Ingenious Inkling

Dashing Through the Snow

The December Memory Box Challenge is to use Patterned Paper. 

When I was looking through my product collection, I thought this adorable Memory Box Wonderland Snowman cut from white felt with a touch of glitter would look fabulous dressed in some Memory Box Patterned Paper from the Memory Box Garland paper collection.  I added a green Love from Lizi Peel Off for definition of the hat brim.

 

 

I positioned him on some snowy pattern paper from Memory Box Dashing Holiday collection.  The sentiment is from Memory Box Dashing with Reindeer ... because this cutie is ready for a snow ball fight and a cup of coffee (with an Eyelet Outlet Holiday Coffee Brad) for the Caffeinated Christmas Snowman & Coffee Challenge.  

I used a circle punch to make his mouth & two different sized googly eyes for a bit of a wonky look.

 

 

I'm also linking-up my cute little snowman wearing a hat & scarf at the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge, and I'm joining the We Love Stamping Winter Flowers or Foliage Challenge since my snowman is decked out in pretty holiday blooms.

 

 

Christmas Ornaments

The December Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Anything Goes with an optional theme of Christmas.

 

 

I die cut one of the Penny Black Masterpieces Christmas Reflections images with the Penny Black Stitches of Love Frame Die Cuts.  I got it slightly crooked, so I trimmed the edges to straighten the stitching & die cut a second rectangle to frame the image.

 

 

I die cut Penny Black Merry Christmas from Silver metallic cardstock & added two 1/2" strips on the left side using the Sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday, finishing with some blue bling.

 

 

I'm also joining Inpsire.Create.Challenge for their Christmas theme.

 

Tape Foiled Holiday

I'm resting & relaxing with Jennifer Maguire and Cathy Zielske this morning in the Online Card Classes Relax & Reward card class.  Jennifer shared a number of ways to use different adhesives with foil, so I did a twist on one of them for this card.

Rather than use cardstock, I used Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays designer paper for my base.

 

I used two widths of strong two-sided tape with two different foils - ThermoWeb Decofoil Green & ThermoWeb Gina K. Designs Glimmering Gold.  I found that burnishing the green foil with my teflon bone folder gave it a slightly burnished look, while it didn't seem to affect the gold foil.

I finished with a Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays Sticker Sentiment & Pinkfresh Studios Sparkle & Shine Ombre Glitter Drops.

 

 

I'm linking-up my card for the December Holiday Vibes Challenge at Pinkfresh Studios.

 

 

and I'm joining The Paper Players for their Christmas Challenge.

Spellbinders Advent Calendar - Day 2

My friend Beverly & I have been enjoying our Spellbinders Advent Calendars.  These were the two little stamps that were included behind door #2.  

I stamped them in Black Amalgam ink and colored with Alcohol Markers.  I looked and there aren't many grey flowers in real gardens, but the white seemed a bit stark, so I thought the grey provided a nice tone with the purples.  Only learning from this card, is that I should have conditioned my stamps first with a sand eraser, since I got a lot of ink blubbling when I stamped making it less crisp than I had hoped.

 

 

I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge as well as Darnell's NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) Challenge.

Living Life in Peace

Amy T's Woodblock Wednesday Challenge is always a bit of a walk down memory lane for me. 

Today I went wandering through my winter stamps, and ultimately chose two of my very well-loved favorites for today's card.

 

 

I started by stamping the happy little Savvy Stamps Let It Snowman in black ink on pink cardstock & again on white cardstock to detail cut & paper piece it together (if I'm using vintage stamps, I figured I might as well throw in a vintage technique.  When I was done, I colored the scarf with pink and die cut with a stitched circle.

 

Since a snowfall that produces that type of smile is always one of the most peaceful moments to me, I paired it with a John Lennon lyric from Peddler's Pack.

I used a combination of silver & pink washi tapes on silver metallic card stock that was die cut with a stitched die cut, so I'm joining the Use More than One Die Challenge at the Cut It Up Challenge.

 

I used a layout from Sketch Saturday & the Pink and Silver color palette for the Color Hues Challenge.  I finished with some Silver embellishments.

 

 

Jingle Belles Wrapping Up 2023

We've once again come to the end of our Jingle Belles Season with all of our Christmas cards completed and ready to be mailed.

 

 

We hope you'll join us January 1st for our 14th Year of Christmas Mayhem where we help you take back your December one holiday card at a time (and if you're still making some holiday cards, we've included a link-up to share them).

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• the link between happiness and our five senses
• this Eggnog Pie sounds (and looked) delicious - shown
• Five Slow Living Holiday Gifts
• Kentucky Butter Cake
• 99 Things Money Cannot Buy
• Gooey Pecan Pie Brownies
• 99 Positive Affirmations (I make my Computer Password at work an Affirmation, since I have to type it multiple times every day).
• Christmas Potpourri
• Captain Crunch Ice Cream
• How to Ease Loneliness
• Snoop Dogg's Billionaire Bacon
• I listened to this Audiobook and more than one of the stories had me in tears ... and it is still staying in my thoughts
• simple ways to spread kindness

Have a  tremendous Thursday!

You Are Lovely

When I saw the Sketch at Global Design Project, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to showcase more of the gorgeous 49 and Market Plum Grove papers that were still on my studio table (yes, I'm that person who doesn't put things away when I'm finished).

 

 

I cut one of the more solid papers into 4 1/4" square for the base, and then cut another floral design into 1 3/4" squares grounding them with some purple cardstock.

 

 

I wanted the paper to shine, so I stayed simple with the rest of the design adding some ephemera and a sticker sentiment from {a vintage girl} & her daughter typewriter phrases.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody is the challenge theme at Little Red Wagon (cards with three different elements).  I've got squares, ephemera and a typewriter sentiment.

Mid Century Modern Gift Set

I'm working on some holiday gifts sets.  I thought Uniko's Mid Century Modern stamps and stencils would be perfect for a masculine set.

I chose a fun trio of ink colors from Concord & 9th - Peacock, Mushroom & Sprout

 

I started with the Uniko Bauhaus Blocks Stencil.

 

 

Next, I combined multiple stamps starting with Uniko Background Blocks Linear in Mushroom.  I filled in the design with stamps from Uniko Background Builders: Seeing Stars and Uniko Background Builders: Round in Circles.

 

 

Next I used different stamps from the Uniko Background Builders: Round in Circles and Uniko Explosions! Additions.

 

 

For the final card, I went back to the Uniko Bauhaus Blocks stencils.

 

I'm really happy with how this quartet turned out.

 

Let There Be Lights

A friend asked if I could recreate my pink Jingle Belles banner inspired holiday card with a masculine twist.

I started with a slightly smaller Tall Pine Memory Box Tree cut twice from watercolor paper and once from glitter cardstock.  I sprayed the watercolor paper trees with Wicked Elixir Mica Distress Stain.  Since the trees were smaller, I was able to add a snowy landscape.  

 

 

I used blue for the snowy sky and repeatedly stamped a different Tim Holtz sentiment from the same set.  Since the current Memory Box Challenge is Let there Be Light(s), I decorated each of the trees with bling to represent holiday lights in the branches.

 

I finished with a snowy wooden embellishment and puffy sticker sentiment.