Ingenious Inkling

Spring Has Sprung

This Tuesday's Challenge at the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Blog is to make a card or project with an Easter Theme.  Just link your card to the challenge post or use keyword JBE098 if you upload to a gallery.

I usually don't make many Easter cards, but this year I fell in love with this fun What's Crackin'? stamp set from My Favorite Things.  I combined fun springy papers from Pink Paislee's 360 Degree Collection and Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl, which worked perfectly for the Just Us Girls Color Challenge.  The chicks were stamped on yellow DP and I cut them out and paper pieced the cracked egg shells & colored the beaks with orange glitter pen.

 
I used the sketch from Everything But the Kitchen Sink and for the scalloped border on the bottom of the sketch, I applied strong adhesive across the card base and used my fingers to fold & ruffle vintage lace for the Caardvarks Lacy Days Challenge.  The sentiment is from SRM Stickers' Express Yourself Easter Set.

For more inspiration, be sure to check out the blogs of all of the Jacksonbelle Rockstars!

Dawn Lusk

Julie Lacey

Heather Pulvirenti

Windy Robinson

Amy Tsuruta

Pam Varnell

Lynda Benden

Tobi Crawford

Jill Dunn

Heather Lee-Reppen

Shemaine Smith

Lindsey Botkin

Can't wait to see your fun new Easter designs.

Best Day of Your Past

This week's Heart the Art Journaling prompt was to use an Irish quote, proverb, or blessing.  Gina provided us with a great site full of inspiration.

I wanted to see what I could do with transparencies, and it was a learning experience.  I started with a great piece of bright green DP from DCWV Downtown Loft collection as my base (not sure what else I'd ever do with that paper).  I printed the proverb on inkjet transparency using Ale and Wenches font, which seemed appropriate for an Irish-themed page. 

I tried using glue stick to adhere the transparency, which worked fairly well except for looking sort of "dirty" because some of the ink rubbed off from the transparency in the process.  I tried to clean up the messy edges with a baby wipe, which I discovers completely removes ink from the transparency.  Thankfully, I was able to repair the missing letters with a Sharpie marker.  Probably not something I'll be trying again any time soon, but it was a good learning process.

I finished with four-leaf clovers punched from various shades of green and all all-over spray of Old Lace Glimmer Mist (something else that doesn't mix well with shiny DP or transparencies).  I love having the opportunity to just play with products and learn these things ... the joy of art journaling.

Bats in the Belfry

When I saw that Mutnik was today's Featured Stamper on SCS, I knew I wanted to find time to play along.  She's a consistent participant in the Saturday Inspiration Challenge and always brings a smile to my face.  I chose her beautiful Butterflies Times Four as my inspiration.

My original intention was to make an elegant card that incorporated the texty background with the solid embossed images.  However, when I was searching for designer paper in my stash, I saw this Bootiful Bats DP from SEI and my mind went from Butterflies to Bats ... and the rest is history.

I used the Hero Arts Dots & Stripes on the background and a Making Memories Spook Alley sentiment.  I love those fun little bat eyes.

Thanks Mutnik for the inspiration. 

Bamboo Spring

I received an e-mail this week from our Marketing Director at work letting me know that he was going to recycle an entire box of paper samples.  He guessed I could probably use them in my creative endeavors, so he wanted to give me the opportunity to take them home.  I love when people think of me when they have cool things.

One of the samples was this cool Japanese paper that reminded me of the texture in the  great bamboo rattan wing chair from Pier One that is this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. 

I knew I wanted to incorporate the contrast of the rattan against the dark brown, as well as the great color combination from the pillow.  I often struggle with color combinations that involve more than three shades, but I am really happy with how this design turned out.

Hero Arts Dandelion Frame was inked with Pealed Paint Distress ink and stamped lightly on textured lime cardstock to provide an abstract fabric-like feel.  I combined strips of the various colors from the pillow on a strip of white cardstock and then trimmed them to fit the paper sample focal piece.  I added celery organdy ribbon and a tiny sentiment from Hero Arts Bird Greetings.  The final element is a Martha Stewart punched butterfly decorated with two celery pearls.

I realized as I was working on my color combination that this card also works for this week's challenge at the Cards Blog to make a card that incorporates at least eight different colors.

Cogsmo Bam Pop Birthday!

This morning I needed to make a birthday card for a 12-year-old boy (actually I needed to make it last week, but it slipped off my radar).  For me, young men cards are always a challenge.  I went with one of my go-to masculine collections ~ Cogsmo by Cosmo Cricket.  The sketch is this week's Unscripted Sketch, which also had a piggyback challenge to incorporate a paint chip into your design.

To stick with the robot theme of the paper, I used the parachuting robot stamp from Bam Pop! stamped on a journaling card from the collection with paper-piecing on the parachute.  The sentiment is from SRM Stickers (perfect when you need to go across multiple layers of paper like I did here). 

Spring Has Sprung

Yes, it's the first day of Spring, and we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground.  Thankfully, it's mostly melted away now, but it was a reminder that in Iowa we can't quite count on the end of winter just yet. 

When I saw this Williams Sonoma picture at the CCEE STampers Blog, I was inspired by the contrast between the bright blue and pops of red.  I started with this awesome glitter transparencyfrom Prima and combined it with beautiful blue designer paper from Pink Paislee's 365 Degrees collection.

I used Kazan's Sketch from 2 Sketches for you & wanted to incorporate this great sparkling holiday ribbon into the design, but I didn't want it to show behind the transparency.  I solved that problem by attaching the transparency to a second piece of the same designer paper and attaching it with foam mounting tape over the ribbon.

 
I finished with an elegant sentiment from About Art Accents and a chipboard butterfly from Making Memories Flutter collection (love when all my different manufacturers work together). 

A Lovely Spring Day

I had such fun creating with the new stamps from Artistic Outpost.  There are so many possibilities and options for creativity. 

This adorable little girl from the Lovely Day plate is perfect for some paper piecing.  I stamped her on a piece of pink Basic Grey Porcelain DP and then paper pieced everything but her tights using other papers from the collection.  I added a few tiny flowers cut from the DP with adhesive pearl centers and some wide eyelet lace to finish the design.  I think she is perfect for the Spring Card challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges.

 
Here's a cute little thrinchie (actually I think it's about 2 3/4" square) using the beautiful flower image from the same set that is also perfect for Spring ... such a quick a simple card to make.  I stamped it in Adirondack Currant ink on a scrap of Cosmo Cricket Ever After DP and colored it with Shimmer Chalks.  This card works perfectly for Lucy's Clean & Simple Card Challenge.

 
Remember, to celebrate this release, Artistic Outpost is featuring 15% off just about everything in their store (**Coupon code not good on EZMount products).   Just use coupon code: spring2010_15 at checkout, but hurry, this Coupon Code is only valid through March 31, 2010.  You can check out an entire gallery for each Artistic Outpost plate on their website.

Sushi Joy Ride

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenges comes from a very delicious website ... Cutest Food.  I chose this wonderful Sushi Cake to inspire me.  I loved the vibrant colors.

I purchased this awesome hand-carved I ♥ Sushi stamp from Tyggereye.  I used new Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride DP and this week's Super Sunday Sketch for my design (I didn't realize when I made my card last weekend that the sketch closed on Thursday).

When you want to hang your sentiment or other items over the edge of the card, trim some width off your card base, so your total card is still narrow enough to fit into a regular envelope.

 
The sentiment is from A Muse's Sushi Set.  I hand-cut the scalloped stamp and colored the sushi with prismacolor pencils.  I even added some green beads for Wasabi Masago on top of my sushi rolls.  Thanks Gina for such a fun stamp.

I hope you find inspiration.
  

It's Raining Men

This week's challenge at the Something Completely Different blog was to make a thrinchie (3" card) with a theme of men.  I knew the new SteamPunk Set from Artistic Outpost would be perfect for the challenge.  I stamped directly on new Pink Paislee Queen Bee papers (an awesome masculine palette).

 
Crazy for Challenges Blog also has a masculine card challenge this week.  For this one, I stamped the Train Depot on a piece of Basic Grey Fruitcake DP (some of the best solid papers ever).  I stamped the man on the same paper in a darker shade of brown ink, clear embossed, and cut it out.  I attached him with foam adhesive for some dimension.

I finished by sponging some steam train smoke in the sky using a mask and a darker shade of brown along the ground.  The sentiment is from Artistic Outpost's Lovely Day, which also works great with these travel images.

Remember, to celebrate this release, Artistic Outpostis featuring 15% off just about everything in their store (**Coupon code not good on EZMount products).   Just use coupon code: spring2010_15 at checkout, but hurry, this Coupon Code is only valid through March 31, 2010.

Thursday Link Love

Some fabby finds from my journey around the blog-o-sphere this week:

• I admit it ... I have a serious love affair with scones.  Our Co-op makes some of the best, but this recipe for Oatmeal Raspberry Scones makes me want to try making them at home.
• And while I'm on the topic of bread, I also want to try these Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits.
• Loving Traveling Mama's card inspired by the cover of Country Living ... those Hexagon-A-Thon stamps are just too fun.
• What an awesome quote on this fabulous scrapbook pageby Amy Tangerine for Jenni Bowlin.
• So many awesome ideas for fabric flowers floating around, but these Recycled Roses by Alisa Burke really look like fun (she even used the same technique with paper see here).
• Such a great tutorial for printing on fabric ... she made personalized bean bags, but there are lots of possibilities for this technique.
• And speaking of tutorials, here's a great one on how to use digital brushes.
• A Brownie That Will Change Your LIfe ... who wouldn't want to try that?

Happy Thursday.