Don't forget about those Inspiration Sheets

Stampin' Up! decided back in June to no longer offer demos the oportunity to purchase Inspiration Sheets. They decided that there are many places on the internet now to get ideas from. They are right. SCS is the best by far. There are also tons of blogs like mine to get ideas from. Besides the magazines, books, old catalogs and straight from your demo themselves.

That doesn't mean though that the Inspiration Sheets don't have their place anymore. Most all of the stamp sets they were designed for have retired, but they are still good ideas. I refer to them once in a while when I need a fresh layout idea or color combination. I made my club members a couple of cards the other day as a gift with their last purchase. Each one is inspired by a sample on the Inspiration Sheets. Sorry about the dark pictures, we are having some gloomy weather here and the lighting is bad in my house.

The first card is from the Balmy Breezes IS. I used the layout from the sheet and the alternate color combination. I colored the image in with my markers. The snowburst punch dangles freely. I even got out some of that Hodgepodge Hardware that I like to hoard. My sentiment overlaps a bit, unlike the original, but it still fits nicely.

The second card was inspired from the Hearfelt Thanks IS. I used the payout, but made up my own color combination. I pulled out the In Color papers and ink for this one. The colored the image with my aqua painter and the ink from the lids of my ink pads. The picture does not show it at all, but the image and sentiment are stamped on Shimmery White Cardstock. The sentiment panel is also edged in the Wild Wasabi ink. I just draged the edge of the paper on the ink pad. The tab at the top wraps to the back of the card and is held down with a little sticky strip.