A few months ago I was working a lot from inspiration pieces. I got the idea to sign up a few friends to work with me in a series. I selected the inspiration piece and created my card. Then I sent ONLY my scanned card to the next person. When they sent their scan to me I sent ONLY that one on to the next person. Here's the resulting serial inspiration...

This is the inspiration piece...

I used the colors, flowers, and the ruffle from the bed skirt to create this... 

Elaine used some of the same colors, kept flowers, and a little of the layout. She substituted lace for my ruffle...

 Janet kept the diagonal in the layout and the large flower, though she moved it. She also used rubber stamping on her card like Elaine did. Her sentiment has been framed and she changed up all the colors...

Robin kept the triangle but changed it to a center alignment. She also uses a single large flower but has changed out the little florals for a center embossed band. In place of the framed sentiment she uses a framed 3D cutting. Also, new color scheme...

So, we're at the end. Now go back and compare Robin's piece with the inspiration piece. What a ride!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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If you're a carpenter and having a birthday, this card's for you.  Behind the hammer I added two blocks of paper impressed with houndstooth. The burnt orange background sets off the 'nail heads' from brads and greeting.

The greeting is gold peel-off re-colored with sharpie markers.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I hand-cut the eagle from a magazine illustration and added it over an image of the Liberty Bell and Declaration of Independence. Before placing it I stained a 'shadow' around the eagle to make it pop.

On the burgundy background I added stripes of dark blue in 1", 3/4", 1/2" and 1/4". I drew a metallic gold line along the left edge of each. 

The Freedom text is a fabric sticker.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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The color block on this is from a catalog of kitchen tiles. I made a crease at each of the seams and around the outside to reinforce the look of real tiles.  

red brads, a rubon and a sticker finish off this card.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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As a followup to yesterdays rant about winter, I thought I'd welcome SPRING back.

These birds are from a calendar and cut with nestabilities. I dropped in a tan background and added a bit of ribbon with a bow. The text at the top and bottom are stickers (no surprise there).

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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It SNOWED the day I made this (Feb 14) and that is SO WRONG! I'm tired of winter which started early this year too. Too much snow for me.

Anyway, I pulled together a Cuttlebug background with whire swirls, an old card illustration, some snowflake brads and a glittery sticker. Add this to burgundy cardstock, a green ribbon, a scalloped background and, voila! 

So I'm ready nor NEXT year, but I am SO done with this one.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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More puppies from my calendar...love these little guys.

Sut with nestabilities and backed with green paper to blend in with the leaves in their background. 

I used white rubons for text and added a little rhinestone heart to show how much they mean to each other.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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From a full-page magazine illustration I selected just this small part to feature on this card. These hands are so expressive and the sticker I found fit perfectly as the sentiment. 

I mounted on cranberry cardstock and rounded the corners. It just barely shows but I used the next largest nestability to emboss a scalloped background on the cranberry and then mounted all on a tan card base.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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A simple card made from a card!

I cut out the image from an old card front with nestabilities and then cut a larger piece of green for a background. The folded card base pulls the colors from the flower and then dropped on a couple of stickers and a rhinestone heart. 

The black text is hand-written with a marker.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I'm not much of a morning person so it really takes an extraordinary sky to get me to pull out the camera at 6 am! However, TWICE in one week I was inspired to do just that.

One morning it was the beautiful fog in the valley behind the house.

Then two days later, here comes the most incredible sunrise.

I better save these someplace safe. Who knows when I'll be coherent enough at the crack of dawn to capture something like this again?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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More calendar birds! For a while they were lining them up in pairs so this clear sticker was a perfect sentiment to use. I used a scallop Nestability but the shape just faced into the background paper so I did a bit of doodling around the illustration. The salmon cardstock base brings out the color of the birds' eyes, reinforcing the theme of 'viewing'.

This was hubby's Valentine. 

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I stopped in at the thrift store and bought two cassette tape holders for $1 each. In my studio I gave them a new lease on life by standing them on their ends, tipping them back just a little and loading them up with all my spools of ribbon. 

While I was at it I arranged all the ribbon in color families to make it easier to select just the right one. I also put all the satin together, all the grosgrain, all the sheers, etc.

The plastic tub on the left has all the cut pieces - short and long - mixed together. Many times I can just stir around in this and find a suitable piece for a project without whacking off a new length from the spools.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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Yep, an early start on holiday cards! One year I someone gave me their old used calendar with photographs of needlepoint on every month.Most are too big to use on cards, but this one was perfect.

In addition to the red panel, green card base and scallop cutting, I added gold peel-offs and some lovely red rhinestones to get in the seasonal spirit. 

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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Yes, I agree - today's entry is a bit garish. But once I got going on it I just decided it was going to have to do. The blue cardstock base and yellow panel were selected to go with the sunflower which I cut with Nestabilities. Then I tried out a technique I had seen in which a panel is inserted 'through' the die so it only cuts half of it. Voila! An arched panel. 

Not sure where I wanted to go with this, I started adding gold peel-off stickers... and here you are.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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This little garden girl is from the front of an old greeting card. I used a mix of colors in the layering to pick up various hues from her garden.  The background is a self-printed scrapbook paper that originated with the Epson project website. The text block is a vellum sticker. The green tint of the sticker was too yellow for the rest of the piece so I stuck it to a light blue cardstock to 'adjust' the color. Then I cut it out and rounded the corners to match those on the other pieces.

I added three purple dragonfly rhinestones for balance.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I was shocked when my annual bird calendar presented this squirrel. It IS labeled as a 'flying' squirrel but I still think it is stretching just a bit to include him on a bird calendar!

I used Nestabilities to cut the illustration as well as a larger circle from green. The two ends are torn scrapbook paper with the edges roughed up and I added a vellum sticker over the top. 

The little guy has such an earnest look on his face that I added three whinestone flowers to give him something to look at.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I had another tan card base with crackle print scrapbook paper and rounded corners left on my work table. So I pulled out this little calendar puppy, scalloped him and mounted him on a corner-rounded blue paper. 

Two green stickers (one cardstock and one acrylic) provide the greeting and three green rhinestones carry the color theme.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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These hedgehogs are from a series illustrating the fine detail that will print on a specific brand of paper. Too cute! I mounted them on crackle-print scrapbook paper over tan cardstock and finished off with a vellum sticker at the top and white rub-on at the bottom. 

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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I've been hanging on to this illustration from an art magazine for a long time. I cut it with Nestabilities and mounted on metallic gold over burgundy card base. 

Two simple cardstock stickers say it all.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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This nest from a magazine ad was torn around and mounted flush with the left edge of an orange card base. a torn strip from a burlap-print scrapbook paper was used to 'bind' the spine of the card. 

I added two cardstock stickers that read 'reflect hope' and colored a clear rhinestone heart with Sharpies to add to the nest.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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