March Madness Day 6 - Inspiration cards!

What a wet and horrible day it is today, I'm glad I'll be staying indoors doing some work on cards and website. I was up really early this morning (too early for a Sunday), and after a wet walk with the hounds I set to work on some new cards.

Today my inspiration was inspiration itself. A friend had asked if I could create some inspiration cards that she could give to her staff at work, and had given me some of her favourite quotes to work with.

Digging through my stacks of paper I found some great paper that I brought years ago, which has the image of Mount Washington and the Statue of Liberty on, in an old sepia/old photograph kind of way. I thought it would be perfect for the one quote by President Roosevelt.

I printed out the quotes onto plain paper, and then printed out the extra verse onto vellum and overlayed them on the front of the card. Some grosgrain ribbon finished them off along with some little brass brads.

Where do I get inspiration from?

When I'm making cards, sometimes the inspiration comes from the person who is going to receive the card, something they like, a hobby perhaps or the ocassion itself. Sometimes for the other cards I make when there isn't a particular person in mind my inspiration can come from almost anywhere.

For example the other day while doing a spot of 'spring cleaning' I got inspired to make some new home cards based on my lovely red front door. I did a quick sketch of how the card would look, and then went about finding the suitable materials to make the card. I made myself a template which I used to cut out the half moon windows in my 'door' and then used some clear plastic that I've had for ages (you see all those things you keep do come in usefull at some point!) to attach behind the cut out for my 'glass'.

To add some dimension to the door I cut out three rectangles of the same color card and mounted them to the front using foam tape, added a little gold door handle, and you've got a lovely looking little front door card, ideal for new home owners!

Inspiration can come from anywhere and anything, a word, an item, a person, or even a smell. You've just got to keep your senses open and your mind free!