Ingenious Inkling

Masked One Layer Resist

This card is for the One Layer card challenge at the Hero Arts blog.  I started by stamping the sentiment from I Care Frame Messages in white ink and clear embossed.  I made a quick post-it note mask by re-stamping the image and cutting around the inside of the scallops.  Since the scallops were solidly embossed, I didn't need to go to the trouble of cutting around each one.  Once the mask was in place, I stamped the DesignBlock: Outline Flowers in white ink and clear embossed.

 

I left the mask in place, and sprayed the card with Mango Lemonade and Margarita Memories Mists.  Then I removed the mask and sprayed the entire card with Blue Hawaiian Memories Mists and Bronze Glimmer Mist for an all-over sparkle.  I used a baby wipe to remove any excess ink from the embossing ... and voila ... a relatively quick and easy one layer design.

Wisconsin Weekend Road Trip

To celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, my husband and I hit the road for a weekend trip to Madison, Wisconsin.  Mother Nature tried to foil our plans with a big dump of snow, but after a few hours of sunshine Sunday morning, the roads were mostly clear, so we took off on our adventure.

We stayed at The Speckled Hen Bed & Breakfast, which I would highly recommend.  In addition to our luxurious room, they also have several great common space areas with a nice assortment of games, books, and movies.  We saw a group of wild turkeys outside our window this morning, and there are horses, sheep and llamas that also reside on the property. 

We stayed in the Haywood Hardy suite, which had a marvelous whirlpool bath, separate sitting room, and a fabulously comfortable king sized bed.  Breakfast was also scrumptious.

I checked out several stamping and scrapbooking stores in the area.  We started at the Scrapbook Superstore, which was very busy.  The employees were very nice and they had a huge selection of QuicKutz dies.  (Remember to check websites before you start on a road trip ... I was able to use coupons at almost every store).  We also stopped at the Wisconsin Craft Market, which carries supplies for all kinds of crafts.  They had some beautiful large sheets of hand made papers.

My favorite store was Scrapbook & Stamping Memories.  They have such a great open space filled with all sort of papers, stamps and embellishments.  The staff was also very helpful and polite.

They had acrylic stamps scattered throughout the store, and then there was a separate room filled with wooden and other unmounted stamps.  They carried lots of stamps and papers by Memory Box.

 

Since we were so close, we also headed over to Gina K's store.  She had the most amazing card samples all over the store.  I had fun seeing all of her stamp sets up close and personal.

One of my favorite finds were these pieces of public art we discovered by accident.  These two metal birds are called Dreamkeepers and were created by Dr. Evermor.  It makes me want to seek out more of his creations.

 

We had a good time shopping at Trader Joe's and other fun shops in the neighborhood like Orange Tree Imports and Strictly Discs.  We also ate some wonderful Thai food at Sa-Bai Thong Thai Cuisine.  Our last stop on the way home was a The Calico Bean Market for some of our favorite soup and dip mixes.

Sunday Fun Things

Here are some of the fun things I've saved in my blog reader lately:

• ~nancy~'s bright and bold mini cards ... I love all of the marvelous little details
• ~amy~ has some yummy blog candy and the opportunity to send some of your cards to some very special people
• a vase of paper flowers that light up the room
• beautiful name necklaces by 3sweetpeasjewelry that would be fabulous Mother's Day gifts
• Bethany's fun wavy journaling tutorial
• Tastespotting ... can't get enough of this site.  My recipes-to-try list is growing.
• The Craft Junkie (via Today's Creative Blog) ... I love those shrink plastic charms and glass pendants
• Heidi's amazing Asian Frames Orb
• Gorgeous resist tutorial from the Banana Frog Blog (I really 'need' those flowers)
• The Cosmo Cricket Blog has a cool embellishment made with a snot dot & some fun paper flowers

Becoming

Dawn posted her second Raspberry Suite Color Challenge.   She used the blue and green version of the same Tropical Punch quilt set from Pottery Barn Teen that she used last week.   

I decided to combine it with Sketch #8 from Card Patterns.  The sketch is sponsored by the Paper Blooms Etsy shop and there are some  gorgeous crocheted flowers up for grabs.

Today, I sorted through all of the flowers I have in my studio and tried to reduce some of the packaging and take inventory.  I found these wonderful felt flowers that I received in some blog candy that were the perfect color for the flower base.  I just kept layering on flowers in the challenge colors and then attached them with a Paper Studio jeweled brad.

 

The background is stamped with Hero Arts DesignBlock: Wavy Leaf Pattern in Versamark Dazzle ink.  I thought I would get a bit more color change with the ink, but I like the subtle design.  The chocolate panels were embossed with the Stylized Flowers folder.  I wanted the embossing to cover the entire strip, so I put it in the folder at an angle to get the design from end-to-end. 

The sentiment is a Creative Imaginations Poem Stones epoxy sticker that I've had in my stash so long it was starting to curl up around the edges.  If you have this happen to your epoxy stickers, just attach it to the paper and heat it to reactivate the glue and melt the edges slightly so it return to its original flat position.  The sticker says "becoming". 

Vintage Season of Joy

I received these vintage holiday images in a blog candy prize last year.  They are something that I never would have bought for myself, however, I have had so much fun using them on cards.  You can see other cards I created with the images here & here. 

This card uses the Sketch at the Basic Grey Challenge blog with papers from the Wassail collection (which I think work particularly well for vintage designs).  I sponged the white snowflake paper liberally with Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink, so it would coordinate with the aged look of the image.

 

The border is the EKSuccess Dotted Scallop and the sentiment is Stampin' Up.  I finished with a vew adhesive pearls from Joy Craft.

Happiness Always

Tomorrow is my 10th wedding anniversary, so I wanted to make a masculine anniversary card.  We planned a little weekend getaway, but it looks the impending snow and ice storm may put a kink in our trip.  Oh well, either way we'll enjoy the day.

I thought Kristina's Color Inspiration #47 colors were perfect for a masculine design.  I combined them with a fabulous Valerie Salmon sketch from Got Sketch?  I love all of the great layers and elements in her design.  You've got to click on over and see the samples ... especially Nathalia's amazing use of flowers.

 

I love the combination of graphic lines and rounded edges in this card.  The cool grid-like paper is actually from a Martha Stewart Halloween pad of paper I got on deep discount in November.  Remember, just because paper was created for a holiday, doesn't mean it can't have other design possibilities.

The saffron panel is embossed with the Cuttlebug Forest Branches.  The stampabilities Vintage Flourish03 and hearts from PTI's Heart Prints (love this set) are stamped in PTI Dark Chocolate ink and clear embossed.  The happiness is a Stampin' Up rub-on and the Always is part of a Hero Arts stamp from a set called Friendship Messages (I only inked that word with PTI Fresh Snow and white embossed). 

The punched border is a new EKSuccess border punch called Scalloped Scallop (now carried at our Michael's).  I tied a few knots in some sheer orange ribbon to finish the design.  Thanks ladies for the fun inspiration.

Look How She Sparkles

Look at the ultra-amazing-super-sparkly-over-the-top-awesome card that arrived in the mail for me from my friend the super-talented Lauren.  Have you ever seen so much gorgeous, collagey detail??  It makes me smile.  Also make sure you check out Lauren's win today as the Fresh Face for their Spring Challenge the Hero Arts blog with a card she made for the Hero Arts sponsored challenge on the Caardvarks blog.

She also included a wonderful envelope full of creative ephemera.  Here's a close-up of her cool die cut tag charm.  I love how it moves. 

Thanks so much Lauren ... I can't wait to play with all of my goodies.

Another Krafty Creation

This is another fun card I put together using the Hero Arts Asian Frames and All Occasion Messages stamps that Hero Arts provided to the Caardvarks team for the Hero Arts sponsored sketch challenge.

   

The floral vine stamp in the Asian Frames set is so versatile.  With the clear acrylic stamp, I was able to line it up end-to-end to create a cool floral chain. 

The scallop is punched from some watercolor paper that I had painted with Twinkling H2O's for a failed project ... but I saved it anyway in my "someday I might use this" stash ... and this was the perfect opportunity.  I love the combination of yellows and oranges with the kraft.

I finished with a few tiny paper flowers and some Hero Arts Smooth Clear Gemstones.  You can check out the card that Hero Arts Designer Jennifer McGuire made using these stamps and Heidi's cool sketch here.

Flourished Que Sera Sera

This was one of my favorite cards that I made for the Hero Arts / Caardvarks gallery using stamps from the 2009 catalog.  I love the look of stamping on designer paper.

 

This 5 1/4" square card combines K&Company Que Sera Sera designer papers with Hero Arts Design Block: Bold Flourish and sentiment from Thoughtful Messages stamped in Raspberry Fizz and clear embossed.  The flourish is accented with Hero Arts Smooth Clear Gemstones.  I love how the sentiments from this set look when they are positioned in a corner.

Tiny Hero Arts Cards

Here are a couple more cards I made with Hero Arts stamps from the 2009 catalog (with a big thank you to Hero Arts for the free stamps they sent the Caardvarks design team ... have you made your sketch card yet??? what are you waiting for???)

The first one is a kraft paper scrapling ... the piece that is left over after you trim a 5 1/2" card to 4 1/4" square.

 

The Bamboo from Hero Arts Asian Frameswas stamped in dark brown and clear embossed.  I colored the leaves with green Sakura glaze pen.  I cut the sentiment from All Occasion Messages into two pieces to fit onto the card (another great thing you can do with acrylic stamps).  The finishing touch was a tiny knot of teal ribbon.

The rest of the kraft note card was used to make this tiny card whose finished dimensions are approximately 2 1/2" x 2 3/4".  It was stamped in Hero Arts Soft Pool shadow ink with Hero Arts Flower Wood background and clear embossed.

The flowers are colored with Spica and Sakura glitter pens.  I finished with another sentiment from All Occasion Messages and two Hero Arts Smooth Clear Gemstones.