Ingenious Inkling

Garden Dance Joy

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge features the artwork of Canadian Artist Don Li-Leger.  His signature style called "Asian Fusion" combines the abstract with touches of Asian art and Eastern Philosophy.  I love the wonderful texture and geometric forms in his designs.

My card was inspired by this wall tapestry called Garden Dance I.  I decided to take a rather literal approach to my design this week and see if I could recreate his art in my card.

I started by finding gold and green designer papers (Basic Grey Motifica and DCWV Far East) that seemed to evoke the same feel as the piece.  I used some red leather textured specialty paper and canvas textured blue paper to finish the design.  I inked the longer narrow strip with brown ink to provided the needed differentiation between the reds.

The Hero Arts Decorative Bamboo was stamped in Charcoal ink on the Yellow and green panels.  I decided to use Stampin' Up's Joy Symbol of Solicitude for my sentiment.  The Hero Arts Chinese Seal was stamped in Palette New Canvas on the red paper.

To assemble the collage, I started with a piece of scrap paper larger than the design.  I glued down the center piece and then began framing it with the other tiles.  I inked around each edge to provide a bit more definition.  When each piece was attached, I was able to then trim around the edges to even things up before attaching to the card base.

This was a lot of fun to make, and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I hope you find inspiration too.  Enjoy the weekend!

Bad Mood {Sorry}

This card combines Joke's 2 Sketches 4 You Bonus Sketch with Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #28 that comes from this cool Anthropologie Oversized Coin Purse.

 

The circles were cut with my creative memories circle cutter.  I decided to stamp the CHF Pretty Pattern Backgrounder in Ruby Red on the Sage Shadow sections after they were attached, (of course).  I didn't get a good image on one of the sections, so I rotated the circle and stamped it a second time for a sort of abstract background effect.

Amy Smyth's Bad Mood is stamped in Ruby Red and Pumpkin Pie and clear embossed.  I distressed the white oval and orange circle and finished with piercing around the circle and Ruby Red ribbon.

The final touch was some shimmery Sage Shadow 'eye shadow'.  I colored the eyelids with a marker and then added Silver Bells Shimmerz.

PS - I just realized a am a bit too late to post my link on Kristina's website for this challenge.

Happiness is a Birthday Butterfly

 

At our house, we celebrate our birthdays all month long ... and my birthday fun continues. 

Look at this absolutely awesome birthday card that arrived in my mailbox yesterday ... an amazing Lauren original that combines jeweled and sheet music flourishes, vibrant butterflies, foreign text, and a super-cool birthday party hat ... not to mention ... it's big and it's round ... I love it.

Grow What You Know

When I saw Allison's Suggestive Sunday Challenge tonight, it was so cool that I had to stop what I was doing, go directly to my studio (do not pass go, do not collect $200) and make a card. 

Her challenge is to make a card inspired by these wonderful wallets from ESPE.  I will be adding one of these fabulous creations to my Christmas Wish List.

My card was inspired by the Brown Scent Long Wallet.  I loved how the white, pink and green looked with the warm chocolate background. 

White embossing powder is not my friend ... I used my little anti-static bag and try to be so careful ... but inevitably I still end up with scattered white powder on my dark background.  Thankfully after the 5th attempt, the effect was minimal.

The Memory Box Presto Flourish and the Inkadinkado Hacienda Flourish in Palette New Canvas ink (love this stuff) and embossed with white embossing powder.  Bright Pink Daisy Crazy Primas were attached to white cardstock with bright green circle centers. 

The sentiment is a sticker from 7Gypsies.  The finished card is 4" x 7 1/2".

Thanks Allison for the fabulous inspiration.

I am Here to Live Outloud

I think it's safe to post this card since it should have arrived at it's final destination.

     

The design is Kazan's Winter Design Team sketch.  I love how the Saffron Die Cutcardstock looks with Pacific Point Blue and Tangerine Tango ... so vibrant ... perfect for living outloud (from Autumn Leaves Romance of Spring).  Finishing touches include Tangerine polka dot ribbon, tiny adhesive gems, and the new Martha Stewart scallop border punch.

Gratitude

My Thank You card stash is in serious need of replenishing, so that has been my creative focus this weekend.  For me the quickest way to get cards done is to combine a great sketch with coordinating designer papers.

This card uses CPS Sketch #88 and Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste 8x8" Designer papers.

 

The Hero Arts CardArt Thank You Flourish is stamped in Dark Brown ink on the designer paper and Clear Embossed.  I used Fiskars Stamp scissors to trim around the edges.  It is matted on Chocolate cardstock with a red DP scalloped square cut in half for the corner elements.  I finished the design with my new Martha Stewart Butterfly punch embellished with tiny A Muse gemstones.

The next Thank You card uses Jen Del Muro's Sketch for You to Try and fun papers from g c d studios DayDream Ensemble.  The sentiment is one of my favorites from Paper Source (Label Circle with Thank You) stamped in Olive Pastel.

 

Speedy Stamping

This week's SCS Featured Stamper is Kay Marie Kaltoff (aka Speedystamper) of Stamping to Share.  She has over 850 cards in her gallery dating back to 2004, so I spent quite a while just paging through her amazing creations.  I love being able to see how an artist's style has changed and evolved over time.

My first card was inspired by her Leaves of Prosperity.  Shadow stamps were all the rage in 2004.  It's been about that long since my shadow stamps have seen any ink, so I dug through my storage drawer (filled with stamps seldom used, but that I can't quite bear to part with) and found my Hero Arts Super Solids backgrounder.

I stamped it in Creamy Brown Chalk in on Baja Breeze cardstock.  The leaves were then over-stamped with ColorBox Dark Brown chalk ink.  Next I went in search of fibers (something else that has seemed to disappear from stamping in recent years) and found this great dark brown eyelash yarn.

I finished with a Hero Arts sentiment andCTMH Ritzy Ribbon border stamped on a strip of Baja Breeze adhered to the inside of the card (with the front panel cut narrow to show).

I am in serious need of Thank You cards, so I decided to do a second inspired card.  Both cards also work for Sharon's Make it Flat! challenge (cards that don't require that extra 17 cents postage for bumps).

My second card was inspired by Kay's Super Quick Thank You.  I stayed with her great layout, but changed up the colors and stamps. 

In keeping with Pink Week at SCS, I used Pink Pirouette cardstock for the base and Dark Peony ink (with clear embossing) for my Fancy Pants Simply Stated image and Angel Company Thanks.

It's a gorgeous fall day in Iowa ... time to go tackle some leaves.  Enjoy the day!

Makeshift Hugs & Kisses

Tonight is a Cabaret Themed Virtual Stamping night at SCS.  Since most of my creative time is just me alone in my studio, it's always fun to stamp with my virtual friends around the world.  This card is for the Makeshift Costume challenge to pull a card together using only scraps of leftover paper.  These Cosmo Cricket Get Happy papers were on my table left over from my Domo Arigato card last week, so I decided to see what I could do.  I decided to use Lisette's bonus sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You for my layout.

 

The finished card is 3 1/2" square.  I used three different pieces of designer paper.  When I make cards entirely of patterned papers, I've found that rub-ons give a greater contrast than stamping, so I used one from my stash (source unknown).  I finished with some coordinating rick-rack.  Normally I would trim the frayed edges, but I really like how they look with these fun papers.

Thanks ladies for the inspiration.

Pink Week

This week is Pink Week at SCS in honor of October and Breast Cancer Awareness month.  All of the challenges this week feature pink and the SCS Cause for Cards is Chemo Angels, an organization near and dear to my heart.

The inspiration this week is pink children's bedding from JCPenney.  My card is inspired by this great Poppy Quilt (which reminds me of my nieces).

I took my inspiration from the colors of the room, the great repeating square design around the edge of the quilt, and the scalloped circular floral theme.

I covered a 4-inch piece of bright pink cardstock with this great die cut cardstock and trimmed around the edges.  Then I matted the squares with celery, orange and more bright pink in varying widths.

The sentiment is four layered scalloped circles (with sponging around the edges) and a 1" Memory Box sentiment circle in the middle.  I used two different leaf punches (new Martha Stewart and Punch Bunch) to finish the design.

I hope you find inspiration.

It's a Shower

I really love the fun retro feel of this design. 

It combines Laura's 2 Sketches 4 You design Team sketch with Basic Grey Eva papers.  The right panel was crimped before adding some soft pink ribbons I received in an RAK.

The adorable pregnant lady image is from Stampendous Sassy Silhouettesand the sentiment is a new wooden Studio G stamp from MIchael's (both stamped in Maroon ColorBox Chalk and clear embossed).  I sponged slightly around the punched circles for a bit more definition.