SCS Challenge: Website Inspiration

Morning to the proud and few who read my blog... :) (still figuring out if anyone actually does!)

(Like I said in my previous post - if you are one of those cyberfriends - or real life ones - who actually stumbled upon my blog, leave a comment anytime before the end of the month and I will do a drawing for blog candy - some bit of goodies that I have created)

I have little time before wedding shower and Milwaukee today, but wanted to share a card I made in, no kidding, FIVE minutes. Yep, you read it correctly, 5 minutes! I love whipping out cards, so I've been known to make a batch of 8-10 in an hour, but never one design finished in less than 5 minutes. New record. I really appreciate the ones that have so many details and take 30-60 minutes, but sometimes it's nice to have quick and easy ones on hand, too.

I love the Splitcoaststampers website (www.splitcoaststampers.com - if you are a rubberstamping or scrapbooking enthusiast and have never been there, it's everything you never knew you always wanted!) and today's challenge was to use a website (layout, header, footer, sidebar, etc) for inspiration. I checked through my bookmarks (favorites folder for all of you non-Vista users) in a folder I keep titled "Inspiration" - comes in handy for when I see something I know will inspire me later!). www.papertreyink.com is one of my wishlist sites... I would love just about EVERYTHING they make to add to my studio, but for today, I was inspired by their header/title. So simple, so clean, stylish, perfect.

I have a pack of cards from the dollar section at Target (ooohhh, I heard they just brought in classroom stuff and I've purposely not gone in awhile, cuz dollar stuff adds up quickly and it's bad for my budget - or lack, thereof!) from "All in the Cards" - blue baroque looking things - which I had bought thinking I would embellish them and make a gift set for someone - little money, lot of love - perfect anytime gift for a friend! Maybe also for my blog candy... :) (back to seeing if anyone actually reads this!)

Anyways, I used one of those cards, picked out some ribbon from my ribbon wall (I'll show you pics another day - really great, cheap way to store ribbon - WalMart curtain rods, brackets, wa-laa! Less than $2 a row!) - This ribbon wall has really kept me inspired... it's so quick and easy to find the perfect match for a project and the ribbon colors and designs themselves are enough to get me inspired for a card! I adhered the ribbon to the card with my absolute favorite adhesive (although I regularly use at least a dozen different kinds) - my "Duck" permanent tape runner, and then used my Scotch clear glue 2-way applicator and a blue jewel, and then stamped the sentiment with my Studio G $1 stamp from Michaels (BTW, Milwaukee = trip to Michaels - yay!!) in timber brown Staz On ink - new pad, though, so super inky!, smeared just a little. As an after thought, next card I would stamp the sentiment, then glue the skinny blue ribbon right where I wanted it. And ta-da! Done in 5 minutes.

I then used a piece of blue tissue paper (still out from wrapping shower gifts), draped it loosely over my laptop, and shot the photo right here. Convenient! Not as cool looking as my new handmade lightbox (which I'll show in a different post), but definitely served the purpose of quick and easy. I resized and touched up the photo just a tad and posted... less than 10 minutes total. So cool.

And now I am off to get ready for today's baby shower, tomorrow Milwaukee's showers, then sleepover at Grandma's with a few relatives, and then Six Flags with lil' sis Monday (she earned free tix from her reading program - fun!)...

Happy day to you!
Katie B. :)