Ingenious Inkling

Eat Your Greens

Since the ability to be *punny* was pretty much a requirement in our home growing-up if you wanted to be included in family banter ... particularly during Sunday lunches at my Grandma's where the entire extended family was competiting for the stage ... I thought I would create another card for the Jest for the Pun of It Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

The sketch is this week's Cards for Men ... and the fun little stickerz are Irish Sweets from EAD Designs, and background Dandelion Paper from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite Collection.

 

Unconditional Love

I love the sweet little kitty cat in the Rogue Redhead Designs' Just Sayin' stamp set.  I stamped him in charcoal on a scrap of gridded DP, cut him out, colored him with a sketch pencil & attached him with tiny bits of foam tape for dimension.

The layout is from a new sketch blog called iSpy Sketches ... all papers are Authentique's Journey Collection.

Remember, you have until March 4th to join the Rebel Challenge to stamp your own background paper.  I used the three block grid from Just Sayin' in grey ink on gridded designer paper to create my fun modern background.

i finished with some charcoal ink sponging around the edges, a grey scalloped border, a wrap of grey ribbon, and two word tiles.

You Deserve The Best

When i saw this amazing card by Karola Witczak at the CASE Study Challenge, my jaw dropped.  I am forever amazed at people who can incorporate so many elements and so much detail into their design.

I decided to give this design a try incorporating my own style using the colors from this week's CR84FN Challenge (Grey, Yellow & Kraft), since it was perfect for some of my favorite papers ... Authentique's Blissful Collection.

I added flowers, butterflies, yellow pearls, chipboard and an EAD Designs Sticker sentiment from Random Sayings.  The floral image in the oval is Climbing Blooms from Impress, highlighted with colored pencil.

 

You Are a Blessing

For February, the Lily Pad is celebrating Kissing ... one of my favorite stamping technique.  I decided to try two background stamps ... Hero Arts Flourentine Pattern inked with Yellow Ochre kissed with Woodgrain Design inked with Chestnut Roan.

I then incorporated the colors and design elements from the Shopping Our Stash inspiration photo with a Fanciful Flourish from Cheery Lynn Designs, a K&Company 3-D Jubilee Butterfly sticker and some pink pearls. I love a reminder to use neglected die cuts and stamps from my own stash.

The sentiment is an EAD Designs rub-on.

Dreams That No One Dared to Dream

Sometimes making a card in my studio feels like a big creative adventure ... I'm looking for one thing ... find something else ... and head off in a completely different direction.  

I needed to make a masculine birthday card & was searching for some stamps when I stumbled upon some remaining guitar rub-ons.  I used this black guitar as the starting point for my design with this week's CPS Sketch.

I pulled out a bin of my Basic Grey papers and pulled out several vintage patterns from the Obscure Collection.  I wanted to add some music to the background, but my paper was taller than my Stampi' Up background stamp, so I inked it once and stamped over multiple times to get a grungy music feel.

I added an EAD Designs rub-on & sticker, together with a stamped & embossed sentiment from Stampers Anonymous by Wendy Vecchi.  I added some adhesive black pearls to finish the design.

Knit Happens

This week's CAS-ual Friday Challenge is Jest for the Pun of it ... to create a card using a pun or silly sentiment.  I used this week's Unscripted Sketch together with stamps from Kaspereks.

I used the argyle embossing folder & Core'dinations cardstock to try to look like knitted fabric.

Loud

Today's Photo Hunt Theme is Loud.  Since we don't have children or pets, there's not a lot of *loud* in our world, unless we're hanging out with family.

This is a picture of my sister and me riding the Patriot Roller Coaster at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City.  We were screaming, and laughing, and having an absolutely fabulous sister-day ... and yeah, it got more than a little loud.

Outpost Anniversary

This week's SplitCoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge comes from the Galleria Arts & Crafts, the largest independently owned retail arts and crafts store in Canada.  Their 9000 plus square feet of space is teeming with handmade Canadian crafts.  I chose this photo of a Summer Storm from Brian R. Ewing to inspire my design.

It reminded me of this image from The Outpost set from Artistic Outpost.  I inked the top of the image in blue and the ground with green ink.

Next, I painted on Frost (blue) and Forest Green Glimmer mist with a paintbrush, keeping my brush strokes horizontal to give the effect of a cloudy sky.

I finished with a wrap of blue seam binding and a vintage Hero Arts sentiment for my rustic anniversary card.

Christmas Is What's In Your Heart

This week's Jingle Belles prompt is to use Stickers or Rub-ons for a holiday card design.  

We're thrilled to have EAD Designs sponsoring us again this year ... seriously, their products have spoiled me on any other stickerz or rub-ons.

I used their Christmas Block Design Stickerz for this week CardPatterns Sketch ... and was so grateful for the fact that their Stickerz are repositionable, because I was able to move them several times to get them lined-up exactly for the grid design.

I also used a coordinating Christmas Sentiment rub-on (which come in lots of fabulous colors).  A big scalloped border & wrap of red ribbon complete the design.

So dig out those neglected stickers (or stickerz) and rub-ons and show us what you can create.

Oh ... and did I mention there is a $25 Gift Certificate to EAD Designs for one lucky participant ... that will buy a lot of Stickerz & Rub-ons.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog finds:

• A tutorial for making your own doily-printed bowl (shown).
• Ideas for using that Washi tape I know you're hoarding (okay, maybe it's only me that's hoarding it).
• Tutorail for turning a leather belt into some rockin' jewelry ... or a bracelet.
• Love this idea for recycled book shelves made from old tables.
• A tutorial for turning Oreos into elegant little dipped treats.
• These Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Pancakes look delicious (I always eat Peanut Butter on my pancakes ... so having it inside would be perfect).
• A tutorial for fun Mousetrap Magnets.
• Love this Polar Bear Bath Mit ... what a fun gift.
• I want this map chair ... or to find a chair to make into my own map chair.
• I admit it ... Hostess Snowballs are a once-a-year-weakness ... love these tiny little snowball pops.
• This Gremlin Family makes me smile.
• Who knew you could use Shower Caps in the kitchen ... I won't be leaving those behind at the hotels any more.
• Salted Caramel Butter Bars ... need I say more.

Have a terrific Thursday.