Ingenious Inkling

Snow Globe Sketchy Christmas

This week at Jingle Belles we're partnering with the fabulous designers at Sketchy Thursdays for a super-fun sketchy prompt.  

When I saw the half-circle in the design, I kept thinking snow globe, so that's where I started my design.  I found a package of these fun glittery snow globes last year in the gift tags section of Michael's ... so much cheaper than standard papercrafting embellishments, and oh-so-fun (you can see more cards using them here & here).  I used the colors from this Santa snow globe for my color palette.

The teal paper is from Echo Park's Life Is Good collection (love the subtle pattern which makes it work for any season).  I found a scrap of white-ish handmade paper with some silver metallic flecks that I embossed with the Quickutz Snowflakes embossing folder.  I finished with some bright red cardstock & coordinating ribbon (I confess I did a little happy ribbon dance when I found a perfect match in my stash).

And, to up the ante this week, if you make a holiday card using the sketch, and link it up at both sites, you'll have two chances for some fun prizes.  Our prize at Jingle Belles will be the following stash of holiday goodies (too big to photo in my tent without catching the side in the background):

6" Dear Santa Collection Pad from KaiserCraft

Reindeer Snag 'em Stamp from Imaginisce

Kolette Hall Studio G stamps with gems

Scrappy Cat Christmas Sentiments stamps

Zva Creative Ho Ho Ho adhesive green crystals

 

What are you waiting for ... go forth and create (and make sure you skip on over to Sketchy Thursdays to see more inspiration).

 

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of blog finds:

• A very fun tutorial for some whimsical DIY Wall Hooks.
• This is not the childhood shrinky dinks project you remember ... instead they're being used to make some very classy jewelry charms.
• Great tutorial for an Anthropologie-Inspired Ruffled Scarf .... very cool.
• A tutorial for some very cool texty easter eggs made from those plastic easter eggs you usually throw away (pictured here).
• Here are some great winter soup ideas ... I made this Pumpkin Sausage Soup this weekend with maple sausage, baby portobello mushrooms, and a bit of ground chipotle added at the end, and it was amazing ... my sister has also perfected Black Bean Soup.
• I know Valentine's Day has passed ... but this adorable Mustache Valentine idea is cute enough to save for next year.
• Orange Slices are a weakness of mine ... these Orange Slice Bars sound very yummy.
• free fun paper toy downloads
• Tutorial for all sorts of ways to pleat paper ... very fun.
• A few weeks ago I mentioned wanting Ice Resin ... after seeing this, now I really want it ... and look at Linda's card here ... a-mazing.

Have a terrific Thursday.

Cheerful Little Ear-full

I couldn't resist combining this vintage image from a 1940s get well card that I found in a scrapbook I bought at an Estate Sale with the post card stamp from Artistic Outpost Emphemeral Backgorunds to create a fun, one-of-a-kind postcard Valentine.

It's just perfect for the Be My Valentine Challenge at the Friday Mash-up ... where she just happened to mention she loves vintage valentines.  

Elegant Cameo

Cameos have always reminded me of my Grandma.  In fact, when I was in Junior High, she gave me one of her cameos, and I always felt so elegant when I wore it.  

I wanted to capture that elegance in my card design for the Appearance of Cameos Challenge at the Moxie Fab World blog.  I used the beautiful cameo image from Artistic Outpost's Jane's Countryside Collection.

The inspiration for my card design came from Eva Dobilas' gorgeous card at CASE Study.  I loved the layout and the big bow (which usually scare me) ... however, I used some gorgeous silk ribbon from the Stamp Simply Ribbon store that produced such an elegant bow.  Papers are Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue ... I finished with a black jeweled flourish.  

Grandma would be proud.

Happy Happy Happy

This week at the Corrosive Challenge Blog they have a fantastic sketch to inspire you (and they're taking applications for new Design Team Members).  I have the pleasure of guest designing with them for the month of February.  The Sketch was perfect for a very special birthday card I needed to make.

 

I found some Basic Grey Scraps in my stash (the floral is from the Sultry collection) and paired them with a scrap of rich green cardstock (this sketch is perfect for using up those scraps).

I finished with a Prima Cream Swirls pearl flourish & sentiment from Outlines Rubber Stamps stamped in Sour Apple Chalk ink & clear embossed.  I finished with an additional pearl for the dot on the exclamation point.

My Inchie Valentine

Here's my version of last week's Get Sketchy design.

I stamped the hearts image three times & then put an SRM Sticker sentiment over the center heart for this week's Scrappy Saturday Live Laugh Love Challenge.

Love that elegant heart embossing folder.

Why Fit In?

My card for this weeks SCS Inspiration Challenge was inspired by this fabulous photo from Santa Barbara Chic ... I love their fun Shoesday posts.

I stamped Dorothy's Magical Shoes in Warm Red and embossed with Polysparkle ink.  I thought they worked perfectly with a sentiment from the Artistic Outpost Think and Wonder Collection ... Why fit in, when you were born to stand out?

I used this week's Skipping Stone Designs Sketch together with Martha Stewart Valentine DP and a heart strip cut from My Mind's Eye State of the Heart DP.

Colors are this week's Color Throwdown combination.

I hope you find inspiration.

No Red, She Said!

This week's Jingle Belle Prompt (JB07 if you're uploading to a gallery, including our Flickr Gallery) comes from the very clever and very talented lisa of papergrace designs! 

We thought this week there might be a bit of Valentine Red overdose in the blogosphere, so it seemed like the perfect time to encourage you to make a card WITHOUT the hue that is also the most common of Christmas colors ... because this week's prompt is:

No RED, She Said!

One of my favorite non-Red holiday color combinations if found in the wintery Mitten Weather collection by Cosmo Cricket ... Plum & Aqua Blue.

I stamped Hero Arts Stunning Snowflakes on the backbground paper and then added several blocks cut from the Mitten Weather Elements Sheet.  I finished with purple ribbon and some tiny purple adhesive pearls.

So put away that red, and show us some of your favorite "no red, she said!" color combinations.

Thursday Link Love

More fun finds from the land of blogs:

• I love these fun Modge Podge Bracelets ... wouldn't this be a great project for a girlfriend day.
• A tutorial to make your own designer knock-off Rosettes Pillow (or these would also be lovely on a card or package).
• This Origami Office Organizer would be great for holding brads, eyelets and other little bits and bobs in the studio.
• A wonderful tutorial for turning a sweet tart box & hershey kisses into a fantastic iPod Valentine.
• Love this fantastic idea for sending flowers that last much longer than fresh ones.
• Get Well sentiment are something I have a shortage of in my crafting stash ... here are some gorgeous Get Well tags you can download for free ... how fun would those be tied to a batch of home made soup or a bag of Vitamin C drops.
• This new Sew Easy Tool from We R Memory Keepers looks like a lot of fun.
• Love this tutorial for making kitchen utensil holders sorted by use ... these would likely find all sorts of uses in a craft studio as well (paint brushes, scissors, pencils, etc.).
• A fabulous Valentine Swag tutorial (with lots of ideas that could be translated to card designs, like dying coffee filters with food coloring).
• Love the look of these cool new stamps by Dyan Reaveley @ Ranger.
• Hambly Washi Tape (I think I may have just drooled a bit on my keyboard) ... and this Ice Resin looks like lots of fun too.
• I had forgotten all about this addictive little snack until I saw these photos ... Sausage Cheese Balls.
• This Pizza Omelet sounds like a wonderful weekend breakfast where everyone could choose their favorite toppings.
• Self-frosting Nutella Cupcakes ... yum.
• Fabulous ideas for decorating a boys room ... love the decopaged maps on the dresser drawers with nuts & bolts handes ... hubcaps in fun colors ... and license plate wall art.

Be Mine Valentines

It's been quite a while since I've had time to play along with the SCS Featured Stamper Challenge, but this week I had some time to wander through Lori's fabulous gallery (she does digi-stamps too) & chose this card from way back in March 2008 to inspire my design.

The strips of paper reminded me of the packaging that comes with Echo Park paper collections.  I cut all of the little sample pieces into strips and was able to create two fantastic valentine cards from things I would normally throw away.

I attached the paper strips to a grey card base, and finished with a heart, butterfly & sentiment sticker from the Be Mine Collection for a quick and oh-so-easy card design.

For this one I added some black ribbon, punched hearts, and cardstock sentiment.  I even stamped a few tiny hearts in the corner ... and I'm linking these up to Crazy 4 Challenges Valentine Challenge.