Using Photos as Inspiration for crafts

Posted on 22nd January 2014 by Lisa Sumpter
Filed under Design Team

Hello, Lisa here today to show you how I use Pinterest to create mood boards which I use as inspiration for my paper crafting. I created a Valentine's Board on Pinterest and as I was going through it, I took the first 6 photos from the board which really caught my eye. I don't know why this works for me, but it does. From that, I create a mood board.

I normally print it off and write down the projects I'm inspired to make with sketches and rough ideas of the products I want to use.

So as you can see from my scribbles, I want to make a card, and gift box and a tag. I've made some sketches for the card and tag and decided that I wanted to use the Crate Paper Love Notes collection for the three projects. This is the card.

I stuck to my little sketch quite rigidly for this card. I have used Papermill Direct White Linen card. I wanted to emulate the bunting in the mood board with the chipboard "hugs and kisses" from the Love Notes collection.  I also added a Flair button from the same collection. I made this into a shaker card by lining the aperture with acetate and using the die cut hearts which were left over from the other two projects along with some sequins for the "confetti". The glitter hearts are from Papermania. I can't seem to make things without adding a little bit of sparkle.

Next up is the Gift Box.

The gift box is 2.5 inches square, so perfect for a little gift. I used Papermill White Linen and Buff (Kraft) card to make this box using my Silhouette Portrait. I wrote on my mood board notes that I wanted negative die cuts (like the card in the mood board) and wood veneer hearts. Well the wood veneer hearts didn't make an appearance but I don't think the box needed them in the end. I raised the panel on the lid with foam dimensional adhesive and created a sunken glitter heart effect by sticking the heart under the negative die cut heart.

And finally, the tag.

This tag is around 5 inches tall so probably a little too big for a gift but I do like making these over-sized tags. I sometimes display them on my mantle piece and they're the perfect size for that. It ties in with the gift box with the negative die cut heart and also with the card with the chipboard centre piece and flair button. I didn't stick to my sketch at all for this. I did stitch through the hearts but horizontally instead of vertically. I also made a ruffle ribbon to add some nice texture to the tag.

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at how I use Pinterest and Mood Boards to create my projects. You can find some incredibly inspiring boards created by Papermill Direct here.

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