Ingenious Inkling

Sisters' Weekend

My sister posted a great photo summary of our awesome weekend in Kansas City, if you'd like the play-by-play.  We had an awesome time and enjoyed cooler weather than we usually experience over Labor Day weekend ... I miss her already.

We did try one little crafty project in our hotel room ... making record sleeve masks from very cheap albums we found at Vintage Stock.  John Denver joined us at the Farmers' Market.

Then he played a mean game of Scrabble ...

with Art Garfunkel (love how the light from the window looks like a glow around those curls).

... and Paul Young joined us on our drive around the city.

Good times.

Abrianna Butterflies

I picked-up some more beautiful papers with coordinating butterflies on my travels this weekend ... this time it's the Abrianna Collection from K&Company ... so vibrant and fun.  I thought they worked perfectly for Jay Gee's Nook Inspiration Challenge.

I used this week's Sweet Stop Sketch & an SRM Sticker Sentiment.  The background paper reminds me of the lampshade.

If you never did you should

I love the vintage car in the Gatsby set from Artistic Outpost. For this card i stamped it in brown ink on mustard cardstock (which I chose to coordinate with the colors in my map) and detail cut the image.

My background is an Illinois map that I sprayed with water, wadded up repeatedly, and then inked with distress ink ... I always grab maps from the rest stops when we travel ... I loved the compass on this section fo the map.  I added the sentiment from Think & Wonder, which is stamped on a scrap from the map and attached with foam tape.

Sisters' Weekend 2011

No cards this weekend because I'm enjoying my annual weekend getaway with my sister.  We've been doing lots of exploring & laughing ... the best way to spend time together.  

We loved the rainbow of yarn at Yarn Shop & More.

And had delicious gelato at Paciugo.

Off to spend another day exploring ... hope you're enjoying your day as much as we are.

We Three Kings

Okay, this week's Prompt name at Jingle Belles is a bit of a stretch ... but just like there were three kings ... we want to see three (or more) different pieces of patterned paper in your card design this week.

They can all be the same company ... even the same collection ... or you can totally mix-it up ... but we want to see three different patterned papers in your design.

And joining us for this week's prompt is a wonderful sponsor who specializes in fabulous designer papers ... Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker.

She has graciously donated a 6x6" pad of her Happy Holly-Days paper, as well as several 12" sheets including stickers and die cut shapes to one lucky participant this week.

And the wonderfully talented Julie Tucker-Wolek is joining us as a Lovely Guest Star this week. Julie is a member of Nikki's Doghouse Diva's Design Team. She can also be found on her blog Life with the Tucker & Wolek Clan.

 

I started with a scrap of paper from My Mind's Eye as the base & then incorporated three more designer papers from Echo Park's Wintertime Collection for this week's CPS Sketch.

I decided to feature the coordinating cup-of-cocoa sticker wtih a little pearl flourish from Recollections (they were 40% off at Michael's this week ... love the tiny size).  The sentiment is from Penny Black.

So go digging into your paper scrap stash ... or break out some new papers you haven't cut into yet ... and show us how you can create patterned paper magic.

Thursday Link Love

More fun internet finds:

• Love these embroidery sampler magnets ... fun.
• These PMS Cookies sound delicious ... how can you go wrong with peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow & a little bit of salt.
• Love these cute Lego Necklaces.
• I recently took a attended a Macro Photography Session through our local Photo Pro Store that was sponsored by Tamron.  It made me realize how little I know about how to shoot manually. Here's a Camera Simulator Site where you can practice changing the different settings on our camera and see the effects.
• Love this free printable to let people know their Garden is Lovely.
• I want to make this cool Pebble Welcome Mat for my house.
• These homemade mint limeades look so refreshing (shown).
• Easy visual tips for determining one serving size of fruits and vegetables.
• A resource for all sorts of printable papers ... Yahtzee Scorecards, US License Plate Game, Ledger paper.
• I don't have a good place to keep stick-pins in my studio ... I love this tutorial for an inexpensive, yet elegant pin cushion frame.
• Love these dressed-up little ruffled tea towels.
• A great tutorial for making paper roses from paper punches you likely already have.
• A fun little tutorial for a cute paper bow.
• I want one of these cool magetic walls for my play room ... very fun.

Happy Thursday!

Rusty Denim Cowboy

The color challenge for our Cowboy-themed month at Gingersnap Creations is Denim, Rust & Dust.  For my card, I used another fun technique from the February/March 2011 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter (provided by the sponsor to the Design Team) called Distressed Colorblocking.

I used a rodeo cowboy image from Graphics Fairy and a sentiment from Tim Holtz.  My rodeo cowboy was backed with a scrap of denim fabric & finished with a wrap of rust seam binding and a decorative brad ... ride'm cowboy.

Jubilee Thanks

My final card using my K&Company Jubilee butterflies ... this time with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

A wrap of lime ribbon and an SRM Sticker sentiment ... and the card is complete.

 

Live & Laugh

So thrilled to see the talented Lucy designing sketches for Lily Pad Cards ... here's my take on Lucy's Lovely Lines.  A quick and simple card using K&Company's Jubilee papers & buterfly sticker, lots of sponging, and Hero Arts Live & Laugh Sentiment.

 

When I want elements to hang over the sides like they do in this design, I make the card base slightly smaller, so it will still fit into a standard envelope.

Happy Monday!

Celebrate Your Happiness

I decided to combine this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger ...

With this week's CASE Study Challenge Card from Sarah Martina Parker ...

I love the round plate and colors from the Moxie Fab Photo ... not to mention cake ... which to me always means a celebration.  From Sarah's card I incorporated a simalar layout, the pearl flourishes, a doily & the flower.

I started by spraying my doily with Dragonfly Glimmer Mist ... well, to be honest, I sprayed my doily, my fingers, and even part of my ink pad holder ... I kept trying to get an even mist without any big drops and ended-up making quite a mess (good thing I don't mind one Dragonfly Glimmer fingernail).

I added a tag from Webster's Pages Fabric Fancies and found the coordinating paper in my stash (which given the state of my studio at the moment was a small miracle.  I added a wrap of two pieces of thin silk ribbon (love the feel of silk).  

I cut the flower (PaperTrey Ink Beautiful Blooms #1) using some handmade paper that I had sprayed, and squished, and inked.  My pearl flourish was a bit to white for my vintage design, so I used a tip from my friend Miss Iowa and added some Saddle Brown Staz-On to age them a bit (which the owner of the Goose Barn indicated she thinks might be discontinued now).

A little peak at why my studio is in a bit of chaos at the moment.  My china cabinet hutch is going to a new home, so I rearranged my studio & replaced the hutch with some industrial shelving from Sam's that I'm in the process of filling ... I'm feeling a serious studio purge coming on.