Inspired By

Don’t you just love it when a design you are struggling with suddenly takes a turn and everything comes together in a way you never expected? That is exactly what happened with this fun easel card.

I did not start out to create an easel card. I was actually using a completely different Hero Arts club kit that had a coffee shop die – the same set I used for the tea cups and “but first coffee” sentiment in this design. I had stamped and fussy cut the tea cups on the retro style paper from Unity Stamp Co and was trying to work out how to incorporate everything. The stacked tea cups were supposed to follow the sketch but nothing was making sense, so I shoved it to the side and said good night to my craft studio.

I’m certain I am not the first crafter to have a revelation in the waking hours of the morning, but that’s what happened. As I was looking at the inspiration photo again, I noticed the easel sign and the light bulb went off.

I grabbed my bin of older Hero Arts kits and found the one with this cute easel die. The “Stay Humble, Work Hard, Be Kind” is a red rubber stamp that I acquired as an unpackaged gift from either Unity Stamp Co or Technique Junkies and it kept appearing on my desk saying “use me.” The swirls and stars is from a sentiment set from Technique Tuesday. I am pleasantly surprised at how all these elements worked so harmoniously together to create this inspirational cafe street sign. Even the anti static powder I used on the black cardstock worked in my favor to create chalk dust (I usually hate using anti static on black cardstock).

It’s not called “Inspired By” for nothing! What inspires you about the inspiration prompts this week. The colors? The cafe? The sketch? Or is there one element that reminds you of something in your stash? We can’t wait to find out. ~MarDi