It’s funny how inspiration and creativity works sometimes.

I woke up early – set out with a plan to show you some cool projects “on a diagonal”. I’ve been obsessed with projects on a diagonal line lately and figured I would find some mojo in the tank. Summer usually takes the wind out of my “crafty sails” (Hardy har. Get it?.. no?.. I am in a boat?.. Yes?.. oh, nevermind.)

Then something happened. I created a watercolour effect on a diagonal… but… I couldn’t find any of my new stamps. Not. The. One.

On the MIA List: Every single 2015 Stampin’ Up! set I purchased.

That made no sense. They must be somewhere… (probably with my second set of car keys)

In my haste, I found my Traveller stamp set. I loved this stamp set so much that I initially thought I should order two sets “just in case”. Unfortunately, like a lot of my supplies, this stamp set was sitting around waiting to be noticed.

My burst of creativity started by asking myself “how would those images look heat embossed in gold?” After stamping several images onto watercolour paper, my mind started racing. I gathered the following basic supplies that I thought could set off the images nicely.

I had already forgotten about the dozen sets of stamps that were missing.

My first card demonstrates how this stamp set will be a keeper for years and years. It’s so beautiful that you really don’t need any embellishments. A great stamp with a great sentiment = a great investment. I added some of the Typeset Designer Series Paper from Stampin’ Up! to give it some extra appeal…. But my mind was still whirling.

I stared at the first card and thought, “oh my, that’s a pretty card. It would be even nicer with water.”  I decided to test out my theory on a second stamped image. Using my aqua painter and my Stampin’ Up! refill inks, I made some water strokes and dried them with my embossing gun.

This is definitely the type of card that I would make multiples of. It’s easy and stunning.

Because I was happy with how the boat turned out, I thought I would play with the train image. Although I love how that came out, I was still “at sea”. In all honesty, I had gone on a boat tour less than 24 hours prior of creating these cards. I saw some beautiful scenery and, of course, saw several whales. Being in Newfoundland, the puffins had just migrated back from down south (foolish birds to come back with this weather) and I watched them fish and make burrows for their nests.

With that in mind, I thought I’d really take a leap of faith and try to stamp the image of the boat directly on the “map”of the Typeset paper. Knowing it wasn’t watercolour, I knew this wouldn’t work out perfectly but that would never stop me.

“Creativity to the rescue!” (Super Grover fans? You know that my head is tucked into my shoulder of my outstretched arms, right?

Well. There are a lot of mistakes in this card but I covered them up and salvaged the project. Under the “You’re my anchor” greeting is where I ripped the paper from soaking it in water too much. And if you look closely, I didn’t dry my paper all the way before trying to cut it down to size… I ripped the side as well. I made a border by machine stitching, which took the emphasis off my impatient rip.

I really had a lot of fun and didn’t know what I would be creating this morning – isn’t that the best part of living a creative life? What will inspire you today?

I guess we are left with some very serious unanswered questions: Where are the new stamp sets? Well, they were mistakenly taken into the storage room with my retired stamps. They are now safely back onto my shelf. Did you really want to see diagonal lines today anyway?

Cathy Caines, Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, St. John’s NL

Visit Cathy’s blog for more inspiration and crafting tips! www.inthecatcave.com

Supplies used are Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise stated: Typeset Designer Series Paper, Traveller stamp set, Momentum ink, watercolour paper, Guy Greetings stamp set, gold baker’s twine, stapler, cucumber crush cardstock, aqua painter, gold embossing powder, encore gold ink pad, pacific point refill ink, cucumber crush refill ink, banner punch, machine stitching.