I thought I’d chat a little bit today! I’ve been mulling over how trends and inspiration from all around us influence our designs and I thought I’d share a little of that and how I think my own style is evolving. During 2013 I loved seeing people use mixed media and dabbled myself in the form of stencils and embossing paste while still keeping with my love of clean and simple design. Just recently I’ve found myself drawn to influences from scrapbooking, photography and hand lettering. Do you feel your style is influenced by the factors we see around us? Take scrapbooking as an example, I know the scale is generally much bigger than for card making, but with a plethora of different scrapbooking options now available, pocket scrapbooking being a case in point, I feel the two paper crafting areas are merging and blending much more than in previous years. I am really enjoying surfing through blog land and soaking up those vibes. I love seeing the light, airy scrapbooking style which combines elements in a freestyle collage sort of way.

Normally influences seep into my creativity indirectly as I surf along. I remember the light, airy feel, a few layers while still keeping things clean, vellum, splatters and sequins; elements but without specifics. However, to prove my point today I thought I’d use a direct example, with inspiration from the fabulous Janna Werner. I absolutely adore Janna’s style and the fifth digital layout in this blog post by Janna really appealed to me – lots of white space and a mix of  elements clustered in the centre.

source: Janna Werner

So putting my CASE Study hat on I reached for my Simon Says Stamp February card kit (again, yes I know, but I love this kit!) and translated the elements into a 4.5 x 4.5 card. The square card base, centred rectangle of kraft on which elements are clustered on top, a few sequins; I kept to Janna’s layout quiet closely while playing with the elements from the kit. I often cluster elements in a corner or to one side of a card so I really enjoyed this experiment to test out a different format from my norm.

source: I still love calligraphy

Another factor influencing me just recently is the hand lettering trend. The joy of working with stamps designed by Kristina Werner is that she has the most amazing handwriting and is also skilled at what I would term calligraphy with a modern twist – not your Grandma’s calligraphy but a free flowing style of writing with nods to the traditional. So it isn’t a surprise perhaps that on each of the cards I’ve made with this kit I’ve reached for the handwritten stamps from the set. I am still attempting to learn some of the elements of modern calligraphy myself but it’s great to be able to reach for a stamp set to achieve a perfect result LOL.

source: Magda Mizera

Photography has been a long term love of mine. When I was at school my careers advisor suggested I combine my love of photography and science and become a scientific photographer. Looking back that perhaps would have been a great path for me, however, how many scientific photographers are there out there? Anyway I digress, my love of photography has been with me for as long as I can remember and I really appreciate when I see photographs taken well, whether it be of children, landscapes or cards. Magda Mizera takes the most beautiful photographs and then combines them in gorgeous scrapbooking – you really have to take a look :) So while working with the camera I have, I am trying to learn how to improve; to see photography that I love and aim to achieve some of that in my own photographs.

What are you influenced by as you go about your day to day life? The advert on the TV with white space and cool, quirky graphics? The bokeh seen evident in many photography styles just recently? The colours and designs of the latest fashions? I think that letting ourselves be influenced and trying something new fuels our desire to learn and keeps things fresh.

Supplies: Simon Says Stamp February card kit; Dies – Simon Says Stamp medium tag, leanna butterfly; Ink – Versamark; Sequins – Kelly Purkey coral; Embossing Powder – Hero Arts white; Twine – Hemptique white; Copic marker

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