Ingenious Inkling

Dude, You Rock!

Father's Day cards are on today's agenda.  Since I have several fathers in my life who love music, I decided to make several cards centered around these great Rock Star Glitter rub-ons from Paper House Productions (that I picked-up at Hobby Lobby some time ago).

The first one uses this week's Saturday Sketch and papers from Bo Bunny's Blast Off 6x6" pad.  Sentiment is Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings.

I thought the silver string rminded me of guitar strings.  I flipped the sketch and put it across the top, so it would cover less of the guitar image.

For the second one I decided to break-out some vintage sheet music and use this week's CardPatterns Sketch.

For my center element, I found a piece of watercolor paper in my scrap basket that I had tried painting with Twinkling H2O paint at one time (and had failed in the look I wanted, but knew that some day it might find a home).  

I sprayed the paper with multiple colors of mists including Bronze Glimmer Mist for an all-over sparkle (for the Simon Stamps Sparkle & Shine Challenge) and Walnut ink.  Next I stamped it with Hero Arts Woodgrain background in Black Soot Distress Ink.  After I cut out my oval, I sponged with several more inks.  I wanted it to look like the woodgrain of a well-loved guitar. Here's a close-up.

I finished with some Pebbles Real Life Label Stickers.

Dads ... You Rock!

 

Enjoy the Journey

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from Spotted Moth, a stylish online store featuring unique clothing and accessories for women.  Everything in their store is hand-made or hand-picked.  My card was inspired by this Leather Bicycle Card Wallet.

I stamped PrintWorks Bike with Basket in Art Print Brown ink on a piece of craft designer paper from Memory Box's Valise Collection.

I sponged Corduroy Distress ink through sequin waste onto the background and then sponged along the bottom to ground the bicycle.  I added some blue colored pencil to the seat and pedal to bring out the blue from the clocks on the background.  I finished with a wrap of twine (remember, you've still got time to join the Gingersnap Creations Twine Challenge) and a sentiment from Tim Holtz.

This card will be going out in the mail for Father's Day.

I hope you find inspiration.

Visions of Sugar Plums

This week at Jingle Belles we're joined by delightful Guest Star Amanda Profumo who has us seeing Visions of Sugar Plums (from Paper Doll Romance). We're making cards inspired by the fabulous photo collage below.

My eyes were drawn to the white & purple glittery snowflakes as well as the tiny bit of blue peeking through at the top of the toe shoes picture.  You can use the colors, elements, or any other part of the collage that inspires you.

I began by using my finger to glitter my Stampin' Up Felt Snowflake with Stickles glitter glue & letting it dry overnight.  Next I layered on a clear glittery snowflake that I had saved from long-ago holiday gift packaging and then a snowflake punched from plum glittery paper with a white glittery ball on top.

The background paper is some velvet snowflake paper from Fiskars.  I finished with a Judikins sentiment that usually goes on the inside of my cards ... but today I decided to make it front & center.  I love this soothing color combination with all of the glittery glitz.

We hope you find inspiration.

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of skipping through blogland:

• I always try to surround myself with positive and encouraging thoughts ... these action pencils would be awesome for adding a little encouragement at the office ... or anywhere.
• These Coach Thank You Tags are very clever and could be modified for other special people in your life.
• Love these fun little shopping trolleys (and who doesn't love the word trolley?) ... they would be awesome for the farmer's markets ... I wonder if there's anything like it in the US?
• These creative tea boxes make me smile ... something similar would be fun for a card too.
• A tutorial for how to dye your own buttons.
• These tree branch magnets would make great father's day gifts ... so would these scrap magnets.
• I want to try these cool 3-D snowflakes (shown) ... there's a free template & instructions.
• I would love some of these wonderful trellis planters for my back patio.
• Free printable Travel Bingo ... I used to love to play on long car rides.
• I love knots ... this Celtic Heart Knot would be pretty on a card.
• A fantastic idea for transforming a pretty little dish into a magnetic pin holder (would work for paperclips on my desk too).
• I made these Oat Bars this week (sans chocolate for my chocolate-disliking husband) and they were given a big thumbs-up both at home and at the office.  Since the recipe didn't specify the cookie sheet size, I used a cake pan and cooked about 18 minutes, and it worked great.

Happy Thursday!

Mojo Jubilee

Since I have been on a roll with the K&Company Jubilee collection, I decided to keep going.  For this card, I used this week's Mojo Monday Sketch together with Butterflies & SRM Stickers (another for the Wee Memories Get Sticky Challenge).

I sponged some distress ink on the edges to help provide a bit of definition to panels & three orange pearls to finish.

Here Comes Santa Claus

I had some more Santas left from my Jingle Belles Card this week, so I decided to create several more by keeping a similar layout and changing up the color combinations ... quick, easy and oh-so-mailable.

I love how the minty green background pulls out that color in all of the Santa image.  I used another SRM Sticker for my sentiment for the Wee Memories Get Sticky! Challenge.

Since there was a moon in each of these photos ... and since Santa was making his way to all of the little kiddos by boat, zepplin or train, I used this rub-on sentiment.  I finished with a wrap of sheer gold ribbon and a bit of sponging around the edges.

Jubilee Birthday

I used K&Company's Jubilee papers again for this Clean & Simple Sketch #140 layout.  I also added an SRM Sticker Sentiment & a Jubilee Butterfly sticker for the Wee Memories Get Sticky! Challenge.

I also added some dry debossing to the main panel, which makes it look almost like textured upholstery fabric (in this photo, it shows-up better at the top of the card) for the Lily Pad Embossing Challenge.  I added some ink sponging to bring out the design a bit more.  I finished with some green gems to pull that color out of the background design.

Jubilee Butterfly Hello

On my trip, I picked-up all sorts of new creative goodies.  Some of my favorites are a Mat Pack and Dimensional Butterfly Stickers from K&Company's Jubilee collection.  When I saw this week's Ribbon Girl Challenge Color Palette, I knew they would be perfect.

Two pieces of designer paper & a bracket border punch to created my background using this week's Sketchbook Saturday Sketch.  I used the taller height of the mat stack papers to make a 7"x4" card.

I added two butterfly stickers, adhesive purple pearls, and a wrap of Martha Stewart Cloud Seam Binding.  The Savvy Sentiment was also picked-up on my travels.

Birthday Kisses

I thought this week's Off The Wall Crafting colors were prefect for a masculine card.

I decided to combine it with this weeks Just Us Girls Challenge to do stamp Kissing with a Twist (tutorial here).  I inked the Hero Arts Basic Grey Life of the Party Dots with Capri Blue ink and then twisted the Hero Arts Magical Background that was inked with Basil ink ... I love how the two colors combined.

I finished with a sentiment from Hero Arts Friends are Treasures, coordinating cardstock, a few wraps of twine, and a little party hat.  Here's a close-up of the kiss-with-a-twist background.

Steampunk Road Trip

Since i had so much fun being inspired by Sarah at the CASE Study last week, I decided to try again this week.  The layout reminded me of this week's Sweet Stop Sketch.  I decided to turn the color combination and elements into a masculine design for Father's Day.

I combined designer papers from Crate Paper Snow Day Collection (Teal) and My Mind's Eye Hattie Stella Rose (Gold).  The train from Artistic Outpost's Steampunk set was stamped in Aqua on an October Afternoon Thrift Shop Wild Card depicting a receipt from an automotive supply store together with the sentiment from AO's Route 66 at the top in Corduroy Distress Ink.

I added a strip of an old National Geographic map wrapped wtih some seam binding that I "grunged-up" a bit by wadding up the ribbon and applying Aqua ink with a sponge.  I also tied a double knot in my bow at the top, which I thought gave it a more masculine feel.  I finished with a Steampunk circle sentiment ... love how this one turned out ... thanks Sarah for the inspiration.