Ingenious Inkling

Psychedelic Moxie Fab

For some reason the target image for this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger reminded me of the psychedelic tie-dyed images of the 60's (ala Janis Joplin) ... so that's what I went with for my design.

I started with white cardstock & my Studio Calico Circle Graph Mask.  I posited the stencil and sponged fully around with orange ink.  Next I repositioned the stencil several more times using blue & purple (pulling colors from the target image), but not overlapping the sponging.

I finished by stamping my Guitar image from Darkroom Door in Artprint Brown ink.  The sentiment from Paper Source was stamped in the same brown ink on a scrap of the blue sponged paper ... Peace, Joy, Love ... Groovy.

You Measure Up

We're having a Biggest Loser Competition at the office ... and while unfortunately, I will not be the winner, I thought it would be fun to make cards for those who have done the best.  There's a Stampy Sunday Linky Party going on at The Alley Way Stamps, so I thought I'd join that fun too.

I used the scale & sentiment from Work It Out together with a sentiment & speech bubble from Talk to Me to create my CAS design.  I also used one of my favorite stamping on designer paper techniques for this week's CAS-ual Friday's Challenge (so perfect for paper piecing).  

I'm also joining the Masculine Card Challenge at The Paper Players.

Relax & Enjoy

It always feels so good to be back in my studio after traveling ... while I love expressing my creativity through photography while I'm away, nothing beats getting inky.

I used this week's Retro Sketch together with the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to stamp on patterned paper to create a Father's day card.

I stamped Hero Arts Cloud Background on a piece of designer paper from Fancy Pants Park Bench Collection for the background ... I love the patterned clouds.  The Party Grill is a great die cut from Memory Box.  I finished with an SRM Sticker Summer Sentiment that seemed perfect for the occasion.

Thinking of Blue

This week's Unscripted Sketch has so many possibilities.  

I decided to go with a modified Inchie-like grid on the left size by cutting my Stamp-It Australia Butterfly Frame into six equal parts and attaching it to a kraft card base.

On the right side of the card I embossed navy cardstock with the Floral Frenzy Embossing Folder.  I finished with a sentiment from Sentiment Swirls and a Die Cut Kaleidoscope Butterfly embellished with pearls.

Vibrant Holiday

We're still celebrating Merry & Bright at Jingle Belles this week.  When I saw this dazzling Gelato Background by the talented Roxie, I knew it would be the perfect technique for this week's card.

I used Red, Orange and Yellow Gelatos on Watercolor Paper and blended with a baby wipe.  Once the Gelatos were dry, I stamped Fresh Squeezed Holiday Subway Art in India Ink and clear embossed.  All that was left to do was attach my panel to a white card base using foam tape.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog finds:

• 14 PhotoShop Shortcuts
• Tutorial for a Traveling White Board ... perfect for long trip entertainment
• Would love to try this Kung Pao Chicken Recipe that doesn't involved fried, breaded chicken.  
• Ever since making a Macrame Owl in Girl Scouts, I have loved rope & knots ... so this Ombre Rope Knot Necklace would be a perfect accesory
• Tutorial for gorgeous butterfly art (shown) ... but the free butterflies would also be perfect for cards
• Free downloadable scenes for your adorable Origami Animals
• S'Mores Bundt Cake ... why does every cake taste better when cooked in a Bundt pan?
• A fantastic Art Journal Page celebrating the rainbow (and the rain).
• Bacon S'mores ... and many more options ... and 50 more S'mores recipes here ... appararently it's a good week for S'mores on the internet.
• Lots of lovely triangle inspiration.
• Fabulous 3-D Paper Landscape

Have a terrific Thursday.

17 Mile Drive

Since we were staying in Carmel ... how could we not take the 17 Mile Drive.  It was a perfect morning with minimal traffic and limited fog ... near perfect. I could sit and watch the waves roll in for days.

I particularly love seeing the waves hit the rocky shoreline ... and trying to time my photos mid-splash.

A park ranger even let us use his binoculars to see some otters floating in the kelp forest.

There were lots of birds on Bird Rock

Glad to see the Lone Cyprus was still hanging in there (with the help of some chains and ropes).

What a marvelous morning.

Design Inspiration

On our walk around San Francisco this afternoon, I saw so much design inspiration ... it really made me miss my studio ... so instead I captured the inspiration in photographs, so I could take the inspiration with me.

This was the window display at the Tory Burch store ... loved all of the white with some pop of color ... and those amazing paper flowers.

There was also this wonderful quote (and lots of bold vibrant summer colors) at the Kate Spade store.

These sassy dresses were from Red Valentino.

I forgot to capture the name fo this store, but I loved the wonderful colors and textures of the leather ensambles ... and I love the reflections of the city in the store window.

This entire Farinelli storefront was inspiring ... there was a little scene in each window ... and what appeared to be lots of intricate glass plates lined-up above the doorway.

And of course after all of that inspiration, I had to stop at Melt for a little gelato ... Peanut Butter & Grape Jelly on top with a scoop of rich dark chocolate on the bottom ... yum.

Another great day in San Francisco.

More California Adventures

We've spent the last few days enjoying San Jose and Carmel, California ... and we've been told by the locals that thel weather has been exceptional (however after the recent snow in Iowa, it honestly wouldn't take much for us to consider sunny warm weather exceptional).

Today we explored Carmel and then took the drive down Highway 1 to Big Sur ... it was windy & foggy, but we had a few great moments to catch the view.

And it wouldn't be vacation if I didn't find some new shoes ... love my new orange driving moccasins.

The flowers are gorgeous ... so many in bloom.

The rose bushes are so large that they are trimmed like trees ... we saw them in almost every color.

They smelled wonderful too.

And I will confess that on my late afternoon shopping jaunt, more shoes were purchased ... these are from an Italian company called Wonders ... and so comfortable.

... and the fog cleared tonight, so we could see the sunset over the ocean in Carmel.

Cheers

This card is a sneak peek of some awesome new Crafter's Companion sets that will be releasing in the US on May 15th.  The collection is called Camden Town and includes fabulous sets for both the men & women in your life.  I chose to use sentiments from all of the sets together with a great bucket of beer image that will be perfect for lots of the men in my life ... they do love their micro-brews.

I'm still enjoying improving my Spectrum Noir coloring skills ..., here are the markers i used for this design.  I added a wrap of twine to pull in more of the golden colors.

Here's a sneak peak of the entire set ... so many fun images.

And remember, the May Challenge at the Crafter's Companion blog is Masculine ... with Father's Day nearing, it's a great time to get those cards ready to go.