Ingenious Inkling

Leafy Sympathy

I realized last week that all of the sympathy cards in my stash were a bit *feminine*, so I decided I needed to add a few that would work for male recipients.  I started with this week's Unscripted Sketch.

Next I cut apart two pieces of paper from DCWV's Autumn Melody Mat Stack for my strips and attached them to a kraft card base.

I stamped Hero Arts Three Ferns several times in Warm Green Chalk Ink and then added a sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy.  I thought the brushed gold metal studs added a more masculine embellishment than pearls or gems.

Alcazar Flutter Inspired

This week's Splitcoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge comes from the online store of Thomas Paul.  I chose this Alcazar Flutter Pillow to inspire my design.

I loved the resist image of the butterflies with the vibrant orange hue.  I stamped three different butterflies from the Crafter's Companion Flying Colors Stamp Set by Sheena Douglass in Versamark ink on watercolor paper and clear embossed. 

Next I saturated the paper with Heidi Swapp's Georgia Peach Color Shine Spray.  Once it had soaked into the paper for about 15 minutes, I wiped off the excess color with a baby wipe.  I wanted a bit more red tone to my design, so I added a few sprays of Strawberry Daiquiri Memories Mist and wiped again.  

I finished by stamping Thinking of You from Sentiment Swirls in India ink on a scrap of the sprayed paper and clear embossed to add more contrast.

I'm also joining the Sprays, Paints & Mists Challenge at Sentimental Sunday.

I hope you find inspiration.

Merriest Wishes

This week at Jingle Belles we're going Digital ... asking you to create a holiday card with at least one digital element (there are links in the challenge post for some freebies).  

I actually have quite a stash of digital elements that I've collected over the years ... but as with my non-digital crafting supplies, sometimes I'm better at collecting than actually using.  As I wandered through my digitalgalleries, I found some fun holiday papers and elements from Echo Park, so that's what I used for my design.

I started by creating a blank document in Photoshop Elements the size of my card front.  Next I sized the Echo Park Everybody Loves Christmas designer paper to fit (shrinking the 12" paper pattern makes it look better for the card composition).  Next I added the snowglobe as my focal element.  I decided the design needed a little more, so I layered on an Anna Aspnes Distressed Frame before saving my design.

I printed my card front & then added a rub-on sentiment (which I managed to place just enough off-center to bother me ... so I corrected the balance with some pearls).  I finished with a wrap of red ribbon tied in a holiday bow.

We hope you'll break out some of your digital stash ... or maybe even try something new.

You Rock

With all of the music lovers in my family, this Rockin' Stamp Set from My Favorite Things was a must-have for my collection.  Tonight I used it with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch for a rockin' birthday card.

Rockin' Red and Black seemed like the perfect color palette for a Masculine CAS design for CCEE Stampers. Since I included a sentiment in my focal element, I replaced the sentiment in the sketch with some gems and a few *rock stars*.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blog finds: 

• 10 ideas for using all of that washi tape you're hoarding (okay, so maybe I'm the one hoarding)
• Picture tutorial for a pretty Origami Heart
• I love Pico de Gallo ... and I love cream cheese ... so this Creamy Pico de Gallo Dip (shown) seems like a match made in food heaven
• This Floor Mat knitted from clothes-line rope looks so practical, yet pretty
• Tutorial for fun Washi Tape Monograms (lots of possibilities)
• Chopped Greek Salad looks like a refreshing dish to add into the summer farmer's market rotatation
• Great tutorial for creating a sunburst with patterned paper
• Copycat Wendy's Frosty Recipe to make at home
• Some of the fantastic storage ideas in this Groovy Garage would translate well to a studio (would love to see if my scissors would store on a magnet strip like those tools)

Have a terrific Thursday!

Cosy Christmas

Crafter's Companion is releasing some great new Christmas/Winter stamp sets in her Little Bit Festive line today designed by the talented Sheena Douglass.  Here are some cards I made using these lovely new images & sentiments.

I started by repeating the cross-stitched heart border from Ivy Borders on lightly patterned kraft cardstock from DCWV's Crafty Christmas Mat Stack.  Next I randomly colored some of the hearts with my DR6 Spectrum Noir Marker.  I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch layout by adding a strip of washi tape, a negative heart punch, and the sentiment from Farmhouse Christmas.

For my next card I combined the new sentiment from Snowy Wellies with snowflakes from Sheena's previously released stamp set called Ornate Snowflakes.  The snowflakes were stamped on designer paper using Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  The sentiment was stamped in India Ink on the same designer paper and colored using my Spectrum Noir BT6 marker.

I die cut the sentiment and sponged the edges with Distress Ink before attaching to the frame.  I finished with a few Tonic punched snowflakes and blue adhesive gems.

Explore

The Mapquest Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays was the perfect opportunity to break out my Old Globe die cut from Die-Versions.   

I started with a page from one of the many vintage atlases in my book collection and this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch.

I started with a dark green card base & cut my globe from the same paper.  I backed it with light blue cardstock for contrast against the map background.  I finished with an *explore* sentiment ... it will be a birthday card for a guy who loves to travel.

Be Well

This week's Freshly Made Sketch was perfect to feature a vintage children's book illustration from my collection of discarded library books.  This one came from a book called Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel.  

Many of the pages had been scribbled on with an ink pen, but this one had been spared ... I thought it was perfect for a Get Well card design.  It coordinated perfectly with papers from DCWV's Natural Cardstock MatStack.  All I had to add was a sentiment from Catslife Press.

I love being able to give discarded books a second life.

You Can't Turn Back the Clock

I used a banner die cut and coordinating stamp to create a Birthday Card for this week's Unscripted Sketch.

I combined some wood grain paper with designer papers and added a party hat & sentiment sticker that says "You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again!" to finish the design.

Baby Baby

One of the things I love about hosting the Inspiration Challenge at SCS is that it keeps me constanly on the look-out for things to inspire design ... today at the office, I actually told a co-worker the combination of patterns in her shirt would translate to a great card design.  

Tonight my inspiration comes from an unexpected source ... a bottle of Sun Bum Sunscreen from Uncle Dan's ... seriously, how cute is that yellow monkey face on the wood grain background.

I started with parquet wood grain paper from Studio Calico and added my own bit of yellow fun.

I die cut the elephant silhouette from yellow adhesive felt & then stamped my cute little Hero Arts ellie in brown.  I used one of my brown Spectrum Noir markers to color the heart.  The banner was die cut from coordinating cardstock and then stamped with a sentiment from Catslife Press ... love the combination of upper & lower case letters.

I hope you find some unexpected inspiration this week.