Ingenious Inkling

Mackintosh Enamels Inspired

I have always been fascinated by the technique of enameling.  I love the multi-layered effect and the smooth texture of the finished product.  I am particularly inspired by the work of Mackintosh Enamels.  I have one of their light switch covers in my bedroom, and I love it (I love being able to add tiny touches of art in unexpected places).

My card is inspired by the yellow switch plate cover.

I cut flowers from cardstock using my Cuttlebug Flower die cuts & attached them to light yellow cardstock using temporary adhesive.

I used my spray box and sprayed a coating of Mango Lemonade Memories Mists.  After it dried, I removed several of the flowers and sprayed a second layer using Orange Juice Memories Mists. 

I finished the card with my Fiskars Threading Water punch, and some yellow ribbon.  The blooms are layered Mylar Flowers by Creative Impressions that I found on my Chicago Road Trip.  I layered them with one of the sprayed diet cut flowers and a brown brad.  The sentiment is a rub-on from Stampin' Up.

I hope you find inspiration.

Creating Order in Chaos

It's amazing how 'out of sorts' a person feels when their routine is totally thrown out of whack.  Every day post-flood gets better, but we're still a long way from having that sense of 'normalcy', that we often take for granted, back in our lives. 

I spent a good part of today catching up on blog reading since I didn't have much computer time at home this week.  I wrote down all of the challenges that I like to do during the week, and decided to combine several of them into this card. 

Since I gave up on Kristina's inspiration challenge last week, I decided to start with this week's color combination.  I also loved the elegant circular design in the place-mat, so I worked that into my card.  I also used Beate's weekend sketch, Daring Cardmaker's Challenge to do a quick card in under 30 minutes, and the first challenge at new challenge blog This Thursday it's all about ... to do a fresh creation (these colors reminded me of my garden right now with all of the yellow lilies blooming).

I repeatedly stamped Hero Arts Dot Border vertically in White craft ink on Sahara Sand cardstock and then embossed it with white embossing powder (note to self ... get a 'whiter' white embossing powder ... anyone have a brand they love?). 

I stamped Hero Arts Wavy Graphic Borders vertically on So Saffron cardstock.  To match the Wasabi cardstock, I combined CTMH Clover Meadows ink (stamped off once) and then inked with ColorBox Chalk Lime Pastel.  The thank you sentiment is from Green Grass Stamps thank you set (a great collection of thank you sentiments).

Since Kristina mentioned she thought the colors were sophisticated, I added some tiny adhesive pearls for a final touch. 

In all of the chaos, it's always a blessing to have the constant of art.

Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge was suggested by justwritedesigns who linked me up to a beautiful stained glass window from the Arizona Biltmore featuring saguaro forms and cactus.  I started surfing and discovered lots of amazing windows that he designed. 

I really loved the clean simplicity of this trio of windows from the Avery Coonley Playhouse, so I used the outer windows for my inspiration.  The design of these windows was said to have incorporated balloons, American flags, and confetti.

I found a scrap of DP that incorporated both stripes and confetti-like boxes, but not necessarily the colors. 

I added three plain DP circles and one smaller circle that contains the sentiment to mimic the circles in the outer windows.  The sentiment also has repeating elements like those seen in the windows. 

I tried to evoke the clean, classic simplicity of his designs.

I hope you find inspiration.

Acacia Inspired

I love looking through beautiful catalogs and often tear out pages to save for future inspiration.  When my Acacia catalog arrived this week, it was filled with so many great things, I decided to use it for this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge. My card was inspired by this beautiful piece of Botanical Metal Wall Art.  I loved the wonderful colors and dimension of the piece.

I had so much fun making this card.  I started by embossing each of the Cuttlebug Fancy Corners embossing folders on four different colors of blue and green DP scraps.  The emblems were trimmed to 2" squares and then I began sponging on lots of blues, greens, and burnt sienna ColorBox Chalk ink to try to achieve the depth of color in the inspiration piece.  The final step was using my finger to rub on copper metallic paste for highlights.

The Stampa Rosa Sentiment was stamped in Ice Jade ink on yellow cardstock and then the edges were sponged with the same colors.  It was mounted on metallic copper cardstock (the same as the card base).  I attached each tile with pop-dots to achieve a similar dimension to the wall hanging.  The finished card is 4 1/4" square.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Domino Magazine Inspired

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge is a beautiful master bedroom that won a decorating contest sponsored by Domino Magazine.  It wouldn't necessarily be a style I would choose for my own bedroom, but I appreciated the sanctuary-like feel of the room, the bright pops of color with the light blue and white, and all of the wonderful little touches she added to the design.

I used the closet doors as my primary inspiration.  I stamped the Inkadinkado Hacienda Flourish on the Bashful Blue card base in French Blue (stamping off once to produce a very soft effect).  I used the same ink with my new Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous set called Nature's Moments.  I love the wispy flowers and the wonderful sentiment. 

To bring in the pops of color from the room, I added a very thin Gable Green mat, fuchsia adhesive gems from Hero Arts and a Martha Stewart punched butterfly from a scrap of Green DP (I love how the design in the DP worked with the punched image).

I hope you find inspiration.  You can view the entire gallery here.

Color & Sketch Challenge Combo

Kristina Werner posted another Color Inspiration challenge inspired by these great outdoor pillows from Pottery Barn.  I do okay with a 2 or 3 color challenges, but when there is a 4th or 5th color, I sometimes struggle (unless I can find a DP that already incorporates several of0 the colors).

I decided to try the colors using a sketch from DragonFlyTime.  You have until June 6th to link up a card using her sketch, for a chance to win a Big Bite.

I started with the Memory Box Aerial DP in Soft sky, then I repeated the flower element in my punched embellishments and my sentiment from Autumn Leaves Romance of Spring. 

I initially had the saffron in one of the stripes at the bottom, but it didn't look balanced.  Instead, I added the saffron in a thin mat behind the sentiment and in the gold adhesive gems on the bloom.  The navy panel is embossed with the diamonds in the rough pattern, although it is hard to see in the photo.

Inspired by a a Book Jacket

Last night was a mini-virtual stamping night on SCS.  I love having a little stamp party with all of my on-line friends. 

The theme was Book Club ... and challenge was called What Lurks Behind the Cover?'  The challenge was to make a card using vellum with a design, either stamped or embossed over the card that has a design on it.

I chose bright green flourished K&Company Mira DP, because I wanted something very bright to show through the vellum overlay.

The Fancy Pants In the Garden Flourish is stamped in Versamark and embossed with Ranger Silver Pearl EP.  The sentiment is from Studio G. 

One tip for embossing Vellum ... the Coloriser heat tool by EK Success has both a high and low setting ... and the low setting is perfect for embossing vellum without curling or singing the paper.  I attached the vellum using small silver brads.  I left it loose the front of the card, like a real book jacket.

Thanks ladies for the inspiration.

Movie Dresses

With the premiere of the Sex & The City movie this weekend, I've been drinking up the fun fashions in pictures from the movie.  So on that note, this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge is to make a card inspired by a movie dress.

The challenge was suggested by LeisaJane who made this amazing card inspired by Rose's Tea Gown from the movie Titanic.

After looking through pages of movie fashion, I decided to take my inspiration from Miranda's geometric dress, although the other two dresses also have caused more ideas to swim around in my head.

To mimic the open oval/circle effect on Miranda's dress, I embossed my CHF Open Circles Backgrounder with Versamark and clear EP on black/tan Core-dinations cardstock.  Then I got out my sanding block and just kept sanding until I had revealed the tan core of the cardstock inside the circles.  This cardstock is fun stuff.

Next I added a gold belt with two punched buckles.  The large circle sentiment is inspired by Miranda's huge gold earrings.  i added dots with my metallic soft gold paint pen.  I thought the Autumn Leaves sentiment was perfect for a movie about friendship.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Schumacher Advertising Inspired

I love drawing inspiration from advertisements.  Every time I see one in a magazine that I find inspiring, I tear it out, use a black Sharpie to write on it what inspired me (color, layout, texture), and put it in a clear page protector for my inspiration notebook. 

OK, the truth of the matter is that I tear it out and write on it, but then it usually goes into a big pile.  When there are 50+ in the pile and I can't stand it any more ... then I spent an afternoon trimming the pages and putting them into a notebook.

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge is this advertisement by interior company F. Schumacher & Co.  The colors, texture and patterns are all appealing.  I really love that gridded fabric that looks like it would be so soft and fuzzy to the touch.

To recreate that wonderful gridded look, I used Beate's Grid Technique to create my background.  I scored kraft cardstock vertically and horizontally ever 3/4".  Then I turned the cardstock over and inked it direct to paper with ColorBox Dark Brown Ink.

The DP is Memory Box Inspire Collection.  I inked the grunge board rectangles with ColorBox Aquamarine ink.  After they dried, I inked again with Versamark and embossed with Ranger Antiquities Frosted Crystal EP to created an aged finish.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Smarty Pants set. 

I love the clean lines of the layout & I think it makes a great 'man card', which isn't always easy for me to do.

I hope you find inspiration ... can't wait to see what you create.

Purse Inspired

I spend quite a bit of time looking for inspiring images for the Saturday SCS Inspiration Challenge.  I have always loved creating cards that are inspired by images. 

I fell in love with this wonderful purse by Lula Ballou.  I love the way she combined all of the different fabrics with the wonderful cut-outs.  The amazing detail (even on the inside of the purse) is so inspiring.  She received a runner-up award in the Amy Butler "Sew Inspiring" Contest for her beautiful creation.

I used Basic Grey Sultry DP cut into 1 1/2" panels (finished card is 4" x 8").  I attached the panels to the card front and sewed around the edges and between each panel (I usually sew the panel and attach it to the card after sewing, but this time I liked seeing the stitching on the inside, like the detail on the inside of her purse).  I hand-cut a tree branch and punched flowers from kraft cardstock and DP.  I added one of my favorite quotes from Rubbernecker to finish the design.