Saturday, June 24, 2017

Inspired By All the Little Things #62 with Amy Kolling

Hello Tracey here this week and welcome back 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 the guest I have invited is...



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

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

My blog is Stamp-n-Paradise.  Truthfully, I named it right before I went on a vacation and have never changed it.  It's something that I have been thinking about a lot lately because my blog needs updated so badly!  Changing your blog name is HUGE......and coming up with a new name that fits me and my style has been very hard!  So stay tuned!

2. What is your style of card making?

My style differs depending on mood, stamps I am working with, etc. but for the most part I am a Clean and Simple with some layers kind of designer.  I enjoy card challenges and they influence my style too!


3. Who inspires you as a designer?

I'm not sure any one person or persons inspire me but I like Laura Bassen for her colorful, blended cards (and her fun videos) and Yana Smakula for her gorgeous style.

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

I find inspiration everywhere but I love browsing the gift bags at Target for patterns and colors.  Usually they are trendy and full of color!  CAS sketches also are inspiring especially if I am a bit stuck on how to get my idea started.  

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

I recently started drinking coffee.  Before the holiday, my daughter kept asking for Starbucks so I gave in.  I really liked it and now am hooked since we got a Keurig!  My favorite, Peppermint Mocha by Gevalia, is unfortunately seasonal but I've found a few new ones to tide me over till the holidays this year!

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



The challenge designers have also created a card for this week's inspiration!


Kimberly Lackenbach

LauraJane 


Leigh Penner 

Marcie Sharp
 Sharp Designs


Sheri Gilson

Silke Ledlow


Wanda Cullen


...and one from me

Tracey McNeely


 We are going to be taking a break for the summer, so this is the last challenge until September. We hope you will play along with us!


The linky will close on Friday, June 30 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!

Inspiring Stand Outs for Challenge #61

Oh, my!  Talk about a week of stunning entries!  Those blues get me every time... especially when there's a little hint of pink in there as well.  Such a pleasure to visit all of your blogs and see how each of you interpreted the inspiration photo.
Winners, please feel free to grab our badge and post it on your blogs!
A big thank you to Sue Berkley for being our wonderful guest designer this week!  Sue and I have made our selections, and as her stand-out, Sue has chosen:

"The different shades and tones of blue work very well with the design."

Karen has chosen #3 Joanne James!
"Joanne really picked the perfect stamp for our challenge!  I just adore her pretty watercoloured scene."
Congratulations, ladies!  Well deserved!
We'll be back in an hour with another Inspired By All The Little Things challenge - hope you can join us.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Inspired By All The Little Things #61 with Sue Berkley

Hello and 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...
 Sue Berkley!


I asked Sue 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 Craft Creations and was started in October 2010.  My blog was started mostly as a form of showing and keeping a record of the craft projects that I do.  As well as experimenting with new products and seeing how my style has changed over the years.

2. What is your style of card making?
My style is usually CAS (clean and simple).  However, I do like experimenting with new products and will add flowers, foil, glitter etc.

3. Who inspires you as a designer?
There are many wonderful designers in this crazy crafting world and there are few who are great sources of inspiration.  Lora, the owner of One Crazy Stamper and High Hopes Stamps is my first source of inspiration.  Then there are my fellow DT Divas as well as other Design Teams.

4. What sort of things inspire you as a card maker? Photos? Sketches? Other designers?
My inspiration starts with the stamp that I will be using.  With some stamps it is easy to choose the pattern paper, while other times it is a bit of a challenge for me.  Sometimes I will try and create my own background by using stencils or foil.  Photos, sketches and other designers help with the inspiration.  
  
5. Share something about yourself that we may not know?
I am an extreme introvert and like nothing better than hiding in my craft room as much as possible.  This will increase even more when I retire.  So having a blog, going to craft classes as well as crops and being on a design team has helped.  The divas on the Design Team that I am on are a great bunch of gals, and even as Donna, a fellow DT member says I can be Sassy at times.  We have a great time when we meet up and see where our creative journey takes us.

Here is Sue'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

LauraJane 

Leigh Penner 

Marcie Sharp
 Sharp Designs

Sheri Gilson

Silke Ledlow

Wanda Cullen

And one from me - Karen Day


We hope you will play along with us!


The linky will close on Friday, June 23rd 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!

Inspiring Stand Outs for Challenge #60

Thank you all so much for joining us this week for the Inspired by Challenge #60.  We loved seeing how you were inspired in all of your creative projects. 


A special thank you to Jen Wills for being our Creative Guest this week! 



Both Jen and I have chosen our stand outs!

These are the submissions that have earned a special Inspiring Stand Out badge this week. Please go ahead and display the badge on your blog!

Jen's Choice:

IMG_6097

"I love those ombre polka dots with the uncoloured flowers and the fabulous shine on the sentiment!"

Karren's Choice:


"The delicate flowers and the white-on-white scripty sentiment really drew my eye.  Gorgeous card!"

Congratulations Kevin and Estelle and thank you to everyone who played along with us this week! We will be back in one hour with a brand new challenge!  

The next challenge goes live at 5:00 am PST.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Inspired By All The Little Things #60 featuring Jen Wills

Hello and welcome to Inspired By All The Little Things! It's Karren here and 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...

Jen Wills of JENerally Speaking

My Photo

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

1. What is the name of your blog? When and why did you start it?
The name of my blog is JENerally Speaking and I started it in December 2010.  At the time I was making cards out of my photographs and while exploring cardstock options online I stumbled upon some crafty blogs.  One of the earliest I found was Lynn Mangan’s The Mango Boys and Me.  Not only were Lynn’s cards gorgeous but from the moment I first left a comment on her blog she was supportive and happy to answer questions I had about supplies and techniques.  After finding more blogs and discovering challenges I decided I wanted in and started my own blog.  I’m so happy that I did.  I’ve “met” so many amazing women over the last 7 years and learned so much from all of them.  Our little crafty community really is a special place.

2. What is your style of card making?

I am generally a CAS designer although it took me a bit of time to figure that out.  Initially I was buying every supply I saw and trying every technique out there.  It really took a few years to hone my style and figure out what I really enjoyed the most.


3. Who inspires you as a designer?
There are so many amazing designers out there some of whom I’ve followed since I first started my blog like Lynn and also Karen Baker of The Bald Dragonfly.  I’ve also long been a fan of Jenny Mullens of Crafting in the Country, Therese Calvird of Lost in Paper and Ardyth Percy-Robb of MASKerade - all very talented and lovely ladies!  There are many more and I’m also discovering new (to me) blogs all the time.  My most recent new favourite is Caroline Paton of KISS - Keep It Sweet and Simple.

4. What sort of things inspire you as a card maker? Photos? Sketches? Other designers?
Funnily enough I used to really get stressed out by sketch challenges but a stint on the CAS(E) This Sketch design team cured me of that issue.  I think what inspires me depends on my mood on a given day.  Photos, colour combos, sketches and other designers can all get those crafty wheels turning for me.  
  
5. Share something about yourself that we may not know?
In high school I was completely obsessed with the soap opera "All My Children”.  We were going to be in New York City for a few days the summer of my 16th birthday so I impersonated my mom and wrote to my favourite actor on the show saying “All my daughter wants in the world for her 16th birthday is a chance to meet you when we are in NYC".  Needless to say mom was pretty confused when she got a letter from him but it worked - I got a tour of the studio and got to hang out with him!

Here is Jen'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

LauraJane 


Leigh Penner 

Marcie Sharp
 Sharp Designs



Sheri Gilson


Silke Ledlow


Wanda Cullen



And a card by me, Karren Johnson



We hope you will play along with us!


The linky will close on Friday,16 June 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!

Inspiring Stand-Outs for Challenge #59

Thank you all so much for joining us this week for the Inspired by Challenge #59!  
We loved seeing how you were inspired in all of your creative projects. 


These are the submissions that have earned a special Inspiring Stand Out badge this week. 
Please go ahead and display the badge on your blog!


A special thank you to Amy Sheffer for being our Creative Guest this week!


Amy selected this card as her favourite this week...

  


Amy loved Ashwini's beautiful stamped background!  


And I chose:

#14 Ardyth


I think Ardyth's card is beautiful!
I love how she coloured the single bloom with different colours -- very inspiring!

Congratulations ladies and make sure you grab your badge.

Thank you so much Amy for joining me as my guest this challenge. 
Join us again in about thirty minutes for challenge #60!

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Inspired By #59 featuring Amy Sheffer

Hello and 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 my friend


first discovered Amy's blog and her incredible work when
she was added to the Papertrey Ink design team.
I remember visiting her blog for the first time and being so thrilled that
she would be designing for PTI -- I just adore her style!
And, I've been pretty lucky to get to design with Amy together for
Reverse Confetti -- we've become friends and she is awesome!

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

1. What is the name of your blog? When and why did you start it?
I started my blog in 2007, and like so many others, was trying to think of a catchy, unique name for it. I settled on Pickled Paper Designs for two reasons. First, I had long gone by PickleTree online (that has its own story!), so I wanted something with the word "pickle." Second, at the time, I was more interested in scrapbooking than card making, so the word "pickle" with it's meaning "to preserve" totally worked. My tag line was even going to be "preserving memories, one page at a time." The scrapbooking thing never really happened, but the blog name stuck!

2. What is your style of card making?
Slow?! hahaha! Actually, I like a little of everything, so I'd say my style is kind of eclectic. That said, I definitely feel like my designs have drastically simplified over the years. Sometimes my cards can even go through the mail now, like in an envelope, not a box ;)

3. Who inspires you as a designer?
There is so much talent in the card making world, and I am constantly inspired by other crafters. One of my biggest stamp crushes right now, though, is Yoonsun Hur. Her designs are just so unique and artsy and out-of-the-box! 

4. What sort of things inspire you as a card maker? 
Photos? Sketches? Other designers?
Other designers; browsing Pinterest or Instagram for eye-catching home decor, textiles, package design, art, and more; and of course, the product itself.
  
5. Share something about yourself that we may not know?
I am completely Hamilton-obsessed. The soundtrack is {still} on non-stop and I'm constantly singing and rapping along. 
My favorite parts are Lafayette's, especially Guns and Ships.

Here is Amy'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

LauraJane 


Marcie Sharp
 Sharp Designs


Sheri Gilson


Silke Ledlow

Wanda Cullen


And here is my card -- Leigh Penner -- To The Full
  
(I love how Amy & I used the same stamp set and created very similar cards!
What are the odds?)

We hope you will play along with us!

The linky will close on Friday, June 9th 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!