Ingenious Inkling

Oh Tinsel Tree, Oh Tinsel Tree

At Jingle Belles this week, we're still creating cards inspired by this DIY Tinsel Tree Tutorial from White House Crafts.

 

 

I wanted to try to recreate the tinsel effect using paper.  I used some Fringe Scissors from my stash that I've had forever, but I'm not sure I've ever used on silver glitter cardstock.  I attached the Tinsel fringe to a Gel Print that incorporated both the teal blues and the silver.

 

 

Next I added a wrap of my favorite bright pink ribbon to pull in that color before attaching with foam tape to a Dress My Crafts matte gold card base (to pull in the final color from the tree). 

I finished with a bright pink Happy Holidays sentiment.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• Ultimate Shrinky Dink Guide
• Vanilla Coconut Granola Clusters
• Instructions on Not Giving Up
• Creamy Corn Chicken
• Goal Success by not trying to be so good ... just better than your previous self
• 15 Minute Mongolian Noodles with Ground Beef
• need to find a good spot to try some Wall Pilates
• Tom Yum Soup with Salmon
• I love this card with an Abstract Geometric Landscape
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
• BBQ Crescent Cups take me back to 7th Grade Home Economics (although I think ours were filled with Sloppy Joe)
• three-dimensional Hot Glue Easter Eggs (shown)
• Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon
• the difference between Suspense and Mystery books
• Spicy Cheese Scones

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Gather

I just returned from spending a long weekend at the Gather Guest House & Creative Studio in Waunakee, Wisconsin with a group of paper crafting friends.  

I tried to narrow down what I took to work on, so I could stay more focused on creating.  I started with an Anna Griffin holiday cardmaking kit.  I was thrilled to be able to get that many cards added to my holiday card stash.

 

 

The first morning I went for a long walk all around the neighborhood.  I love walking in new places and just letting myself be open and observant of everything around me.  I loved this mural on the side of a fishing store.

 

 

These car decals reminded me of decals I got on one of my first cards (and made me want to design some for my current car).

 

 

I also got to taste my first fresh guava, and it was amazing.

 

 

Next-up was watercoloring.  I created some backgrounds and worked on STAMPlorations panels that you can see in Monday's post.

Next I worked on cutting out images from my collection of books, so I could build a collage stash like my friend Lauren.

 

 

Sunday I snuck away to go cheese shopping for the crew at Brennans Market.  I also bought some Mead to bring home.

 

 

I planned to take more photos, but the fact that I didn't just means I was totally in the moment enjoying fabulous time with friends.

 

Robot Birthday

This week at Shopping Our Stash we're bringing you a Sketch Challenge.

 

 

I shopped my Gelli Print Stash for my background and the vertical strips.

 

 

Next I pulled out some stickers that are so old I have no idea their maker or source ... but they are definitely perfect for a little boy's birthday.  The sentiment stamp is also vintage woodblock with no manufacturer indicated.

STAMPlorations Snark

I just returned from a long crafting weekend with friends (post to follow once I get the group photo), and I tried to plan better than I did last time (bringing fewer things I didn't use and focusing on things I can do while visiting).

I chose to use markers and watercolor paints to create some backgrounds.  I also used my watercolors to paint some ATC sized prints from STAMPlorations.  I paired them with the coordinating sentiments by Chris Dring for STAMPlorations.

For the first one, I'm linking-up at Make My Monday which is P is for ... in this case, P is for Paradise & Painting.

 

The second card is another painted ATC and sentiment pairing ... she needs to apply a bit more sunscreen I believe.  I added a few PinkFresh Studio Ombre Glitter Drops.  

 

 

The final one is the same painted card & sentiment combination.  I added some Honeybee Dogwood Blooms Embossing to the card base for texture.

 

 

I was happy to get all of these done during my creative escape.

Tinsel Tree Inspired

This week at Jingle Belles, we're creating cards inspired by this fun DIY Tinsel Tree Tutorial from White House Crafts.  You may take your inspiration from the trees themselves, the colors, the ornaments or tinsel ... just make sure you include how you were inspired in your post.

 

 

I took my inspiration from both the bottle brush tree & the tinsel tree and embossed my Bottle Brush Trees from Flora & Fauna Bottle Brush Snowglobe Set in silver.  I used my MISTI to line-up the three trees & then cut them out with the Dare 2B Artzy Double Dot Rectangle Framelits Die.

 

I found adhesive gems and stars in colors inspired by the baubles in the photo & decorated my tree. 

 

 

I used the same Double Dotted Die cut on one of my Gelli Press Prints I created in the #marchprintingchallenge for the next frame and then attached both layers to a bright pink card base. 

The sentiment is from the same Flora & Fauna Stamp Set.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland shenanigans:

• Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
• I love the color combination in this scarf
• Orange Crush Cake ... and creamy Creamsicle Ice Cream
• 33 Things to Eliminate from your Closet
• Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake Donuts
• Cracker Barrel Copycat Pancakes
• Black Bean, Avocado & Corn Salad
• Love Michele's card with vibrant cone flowers
• Monster Cookie Bars with maple syrup & natural peanut butter
• Did you know you could magnetize a screwdriver?
• love Deborah's cool stenciled city girl
• Cheesecake Stuffed Cinnamon Roll Bake
• Italian Easter Cookies (shown)
• this Color Sensor looks like fun
• Have you ever made Garbage Bread (I feel like I would call it a Stromboli) ... feels like there are so many possibilities.
• No Bake Kool-Aid Pie

Easter Bunny

I used this week's Global Design Project Sketch for a happy little Easter card. 

 

 

I broke out the fun little Bunny Frame from Impression Obsession and paired it with some of my shaving cream marbled paper.

 

 

I added some fun little eyes and a bit of color.  Did you know that Bunny noses can be either pink or black and are genetically passed down from its parents (things I learn while making cards)?  I love these Dare 2B Artzy Rectangle Double Dot Framelits.  I've had that Happy Easter stamp forever (it is by katie & co for Studio G back when Michael's had an awesome bin of $1 stamps).

 

I added a few flower stickers to pull in some more Spring for the Simon Says Spring/Easter Challenge.  It's also Easter at the Papercraft Challenge.

Caffeinated Green Christmas

Today's card is for the March Caffeinated Christmas Challenge.  

 

 

I used three shades of green with the Taylored Expression Perk-Up Background stamp and coordinating Stencils.

 

 

I used sentiments from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Coffee & Simple Strips Christmas.

 

 

I finished with some gold metallic paint splatter (or spatter) for the #TEMakerChallenge for March.

 

Paint Roll-Off Tiled Birthday

I loved this month's Sketch at The Male Room and had been thinking about ways to interpret it.

 

 

I was doing quite a bit of Gel Press printing today, so I had lots of pieces of paper that I had used to roll-off my brayer to clean it, and I really loved some of the color combinations, especially the ones with the metallic paints.

I used a 5/8" square punch and punched out all of the squares I could get from the paper.  Next I layered them onto a piece of purple-grey Alexandra Renke paper that was also on my studio table.

 

 

I needed masculine birthday cards, so I pulled out this sentiment from Taylored Expressions Penned Pretty.

 

 

I liked the look so much, I did another one with another roll-off sheet.

 

 

Since my sentiment is from April 2000 (it has been retired) I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber Challenge.