Ingenious Inkling

I Always Love Hearing from You

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the French store Neëst, which combines Japanese design with Scandinavian influences.  Neëst features objects of timeless elegant design characterized by simplicity of form and a predilection for natural materials such as wood, flax, cotton, and woven straw.

I chose this lovely patchwork potholder from Cocoon to inspire my card design.

I love handmade and custom papers and pick them up whenever I have a chance.  My friends and family also graciously gift me lovely papers they find in their travels.  Unfortunately, once the papers come to live in my studio home, I tend to hoard them a bit ... they are just so lovely, that it's a challenge to cut into them sometimes.  

For this card, I combined multiple pieces of hand-made paper including a wonderful chocolate velvet flourish design.  I thought the texture of the papers were perfect for the fabric textures of the potholder.

The stamps are a fun new set from Hero Arts called Just Saying Hi stamped in Dark Brown ColorBox Chalk ink & clear embossed.

I hope you find Inspiration.

Glittery Hearts

Lucy is celebrating the new year with a week of sketching fun.  Her first sketch is perfect for a quick & oh-so-cute valentine.  

And since I haven't played along yet, I also added in a glittery sentiment & tiny glittery heart for the Moxie Fab World Glitter is Glam challenge.  Since I didn't have any matching glittery paper, I punched my little heart from a cardstock bunny rabbit embellishment that happened to have glittery feet (and now has a glittery foot with with a heart silhouette) ... you just never know where you might find that perfect glittery touch.

My favorite kraft cardstock from Hobby Lobby & wonderful new Valentine papers from the Pixie Collection by Memory Box. 

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of blog-hopping:

• Love this idea for magnetic gift tags ... this idea could translate to any present-giving occasion.
• I have fond memories of making these pin cushion jars with my grandma when I was young.
• A great idea for a children's gift ... a Memory Game made with wooden disks and your favorite rubber stamps.
• Cupcakes in a Jar ... what a fun gift idea ... then again, for me, any gift that involves cake is a good one.
• What a fabulous Upcycled Train Case ... I have one of these stashed away in my closet that I bought thinking "someday I'll do something with that" ... maybe this is that "someday" idea.
• As you hit those after Christmas sales, here's an article with ideas for re-purposing those great bargain finds.
• These adorable monster pouches make me smile.
• This LA Times Column "50" features lots of fun things like snow globes, holiday ornaments, and personal ads.
• Edible Crayons ... how fun (picture is of some of the rainbow of ingredients).
• We had a big dumping of snow this week, which brought back found childhood memories of making Snowfall Ice Cream.
• This 7-Layer Greek Dip combines all of my favorites ... yummm.
• And these gorgeous pizzas made me drool a little ... the breakfast one looks particularly delicious.
• Love this post by Bonnie ... Soul Tribe ... what an awesome concept.
• A fun idea for a wedding or any party ... budget friendly dessert tables.
• A thought provoking post about What Do You Actually Use? ... I have lots of scissors in my studio, but I constantly reach for my Tim Holtz pair ... so much so that when I lost them this week (I think they're out in the snow somewhere ... long story), I immediately ordered a new pair ... are there things like that in your life?
• Loving all of the end-of-year round-up posts ... I seriously want that knit grass rug.

Happy Thursday & all the best for 2011.

Holiday Fun Mail

Here are some of the fun holiday cards i got in the mail this year. 

This one arrived from Lauren ... love that layered flower and the fun bling.

And dear Miss Amy sent me a card featuring a glittery Hero Arts owl.

Love the gorgeous woven ribbon treatment on this stunning card from Anne, my Inspiration Challenge partner in crime.

This beautiful card came from Marilyn (mlj-mlj) ... those embossed snowflakes are wonderful.

This fabulous card was made by the oh-so-talented Sharon Briss ... love this image on the cool inky background.

And lastly, a wonderful card from one of my dearest friends Coleen ... I love how she used the blinged snowflake for the "O".

Make you stop by the Jingle Belle Blog to check out the fun prize package that will go to one lucky person who joins us on our fun new holiday card adventure ... hope to see you there on Saturday.

Gingerspiration ~ Inspiration Challenge

For the fifth Wednesday Blue Moon Challenge at the Gingersnap Creations Blog, the theme is Gingerspiration.  Each Ginger chose their own challenge theme, so you can do one or all of them.  

In keeping with the December theme of Great White North, I chose this Icelandic Ivana Zip Cardigan Sweater to inspire my design.

The pattern reminded me of this gorgeous velvet patterned paper I've hoarded in my collection longer than I care to admit.

I layered some black chipboard thickers with two punched snowflakes for my wintry-themed embellishment. 

The sentiment is an SRM sticker on some ivory handmade paper ... perfect for those many post-holiday thank you notes I need to get in the mail.

If you make something inspired by this wintry sweater, make sure you link it up, so we can take a look.

Flashback Friday 6.0

Amy's Flashback Friday 6.0 Challenge is to post the first card you blogged about that was made with an unusual find in your home.

As I searched back through the archives, the first one I found was from September 2007, using pop-tabs to frame my rivet sentiment.  This card was for the Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS, so I borrowed the pop-tab idea from this card made by Michelle Zindorf.  

I can honestly say I like the effect enough that I would use it again today ... I haven't been able to say that about all of my Flashback Friday cards :^).  

Thanks again to Amy & Yvonne for another fun Flashback Friday challenge.

Five Favorite Christmas Cards

I stumbled upon this post on my friend Pam's blog, and decided to join the fun.  Since i included some Christmas Cards in my Top 10 post, I won't repeat those.

1 ~ This card I made for the Polar Animal Challenge at Gingersnap Creations still makes me smile every time I look at it ... I just love the glittery snow globe (such a fabulous find in the holiday tag section ... so much cheaper than "standard" card embellishments), the layered snowflakes, and the unexpected color combination ... and it made the top three at Unscripted Sketches too.

2 - This one used a new-to-me technique ... Double Distressing ... which was so very easy & produced such a cool effect.  It also used ribbon I received across the miles from one of my dearest friends in Finland ... and a favorite holiday sentiment from CatsLife Press.

3 ~ The gorgeous Pine Tree Grove from Artistic Outpost made for some very easy & pretty holiday cards.  I loved the effect of this monochromatic distressed design.

4 ~ This faux burlap stocking I made for Kimberly Crawford's Twelve Trendy Days of Christmas was a favorite because it turned out even better on paper than I imagined in my head ... love when that happens.

5 ~ And finally, my zipper tree.  This one required a special trip to the fabric store for the Moxie Fab World Challenge ... but it was worth it.  I loved the effect.

And remember, if don't want to wait until the last moment to make your holiday cards in 2011, hook up with Lauren & I over at the new Jingle Belle Blog where we're going to take back December one holiday card at a time.

 

 

 

My 10 Favorites of 2010

Each year I have a fun time walking through my creations for the year and picking my 10 favorites (here are the round-ups for 2008 & 2009).

1 ~ I had fun taking a stab at Art Jounaling this year.  I loved the freedom of creativity and the larger palette.  This one was done for Gina's Heart the Art Prompt #6 ~ Invisible.

2 ~ I loved watching the Winter Olympics in 2010, and this snow-themed card commemorated that experience.  Masculine cards are always a bit more of a challenge, but this one for Get Sketchy's Sketch #26 turned out just as I envisioned ... bold, graphic, and fun ... perfect for the recipient.  I loved how I was able to use the snowflake pattern on the paper with the snowboarder.

3 ~ I had a fabulous time Guest Designing for multiple Artistic Outpost releases in 2010.  I love how the Steampunk stamps enhanced this vintage electrical circuit diagram ... so perfect for my brother.

4 ~ I also loved my opportunity to design for Jacksonbelle Embellishments in 2010 and was very sad to see that on-line store close.  One of the things that experience pushed me to do is create more "cute" designs ... this What's Crackin'? set by My Favorite Things was so perfect for paper-piecing ... and I had a lot of fund designing with the Flutter line of papers from Making Memories..

5 ~ Guest Designing for Gingersnap Creations was also a blast in 2010 ... and turned into a full-time gig that I am thoroughly enjoying.  

This card I made for the Transparency Spicy Supply Challenge was a favorite for several reasons.  It was my first time designing with Digital Stamps (Hero Arts Flutterbies), and I tried a technique (spraying glimmer mists directly onto the transparency design) that turned out even cooler than I had envisioned ... and for a final little thrill, it won the Digital Design Challenge at Hero Arts for June.

6 ~ I used Cosmo Cricket's Delovely line quite a bit this year, and this card ~ featuring a CPS sketch & a Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger ~designed  using square punched elements from the larger 12" paper designs was a favorite for sure.

7 ~ I had a lot of fun creating with my own version of Gesso Resist ... any time I can incorporating texty book pages into my design, it makes me happy.  I also got my first every Tweet from Hero Arts for these designs, which made me smile.

 8 ~ This inspired Halloween card won at The Shabby Tea Room, which earned me a chance to guest design with that great group.  I loved the hand-cut transparency frame and an opportunity to a vintage button & lace.

9 ~ Another fun thing I learned to do this year was digitally paper-piece digital images, particularly through working with lots of great digi-stamp companies at the Etsy Inspired Challenge.  I had so much fun designing with that group of ladies.

This card uses Mr. T Diddle from the Digi Doodle Shop together with a scanned dictionary page and digital papers ... so fun.

10 ~ This card for the Play Date Cafe Dublin-Style Challenge was one of my favorite holiday card designs.  I loved the wonderful combination of snowflakes in unexpected holiday hues (and another fussy cut transparency frame from Hambo).

I hope you've enjoyed this 2010 round-up.  It's always fun for me to go back and revisit my designs for the year.  

Thanks for sharing the year with me.  Here's to more great creations in 2011.

PS ~ I linked up to a Top 10 Blog Hop ... post yours & join the fun.

Jingle Belles Rock

I have mentioned that I have several exciting new ventures ahead in the new year ... the first is a plan to make sure I have my holiday cards completed before December arrives in 2011.

Lauren and I have dubbed ourselves the Jingle Belles (okay, so Lauren the clever-one dubbed us ... but I heartily agreed) ... and plan to Take Back December, one holiday card at a time ... we hope you'll join us for holiday fun all year long.

You can check out the FAQ ... and take our little Holiday Quiz ... the fun starts January 1st.

The Christmas morning snow was too fluffy for snowmen or snowballs, so I went with a snow angel ... gotta love the white stuff.

Cultivate Love

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenges comes from the Project Thirty-Three, a website celebrating album covers ... specifically the seemingly infinite number of vintage record jackets that convey their message with only simple shapes and typography.   I grew-up in a home that housed thousands of record albums that were played every day, so I have always had a special appreciation for album cover art.

Project Thirty-Three is a shrine to circles and dots, and their less jovial but equally effective cousins, squares, rectangles & triangles ... and the brilliant designers that make them come to life on album covers.  Other categories featured are arrows, abstract shapes, lines, and typography-only. 

I chose this wonderful album cover from Franz Liszt's Two Piano Concerti to inspire my design.

I incorporated the dual hearts and simple text into my valentine design, as well as the colors from this week's ColorQ Challenge.

I used K&Company's Smitten paper with two big punched red hearts.  I added a few tiny puffy hearts, also from the Smitten Line, as well as a stamped sentiment from Serendipity Stamps.

I hope you find inspiration.