Ingenious Inkling

Agapanthus Silhouette

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the fabulous online store of the Charm Lady Boutique.

She has so many fantastic designs, it was hard to limit myself to just one.  My card was inspired by this beautiful Queen Anne's Lace Silhouette Pendant.

I started by stamping my Agapanthus Cluster in New Canvas ink on white card stock.  Next, I re-inked the stamp in Black and stamped a second time (so that the white flower wouldn't resist the overstamping of the black).  Then, I used clear embossing powder to emboss both blooms.

The background was sponged with various shades of blue and grey inks to create the resist design.  I finished my matting it on a white cardstock base and adding a sentiment from Rosie's Roadshow.

I hope you find inspiration. 

Oliebollen Robot Love

This week's SCS Inspiration Challange comes from the whimsical children's items from Oliebollen which was suggested by Barbarar20.  I loved all of the bright fun colors.

I needed a birthday card for a little boy who was turning five.  Since the gift accompanying the card was a Transformer, I thought a robot theme would work perfectly.  My card inspired by these very fun French Bull Robot Juice Cups.

I loved the colors of the top left robot and the squire background design.  I stamped Bloop from Starving Artistamps Urban collection on the white background and then four more times on white, grey, orange and yellow to paper piece my design.

 
The background is Core'dinations cardstock embossed with a QuicKutz Retro Squares embossing folder and sanded to bring out the texture.  I finished with a couple of adhesive gems and yellow ribbon loops.  The birthday sentiment went on the inside.

Roll With It

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the fabulous fabric buttons found in the Etsy store of aimoobaroo.  I love buttons, but I am particularly drawn to fabric buttons.  When I saw this great sushi set (which sold today), it reminded me of the A Muse Sushi set that I bought on our Summer Chicago Road Trip that I had never inked up.

The background paper is from Basic Grey's Granola line and reminded me of layered Ginkgo leaves.  I also wanted to incorporate the dark green from the buttons background.  The sketch is Cheryl's Bonus Sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You.

The images are stamped in Warm Green, clear embossed, and colored with Spica Glitter Pens.  I also used A Muse Circle Frames Mini Set and several pieces of dark green ribbon to finish the design.

Tomorrow I'm headed off with a friend for a Foodie Road Trip to Madison, Wisconsin ... Trader Joe's and Whole Foods here we come.
 

I Hope You Dance

I love hosting the Inspiration Challenge on SCSeach week ... I feel like it stretches me and brings out a level of creativity that often surprises me.  This week I fell in love with the Etsy store of Lorelie Kay Designs ... the way she combines vintage elements into such a fun and funky style really speaks to me.  Particularly, I loved this I Hope You Dance Tiny Dancer Ballerina Resin Collage Ring.  I immediately had an idea in my head for a card design and had so much fun bringing it to life.

Initially I thought I would scan a page from a dictionary, but the font size didn't quite work.  So instead, I copied a definition for Dance from an internet dictionary multiple times into a Word document using 11 pt Byington font.  I adjusted the line length so that the definition would start at a different place in the line each time.  I used 1 1/2 spacing between the lines & printed the definition on Ivory cardstock.  Next, I trimmed each line into equal sized strips of paper.

I randomly adhered the strips of paper to a piece of Turquoise Basic Grey paper and then trimmed the finished piece into 4 1/4" square and attached it to a dark brown card base.  The Wordsworth Dancing Girl was stamped in Dark Brown into the background, using foam underneath so I could press down hard enough to get the ink in between the strips of paper.  I finished by highlighting a few of the words with Pebbles Pearlescent Chalk.

I hope you have fun & find inspiration.
 

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.