Ingenious Inkling

Key to My Heart

In keeping with our Royalty theme at Gingersnap Creations, we're focusing on adding sparkle to our art, so we've decided to challenge you to add charms to your art. Go through your supply drawer and pull out all those charms that you've always meant to use and get going!

I went with Echo Park Be Mine papers & this week's CPS Sketch for my charmed design.

I mounted my Inkadinkado Heartful of Love Inchie on a black square of cardstock and then wrapped it with black scrapper's twine to attach my key-heart charm.  I finished with a jeweled flourish & Hero Arts sentiment.  Finished card is 4 1/4" square.

You're a Sweet Heart

I had quite a few requests for valentine cards from friends & family this week (note to self ... make more ahead of time next year), so I used  this week's Friday Mashup! sketch to feature this fun vintage valentine image from Inkadinkado's Animal Hearts.  Papers are from the Martha Stewart Valentine Mat Pad.

I colored the flower, bird & nest with Prismacolor pencils and paper pieced the Sweet Heart using a scrap of the background paper.  I finished with adhesive pearls & red hemp cord.

Celebrate You!

Did you see the fun freebies at PaperTrey Ink?  Each stamp designer made their own circle design, and you can download them to use to create lots of fun cards.  The prize is the chance to work with Nicole Heady to design your very own stamp set ... how fun is that?

I used some digital paper piecing with Maile Belles' fun pinwheel image using free digital papers by Brandy Buffington called Boho Chic.  Iwas able to darken the kraft paper in the collection to a darker brown using Photoshop.

I printed the pinwheel image several times, so I could paper piece the pinwheels for dimension.  I also used an extra pinwheel in the corner as an embellishment.

I finished wiht a wrap of orange ribbon and a gem in the center of one of the pinwheels.  The sketch is Tiffany's Super Bowl Sunday Sketch. 

More Sweet Talk

A made a few more quick & easy Valentines using Brenda Walton's Sweet Talk Postage paper.

The first one uses this week's Card Patterns Sketch.  I love the Conversation Heart embossing folder.

The lacy paper is from a little Martha Stewart Valentine paper pad ... I finished with a punched heart and some pink adhesive gems.

The second Valentine uses this week's Clean & Simple Sketch.

Sentiment is one of my favorites for Valentine's Day from Savvy Stamps.

Corrosive Challenge ~ Red, Orange & Yellow

I was lucky enough to to win at the Corrosive Challenge Blog in December, so as a reward, I get to guest design for them during the month of February.

The first challenge is to design a card with Red, Orange & Yellow.  I took my inspiration from the Corrosive Challenge Blog Banner using last week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

I found some rockin' glittery rub-ons of rock star flames, an electric guitar, & guitar pick.  I combined them with some orange & red DP from K & Company's Que Sera Sera.

I attached the guitar rub-on to yellow cardstock & cut it out, so I could attach it with foam tape for dimension.  I finished with some red adhesive gems & the perfect sentiment from Inkadinkado.

love u

I finally cut into my beautiful Echo Park Be Mine Collection.  The little journaling cards were perfect to for a glittery little valentine message.

I added a tiny bit of sponging around the Grey edges and a wrap of sheer silver ribbon for a quick valentine design.

Sweet Talk Valentines

Today I made some Valentines using this fun Postage Stamps Paper from Brenda Walton.

For this first one, I wanted to keep with the sewing theme of the valentine, so I paired it with Cosmo Cricket Material Girl Papers (which I just discovered are on sale at Ellen Hutson).  Unfortunately, the Color Palettes were very different, so I had to be a bit creative to make it work together.

I stayed away from the reds in the collection, since they seriously clashed with the hot pink of the valentine.  Instead I focused on pulling out the greens and blues from the collection to pull it all together.

I finished with some punched hearts (and a tiny accent heart cut from one of the other valentines), as well as a wrap of pink waxed floss to keep with the stitching theme.

I had a request to make a some valentines to give to your best friends, so the next valentine was inspired by the You Light Up My Life Valentine on the top row.  My initial plan was to use the valentine on the front of the card, but as my design developed, it ended up being my inside sentiment instead (matted on coordinating purple cardstock).

I just loved the elegant simplicity of the embossed chandelier decked out in tiny bit of clear bling.  I also love that this card could sit on a shelf or desk long past valentine's day without looking dated (unlike the yellow You Light Up My Life Book Bag I carried in 7th Grade that was adorned with a big red light bulb).

I did another girlfriend card by combining a valentine with My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink Papers.

This time I used a dark teal cardstock to pull it all together and bring out that color in the bunting.  I cut the extra banners from another piece of cardstock in the set & finished with some bling below the valentine & in the centers of the floral designs.

Songbirds in Grey

The Res-Q Challenge is celebrating Grey Matter this week.  I thought these lovely birds and musical instruments from Artistic Outpost's Songbirds plate looked rather dashing in Grey.

I combined them with some fun ivory trim and a piece of vintage sheet music passed down from family musicians.  It reminds me of listening to my Grandfather play his trombone ... wonderful memories ... it keeps the song in my heart.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

For this week's Jingle Belles Prompt, we're returning to a holiday song title prompt ... yes, Lauren & I love Christmas songs (and puns), so we'll be using them a lot this year.   Jingle Belles Prompt #6 (JB06) is ... Baby, It's Cold Outside ... which we thought was rather appropriate during the week of Snow-pocolypse. 

And for us, that means making a card that includes a hat ... or gloves ... or a scarf ... or mittens ... or some warm, fuzzy felt.  

I chose to use most of the above with my fun fuzzy holiday card design.

My husband said my two whimsical Woolie Jovial Basic Grey Snowmen friends reminded him of Ren & Stimpy ... so I went with a Happy Happy Joy Joy holiday sentiment from SRM Stickers.

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for my layout, and added lots of felt snowflakes I picked up on my fall vacation.  I put coordinating aqua adhesive gems in the middle of each one.

So think about ways to stay warm ... and add another holiday card to your stash.  You have until Wednesday, February 9th at 6pm EST to link up your fuzzy warm creation ... we can't wait to see what you make.

My Funny Little Valentine

Tonight I had a request to make some Teacher Valentines using the adorable K&Company Ka-Zoo Die Cuts.  I hopped on over to Alison's Blog to check out her sketch lists and found three that worked perfectly.

The first one uses a new to me Swedish Sketch Blog called Kortskissen ... my-oh-my is there some eye candy to be found here.  I started with a metallic pink card base and added three strips of cardstock embossed with tiny polka dots to coordinate with the polka dots on my sweet panda bear.

I attached the panda and speech bubble with foam tape for dimension ... I made this card for this week's Tuesday Trigger ... Sweets for the Sweet.

The next one uses another new to me sketch blog - Truly Scrumptious ... I just love finding new places to be inspired.  I embossed Chocolate Core'dinations Cardstock (with a red core) with two different embossing folders and sanded them to bring out the designs.

Again, I used foam tape for my lion & speech bubble and finished with a few red mosaic tiles in the corner ... this card is perfect for this week's Simon Says Challenge ... Love is in the Air.

The next one uses this week's Limelight Paper Sketch.  I used the same pink metallic cardstock for my base & embossed some white shimmery cardstock with a gear embossing folder for the panel behind my sweet little robot.

I think this was my favorite sentiment in the entire set ... and just perfect for the Cute Card Thursday challenge to use humor on your card to Banish the Blues.