Ingenious Inkling

Peace Tree

Today's card is pure kismet.  Yesterday, I drooled (yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that this woman's creations often leave me staring at my computer screen with mouth wide open in amazement) over Birgit's (Biggan) Christmas Tree card that she created for the SCS Inspiration Challenge.  I knew it was an idea that I would have to "borrow" in the future.  Then last night, I saw that Lauren had created a Christmas Tree with a similar concept using torn scraps of designer paper (another borrow-worthy technique).

So today, Biggan is the SCS Featured Stamper, so it was just the push/kismet I needed to combine both techniques into my Peace Tree design.

This entire card is made from scraps (my scrap bin is currently overflowing).  I used a new Martha Stewart boarder punch on various scraps of blue papers (there's some Fiskars, K&Company, Cosmo Cricket, and who knows what else in the mix). 

I overlapped the strips on a large rectangle of scrap cardstock.  I found a Christmas tree clip art on the internet, sized it in Word, printed it on white paper, and cut it out for my template.  I used temporary adhesive to attach it on top of the layers, and then cut around it to form my tree.  At the bottom, I cut the background paper slightly smaller than the attached strips, so the bottom strip would hang-over for the base of the tree.

I finished with some sparkly wired ribbon, one of my favorite holiday sentiments from Catslife Press, a tiny punched star for the top of the tree, and Crystal Stickles garland for overall sparkle.  The finished card is a big one (6" square), so it will likely be tucked in with a gift rather than mailed on its own.
 

Lemonade Be Yourself

I had a wonderful birthday.  It started with an early morning dance with my husband to Birthday by the Beatles.  My co-workers baked me a delicious apple cake, gave me fun cards, and bought me lunch.  My husband took me to my favorite sushi restaurant for supper.  I talked to my family on the phone and got lots of birthday wishes from friends.  And, I finished the day by spending time in my studio making this whimsical card that makes me smile ... a fabulous day.

The challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is to use paper piecing.  I paired the fun Be Yourself set with papers from Basic Grey's Lemonade Collection.  I sponged a little aquamarine at the bottom to ground my flowers and bird.  I finished with a black pearl for the eye.
 
 

Resisting Pink Christmas

I had one more idea for the Celebration of Learning Challenge at the Hero Arts blog to showcase new techniques you've learned.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of the Ranger ink blending tool, and wanted to try it with emboss resist using the Hero Arts Stunning Snowflakes background stamp.

I stamped the Snowflakes in Versamark Dazzle ink and used clear embossing powder.  I then used Rouge, Pure Poppy, and Dark Peony inks to blend with my Ranger Blending tool, starting with the lightest, moving in from the edges to the center, and using the darker ink to highlight certain portions.  I then used the same technique with the Large Christmas Circle sentiment and punched it out with a 1 7/8" circle punch.

I finished with Hero Arts Crystal Gemstones in four sizes and coordinating ribbon (double knotted to get the tails to move in the right direction). 

I love bright pink for the holidays.

Masked Holiday Sayings

Another sneak peak set provided to the Caardvarks team was the new Clear Design Holiday Sayings.  I love having all of these wonderful holiday sentiments all in one set.  I also thought all of the cute little tiny elements were fun too.

Make sure you check out the an entire gallery of Caardvarks creations using this set.

By lining up five rows of sentiment and small elements on my largest acrylic block, I was able to ink and stamp only twice to cover the entire front of my card.  It's one of the fabulous benefits of acrylic stamps and allows you to make lots of cards relatively quickly.

I stamped twice, clear embossed, and then sprayed my entire piece of white card stock with Adirondack Color Wash in Bottle Green.

 

While the green ink was drying, I printed a clip art Christmas tree (that I sized in Microsoft Word to fit the front of my card).  I adhered it to my card using temporary adhesive, and then sprayed the card again with Whipped Cream Memories Mists, that reminded me of snow.  To finish, I punched out a gold metallic star to adorn the top of the tree.

All you have to do for a chance to win some new Hero Arts stamps is create a new winter-themed card and link it upby midnight August 15th.

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.

Masked One Layer Resist

This card is for the One Layer card challenge at the Hero Arts blog.  I started by stamping the sentiment from I Care Frame Messages in white ink and clear embossed.  I made a quick post-it note mask by re-stamping the image and cutting around the inside of the scallops.  Since the scallops were solidly embossed, I didn't need to go to the trouble of cutting around each one.  Once the mask was in place, I stamped the DesignBlock: Outline Flowers in white ink and clear embossed.

 

I left the mask in place, and sprayed the card with Mango Lemonade and Margarita Memories Mists.  Then I removed the mask and sprayed the entire card with Blue Hawaiian Memories Mists and Bronze Glimmer Mist for an all-over sparkle.  I used a baby wipe to remove any excess ink from the embossing ... and voila ... a relatively quick and easy one layer design.

Silhouette Blooms

This week's SCS Featured Stamper is paulatracy from Paper Possibilities.

The inspiration for my card was Paula's with sympathy card.  I loved how she used colored pencils to color the SU Inspired By Nature image. 

I wasn't able to achieve quite the variation of color that she did (I had trouble covering up the image that was stamped in Lime Pastel ColorBox Chalk).  I used koh-i-noor pencils and gamsol.  If I did it again, I would try stamping in Versamark to allow for lighter colored pencil coverage.

I finished with strips of K&Company Smitten papers and celery cardstock.  The image from SU Tagger's Dozen was stamped in Rouge, clear embossed, and punched with a small Martha Stewart Tag Punch.  I attached it to the celery ribbon using two green metal jump rings.

Thanks to Paula for the inspiration.

To You From Me

I hadn't planned to make any cards tonight, but then I saw Kristina's Color Inspiration challenge, and the wheels started turning. 

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until I got the idea onto paper.  My stash is seriously short on "just because" cards.

I stamped the So Saffron cardstock with my new CHF Fine Finials backgrounder (they've got a great sale on backgrounders going on) in Versamark and clear embossed.  The cardstock was then sprayed with Lavender Tea Memories Mists.  It produced a very cool abstract effect (click on the picture for a larger view).

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Best Yet set (I love small sentiments that fit inside various punched shapes).  I also love my SU curly label punch.  I finished with Martha Stewart punched borders, two felt flowers, and a copper brad. 

Thanks for another fun color inspiration challenge.

Gratitude in the Spotlight

This card is for another Virtual Stamping Night challenge at SCS ~ Standing in the Spotlight ~ to put a spotlight on a card using the spotlight technique. 

 

The Hero Arts College Gratitude is stamped twice in ColorBox Chalk Dark brown on Ivory cardstock and clear embossed.  To create the highlighted section, I punched out a 1 1/4" circle from the College.  I painted the petals on the bloom with Prussian Blue ink.  While the ink was still on the paintbrush, I dipped it in Silver Bells Shimmerz and painted the entire circle.  I also painted the blue mat with the same combination.

This is a very easy technique for adding design interest to a flat card.

Twinkling Resist

I wanted to do this week's Hero Arts Challenge to make a card with a Technique.  When I saw today's SCS Ways to Use it Challenge to do something with Watercolor Paper, I decided to try a new technique ... Twinkling Resist.

The Hero Arts Card Art Happy was stamped twice in Versamark on watercolor paper and clear embossed.  The first image was painted with Pink Azalea Twinkling H2O paint and then finished with a few swipes of Orange Peel.  The second image was painted with Key Lime paint and the sentiment was cut out.

The sentiment was attached with foam mounting tape and then the entire image was attached to ribbon-wrapped Basic Grey Eva DP and finished with a big, luxurious deep purple bow and some pink adhesive bling. 

The all-over shimmer is wonderful, and I love how it really brings out the detail in this image.

Finished card is 4"x6".