Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sources of Inspiration

When I post my "Tip of the Week," many of my followers ask "How in the world do you think of these ideas?"   The answer is:


"I get by with a little help from my friends." 
                   - The Beatles



As you can see if you look at my complete profile, I "follow" as many blogs as I can.  Their posts will either plant the seed of a tip, or will give me the full plant and flower. 

And hopefully, I can remember to write down where I found the seed or plant so that I can give credit where credit is due.   


As I was typing that thought, I looked around my desk ... the one downstairs, away from the PaperJungle ... where I manage my e-mail and troll the blogs. 

Writing down the information I want isn't the problem, as you can see from this random lot of this week's notes, above. 

Finding the information is the issue.  What a mess!!!

Then there's this issue: what to do with all of the stuff I either buy or organize to use it effectively, and how to acknowledge the tips I've gotten that make my crafting fun.

For instance, in this picture, you might be able to pick out that from Capadia Designs, I learned that there's an egg blow-out tool kit available to assist in neatly making your Easter eggs ... and how to decorate them using Cricut-cut vinyl.  That's a tip I'll post about when I get to doing it.

In the pile here, you may also see that I've printed out submission information for projects for publication in Northridge Publishing magazines. How I love those magazines for ideas and inspiration!!

Box of paper. Well, this paper happens to be my everyday stuff for my printer, but I found it on clearance at Staples. It's extra bright, 24 lbs and was super-cheap. 

Which reminds me to thank my friends at Facebook for pointing me to 110# heavyweight glorious white Wausau cardstock on sale through Amazon.com for just $6.69/ream of 250 sheets.  And with my Amazon Prime membership (and you can get a free 2-day trial of this service), shipping was free and no sales tax!  This Wausau paper is fab for making your card bases, and economical too... $0.0267 per sheet at that price, or just over a penny per card if you make two on a sheet of 8.5"x11".  Click on the link above if you want to order it, and you should!!


FINALLY, I'll get around to the point of this blog post.

Today, I found a terrific posting on a blogsite called Paper Loves Glue.  There, Kim Duran shows how she made these beautiful fabric flowers using a 100% polyester shirt she bought but never wore. Talk about repurposing!  Don't these flowers look like Primas?

Now I haven't had a chance to try this tip out, but when I do, I hope I remember to credit Kim for the inspiration.  Since making these flowers involves an open flame, though, please don't try this without adequate safety measures or if you've had a martini or two for lunch. 

[ding-dong!] Lunch time! 

I hope you've enjoyed this info. Come back another time to see how I'm going to work on organizing those bits of paper into a useable filing system!! 

4 comments:

CA Scrapper said...

Thank you for passing on the tip about the Wausau paper, I just ordered some from Amazon! Can't believe how great that price is!

Leslie

Debra said...

I love the flower tip! I am now following her site thanks to your tip! I will definately have water handy LOL! Thank you.

Minta's Creations said...

I love these flowers..I have made the silk ones but would love to learn how to make polyester shirt ones...
Minta

Check out my blog for a great giveaway!
http://mintascreations.blogspot.com/

Lizzie Laine said...

Thanks for all the great info Ellen!