Ingenious Inkling

Happy Birdie to Me

When I got home from work today, I opened the door to find a box tucked inside ... and inside the box was this amazingly wrapped birthday present. 

I am always in awe of people who have the skill of wrapping gifts... because I do not ... I'm lucky if my gift is delivered in a gift bag that's actually appropriate for the occasion (evidence ... yesterday I gave my four year old great-nephew his birthday present in a Christmas gift bag I got on clearance last year ... in my defense, it was covered in snowflakes and not specifically "Christmas" ... but I think you get the picture).

On the front was this super-cool card featuring clouds, a jeweled buckle, ledger paper, and a pretty little bird.

And inside (wrapped in a very cool map) was this fantastic, inspirational book.  I can't wait to relish every single page.

 Thanks Lauren for thinking of me ... can't wait to go on an art journal journey with you. 

What Cancer Cannot Do

The September 5th Challenge at Caardvarks is sponsored by the fabulous folks at DRS Designs.  The challenge is to make a card using one of three amazing card sketches designed by our own 'Varks Crew Member, the fabulous Heidi Van Laar. 

Add your card to Mr. Linky by midnight PST on September 14th for a chance to win this fabulous prize package from DRS Designs.

I got to create the Caards & More project for the challenge.  I was so thrilled to see this Cancer Prayer as a rubber stamp.  As some of you know, I volunteer for a wonderful organization called Chemo Angels that pairs volunteers with IV Chemotherapy patients to provide support and encouragement as they go through this difficult process.

One gift I like to send are custom mix CDs.  I get information on the types of music they enjoy and make mixes that incorporate their likes.  I thought it would be fun to dress-up the gift a bit by making a special CD holder and matching card using this great stamp.

 

The CD holder is made by cutting a 6" x 12" piece of K&Company Smitten DP and folding it in half.  The sides were attached using thin, extra-strong, double sided tape.  A large circle punch was used at hte top to create the opening ... so quick & easy.

 

The Cancer Prayer is stamped in black on another piece of the same DP and clear embossed.  For an embellishment, I cut another butterfly from the DP and attached it with glue dots on the body for dimension.  I finished with some sheer, wired pink ribbon for the bow.

 

The card was made by stamping & clear embossing the Cancer Prayer on another piece of the same DP and adding another loop of the sheer ribbon.

A big thank you to DRS Designs for sponsoring the challenge and letting the Varks Crew design with their great stamps.

Velvet Bells

These wedding bells from Creative Cuts & More were die cut from black velvet paper.  I used a sponge to add some black ink to the velvet, to get an overall even color. 

The pillow box was made from lilac metallic paper using this template I found on-line.  I used my Scor-it and bone folder to score the lines, and it went together in a snap.

 

I finished with a wrap of sheer lilac ribbon and sentiment from Stampendous.  What a quick and easy package for a gift card or other small bridal gift.

Remember, as part of the Shower-themed Challenge at Caardvarks, you can get 15% off your order at Creative Cuts & More through July 27th by entering coupon code CV070915 at checkout.

Fabulous French Fry Favor

I love this little French Fry Box from Creative Cuts & More.  It was so easy to assemble and has lots of possibilities.  As part of the Design Team Gallery for the Caardvarks Shower-themed challenge, I made mine into a Shower favor filled with my favorite body product samples from Bella Luccè (one of my favorite on-line finds ... I love to tuck these samples in with gifts too).

 

To decorate my box, I wrapped it in yellow sheer ribbon and two pieces of plum satin ribbon.  The flower is made by layering three small die cut flowers (two dark purple, one light purple) together with a two more smaller punched blooms and a pearl brad.

Bridal Shower Bonanza

The July 20th Blog Challenge is celebrating showers for Brides or Babies.  The winner of the challenge will get their choice of one of the fabulous new Creative Cuts & More Birthday Card kits that contain everything you need except for adhesive to make 12 fabulous cards.

CC&M shared some of their fabulous die cuts with the Caardvarks Crew, so we have an entire gallery of Shower-themed projects to share with you.  Also, there's a special check-out code for Caardvarks Readers.  If you use cv070915 at check-out, you will receive 15% off your CC&M order forthe week of July 20th – July 27th ... so what are you waiting for???

I had a lot of fun decorating this fun Dress Box that was die cut from wonderfully shimmery Bazzill Bling cardstock (they have so many different papers to choose from it's almost mind boggling).  I stamped the front of the dress with the Hero Arts Wavy Leaf Pattern in Versamark Dazzle ink and embossed with Ranger Bridal Embossing Tinsel.

 

The bouquet from Hero Arts Wedding Celebration was stamped in dark green on silver metallic cardstock, colored with metallic markers, and cut out to attach to the front of the dress.

 

For the back of the dress I covered it with strips of strong double-sided tape and cut pieces of vintage lace that I started pleating and attaching from the bottom.  I finished with a sheer ribbon bow around the bodice.

I also used Creative Cuts & More A2 Gatefold Crescent Card in Metallic cardstock for the coordinating card.  I embossed the front panels with the Cuttlebug d'vine Swirl on both front panels (don't you love the nice deep embossing with the thick metallic cardstock).  The center band (which comes with the card) was layered with silver ribbon.

 

I added a coordinating silver metallic insert and stamped Mr. & Mrs. (from Stampin' Up) at the bottom.  The bridal couple from A Muse was stamped on the CC&M Small Antique Label.

I can't wait to see your fun Shower designs.

Embossed Frosted Bookmarks

One of the favorite things I did with the ShortCuts frosted sheets was emboss them with my Cuttlebug ... I love the effect.  I used the embossed plastic to make these very fun bookmarks ... such a great way to use up any scraps.

For the first one I used the Houndstooth embossing folder.  I wrapped the ribbon around the full length of the bookmark (using adhesive on both sides) and tied it together at the top with some navy fiber.   The sentiment from Custer's Last Stamp was embossed on a scrap of cloud paper from Actopus to Zelephant.

  

The second one used the same cloud paper with the Argyle embossing folder.  This sentiment is from River City Rubber Works.

Froggy Gift Card Holder

One of the cool things the 'Varks DT received to create with was the ShortCuts Gift Card holder.  I covered mine with papers from the K&Company Actopus to Zelephant line and a Frog Die Cut from the same line.

 

I tied cord loops around each side to hold it close.  They easily slide on and off for easy access to the gift card that is inside.

 

The congratulations is from Stampin' Up together with the Hero Arts Wavy Graphic Borders.  These are quick, easy, and very fun to put together.  You can see lots of other ways to decorate them in the Caardvarks Shortcuts gallery.

Life is Better with a little Wine

I had some stamped transparencies left over from my Window Gift Bag projects , so I used one of the Happy Holidays Noteblocks from Purple Onion Designs to make this cool Wine Bottle Gift Tag.

 

I cut a panel from a 12" piece of cardstock and scored it so it would hang down and cover the entire front of my wine bottle.  I put a second square of cardstock on the top to make it a double thickness (probably not necessary, but I didn't want it to tear from the weight of the tag).  For the opening, I used a 1 3/4" punch and the framed the opening with a larger scallop circle and circle punch. 

I used a scalloped card base that I had purchased & trimmed into four pieces and overlapped to make the size of mat that I needed.  I cut each piece at the valley of the scallop to make for easy overlapping re-assembly.

I adhered the trimmed transparency to the Basic Grey DP by using mini glue dots under the snowflakes on the stamped image, so they are not visible.  And how cool is it that I already have a holiday gift done in June.

Make sure you check out the entire Caardvark Crew Gallery using products from Purple Onion Designs (and don't forget the Code Caardvarks at check-out for 25% off your order).

Purple Onion Party

There's a big Purple Onion Designs party going on at Caardvarks.  They are sponsoring the June 20th Challenge, which is to make a *new* Window Card.  I was excited to have the opportunity to create projects for the 'Cards & More' feature of Caardvarks together with Jenn (you gotta check out her amazing Window of Love Creation ... the girl actually stamped on a Window).

The prize is huge ... a $50 shopping spree at Purple Onion Designs ... and they generously provided a shopping code for 25% of your entire order during the challenge (simply enter the code Caardvarks at check out).  All you have to do is link up your *new* window card creation by midnight on July 3rd.

Some of my favorite stamps from Purple Onion are the amazing Noteblocks ... so many possibilities.  For my projects, I created "windows" by stamping the Noteblocks onto the rough side of an ink jet transparency.

 

I used a 6" square acrylic block and black India Ink and applied solid pressure over all of the stamp.  Then I tipped the block from the side to remove the stamp which gave a crisp, no-smear image (please ignore my very well loved 12" tonic paper cutter).

 

After the ink dried, I used my paper cutter and cut about 1/2 wider than the stamped image.  I purchased the gift bags in a 10-pack from Michael's and found that the bright colors seemed to look better with this project.

I used one smeared image for my template.  I cut around it right on the edges of the image and then attached it to the front of my bag with removable adhesive.  I cut a piece of adhesive backed craft foam to fit inside the bag for cutting.  I found that cutting into the adhesive covered side gave me the straightest cut with my kraft knife.

 

Here's what it looked like after the window had been cut.

 

I used a strong adhesive tape around the edges of my stamped image and slid it inside the bag to attach it on all four sides.  All that was left after that was to decorate the bags.

For the masculine designed Birthday Noteblock bag, I used punched stars as my embellishment.  The red and blue stars were punched from the cut-out pieces of the bags with a little silver star in the middle.

 

For the Happy Holidays Noteblock gift bag, I decided to attach a handle.  I used some wired snowman ribbon and attached it to the front and back of the bag with decorative brads.  I finished with a few punched holly leaves and adhesive gem berries.

 

I can't wait to see your fun window card creations (remember ... $50 will buy a lotta rubber)!  I'll be back all week with more Purple Onion Designs fun, including the cool Wine Bottle tag. 

Make sure you check out an entire gallery of Purple Onion Projects by the Caardvarks Design Team.

Jacob's Ladder

The June 5th Caardvarks challenge is to make a *new* 3-dimensional project ... it could be an interactive card, an altered project, or a gift bag.  

The 'Vaarks Crew were lucky to get to work with 3-D projects from the Challenge Sponsor, Club Scrap.  The fabulous prize for the winner of the 3-D challenge is a huge assortment of Club Scrap product ~ a sheet of unmounted rubber stamps, Club Scrap exclusive projects, a POP (pound of paper), plus a whole lot more!

My project for the challenge was the Club Scrap 3/4" Jacob's Ladder.  I made a vintage stamped Mother's Day gift for my awesome mother-in-law.  Everyone had fun playing with it all day long.  

I started by spraying all of the Chipboard pieces with Bronze Glimmer Mist.  Of all of the colors I have bought so far, I think this one is my favorite.  I love the all-over sparkle.

 

I attached all of the chipboard and ribbon together to create the interactive design, and then decorated the squares.  One of the keys to designing the project that the images on each side need to face opposite directions (up on one side, down on the other), so when you walk them down the ribbon, they will end up right-side-up on the other side.  Here are the project instructions to give you a better idea how the project is assembled.  (They also have a great video tutorial.)

I also sprayed the box with glimmer mist and decorated the outside.  I stamped all of the squares with Maroon ColorBox Chalk ink, which really helped tie the design together.  The first square on my Jacob's Ladder is Way We See by Paper Bag Studios.  The cover of the box is Be Happy by Hampton Art.  I added a little sponging to the box lid and to the little girl's cheeks.

 

I combined stamps of some of my mother-in-law's favorite things which include Artistic Outpost Happiness, Inkadinkado Creative Words, K&Company Amy Butler Lotus Floral Stamps, Cornish Heritage Farms Rummage Bin Time to Stamp, Anna Griffin Flora Collection, Repeat Impressions Happiness, and Hero Arts Find Joy to create the rest of the panels in the design.

 

Here are some close-ups of the individual panels

 

I stamped directly on the designer paper that was included with the kit.

 

The sentiment stamp included one butterfly ... so I added a few more friends.

 

I also added some images from vintage books because my mother-in-law loves old books.  The flower was painted with several colors of Shimmerz Glitter paint.

 

Another vintage book page (sponged with a bit of Maroon ink) & another panel stamped and covered with more Shimmerz Glitter Paint.

 

One of her favorite panels was the one about Family.  I love how using the papers that were included with the project and the same color ink on each panel really tied it all together.