Inspired By #56 featuring Michele Henderson

Hello, it's Karren here! Welcome to Inspired By All The Little Things! This is a weekly inspiration challenge blog and each week we feature a wonderful designer who inspires us as an artist!

This week I have invited...

Michele Henderson of Crimson Owl Creations

I asked Michele to share a bit about herself...

1. What is the name of your blog? When and why did you start it?

My blog is called Crimson Owl Creations, after the colors of my alma mater, the University of Alabama, and my love for owls, long before they were so trendy. I started it in February 2012 after receiving the good news that I had been accepted to my very first design team! The very next day I said, “Okay, let’s figure out how to make a blog.” It’s been an amazing journey of discovery in every way!

2. What is your style of card making?

I love to say that I am a paper artist, because I love creating with paper, and I love everything about it. I try to create cards that feature a lot of color and dimension. I love clean, layered looks, even in complicated scenes and multiple layers of die cuts. I will often use a number of dies to create dimensional flowers, trees, birds, and so on, then place them in really crisp, clean backgrounds to show off the detail and make the image pop. I also like watercolor and copic cards too, and have recently been adding beautiful floral stamps to my collection.

3. Who inspires you as a designer?

There are so many amazing designers that I absolutely love for different reasons: watercolor, copic work, mixed media, and all my friends from design teams who work with the same items that I do. I am most inspired by the designers who influence my work, who make me want to pick up the same tools they’re using and try that technique, and that changes all the time. Right now, designers like Michele Ferguson, Jeanne Jachna, and Susan Liles, who all create beautiful cards with die cuts are influential to me. Designer Tae Eun Yoo’s beautiful watercolor cards are inspiring me to add watercolor in a new way. Of course, the biggest artistic influence in my work has always been American artist Charley Harper.

4. What sort of things inspire you as a card maker? Photos? Sketches? Other designers?

As a card maker, I am most inspired by nature; it’s all around me. I also get great inspiration from photos with strong, colorful focal points, like a bicycle with a basket of flowers, or a jar of colored pencils or something. I am least inspired by photos of living rooms and bedrooms. 

  

5. Share something about yourself that we may not know?

I don't think people know how much I have traveled in my lifetime. I now live just outside Tuscaloosa, AL, out in horse ranch country, so a lot of people think I’m one of those home loving country gals. They are always surprised to find out I have lived in places like Shanghai, China, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, where I worked organizing people around environmental issues and campaigns my entire life. My hubby and I are also child free, so now we both travel the world together as a couple, with our own definition of family.

Here is Michele's card using this week's inspiration!

The challenge designers have also created a card for this week's inspiration! These ladies just inspire me SO much!!! I hope you will play along with us this week! We would love to have you join us!

Kimberly Lackenbach

Kim's Cards & Crafts

LauraJane 

After Hours Ink & Flowers

Laurel Seabrook (Guest Designer)

Seabrook Designs

Leigh Penner 

To The Full  

Marcie Sharp
 Sharp Designs

Sheri Gilson

 Paper Crafty's Creations

Silke Ledlow

 My Life

Taking a Break

Wanda Cullen

  Cullen-ary Creations

And a card from me, Karren Johnson

We hope you will play along with us!

The linky will close on Friday, 19 May at 11:55am. (PST)

Some simple rules to keep things organized and enjoyable:

• Please use the graphic for your post and link back to this post.
• Any posts that are offensive will be removed.
• Please comment on the submissions of others...we all love the support!
• Yes you can combine with other challenges but NOT other inspiration challenges please.
• Have fun and challenge yourself!