Ingenious Inkling

Love Your Guts

The current TGIF Challenge is Alcohol Blending, so I thought getting inky was the perfect way to end the weekend.  Alcohol Ink blending was one of the first techniques I learned using refills for alcohol ink markers.  I've always enjoyed the magic of it.

 

I decided to use the Ranger Silver Ink Blending Cardstock that has been unopened in my stash for much too long together with new Marabu Alcohol Inks.  I use a sprayer of Alcohol Ink and an air puffer to blow the around.

 

 

I also went in and added silver foil to the top of the almost dried inks.  I decided to use this as my background for the current Sketch at The Paper Players.

 

 

I decided to use the Love Your Guts Die by CZ Designs from Simon Says Stamp as my Sketch Shape die cut from Vellum & Silver Glitter Foam.  I'm also linking-up at Crazy 4 Challenges where the theme is Vellum.

 

 

I finished with a few clusters of silver glitter enamel dots.

 

Fox Friends Birthday

I've had these cute little fox stickers on my studio table for a while, just waiting for inspiration.  And along it came with the Just Us Girls Challenge Inspiration Photo.

 

 

My niece is having a baby soon, and her baby shower last weekend was filled with adorable little woodland creatures.  

 

I took my inspiration from the design and colors. I started by stamping a little banner from Taylored Expressions Party Streamers across the top, which works for the October #TEMakerChallenge to use something that starts with an S. 

 

 

I picked three pieces of designer paper inspired by the colors in the photograph for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and finished with a perfectly sized sticker sentiment and some tiny star stickers (for more S items).

 

 

I'm also joining the Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge to feature an Animal in your design.

Boo-ho Chic Pumpkins

We were given a paper mache pumpkin at work to decorate for a contest ... no theme.  I learned from the Damsel of Distressed to always start by painting a surface with Gesso, so that's what I did.  I also found a tiny pumpkin that I thought I would decorate as a partner.

 

 

Next I brought out my new ArtFoamies Stamps by Nathalie Kahlbach.  This idea actually came to me in a dream where I realized the foam stamp flexibility allowed me to stamp on the curve of the pumpkins.

 

 

the inky sprays to do a some drips.  I used some Distress Sprays and some vintage Memories Mists to add the Halloween Hues of orange, purple and gold to my pumpkins.

 

 

Next in the process was to paint paper flowers and buttons with white paint.  Once they dried, I attached them to my pumpkins.

 

 

Then I added some black vintage buttons from my stash, as well as some Tim Holtz Adornments Butterflies and Idea-ology Fanciful Buttons.  I also added Tim Holtz Halloween Clipping Sticker Sentiments.  I finished with a few cute skeletons, some 3-D spiders and a big black BOO.

Next up, some Gilding Polish and eye makeup to add some colors to the edges and texture of my pieces.

 

Next it was time to splatter some color to tie it all together.

 

 

I used Dina Wakley Gloss Sprays, Distress Mica Stain and some Heidi Swapp color Shine Spray in Black.  I used parchment paper for my painting and messes.

 

Here's a peek at the back of the big pumpkin.

 

 

 

Unfortunately when I sprayed with matte varnish to set all of the colors, it removed a bit of the white paint from my blue and red flowers ... but I decided to just leave it.

 

 

 

 

I think I achieved my Boo-ho Chic Goals for my design.  How adorably creepy is that little guy.

 

 

And of course the star of the show.

 

 

With my Halloween creations I'm linking-up at Simon Says Spooky/Halloween.

Not a CREATURE was stirring

Not a CREATURE was stirring at Jingle Belles this week ... we're asking you to create a holiday card featuring an animal ... or if you want to stretch the theme and are in a Halloween state of mind that could mean a Monster, Yeti or other Creature if you want to stretch the theme a bit.

You know I'm stretching the theme, right?

 

 

I had these fun Star Wars Tags in my stash, so I couldn't resist a little Christmas friendship card (Darth Vader & a Storm Trooper are Creatures in my book). 

 

 

My layout is a World Card Making Day Sketch from Sketch ~N~ Scrap.

And one lucky participant in our Jingle Belles prompt will receive the CZ Design Chunky Christmas Stamp Set.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• The Science of Laughter ... when I can make one of my quieter employees laugh out loud, it makes my day ... I also can never be sad when I hear a little baby giggle uncontrollably
• Apple Cider Donut Cake
• would love to experience this Sensory Art Exhibit
• Apple Fritter Bread
• what beautiful pictures of Everyday Life ... I love potato chips on my tuna fish sandwich, looking into windows at night, and seeing beauty in the ordinary
• Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes & recipes for leftover pumpkin
• I will be collecting these quarters
• Chocolate Orange Cake
• A Happier Life
• Crumbl Funfetti Milkshake Cookies
• love these fun Ladder Trees (one shown ... more in the post)
• Brie & Cheddar Apple Beer Soup
• Small Space Storage Tips
• Ham & Split Pea Soup

Have a tremendous Thursday.

Flutterby

One of my favorite things about creating in person with another artist is getting their feedback on designs and channeling their style as you watch them create.

This card started with a little piece of cut-off gel press print that the Damsel of Distressed had made with the Shower of Flutters stencil from STAMPlorations.  I added it to one of my gel press prints and die cut it with a hexagon die.

 

 

I combined it with two more of my Gel Press prints and a ruler that had been trimmed from a piece of designer paper that Becca had used on another card.   I brought in some Distress Crayons that Becca uses frequently in her designs, but I seldom grab, for a grungy finish to the design.  Final steps were creating a little poem with sticker sentiments that described my intention when creating the card & a few gems.  It was a really fun process.

I'm also linking-up at Little Red Wagon where the challenge theme is Flutterby (to use butterflies on your design).

 

 

I'm also joining the Stencil Challenge & Anything Goes Challenge at STAMPlorations.

Batty

Have you tried the Ranger Mica Sprays ... man, they are lovely.  This card started with a piece of cardstock sprayed with the Hocus Pocus Purple.

 

 

Next I stamped & embossed the sentiment from Dena Zinski Art from PaperArtsy in the center with Ranger Archival Black Ink, which I clear embossed to make it pop against the purple background.

 

 

At that point in my design process, I remembered the Let's Squash It! Challenge was Double Embossing, so I went hunting for an embossing folder.  I didn't have any bats, but I did have their Halloween cousin the spider web (or Cobwebs as the folder is named), so I used that.  To give it more contrast, I inked the raised edges with Plum Punch Ink.

I finished with some glittery bat stickers.

I'm also linking-up at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Pumpkin Spice celebrating all things autumn.  And the Simon Says Challenge is all about Spooky/Halloween.

Booya

I had so much fun with the AAA Cards Challenge yesterday, I decided to pull out some stamps and make a few more.  Limiting your design space to one corner makes you be more succinct with your designs.

 

 

I also decided to join the Less is More One Layer Autumnal Challenge.

 

I used CZ Design HollaWeen stamps from Simon Says Stamp that released in 2017, so I'm also linking-up at Retro Rubber Stamp Challenge.

 

 

Here's my first one ... I couldn't resist adding a witch's hat to my ghostie.

 

 

I'm also joining the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge (who is paired with the Double Trouble Challenges Halloween Cuteness) for some Halloween Fun.

 

 

For the second one I swapped out for more sentiments from the same set.

 

 

 

Now time to get these Halloween cards in the mail.

Boo!

This week's theme at AAA Cards Clean & Simple Challenges is one corner with an optional theme of Boo!

 

 

I had these spooky cute mummy stickers on my table with some Tim Holtz Stickers, so I put this one together quickly on some pitch black cardstock.

 

 

And then when I saw these sticker sentiments on the sheet, I couldn't resist pulling out some Halloween eye ball stickers for the remainder of my cardstock.

 

 

How perfect are those pink eyelids ... Boo!

I'm also joining CAS on Friday where the theme is Halloween and Addicted to CAS where the code word is Spooky.

 

Santa Baby

We're still creating with PINK this week at Jingle Belles (and both Lauren and I will donate $2 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for each card linked-up).

The Santa Baby Paper Collection by Prima has some of the prettiest pink holiday papers. 

I used lots of them together with they layout from The Sketchy Challenge (with one vertical strip from Dress My Craft Christmas Bells, another lovely paper collection with pinks).

 

 

The finishing touches were some gold strips and epoxy dots.