Seeing the blogging world anew...

Hello! Wow!!! I have a new computer monitor and can see (and hear because the old one didn't have speakers) things again!!! Going through and visiting all of your blogs has been a totally new experience this morning because I can actually see. The story of the old monitor is long and boring, so I will just say that I could barely see anything because it was so dark (if I really wanted to see, I would print the photo of what I was trying to look at!) So this morning is bright and beautiful in blogland!!!

So back to how I find inspiration...

One of my favorite venues for inspiration is through magazines. For today's discussion, we will be talking about the actual layout of the pages of the magazine (discussion of the content is for another day...) Most magazines have a whole staff of graphic designers that are in charge of laying out the pages of the magazine so that it is pleasing to the eye. So many of these pages can also translate into a great layout design.

Here is an example that I created last night.


Again here I am using this week's products (Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl paper line and Rhonna Farrer's Gypsy stamps.) The journaling says, "There is no arguing. The proof is in and all the grandkids agree. Nana gives the best cuddles. She knows all the best songs & games. There is no one that can compare to Nana."

And here is the magazine page that inspired the layout. This is one of the Letters to the Editor pages from the October, 2007 issue of Romantic Homes.

There are a few magazines that are especially good for this little trick... Romantic Homes, Home Companion, Victoria (which is being re-released in November and I hope will still have it's incredible artistic/beautiful look that it always had), and most of the special BH&G decorating issues.

Talking about inspiring, you need to go visit Sharon's blog, Norah's. Sharon is one of those blogs that I stumbled onto very early in her blogging and continue to be blown away by her ART. She has always been fantastic about taking her blog readers through her process and this weekend she had an ART party all weekend that was simply phenomenal. Her blog is well-worth a long visit. I promise you that you will be inspired!!!

Go find some artistic inspiration today...
smiles,
Christi