...and now back to creative inspiration...

Getting back to my series on what inspires me creatively...today I am going to talk about magazines, the content. I have always been a huge fan of decorating magazines, but since I realized that I can also use them to inspire my papercrafts, well let's just say that my magazine pile runneth over. :)

For me, the first thing that I do is find a room that I love... like this bedroom that is featured on page 86 of the Fall, 2007 issue of BH&G Creative Home.

Then I try to analyze exactly why it appeals to me. Is it the style of the room? The color combo? The mix of textures/patterns? Is it the accessories? etc...

The answer to that on this particular example is that I love the b&w combo with the little punches of color. I also think that this room is the perfect example of how to mix different patterns...look at the pillows. Every pattern is a different size and feel while staying in the same color grouping (b&w) and that is what makes it all work together. This is always a good rule of thumb to know when your patterns aren't working together...chances are they are too similar. You need to have a good contrast (mainly in the size) of your overall patterns for them to work well together.

So knowing that is what I liked, this is what I created... For this card, I emulated the way that the comforter was created with the borders and using that vibrant green wall as the base for the card. I added the flowers for the little punches of color and then the gingham brad centers just provided another pattern in a different style/size.

For my second project that was inspired by this bedroom, I went more with the color inspiration rather than relying simply on the pattern inspiration (although I still varied my pattern size/style so that they would work together.) My mom took these gorgeous photos of my niece Mia smelling her flowers...isn't she the cutest??? The papers on the layout are SEI (Winnie- the peach) and some of the new yummy Scenic Route paper (the green).

Alison had asked me back when I was chatting about art inspiration who my favorite artist is... Well, I am not ignoring the question. In fact, I am planning a 2-3 part blog series later this week about exactly that and the artistic influences in my life so stay tuned. And speaking about art inspiration...the art inspiration blog is up and running and the first piece is there. I encourage you to go check it out...I am still thinking on this piece personally and have an idea that I am about to start playing with...
smiles,
christi