The other day I set off for our local shopping centre, fondly known as “The Pav”, with a lengthy shopping list - one of the items on my list was a wedding gift for the daughter of dear friends, and I knew exactly what I wanted to buy, and which shop (not a usual occurrence!) As I approached the store, I was bowled over by their display in the doorway……… the colours were just beautiful – cerise, lime and turquoise on white, so into the same package as the gift, went a cheap plastic bowl off the display – I could just see a kit and could not wait to get home and start to play – Wildflower was the result! Next time you are at the mall, look more closely at the displays, they are meant to knock your socks off – they WANT you to buy………. Use those ideas to make a fabulous page instead!

I think if you asked a group of dsp members where they find their inspiration most would quickly say “The Gallery” and quite rightly so, our gallery is the best there is – we have wonderfully talented members. Members are also very gracious about, and flattered by being scraplifted, but even if you don’t do that, a little detail can spark of the idea for a layout – the colours, the angle of the photos or even more the subject being scrapped – homes where I have lived, the shoes in my closet, foods I love – wow, a few ideas like that and you are off to an album, let alone a page!

Look deeper into the gallery, and what do you find Inspiration and Ideas, Layout Sketches……… and yes, there’s more, each of these open up into lots of exciting sub-galleries……….. no reason to be uninspired with these great resources at your fingertips! Once you discover them, why not make a contribution? Try your hand at making sketches, or go back and look at some of your old, more successful LO’s and make sketches from them – other members will be thrilled.

One of the galleries is advertisements – they can be a wealth of inspiration – the colours, the layout – remember, this was probably put together by a highly paid graphic designer! One evening, in an idle moment, I was paging through a home brochure – you know the sort that fills your letterbox to overflowing? There I say a page filled with lovely gold and brass, and co-coordinating fabric drapes……… I literally ran to the computer as I could just see Golden Delicious in my minds eye! Textiles are full of wonderful colour combinations and textures just waiting to be converted into a beautiful page. A very good idea, is to keep a paper scrapbook (not the expensive type – just an al-cheepo, and cut out bits from magazines and brochures to page through when inspiration is lacking. I love advertisements and product packaging for ideas on use of fonts – remember the study and professional graphic design has gone into creating the perfect packaging for a product – and tap into this great resource…………

Other places to look for great colour combos, textures, shapes, tiles ideas………..
Paintings, sculptures, and other pieces of art
Clothing
Greeting Cards – a wealth of inspiration
Paper serviettes
Nature ……….. can there be better inspiration?
Web sites

There is no doubt, if we keep eyes open wide, inspiration is all around us, we just need to be using the “artists eyes” we all have.

Enjoy your scrapping,
Meryl

Click here for a printable copy of this article.

© Meryl Bartho August, 2006