Ingenious Inkling

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.

Purple & Blue Birthday

The current Seize the Birthday Challenge is to create a birthday card using purple & blue (turns out as I went to write this blog post, I clicked-through on the post from my blog reader and it was supposed to be blue, purple and green ... oh well, I'm going for the Anything Goes theme then). 

 

 

As you might have noticed, I've been a bit focused on using my gel press stash, so I went shopping for blues and purples.

 

 

I found a blue and purple print for the background made with Carabelle Studio Accumulation of Circles Stencil.  I found coordinating blue & purple prints and used the Sketch from Sunday Stamps challenge.  I added some washi tape for the marks in the Sketch.

 

 

I finished with Happy Birthday Circle from Rubber Soul and some enamel dots.

Gel Print Circles Butterfly

I wanted to make a card for the Butterfly Challenge at Less is More.  I chose this butterfly from my stash of ephemera ... and then I went shopping in my gel press print drawer for some prints that would complement the colors. 

I chose a purple bubble wrap print that had bits of the yellowy-golden color and a more solid pattern that pulled out more of the butterfly's golden hue.  It's so funny how changing the scale from the 12" piece of printed paper to the small die cut circle completely changes the look of the design ... I love the almost graffiti-like feel of the circles.

 

 

I used stitched circle dies to create a version of this week's Freshly Made Sketch. 

 

I found a long-lost stash of aged chipboard words for my sentiment (I really wish someone would make these again).  I really wanted to add a few enamel dots, gems or splatters, but decided to remember the theme that Less is More and let the white space shine.

 

 

I'm also joining the Allsorts Challenge where the theme is Butterflies or Bugs.

Blue Christmas

We're channeling our inner Elvis at Jingle Belles this week and creating a BLUE Christmas.

I decided to shop my Gel Press drawer for my blues using a fabulous Sketch from Sketch~N~Scrap ... and of course some perfect blue inks from Catherine Pooler.

 

 

The sentiment is from Unity Stamp Company Holiday Joy Christmas Tree.  I finished with some vintage Martha Stewart glittery punched snowflakes and Pinkfresh Studio Bling in the centers.  

 

 

I just love that Gel Press background ... and the little shimmering inked piece I found hidden among the scraps that were too pretty not to keep.  I'm also linking-up at the Unity Stamp Company July Challenge to share your favorite stamps.  I love the Itty Bitty images that combine an image with a sentiment ... it makes cardmaking so much easier (and the frame is a bonus).

 

 

And it's an Any Occasion Challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another day of skipping through blogland:

• How to determine the Shape of your Face
• Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (shown)
• this week I learned the types of Tequila (and Mezcal)
• Baked Apple Fritters
• living a happy & fulfilled life (so grateful for my friends)
• love the Green and White Cabinets in this Kitchen Makeover
• Frozen Watermelon Mojitos
• I want to try covering a baby board book
• Best Scenic Train Rides in America
• Mango Sticky Rice Ice Cream Pops
• Summer Fruit Salad
• how cool is this Neon Tie Die with Bleach
• Air Fryer Fried Pickles
• need to make room in my freezer to try this Frozen Greek Yogurt Bark with Fruit
• how to Make Your Own Stamp Cleaner
• Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies
• DIY Painted Rock Magnets

Have a tremendous Thursday!