Indian Summer ....

... today has been so warm; it's almost like summer.  I love it when you get these days in the Autumn - it makes seem like summer is still with us.  But I know that's only an illusion - it was very cold on Sunday morning.  But it's been nice and I've enjoyed it.

I was excited earlier as I posted my first challenge attempt.  It really does make you think!  And I've been reading Susan Raihala's blog - Simplicity.  She's been writing about inspiration and I found it very helpful - I'll be back there again tomorrow. 

And it got me to thinking, where do I get my inspiration?  To be honest it varies.  Sometimes I have a clear idea of what I want to do.  The card I did for Annabel (see 13 September - not sure how to do back links yet) was one of those.  

And I made a card for Jonathan's birthday - this was a special reqeust from Ben for his Dad.  They both play the online game World of Warcraft and visually it is a wonderful game.  So I did a screengrab and used that as the basis for the card.  I love the colours in the image and  I used a pearl card in deep burgundy and mounted the image onto some peach glitter paper to co-ordinate.  I added the greeting to the image in Publisher.  To add some interest I made a border on the glitter paper using the Traditional Scallop punch from Martha Stewart.  It's a quick and simple card, but really personal to both Ben and Jonathan.

And then sometimes the occasion dictates the type of card to make.  Earlier this year a friend of mine lost her mother - she'd been ill, but it was still very unexpected.  I always find it tough to do sympathy cards, but I think it's so important to show that you're thinking of the person and are there to help.  I chose this image of a tree (Kanban which I got from QVC) and embossed it in silver on black card.  I added a plain border from the Very Vintage Labels No 3 set - a clean and simple topper.  I then cut a square of vellum which has a very subtle leaf image on it and I used the Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace punch round the page set to add the border.  The sentiment was made from some Dawn Bibby peel offs which I coloured black to match the card.  Overall a clean and simple design.

And that's all for today.  I have to get some studying done tonight - studying an Open University science course about Astronomy - it's great.  I have an assignment due in October, so I need to do some reading.  I'll be back again tomorrow.