Ingenious Inkling

Slimline Christmas

We've got Lela Menke joining us as a Guest Designer at Jingle Belles this week with her theme Skinny Santa Slimline - to create a slimline holiday card.

I chose the mini-slimline for my card featuring the Pinkfresh Studio Mini Slimline Frames.  I paired the frames with Pinkfresh Studio Indigo Vines Washi Tape for my holiday wreath.

 

 

I decorated my wreath with dark red Pinkfresh Studio Crystals.  

 

 

The Sentiment was cut from a piece of Pinkfresh Studio Christmas Magic Warm Wishes Designer Paper.

I'm also joining the Simon Says Stamp Summertime Blues Challenge (to use the color Blue or Music).

Come share your slimline holiday cards with us at Jingle Belles.

Good Time to Wine

The colors in this week's Color Throwdown are a really unique combination to me ... and I love them.  That scene looks like something I would combine in my home.

 

 

I searched through my print drawer and found an Alcohol Ink Background that combined purple and red with touches of silver foil.  I added a second print that pulls in that amazing green.

 

 

My inky background is also perfect for the TIME OUT Challenge to Make Your Own Background.

 

 

It reminded me of spilled wine, so that's what I went with inspired by the Fusion Card Challenge. 

 

 

I found a wine bottle shaker sticker in my stash together with a glass.  I added a sentiment from My Favorite Things Good Time to Wine.  I finished with some clear iridescent Pinkfresh Studio drops.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through blogland:

• Snickers Cookie Cups
• 15 places to apply Minimalism
• Vanilla Vanilla Snack Cake
• I love Regina Spektor's lovely voice
• S'Mores Brownie Pie
• Do you want to learn to Do the Splits
• I miss a local restaurant that had the best Salsa Verde
• Paper Bag Leaf Garland
• Peach Cobbler Pound Cake ... I feel like I might skip the frosting on this one and use a glaze instead or maybe with some No Churn Peach Ice Cream
• How to Wash a Baseball Hat
• Apple Oatmeal Pancakes
• A site that recommends an Album by Mood
• Caramel Apple Dump Cake
• Have you tried doing your own Seafood Boil?

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Sandy Tropical Beaches

As you saw in yesterday's post, we spent a good part of the weekend sanding metal stair rails.  When we bought the package of sandpaper, I realized it could have a dual user for some sandy beach card elements.

I combined the Sandpaper with my new Little Star Fish Stamp & Die Cut Set from AlteNew using colors from the AlteNew August 2022 Inspiration Challenge Photo.

 

 

I die cut stamped & die cut the two sizes of starfish from two of the colors and then stamped the sentiment from the same set in the dark brown ink from the Inspiration Photo.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the CASology Sand Challenge.

 

 

And those colors and images are perfect for the Addicted to CAS Tropical Challenge.

 

When Dad Comes to Visit

Dad was here for the weekend, and as always, we worked on a few projects.

First order of business was to reassemble the lamp my brother made me (you can see more photos on his Instagram). 

 

 

All of the light bulbs in our house are very bright white, so the warm glow from these bulbs felt very relaxing.  My underwater scuba lamp was made from a pump housing he recycled.  He built his shoulders from wood and then added the lights.  I love having one of his pieces of art in my  home.

 

 

 

Saturday morning we ventured to the downtown Farmers' Market.  There weren't as many vegetable vendors as I had hoped, but I did enjoy admiring the different build your own bouquet booths.

 

 

Next-up we hung some new art.  I got this fun little Koi Fish at the Des Moines Art Festival, and his colors work perfectly with some of the train art I have going up the stairway.

 

 

 

We also hung the Houston Llew Round the Bend Spiritile.

Next-up was repairing some floor board molding that had come loose from one of the wall corners (after our first trip to the hardware store ... I'm guessing there will be at least one more).

 

 

And then our biggest project - sanding and painting the metal stair rails - so much dust (and obviously layers of paint) ... I'm pretty sure on Monday I won't be able to lift my arm.  And of course when we went back to apply the 2nd coat of primer, I saw I had managed to drip on the wall in two places, so we'll have to touch that up too.  I'm not a neat crafter ... I'm not so neat with home repairs either.

 

 

And here are the railings after two coats of primer & two coats of the original Sherwin Williams Black Fox Paint.

 

The Best Thing to Hold Onto in Life

The August Stock Your Stash Challenge at Reverse Confetti is to make a Wedding Card.  It was perfectly timed, since a friend is getting married next weekend.

 

 

I decided to take my design inspiration from the Inspire.Create.Challenge.  I found some Alcohol Ink Designer paper that I paired with some texty paper from my stash.

 

 

I used the sentiment and flowers from Reverse Confetti Something Wonderful.   The finished card is a top fold 5" x 6" so I could add a wrap of yellow twine under the sentiment.  I finished with some coordinating crystal gems.

 

 

I'm also joining the Addicted to Stamps Challenge to use Stencils and/or Die Cuts.

 

 

 

And Retro Rubber Challenge is Anything Goes.  These stamps are from January 2018 and are still wedding favorites.

 

Blue Create-in-Quads Snowflakes

This week at Jingle Belles we're still creating with the color blue.  I chose three Distress Oxide Blues (Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and the gorgeous new Uncharted Mariner) together with Pumice Stone for the dots using Taylored Expressions Create-in-Quads Snowflake Stencil.

I used my Memory Misti to line up the stencils ... you just place each one lined up in the corner and you get perfect alignment for your ink blending.

 

 

I added a few small pieces of Mariner Blue gems to finish three of the designs.  

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Daring Cardmakers Stencil It! Challenge.

 

 

It was an unexpected color combination, but I loved how it turned out (and that my cards are totally mailable).   With all of my snowflakes, I'm also linking-up at the Christmas Kickstart - Never in a Nativity Challenge (I'm pretty sure it wasn't snowing).

 

 

I think the Taylored Expressions Beautiful Baubles Add-On Sentiment gives it a Mid-Century Modern feel.

 

 

I used Unchartered Mariner for my card bases.   I also gave the page a generous spray of Avery Elle Clear Shimmer Spray before cutting into the four panels.

 

 

The final panel only had the two lighter blues, so I swapped out my card base color and used a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Winter Wishes.

 

 

I added clear gems to accent the design.  The Create-in-Quad Stencils are so fun to get four different designs from one ink blending session.

 

I'm also joining the ABC Christmas Challenge - N is for new (my gems) and O is for old (everything else LOL).

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland fun:

• Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Love the blues & exposed brick in this kitchen
• I'm going to have to try Air Fryer Kurkuri Bhindi
• free online classes at Harvard
• Egg Muffins - 9 ways
• Carnival Slaw
• Embracing a Growth Mindset
• Panzanella is summer food magic
• How to Put Tissue Paper in a Gift Bag
• how cute are these Mini S'Mores Cheesecakes (shown)
• Street Corn Pasta Salad
• Free Posters of Inspiring Women
• Apple Compote
• a magical interview by Anderson Cooper with Laurie Anderson
• Ritz Cracker recipes ... so versatile
• never realized Typepad featured my blog
• Biscuits with Roasted Peaches ... yum]

Have tremendous Thursday!

Go With the Flow

The next challenge theme at Shopping Our Stash is She Sells Seashells - to create a card featuring the beach, ocean, sea or seashells. 

 

 

While I love visiting the beach, I seldom buy any beach themed items since am making cards in the landlocked Midwest.  I had to do quite a bit of "shopping my stash" before I could find something to use for this week's Challenge.  I found a book of Lost Ocean postcards to color and send (by Johanna Basford).  No idea why I bought them or why they remained unopened, but I found two of them that I thought worked well together. 

The postcard paper was nice and sturdy, so with the shell background I sprayed three shades of Distress Oxide Spray - Mermaid Lagoon, Unchartered Mariner and Villainous Potion - and then blended with water.  I finished with sprays of Avery Elle Clear Shimmer Spray.

 

 

I trimmed the jelly fish from a second postcard and used ink smooshing with Distress Oxide inks to add color and then painted the jelly fish with Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Twinkles glitter gel.

I added a strip of a Gel Press print to frame the image and finished with a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Mermaid's Tail and some Pinkfresh Studio Iridescent Pearls.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at Just Add Ink's Just Add ... Under the Sea Challenge.

My Time to Craft Challenge is also Ocean/Sea beside or on or underwater (lots of *or* options)

You Are Killing It!

This week's Just Us Girls Challenge is to CASE a Designer.  

 

 

I've always been amazed at my friend Seeka's Ink Blending prowess, so I chose this monochromatic ink blended card to inspire my design. 

 

 

Rather than limey greens, I went with the trio of yellow inks from Simon Says Stamp Saturated Ink Collection.  Seeka only used two colors (a light and heavy) and I went with three (but wished I had stuck with two due to the heavy contrast on the bottom fourth on my card).

 

 

My CZ Design Yay You sentiment didn't take up quite as much real estate as Seeka's, so I added a tiny one at the bottom.

I'm also joining the Crafty Friends Summer Color Challenge ... because nothing says summer like the color of the sun.

This card reminded me that the only way to get good at ink blending is to do it more often ... practice, practice, practice.  Thanks Seeka for the inspiration.