Simply Colorful Succulents Card & Finding Inspiration

 Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you my colorful succulent card that I made for this weeks creative challenge over at the Spot Challenge.  This week the challenge is a inspirational challenge with a beautiful image that has some very colorful flowers and a succulent.  So, I thought it was a great chance to use my Simply Succulents Stamp Set and matching dies to create a card.  Here's a look at my card. 

Finding Inspiration:

Inspiration can come from anywhere for papercrafters and card makers.  We search the internet for inspiration and must often get sucked down the rabbit hole on Social Media and lose a ton of time and if you are like me may forget what you where doing on there in the first place.  You know whom you are and it's okay!  During my post today I am going to share a few tips and ideas on where to find inspiration.  First off let's look at the challenge image that inspired my card today.  

I've also linked the image to this week's challenge so that you can see the cards that other design team members have creatively used this inspirational photo to create a project with.  I did this so that you can see other examples of how people are inspired plus in case you would like to play along.  The challenge closes on Sunday, March 7th 2021 at 12 pm CST.  

If you compare my card to the challenge image you can see that I took my inspiration from the subject, and the colors in the image.  I tried to use some of the same colors that are present in the image on my project.  I enjoy inspirational challenges for the most part; but they can be overwhelming at times.  So, I try to focus on one aspect of the inspirational image.  For example here I really focused on the colors in the image.  The second focus was the subject matter.  With the succulent in the image I knew it would be a great way to showcase the Simply Succulent Bundle from the January-June Mini Catalog.  I tried to match the colors and threw in an extra color or two just to balance it out.  

As a card maker and artist I think that it's important to find the inspiration you are looking for but I also think you shouldn't copy a card exactly also.  Why, you may ask?  Well, to me it's important to take the inspiration that you have found and make it your own.  I really liked the colors in the image and that's what I wanted to showcase.  So, my first tip for you is to find something that inspires you about the image or card and use that.  I heard recently from another card maker that said she found the most beautiful inspiration from a girl's shirt while at a coffee shop with a friend.  She had to make a card from the colors in her shirt.  So, in order not to seem like a stocker she took a picture of her friend and had the girl and her shirt in the background.  Then came home and made a card inspired by said shirt.  My next tip for you is to be aware of the everyday things around you.  You never know what you will see that will inspire you. 

For example the inspiration for the texture on my card came from the inspiration image above, but I didn't want to use wood grain paper and have to color it the same as the image.  But I still wanted some texture in the background so I used the large die in the die set and an embossing mat to create texture on my cardstock.  I still got great texture just like the inspiration image but I made it my own.  

Tips on finding Inspiration: 

1. Find inspiration on the internet but set a timer so that you are not sucked into the rabbit hole for hours. Pinterest is great but it can suck you in for hours.  
2. Find inspiration in everyday things!  Keep your eyes open to what's around you.  
3. Keep your phone handy to snap a picture of something that may inspire you in a store!  I.E. a piece of art work, home décor,  the colors in someone's shirt or article of clothing. a beautiful flower on your walk.  And just snap a quick picture and take that back to your work area and create from it.  
4. Another great place for inspiration is Weekly Challenge Blogs!  They come up with different inspiration each week to inspire you.  It may be like this week's challenge and be a photo inspirational challenge, it may be a sketch, or it may be some other type of challenge.  
5. The Stampin' Up! Catalogs are a great source of inspiration.  There's a ton of images in there that you can pull inspiration from.
6. Follow your favorite bloggers; and take inspiration from what they are sharing!  Don't just out right copy them but take what they are sharing and let it inspire you.  But, here's my cavort to that make sure to give credit where you find the inspiration.   
7. You can find inspiration in magazines.  There are some great pictures in magazines that have a ton of inspiration in them. 
8. CASE - Copy and Selectively Edit
9. The simple Color Wheel is a great tool to find color inspiration from.  It will give you different color themes, and color combinations if you just study it.  
10. Last but not least don't forget about your own mind!  It's a great place to find inspiration if you just let yourself be free to experiment and play with your ideas.  

I hope that you find this post helpful and that you will take some time to follow my tips and even play along with creative challenges.  These are a great source of inspiration each week.  Have a wonderful day.  

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Happy Stampin' 

Rick Adkins