Ingenious Inkling

Stars OR Stripes Forever

This week we're celebrating Independence Day at Jingle Belles. In honor of that holiday--and as you may have already guessed from the title--we're asking you to incorporate either stars OR stripes into your card design. there needn't be any red, white, or blue... just stars or stripes... or both... in any medium you choose!

I decided to go with both Stars & Stripes in my holiday design. I combined the candy cane striped paper from Echo Parks Everybody Loves Christmas with the snowflake paper from the same collection that reminded me of stars. 

I added three glittery stickers for this week's Sketchbook Saturday Sketch. I finished with a CatsLife Press sentiment flag and a stamped border of tiny stars around the striped panel.

We hope you have fun celebrating Stars or Stripes with us

Bless the USA

I wanted to make a few more patriotic cards to celebrate Independence Day, so I cut into more of my We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles Collection.  This first one uses this week's Mojo Monday Sketch & three different star punches.

The second one uses the sketch from the Clean & Simple Sunday Challenge, but I won't be linking-up since my card didn't end up very clean or simple ... and has no stamping (I did add a little ink sponging) ... love the sketch though.

I'm so excited that my 4-day weekend has begun.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog finds:

• It's about time to break out the Ice Cream Maker ... I'm thinking the first attempt may be this yummy looking (and easy) Coconut Ice Cream.
• A clever idea for using paper plates + rubber bands to make portable snack bowls.
• Love this idea for a recycled holder for japanese paper tapes.
• Love DarlingHo's idea for using up all of those bits of extra rubber from your stamp sets ... and she even gets her cute little daughters involved in the creative process.
• A photo tutorial on butcher block maintenance ... I need to use this for our kitchen island ... and another tutorial for removing chrome rust.
• A wonderful tutorial for sun-printing fabric ... what a great project this would be to do with kids.
• A freebie download of 30 digital stamps ... I especially love the robots.
• These Amazing Glaze Pendants (shown) make me want to add a toaster oven to my craft room arsenal.
• A tutorial for making lovely flowers from leftover dryer sheets.
• Love these new folding card die cuts ... so many possibilities.
• Tutorial for cool rope bracelets ... or how about very cool Comic Book Necklaces.
• When you're craving cake (which I admit is pretty much every single day for me) here's a one bowl recipe that makes just two cupcakes.
• Love this beautiful folded ribbon rose (link to video included).
• If you can use tools, this tutorial for storage crates made with rulers is very cool.
• A photo tutorial combining piecing an image with felt & embroidery ... adorable.
• A gorgeous studio to drool over ... I really love the honey-comb shaped vertical wall storage.
• Love these Scratch Paper Memo Boxes ... what a fabulous way to use up scraps ... and what cute little gifts they would be.
• Free Printable Sewing Cards ... something I loved doing during the summers at my Grandma's House.
• A fabulous necklace made from ... metal washers & embroidery thread.
• Clever ideas for using tension rods ... love the under-the-sink-storage.

Have a Terrific Thursday!

Red, White & Blue

2 Cute Rubber Stamps is having a Red, White & Blue Challenge which was perfect for this card I made using images from Artistic Outpost's London Underground set.

I stamped my flag once in Blue & then again in Red and paper pieced the red stripes onto the base image before attaching my sentiment on top.

There's also a Red, White + Blue Challenge going on at Delightful Inspiration.

So very excited that my Dad is coming to visit for the weekend ... we have a long list of things to do.  Can't wait!

Two Hearts ... Summer Kisses

When I saw this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Photo Collage, my eye was drawn to the picture of the bicycle in the top right.  I liked the busy pattern & the color combination with a pop of a little black.

I started by stamping the open polka dot background from Rogue Redhead Design's Snow Hugs in Tomato Red ink on a piece of my Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow Lots of Dots paper.  I matted it on a thin border of black cardstock before attaching it to the red card base for this week's CPS Sketch.

 

Next I stamped the entwined hearts & sentiment from the same set on more of the polka dot paper.  I tried coloring the hearts with pencil, but didn't get the contrast I was hoping for on the designer paper, so I layered on some glossy accents and forced myself to walk away while it dried (the real reason I rarely use it ... I'm not a very patient or multi-step creator ... I like to finish what I start in one quick session).

So Happy For You

This card started in my mind as I thought about different possibilities for the Moxie Fab World Beautiful Borders Challenge.  I knew I needed a Wedding Card and decided to decorate a paper wedding cake using my border punches.

I started with a floral textured designer paper foo my wedding cake base.  I cut my layers and rounded the corners on the top of each.  Next, I used my lacy border punch on the same paper.  The texture of the paper made it a bit tricky to punch, but I was persistent and finally got enough strips to decorate my cake.

I finished with cascading blooms punched from a shimmery ivory designer paper with champagne pearls in the center.  Here's another view that features the texture a bit more.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts All Occasion Messages.  This card is also for this month's Hero Arts dual challenge themes of Congratulations & Weddings.

Land That I Love

Independence Day is usually a holiday that gets skipped right over in my card making studio ... not exactly sure why, but the products and papers are usually not something I'm drawn to, and I don't have any stamps in my stash (but would love to find some good fireworks explosion stamps).   

However, this year there were several collections that caught my eye and were available in 6" papers, so some people will be receiving some 4th of July cards this year.  One of the things I miss most about celebrating the holiday since moving to Iowa is being able to shoot off our own fireworks.  As kids, saving-up our allowance and choosing our fireworks to shoot off that night was always such a big deal.

These cards are all inspired by the patriotic display in this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

All papers are from We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles Collection.  The elements are from the 12" Tag Doodles Sheet.  If possible, I always try to buy a 12" sheet of tags or other designer elements to coordinate with my 6' papers ... it makes putting cards together much easier.

The first card uses this week's Unscripted Sketch.  I added a clear gem flourish that reminded me of the explosion of fireworks.

The next one uses this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  I used my very neglected star embossing folder on the red squares and added some distress ink to cover where the paper split & bring out the texture.  For this one I used a pearl flourish for my firework display.

The final one uses this week's Just Add Ink Sketch.  Since I didn't stamp anything on the card, I used lots of Distress Ink on the edges to help tie it all together.

One of the things I really love about this set are the number of slightly patterned solid papers.  I wish more companies would do that, so we have coordinating borders and pages to stamp on.  This one has two different shades of red & blue as wel as white all with a subtle grid pattern.

Knit Wit

When I saw the inspiration photo at this week's Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, I knew the knitting stickers I had picked up at Memories on Fifth last week would be perfect to build a card around.  I really loved the first design team sample that took a more literal approach and made a card to hold a knitting fit card.

I used this week's Paper Players Sketch for my layout.

I didn't have any yarn that matched, so I dyed my own with a combination of ink sprays and ink pads.  Of course, even though I dried it with my heat gun and rubbed it between an old cloth before adhering, it smeared a bit on the yellow part of my card, so I just added another sticker to cover the boo boo and called it good.  

The green paper is from Crate Paper's Snow Day Collection & sentiment is one of my tiny favorites from CatsLife Press.  The colors also work for th current CR84FN Color Challenge.

Mind the Gap

Here's another collage card I made using 7Gypsies Lille Paper and new stamps from Artistic Outpost's London Underground.

I added a some cardstock borders to help the stamps pop a bit more against the rather busy background ... and a red punched circle to create the Underground symbol.

San Marco Beautiful Garden

My card for this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge was inspired by this San Marco Tunic from Sundance.

I loved the combination of flowers and stripes.  I used my Hero Arts Lauderdale Trees stamp on its side for the stripes.

I added die cut leaves, paper flowers with jeweled brads and a word sticker from Melody Ross' Soulfood Collection.

I hope you find inspiration.