Ingenious Inkling

A Haunting We Will Go

I love the new trims included in the Outpost Attic Finds.  This tiny pom pom trim comes in a lovely ivory that is perfect for dying.  I sprayed several different purple inks and glitter mists into a plastic sandwich bag, and then dropped in my trim and moved it all around until it was completely covered in ink.  After I was done, I spread it out on some scrap paper to dry ... voila, purple trim & no ink on my fingers.

For my card, I wrapped the dyed trim around my card base covered with Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers.  I stamped the fun top hat skeleton from Artistic Outpost's Haunted Halloween in purple ink on lavender paper.  I colored the cane with a black marker and paper pieced the hat with black cardstock.

I cut the sentiment in half (one of the great perks of unmounted stamps) and finished my design.

Monsters ... Not Just for Halloween

I love all of the adorable monster images that have been released for Halloween, like this one from K&Company ... but I especially like how they can be used for non-Halloween cards.

I paired this cute little guy with stamps from Hero Arts Monster Fun & this week's 2 Sketches 4 You Bonus Sketch ... so perfect for one of my nieces or nephews.

One Step at a Time

I am always on the lookout for paper designs that are perfect for masculine cards, and the Natural Collection by DCWV is a recent favorite.  It made it so easy to use this week's CPS sketch for a quick and clean get well card for a young man who is recovering from an auto accident.

This favorite get well sentiment is from Verses.  I attached it with foam tape for a little dimension.  By the way, I just invested in one VERY big roll of foam tape (36 yards) from Overstock.com.  I go through quite a bit, and it was much less expensive to buy it in bulk.

And I just saw this adorable packing tape when I was linking up to the foam tape ... looks like it might be time for another order.

This card also works for the Other than Christmas Challenge at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and the For the Boys Challenge at the Corrosive Challenge Blog.

Silence Your Inner Critic

This week's 52-Card Pick-up Theme is one that really resonates with me ~ Fear Less.  For me, one of the keys to fearing less is silencing the negative "you can't do it" thoughts that often echo in my head. Or on those occasions when I do overcome fear and take chances ... and succeed ... my inner voices criticize me for not doing a better job, instead of focusing on the positive sense of accomplishment.  I am my own worst critic.

I thought these gorgeous butterfly papers from DCWV Mariposa papers, as well as the Tim Coffey Blossomwood Die Cut Butterflies, were the perfect symbolism for breaking free from fear and soaring on beautiful wings.  I added some Zva Creative pearls to complete the design.

The Sketch is the Paper Crafts Go-To Sketch Challenge #6 and the sentiment is from River City Rubber Works.

I hope you fear less this week ... and always.

A Star is Born

I was excited to see my Variations on a Theme Card won last week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, so I decided to celebrate by making a card using this week's sketch.

I needed another group card for a children's book themed baby shower, so I started with a circle image cut from an old copy of Richard Scarry's Splish-Splash sounds and used the hues from the image for my color palette.

I added "A Star is Born" sentiment from Hero Arts Precious Baby Boy, which was stamped on a piece of the book age, and lots of punched stars (I picked up a new Moon & Stars punch from EK Success yesterday at Michael's ... love having those tinier stars).

This card also works for the I See Stars Challenge at the City Crafter Challenge Blog.

 

Let it Snow

I don't think it's possible to make a bad card with Memory Box papers ... each sheet is its own work of art, and the entire collection works together so beautifully.  These papers are all from the new Mistletoe Collection.

I used this week's Unscripted Sketch together with a new Let It Snow sentiment stamp that arrived at my house today from Impress.  It's made so you can stamp or punch a snowflake for the "O" in snow.  I chose to stamp a Stampin' Up snowflake that was just the perfect size.

I finished with a tiny snowflake from Christmas Spirit by My Sentiments Exactly.  i just love these colors together.

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun

I had a fabulous day filled with all sorts of inspiration.  I spent the morning in Iowa City with one of my local stamping friends checking out Memories on Fifth, Hobby Lobby & Michael's.  Then when I got home, I had happy mail from Artistic Outpost & Impress ... so many new goodies, I couldn't quite figure out where to start.

I decided to began with this week's Get Sketchy Card Sketch using new Cosmo Cricket Matilda papers and some fun Black Rose trim I picked up on sale in the fabric department at Hobby Lobby.

The sentiment from the $1 bin at Michael's was stamped on Ivory cardstock (which is a closer match to the background in real life than it appears in the photo) and the pumpkins were colored with orange glitter pen.  I finished with my Martha Stewart Dripping Goo border punch.

Now to decide what to play with next.

Etsy Inspired Challenge ~ The Caged Fairy

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC103) comes from the wonderful store of The Caged Fairy that features beautiful jewelry and other treasures.  My card was inspired by this Beautiful 3-D Flower and Pearl Necklace and Earring set.  I loved the combination of the rich red bloom with the lovely pearls.

This week's Challenge Sponsor is Your Next Stamp.  I chose their versatile Garden Greetings set for my design.  The fabulous flowers are perfect for paper piecing or coloring, and I love all of the tiny sentiment stamps that are included in the set.  I thought Hope worked well with my single Rose design.

I used some Fancy Pants papers, Tim Holtz Ideology Symphony Tissue tape, and Zva Creative Pearl Flourishes to accompany my paper pieced rose.

This week's challenge will have three prizes ... one will get to choose an item of their choice from The Caged Fairy.  Your Next Stamp will be giving away two of their sets ~ Happy Halloween Fhiona (love that adorable top-hat wearing skeleton) & SkateBoard Dude.

Make sure you stop by the other Design Team Member blogs to check out their inspired creations:

Ashley

De

Emily B

Emily N

Joy

Kerry

Savannah

Virginia

Julie Ranae (August Guest Designer)

 

 

Variations on a Theme

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the fabulous vintage and indie designs of ModCloth.com. ModCloth was founded by high school sweethearts, Eric Koger and Susan Gregg Koger, and is built on a foundation of love for vintage and retro clothing.  ModCloth features fabulous vintage designs along side the works from over 100 independent designers that thrive to keep combine vintage aesthetic with a bit of modern flair.

My card was inspired by this fabulous Variations on a Theme Dress.  I loved the neutral tones combined with the bold black accents.  The colors reminded me of the Communique Collection from Graphic 45.

I used this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch as the starting point for my design.

I used one of my favorite die cuts, the Tim Holtz Ornamental Movers & Shapers shape.  In keeping with the vintage theme, I added a vintage pen, as well as a manual typewriter to my design.  There is an SRM Sticker that says Just a Note at the bottom, but it sort of gets lost in the pattern of the paper.  I finished my design with some vintage Sari Ribbon.

I hope you find inspiration.

Congrats

This week's Challenge at the Cards Blog is to make a card featuring a single word ... it was just the push I needed to break out this cool Congrats Word Set from Art Impressions that I won from Tammy by playing a little Color Throwdown Facebook trivia (wish I lived close enough to check out her cool store in person).

I decided to go with the colors from this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge and a flipped sketch from Our Creative Corner.  I also knew I wanted to add in some of the great brocade pattern that is repeated throughout the inspiration board.

I started by stamping the word CONGRATS in Memories India Ink on Basic Grey Indian Summer Brandied Melon paper and clear embossing.  I used detail scissors and my trust Tim Holtz craft knife to cut around the letters (it is one great knife, but my knife skills are pretty novice, especially on curved parts ... I had to use a black marker for a little touch up in a few places).

I mounted the word on the reverse side of some handmade paper.  I stamped the Hero Arts Antique Brocade on the back of the same paper & then framed both panels with black cardstock.  I used the same Basic Grey paper as the letters for my card base.

I finished with a border punch and some vintage black glass buttons that were decked out with a little clear bling to bring in the sparkle from the chandelier and candles in the inspiration photos.