Inspired by Orla

One of my Scrapbook Club ladies arrived yesterday with a brand new Orla Kiely-designed shopping bag from Tesco - only £4 would you believe!

I'd heard something about these bags but, as I don't do the shopping very often (shamefully bad wife that I am), I hadn't actually seen one. Well, I just had to have one! So I sent Gareth off to Tesco's last night with strict instructions to come back with an Orla bag.. never mind the groceries, I need an Orla shopping bag! ;o)

Bless him, he managed to procure one for me...

LOVE the pattern... LOVE that colour scheme! INSPIRED to create something!!

When you get into Stampin' Up!, a strange thing happens.. pretty soon you start thinking in SU! colours. When I saw this bag, I instantly thought Poppy Parade; Old Olive; Basic Grey; Chocolate Chip. Then I thought, how can I 'borrow' this design? Well, here's what I did:

• Punch butterflies in the four colours
• Stamp over each one in Whisper White Craft Ink using the damask stamp from the Bliss Sale-a-bration set.
• Arrange them on a square of Very Vanilla cardstock, adhering with SNAIL adhesive.
• Turn over and cut off the overhanging bits with a sharp craft knife.
• Mount onto Poppy Parade card blank (mine was 5x5 inches square).
• Add greeting 'hello' from Tiny Tags stamp set to one of the butterflies.

Now who said I couldn't do Clean & Simple?! (actually, it was me.) Well, it was a struggle, let me assure you (and I'm still tempted to go back and add bits).

I can see me coming back to this kind of simple design.. I admire it so much when I see it, so I'm not sure why I don't do it more often. Could be the way forward!


What kind of look do you prefer? Clean & Simple or Messy & Complicated?!

Sarah :o)