Ingenious Inkling

A Banner Holiday

Our next prompt at Jingle Belles is to make a card inspired by our lovely new banner for 2012.

Our blog banner was made in PSE9 by the talented Lauren using paper, brushes and elements from an utterly gorgeous kit called artplay palette: retro holiday, by one of our favorite digital designers, anna aspnes, purchased at o'scraps; the fonts are deftone stylus, bohemian typewriter and impact--all free from dafont.com; and the divine sparkliness of the lettering is thanks to flergs' over the rainbow glitter layer style from scrapbook graphics, which Lauren learned how to use via this great tutorial (and I still need to learn how to use)!

For my first inspired card, I went with a slightly darker version of the color palette and some glittery jingle bells.

Papers are Basic Grey Jovial together with gold glitter Memory Box Jingle Bells.  I added some EAD Designs Sweet Sweet Holiday Stickerz, a couple of punched flourishes & a gold brad to complete the design.  The Sketch is this week's CardPatterns.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog finds:

• A mini-mission ... Be Wonder-full
• Love this tutorial for creating Song Lyric Wall Art from a Thrift Store find.
• Gnome made with punches is just too fun.
• How sweet would these Origami Heart Bookmarks be to tuck-in with a gift of poetry (shown).
• Ideas for creating your own Photo Booth.
• Love this tutorial for a Valentine's Day Gum Ball Machine (perfect for M&M's or other candy too).
• A Video from Memory Box for creating a glitter heart using packing tape ... it looks easy enough that even this glitter-phobe might try it.
• A tutorial for creating some classy earrings ... from buttons & paper clips.
• Love this project stitching words in the handwriting of friends and family ... love the word choices too ... how can you go wrong with biscuit.
• A tutorial for turning painters tape into washi tape with some stamping ... gotta try this.

Have a tremendous Thursday.

New Rogue Redhead Designs Releases

Rogue Redhead Designs is pleased to announce two new releases, Just Sayin' and Carnival Dreams, to brighten up your winter! Each is whimsical in its own way and sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Our Just Sayin' plate is a full-size rubber stamp plate with focal images, sentiments, decorative elements and a full-size background. Its quirky vintage charm lends itself to grace greetings to close friends and family.  Order this new full-size plate before February 25, 2012 and get it for the introductory price of $17.60, a 20% savings over its regular retail price of $22.00.  

I turned the fun little Odd Couple into a Valentine using this week's CPS Sketch, My Mind's Eye Love Me Papers, and a sentiment from Snow Hugs.

Our second new release is Carnival Dreams, a fabulous new mini featuring the art of New England artist K. Dunn. This newest addition to the Beautifully Dunn range comes just in time for Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day.  It features beautiful-drawn free-flowing images of love and enchantment. Romance, mystery and a joyous spirit infuse this collection.  Order this new mini collection before February 25, 2012 and get it for the introductory price of $6.00, a 20% savings over its regular retail price of $7.50.  

I combined one of the couples with the heart balloon and  sentiment from Candy Kisses for another Valentine design.  Paper is from Basic Grey's Kissing Booth and layout January's Sketch For You To Try.

Want both our new releases?  During our sale, get our January 2012 Release Bundle including both Just Sayin' and Carnival Dreams for the low price of $22.00!   We are also offering our Rogue's Choice Bundle, which includes the popular Relish Reading and Milliner Misses collections, for the same low price of $22.00!  For the romantics in the crowd, we have created a Beautifully DunnTrue Love Bundle including Snow Hugs, Candy Kisses and Carnival Dreams for the limited-time price of $33.00.  Get in on these great deals now! They only last until February 25, 2012!

With the release of these new plates and bundles, Rogue Redhead Designs has also updated our website and added mounting and storage supplies to our product line. Purchase any of our unmounted rubber stamp plates by itself, with a sheet of EZ-Mount Cling Foam or with cling foam and a stamp storage panel - all with one click. Visit the individual pages of each plate for these additional choices. Just need to order EZ-Mount or stamp storage panels? Just visit our new mounting supplies section!

Skating Through Life

Frosty is the theme for this month's Rebel Challenge ... to use Vellum in your design.  I embossed vellum for my background panels and stamped my sentiment on vellum too (clear embossing keeps it from smearing).

All stamps are from Rogue Redhead Designs Snow Hugs set.  The Sketch is this week's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge.  Papers are Basic Grey's Kissing Booth with a little colored pencil highlighting and the addition of a punched silvery moon.

Black & White Big Birthday Bonanza

When I saw the Black & White Challenge at the CAS-ual Friday blog, I immediately thought of a masculine birthday card (possibly becauase my stash at the office is completely depleted).

When I saw this week's Fall to Layout, the idea came together in my head.

I used all sorts of Hero Arts stamps with my favorite India Ink.

InLinkz.com

Kissing Booth Paper Heart Quilt

Do you ever find that some of your best ideas come to you when you have a million other things you are "supposed" to be doing?  That's how I felt about this card design.  

I had been thinking for several days about what to make for the Square Punch Challenge at Cards Magazine.  I love inchies and punches, but I wanted it to be something fun and different.  

When I was wandering through blogland, I stumbled across this paper pieced heart quilt pattern ... and I saw squares.  So this afternoon, instead of working on my long To Do List ... I created instead.

 

So I started punching 3/4" squares from scraps of my new Basic Grey Kissing Booth papers ... and my quilted paper heart came to life.  The key to lining them up is to start with the "V" at the top and then work down from there.

What a fun way to use up scraps.  I added a punched paper heart attached with foam for dimension and a flag sentiment from Kissing Booth to complete the design.

This card also works for the Favorite Things Challenge at the Basic Grey blog since punches, particularly square ones, are my favorites indeed.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

I love these pretty hearts from the new Virginia's View Challenge at The Lily Pad.

I also love the idea for creating a Non-Traditional Valentine Project at The Sweet Stop this week (since most of my valentines go to my girlfriends and family).

So I combined this both (together with The Sweet Stop Sketch) for this non-traditional valentine design.

I love my new Kissing Booth paper from Basic Grey.  I usually go with the 6" pads, but I loved all of the great solid color sheets in the 12" set, so I went with that size this time.  The hearts are punched from one of the solid colors and attached with tiny squares of foam tape for dimension.  I used a few wraps of yellow twine to pull out the yellow in the backgorund paper.

Winter Blossoms

When I saw this week's Tuesday Trigger photo Winter Blossoms (Pom Pom Flowers from Blue Eyed Yonder ... I also love her fireplace filled with books), an idea immediately came to mind.

And after lots trial and error with masking and ink colors ... voila.

I used a combination of chalk inks (stamping off once on the rose) to try to get the same feel as the photo using blooms from Hero Arts Sweet Threads & a Find Joy sentiment.

Saturday PhotoHunt ... Bliss

I just discovered the Saturday PhotoHunt ... and today's theme is Bliss.

For me it's when the weather is at that perfect temperature when my husband & I can go for a Sunday drive with the windows down ... taking pictures and solving the world's problems.

Penguin Skyline

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the adorable store ... Land of Nod.  I chose this limited edition print from the Nod Institude of Art collection called Home by Judy Kaughman to inspire my design.

I love the pop of orange with the modern buildings ... as well as the deer on the ground & on top of the building in the third row, so that's what I incorporated into my design.

I started by stamping Hero Arts Newspaper Skyline in Versamark ink on ivory cardstock & clear embossing.  Next, I swiped Rusty Hinge Distress Stain horizontally to cover my design.  I love how the marks from the dauber sort of look like a few whispy winter clouds in the sky.

Since I didn't have any tiny deer, I added two little Jolee's Penguin Ice Skater stickers to my scene, and then finished with a tag sentiment from Hero Arts.

I hope you find inspiration.

PS ... and I learned from the CAS-ual Friday Blog that today is Penguin Awareness Day ... how perfect.

PPS ... and I just got a head's up it is *perfect* for this week's Scrapbooker's Paradise Challenge.