Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Old: papers; New: Embellishments)
Some nights, you just go where inspiration can take you and it is not where you thought at all. It was already late and I thought I would pull out some paper scraps and test out a set of dies, so I reached for one of the summer paper pack I had put aside. The one I grabbed is the Beach Bum collection from Fancy Pants Designs (dating all of the way back to 2010). It was a weird set of leftover papers, as I had three fully untouched 12" x 12" papers and very small scraps from all of the other papers. As I was trying to decide what to die-cut, I found that the leftovers I did have were quite interesting and I was reluctant to cut into them as I realized they could all pair together quite nicely on a page. I had the wave borders, the title block with the sun, a couple of cloud, trees and fish die-cuts, a boat image... I got curious, picked one of the blue pages, tested out the pieces on it and the wheels were set in motion. I went back to the calendar I've been picking pictures from and the first one I found was my brother-in-law and two nieces on a boat. Perfect theme for that page.
This probably got put together in record time because it feels like all the leftovers pieces worked together so well. I can say I wasn't planning to go back to older supplies necessarily this weekend because I have more recent summer-themed collections that I want to revisit during the sunny season, but when inspiration comes, it should never be ignored. The orange block could have been my title, and initially, I planned to do my journaling inside the clouds, but I realized there was not much to say about the picture and that I had room to do a nice, longer title, so I went with lyrics of a French song about boats. Again, the alphabets I ended up picking to match my papers are all super old. You have a Making Memories navy rub-on set that was purchased in 2004 (!), burgundy stickers from Cosmo Cricket from 2010 and navy stickers from Bella Blvd. that were from their Winter Wonder collection. I pulled out my white gel pen and added details to the wave border (it looked too plain, it needed something along the edge), the top die-cut and handwrote my date on the picture directly. I added silver pearls on the dotted border, Doo Dadz on the boat and Gold Sparkle Crystals on the trees (I love that detail, I've had trouble using those crystals sucessfully, but they look fantastic on the trees, pairing well with the yellow flower detailing).
Oh, and I should mention that I was not liking the straight edges on the sun piece so I pulled out my deckle trimmer to fix that. I love that trimmer. I don't necessarily use it often, but I use it regularly and it is one of those purchases that will pay for itself in the long run. I seem to understand that there's been mixed reviews about this tool (as per comments from Tim addressing it during his Facebook Lives), but I like the soft deckle, I don't necessarily need it to be more than that. My only issue with it is that there is one spot at the top (near the hinge) that doesn't cut as sharply and tears the paper more than it neatly cut it, but I've gotten into the habit of cutting my pieces at the bottom of the cutter instead of the top (which is my usual habit, as this is how my larger guillotine cutter is set up and it makes more sense as you don't need to fully lower the arm if you are cutting a shorter piece). Small readjustment in the grand scheme of things and I still consider it a good purchase for me personally.
Supplies
Patterned Papers, Die-Cuts: Beach Bum (Fancy Pants Designs)
Stickers: Winter Wonder Alphabet (Bella Blvd.); Tiny Type (Cosmo Cricket)
Acessories: White Gel Pen (Gellyroll); Navy Misunderstood Alphabet Rub-Ons (Making Memories);
Halloween Party and Seasonal Pine Doo Dadz (Buttons Galore & More);
Gold Sparkle Crystals, Silver Foil Pearls (Studio Katia); Deckle Trimmer (Tim Holtz for Tonic);
Midas Touch and Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brushes (Nuvo);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)
Comments