Ingenious Inkling

Having a Ball

Since I recommended this week's Color Challenge at SCS, I knew I needed to play along.  I loved how Itsapassion used these colors (Real Red, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky) in her Spring Bundle III creation.  They remind me of colors we have throughout our house ... the colors of the St. Louis Cardinals ... so I knew I needed to make a Cardinal creation. 

Since it's a guy card, I decided to keep it simple and free of embellishment.  I used Jen del Muro's Sketch for You to Try.  I also wanted to use a bird for Allison's Suggestive Sunday theme (I really like the idea of using a theme for a week's cards).

I inked the Impression Obsession Cardinal with ColorBox Chalk Warm Red and then used markers to color over the branch, beak and feet.  I stamped the PSX baseball in ColorBox Prussian blue and punched it out using a 7/8" punch.  The sentiment is a sticker. 

Only 3 weeks until Spring Training ... Go Cardinals.

One More Blue Moon

I couldn't resist doing one more card for the Caardvarks Blue Moon challenge.  There are so many cool cards in the gallery, but there is still plenty of time for you to get your Blue Moon creation linked up (until January 31st to be exact).

I found this fun adhesive felt moon and star at a craft store when I was traveling over the holidays, so of course I had to find a way to use them for this challenge. 

I decided I wanted to use the Tres Jolie DP for my background, which gave me two of my colors (Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss).  I wanted a third color, so I went to my handy-dandy Color Combo generator, which gave me Pale Plum ... and I even had some ribbon that coordinated with my palette.  I don't know anyone having a baby soon, but it's always good to have a variety of cards in my stash.

Dealer's Choice Inspired

Did you ever see something that you thought was so intriguing that you had to stop everything you were doing and see if you could do it?  That's what happened tonight when I saw this fun Dealer's Choice Quilt Pattern on Lisa's blog celebrate CREATIVITY in all its forms.  I thought to myself, I wonder if I can do that with paper.

It was a bit tricky figuring out the dimensions and how to adhere the pieces, but I made it work.  The paper squares are all from DCWV's All Dressed Up matstack.  I used my paper cutter to cut 1 3/4" squares.  The finished card is 5 1/2" square.

I first adhered two squares end to end across from each other (the large polka dot and the stripe) by putting a small amount of adhesive on the corner and attaching them to another square of paper behind them.  Then I tucked in the other two squares (small polka dot and floral) to complete the design.  After I had them all positioned, I added more adhesive to hold them down firmly, and then adhered the four squares to the glitter paper background.

I put a clear pebble over the center of the Maya Road sheer blossom and put a glue dot behind it to adhere the bloom to the papers.  The sentiment is a Swatch Book Impress-on.  I think it will work for an unconventional Valentine.

Remember, inspiration can be found almost anywhere.

More Blue Moon Creations

I love the flexibility of the Caardvarks Blue Moon challenge.  This card combined both the blue color and the celestial theme. 

I love finding DP that I can stamp on.  This Wordsworth paper looks watercolored with some stitching added for good measure. 

For the background I stamped one of my favorite star filled sky images from Paper Parachute in Staz-on Midnight Blue.  The sentiment is Our Real Selves by River City Rubber Works.

I wanted a ribbon accent along the side of the sentiment, but couldn't find anything that matched.  This ribbon was originally white and pale blue.  I sprayed it with Memories Mists in Blue Hawaiian and used the reverse side of the ribbon, which seemed to work better with the design.

Who hasn't had a blue mood?  This card started with Mood Du Jour collage stamp from Inkdadinkado by Dawn Houser stamped on glossy cardstock in Midnight Blue Staz-on.  I then sprayed several light misted coats of Memories Mists in Blue Hawaiian over the image.

After the Mists dried, I sprayed on a light coat of Krylon Silver Glitter Spray (make sure you use this in a well-ventilated area). It's a quick way to get an over-all glittery finished, especially when using multiple layers like this design.

The card was finished by punching three evenly spaced openings with my Stampin' Up horizontal slot punch and adding some two-sided sparkly blue/silver ribbon.  Just because it's a blue mood, doesn't mean it can't sparkle. 

I hope you have as much fun with your Blue Moon creations as I did.  I can't wait to see them.

Blue Moon & Penguin Pants

Today begins the Blue Moon challenge at Caardvarks.  This challenge has lots of flexibility and allows you to really flex your creative muscle  Your card can be in shades of blue ... or celestial themed ... or both.  The sponsor for this challenge is Heart in Hand Scraps, so make sure and check out their cool stuff.

The background on my first creation was a serendipitous discovery.  I was trying to do Keri's Fluid Chalk resist technique, but for some reason, I just couldn't get it to work.  So after messing up numerous sheets of glossy cardstock, I decided to see what I could make work using glossy cardstock, Colorbox Chalk Inks, and Alcohol.

I started with my lightest shade of blue chalk ink and covered portions of the cardstock.  Then I moved on to the next shade covering up more white and overlapping the light color in places.  I kept moving on through my blue inks until the entire page was covered.

Then I took a paper towel and dipped it in alcohol and began "buffing" the cardstock, which caused the inks to blend and remove slightly depending on how much I rubbed.  I just kept buffing until I achieved the desired finished effect ... exactly the night sky I was looking for.

Don't you love that fabulous Henna Moon and Star?  It's from a set called Heavenly Henna from a brand spankin' new stamp company called Penguin Pants (I absolutely love their name and their logo is adorable).  I first became curious about their stamps when I saw some of them being used (I found out later by one of the owners of the company) on SCS.  I e-mailed them and was able to pre-order some of their fabulous sets.  I love them.  They will be sponsoring an upcoming Caardvarks challenge, so be sure to check them out.

The Henna Moon, galaxy stamp by Paper Parachute, and The Angel Company sentiment were stamped in Midnight Blue Staz-on.  I also stamped a larger Hero Arts star, which I later covered with the star shaped jewels.  The entire piece is mounted on a Glitter Card Base from Die Cuts with a View.

I can't wait to see your Blue Moon creations.

Sympathy Card Sketches

I needed to replenish my sympathy card stash.  Usually I like to make cards specifically for occasions, but when I need a sympathy card, I'm not often not in a creative frame of mind, so I like to have several on hand.

Julee's Monday Mojo Sketch was perfect for one of my favorite sympathy sentiments from the Sympathy Sentiments acrylic set by Impression Obsession.  I promise I'll put away the Tres Jolie paper by My Mind's Eye soon :^), but I am loving the colors today.

Along the bottom I stamped Stampendous String of stars on the left and flipped it over and stamped in again on the right.  Where the two images didn't quite meet, I stamped a single solid star by Hero Arts.

This is the same sentiment by River City Rubber Works.  I used Sketch #38 from SketchThis:Cards and more My Mind's Eye papers.  I punched the sparkly stars from a glitter card included in a package of cards by DCWV.

Non-Traditional Valentine Colors

I enjoy using non-traditional colors for my Christmas cards, so why not try it for Valentine's Day?  I love My Mind's Eye two-sided cardstock, because I can use it for my cardbase (with a nice soft blue on the inside of my card).  Lauren Meader (mytime) posted a fun, simple sketch which was the inspiration for the design.

I combined various Studio G stamps from Michael's.  The center heart image was stamped once on Ivory and again on the apricot, so I could cut out the heart.  I used lots of circle and scallop circle punches to layer-it-up.  There is a pop-dot under the smaller circle for a little dimension.

I punched three holes through the twill and inserted the small brads before attaching the ribbon to the card base using strong tape (so they don't poke through my card base).  I really love how this one turned out.

A Lesson in Two-sided Designer Paper

If you looked through my gallery, you would see that I have a particular affinity for two-sided papers.  I love being able to just flip a piece of paper over and have an easily accessible coordinating design for my creation.  However, this card is a lesson in something to watch for when buying two-sided paper.

This designer paper is called Dress Hearts by Chatterbox.  One side is soft pink ... the other side has a whimsical brown heart pattern.  But, do you notice something about the soft pink?  The paper is so think that you can clearly see the heart pattern from the other side bleeding through.  In this case, i decided I liked that additional element (what else is a girl to decide when the card is already assembled??), but in other designs it could be a problem. 

To avoid this in the future, make sure you place your piece of designer paper lightest-side-up on top of a piece of white paper to see if the darker side is visible.

One a more positive note, I love my new Martha Stewart scalloped heart punch.  It fits so nicely inside of the regular Martha heart punch that I already own.

I created this card for two challenges.  The sketch is Di HIckman's January #2 sketch and the tearing of the DP was for Sharon's Tear It Up! challenge (something I don't do a lot of because I always seem to have trouble tearing straight and getting a nice edge).  The heart from Fancy Pants Designs From the Garden was inked in Chestnut Roan ColorBox Chalk ink, and then I rock & rolled the edges in the Lipstick red.  The sentiment is Hero Arts.

Buttons & Blooms

The Sunday Featured Stamper challenge at SCS is one of my favorites.  I love wandering through the history of creativity and seeing the changes over time (since August 2006 in KathyC's case).  My inspiration today was KathyC's Cuttlebug and Posies. 

When I attach buttons, I seldom take the time to thread some fiber through them.  Today I got out a needle with a big eye and sewed the ribbon through each of the four holes in the button, ending with a knot on top.  I really like the effect.  These buttons were actually in my sewing box when I went searching for the needle ... two buttons that were included with some shirt or skirt I purchased.

The paper is two-sided Tres Jolie cardstock by My Mind's Eye ... it makes it so easy to match up a pattern and solid that way.  The blue twill is by Martha Stewart.  It was a bit too thick to get flattened bow on the card, so I just tied a scrap of the sheer olive ribbon around it.

Thanks to KathyC for the inspiration.

Polished Stone Agapanthus

I checked out today's challenges for the SCS Girls' Night Out and decided to try a card using the Polished Stone Technique.  This was one of the very first techniques I ever tried when I started stamping, and I love how it looks different every time depending on the balance of combined inks and alcohol/blending solution.  This background combines Studio 2 inks in Crimson, Bisque and Pale Flesh together with Silver Leafing Pen.  After finishing the background on glossy cardstock, I stamped the Stampendous Agapanthus Cluster and Studio G sentiment using Black Staz-on ink.

This is a special card for my Chemo Angel patient who has "graduated" from the program by completing her chemotherapy ... the inside says "You Go Girl."