Ingenious Inkling

use, practice, create...and JINGLE!

We're welcoming our first Guest Artist at Jingle Belles this week ... the amazing Gina Cunningham of tyggereye arts.  For 2011, Gina has embarked on a medium-per-month play-along called Use, Practice, Create ... and this month's medium is acrylic paint ... so we thought it would be fun if the Jingle Belles played along.

I decided to try a new-to-me technique from page 37 of A Compendium of Curiousities ... Paint Dauber Resist.  Here's a close-up of one of my fun little holiday tags featuring a cute little owl sticker (I love using up things from my hoarded holiday stash), Distress Inks, and Hero Arts Fabulous Flourish.

Click on over to Jingle Belles to see both of my finished tags, as well as amazing cards from Gina & Lauren.  

I hope you'll break out your paint ... brush it, brayer it, splash it, splatter it, stamp or stencil with it, dab, drip, or drizzle it ... whatever you do, have fun with it.

Double Distressed Holidays

It's been a while since I had time to play along with the Compendium of Curiousities Challenge, but the current technique of Double Distress caught my eye.  Turns out it is very easy & has quite a dramatic effect.  I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Ornamental for my tag embossed with the Sizzix Thin Ice Embossing folder with Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks.  The sketch is this week's Two Sketches 4 You.

The sentiment is CatsLife Press decorated with an A Muse micro dot twinkle sticker.  The gorgeous ribbon arrived in my mailbox today all the way from Finland ... one of my dearest long-time friends saw it in her one of her favorite interior shops & thought I might like it for my cards ... is there any better gift than an unexpected surprise ... I think not ... oh yeah, and there was red licorice too ... yum.

This Tag is also for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge to make A Tag ... as well as Sue's 52-Card Pick-up Challenge.  This week's theme is "All the Small Things", which this sentiment sums up well ... the things I remember about the holiday's aren't the decorations or gifts ... it's the time spent laughing with family and friends that are the moments I remember and treasure.

Best Day Ever

I'm sneaking in my card for this weeks Compendium of Curiousities Challenge just under the wire.  This week's technique is Basic Masking.  I used the Mini Flower Frenzy Mask from Crafter's Workshop and various shades of yellow, orange & bronze Memories Mists & Glimmer Mists to create my background.

I used a full sheet of cardstock when I sprayed my mask, so I could use the over-sprayed edges of the cardstock for my sentiment and vertical accent for this week's Get Sketchy Sketch.  I used bronze metallic cardstock for my flourish & mats, which really brings out the metallic accents in the Glimmer Mist (click through to see a close-up of the sparkle).

The sentiment is a favorite from CatsLife Press, accented with a tiny star shaped piece of bling.

Thanks a Bunch

One of my favorite shopping scores during my Sisters' Weekend in Kansas City was finding several deeply discounted packages of Tim Holtz Grungeboard at the Tuesday Morning store ... which were so timely for this week's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge ... Grungepaper Flowers.  

I also found a very inexpensive French Dictionary at the used book store on our trip, so I started by adhering a page from the dictionary to the grungeboard using gel medium.  Next I used the Tattered Florals die cut to cut out my texty blooms.

I inked the flowers with a variety of inks including Chipped Saphhire, Scattered Straw, and Dried Marigold Distress inks.   After several failed attempts at adhering my curled floral layers together (it probably would have worked better if I'd waited until tomorrow when everything was completely dry), I finally resorted to E6000 Industrial Strength adhesive, which worked like a charm.

The sketch is this week's 2 Sketches 4 You.  Papers are from Little Yellow Bicycle Autumn Bliss & 7 Gypsies Avignon (love how well they work together) and sentiment is an SRM Sticker.  I embossed the navy cardstock with part of a flourish from the Love is in the Air embossing folder set.

This is one technique I'll definitely be revisiting ... so many possibilities and I love the dimension.

 

Blended Batik Christmas Carols

I finally got my hands on Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiousities, so I was able to join in the fun for this week's Challenge ... Blended Batik.

I used a smaller manila tag with a Christmas Carol image from Holiday Collections.  My Distress Ink colors are Victorian Velvet for the base and Forest Moss for the contrasting color.

I added some crystal snowflakes, Fruit Punch Stickles, and in keeping with the musical theme, some Symphony Tissue Tape to finish the design.   The Fibers are some vintage Bazzill from Fiber Scraps.

This is also for the Christmas Tags Challenge going on at the Caardvarks Blog.