Ingenious Inkling

Happy Blog-Birthday to Me

It's hard to believe that it's been one year since I started my blog.  My first year of blogging has been more rewarding than I ever imagined ... it included 536 posts, 2385 comments, and over 57,000 hits.  I love looking back at all of the posts chronicling this wonderful year of creativity ... thanks so much to all of you for stopping by my little corner of blogland.

To celebrate, I have some goodies for one lucky reader. 

• Three sets of vellum envelopes from Sticko
• Fun floral rick-rack
• Bazzill Petal Pushers
• Hero Arts Clear Design Cupcakes stamp set
• Twenty-five 6" square envelopes

All you have to do is leave me a comment by midnight on Saturday night (July 26th) telling me one of your favorite 'non-traditional' supplies that you use when you create.   I'll use my dear husband the random number generator to pick a winner.

Some of my favorites are a foam sanding block that I picked up at the hardware store & sheets of 11" x 17" cardstock that I use on top of a same-size piece of craft foam for a perfect stamping surface (I got a damaged ream of paper very cheap from a local paper company).

Lots of Happy Mail

I returned home safely from my trip to find lots of wonderful things in my mail. 

This fabulous card arrived from Ann of A Day in the Life together with yummy blog candy that I won in a card sketch challenge. 

I love the fun little heart shaped pockets and those blooms have such fun texture.  I can't wait to try out the chipboard flourishes that were in my goodies.

This beautiful card arrived from MaryAnnK.  MaryAnn is a fellow Card Angel ... a wonderful way to share your card creating with chemotherapy patients who could use a boost.

I love the blue blooms and the fabulous color combination.

Also, my custom parts o'me t-shirt arrived from Ron & Joe.

I love their very fun woodcut designs, and that I could customize the shirt specially for me (you can even customize the captions with each picture).

You can click on the picture to get a close-up view of my choices.

Caardvarks 2 Sketches 4 You ~ Kazan

Today I want to share my Kazan sketch cards for the exclusive sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You for the July 20th Caardvarks Challenge.

I have wanted these fun Monster Stamps from Bam Pop! for some time, and I finally found them at Two Peas.

The Monster is stamped in brown and clear embossed on swamp green DP.  I carefully cut out the monster and attached him to a white textured background. His teeth are colored with my Ranger white opaque pen.

I used fun papers from the Rubber Soul Hoop*La collection.  The border is a Martha Stewart Punch.

My second sketch card involved a lot of cutting.  I stamped the Outlines Rubber Stamps Sparkle Pocket three times on Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste DP. 

With two of the pockets, I cut out all of the flowers.  The third pocket was attached around the edges to another piece of Cosmo Cricket DP.  The sentiment from the same paper pack slides into the pocket.

I stamped the AAW/Printworks Peace on the right side of the pocket.

In the center of each flower, I used two different colors of Stampendous Diamond Dot stickers for lots of sparkle without adding bulk.

I really love how this card turned out.

Can't wait to see the fun cards you make with Kazan's exclusive Caardvarks sketch.

Caardvarks 2 Sketches 4 You ~ Laura

How exciting to have Caardvarks partner with 2 Sketches 4 You for two exclusive sketches for the July 20th challenge.  Today, I'll show you my cards for Laura's sketch (who's also a member of the 'Varks DT)... tomorrow I'll be back with my Kazan creations.

My first card uses a fun poofy grunge flower technique I found at Looking on the Bright Side.

I used my Creative Memories Circle cutter to cut two sets of circles through dictionary pages (from an old dictionary I found at a used book store). I stapled the circles twice in the middle and cut larger slits than shown in the example. 

Rather than scrunch the paper in my hand, I used various ink pads along the edges of the circle moving in an upward motion to bring the paper up and toward the center.  I used metallic rub-on paste on my fingers to add a bit more color and separate the layers of paper a bit more. 

Here's a close up of the finished effect.

The papers and sentiment are from Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste 8x8" paper pad.  The tiny bird is part of an Inkadinkado Duet bird stamp (inked with brown marker and clear embossed).  I hand-drew the music notes with the same marker.

My second Laura sketch card uses a fun Cuttlebug crayon resist technique I learned from Mel at Mel Stampz.  I remembered I had some glitter crayons I had gotten at the Crayola store in Kansas City, so I had to try them out.

I embossed watercolor paper with the Floral Fantasy embossing folder.  I tore the paper off my orange glitter crayon and rubbed the side of it over the embossed surface.  Then I sprayed my paper using Mango Lemonade and Orange Juice Memories Mists sprays.  I went back over the embossed surface with a little more crayon for contrast.  I love the effect.

The strip of paper with the Inkadinkado stamped sentiment is sprayed with both Memories Mists before embossing the sentiment.  I am so in love with these fun Mylar Blossoms from Creative Impressions.

I can't wait to see what you make with Laura's exclusive Caardvarks sketch.

Favorite Finds

No card-making tonight, but I have finished my packing and my car is loaded so I can hit the road after work tomorrow. 

I've also been trying to get caught up on my blog reading before I go.  Here are some of my favorite finds:

• Snickers Bar Tarts ... how yummy do those look.
• Jo's hilarious card for the Peel-Off challenge at Daring Cardmakers
• This wonderful quilt giveaway at Old Red Barn Co (picture on the right).  I love that she used a vintage sheet on the back ... I bet this feels so good to snuggle up with.
• Ellen's gorgeous deck dubbed "The Sanctuary"
• Super-cool Kristen's Bird (Lauren are you looking??)
• Beth's Scor-Pal patterned paper.

Sparkling Snowflake Grid

Wednesday I will be heading to Missouri for a memorial service for my grandfather and to spend time with family. 

I will have limited computer access, so more-than-likely there will be few blog posts (other than the FABULOUS Caardvarks challenge we have planned for the 20th ... trust me, you're gonna love this one).

I had so many ideas floating around in my head tonight, I had to get some of them down on paper.  This card combines Laura's Sketch #4 from 2 Sketches 4 You; Allison's Suggestive Sunday challenge to use white ink; the Share Your Spark Friday challenge to make a holiday card; and today's SCS challenge to use the grid technique.

I did the grid technique scoring every 1/4" on white cardstock.  I inked the cardstock with white craft ink & french blue and ice blue chalk ink, and then embossed it with Ranger Bridal EP.  I punched 4 snowflakes using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

The panel behind the snowflake punch-outs is white cardstock inked with white craft ink and embossed with Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds EP for a lot of sparkle that doesn't show up well in the photo.

I finished with wide knotted ribbon and a Mary Engelbreit sticker.

Thanks everyone for the inspiration ... and for one more holiday card done for 2008.

Bird-N-Crown Thank You

I have always loved giving gifts ... even more than I like receiving them.  I love the feeling of finding something that I know will be absolutely perfect for the people dear to me in my life.  I even have a 'gift closet' in my home where I keep all of the fun things that I have found.  Sometimes I save them for birthdays and holidays ... other times I send them 'just because'.

On my Chicago Road trip, I found some Autumn Leaves stamps at Scrapaganza! that just screamed ... we should be living at Lauren's house ... so of course I had to oblige their wishes and bring them home.

So today in my mailbox, I received the 'first of many' bird and crown cards created by dear Lauren with the stamps that now live at her house.  How adorable is this card ... I tell you, it's impossible to capture all of the amazing detail ... rub-ons, glitter, layers, faux stitching ... and of course, lots of shiny bling.

And she even thought to stamp on the inside flap of the envelope (why haven't I ever thought of that??).  What a wonderful little treat when you open it up.

Thanks Lauren for giving these stamps such a great home.

ShaZAM

I have learned a few PhotoShop tricks, but I know I am far from realizing the full potential of my photo editing ability.  I had to try the ShaZAM technique from Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday! (how could I not try a technique named ShaZAM ... I was a big fan of Shazam (and Isis) in the 70's).

This is a before picture of my brother-in-law and two nephews at a recent graduation celebration.  Not the most ideal background, but a good photo of the three of them.

Here's my after shot using her technique.  I think it really brightened up the shot without washing out their features.

This week I'm heading to Missouri to see family ... and I can't wait to play around more with these layers on my photos when I return.

Stephanie Inspired

Today's featured stamper is Stephanie Hargis of Steph's Stampin' Stuff ... she's a regular participant in the SCS Saturday Inspiration challenges, so I've enjoyed her fabulous creations for quite some time.  Her gallery was so much fun, I had to make two cards.

I loved the clean lines and all of the white in her LSC167 Thinking of You design.

I changed the color palette and used paper Primas and American Craft felt flowers in my design.  I forget what a fabulous touch rounded corners can be.

I think the DP scrap is Basic Grey, and the rub-on sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

My second creation is inspired by her June GKDJK Friend card.  I used fun Hoop*La two-sided DP from Rubber Soul and a different sentiment from Stampin' Up's That's Nice stamp set. 

I think it's a perfect masculine birthday card ... something I always need in my stash.

Thanks Stephanie for the inspiration.

More 2 Sketches 4 You

The 2 Sketches 4 You blog is holding is first Design Team call for a 3-month fall design team position.  I love doing sketch cards ... and I love their wonderful hand-drawn sketches ... so I thought I would give it a try. 

My first card uses Kazan's sketch and the very fun Bird Assortment set by Amy Smyth for Inkadinkado.  I love that cardinal and the sort of grumpy look on each bird's face.  The birds & sentiment were stamped with black ink and clear embossed. 

I also tried out my new Koh-i-noor woodless colored pencils.  I love the smooth feel of the pencil in my hand and the way the colors layer and blend.  Also, they erase much easier than Prismacolors ... however they also smeared a bit if I rubbed my fingers over them (which easily erased), but that was the only downside.  I colored and blended these birds using only the pencils (click on the picture for a close-up look).

The strips of Cosmo Cricket DP were crimped and attached to brown DP.  I used my Fiskars threading water punch on the front of the card, and put a strip of brown paper on the inside of the card for contrast.  I added two pieces of gold bling to finish the design (dimensions are 4" x 8 ")

The card for Kazan's sketch uses The Breathe Paper collection by Prima and another fun stamp from Inkadinkado.

For the heart shaped element on the sketch, I used two punched hearts to make my larger butterfly.  The smaller butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch. 

Thanks ladies for these fun & fabulous sketches.