Missing You

Happy Monday Stampers!

It's another week of summer that needs to be well spent!  We are getting a reprieve from the smoke so spent some time 4-wheeling yesterday south of Big Sky Montana. It was absolutely spectacular and so fun to be out in God's magnificent creation. You are going to think I'm crazy, but I get a lot of inspiration from nature. Sometimes it is specific colors that I see which are also in Stampin'Up!'s palette like Berry Burst, Lemon Lime Twist, Calypso Coral and all the greens!  I always make a mental note to remember that particularly color when I get back to the stamp room. Sometimes it is a particular scene that sparks my imagination and gets the wheels turning. I just never know when I will be hit by a good idea haha!

Today, the card I have for you was inspired by the Designer Series Paper I'm using, from the "Whole Lot of Lovely" pack. The papers that feature a black background are stunning and I knew I wanted to figure out something that used it. Here's my card:

I know many of you are curious about the creative process itself. I get lots of questions about "where do you start" with a project. My main two starting points are either a piece of Designer Series Paper that gives me my color scheme, OR a specific stamp set I want to use. Ideas pop in my head pretty quickly once I've chosen one of those two components. Sometimes I don't like what I make and most of the time, I do. Here's a look at where I started with this card... the Designer Series Paper, the stamp set and my card base.

I also had a technique in mind that I hadn't used for awhile.. sponging with dry wall tape as my mask. It works great and gives you a faint polka dot background.

I also wanted to use the "Oh So Eclectic" stamp set as it had recently come in the mail. This is going to be a favorite set to go back to, even though I already have a ton of floral stamps! You will see that my flower colors were determined by the Designer Series Paper colors of flowers.

I hope that helps a little with some sharing of my creative process. I know it's different for everyone, but this is the most often how it starts for me. Want some help? I'm always available to chat about papercrafting, Stampin'Up! products and more. Just contact me and I'll get right back to you!

Hope today is a creatively great day!

Sarah