Gifted Hands, Ink!

My First Design!

Although this card doesn't look at all like Patty's card posted on Friday.  I did use her for inspiration!  I loved her hexagon sentiment so much that I used it on all four of my designs!  I loved how she backed it with another color and trimmed it to fit!

 

It's size is perfect for a lot of Stampin' Up's sentiment stamps.  I used the Celebrate words from 142098 Here's to Cheers, that is on the carry over list from the Holiday Mini and only available until June.  I will be posting the rest of my cards as my Tuesday posts in the next month or so.  I couldn't believe how easy it was to put these cards together after I had the paper on my cards and the tools cut out.  Here is the inside.  I am going to offer this set as product based class.  I have a bunch of tools left over and I just have to make more!  The Twisted Gate Fold Card turned out awesome!  Here is the inside of the card!

Your Subconscious Mind is Amazing!

I play tennis.  Sometimes I serve well and sometimes I don't.  When I don't, the more I think about it, the worse it gets!  In the book, Inner Tennis, the first chapter talks about tricking your brain into helping you correct this.  As you get ready to serve, you think about the most perfect serve you ever made.  Then you stop thinking and serve.  You know what!  You serve a great serve!  Don't ask me how it works, but it does for me!

How does this relate to stamping?  I think it was my upline, years ago, that said she gets the best ideas in the shower in the morning.  I started paying attention, and you know what, so do I!  Why?  If I put away a card design that just isn't working, or put out some materials that I might want to work on in the future and go to sleep - whether I like it or not, my mind works on the problem when I am asleep.  

Now do you understand why I gave you the design tips in little pieces?  Did you come up with some great ideas while waiting to see what I would post next?  Did inspiration come to you in the morning?  Right away?  Two days later?

That is already beginning to happen with this project?  I hope it is for you too!   This morning I woke up and thought, WOW, wouldn't that ruler make a cool border?  

Then I thought, let's make those tools pop up when they stand up the card!

And of course I want at least one card where the screwdriver is the focal point so I can use that cute little sad face and the sentiment, "I screwed up!"

Can you see where I am going with this?  Now I will get out my stamps and go to town!  Since Tuesday is my posting day, tomorrow, I will try to have at least one of these cards ready to post.  Since I have the cards constructed already, maybe I'll have four!  A whole collection for you!  It all depends on my mojo for the day!

Remember, you post a card here, send me a card to post with you as the designer and if you have time, share your inspiration.  I will send you a Twisted Gate Fold Card with Directions using this set!

 What flips your switch?  One lady commented on the first post that she already was using DSP to design her cards but didn't really realize that she was using it as a design element.  I LOVE those AH HA! moments!

I am a Hoarder!

 

Make Templates!

I have picked my stamp set!  Tip number 4 - Sometimes, but not always, I will cut out several of the images from my Framelets, so I can play with them.  I find this especially helpful when figuring out where my sentiments should go, or if there is room for my sentiment on the front of my card.  I love so many of the images in this set that I cut all of them out!  I especially love the little faces in the stamp set.  Put a little sad face on the screwdriver and use the, "Sorry I screwed up!" sentiment!  It is soooo cute!  Or put a happy face on a tool to show you care enough to wish a friend a Happy Birthday!  Below is my easy choice for a bundle combination to go with my DSP.  Use the suites the SU designers picked and put together for you!

Remember, if you play along, I will send you an incentive at the end!  A Twisted Gate Fold Card using this combination and the directions for making the card!

One of my customers tries to buy everything from a suite before she moves onto another.  She says it helps her design because then she has all of the elements and papers at her fingertips to make oodles of cards with her favorite bundle.  Not a bad idea!

Below are the card elements I will be playing with.

No, I am not using them all!  I am just going to use them for placement purposes!   More about that later!  What will you use?

Use a Social Media Post for Inspiration!

You do not need to reinvent the wheel when you design a card.  Tip number 3 - find a card that you like on Facebook, Pinterest, or a blog that uses  your DSP and/or stamp set selection.  Copy it somewhere so you can refer to it later.

I asked demo Patty Chenail if I could use her card from my WOW swap in this exercise.  When I called her to ask for permission, she said, "Of course!"  She then explained her inspiration for her cards!  She is a math teacher, so all of her cards use some kind of math in them - geometry, shapes, symmetry.....she takes her strength, MATH, and uses it in her card designs.   Math is NOT my strength, so that will not be my inspiration.  Here is her card!

Love the geometric shapes in this card.  This card will be my inspiration.  I may use a lot of elements from the card, or I may just use one or two elements.  My beloved dad has been gone for several years now so, I don't need a Father's Day card.  I will look for a different sentiment to fit into the hexagon shape.

What card will be your inspiration?