Inspiration for a card design can come from all sorts of places. Did you see my Facebook post on Friday? That card was inspired by a date on the calendar, specifically National Book Lovers Day. Really. Here’s the card again. Can you tell which book series I was thinking about?
How was I inspired?
A few years ago, a friend recommended that I read the Armand Gamache mystery books by Louise Penny. I liked the first book. The second was even better. Then the third book hooked me. I couldn’t read them fast enough. I loved them. In fact, I’m almost done reading the series for the second time. I think there are 18 books in all.
But I digress. The books take place in a fictitious town in Quebec called Three Pines. When I heard that Friday was National Book Lovers Day, I immediately thought about the Frosted Forest stamp set ($21/164344) in the Online Exclusives. In my mind I kept seeing a card front with 3 pine trees. I even dreamed about it. Of course, I wanted to make a spectacular card, but National Book Lovers Day is only 1 day long. So, here is the quick design I thought of.
Of course, the 3 pine trees are the focal point, so they take up much of the top layer of the card!
The 4-1-1
- Minimize the number of colors – Although I kept the card to green, blue, and brown, I didn’t keep it to 3 shades. The browns are Crumb Cake and Pecan Pie (ground). The blues are Blueberry Bushel and Balmy Blue (sky). The greens are Garden Green (trees) and Old Olive.
- Fill empty space with the sentiment – Sometimes I add the sentiment first to be sure that there’s enough room for it. Sometimes, like today, I add it last to fill the empty spade.
- Add an unexpected POP! – I added 3 birds from the Adhesive-Backed Dragonflies & Birds ($8.50/162743). I don’t use these often because birds and dragonflies are not really my “thing”. But they add a little shine and interest to a card!
Other places to find inspiration
Where else can I find inspiration for a card design? Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper is the first thing that comes to mind. It always presents awesome color combinations. Of course, there are online sites like Pinterest and Facebook.
Do you ever look at an ad for room design? I often like the color scheme and try to reproduce it on a card. The flowers in my garden often do that, too!
I talked about another source of inspiration when I posted this card. Click on the photo to see the original post!
What about you? Where do you find inspiration? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment or contact me directly to share.
Then start thinking about your next card design!
