I had so much fun with this class! I decided to have my daughters, (10 & 5) join in with the fun, so I asked them to choose something and I would use that as my inspiration for the design: They LOVED it and they went through quite a few different options until they settled on this doll and her packaging.

I love the pastel shades, which aren’t something I typically reach for, and I knew exactly which stamp set and stencil I could use!!

Taking inspiration from something can take so many paths; for example, it could be a colour scheme which you see & love, a pattern that sparks something in you or even a subject/discussion between people which fuels a spark of creativity.

Inspiration can come from anywhere and anything. You might create something that clearly shows a link between your inspiration and creation, but it can be much more subtle too.

My card for this post is so clearly linked to my source of inspiration, because that’s how I wanted to create today but other times it might not be obvious at all where my inspiration came from, sometimes I might not even know myself!

I decided to create a fairly flat card, with lots of masking because it’s a technique that I don’t feel as confident in using, so I feel that it’s important for me to practice.

I stamped my little scene of treats, starting with the images that I want to be at the front, then I fussy cut masks and carefully placed these over the top.

Once I was happy with the placement of all of my yummy treats, I stamped the ‘way too sweet sentiment and masked that too.

I used the Envelope Art stamp set to stamp my banner. The actual banner in the set is too big for this panel, so I masked one half whilst I stamped the other, then cleaned off my stamp and shifted it over to stamp the other end where I wanted it. This is a great way to vary the width of a banner to suit your project.

I also masked this.

To mirror the black and white pattern on the box I used my Warp Speed stencil and blended permanent black Altenew ink over with a smaller blending brush. I was really happy with how this ink blended, I’ve never tried to blend this one before!

Peeling the masks off after this step is the best part! I’m so happy with how the background sits with the little scene and banner that I made!

I coloured everything using Copic markers and stamped a Happy Birthday sentiment onto my banner.

Tip! Adding some subtle grey shading under your elements will help them pop off the panel and look more 3d!

I trimmed down my panel and mounted it onto some pastel yellow card stock and then onto an a2 size, pastel pink, top folding cardbase.