Inspiration: Staunton, VA

Welcome to my blog, Paper Crafting With Rebecca!

Today's video and blog are all about "Inspiration". As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago my computer died... it didn't just break... it completely and permanently died. The silver lining to that cloud is it caused me to contemplate where we get our inspiration to create our art. It seems like ideas I see on Facebook or Pinterest have been my inspiration an awfully lot lately. Having a broken computer caused me to sit down and write out a list of 10 places that I find inspiration for my art other than the computer.

For this video I am showing you one of the places I find inspires me to create... the town I live in... Staunton, VA. Take a moment to watch the video below. After the video you will see that I listed supplies, measurements, and other useful information below.



To start with I gathered some supplies and cut some cardstock squares.

Once I had my supplies gathered it was an easy card to make (as you can see in the above video). I stamped and heat embossed onto each of the four squares. Attached the all the pieces to the card base, added a few colored sequins, and made sure that the envelope matched the card.

This next card is easy to make, too! This card involves a bit of stamping, a touch of watercoloring and it comes together so cute! I was inspired to make this card by both where I live (Staunton) and by an old CTMH idea book I have on my shelf. Those CTMH artists are so talented... I never throw away one of the idea books!

To start with I cut out a piece of White Daisy cardstock 3.75" x 5". I then stamped two of the buildings from the retired Central Park C1715 stamp set on the front in Sapphire ink.

Next I stamped a third building (the house) on a piece of scrap white cardstock using the same Sapphire ink. I love how the same stamp set can be used numerous times but have a different "feel" to it depending on the color of ink or method used.

Using some Clover ink and a small round waterbrush I "messy watercolored" over the house. I also used the same brush to drop some speckles onto the house for added interest.

I then stamped the top sentiment on the card in the Sapphire ink. I love how this card is coming together!

I then "messy watercolored" the heart in the middle of "HOME" using the same Clover ink I used on the house I had stamped on the scrap piece of cardstock. Using the die, I cut out the "Clover house" and adhered it between the two buildings with foam tape.

Next, I pulled some patterned paper from my CTMH stash and added the strips of hearts at the bottom of the card front. The blue heart strip is 1" x 3.75" and the white heart strip is 0.25" x 3.75".

I then used a piece of patterned paper that was mostly Sapphire in color and cut it to 4" x 5.25", attaching that to the front of the card base. Then I attached the card top the the card base with Tombow Permanent Adhesive.

Don't forget to stamp the sentiment inside... and something matching on the envelope. It ties it all together so nicely!

Let's do one more card. I am so inspired by my walk in Staunton today!

For this card I started out by gathering some inks: Lemon, Goldrush, Paprika and Ruby.

I also used my retired stamp set (C1715 Central Park) to stamp some buildings to be used for "masking" out of Black.

Next, using Evergreen I stamped four buildings on a piece of White Daisy cardstock which I had cut down to 5.25" x 4".

I then masked the four Evergreen buildings using my Black stamped "mask" buildings.

Using the CTMH October SOTM I then stamped a variety of leaves in the four autumn colors (shown above) randomly all over the front of the card. I then removed the "masking".

Using the same stamp set I stamped my sentiment across the front of the card with VersaMark ink and then used Rose Gold embossing powder because that is what I had in my stash... but I could have used the Copper Tinsel just as easily.

I then attached the card front to a A2 yellow card base made from patterned paper. I also took time to stamp the envelope so it would coordinate with the card.

Lastly, I glued on a few Bronze Sequins.

This is the completed card inspired by Staunton, VA, and the coming of Autumn. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions about it.

Ok... that is three cards I made after walking around Staunton, Virginia, today. I hope you enjoyed the YouTube video and my blog. Please do leave me comments if you have any questions or if you would like to share what inspires you to create!

Thank you for stopping in.

Happy Paper Crafting,

Rebecca

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