Inspiration from Paper Crafts Magazine...

... and beyond! ☺
I wonder if perhaps Donelda and I left our two toughest inspiration cards from the March/April issue of Paper Crafts magazine to the last. I know these were two very challenging cards for me this week. I looked to other inspiration to help me make this week's cards my own. Today Donelda and I are CASEing the last card I picked, this one on page 44 by Laura Pryor:

I know I had an idea in my mind when I picked this card, but by the time I was ready to act on it? Gone. And any time I've tried to do a background like this, I have not liked the result; it always just looks scribbly to me. So then I thought back to a recent post by the always-inspiring Kasia Curry and ended up with this: 

I pulled out a spectrum's worth of Sharpies (Copics are for real crafters, obviously) and drew lines just as Kasia did to make my main panel. It turned out so bright and cheery! It made me think right away that a Paper Smooches sentiment would be the perfect match. And since I rarely (okay, possibly never) put buttons on my cards, I used this layered die-cut flower instead. But you'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out where that inspiration originated! ;) I really liked the extra-long format of Laura's card, but ended up going with a four-bar size (3.5 x 4.75 inches) in the end.
I'm going to link this card up to the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge -- the inspiration photo has the bright colours and graphic lines that go with this card, I think. Wow, that makes the fourth source of inspiration for this card, I think? I'm also linking to the latest Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Lily Pad Cards' flower challenge.
Tomorrow we're back with Donelda's final choice -- I had some serious fun with her pick! 

Supplies: white cardstock, coffee filter, Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies stamps, Brilliance graphite black ink, clear embossing powder, Sharpies, Spellbinders carnation creations dies, hemp cord, pop-dot tape