Ingenious Inkling

Love is Sweet

I picked up a few sheets of tiny Valentine's Day Puffy Stickers from American Greetings at Target last week.  When I saw the small squares on this week's Sketch Saturday, I knew they would be perfect to feature a few.

 

I started with a piece of red & pink polka dot paper that picked-up two of the colors in the stickers, then I added light teal for the other sketch elements.

 

 

I originally put the yellow squares directly on top of the polka dots, but it felt too noisy, so I cut a square of kraft cardstock to ground them before adding my stickers.

The sentiment is a chipboard Lucky Charm Lucky Us Thicker.

 

 

I'm also joining the In Love Challenge at Time Out Challenges.

 

 

And with that cute little cup of coffee, I'm joining the Coffee/Tea Time Challenge at Cupcake Inspiration.

Across the Border

The current challenge at Shopping our Stash is to use Border Punches or Border Die Cuts.  

 

 

I pulled out my collection of neglected border punches and used them to make a paper wedding cake with some lovely opalescent shimmer paper.  I combined lots of different border punches to decorate.

 

 

 

I finished my decorating with some Love from Lizi Peel-off Stickers, Daisy Flower Stickers and a wedding sentiment.

Do you have some neglected Border Punches you'd like to show some love?

You are Enough

The January Challenge at the Memory Box Blog is to create using Alphabets. 

 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any Memory Box Alphabets in my stash, so I used some Alphabet Stickers that I paired with lots of other Memory Box products.

I started with the Memory Box Butterfly Swell Die with one of my Gel Press Prints.  Since I pulled the print using super-fine gold paint, I had thought I would use a matte gold paper behind the butterflies, but when I tried different Memory Box Glitter papers, the black is what really made it pop (lesson to remember, try different options before deciding).

 

 

I added some Memory Box Fairy Jewels to the butterfly centers.

 

 

The sentiment is FLY from my sticker alphabet letters paired with a stamped sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typewriter Sentiments.

Happy Heart Day

The January Stock Your Stash theme at Reverse Confetti is Love is in the Air.

 

 

It is the perfect opportunity to use my new Big Love Confetti Cut.  I die cut the base in black and then die cut the letters and heart in Red Glitter Paper.  I attached the glitter paper with foam tape for dimension.  I added a little pink glitter heart from my stash on top.

 

 

 

I found this red and pink Gel Press Print (pulled with sheer silver metallic paint) that I used for my card base.

 

 

I finished with a red ink stamped sentiment from Reverse Confetti Words of Love.

Standing in Front of a Salad

When I saw the current sketch at TGIF Challenge, I thought of paper scraps.

 

 

Before I went hunting in my humongous designer paper scrap pile, I decided to focus on the colors from this week's Just Us Girls Color Week Hues (light blue & silver with white).  This is the pile I returned with.

 

 

Next I decided to use some pre-made white-on-white pattern card bases I had in my stash for a bit more visual interest with the rather simple sketch design.  The final decision was using some snarky sentiment stickers for one of the horizontal rectangles.

 

 

While I was cutting things up, I went ahead and made a second card.

 

 

I finished with scatterings of pearls. 

 

 

Those sentiments both make me smile ... I think they'll both go in the mail today.

Getting Fit in 2022

Since the New Year often brings resolutions to eat less sugar and get fit, this week at Jingle Belles we're asking you to create cards using no-calorie paper sweets.  You might use cookies, candy, cake or any other favorite holiday sweet on your card.

I chose the lovely vintage holiday treats from the Stamperia Classic Christmas Collection to build my card.

 

 

I detail cut two circles and the sentiment, inked the edges, and attached them using the current Fusion Card Challenge Sketch.  The wonderful vintage sweets on the background of my Slimline card design reminded me of the vintage cookbooks in my Grandma's kitchen that I used to read like novels.

 

Since I had the other half of 8x8" paper left, I decided to make a second card using the same papers.

 

 

So much yumminess on this design.

We hope you'll break out all of your paper goodies and come join us.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through Blogland:

• Crunchy Toffee Buckeyes
• I don't think I would ever get out of that pool
• Apple Pie Bites (I wouldn't need mine on a stick)
• More 2021 TV Shows to add to our list ... we've watched several already (currently finished season 3 of Succession and trying to decide what's next) ... I love being able to watch an episode each night
• Classic Applesauce
• Hot Springs Vacation Destinations
• Brownies with Marshmallow Fluff (I bet these would be awesome warm and gooey from the oven with a scoop of ice cream)
• love these every day geometric layouts
• Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal Cups
• what a great door refresh with molding
• Orange Pound Cake (I love recipes with step-by-step photos - one shown)
• how to Remove Stain from Concrete
• I love Clam Chowder
• I love looking at December Daily pages

Have a tremendous Thursday!

The Real Heroes

This card started with the Just Us Girls Challenge to use an Inked or Sprayed Background.  

 

 

I searched through my background drawers and found this piece of Black cardstock that was sprayed with white ink spray using what I think was the Rough Edge Circlezz Stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.  I think I sprayed with the stencil in place and then flipped it over on the cardstock to get a positive imprint from the sprayed ink on the stencil.

 

 

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch by punching three 1 1/4" squares from the trimmed off edge of the sprayed paper and cutting two rectangles from my brand new Funky Fossil Don't Make Me Laugh stamp in black ink on white cardstock.  I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Something New Challenge.

 

 

I'm also joining the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes Stencil Challenge.  The sentiment is a Tim Holtz Big Talk Snarky Sticker attached with foam tape.

 

 

I finished with a scattering of black pearls.

Be the Change

The January Challenge at Pinkfresh Studio is to create a project inspired by one of the months in 2021.

 

 

Since Santa brought me the new In the Meadow Washi Tape & Coordinating Die from Pinkfresh Studio, I went with the March 2021 Challenge theme of Flowers. 

 

 

I thought the die cut flowers & greenery from the Washi Tape were perfect for a slimline card design.

 

 

I attached the larger die cut pieces at the top & bottom, and then used foam tape for the rest of the flowers & leaf clusters for dimension.  It's my version of the Split in Two Sketch at Sunday Stamps. 

 

 

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio / Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember set.  

 

 

With my new products and a great sentiment to start the New Year, I'm joining the New Challenge at TIME OUT Challenge.

I is for Inky Snarky Birthday

After my win at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing for today's challenge (because you know I like any opportunity to pull out my Snark and my Ink).

 

 

I decided to play with Alcohol Inks and the Rabbit Hole Designs Overlapping Circles on my Gel Press.  I grabbed a combination of purple inks that were front and center on my display.

 

 

I used a piece of yellow paper that was nearby and a blue Gel Press Print that was sitting on my studio table too to pick-up the ink from the plate, while I let the rest of the ink dry under the stencil  (yes, clearly not much planning going on here ... but often that's the best type of creating).

 

 

I also didn't want to waste all of that ink left on the stencil, so I placed it on a piece of white cardstock & added some Blending Solution to my brayer and rolled until most of it was on the paper.

For my card, I started with the piece I pulled from the Gel Press with the remaining stencil ink using silver metallic paint as the card base.

 

 

Next I cut the inked blue gel press prints into strips and layered over the top.  The finishing touches were some purple Peel-off Strips from Love from Lizi to add a bit of metallic bling.  

The Super Snarky Sentiment is from Rabbit Hole Designs Sassy Birthday stamped in purple ink on white cardstock.

 

I hope you'll pull out your inky techniques and come join the fun.