“Inspired by!” with Jill Hawkins!

Happy summer to those of you joining me here from the Northern Hemisphere today! Jill here to ask: How are you inspired by the Summer Issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today? It is overflowing with inspiration and summery goodness! It will be time well spent if you pick up a copy, grab a lemonade and find a shade tree to enjoy it.

I have read this issue many times over myself, as I love to absorb all the projects, writing and craftsmanship to see how it generates ideas in my head. This is exactly what I am going to be sharing here today!

First up, I have a card full of rainbow goodness! Not only is this inspired by the issue as a whole, but it is specifically inspired by Heather King’s layout on page 72. Check out her fantasticness HERE. The clouds, the shooting rays, the patterned papers, and the words on the bottom…I took it in and ran to create this card:

Supplies CARDSTOCK: Neenah; STAMPS & DIES: Honey Bee Stamps; PATTERNED PAPER: Honey Bee Stamps; INK: Tsukineko; EMBELLISHMENT: Honey Bee Stamps; ADHESIVES: Therm-O-Web.

I die cut all the rainbow pieces from patterned paper and the clouds from white card stock. After arranging everything on a card panel to decide where I wanted things, I scored the card base and die cut the rays for the background. I stamped the sentiment in black and then adhered the rainbow pieces down with my Therm-O-Web tape runner.

Once I had everything that was flat done, I stitched the panel to the card base. To finish off the card, I adhered the clouds with dimensional foam tape and added the Honey Bee Bokeh Lights Confetti for a little sparkle!

This turned out to be such a sweet card, perfectly inspired by Heather’s scrapbook page.

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Next, I have a fun card full of cute little critters. This card is inspired by a combination of Karin Akesdotter’s Card HERE on page 66, as well as Bianca Lillyman’s scrapbook layout HERE on page 67. The combo of the blended inks, cute critters and composition led me to create this card:

I loved the deep hues that Karin created for her background, so I started there myself. First, I blended two Distress Inks on Bristol paper.

After I was satisfied with those colors, I flicked on some water droplets and some white paint to give a little texture to the water in the fish bowls. Initially, I was thinking I’d stamp the bowls and leave white space at the top of the bowls (like a real fishbowl would likely have), but I decided I liked the richness of full bowls. And that’s the beauty of creating right? The water could be pink in cardmaking, and that would be fabulous! Creative freedom!

I colored the little fish and cute cat with Copic Markers, so I finished the bowls by die cutting them out and adding the fish with foam dimensional adhesive. I stamped and white heat embossed this fun sentiment to add with dimensional adhesive as well.

I then die cut the border die on the card panel. Afterward, I scored some lines and added simple stitching to create the grid, mimicking Bianca’s composition. I adhered everything down, and voila—a sweet little thank you card to send someone!

Supplies CARDSTOCK: Neenah, Taylored Expressions; PAPER: Canson Bristol; STAMPS & DIES: Lawn Fawn; INKS: Tsukineko; EMBOSSING POWDER: Hero Arts; ADHESIVES: Scrapbook Adhesives; OTHER: Copic Markers.

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Lastly, because I still had rainbows to use (and one shouldn’t waste rainbows! Ha!), I thought I’d create another cheerful card to share today. Flipping through SCT’s Summer Issue, I have so many ideas, I couldn’t stop! :) For this next card, I was inspired by Tegan Skwiat’s layout HERE on page 72. I thought the sunny rays bursting from all the images and bits was fun, so I ran with that. I also loved the colorful stripes on Anna Komenda’s layout on page 68 HERE, so I incorporated that too. 

For this card, I had to create the rainbows first, adhering them down on text weight paper. Once those were all set, I die cut them with the cloud die because I thought rainbow clouds would be fun little twist. I stamped the sentiment & rays, and the added some score lines and ink splats before adhering all the layers on top. Once everything on the first layer was down, I added some stitching to the clouds for added detail.

I added the last cloud with foam dimensional adhesive and adhered the Honey Bee Confetti again to finish it all off. I think this sentiment is so fun and perfect to send my silly friend!

Supplies CARDSTOCK: Neenah; STAMPS & DIES: Honey Bee Stamps; PATTERNED PAPER: Honey Bee Stamps; INK: Tsukineko; EMBELLISHMENT: Honey Bee Stamps; ADHESIVES: Therm-O-Web.

If you’ve received your Summer Issue in the mail, I’m sure your head is swimming with ideas too! I hope that my post today has inspired you to look at creating from a new angle—creating things inspired by projects on the pages of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine! 

We’d love to hear how you are inspired too! Thanks for joining me here today—

~ Jill

To see more of Jill’s beautiful work, be sure to visit her blog HERE or find her on Instagram @jilldhawkins!