Ingenious Inkling

Shell Shadowboxes

I was excited when Audrie invited me to join her for this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge which comes from Horchow.  I chose these beautiful Faux Coral Shadowboxes to inspire my design.

I stamped two Sea Shells from Crafter's Companion Sea Shell set on Ultra Smooth White Cardstock using India ink and then started cutting.

I embossed Black Magic Core'dinations Cardstock (with a brown core) using the Embossalicious Gun Metal Embossing folder and then sanded with a nail file to bring out the texture.

I attached the shells using dimensional tape and then attached sentiments from Divine Inspiration to finish the design.

We hope you find inspiration.

Glittery Winter Night Thanks

We're still making Thank You Cards at Jingle Belles this week ... when I saw this glittery Winter Night card at Impress, I knew it would be a perfect design for a Thank You.

I stamped my image in Gina K Designs Navy Dye Ink and embossed the stamped area using Stampin' Up Iridescent Ice.  I used the same navy ink to stamp my Hero Arts thank you sentiment.  

I'm also linking-up with the CAS on Sunday Winter Theme Challenge ... and at Sentiment Sundays where the theme is Winter Wonderland.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun finds from blogland:

• Love the use of masking to create this awesome Rustic Washi Tape Tree Tag
• Fun little holiday wall hanging featuring jewelry
• These Lacy Pumpkins could stay on display long past the holiday
• Love this card design ... if only it was as easy as taking what we need
• The art of Jerry Meyer makes me smile (shown)
• How to make a pretty little Ceramic Chip Necklace
• Chocolate Cobbler ... my-oh-my
• Free quote downloads for scrapbooking or cards

Have a terrific Thanksgiving Thursday.

Dear Santa Gift Tags

I'm guest designing again for the final week of the Dear Santa Event at A Blog Named Hero.  This week's theme is Christmas Quickies ... projects that take 5 minues or less to make.

One of the quickest ways to make a project is to mass produce.  The hardest part is coming-up with the design template ... from there it's just quick assembly.

I started by stamping Hero Arts Stunning Snowflakes four times on a piece of Grey Cardstock using Versamark ink ... to cover the entire page with snowflakes.  Next I cut the cardstock in fourths and die cut four labels for the tag bases. I rotated each die slightly, so they weren't perfectly identical.  

Next I punched four Icelandic Snowflakes from slight silver glitter paper and four more from darker grey glitter paper ... both from DCWV Twinkle Glitz Stack.

Next I cut four 1/2" pieces of the silver glitter paper and attached them at an angle on the tag.  I layered and attached the 2 snowflakes to each tag using a pop-up glue dot and topped it with a Hero Arts Clear Gemstone.

The final step was cutting four pieces of silver glitter ribbon and feeding them through a punched slot in the top of the tag.  Finally I cut four pieces of Lawn Fawn Silver Sparkle Cord and used it to tie the ribbon together.

And lickity-split I had four gift tags finished.

Since my tags are decked out with Hero Arts bling, I'm also joining the Deck the Cards Challenge, as well as the Happy Holidays Challenge at The Corrosive Challenge Blog.

And there's a fun Christmas Link Party going on at Paper Issues

Chase Your Dreams

I love quotes ... and I love the new Crafter's Companion Sentimentals stamps filled with lots of great words ... like these from Memories are Made.

To me those words are perfect for an adventure themed card using papers from Teresa Collins World Traveler  I added a few cork sticker embellishments from Freckled Fawn.

The sketch is from Super Sketchy Sunday.

Cold Hands ... Warm Heart

Having a little Mojo Monday fun with the pretty blues of Bo Bunny's Woodland Winter, my sweet Savvy Let It Snowman and some SRM Winter Stickers.

Of course I had to add a little warm heart to finish the card.

You Were Born an Original

One day I was wandering on Etsy (amazing how almost all of my wandering-shopping is done on-line these days) and stumbled upon some fantastic flair at A Flair For Buttons (here's their Facebook Page ... and fantastic scrapbooking on her blog ... you know how I enjoy enabling).  Imagine my surprise when I placed my order to find out these awesome buttons are made right in my back yard in Iowa City, Iowa.

My buttons have been sitting on my craft table for several week, so I could admire them ... I finally gave one a home on a card, together with a scrap of my handmade Paste Paper.

A few die cut feathers was all it took to finish the design ... here's a close-up of my flair.

Peaceful Poinsettia

I love these gorgeous Penny Black Starry Night stickers ... especially when paired with the perfect SRM Sticker Fancy Christmas sentiment.

I added some corrugated silver metallic paper and a few Lawn Fawn sequins for sparkle (and the Paper Crafts magazine November Challenge gallery) using this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

I combined most of the same elements for another winter card design.

I used a sketch from I {heart} card sketches together with some vintage sheet music and lovely little snowflake stickers.

Love * Peace * Joy

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the rectangle in this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

I started by covering a rectangle with candy striped washi tape, but it all blended together ... so next I added strips of black washi tape and a black cardstock border to get more contrast.

The stripes reminded me of candy canes, so I went looking for something Christmasy to finish the design.  I added three jolly snowmen ... and a triple sticker sentiment to finish the design.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at the Brown Sugar Challenge Blog.

I'm Here for You

We ventured out this morning, but the wind was so bone-chilling, we decided to cozy-up inside for the rest of the day ... college football and Dr. Who on the DVR ...Chex Mix and Banana Bread in the oven ... and me in my studio playing with paper.  Doesn't get much better than that.

I decided to give the Dynamic Duos Triple Threat a try ... with color challenges, my biggest struggle is getting the right balance between the various hues.

I combined it with the sketch from My Favorite Things.

And this is the end result.

I also took inspiration from today's SCS Inspiration Challenge, Beautiful Fountain Pens ... since I didn't have any pens in my stash, I used feathers ... the precursor to these lovely writing instruments.

My card used My Favorite Things Feathers and Arrows, Designer Labels 1 Stax and a sentiment from Ring Me.  The background Die cut is Simon Says Stamp! Hexagon Border.