Ingenious Inkling

Birthday Bash

Tonight I wanted to make a card for the PaperCrafts Magazine Color Inspiration Challenge.

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having with my EAD Stickerz ... love how they're slightly transleuscent so a bit of the color from the paper shows through (like in the eyeballs of my birthday monstas).  Also, love how clean the vinyl rub-ons are to apply (really almost like a very thin sticker than a rub-on ... no breaking apart of the designs) ...  I'm already making a list for my next order.

I love how the orange & green monsta look like they're shoving each other out of the way to get to the birthday cake (yes ... that's pretty much what I would be doing ... especially if it's yellow cake with chocolate frosting) ... and the blue monsta is oblivious singing happy birthday at the top of his lungs.

The great layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

Don't forget to come celebrate my blog birthday with me.

Life of the Party

I found a new (to me) Challenge Blog this week called Sentimental Sundays... to create cards that must include a sentiment.  Since sentiment stamps are some of my favorites, this is right up my alley.  This week's theme is Masculine Cards, which was perfect since my masculine birthday card stash is currently depleted (oops ... missed the deadline for that one, but this week is Focus on the Sentiment, which works for this card too).

I combined Basic Grey's Life of the Party papers with this week's Pals Paper Arts Sketch ... so quick and easy (and mailable too).

And speaking of celebrate, make sure you celebrate my blog birthday with me.

Fly A Kite Birthday Boy

This morning I stumbled upon a sketch challenge at the My Mind's Eye blog with a Celebration theme and knew it would be perfect for a bithday card I needed to make for my nephew Aaron who turns four next week.

I used Fly a Kite papers from My Mind's Eye together with EAD Designs Robot Stickerz & Birthday Rub-ons.  I added an SRM Birthday Circle Sentiment to complete the design.

And while we're on the theme of Celebrating ... don't forget to celebrate my blog birthday with me.

Sun Kissed Cheeks

When I saw the inspirational photo collage at Jay Gee's Nook, I immediate thought of Webster's Pages Yacht Club papers, so I decided to see what I could create with them using this week's Sweet Stop Sketch.

I cut apart various pieces of paper to create my nautical collage.

It makes me wish my toes were in the sand. 

Don't forget to come celebrate my blog birthday with me.

Happy Sunday.

Four Year Blog Birthday

It's hard to believe it's been four years since I first hit publish and gave birth to Ingenious Inkling.  

I've had an absolute blast ... pushed my creativity to new heights ... and made some awesome friends.  Thanks so much for sharing the ride with me.

To celebrate, I thought I would share some of my favorite things:

• Jenni Bowlin Core Impressions Core'dinations Cardstock
• Chipboard Label Album
• Dimensional Stickers & Bicycle Tags
• Hero Arts Today & Always Cling Stamp
• Hampton Arts Time Flies Cling Stamps
• K&Company Floral Banners Dimensional Stickers
• Zva Creative Pearl Flourishes
• Hero Arts Big Clock Cling Stamp
• Wordsworth I'm So Glad Clear Stamps
• Mint Motif Sweet Hearts
• Schlosser Designs Hexagon-A-Thon Clear Stamps
• Stampington Clearly Impressed Botanical Illustrations
• Katie Pertiet Autumn Leaves Ticketed Clear Stamps

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite summer recipe or food.  Caprese salad tops my list, as does cold watermelon with salt.  I'll randomly select one lucky winner next Saturday morning.

Thanks again for all of the fun.

New York Minute

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the wonderful fused glass and mosaic designs of Linda Billet.  I chose this wonderful piece entitled New York Minute to inspired my design (middle one on the top row).

I'm so excited that I'm going to get to take another trip to New York in the fall, so I wanted to make a card to celebrate the occasion ... so many great memories ... and so many more to make.

I started with a taxi cab yellow background and added stickers, as well as several Artistic Outpost sentiments - Road Trip from Route 66 and Windows To Your Soul from Windows & Doors - to create my homage to New York City.

I hope you find inspiration.

 

Oh HOLE-y Night

This week's Oh HOLE-y Night theme at Jingle Belles (suggested by our oh-so-talented lovely guest star Ros Crawford) is celebrating aperture cards.  I decided to keep my design pretty straight forward, since I need some masculine cards in my stash (and because every time I tried to add ribbon or embellishments, they covered up the sweet little snow people faces from Crate's Snow Day Collection).

My CatsLife Press sentiment was stamped in Chestnut Roan Chalk ink and punched out.  I attached it to the inside of my card with foam tape, so it pops out a bit through the opening.

I layered a thin circle & scalloped frame on the card front to frame the sentiment and added a tiny bit of sponging (which helps cover up the little white bits that can show when you punch designer paper) ... and bit of sponging on the edges & a red gem for my snowflake and it was done.

Baseball Birthday Redux

Tonight I used the rest of my Rusty Pickle Catch It paper to make another masculine birthday card Cute Card Thursday's For His Eyes Only Challenge..  I love the neutral not-quite-brown-not-quite-grey color palette (wish someone made ink that hue ... I inked with Charcoal ... stamped off once ... and then inked with Corduroy Distress Ink to match).

The sketch is this week's Just Add Ink.  

This week's Play Date Cafe Challenge is to add just a splash of a single color to your design, so I added blue seam binding and three coordinating pearls.  I finished with a couple of baseball hats cut from the designer paper ... as well as a favorite birthday sentiment. 

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday ... hopefully there will be a trip to the Farmers' Market in my future for Saturday.

Thursday Link Love

More fun finds from my weekly trip around the Internet:

• A tutorial for making an amazing birdhouse from a book.
• Another tutorial for how to use a border punch to frame a circle.
• Here you can turn your favorite t-shirt into a throw pillow (shown) ... a great way to save memories.
• Last week I made some awesome Ham & Beans ... I'm thinking about cooking a pot of Pinto Beans this week.  Bean & Cheese Tostadas are one of my go-to suppers when I'm pooped & I'm guessing these would be so much better than beans from a can.
• Love these fun retro-looking necklaces (toward the bottom of the post) that look like they are made from plastic canvas.
• A tutorial for making your own buttons from shrink plastic.
• These photos of Vintage Hotel Signs remind me of childhood road trips.
• Fun little Love Note Freebie ... because seriously, who couldn't use more anonymous love.
• This tutorial for making a hanging bird feeder from wire & cheerios would be a great summer project for kiddos.
• Lots of awesome ideas for re-using glass jars ... love the vacation memory jars.
• These Baseball Bookends would be right at home in our house.
• And here's a Sneak Peak of the next Artistic Outpost releases ... the rubber just arrived at my house & I can't wait to create.

Have a Terrific Thursday!

Steampunk Trains & Planes

In keeping with our Steampunk Theme at Gingersnap Creations, the Random Redhead Challenge is Trains & Plains.  I am using some more collage elements from DezinaWorld that were provided to the design team to create with (the numbers, balloon & plane).

My background is a page from The Complete Russian Chronicles Volume 33 that I found in the bargain bin at the used bookstore.  The sentiments from Artistic Outpost's Steampunk set were stamped on the margins from the pages.  I added the AO Steampunk train and several other images from the set to complete my masculine design.