Ingenious Inkling

Vintage Blocked Christmas

I love blocked sketches ... I'm sure it's the linear left-side of my brain (where I spend most of my work day) spilling over into my right-brained creative endeavors ... but it's also a fun way to use scraps of paper, stickers, and other little bits & bobs.

The first sketch is Beate's Weekend Sketch #105. I will be storing this Sketch under my go-to designs... so perfect for so many occasions.  I used a vintage Crafty Secrets sticker that I won in Vicki's blog candy for the focal element together with Basic Grey Wassail papers.  I lightly stamped the Hero Arts Outline Bold Flourish (not sure why this stamp isn't in their catalog ... I recently purchased it at Michael's) on each corner and added some Ranger Tea Dye ink to distress.

For the second card I combined the vintage stickers with Crafty Secrets Christmas Time Vintage Cuts to create the entire Get Sketchy #13 blocked sketch.  Since most of my elements were horizontal, rather than vertical, I flipped the sketch to make it work.  The sentiment is from a very old K & Company sticker book.

Hope the weather in your corner of the world is half as nice as ours was today ... sunny, warm ... fantastic for November.
 
 

Unexpected Holiday Colors

The challenge at the Hero Arts blog this week is to make a holiday card using one of their unexpected color combinations.  Wow, did I find this one challenging.  I discarded multiple cards before finally deciding to keeping this one.  The grass green was the color that kept throwing me.  I probably got a bit too ambitious by trying to combine the colors with Laura's Sketch #38 from 2 Sketches 4 You Sketch, but hey ... I love a challenge.

The silver paper was embossed with the QuicKutz Snowflake embossing folder.  Stamps include Her Arts Holly Flourish Border, Holly Flourish Background, and Clear Design: Holiday Sayings.  The snowflake punch is a new Martha Stewart punch with a gemstone center.
 

Happy Christmas

To celebrate the fact that I won the Artistic Outpost Birthday Sketch Challenge (okay .. it was a random drawing, but I'll take lucky any day), I decided to make another card with the Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods stamps and Basic Grey Fruitcake Papers. 

Did you know that Artistic Outpost also gives away a complete set of stamps every month?  All you have to do is create a card using their stamps and link it up to that month's referral post for a chance to win.  I also added a cool tag from Bo Bunny's St. Nick Cut-outs, which coordinated perfectly.  I used this week's CPS Sketch #140.  The finished card is 4" x 8".

The vintage Santa was stamped on the tag with Warm Red Chalk ink.  Then I used a paintbrush and Whipped Cream Memories Mists to paint his beard.
 

And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

I have had the Snowy Woods set from Artistic Outpost on my wish list for quite some time.  When I saw the gorgeous cards by Lisa Somerville featuring these stamps on the cover and inside the Oct/Nov 2009 issue of Stampers' Sampler, I went straight home and placed my order.  When I saw Sketch #12 from Get Sketchy, I knew it was time to ink them up.

Papers are from Basic Grey's Fruitcake collection and ink is ColorBox Chalk Prussian Blue.  I clear embossed two of the sentiments for the corner elements ... love these stamps.
 

Nook & Pantry Birthday

I realized this morning that my birthday card stash is completely depleted, and I needed a birthday card for a sweet young lady.  I decided to see if I could combine the new Nook & Pantry Basic Grey papers I picked up on our trip with this weeks sketch from Card Patterns.  It turned out a bit busier than I had hoped for, but I think it will work just fine.

After I paper pieced the cupcake wrapper and candle on the Hero Arts You Deserve Card stamp, I managed to smudge some red ink I had on my finger onto the background.  I decided to "fix" it by added lots of little polka dot confetti-like smudges to the background with the pointed end of a make-up applicator cotton swab. 

I finished with some sparkle pen on the candle flame and cupcake decorations; Martha Stewart punched party hats; gradient fibers; and some sparkly half-ball decorations for the corner.
 

Serenity Outpost

This card combines stamps from Artistic Outpost's Serenity and Outpost plates with Memory Box papers and this week's Get Sketchy! sketch.

I inked a portion of a sentiment stamp for the corners.  The house and tree were colored with Pebbles Pearlescent Chalks to create an autumn landscape.
 

Chocolat Butterflies

I received a marvelous little birthday package from Stamp Muse that included this delicious Cherie glitter paper from SEI's Chocolat collection.   When I saw this week's Sketch 37 at Card Patterns, an idea was born.  I love how the paper is two sided, so I was able to feature both beautiful designs together.

I used a new (to me) Martha Stewart butterfly punch to create a few more embellishments from the scraps.  This sentiment from Hero Arts is one of my favorites.  I used an oval punch on the end of the sentiment flag.

Also, the October 20th challenge will be my last as a member of the amazing Caardvarks Design Crew ... I am sad that this part of my design life is ending, but excited about pursuing other opportunities.  You can check out the 'Varks Crew Fond Farewell here.

Make your own happiness this week.
 

Blue Outpost

This week's challenge at the Order of the Opus Gluei is Blue Blue Blue ... I decided to see how my new Outpost images from Artistic Outpost would look in shades of blue with Get Sketchy's Sketch #9.

The top background is repeatedly stamped with text from the set.  The tree and sentiment are stamped on Memory Box DP.  I finished with a torn piece of Core'dinations Vintage cardstockand faux brads made with punched Core'dinations paper and Glossy Accents.  
 

Silly Chilly Snowman

During my great paper organizational stint yesterday, I rediscovered my stash of Jolly by Golly papers from Cosmo Cricket ... love these fun holiday colors.  I combined them with today's CPS sketch and a sentiment stamp from Catslife Press to make this cute holiday card.  I added kisses of pink liquid pearls to the centers of the pinwheels to finish the design.

Scare Tactics Bat Crush

While I was organizing and purging my designer paper collection today, I found a piece of Bat Crush DP from Reminise's Scare Tactics collection.  Reminisce used to have a retail store near here, so I had access to all of their fabulous products, but now they're only focused on the wholesale side of the business.  

The first card uses Jen del Muro's Sketch For You to Try and a new Pumpkin from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  I also pulled out a set of Halloween sentiment stamps from Martha Stewart and my Martha Stewart bat punch.  The pumpkin is colored with Sakura sparkle pens and Shimmerz Glitter paint.

I used the rest of the paper to make a second card using Laura's Sketch #36 from 2 Sketches 4 You.  I'm always on the look out for ways to use my dripping goo punch.  I used more of the Martha Stewart sentiment stamps and a ghost from the Michael's $1 stamps (painted with more Shimmerz).

I think the inside of this one is going to say something about my favorite Halloween evil ... big bowls of snack size Halloween candy.