Ingenious Inkling

Homegrown Challenge ~ Fruits & Vegetables

The Caardvarks challenge for March 20th is Homegrown, so break out your favorite fruits & vegetables.  This challenge gives you lots of options, so put on your creative thinking caps and impress us with your ingenuity.  Cards need to be linked in the post comments by midnight March 31st to be considered.

Itty Bitty Scrap Shack is the Homegrown sponsor with a great prize kit, as well as the opportunity to be a IBSS Guest Designer.  Check out the 18 cards Jen made with their March Homegrown kit.

I had a lot of fun making my cards for this challenge.  This card used this week's sketch from My Paper World and papers from Basic Grey. 

My large apple from Rubber Stampede was inked using ColorBox Chalk in Warm Red and Red Lipstick.  I used two green markers to color my stem.  The small apple is from Stampin' Up's Year Round Fun 2 set.  I borrowed the sentiment from a friend and forgot to write down the name of the set.

This was a fun & simple card using $1 stickers from MIchael's.  I loved the fun colors with the corrugated paper.

I think pumpkins are an under-appreciated vegetable.  These fun jack-o-lanterns were custom made by a local stamping store that has since closed.  The bat & spider are from CTMH's Halloween Dingbats with a $1 Michael's sentiment.  I tied a bunch of knots in the fiber to give it a knobbier appearance.

My final fruity card celebrates one of my favorite ways to have some fruit ~ in a glass ~ and it also works for Allison's I Need a Drink Challenge. 

I adhered a bunch of fun drink stickers to a kraft card-base and added a Studio G sentiment.

Also, check out this amazing stamp designed by Bethany Kartchener for the first ever monthly Caard(varks} kit "Rainbow Sherbet" that launches today.  Make sure you get yours before they're all sold out.

Little Girl's Room Inspiration

How fun is this little girl's room from HGTV? 

Kristina Werner challenged her blog readers to be inspired by the color palette - Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi.

I did a quick and easy 4 1/4" square card featuring my new Stampin' Up rub-ons & three layered blooms (from my rather large flower collection). 

I tried my best to capture Kristina's clean, classic design style.  Thanks so much for the fabulous inspiration.  I never would have combined these colors on my own, and I love them.

ETA **  I had to laugh when I uploaded my card and realized this is almost the exact color combination of my blog header (minus the Blush Blossom) ... obviously I liked this color combination more than I knew :^)

More Inked Embossing

I had so much fun with my inked Cuttlebug card last night, I had to try it again. 

I did discover that with this folder I need to ink the front (or printed side) of the folder for the technique to work.

I stayed with a simple layout to showcase the numbers.  I used Blue Lagoon ColorBox Chalk ink on pink marbled wrapping paper.  This is such a quick way to produce a very fun card.

Inking the Cuttlebug

This card uses a new technique (to me) ~ The Negative Effect.  I used my ColorBox Chalk Aquamarine ink pad and inked up the back side (the side without the printing) of my Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy embossing folder (ETA** I think that my folder is actually made backwards ~ you need to normally ink the front or printed side for most designs).  I cut a piece of light blue marbled wrapping paper (the kind you buy in big sheets at specialty card or paper stores) and put it inside the folder. 

I discovered a quick way to clean my folder after embossing - put a baby wipe inside the folder and run it back through the machine to clean the ink from all of the indentions.

This card also features Card Positioning Systems Sketch #56 ... a great way to feature this cool embossing.

The heart is stamped on the same marbled paper, cut out, and mounted on pop-dots for a little dimension. 

I also discovered that a rub-on will adhere to embossed and inked paper.  I find the best tool for working with rub-ons is my Teflon bone folder.  It is one of the "must have" tools for my studio.  I will definitely be playing with this technique again.

Power of the Letter

The United States Postal Service & HBO have partnered to bring us the Power of the Letter to celebrate the value of a heartfelt handwritten card. 

To celebrate letter writing (and the new HBO series on John Adams), you can get a free card that you can customize with a quote (and pictures if you want) as well as free two-way postage. 

Check it out.

Tagged & Re-Tagged

I was tagged again by Terrie Bailey.  Thanks so much ... but instead of listing 7 things, I'll reference you back to previous tags here & here.  I'm not sure I have 7 more things I can think of this late on a Sunday night.  Wishing you all a marvelous week.

Don't forget, the Caardvarks Caard Trip challenge ends at midnight on March 18th.  Get your transportation themed cards linked up for a great chance to win some Kim Hughes stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms.  Check out the awesome gallery here.

AstroGirl and Heartspeak

This morning I hopped right out of my bed and into my studio (does it get any better than that??).  I was inspired by today's SCS Featured Stamper BeckyTE.

My first inspiration card was her soft Saffron Heartspeak.  I stayed pretty true to her overall design changing out the colors and sentiment placement (my heart was larger than hers, so the change was out of necessity).  I had to off-stamp the Prussian Blue ColorBox ink once to get closer to the shade of blue I needed to coordinate with my Tres Jolie DP.

I couldn't find my mat stack, so I had to free-hand punch the holes (don't look to closely) for Sharon's Pierce It! Challenge.  Paper tearing and piercing usually aren't things I think about when I make cards, so it was fun to get outside of my comfort zone.

After I finished this card, I found my mat stack, so I had to try another one with piercing.  I think this is my first attempt at faux stitching, which produces a great effect.  My new Autumn Leaves AstroGirl set has been begging to be used, so to keep with BeckyTE's Country Snowgirl inspiration, I made mine an AstroGirl.

Her space suit seemed a little plain, so I paper pieced it using the same Arctic Frog Garment District Take a Hike paper (thanks to Di Hickman's Manufacturer Monday I remembered I had this paper in my stash).

When I was looking for a fun accent for my punched photo corners, I remembered this week's Step Outside Your Box Saturday challenge was to work with beads.  I found this great "spacey" looking metallic spacer bead that worked perfectly.

A big thanks to BeckyTE for the inspiration.

Rock Star Birthday

This card combines Beate's Weekend Sketch with the Daring Cardmakers Challenge to make a card with Teen Spirit. 

I needed a fun birthday card for my guitar playing teenage niece.  I used the DCWV Rock Star Mat Stack with a gold embossed sentiment from Stampin' Up's It's Your Birthday set.  Hopefully, this card will be deemed cool, hip, rad, or whatever teenagers say now.

Sewing Circles

This card uses Sketch This Cards #44. 

I punched random 1 1/8" circles from some  leftover stamped designer paper on my table.  I laid them in a row and took them over to my sewing machine to stitch down the middle to attach them to the cardstock.  I bent up the edges a bit for some dimension.

The Stampin' Up Thank You sentiment is stamped on the same DP and attached with a pop dot.  A tiny Hero Arts gem is in the center of the bloom for a touch of bling.

The left side of the card seemed a bit neglected, so I stamped a swirl from rhonna farrer swirls v.1 a couple  of times in Dark Peony chalk ink.

Now You're Stylin'

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge was suggested by SCS Stinkerbell.  She saw these adorable clothes, pajamas and rain boots by Dylan's Candy Bar on an Oprah episode.  I loved the bright colors and playful design of their Candy Toss line.

I chose this cute little children's rain boot as my inspiration.  I wanted to see if I could figure out how to make a boot card.  I free-handed a template that would fit onto a standard sized card base.  My card opens from the top.

I used a two-sided cardstock by Luxe called Hoodie Reese for my design.  I free-handed the sole, trim along the top, and strap from the reverse side of the cardstock.  The buckle was punched from gold DP. 

I thought the Autumn Leaves Sentiment Circle was perfect to finish off the design.

You can see the gallery of inspired creations here.