Inspired By ...

... Paula Whittaker at Just For One Day

Paula confesses that she is totally obsessed with paper, ink and stamps, and thank goodness for that because she is also a very talented crafter and following her blog is a real pleasure.

Recently Paula created a series entitled Clean and Simple Inspiration for Clare Curd Crafts which really took my eye.  As many of you will know, I like to use up the scraps and snippets leftover from any scrap layouts I make. Indeed, it was those scraps that got me into cardmaking ... and I just hate to throw even the tiniest bit of pretty paper away :)

One card in particular appealed to me and was the inspiration for the card below ... Paula's original can be seen here.

Followers may recall having seen this card before - it was one of the cards featured on Day 5 of the Clearing My Desk of Snippets, Scraps and Leftover series published last month. At the same time I posted it to my Docrafts gallery where it was spotted by Paula herself and she very kindly left this lovely comment:

 'Wonderful card, it's a lovely take on my card design - really chuffed you were so inspired to give it a go.'

Well, thank you to you, Paula, I'm glad you were so pleased. Your clever design appealed to me for several reasons ... a) it's pleasing to the eye, b) it's clean and simple, c) a few tiny snippets and a stamp or two is all it takes for the design, d) it's a cluster, and as a scrapper, I like clusters :)

In fact, I like it so much that I've used the design once again for this card.

For this version I've used a selection of elements and stamps from Docrafts Papermania All Aboard Collection ... from the same recently won goody bag that included the Forever Friends card kit featured in a recent post - you can see it here. The collection includes a 6" x 6" paper pack, a sticker sheet, page tabs, washi tape and the Map stamp from the Urban Stamps range.

Here's how the card was made:

  -  This time I stamped the map in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on to white paper and punched it out with a 2.5" circle punch before adhering to the card rather than creating a template to stamp through as I did on the first card.

  -  Next, elements were punched out (with a 1.5" circle punch) or cut out of the papers, edges inked with Tim Holtz Black Soot distress ink, before clustering them together using Paula's layout as the basis for the design. The 'Cardinal Line' label is fixed down with sticky squares for a bit of dimension. Strips of washi tape and tiny stickers were also added to the design.

  -  The greeting is another Docrafts stamp, this time it's Fun from the Nostalgia range by John Byars. It was stamped on to white card, layered onto teal card and fixed  with glue gel to the front of the card. 



  -  The final touch was a scattering of stars punched from snippets of mustard and teal card and green patterned paper.




 







I think that even though the basic layout is the same both cards look quite different too. This one is intended for a male recipient setting out on a backpacking trip after graduating. Hopefully, they will have plenty of fun on the way :)



So, once again, many thanks to Paula for the inspiration. I hope you too might like to take a trip over to Paula's blog and be inspired by her many wonderful designs.

I'm also planning to hop over to Di's and submit this card to Pixie's Crafty Snippet Playground - Week 81 - where, as ever, the requirement is to use up snippets. The snippets used, in this case the stars and the greeting label, are perhaps so minuscule they hardly made a dent in my horrendously huge snippet mountain, but every little bit helps :))

You might have noticed I haven't been around much lately. Blame the sunshine ... it's been just too fabulous to stay indoors. However, it has now cooled down enough to be comfortable and we have even had a light shower this morning just to freshen things up again - much to the EM's disgust as he got out the hose and watered the garden yesterday evening! He would be as well to keep the hose out thought, because, according to the forecast, this cooling down is temporary and more scorchio is expected soon!

Right, it's time for lunch so I'm off to have a bite to eat before getting back into my very neglected craft room to finish that photo sort out I started on Tuesday.

Take care and happy crafting,