Ingenious Inkling

Thank You Pocket Card ... and Prizes Too

I got some fun prizes in the mail from Page Plans for winning two of their sketch challenges.  I love the fun felt letters and the little ice cream treat embellishments.

I also got a fabulous Thank You card from my Gran and her crafting friends.  Even though my Gran and I have lived miles apart for the last twenty years, it's been so fun to share our love of creating through the Internet and e-mail. 

A few weeks ago, I used a flat-rate box and mailed her group a fun care package of papers, inks, embellishments, ribbon and stamps to add to their small collection in their community craft room.

The ladies made me a fabulous sparkly pocket thank you card.  They each made a tag that had a personal note on one side and a picture of them creating on the other side.

It's so fun to share the love of creating across the miles. 

Thanks ladies (and Gran) for my wonderful thank you card.

10-Minute Christmas in June Sketch

Sharon's Simply Stamped Challenge is to make a 10-minute card.  One of the easiest ways for me to produce quick cards is to start with a sketch and a theme. 

I decided to use Sketch #50 from Sketches! {by Tamara} and a theme of Christmas in June from the ladies at Daring Cardmakers (it's never too soon to get one more Holiday card done for 2008).

I chose my large DeNami Hope stamp for my focal point.  Rather than cut actual panels in my paper, I used my Snowflake Flurry from Stampendous to create the feel of three segments in my design (much quicker than measuring and cutting to keep within the 10-minute time limit). 

One of the quickest ways to complete a card is to stamp directly on DP.  I thought this Amy Butler paper from the Lotus mat stack looked a little like snowflakes. 

All three images were stamped in ColorBox Dark Iris and embossed with Transcendence clear embossing powder (when stamping on DP, embossing gives the image a bit more definition against the pattern and adds a bit of elegance to a quick design).

I added a Martha Stewart snowflake punched from silver glitter paper to finish the design. 

Good Day Sunshine

As much fun as I had traveling yesterday, I really missed being in my studio, so I'm making up for it today.  I used CPS Sketch #71 to make a birthday card for my step-dad.

Since he's a huge Beatles fan, I used DCWV Rock Star paper for the base & printed out a sample of sheet music for Good Day Sunshine for my rectangle element. 

I usually color this triple birthday image from Magenta, but for this layout I decided to add just a few small touches of red and silver glitter pen to the design.  I used 3/4" and 1 1/4" square punches to make my photo corners.

Thanks ladies for another great layout.

Twinkling Corn

I know I should be cleaning up from my weekend trip, but I had to make one card with my new goodies first.  Being surrounded by corn in Iowa has led me to develop a bit of a corn stamp collection.  I found this great corn image by Leigh Hannan from Impression Obsession at Stamp Thyme (I resisted the urge to buy the tomatoes too).

Today's SCS Featured Stamper is Michele Kovack (Chelemom).  I love browsing through other stamper's galleries to see how their style and techniques have changed over time.  I chose one of Michele's early cards, Twinkling H2Os, as my inspiration.  I loved the fun triangle sentiment and the idea of painting directly on my stamp.  I started with Yellow Rose on the corn and then added Key Lime and Moss Green to the rest of the plant.  I used my water brush to go back and fill in any lines that weren't completely solid (it's more difficult to cover thinner lines with the paint because it tends to just slide off and puddle in th grooves of the stamp).  I love the abstract effect.

The thank you sentiment is from Green Grass Stamps.  I used Bazzill Bling papers to go with the shimmer of the paints.  This card will be a thank you for my brother- & sister-in-law who graciously let us use their water during our recent water restrictions during the flood.  Thanks Michele for the inspiration.

Chicago Stamp Store Road Trip

My best stamping girlfriend Laura and I spent the weekend on our favorite Chicago stamp store road trip.  We've done it several times and each time we continue to perfect the experience. 

This time we left early enough to add Scrapaganza! 2176 west Kimberly Road in Davenport, Iowa to our agenda.  This is a very fun little store filled with paper, inks, punches, fun rubber stamps & great staff (Sorry, I realized after I got home that I had the flash turned off on my small digital camera, so a lot of the indoor shots were too blurry to post).

After that we headed to our next destination, Ottawa, Illinois ... a charming little city that sits where the Fox River meets the Illinois.  They are currently having a sesquicentennial Shindig celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. 

Of course, in our usual fashion, we added a little twist to the trip.  We were so busy talking, that somehow we missed our turn on Highway 80 and failed to realize we were on the wrong highway until we arrived in Peoria ... only a little 150 mile detour :^). 

We just laughed and laughed at our error and bought an error ... we realized it was a story we'd still be laughing at when we were old and gray.  And if we'd never gotten lost, we wouldn't have discovered the adorable little town of Utica, Illinois.

We had supper at our favorite Ottawa Restaurant - The Row House at 728 Columbus Street.  It was a gorgeous evening for dining outside on the patio.  We also made a group of new friends who included us in their 50th birthday celebration.  They gave us their phone numbers, so we can call them up the next time we come through Ottawa.

Another new stop that we added to our trip on Saturday morning was the Milano Baking Company in Joliet, Illinois ... yum, yum, yum. 

The employees were so helpful and fun.  We got delicious bear claws with almond paste filling and several more cookies for the road.  We loved that the backs of the employee shirts says "the best buns in town" (they sell them for customers, but were currently sold out).

Next stop was Stamp Thyme in Lockport, Illinois, which opens at 10am on Saturday.  They have a large and diverse stamping inventory and will order and ship anything you want to have.  We loved looking at all of the new stamps from Outlines and other companies.

It is definitely worth the stop if you are in the Chicago area.

Our next store was Stampology at 5031 N. Harlem Avenue.  I love that they make all of the card samples in their store and will gladly let you take photographs of all of them.  It's a tiny space, but it is packed with wonderful papers and stamps.  I can't wait to try this fun washi paper quilting technique.

Next door to Stampology, we always have lunch at Nottoli's Italian grocery store ... fabulous subs and pasta salad.  We take our coolers so we can load up on wonderful meals-to-go.

Next stop to continue to fill our coolers was Trader Joe's ... maybe some day they'll come to Iowa.  The one on our route is in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Our final stop is The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, Illinois.  They carry the entire A Muse line and this time had lots of fun new stamps from Magenta.  They manage to get lots of fabulous product into their cozy little cottage.

I hope you enjoyed taking our fun stamping road trip with us ... sorry we forgot to take pictures of our Peoria detour :^)

Now it's time to use all of my new goodies and make some cards.

Eclectic Paperie

Look what adorable goodies arrived in my mailbox today.  I was the winner of the Friday the 13th drawing on the Eclectic Paperie blog.  I love how the packaging says Feed Your Creativity!

Eclectic Paperie is one of my all time favorite on-line stores & I'm looking forward to trying out these fun little stamps. (Have you seen the cool new Cuttlebug folders?)

To win the stamps, I had to leave a comment with a quirky family tradition ... for us it is playing games of extreme croquet on the holidays.  The nieces and nephews set up some of the most outrageous courses (around trees, up hills, over sidewalks).  We've even been known to play in snow.  It's always family fun time for sure.

Have you checked out the Think Pink! gallery at Caard{varks} ... there are lots of absolutely fabulous cards ... and a marvelous rubber stamp prize package from Pink Persimmon up for grabs.  Remember you have until midnight July 2nd to submit your card ... or cards ... make as many as you want ... who can ever get enough pink?

This weekend, I'm off on a whirlwind stamp store road trip to Chicago with my best stampin' girlfriend.  I'll be back with pictures when we return.

Happy Summer Pocket

This card combines Kristina Werner's Color Challenge #13 (Rosewater Bedding from Tracy Porter) with the most recent sketch at Page Plans.

I made my pocket with Wild Wasabi stamped with a Fancy Pants flourish From the Garden in Lime Pastel.  I combined lots of fun summer stamps to finish the design.  (Stampendous Bikini, Hero Arts Summer Time Drink, Sideshow Stamps Lime, A Muse Happy Summer).

I usually prefer my soft drinks straight from the can or bottle ... no glasses or ice for me. 

However, there is one exception ... drinks from Sonic.  I love their ice (I always order extra ice so I have some to chew on after my drink is gone), add-in flavors, and foam cups.

This design reminds me of one of my favorite summertime treats ... a Sonic strawberry limeade.  This will be perfect to hold a Sonic gift card.

Thanks ladies for the wonderful inspiration.

Doodle Factory Blog Candy

I love Starving Artistamps ... especially their adorable Doodle Factory line.  Check out this fun giveaway that features their new Doodle Factory Tropics with two sheets of sentiments ... so many to love ...like 'you smell like a monkey and you act like one too' ... I so need that one for my brothers :^)

Out of this World

This card combines three challenge ~ Allison's Up in the Air! with SCS sketch and color challenges (wild wasabi, taken with teal and white).  I wanted to try out my new Out of this World set from Inque Boutique.

I traced over the entire robot and sentiment with a turquoise Copic Spica Glitter pen for a little sparkle (looking at the picture, I probably should have done the same with the rocket).  I did color the window with clear sparkle pen, but it's difficult to distinguish in the photo.  I curled the rocket around my finger for a bit of rounded dimension and attached it with foam tape.

The background squares are stamped with a Galaxy stamp from Paper Parachute for a starry background.  The finished card is 5" square.

Simple Things in Life

This is Kazan's Sketch #3 at the 2 Sketches 4 You blog.  When I saw the repeating flower theme, I went searching through my embellishments to see what I might have.  I found a few pre-made paper flowers, which is where I started my design.

I found this great embellished frame stamp in my Fancy Pants From the Garden set Remember, if you have stamps (like this one) that are too large for your acrylic blocks, the clear Cuttlebug plates work just fine.  I also put the clear plate over a lined grid on my cutting mat, so I can attach my frame relatively straight before stamping.

Both patterned papers are from Basic Grey Sultry DP 6"x6" pad.  I punched and sponged a couple of large flowers under my pre-made bloom in the upper left corner.  The main sentiment is an oldie but a goodie from Hero Arts.  I finished with some touches of bling and a tiny butterfly.  Thanks again ladies for another fun sketch.