March Inspiration

March, for me, is brimming with the possibilities of Spring!  Of growth & re-birth, sunshine & flowers, rainy days & butterflies.

Here are some of the things that are inspiring me to create this month:

 

http://curiousgirl-lisa.blogspot.com/

http://curiousgirl-lisa.blogspot.com/

http://hotspot-bp.blogs.sapo.pt/

http://penandpaperflowers.blogspot.com/

theidearoom.net

Glenna Siddons

http://www.heatherbullard.typepad.com/

So many great ideas to transfer into my crafting...tissue-paper rosettes, twine bows, bunny paper-dolls, fabric strips, robin's egg blue, vellum butterflies...lots of way to Make Life Beautiful!

October Inspiration Pt. 2

After looking at this week's inspiration for a few days, I really wanted to try a new ruffled flower of some sort, so here goes!  I used the gorgeous pastel fabric from the September add-on:

Step one:  Using a long basting stitch, make an 8" folded fabric strip.

  

Step Two:  Pull the bottom thread to gather.

Option 1:  You can simply roll the flower up for a rosette-style flower.

Option 2:  Add misted lace and a pearled flower center to fancy it up, using the ruffled fabric/lace cupcake photos as inspiration!
(White pearl flower and lace trim from October kit, hint hint...misted with Glimmer Mist in Tuscan Sun, Cosmos, and Banana Pudding)

Ok, I've got my handmade flower-fix in for the week, heh...
Are you into custom/handmade embellishments?  If so, I'd love to hear about your latest favorite!

October Inspiration

Good morning, craft-loving Midnight Rooster blog readers!
How about a little Monday inspiration?!

As I'm browsing the great wide world of internet inspiration, I love to bookmark sites and images that catch my eye and motivate me to create! Here are a few of my current favorites:

This definitely makes me want to bust out all of my MR kit fabric scraps and create something cool:

www.apartmenttherapy.com

 

 

I'm still adoring handmade flowers and ruffles in all their varieties, and these composite images give me some great ideas for more ruffly projects:

www.shopruche.com

 

 

And lastly, this awesome eco-art framed staircase makes me think of rows of cardstock and cool color combos...maybe lavendar & goldenrod, or cherry red & celery?

www.inhabit.com

What's inspiring you lately?

I've Gotta Crow!

Like the Peter Pan song says, sometimes you've just gotta crow about somethin'!
I'm sure in your life right now, you've got someone special to crow about...
someone like a graduate or a daddy or a newborn or a friend.

So, why not send them this card letting them know how wonderful they are?




Here's another quick way to use the Sunshine flower tutorial from this week's challenge:



For this one, I used the ubiquitous Threading Water punch by Fiskars, the October Afternoon Fireflies paper from the kit, and some twine. It works perfectly with the MR Rooster stamp, as well as the JB milkcaps and AC paper, also from First Midnight Run:



So, don't forget, you've still got a few more days to get your project, using either or both of this week's tutorials, into the Flickr Gallery for a chance at a great prize! :)

Debut Product/Technique Challenge: Double-Masking and Sunshine-Flowers

Cock-A-Doodle-Doooooooooooo!
And welcome to the second week of Midnight Rooster blog inspiration! :)
This is Keri, and I'm super-excited to be issuing the first
product/project challenge here at MR.

Using the debut kit, First Midnight Run, I've applied a few fun techniques to get you using the last little tidbits of this fabulous kit...so this week's challenge is to use one OR both of the following tutorial ideas on a layout!

First up, Double-Masking. As you can see from the MR DT gallery, we LOVE us some kraft cardstock, hehe...it always makes an excellent background, but why not dress it up with some misting fun?!

To double-mask you'll need cardstock, two mist colors, a pen, and both the positive and negative space from a punched or diecut shape.

The tutorial below will show you how to use one mist color for the inside of the shape (I used Lemon Maya Mist), another color for the outside (I used Passion Red Glimmer Mist), and then a pen to outline between the two (I used a glitter Copic spica pen in Baby Blue).

This technique can be used in so many different ways and is a great way to accent the background of any layout!

Onward to the second technique: Border-Punched Flowers!

Handmade flowers accents are all the rage right now, and there are endless fun ideas out there to make some of your own!

Here's an idea I came up with, using double-sided paper strips from First Midnight Run, along with textured cardstock and the little rhinestones from the Prima alphabet included in the kit:









So this week, challenge yourself to get inspired by one or both of these techniques tutorials:

Use double-masking and/or a handmade flower using a border punch on a layout, and share your creation with us!

You have a week to post your creations to our new Flickr gallery, and I'll pick a prize-winner next week! :)