Ingenious Inkling

Cardmaker's High

I loved this week on The Office when Phyllis shared that "party planning is like a high ... a runner's high"' ... I honestly think I'm on a cardmaker's high this afternoon.  After so much time away from my studio the past few weeks, I can't seem to get enough of my paper and ink.

I did this first card for Beate's sketch challenge, but after I finished it, I realized I didn't overlap the pieces correctly.  Since I still had everything out on my work table, and I am working on gift sets, I went back to the drawing board and did another one.

   

I used ivory cardstock and DP from Provo Craft Slab XI Cadezna.  All stamps are from Hero Arts - Treasure the Moments, Take Good Care Greetings & Long Bracket Messages.  I inked the stamps with ColorBox Chalk Dark Moss and used a Plum Marvy marker to highlight the words.

Nunu Toolies Sketch

Kazan at Nunu Toolies is having a sketch contest sponsored by Sakura with a set of ten Sakura Souffle pens up for grabs for the winner.  I just love her hand-sketched designs.  You have until May 24th to join the fun.

I am still having fun with my new Hero Arts Collage stamps.  Since she had a vertical sentiment on the left side, I added a small A Muse Thank You.  The Inkadinkado Vine Flourish is on the corners of the polka dot DP from Prima's Breathe Paper Collection.  Primas and brown buttons finish the design.

Collage Trio Panels

I have been so inspired by the SCS Inspiration Challenge Gallery, that I decided to make another card inspired by the Papyrus En Fleur Lavender candle.

I also wanted to do Sharon's Trio of Panels Challenge, and the idea all came together when I saw the CPS Sketch #65.

I was able to cut my Hero Arts Collage stamp into three equal pieces and keep the sentiment intact (the entire panel was 4 1/2" tall before cutting).  The image was stamped in Ranger Eggplant on CTMH Life Delights DP (can you see the subtle butterfly images) & embossed with Transcendence EP.  Tiny adhesive pearls were added for accent.

Dawn Inspired ~ My Favorite Things

Today's SCS Featured Stamper is one of my favorites - Dawn of My Favorite Things.  I love her clean classy style, so I decided to make several cards this morning.

The first one is inspired by her Happy 4 U card.

I started with a the same kraft card base and went through my scraps to develop my palette.

I cut an ivory cardstock panel 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" and attached the DP on top of it.  The DP is from MME Tres Jolie collection.  I stamped CHF Polka Dot backgrounder in Colorbox Chalk Burnt Sienna for the top panel.

I wrapped a wide dark brown ribbon around the panel and added the mustard knotted ribbon on top.

I love the crisp, clean simplicity of the design.

This Father's Day card uses the same papers and is inspired by Dawn's Very Manly Thank You! card.  The striped squares are 1 1/2".  I added chocolate brads to finish. 

The Father's Day sentiment is from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.

Thanks Dawn for the inspiration.

Art Festival

It is an absolutely gorgeous day in Iowa.  We started the day at the farmer's market where we got some decorative grasses and spicy mango jam.  Then it was off to the Marion Art Festival.  I really loved all of the whimsical artists that were featured this year.

One of my favorites was Chris Vance.  I really liked how he had all of his canvases hung touching each other.  I think the work is much more effective as a group than individual canvases, although this one really made me smile.

We also loved the urban folk art of Anthony Pack.  Such funny faces and wonderful life-like combinations of household items.

We finally decided on a beautiful fused glass canvas  by Sheryl Ellinwood to add to our collection.  I've admired her work for several years, and am thrilled to have a piece in my home.

Another artist that blows me away is Keith Grace. His amazing college painting technique turns ordinary objects into something beyond amazing.  I could look at his work for hours.

I also fell in love with the found art collages of Gena Ollendieck. 

Enjoy the weekend.

Graduate ... Live Well

My nephew is graduating from high school, and I needed a card for his party tomorrow.  I do not have any "classic" graduation stamps in my collection, so I had to get a bit creative. 

I decided that "live well" was marvelous advice for any graduate ... or any one for that matter.  This card uses CPS Sketch 64.

I used my nephew's school colors of Blue and Gold with my Hero Arts Collage Live Well.  Since I wanted to try to give the card a masculine feel, I smudged up the embossed panel and added some grunge board that was inked with ColorBox Blue Iris and sanded to bring out the texture.

This was my first time trying grunge board, and I finally understand what the fuss is about ... I love it.

Fluttering Butterfly

This week's SCS inspiration challenge are these beautiful En Fleur candles from Papyrus.  We stopped in a Papyrus store in Chicago on our vacation, and I got to see these pretty candles in person ... they smell yummy too.  I really loved the effect of the black flowers on lavender.

I've got some great new Hero Arts CardArt stamps.  I love how you can create a card with one stamp that combines the image and sentiment.

I stamped the image with Ranger Archival Jet black ink and embossed it using Transcendence Embossing powder, which allows you to emboss dye based inks.  I stamped and embossed the butterfly a second time and cut out the detailed wing.  I attached it with a tiny piece of Zips adhesive line to give the wing dimension (click on the picture for a larger view).

I added some black and silver ribbon and attached the panel to lavender handmade paper with foam tape for dimension.  I added four tiny ivory adhesive pearls to bring the ivory from the candle label into the design.

I hope you find inspiration too.

Out of This World Birthday

I managed to get enough vacation stuff put away to find most of my stamping table. 

I needed a quick birthday card for my nephew, so I combined Allison's Suggestive Sunday challenge to take an image that I would normally color ... and don't.  I have never tried not coloring this Whipper Snapper Solar System, but I like the effect of it stamped on K&Company Mira Designer paper.

I added some jewelry cord 'sewing' for Sharon's In Stitches challenge.  I covered one of the planets with a Happy Birthday by Rubber Soul to complete the design ... and off in the mail it goes.

It feels so good to create again ... I really missed it while I traveled.

Road Trip 2008

We had a wonderful Spring 2008 Road Trip vacation.  Here are some of the highlights:

Seeing the original Polaroid composition of the Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food album cover at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (they wouldn't allow any photos in the museum).  Each square is an individual Polaroid picture.  Since the camera doesn't have adjustable focus, they had to physically move the camera and tripod for each shot.  Absolutely amazing art.

The Cloud Forest of Costa Rica at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.  It was filled with all sorts of butterflies.  Watching them fly was mesmerizing.

We also had fabulous dinners in Cleveland at La Dolce Vita and Sergio's.

The majesty of Niagara Falls ... awesome.

Goofing around on the Niagara Falls Board Walk.

The diversity of Toronto.  This was a view of the houses outside of the window of our room at the Toronto Townhouse.  We loved how the modern home was nestled among the row houses (the palm tree on the roof glowed orange at night).  We also ate amazing Thai food at Ginger, which was only a half of a block from our B&B.  The avocado and squash salad roll was soooooo good.

Being in Millennium Park.  I had seen all of the art on Television, but it was so fun to see it in person and soak it all in.

Seeing Grant Wood's American Gothic at the Art Institute of Chicago.  We see representations of it all over Iowa, but we loved finally viewing the original.

We enjoyed all of the dinosaurs at the Field Museum.  When we arrived, we were told it was a free admission day ... which also meant there were more school field trips in one place than I have ever seen in my life time.

Taking our goofy vacation self-portraits and spending 10 days with the guy I love ... the best part of it all.

If you haven't seen enough, you can view more photos of our trip in our on-line photo albums.

Also, remember, you have until May 17th to get your Caliente! cards linked up at Caardvarks.

Poppit on Vacation

Whenever we go on vacation, we always take some silly pictures for my sister Darcy. This post is for her. When I was at Inspired, I made this Charlie Lost Memorial Poppit for my sister, and since I haven't been able to take it to her yet, we decided to take Charlie with us on vacation.   

He enjoyed his stay at Glidden House Hotel and would recommend it to anyone staying in Cleveland.

He particularly liked the artistic guitar featured on the front lawn.

Charlie thought he had found the freighter near the island, but it was only a ship docked near the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

However, he did enjoy flying around with the sea gulls.

Charlie considered taking a swim in the jacuzzi in Lansing, but decided his wings might not survive the water.

So instead, he went for a canoe ride at the Wild Goose Inn in East Lansing (another B&B he would highly recommend).

Charlie enjoyed his vacation ... and we did too.