So here it is, my first "Inspire and After". This time, it was a card that made a card, so it's not an amazing shift in creativity, but I still like how it came out.
First, I'll say that I adore my SMASH Book. It's like Pinterest in notebook form. Basically, I take old magazines or catalogs and cut them up and put what inspires me into my SMASH Book, with little written things that let me know why I put it in there. It helps a lot, especially for stuff like this that is NOT my normal style.
I had that urge to make something. Even though I adore technology (as evidenced by my Instagram edited cell phone pictures which I synced to my Google+ account to add to my blog), I'm not huge on inspiration coming from technology. Pinterest is cool, and I DO have a Pinterest account, but I hate having to sit at my computer and sign in and look around for inspiration. It's a lot of trouble and a lot of extra steps. Being crafty, too, I'm sure there's something about the hands on nature of the SMASH Book that I adore. When I sit at my desk and I don't know what to make, I can just reach up on my shelf, pull my SMASH Book down, and start flipping. It can be opened, stood up on end, worked on top of, shifted around... And if I should so happen to spill coffee on it, it's not a $1,000 hit. That's a totally appreciated level of security, let me tell you.
The SMASH Book is also not distracting. Pinterest is distracting. Pinterest leads to searching and pinning new stuff, until I've spent 17 hours of my day getting NOTHING done. I may have done 500 new pins, reorganized my boards to help classify it all so that I can "find it later" (which I never do), but I used up ALL of my creative time pinning and didn't accomplish a single tangible thing.
My personality type just doesn't mesh well with distraction. I need to be at my desk with my inspiration so that when it hits, I can reach for my supplies and get going. This is why the SMASH Book works for me. I flip through a book of what I already like. I find inspiration. I actually get stuff made. Love!
Actually, twice now, I've made something totally cool inspired by something that I stuck into my SMASH Book, submitted it for publication, and got accepted BOTH times. (Cricut Magazine, October 2012, and coming up in February 2013. Look for me! ^_~) So, yeah, it works.
Anyway, like I said, I got that urge to make something last night. This must be what chronic exercisers and marathon runners feel when they just get an urge to go run 10 miles. They just have to move. I just have to make. I flipped through my SMASH Book.
Here is the Inspire:
It's not at all my style, but the note said, "over all simple design; cute scallop edge", and I knew what I wanted to try. It's from an old Stampin' Up! catalog. These are the kinds of notes I make... I know exactly what I want to try later.
Since lately I'm trying to challenge myself to go more clean and simple, I decided to try a clean and simple design.
Here is the After:
I think that if I had it to do over again, I'd put the pearl cluster at left slightly lower. But overall, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. ^_^ I wanted to use only one ink color, too, because I just didn't have a lot of time and needed to get something made to satisfy the urge.
The stamps and punches and pearls and card base are all Stampin' Up. The other papers are various manufacturers.
I personally feel that more options (Pinterest) are actually worse for creativity than fewer options (Self-filled SMASH Book). If you don't have a SMASH Book, you should totally get one. Even Walmart is carrying them now! They have thick cardstock pages inside and are very sturdy!
If you don't want to spend the money, that's understandable. Get a regular notebook, but at least go get yourself a SMASH pen. It's a glue stick in one end and a pen on the other end, so you can glue and then immediately take notes. It's awesome!
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