Ingenious Inkling

Life is Better

I love this fun little card using Kazan's Sketch #25 from 2 Sketches 4 You and Dawn's Week 4 Color Challenge inspired by beautiful Tivoli bedding from Bed Bath & Beyond.

To create my large star, I started with the small punched star & used a ruler to measure out equal distances from the points and indentions.  Then I connected the dots to create my larger star for the design.

The brown paper is from Basic Grey's Blush collection.  The aqua woodgrain and subtle patterned white are from DCWV Green Stack.

 

The aqua paper is stamped with Hero Arts DesignBlock: Bold Flourish and the sentiment is from Fiskars Cloud9 Design Simple Thoughts - Laughter.  I finished with a big of sponged dark brown ink around the edges to tie it all together.

Vintage Book Page Blooms

This week's challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is to make a card featuring flowers.  Coincidentally, the Stamp Something blog also has a flower challenge.  To make my flower-filled card, I used this week's CPS Sketch #113.

 

I stamped and clear embossed flowers from Hero Arts Printed Flowers and Thoughtful Messages on some scraps of vintage book pages that had been sprayed with glimmer mist.  I loved how the thin paper petals curled when I attached the centers of the flowers using dimensional glue dots.  I finished with a bit of sponging around the edges, smooth clear gemstones, and a sentiment from Thoughtful Messages.

Obscure Direction

Love the fun primary colors in Kristina's color challenge this week.  The Basic Grey Obscure collection combines these colors, so I decided to use them for the great Basic Grey Challenge sketch.

I also got some great new stamps from Artistic Outpost.  This main image from their Home set was one of my favorites.  I love the message.

I also used stamps from Technique Tuesday's Simply D'Vine (bottom corner); K&Company Brenda Walton's Madeline Clear Stamps; Hampton Arts Little Classic Rubber Stamp; & Art Warehouse Circles Rubber Stamp set.

 

I finished with the EK Success Dotted Wave border punch and sponging with ColorBox Chesnut Roan chalk ink to tie it all together.

Groovy Laughter

This week's SCS Featured Stamper is Kathy Jones (aka Wattle) of Inspired to Stamp.  My card was inspired by her pretty Confirmation Card.

 

I tried out a new stamp called Groovy Dots from Stamping Bella.  I also inked up a new stamp set from Fiskars & Cloud9 Design called Simple Thoughts - Laughter.  This is also another card for Our Creative Corner challenge to use your favorite color combination.  I love Raspberry Fizz with black and white.

All You Need Is Love

There's a Las Vegas themed Virtual Stamp Night going on at SCS.  Since we're headed there next month on vacation, I had to play along.  My card is for a challenge to be inspired by a Beatles song featured in the Cirque de Soleil show Love.  I chose All You Need Is Love to inspire me.

 

i also did the Our Creative Corner Challenge to use your favorite color combination (one of my favorites is chocolate, raspberry and lime), as well as the great Valerie Salmon sketch #81 from Got Sketch? 

The papers are K&Company Que Sera Sera with the Hero Arts Floral Heart and Inkadinkado Vine Flourish & Love You.  I cut three four inch strips, stacked them up, and used a circle punch to make the even scallops along the bottom.

Kleenex Inspired Holiday

This week's SCS Inspiration challenge comes from something we see around us every day ... Kleenex boxes.  I actually asked a co-worker to save her Kleenex box for me when it was empty because I think it will be fun to die cut it into some fun flowers.  Each time I buy Kleenex, I always think to myself ... that would make a cool card.  So today, I'm challenging you to use those designs to inspire you.

My card is inspired by this oval Kleenex holiday wreath design.  I love the colors, the snowy background, and all of the circles on the wreath design.

I started by using two circles punches to create my wreath base (punch the smaller circle first, and then position the larger stamp over the opening to create a paper donut).  then I used three other shades of green cardstock scraps and four sizes of circle punches to create my design.

 

The card base was stamped with CHF Polka Dot backgrounder in PTI Fresh Snow.  To give it more of a snow-like appearance, I used a fun new product from Colorsnap called Smooch Moonlight pearlized accent ink.  I also dotted the ink on my wreath before adding a purple ribbon and a Michael's $1 sentiment.

I hope you find inspiration.

Girlfriend Glitz

I used my new goodies from the Hey Girlfriend Spring has Sprung card kit from Keep In Touch with Laura's Sketch #24 from 2 Sketches 4 You ...oh yeah, and I went a bit overboard with the Tiara Glitz Stickles.

 

I just love that big prima bloom and the ribbon woven through the fiskars punch.  The top corner seemed a bit empty, so I stamped a swirly corner element from the Prima Stamp-o-rama flowers stamp set, but the ink color didn't quite work when it combined with the orange paper.  Then I started dotting on some stickles to work with the silver brad in the center of the flower ... and I just couldn't stop the glitz.  It was like Suze Weinberg just took over the card.  Those new stickles sure do sparkle though.

Not exactly sure who I'll send this glitzy goofy thing to ... but I had fun making it.  Happy Friday!

Upright Alligator Birthday

I thought this week's CPS sketch would be fun to try with my new Actopus to Zelephant stamps designed by Jenn Ski for K&Company.  I love how each letter is a little animal ... and there are also lots of fun larger animals in the set like the upright alligator at the bottom right that coordinates with the cool papers.

 

Because I don't have children, I don't usually find myself drawn to children's stamps ... however, I love to make cards for my nieces and nephews, so I think this will be a great set to have in my stash.

Caardvarks Wants YOU!

Would you like to be in the spotlight at Caardvarks? Of course! Here's how!

We're celebrating May Day weekend, May 1-3rd, by spotlighting our readers. We'll showcase reader cards and projects all weekend long. Think of it as a great big show tell event to thank you, our readers, for your support and participation for the past two years. Your submissions will be published at Caardvarks!

Sound exciting? If you'd like to be included in our mega-posting Reader Weekend, please email us with a card, project, or unique technique idea. If you'd like to create something new for the event, that rocks, but it's not necessary. We'll choose gobs of items to highlight throughout the weekend.

Email your entries by Saturday, April 25th at midnight PST: [email protected]

* Photos should be between 100 - 200kb and photographed well
* Provide a brief description and/or directions for creating your item
* Provide your name & a link to your blog, website or gallery

You'll want to stay close all weekend long - it'll be eye candy extreme!

I think that I shall never see ...

a poem as lovely as a tree ... the very first poem I memorized ... and thus began my love of trees. 

The April 20th Caardvarks challenge is Tree-mendous ... just make a new card featuring a tree, add it to Mr. Linky by midnight April 30th ... and you'll have a chance to win the fabulous Branching Out stamp set from Taylored Expressions.  I just love that curly branched tree and all of those great sentiments.

My tree design started with pages from a vintage book.   I positioned a Tattered Angels Glimmer Screen on the page and sprayed it with Sunflower and Bronze Glimmer Mists. 

Then when the screen was covered with ink, I lifted it up carefully and flipped it over onto a second vintage page to create a reverse of the mask.  That is the image I used for my card base.  It reminded me of rays of sunshine on a bright summer day.

 

I stamped the CHF Kissable Tree that was kissed multiple times with Paper Inspirations Floral Flourish (from Hobby Lobby) in dark brown onto the book page and clear embossed.  A Muse Grass and a tiny Hero Arts bloom were stamped along the ground. 

The cute little owl from Hero Arts Bird Greetings was stamped onto We R Memory Keepers Boho Chic Whimsy Wild DP (the same DP that frames the book page) and clear embossed.  I stamped the owl a second time on white to cut out the eyes and colored his beak with orange Sakura glaze pen. 

The sentiment from Hero Arts Design Accents: A Little Note was stamped on the margin of the vintage book page (I love to find books that have wide margins, so I can use the aged paper for stamping).

The stamped book page was cut with my Creative Memories oval cutters and distressed.

The close up of the owl shows you the glimmer of the mists and the pattern of the kissing on the tree.

I can't wait to see your Tree-mendous creations.