Ingenious Inkling

Inky Birthday

The Blue Moon Challenge at the Gingersnap Blog is to case one of the fabulous Gingersnap Design Team Members.  I chose this fabulous Altered Noticeboard by Katy as the inspiration for my card.

I loved the inky background and the contrast of those texty butterflies.  I needed a birthday card for a co-worker that was large enough for everyone to sign, so I made a 4"x8" card.

I inked my background using every single color of blue and green Distress Ink (yes my fingers were an inky mess, but i love the richness that comes from blending the different shades).  Next I stamped the Wheat Background from River City Rubber in India Ink.  After everything was dried, I spritzed it with water to cause a slightly spotted reaction on the background (click on the picture for a larger view).

I stamped the Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamp on Green cardstock to create my "wooden" frame and matted the panel with a thin border of black cardstock for a little pop.

I stamped a flourished corner from Inkadinkado on two corners and repeatedly stamped a tiny Art Butterfly from Stampendous.   I finished with an overall coat of Frost Glimmer Mist for a fabulous shimmer.

To make my punched butterflies, I glued a page from a French textbook onto a scrap of cardstock and inked it with Wild Honey Distress ink before punching out my butterflies. I sponged some Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges for a bit more depth.

The final touches were an SRM Sticker sentiment and some light peach pearls on the butterflies and corner flourishes.

I can't wait to see what you create.  

Good-Bye Jacksonbelle

This is my final card as a Jacksonbelle Rockstar.  Everything remaining in the Jacksonbelle Embellishments Store is 75% off until the store closes at the end of June.  This was a fabulous group of ladies, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to design with them.

I decided to feature one of my favorite things from the store during the past six months ... Pink Paislee's Queen Bee papers.  I absolutely love the Grey and Yellow color palette (which also works perfectly with the Color Challenge inspiration photo from the Stamp Simply Blog this week).

The stamps are all from Inkadinkado's Cats Galore & the sketch is this week's Unscripted Sketch (I love how the Inchie stamps work with this design).

Make sure you stop by and give some Rockstar love to Lindsay and the entire Crew:

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

Burlap Note

On Sundays, I spend time at my computer catching up on blog reading (I use Bloglines).  As I go through, I jot down a list of the various challenges grouping by color, sketch and theme.  Then when I'm caught up, I look through the list and think about how I want to spend my day.

Today I was intrigued by this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge ~ Sand Box Studio ... and particularly this little burlap gift card holder.  I loved the simple layout and the pop of color from those flowers (which look like they may be circles cut from wide ribbon ... what a fun idea).

I knew I had some textured paper in my studio that would work for the background, but as I was searching for it, I stumbled across my Flower Loom, which was packaged in a wonderful burlap bag ... well sometimes packaging as to sacrifice itself for art.  My burlap is a wonderful shade of coral, but I decided it still worked well with the vibrant blue & green.

I also had the Something Completely Different Challenge on my list which was to make a 3"x5" card with a flora & fauna theme, so that's the size I decided to work with.

I cut the burlap to 3"x5" and then cut my card base slightly smaller to allow me to fray the edges.  I attached the burlap with lots of double-sided strong tape.

I cut the flowers from stiffened felt using my Die-Namics Flower die cuts from My Favorite Things (love these).  I added a mylar leaf from Creative Impressions and a tiny coral button threaded with coordinating jute floss.  I finished with an SRM sticker sentiment, which adhered fabulously to the burlap background.

Urban Prairie Apron

I've been mulling over this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger picture of the vibrant Pahala Halter from Anthropologie all week thinking about several possibilities.  I wanted to try to create the same bright contrast against a black background for my design.  

When I saw this week's Res-Q challenge to try Emboss Resist, I thought that might be the answer.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a single big bloom like that in my collection, so I went with the Sunflower Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms instead.  

I stamped it on vibrant Urban Prairie Weather Vane paper in Verasmark and clear-embossed.  Next I rubbed an Adirondack Pitch Black Pigment Ink pad over the entire embossed image.  I buffed the ink from the stamped image using a baby wipe and slightly damp paper towel (it took several wipes to get all of the ink out of the details in the image).

Once my panel was done, I had to figure out what to do with it.  The shirt sort of reminds of of an apron, so I used the Just Us Girls Apron Template and cut an apron from my design.  Since the paper was pretty ink-saturated, I framed it  it with a piece of pink designer paper from the same collection & then attached it to a piece of white cardstock for sturdiness and to give me a place to write a message.

I embossed the image a second time on a scrap of the same paper and cut out the pocket (attaching it with very strong double-stick tape since it can be difficult to adhere permanently to an embossed image).  I used an old Close to My Heart image for my pocket tag and added a Prima Say It In Crystals on top of the stamped bloom.  I finished with some knotted gold ribbon through slot punched holes for my apron ties.

Not exactly how I envisioned it in my mind, but I had a lot of fun & I love the finished effect.

Fa La La La La

This week's Challenge at the Basic Grey Blog is an Inspiration Challenge based on this yummy bowl of summer fruits.

How I managed to get from cool summer fruits to a Christmas card is unclear, but I always say you just have to go where the inspiration takes you.

I looked through my Basic Grey collections trying to find papers that reminded me of the fruit.  I settled on a polka dot pattern from Porcelain and Maroon & Green papers from Eskimo Kisses.

I decided to use this week's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch, which seemed perfect for one of my favorite circle seal sentiments from CatsLife Press ... and hence, a holiday card was born.

I stamped some Snowflake Flurry from Stampendous and a very old Stampin' Up image (that has the teeny tiny snowflakes) & decorated the flakes with Diamond PSX Sparkles glitter glue for a bit of winter sparkle.  The fine ladies at Daring Cardmakers are also celebrating Ice & Snow this week, so I'm not the only one thinking about snow on this steamy summer day.

Celebrate Family

This morning on the way home from the Farmers' Market and the Gym, I stopped in a subdivision that was having a neighborhood garage sale.  I'm always on the lookout for ephemera, vintage books, or games that I can use in my cards.  

I found a game called On Assignment with National Geographic, which had game cards with wonderful pictures from around the globe (apparently the object of the game is to be the winning photographer by filing your portfolio with photo cards while answering questions about geography).  When I saw this photo of the Capital with American flags, I knew it would be perfect for the 4th of July Challenge this week at the Cards Blog.

I found these great stars & stripes papers in a 6" package from Webster's Pages called Sweet as Cherry Pie.  The sketch is this week's Friday Sketchers.  The colors in the picture were a bit vibrant for the muted Americana color scheme of the papers, so I sponged it with Old Paper Distress Ink to tone down the brightness.

I punched additional stars from the DP and blue cardstock and used pop dots on the picture & some of the stars for dimension.  I finished with some red twine around the picture decorated with a few more stars.  I decided the sentiments on the papers ... Celebrate Family ... said it all for me.

Once Upon a Time

 This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the fun bicycle accessories of Bicycle Muse.  My card was inspired by this gorgeous Avocado Damask Po Campo Rack Bag.  I loved the color combination (green, grey, and brown) and the wonderful damask pattern, so those are the elements I incorporated into my design.

I found this wonderful 6" Prince Frog paper from Webster's Pages Magical Wishes collection that had the perfect Damask background, so that is where I started my design.

I added some gorgeous Prima Say It In Pearls Grey Flourishes (which I trimmed apart to fit fit with the design on my card) and a stamped sentiment from a favorite set ~ Ornamental Beauty from the Rummage Bin at Cornish Heritage Farms for a very easy, but stunning card.

This card also works for the Stamp Something challenge to make a Vintage Card with Flowers.

I hope you find Inspiration. 

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of exploring the blogosphere:

• These Vanilla Sugar Bars look like the perfect quick & easy summer treat.
• Check out this fun idea for keeping kids active and entertained during summer break ... Summer Bingo.  She even has free downloads and there's a Facebook group for more ideas.
• I realize Father's Day has come and gone, but this stinkin' cute ribbon idea for wrapping a masculine package would work all-year-round ... how cute would it be to attach a tie-tack as part of the gift.
• Here are some super-cute free pirate-themed downloads.
• Jessica Sprague is teaching an online hybrid card class starting June 28th ... sign-up is free.
• Some fabulous do-it-yourself ideas for unique ways to store & display your jewelry collection.
• A quickie recipe for Bread Pudding for One.
• A fantastic 3-D paper owl project with step-by-step instructions & photos.
• I always loved breaking the wishbone ... now you can do it all year long with these fun wishbone cards.
• I tried XO Sauce for the first time when I went to NYC ... and I'm still on the hunt to find some to have at home ... and when I do, I'll be making these yummy looking Noodles with Minced Pork.
• I was excited to see my card won the Sketch Challenge at SRM Stickers ... love those stickers & can't wait to get a new stash.
• Love the clothes on Mad Men ... and can't wait for a new season to start.
• A great list of Banana Recipes (I'm always looking for something new to make with over-ripe bananas).
• A fabulous tutorial to make a gorgeous canvas flower like the one she made on the pictured card.

Perhaps They Are Not Stars

This week's Color Challenge (GC60) at the Gingersnap Creations Blog is Shades of Blue and the theme for the Month of June is Flight (and if you click on over and join the Gingersnap Yahoo Group, there's also a Celestial Bodies Challenge in June).

I love the message of this sentiment for sympathy cards (This version is Openings in Heaven by Inky Antics).  I combined it with the Water Stamping Technique found in Jennifer Maguire's first Thinking Inking tutorial video.

I inked a piece of white cardstock using Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Stormy Sky Distress Inks.  Next, I inked a tiny star background from Paper Parachute with Versamark, stamped it off once, and then misted the stamp with water before stamping it on my background (repeating multiple times).  I also did the same with the larger star from Gina K (a retired Stamps for a Cause set called Make a Wish).  To add a bit more color variation & depth, I inked both stamps with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and stamped them several more times. 

After all of the inks were completely dry (I went over the paper with my heat gun to make sure there was no lingering dampness) I stamped the sentiment with Memories India Ink and clear embossed it.

The finishing touch was a spray of Frost Glimmer Mist for an all-over sparkle.

So go break out your Blues and join us.

Celebrating Jacksonbelle

For today's Jacksonbelle Embelishments card I used these fabulous Birthday Words rub-ons from Daisy D's in my birthday card design.  I love the big bold words and how they rub-on so easily ... and they were perfect for a birthday card I needed to make for my teenage nephew.

Remember, the Store  is closing at the end of June and the remaining inventory is now 75% off, so go on over and take advantage of some of those final bargains.

I used this week's Sketch from Daring Cardmakers which is sponsored by Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker and Sarah's Cards.  I combined it with Betsy Veldman's masculine color challenge.  She posted several color combinations on her blog including this one, which worked perfectly for these great Venice papers from 7 Gypsies.

The Stampotique Head stamp was stamped on the background and then on several other papers to piece his shirt (with a white rub-on symbol) and head.  I added a punched party hat in place of the tag in the sketch & used some plain office staples with a tiny square bling for my corner embellishment.

Stop by and check out the rest of the wonderful Rockstar Crew:

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