Ingenious Inkling

Inktense Snowflakes

This week at Jingle Belles we're celebrating Ho Ho H20 ... create a card which features icicles, snow, frozen ponds, or any water-related image ... OR use water-based products on your project, such as watercolors, water-based markers or sprays, etc.  I decided to go with both.

I clear embossed Hero Arts Stunning Snowflakes on watercolor paper ... and stamped the Hero Arts Lower Case Peace Greeting in India ink and embossed it too.  Next I scribbled on Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils, sprayed on lots of water, and used my fingers to create my water-washed background.

I punched a snowflake from a scrap of my water-washed paper to embellish my die cut design.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of finds from skipping through blogland:

• These plastic animal (in this case dogs, but I'm thinking dinosaurs might be fun) photo holders would make a great gift (shown).
• Some photo taking tips (love all fo the snow shots)
• I love dimentional, touchable art on my wall ... this post makes me want to go searching for plates and bowls to hang.
• Fabulous basement renovation with awesome bookshelves.
• Great design ideas for Using Your Scraps.
• This Home Office makes me smile ... the dark floor ... lots of white ... with a rainbow of colors (makes me want to go sort the books on my bookshelf by color, but I think I have lots of browns).
• A very cool take on melted crayon art.
• This clever Basket Storage Tree has lots of Studio possibilities (I'm thinking rectangular baskets storing cards, embellishments, etc.)
• Binder Clips + Nail Polish = Classy Office Supplies
• I love Rustic interior design ... bricks, exposed wood, concrete make me swoon.
• Love this fabulous Comic Book Coaster tutorial.
• Tutorial for a cute & functional DIY Soap Pouch (what a great gift filled with your favorite yummy smelling soaps).
• 20 Free Typewriter fonts everyone should have.
• Tricks for matting & framing odd-sized pieces of art.
• Love this fabulous layout ... such an amazing combination of elements, shapes & colors.
• Gorgeous watercolor wonderlust illustrations by Jessica Durrant.

Have a terrific Thursday.

Snow Beautiful Snow

Not much happening here except this ... 

my world is covered in white again.

It's a Small World

The theme at the City Crafter Challenge is It's a Small World - to create a project using a map or map print (do you have that song stuck in your head now ... it was my favorite Disney ride as a kid).

I have a whole drawer full of maps for just such an occasion ... I collect them from thrift stores and discarded books.

For this one I used California together with some Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Black Washi Tape, and a new stamp from Crafter's Compaion's Friendship Sentiments Set.

I'm pulling on my snow boots to head out into several inches of white stuff (with several more to continue to fall today) ... and dreaming of a trip to California :)

Bingo Thank You

The cue card at the CASology Challenge this week is:

I grew-up in a game playing family ... any time we got together, there were usually board games involved.  I love collecting game pieces to use on my cards (you can see more here, here & here), so this challenge is right in my wheel house.

Vintage Bingo Card ... Black Foam Thickers ... and some cardstock scraps ... and you've got a BINGO.

Floral Fancies Thank You

The theme at Sentimental Sundays is Thank You.  I stamped the vase & flowers from the new Floral Fancies set by Crafter's Companion on kraft cardstock.  I used Prismacolor pencils to add color to the design.

The background designer paper was a bit bright for the look I wanted to frame my iamge, so I used a distress ink pad and tapped the edges with a little drag until I got the look I wanted ... I love the final effect.

Paper Smooches Sympathy

Unfortunately, tonight I needed a sympathy card ... so I took my inspiration from the Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect Challenge photo.

I liked the orange with the bluish grey and the gold metal tacks on the headboard, so that is what I incorporated into my design.

I started with some Orange Patterned paper from my Woodbrooke Road Studio Calico Kit.  I randomly stamped the dotted circle from Potpourri down the card front, overlapping the design.  I finished with a Sympathy sentiment from Good Gab and some layered blooms with a gold brad.

I also used the layout from Less is More, but I strayed a bit too far from their desired Clean & Simple design to link-up.

Rainy Days & Birthdays

I wanted to join in at the January AEI♥U Challenge which is to make a card inspired by this picture (they have a freebie stamp to use if you don't own any Avery Elle images).

I only have a couple of Avery Elle stamp sets (for this one I used Framed Fonts) and none have umbrellas, so I had to get creative.  I went with the grey, black and red color combination in the photo, together with a circle element to represent the umbrella.  I used a grey background paper from Prima Nature Garden with a vertical design for the road ... and added stripes along the bottom for the striped boot design.

The layout is from the Inkspirational Challenge.

Winter Love

I joined in the fun Fawning Over You Hop at Paper Issues today ... and decided to make a card to join the fun (and for an extra chance to win some Lawn Fawn stamps).

The current LawnScaping Challenge is Winter Wonderland:

What inspires you about winter? The soft colors? Snow? Winter activities? Don't tell us, show us by creating something for this challenge!!!

One thing I love about winter is snow ... when you live in Iowa, you pretty much have to love snow ... and sending Christmas Cards (well pretty much cards every week) ... and Christmas Carols ... so those are the winter elements I combined in my design using stamps from You've Got Mail & Stay Tuned.

The layout is this week's Retro Sketch (flipped on its side to accomodate the width of my postcard).

Been There Done That

I had a blast with this morning's Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico.  I used scraps of 10 different designer papers for my dotty birthday design.

I added a sticker sentiment and a few tiny stamps to finish the design.

My card is also inspired by this gorgeous dotty dress by Carolina Herrera at the Runway Inspired Challenge.  I added all of the framed layers in my design to evoke the feel of the wall behind her.