Ingenious Inkling

Tree of Hearts

We're still playing Holiday BINGO at Jingle Belles this week.

And for those of you keeping score ... I used the same BINGO as last week (I had so many ideas for that combination floating around in my head, I decided to try a second one) - vertical down the center for stamping, flowers & tree.

If you look closely, you will see that my tree is decorated with flowers.  I stamped Hero Arts Daisy Reverse Pattern multiple times on a textured light green cardstock.  Next, I punched lots of hearts from the stamped cardstock and arranged them upside down (curling the edges around a paint brush handle & using glue dots to attach at the point of each heart) starting my tree from the bottom and layering upwards.  This design is also an example of the Repetition Challenge at the Moxie Fab World Blog.

I finished with a tree trunk cut from bronze shimmer paper and a white glitter star.  I used adhesive pearls as the *lights* to decorate my holiday tree.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Joy To All (and remaining consistent with last week's card) is stamped on cardstock to cover some crooked stamping underneath ... why do I never seem to see that it's crooked until I view it through my camera lens?

I'm also joining the fun at Christmas in Summer.

We hope you'll stop over & join our Jingle Belles BINGO fun.

Thursday Link Love

More fun finds from my week of skipping through blogland:

• 15 ways to have fun like a child ... don't we all need more of that in our lives?
• Uniko Studio is rolling out Super Free Saturday.
• Cinnamon Peach Banana Bread sounds intriguing ... and it's low-fat too.
• Clip Art Resources ... love that camper.
• Chewy Chocolate Sugar Cookies ... sounds like nirvana to me.
• Tutorial for making your own Car Air Freshener.
• Sweet little free printable Bird Labels.
• Loaded Baked Potato Dip with Homemade Chips ... yum.
• Dying Doilies with Food Coloring ... so many creative possibilities.
• Gorgeous DIY Galaxy Envelopes
• Brown Sugar Peach French Toast Cups ... what a fun make-ahead breakfast treat.
• How to make really cool Pinwheels from Washi Tape (shown).
• Tutorial for making a set of bat wings ... how fun.
• Fun possibilities for turning your Instagram Photos into Art ... it would be fun to make t-shirts for Christmas gifts.
• I also love this idea for turning CD booklets into Art.

Have a terrific Thursday ... there's more travel in my future ... woo hoo.

Flying By

The Weekly Challenge at the Studio Calico Blog is to create something inspired by an image on their Pinterest Boards.  This is the design I chose to inspire me:

At the PageMaps Blog they're also celebrating Studio Calico's new Card Kit Club which will include sketches from PageMaps like this one.

I added images from two sets of Lawn Fawn stamps (the new Card Kit includes some exclusive Lawn Fawn images) and some wooden Studio Calico Wood Veneer birds (dyed with chalk ink) for my design.

The airplanes, rectangular panels & birds also are perfect for the Repetition Challenge at the Moxie Fab World blog.

Sending Smiles Across the Miles

By shifting the design for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch slightly to the left, it is perfect for the Asymmetry Challenge at the Moxie Fab World blog.

I combined Kraft Funday Happy Days papers from My Mind's Eye with transparencies & a flair button from Basic Grey's What's Up? Collection.

May the Force Be with You

A fun card for my great-nephew using Galaxy Warriors stickerz from EAD Designs.

The sketch is from CPS and the sentiment is from the Birthday Sentiments Rub-ons.  I added some Core'dinations embossed & sanded stars for my Star Wars theme.

Saturday PhotoHunt ... Chocolate

This week's Saturday PhotoHunt is ... Chocolate.  It was hard to narrow down all of my chocolate photos ... but I finally settled on this one.

Warm Chocolate Souffle in the foreground ... Dulce Leche Pudding in the background topped with Chocolate Cavier ... both from Zengo on my trip to NYC in 2011 ... oh the gastronomic memories.

Chicago Adventure

I was lucky to spend my weekend exploring Chicago with a friend.  We packed in lots of fun into a few beautiful days.

We began our adventures at the top of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower.  We had a clear morning with a fantastic view of the City.  When you walk the streets, you sort of feel engulfed by all of the tall buildings, but from this perspective, the landscape is so different ... love all of the sizes and shapes.

And I even got brave enough to walk out onto the clear ledge and look down (just long enough to snap a photo).

We ventured to the Old Town area of Chicago to explore a few stores (for this early riser, it's always odd to me that nothing opens until 11am).  We got some fabulous smelling spice mixes at The Spice House and some fun Washi Tape and lots of card making inspiration at Greer Chicago.

Then, in an awesome kismet event, my brother Rick from San Jose also ended-up in Chicago with his wife for the weekend, so we met them at XOCO for lunch.  I had the Pork Belly Fideo, which was delicious.

We also managed to snap a few pictures together.

Next we enjoyed an Architectural Boat Tour along the river ... what a fantastic way to spend an hour learning about the City ... and a completely different perspective on those tall buildings.

We ended our day with supper at Sushi Naniwa (yes, it was so good I forgot to take a picture until it was almost consumed).

The final stop was After-Words Bookstore where we picked-up lots of great new reads ... used bookstores are one of my favorite adventures ... such helpful and knowledgeable staff.

Saturday morning we hopped in the car & headed to Lockport, Illinois for shopping at Stamp Thyme.  They are going to be holding an upcoming class on these wonderful little houses, although unfortunately the person working at the store knew nothing about the products used to make them.  I believe it's embossed aluminum with some kind of patina.

We also stopped at Archiver's in Orland Park, Illinois on our way home (another very nice store with helpful staff).  There was also a JoAnn's in the same shopping center, but we decided our shopping bags were pretty full at that point, so we headed back into the City.

Our evening was spent watching the White Sox play a fantastic baseball game.  Loved this statue outside of Gate 4.

We had near perfect weather and a fantastic view of the game from our box (I will say again how much I love having Instagram on my phone).

And after the victory ... there were fireworks set to music.  The absoliute perfect way to end the day.

G33K Gamer

My card for this week's Unscripted Sketch is dedicated to my brother Rick.  We loved playing with our Atari gaming systems when we were young ... such great memories.  

I used Arcade stickerz from EAD Designs together with this month's EAD Designs Color Challenge (which unfortunately ended a few days ago).

I love how the little video game characters fit into the squares of the sketch.

I am in Chicago this weekend and was surprised when I found out my brother Rick (who lives in California) was also in Chicago ... we managed to connect and have lunch together ... what an awesome treat.

Jingle Belles BINGO

We're playing games at Jingle Belles this week ... specifically, our own version of Jingle Belles B-I-N-G-O.

I went for a vertical BINGO right down the center ... stamping, flowers & tree.

The beautiful Flowering Christmas Tree Die from Memory Box took care of two of my elements in one design.  I decorated my tree with two sizes of tiny adhesive pearls. Next, I added stamping with Hero Arts Grid Pattern stamped in Creamy Brown Chalk ink on Kraft cardstock for a tone-on-tone look.  

I added one of my favorite holiday sentiments from CatsLife Press (stamped in a darker brown for a bit more contrast) to finish the design ... and yes, the reason the sentiment is on a flag is because there's a sentiment boo-boo underneath ... or as I like to call it, an embellishment opportunity.

I'm also joining the Krafty Crafter Challenge at A Blog Named Hero ... and also the Asymmetry Challenge at the Moxie Fab World Blog (the sentiment & flourishes help add balance).

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of blog finds:

• Love the idea of a Donut Muffin ... what a fun combo & so cute in a little paper cup.
• A fabulous jewelry project for autumn made from acorns & nail polish (shown).
• Free Project Life Journaling Cards ... that would also be fun for Greeting Cards ... some more free Retro Designs too.
• This recipe for Three Cups Chicken looks easy & delicious.
• Love this elegant Wedding Dress Card made from a doily.
• Tutorial for making your own custom envelopes from magazine pages.
• A wonderful round-up of embroidery patterns ... so inspiring.
• Fun Earrings made from Fabric Covered Buttons.
• Pumpkin Crunch Dump Cake reminds me of autumn.
• I have always loved hammocks since I got to play on the one hanging in my friend Vicki's back yard when we were in elementary school ... this one looks amazing.
• Cool Tutorial for making your own watercolor tape with alcohol ink.
• National Geographic's 2012 Travel Photo Winners.
• These Orange Cream Bars look yummy.

Happy Thursday ... I'm heading out on a road trip adventure ... photos to follow.