip: I used a little adhesive to secure the ribbon to the card stock. Then I wrapped a piece of baker's twine around the ends of the ribbon several times, pulling the twine tightly to gather the ribbon, and tied the twine in a knot. I trimmed the ends of the ribbon to look a little more decorative.

For the focal point, I used markers to color the elephant image from the Patterned Occasions stamp set, stamped it on Very Vanilla card stock and punched it out with the Decorative Label punch. I then used Perfect Plum to color the ear part of the image, stamped it on scratch card stock, cut it out and used a Dimensional to adhere it to the main image. I also used Dimensionals to attach the punched image to the card, and for a final detail I added a small pearl to the flower on the stamped image and a large pearl to the upper left corner of the card.

Thanks (a ton) for stopping by!