Ingenious Inkling

Artistic Outpost - Three New Stamp Sets

Artistic Outpost is releasing three new stamp sets today.  

First up is Typography ... words & quotes are my favorite ... this set has so many great ones with a great mix of fonts ... and so fun to combine with the many wonderful Artistic Outpost images.  From Mark Twain to Winnie the Pooh to Bob Marley, this collection of unique sayings and sentiments includes our favorite quotes from some of our favorite artists and characters. Stamp sheet measures 8.5" x 5.5". Stamps are available as an unmounted sheet of red rubber or pre-trimmed and mounted on EZMount cling foam (my favorite way to get them).

I combined this quote with the phone book image from Artistic Outpost's Adventure with the Neutrals with a Pop color palette from this week's Our Creative Corner challenge.

The second set is called Whimsical Melange ... Designed as background and embellishment images, this collection features whimsical frames sized perfectly for cards and ATCs as well as unique scrollwork, pennants in two sizes, and other whimsical bits. Mix and match these stamps with our other collections to add a touch of something special and unique to all your projects.

My first card uses images from this set together with a quote from Typography, Authentique Designer papers, and this week's CardPatterns Sketch.

Here is one more masculine card I made combining both sets together with more Authentique papers.  This one is for the Back to School challenge at Sentimental Sundays ... good advice for any student (or any one) starting off on a new adventure.

I only designed with two sets for this release, but there is also a third set called A Favorite Book with lots of reading-themed images and quotes.  Featuring vintage images of children reading, this collection provides focal images of something we wish children would do more of....slowing down, being quiet, and enjoying a good book. Images are designed with our other Artistic Outpost background collections in mind, such as Ephemeral Backgrounds and Whimsical Melange.

You can see galleries filled with cards for each set on the Artistic Outpost website.

Make sure you stop by the blogs of the other Artistic Outpost Design Team Members to see more great samples using these new stamps.

• Louise Granlund
• Suzanne Czosek
• Barbara Washington
• Lynn Stevens
• Judy Hayes
• Lisa Somerville
• Gerrie Johnnic

Nice, Neutral ... and Silly

My card for this week's Moxie Fab World Nice and Neutral Challenge started out serious ... and then somewhere along the way took a turn at silly ... I'm blaming it on the lack of sleep and cold medication due to a summer cold that has invaded my head.

This lovely bed photo was our inspiration.  The woodgrain and pennants reminded me of the Country Life stamps from Artistic Outpost.

I started with a woodgrain embossed background to replicate the feeling of the headboard.  Next I stamped my pennant twice so it would drape across the card & added a rub-on sentiment.

I stamped my farm boy on a piece of vintage book page and then used colored pencil to bring in the subtle shades of blue from the photos.  I added a sentiment from AO's Think & Wonder to the bottom.

Then I saw my EAD Mustache rub-ons ... and just couldn't resist.  My husband's response when I showed him the card was "did you mean to do that?" ... regardless of my intentions, it did make us laugh outloud for over a minute, so it was worth it.

Hope you find some unexpected laughter in your life too.

Truer than True

This is my final week guest designing for Inspirational Card Sketches ... it has been a blast ... I do love a great sketch.

I also love the paper lines from Authentique ... this card uses their Uncommon Collection.

I just layered the papers with black cardstock and a bit of pink sponging and finished with a punched butterfly embellishment and some light yellow Memory Box pearls ... love the Dr. Suess quote ... truer than true.

Celebrate

The talented Lydia (understandblue) is the Featured Stamper at SplitCoast Stampers this week.  I chose her Birds of a Feather card from November 2007 to inspire my design.  It reminded me of my gorgeous hand-carved feather stamp made for me by Gina (tyggereye).

I added India Ink and stamped it repeatedly on 7Gypsies Venice paper (in blue of course) and then sponged on a little Milled Lavender Distress Ink.  I finished with an EAD Sentiment rub-on and a few blue pearls for this masculine birthday card design (remember to link-up to EAD's Customer Showcase if you use their products for a chance to win some goodies).

Creepy Collage

A late summer cold is zapping my energy, but I had to take a little time tonight to play with Pink Paislee's Hocus Pocus collection that arrived in my mailbox today (from Peachy Cheap).

I combined the papers with a skeletton clear card.  I added some EAD Designs Stickerz (Wicked Spirits, fly & crow), Pink Paislee rub-ons (creepy sentiment & orange spider) and stamps from Artistic Outpost's Haunted Halloween (dapper Skeleton & colony of bats).

This card is for the Masculine Card Challenge at Crazy for Challenges... creepy cool.

Chillaxin'

I wanted to join in the Market Street Block Party, so I broke out my Chillaxin' & Hippie Chic sets to create this cute little tropical card.

I paper pieced the leaves & coconuts using the same Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter paper that I used as my frame.  I added brown & purple colored pencils to the cocnuts and tree trunk to finish the design.

Life is a journey ... ENJOY!

This week's Unscripted Sketch is a fun blocked design.  I decided to use a scrap of Authentique Journey paper on my work table to begin my design.

My paper was a bit smaller than my base, so I just adjusted the spaces larger on the left side to help it balance.  I added chipboard pieces they call Noteables from the same collection & a tiny bit of bling to finish the design.

Blue Paris

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge comes from the fabulous stylings of Urbanrose (Etsy Site) where they take lockets to a whole new level.

I chose this beautiful 1930s Eiffel Tower locket to inspire my design.

I love the contrast of the black images with the blue background.  I started with a silvery-blue piece of Basic Grey Urban Couture Lustra paper and sponged with with a variety of blue inks.

Next I stamped the Eiffel Tower & Balloon from Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition.  Next along the bottom I stamped the flowers from AO's Birds of a Feather repeatedly.  I finished with the flourish from this set stamped repeatedly in silver pigment ink, which sort of created a silvery shadow over the entire piece.

I finished with silver & black mats to frame the design.  I hope you find inspiration.

Midas Touch

The lovely Lesley aka The Crooked Stamper is our lovely guest star at Jingle Belles this week.  She thought it would be fun to celebrate the Midas Touch by making a card featuring only Silver and/or Gold with white or cream.

I decided to go all-out silver for my card ... I grabbed my folder of metallic paper scraps and went to town.

I started with a metallic silver base & then added a layer of silver holographic star paper.  I found a silver glittery chipboard border sticker that I had picked-up on sale at some point, so I cut it apart and moved it around to fill my card ... back-to-back layers in the middle with the end pieces on top.  I finished with a white EAD Rub-on sentiment.

Love how this baby sparkles ... can't wait to see what you create ... oh yeah ... and only 17 weeks until Christmas, so come join us.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of my favorite fun finds:

• An adorable idea for a sushi-themed baby gift
• Free printable Halloween Party Kit
• Amazing Wallpaper designs made of tiny little stickers ... would be so fun for a kids room.
• I seriously need new potholders for my kitchen ... may have to see if my mother-in-law could help me make these fun circle potholders (shown).
• Love these sweet little instagram photo magnets
• These tiny little ribbon flowers would be pretty on cards too
• A tutorial for a tiny clay wedding cake to add to a card ... I would if you could produce a similar effect with paper.
• A free downloadable Ghandi quote ... perfect for cards or scrapbooking.
• Button Cluster Broach ... makes me want to play with my button collection.
• I want to try these No-Bake Energy Bites
• Tutorial for Newspaper Gift Bags
• Lovin' these gorgeous LaBlanche Stamps ... and a butterfly tutorial using one of them.

Have a tremendous Thursday!