Ingenious Inkling

The Little Turtle

The Little Turtle

Author: Vachel Lindsay - 1879-1931

There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

My brother loves turtles.  I can't even begin to count the number of turtle pets he's had in his lifetime (and still has).  When I saw this cool Ceramic Turtle Box by Jonathan Adler (this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge) I knew I had to make him a turtle card.

I love the monochromatic design and the combination of textures, so that is what I translated into my card.

I decided on a light green paper and used tow different embossing folders for the texture.  I started by hand cutting the shell, and then the body. Next I attached the head and tail.  The finishing touch was an adhesive pearl eyeball.

A small square card is attached to the back of the shell to write a little note.

I hope you find inspiration.
 

Paint-By-Number Blooms

My card for this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge was inspired by this cool Paint-By-Number Dessert Platefrom Anthropologie.  I loved the contrast between the outlined background and the bright pops of circle color. 

I have been thinking all week about something creative to make for the Paper Tearing Challenge at the Hero Arts blog, so I decided to create blooms from torn strips of paper for the pops of color in my design.

I started by stamping the Hero Arts Outline Flowers background in black and clear embossing.

To make the torn paper flowers I tore strips of paper about 1/2 inch wide; folded them back and forth; attached the ends together; and then attached the folded circle to the card using a thick glue dot.

The final touches were punched circles for the centers and an oval punched sentiment from the Hero Arts Friends set.

Also a I let out a big woot woot when I saw I made the top five at Get Sketchy! with my Artistic Outpost design.

I hope you find Inspiration.
 

Spring Tree

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge features the amazing hand decorated tiles of Xenia Taylor.  I would love to have a kitchen or bathroom filed with unique tiles.

I love the amazing simplicity of this Tree ~ Spring tile.  I seldom combine white with ivory, but I love how it looks in this color combination.

I started with a bare tree stamp from Denami Designs on ivory cardstock (inked with both Pumpkin Pie and Chestnut Roan to get the shade I wanted) and then added different sized circles punched from textured papers

I finished with a vertical sentiment from the Hero Arts Friends clear sentiment set. 

Hope you find inspiration.
 

TzaddiShop Inspired

This week's SCS Inspiration Challengecomes from the amazing Etsy store of TzaddiShop.  Vicki's amazing glass decoupage designs took my breath away.  I'm still trying to decide which gorgeous piece of art I want to add to my collection.

My cards were inspired by these fantastic Geoforms - Handmade Decoupage Glass Beveled Coaster Set called Tree of Life.  I loved the contrast of the black silhouette image with the beautifully colored backgrounds. 

For my first card, I stamped this wonderful tree by Magenta on a piece of marbled wrapping paper that I bought at a specialty paper store.  I also scored the edges to mimic the beveled design.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Anytime Messages.

The second card uses a different color of the same marbled wrapping paper with the Stampendous Agapanthus Cluster and Hero Arts Friends sentiment.

I hope you find inspiration.
 
 

Gradient Elephant Friends

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge features the wonderful website Kir DeVries.  I was inspired by this adorable Shinzi Katoh Double Deck Lunch Box called Pick.  I loved the fun little combination of elephants and flowers, as well as the pop of red.

I decided to incorporate this gradient paper from Memory Box for the Gradient is Radiant challenge at the Moxie Fab World Blog.  I sponged a bit more green along the bottom and blue along the top to accentuate the color change.

 

I realize the proportion of my flower and elephants are a bit off, but I loved the cartoon-like effect.  I stamped the elephants twice, cut out the ears, and attached them for dimension.  I put A Muse Micro Twinkle gems in the flower centers to finish the design.  Stamps are Hero Arts Playful Animals and Great Flourishes Messages.

I hope you find inspiration.

 

Lost in Space

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge website ~ The Pajama Squid ~ was suggested by Kelly (aka schirmcat) of the Gingham Girl.  She loved the whimsical designs and great name ... and I did too.

My card was inspired by this fabulous Space Bibby Mom N Mia Quilts.  I loved those fabulous space themed designs, as well as the contrast of the yellow and orange, so those are the elements I incorporated into my design.

I stamped Blip, Bloop, and Rocket from the Starving Artistamps Urban collectionin Versamark ink on yellow cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I added a tiny Hero Arts sentiment in the window of the Rockets.  Then, I used my ranger blending tool with Tangerine and Pumpkin Spice inks to cover the entire piece of cardstock.

I trimmed the panel to fit a 4"x8" card and used my ticket punch on the corners.  I finished with sheer orange ribbon and a punched sentiment using the same emboss resist technique.  II used a scallop punch twice to get a more masculine medallion.  I tied several smaller pieces of ribbon around the knot to get the effect behind the sentiment.

I hope you find inspiration.

Masked Butterfly Collage

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge card is one that I believe turned out even better than I had envisioned in my mind. 

When I saw this beautiful Golondrinas on a Wire by Lorena Siminovich in the LAMA (Latin America in a Modern Age) store, I was transfixed.  I loved the contrast of the bright blue with the amazing text collage background, so those are the elements I wanted to incorporate in my design.

I combined a page of aged sheet music, aged book text, Hero Arts Old French Writing stamped on the margins of the aged pages, a map index, and electric design drawings to create my collage background.  I loved how she turned the text in all different directions, so I did the same with my design.

I sponged Azurite Chalk ink around Heidi Swapp butterfly masks to create the bright blue contrast.  I finished with a clear sentiment sticker. 

I really love this card ... it makes me smile every time I look at it.  I hope you find inspiration too.

All Carved Up

On my rubber stamp store trip to Chicago, I picked up some fun new Halloween stamps from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  I was inspired to ink them up by this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge ~ CWDKids. 

Somehow I've ended up on a children's catalog mailing list, even though I have no children (probably when I ordered a toy online for my nephew).  Usually the catalogs go straight to the recycling bin, but this one had so many cute little things, I had to sit down and browse.  It was filled with inspiration for card creating.

I loved the bright green and orange, as well as those very fun stripes in this 'Boo'tiful Pumpkin Legging Set.

 

The pumpkin was stamped twice on orange & bright green DP from K&Company and cut out.  I finished with the Martha Stewart fence border punch and a single stamped bat.

I hope you find inspiration.

Vintage Loom Bloom

About a year ago, I bought a vintage flower loom and raffia.  It reminded me of days when I used to craft with my grandma ... making canning lid pin cushions, embroidering tea towels, weaving potholders on a loom. Such great memories.

So when I saw the Vintage Flower Loom on this week's Inspiration Challenge site, the Curiosity Shoppe, I was finally inspired to open up the kit and play.

I created a double layer flower and then stitched through the center with my pretty lame attempt at french knots. I attached it to K&Company Que Sera Sera cardstock and stamped some American Crafts Lavish flourishes and a Hero Arts sentiment to finish.

I took it to work to hang in my cubicle. I love surrounding myself with art ... it relaxes me while I spend all day crunching numbers.

I hope you find inspiration.

Lime Rickey Bloom

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge site was suggested by Dara.  She thought the beautiful vases from Bellacor would be a great source of inspiration ... and I agree.

I loved this wonderful Lime Vase.  I wanted to incorporate the three layers, and well as the wonderful shades of green.  And of course, since it is a vase, I had to incorporate a flower as well.

This DP from Basic Grey's Lime Rickey collection reminded me of the confetti layer of the vase.  I hand-cut the curve an added two more layers of Bazzill Bling cardstock.

 

The flower is made by punching scalloped circles from the same Lime Rickey DP.  I used scissors to snip between the scallops and form petals.  I finished with an adhesive pearl and small sentiment (punched with a Martha Stewart tag punch), both from Hero Arts.