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!
Hello everyone! It's Karen with you this week - I picked this sweet cupcake photo as this week's inspiration, as much for the caption that came with it, as for the photo. It simply said "Cupcake Tutus". And seriously, what little girl wouldn't want a cupcake tutu for her birthday? I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
I have followed Miriam's work for years, seeing her creations all over the blogosphere - and through her journey in the Papercrafts Gallery Idol competition. She is a talented stamp set and die designer - with a style that I'm going to call "modern & graphic". So thrilled to have you join us this week, Miriam! She has also offered all of this week's challenge participants 50% off on her Craftsy class called "Fresh Eyes on your Cardmaking Supplies" - just click on this link: http://www.craftsy.com/ext/MiriamPrantner_10298_h
I asked Miriam 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 Sooner Rather than Later, and the truth is that I named it in a hurry, in November of 2011. I hadn't planned on starting a blog at the time, I was just getting into stamping and card making and was thinking that I would wait a bit before I started a blog, but then went ahead and did it so I could start entering some challenges. I was also starting out as a Close To My Heart consultant around that time, and it was a way to get more plugged in with that community too.
2. What is your style of card making?
I think I tend towards clean and simple, but honestly it's very experimental. I started out as a scrapbooker, and what I love about cards is that the smaller surface (and the fact that you don't need to worry about being photo safe) allows you to try lots of new things and use lots of different supplies. I really enjoy mixed media and getting messy, but I tend to do so in a more controlled manner.
3. Who inspires you as a designer?
So many people! I love visiting blogs where I know I'll see something different, so some of my favorites are Jocelyn Olson, Jennifer Rzasa, Kelly Griglione, and Aga Malysek, and on the scrapbooking side Missy Whidden, and Sandy Ang.
4. What sort of things inspire you as a card maker? Photos? Sketches? Other designers?
I am most often inspired by a product. I like to take my cues from a stencil, stamp, paper, embellishment or die, and then build my card around it. Sketches are often the hardest for me because I kind of work the other way around and like to let my products do the deciding for me.
5. Share something about yourself that we may not know?
Despite my CAS style, I'm a huge mess! I tend to work in piles, on the folding table that I have to work on/store supplies in the sunroom, all over the floor in the sunroom, in the basement where I take things to work on when I'm catching up on DVR shows. The craft stuff tends to only be cleaned up once a month (when the cleaning ladies are coming) and then it's mostly an organized set of piles that gets moved back to the floor as soon as I start working again. I'm waiting for my daughters to pick up on this bit of hypocrisy, but they haven't quite called me on it yet....
Here is Miriam'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!
And finally, here's a little something from me - I decided to make a set of 4"x 4" cards with a touch of bling:
We hope you will play along with us!
The linky will close on Thursday, April 21st at 11:55pm. (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!
