One More Time for Inspiration Elevator!

After some thought and consideration, the time has come to retire Inspiration Elevator. But before we go, we need to hold a big retirement party, so we've invited everyone who's been involved with Inspiration Elevator back for one last reveal, and to our delight most were able to accept! We are so delighted to have so many IE alumni along this month! Thank you to each of you for helping us end our elevator ride with so much fun and creative energy!

This month's challenge is posed by one of IE's co-creators and team admin, Ann.
This month's challenge is simple, but I hope, challenging as well. 
Here's the challenge: Inspiration Elevator launched on May 15, 2012 and at that time, we explained our purpose as, "Welcome to Inspiration Elevator! What a thrilling day! Today is the launch of Inspiration Elevator (IE), a challenge blog created by my dear friend Christa Uttley and me. We chose the name Inspiration Elevator because it is our intent to raise our creativity to heights through challenges issued every month. We want to raise our designs from the ordinary to the extraordinary. We hope you'll join us on our journey!
 IE is a group of like minded scrappy friends who want to raise the bar in their own creative process through unique challenges that we issue to each other once a month. These won't be run of the mill challenges and we hope you'll join us each month and be inspired by the creative designs we've created." 

That vision has remained unchanged over the last (almost) 3 years. The challenge this month is to just create - no holds barred. Take some time, or challenge yourself to do it in 1/2 hour if time is tight, but think about what you'd like to create if there were no agenda, no design team requirement. In other words, create for you, and enjoy the process!

When Ann and I began this grand adventure I was knee deep in design work and scrappy obligations that I loved.  But as my fellow designers know, creating for others can sometimes mean we do not get to enjoy our own creative processes as much as we used to. IE was a way to bring that feeling back and to challenge myself to sometimes step outside my creative box. In the past three years, I have found the courage to try new things and create designs I love; just for me.  In recent months, my life has not left very much time (or inclination) to be as creative as I would like. But this final challenge inspired me to dig out the materials I love once again. I was inspired (as I usually am) by the pictures I find on our phones as they seem to best represent the daily snippets of life.

 I have always loved bright colours best and the tiny little embellishments from my stash helped flesh out my vision.

The big pink flower came from a bin or bracelet beads and the title is from the trusty Cameo files. (It is also and ode to a well loved phrase on Dr. Who from one of the characters Adriane loves most!)

We hope you'll take the time to hop through and visit each of our participant's blogs, beginning with our guests, then our current team, and finishing off with our co-founders. Feel free to leave comments and lavish each one with appreciation for all that they each brought to the Inspiration Elevator challenge over the last 3 years!

Audrey Yeager

Christy Riopel

Denise Morrison

Jodi Wilton

Laura Whitaker

Laurel Seabrook

Shelby Dwyer

Jayne Morgan

Joanne Burton

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Lisa Spiegel

Michelle Hernandez

Wendi Robinson

Christa Uttley

Ann Jobes

Thank you to each and every one of you have stopped by, learned something, and has been challenged. Thank you to my team members for great challenges, for tears, for encouragement, for inspiration and for doing what you are all so talented at doing in the name of Inspiration Elevator. Finally, thank you to my scrappy partner in crime, Ann, who never failed to keep us all on track, never missed a challenge and who never lacked for encouraging words. Love you.

Keep doing what you love!