Ingenious Inkling

Yankee Doodles

It's a Scrap Attack at Shopping our Stash this week.  And, since I had lots of patriotic scraps of paper left from my card creations last week, I decided to use them with this week's The Shabby Tea Room Inspiration Photo to celebrate Independence Day.

I used this week's City Crafter Sketch by the talented Ros Crawford for my layout.  Since my Yankee Doodles papers were a bit more cutesy than shabby, I toned them down with some distress ink.

I added a few red stars that were punched from metallic paper and distressed a bit.  I also used up some leftover pieces & bits of some bling flourishes to create some fireworks.

Bless the USA

I wanted to make a few more patriotic cards to celebrate Independence Day, so I cut into more of my We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles Collection.  This first one uses this week's Mojo Monday Sketch & three different star punches.

The second one uses the sketch from the Clean & Simple Sunday Challenge, but I won't be linking-up since my card didn't end up very clean or simple ... and has no stamping (I did add a little ink sponging) ... love the sketch though.

I'm so excited that my 4-day weekend has begun.

Land That I Love

Independence Day is usually a holiday that gets skipped right over in my card making studio ... not exactly sure why, but the products and papers are usually not something I'm drawn to, and I don't have any stamps in my stash (but would love to find some good fireworks explosion stamps).   

However, this year there were several collections that caught my eye and were available in 6" papers, so some people will be receiving some 4th of July cards this year.  One of the things I miss most about celebrating the holiday since moving to Iowa is being able to shoot off our own fireworks.  As kids, saving-up our allowance and choosing our fireworks to shoot off that night was always such a big deal.

These cards are all inspired by the patriotic display in this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

All papers are from We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles Collection.  The elements are from the 12" Tag Doodles Sheet.  If possible, I always try to buy a 12" sheet of tags or other designer elements to coordinate with my 6' papers ... it makes putting cards together much easier.

The first card uses this week's Unscripted Sketch.  I added a clear gem flourish that reminded me of the explosion of fireworks.

The next one uses this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I used my very neglected star embossing folder on the red squares and added some distress ink to cover where the paper split & bring out the texture.  For this one I used a pearl flourish for my firework display.

The final one uses this week's Just Add Ink Sketch.  Since I didn't stamp anything on the card, I used lots of Distress Ink on the edges to help tie it all together.

One of the things I really love about this set are the number of slightly patterned solid papers.  I wish more companies would do that, so we have coordinating borders and pages to stamp on.  This one has two different shades of red & blue as wel as white all with a subtle grid pattern.

Play Date Cafe Guest Designer

I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer at the Play Date Cafe this week.  The sponsor of this week's Challenge is Stampendous, who provided the Design Team with stamps to use for our cards.  I received this gorgeous Swirly Bird Nest Cling Stamp.

Make sure you click on over to the Play Date Cafe and check out the prize & contest details.

Here is this week's Color Story ... I like the shabby distressed texture of the oars and the pepsi crates, so that's what I went with for my design.  I used this week's CardPatterns Sketch.

I started by stamping my image in grey ink on light grey cardstock and clear embossing.  Next I sponged on lots of Barn Door & Fired Brick Distress Ink with a bit of Stormy Sky around the edges.  Next I sprinked with quite a bit of water to add some more interest to the background.

I used a distressed navy designer paper from Bo Bunny's Liberty Collection for my card base & awning with more of the grey cardstock for my punchy background and sentiments trip.  My circle border was trimmed from the Marth Stewart Bangle Chain Trim punch and my pearls were colored with more Distress Ink.  I finished with a sentiment from Rogue Redhead Design's Floriculture Set.

More Liberty Sketches

I made several more cards with the Bo Bunny Liberty Collection to finish my gift set (you can see the others here & here), so I can get it in the mail.  The first one uses this week's Monday Lunchtime Sketch from Techno Stampers.

My main element is a large sticker.  I added some of the alphabet stickers for the corner elements, a piece of border sticker, and a wrap of rustic red twine.

The next one uses this week's Twisted Cards Sketch.  This week's "twist" is metal, so I added decorative metal brad. 

I also added some pearl flourishes that reminded me of fireworks & a few glittery stars to complete the design.

The final one uses this week's Unscripted Sketch.  I changed it to a vertical design to accomodate the size of my sticker.

I finally found a home for a tiny bit of left-over bling and added some more of those glittery stars.

One Nation

Another quick card using this week's CardPatterns Sketch & Bo Bunny's Liberty Collection.

I used coordinating cardstock stickers for the center elements and added some tiny red glittery stars to the center of the circles.

I'm off to run some errands and enjoy the unusually cool temperatures this morning ... such a welcome relief after the steamy heat of this week.

Liberty Sketch

This week has sort of whacked the life out of me, so I knew I wanted to find some time to create tonight to help recharge my spirit.  Even if it is just a quick card with no stamping, it makes my heart happy.

I picked-up new papers and stickers from the Bo Bunny Liberty Collection at my local scrapbooking store, All About Pictures last weekend.  I knew it would be perfect to make some cards for my niece, who loves all things patriotic.  The layout is this week's CPS Sketch.

Hello! This is Liberty Speaking

I was thrilled to see that my Season to be Jolly card made the Cream in my Coffee (honorable mention) at the Play Date Cafe last week.  

This week Julie Ranae (who is also our Guest-Designer at the Etsy Inspired Challenge for August) is taking us on a tour of Positano, Italy for our inspiration.  When I saw Sarah Anderson's card featuring the Graphic 45 Communique Line, I remembered that I still had some of those papers stashed away somewhere.  

While I was searching for those papers, I also found some neglected Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations Cardstock (which matched perfectly) and my Tim Holtz Nostalgic paper tape, which had yet to be opened (shame on me) ... and a card was born.

I used this week's Unscripted Sketch for my design.

I started by sanding the Core'dinations cardstock to bring out the embossed text.  Next I cut out Lady Liberty, the phone paper squares and the sentiment and mounted them all on black cardstock.  

The final step was incorporating the Paper Tape (which also works for this week's Res-Q Tape It Up Challenge).  A single layer of the tape was too translucent, so I added a second layer of gold Washi Paper Masking Tape, and then a third layer of Tim Holtz tape (leaving all of the torn edges messy) to finish my design.

I realized when I finished that my card is more France (with the Statue of Liberty them & the French text and postal markings on the paper tape) than Italy-inspired, but I still think I captured the overall feeling of the inspiration design.  Thanks ladies for another fun challenge.