Ingenious Inkling

Scatter Sunshine

I had a blast getting inky today ... when I saw this awesome Inspiration from the Inspired By Challenge, I knew immediately how I wanted to create my background (which I should have photographed before I covered most of it up).  The technique is also perfect for the My Time to Craft Challenge to use an old book or newspaper.

I loved all of the little boxes of text, so I broke out my Vintage (circa 1943) Audel's Handy Book of Practical Electricity (all of the graphical drawings are great for guy cards) and started cutting pages into squares and rectangles & creating my collaged background.  

Next I stamped the Hero Arts/Studio Calico Plano twice to pull some teal into the background like the inspiration image.  After attaching to my card base, I added lots of distress ink around the edges.  I also loved the little postage stamp image at the bottom left of the Inspiration Photo, so I rescued a Forever Stamp from a package I received in the mail (my sister-in-law always uses the funnest stamps).

Next I went searching for an umbrella image and found it in a discarded vintage children's book ... Big Max.  I used my oval cutters and then added lots more distress ink.  The sketch is from Hand Stamped Sentiments ... although my sentiments are actually a collection of Heidi Swapp Sentiment stickers, which had the perfect vintage feel for my design.

Here's a close-up of my collaged background ... in this case, I love how the text shows through from the other side of the thin vintage paper.

You Go Girl

I love sending Mother's Day cards to all of the mothers in my life .... all of the amazing women who have raised amazing children and make this world a better place.  This morning I used a recipe from the Paper Players (straight down the middle) ...

And this week's Studio Calico Sunday Sketch ...

to create this fun Mother's Day card.

I'm also joining Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp.

Most Wonderful Birthday

I love a stamp line where all of the images work together ... this card features four different stamps from Crafter's Companion's Stamp-It Australia line ... one of my favorites.

I used this week's Unscripted Sketch together with images from Journey (at the top), Time in Paris (middle) and French Travels (bottom).  The scripty sentiment is from Sentiment Swirls.

I finished with some inky sponging and a wrap of thin seam binding.  I'm also joining 52 Card Pick-up.

Can't wait to see what you create with this week's Unscripted Sketch.

Let It Glitter

This week the Jingle Belles are BLING-ing ... we want you to create a holiday card which incorporates bling, glitter, glitz, gems, shimmer, or anything sparkly! AND ... we've got lovely guest star Lisa of Recklinghausen Musings joining our glittery fun.

One might say my card is a case of *glitter-overload* since every single element has a glittery sparkle ... but we all know there is no such thing as *glitter-overload* in the land of Jingle Belles.  

I combined four different glitter papers, glitter stickers, and metallic sparkly snowflakes & sentiment using a sketch from The Paper Players ... sparkle-on my friends, sparkle on.

I'm also joining the Sparkle & Bling Challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Long.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog discoveries:

• 22 Things Happy People Do Differently
• Love these Coasters inspired by Vintage Cross Stitch Designs (shown)
• Tutorial for growing your own sprouts including lots of photos
• This little Washcloth Bunny would make a fun addition to an Easter Basket
• I made these Chewy Date Nut Bars this week swapping the yellow cake mix for a spice cake mix (because that is what i had) ... they turned out delicious.
• Tutorial for creating clip art paintings
• Free Project Life Journaling Cards
• Tutorial for a gorgeous *Tattooed* Denim Jacket
• And some gorgeous Paint Chip Doodles
• S'More Cobbler sounds delicious

Have a tremendous Thursday.

Sympathy Bouquet

This card is for the No Stamp Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. My focal image is a Penny Black Romance of Flowers sticker with an SRM Sticker Sentiment.  Sketch is this week's Sweet Stop Sketch.

Since it came together so quickly, I made a second one using a Mother's Day sentiment & Penny Black Pen & Ink Sticker ... love how easy pretty stickers and papers make a card come together.

Life is Good

A quick card featuring glitter paper from DCWV's The Colorful Life Stack together wtih  a glitter paper banner ... using the March DCWV Sketch.

I finished with a sticker sentiment & 3-D flower sticker.

I was excited that my Moxie Fab World prize from my Camera Craz win arrived in the mail today (and included the two stickers I used on my card) ... a box full of awesome goodies.

Banner Mom

I wanted to give the March color challenge at Hero Arts a try.

I started with a soft sky background & stamped the Leaf & Flower Background in Charcoal ink.

I also wanted to try the Letter Tile Techniqe Challenge, so I die cut this Savvy Stamps Frame Die from the coordinating charcoal designer paper, trimming off the sides and top to create the banner (I cut the dies from the center of the paper that is on my card base since the holes are all covered by the blue layer).  

Next I layered on light blue paper and then finished with Die Cut Letters for a mother's day card.  I attached charcoal cord to the center of my card with tape (that is covered by the *O* Banner) and then wrapped it around each side of the blue paper before taping on the back.  I attached the entire panel to my card front with foam tape so the twine bumps don't show.

I attached the banner letters using foam tape and finished with twine bows at each end and coordinating flowers to frame the letters.

Everything Will Be O.K.

Tonight I had fun making a card for this week's Muse Challenge.  We've been catching-up on the HBO Series Enlightened ... so I will blame my rather quirky card design on Mike White's character Tyler in the episode we were watching tonight while I was creating.

And here's the Muse Inspiration from Ardyth Percy-Robb.

The circle design reminded me of the stencil included with this month's Neverland Studio Calico Card kit, so I sponged on some red, orange & yellow inks (in keeping with her vibrant hues) onto a piece of Snippets Howdy designer paper.  The design reminded me of someone being lost in the maze we call life ... so that's why I went with my speech bubble sentiment for the current Moxie Fab World Challenge.

Stamps are from Frame & Feathers, Hey Y'All & a small set from the Studio Calico Murray Hill add-on kit.

Chevron Banner Mom

This morning I had a chance to read through this week's You've Got Mail Class materials, and I decided to make a card inspired by one created by the talented Shari Carroll.  

I used my paper left over from last week's play session with the Studio Calico Chevron mask and sprays as my card base & scraps from the edges of the sprayed paper as my banner base.

I thought the Hero Arts Typewriter Alphabet Letters worked well with the somewhat inky/messy look of my stenciled paper for the Letter Tile Technique Challenge at the Hero Arts Blog.  I folded my banner flags over the top of a piece of scrap paper on my work table ... added another scrap of paper and a wrap of yellow twine.

I finished with an SRM Sticker sentiment & some golden bling.