Inspired by All the Little Things - Featuring Lynn Mangan

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 and Happy Spring! Tracey here with this week's new inspiration. I chose this photo of a lovely magnolia bloom because for me seeing the magnolia's bloom is a sure sign that spring is here and warmer temperatures are on their way. This week I have invited the talented Lynn Magnan to be my guest. You likely know Lynn from her blog The Mango Boys & Me or for her design work at Fusion and Time Out Challenge. Her design principle is unmistakably CAS and her use of sentiments and flowers is brilliant. Lynn's designs are always so stylish and classy. Lynn and I have been blogging friends for a few years now and last fall I had the pleasure of meeting her. She is as lovely in real life as she is in blogland.

Lynn Mangan

I asked Lynn 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 The Mango Boys and Me.  I have four boys and a hubby, so it only seemed fitting to have a blog named after our family. I started my blog in 2009 (wow!  That’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging for almost 7 years.) primarily as a place to share my cards but more importantly to capture little things that were happening with our family. It is easier for me to journal in a blog than writing it in a small notebook. Not sure why!

2. What is your style of card making?

I’m definitely a clean and simple card maker and my favorite cards are those that are primarly stamps and ink with a few elements here or there. Occasionally I’ll have several layers, but most of the time it’s pretty CAS with a small touch of patterned paper to finish it off.

3. Who inspires you as a designer?

I’m drawn to clean and simpler designers, but more often than not, I’m inspired by the designer’s personality. I love getting to know others in the blogging community.  My favorite thing about blogging is getting to know others and the friendships I’ve gained.

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

 Most of my cards start with the sentiment. I love sentiments and then I’ll design the rest of my card around the sentiment.  If you pop my blog, you’ll see I love flowers so I’ll quite often make cards with flowers. I’m often perusing Pinterest for color combinations, snapping a picture of a pillow or some other pattern when I’m out and about running errands. 

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

Well…my husband and I dated for 6 years before we got married and he always says the one thing that surprised him about me is that I’m absent minded.  I quite often put things away because I don’t like clutter; however, I can rarely remember the “logical” place where I put them away. So now after 24 years of marriage he asks me the three places I may have put something in hopes that he’ll actually find it in one of them!  Here’s hoping I didn’t throw it away…I’ve been known to do that too!

Here is Lynn'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-http://kimcreate.blogspot.ca/

Keeway Tsao-https://kiwikoncepts.com/

LauraJane- http://ahiaf.blogspot.com/

Leigh Penner - www.leighpenner.blogspot.com  

Marcie Sharp- http://cardmakinchaos.blogspot.ca/

Sheri Gilson-http://papercraftyscreations.blogspot.ca/

and one more project by me!

Tracey McNeely

We hope you will play along with us!

The linky will close on Thursday, April 28 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!

An InLinkz Link-up