Super Birthday!

I'm taking the Kick Start class over at Online Card Classes and so far, it's been very interesting.  Day 1 and 2 were all about organizing ideas.  I don't have a particular way that I organize my ideas but I do have ways of saving things that inspire me.  Most of the time I use Command + Shift + 4 on my Mac to save images of cards that inspire me in a folder on my desktop.  When I'm having trouble being inspired, I will often times flip through those photos.  More and more, however, I'm finding that I pin stuff to my Pinterest boards.  I like how it keeps everything in categories for me and I can pin SO much more than just cards for inspiration. 

I sometimes sketch my card ideas out when inspiration hits but these are usually on random scraps of paper or post its and I tend to throw them away when I've made the card.  Probably the #1 tool I use for card design is Silhouette Studio.  Since SO many of my cards have some element cut from the Silhouette, I find myself trying out my ideas right there on the screen.  For example, here's the layout idea my card today started with while I was playing around in Silhouette Studio:

I was trying to come up with a card for my Spiderman obsessed nephew and while planning out this design, I was reminded of this post from Papercrafts and the awesome comic inspired card below:

 

This changed my sketch a bit and threw in a few other random ideas such as making the whole card out of acetate so the Boom's and Pow's could float.  In the end, here's what I came up with in my round about way!  ;)

Stamps:  Talking About You (Simon Says Stamp), Studio Calico Card Kit Stamp Set (Lawn Fawn)

Inks:  Cobalt, Lido (Amuse Studio)

Dies & Cuts:  Talking About You (Simon Says Stamp), Word Bubble (Silhouette), Boom, Bam, Pow (KI Memories)

Paper:  Dots And Stripes (Echo Park), Solar White (Neenah), Clear Cardstock (PTI)

Misc:  Foam Tape (Scotch), Silhouette Cameo