Ingenious Inkling

January Foodie Penpal Reveal

I decided to sign-up to be a Foodie Penpal at The Lean Green Bean for January.  I was paired with Emily from Louisiana who sent me lots of awesome eats.

I will confess that the Screamin' Owl Salsa was gone within the weekend ... so good.  

I loved the granola bar, dried mangos, and cocoa dusted almonds.  The Herbal Teas have been perfect for cool mornings.  I am saving the Sweet Jalapenos to serve over cream cheese at the next workplace food day.  And Chocolate Chai ... sweet Chai.

Tuscan Chicken with Musroom Marsala.  It was so easy to make ... and oh so good.

Seasoning crusted the chicken for browning.

And then Crimini Mushrooms in Marsala Sauce.

A huge thanks to Emily for sending me such a yummy foodie penpal feast.  

Texty Christmas

This week's theme at Jingle Belles is TEXT ME ... create a holiday card that features text.  I've had this card from Audrey saved on my texty Pinterest Board for years ... so this Jingle Belles prompt was the perfect opportunity to create my own card inspired by her design.

I started with some lined chevron paper from Pink Paislee and then added letters from three different brown sticker sets.  I used turquoise foam letters for my focal sentiment and finished with coordinating holly leaves and red pearl *berries*.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge Blog.

Fusion Challenge - Valentine

The current Fusion Card Challenge is all about the hearts.

I loved the sketch ... the hearts ... and of course the washi tape ... so I went a little washi crazy with my design.  I even had the same musical washi tape seen in the photograph in my stash, so I added it as an accent on top of valentine red washi tape designs.

I added some punched hearts and sticker sentiments to finish the design.

And if you'd like some further inspiration, click through and see what the Design Team has created:

• Betty J
• Dannielle Robeson
• Deepti
• Geri Freeman
• Julia Aston
• Katie Brooks
• Kelly Griglione
• Kimberly Wiener 
• Lyndal Higgins
• Lynn Mangan
• Michelle Folland
• Michelle Lupton
• Sindu
• Stephanie Severin <---------- Me

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of skipping through blogland:

• Sweet is good ... Salty is better ... but Sweet & Salty is the best.
• A pretty technique using Dryer Sheets (shown)
• Share-Space ... a space for people to upload rooms filled with IKEA Inspiration (FYI - there is sound when you click over)
• Great tips from Graphics Fairy on how to Alter Photos using free tools from PicMonkey.
• Tutorial for a Faceted Heart Charm
• Love all of the possibilities of Embroidery Hoop Bracelets
• Inspiring Curled Paper Mosaics
• 50 Things to Let Go Of this year

Have a terrific Thursday!

Sweet Baby Girl

When I saw the hues for this week's colourQ challenge I thought ... baby girl.

I used papers and elements from Authentique's Miracle Baby Girl Collection.

Layout is from Lucy's Cards Sketch Week.

Knit Happens

The CASology Challenge this week is Purple.

Purple reminds me of my sister, since it's her favorite color.  Thinking of my sister makes me smile (because there will always be laughter whenever we talk) ... it also makes me think of puns (since we come from a very punny family) ... and of knitting (because she's a great knitter who makes me beautiful things).

So my card incorporates all of those things in a CAS Design using htis week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

Purple so hard to photograph ... why does it always looks black?  I tried coloring the ball of yarn ... but in the end I decided I liked it plain and simple.

And of course ... a few pictures of me with my sister (after spending a full day together riding amusement park rides) ... laughing and loving and having a ball.  I miss her.

Heart & Soul

I used new Fancy Pants Be Loved Brag Pad to make a valentine using this week's Paper Players Sketch.

I made a pocket with one page & the insert with another.

I used a label die cut to shape the top of my tag ... and finished with some satin ribbon, epoxy hearts and a valentine word sticker.

I'm also joining the Lovey Dovey Challenge at Sentimental Sundays.

You're Always In My Heart

I like to send valentines to my friends and family, so tonight I made one for a friend across the miles using papers & a stamp from Studio Calico.

I was thrilled to see one of my favorite sketch makers (remember 2 Sketches 4 You) is back sketching again ... the talented Laura, aka The Paper Poppy.  I used her January layout for my design.

I finished by adding a little cork house to my map and added a bit of color to the heart using Distress Markers.

Makey Bakey Waterfall Card Tutorial

This week someone posted a question on the I'm A Crafter's Companion Facebook group about how to create a waterfall card ... so I decided to give it a try and create a photo tutorial of the process.

Several of the Crafter's Companion CD-ROMs have Waterfall Card templates including Makey Bakey Everyday CD-ROM.  The first step is to print out the 3-page card design.

And then cut-out all of the pieces.

I scored the card base using my Ultimate Tool, and then scored the waterfall card piece along the score lines.

I attached the tab of the waterfall to the polka dot panel using two eyelets and then attached the panel to the card front (so you don't see the eyelets on the inside of the card).  

I punched a circle from the extra blue panel and attached to the end of the panel and then used a larger eyelet to add a ribbon pull (I later realized that the curve of the circle was a bit too long and got caught as it tried to slide under the panel, so I trimmed it straight).  With some of my favorite golden ribbon in the mix, I'm joining the Anything Goes Challenge at the Ribbon Girl Blog.

Use strong adhesive to attach the picture you want on the  bottom to the square panel.   I then found it easier to apply the adhesive on each of the little rectangles of the base and then attach the rest of the squares (positioned this direction, only the left half of each square is attached).

After all were attached, I cut another piece from the extra blue panel and attached it on the inside strip to stamp a sentiment from Friends and Family that is visible when the waterfall is open.

See how the panels move when you pull out the sentiment tag.

Here's a picture of the finished card design.

And here is the waterfall moving.

And all the way open.

Hope this helps encourage you to give this fun card design a try.

With the yummy cupcake, I'm joining the So Sweet! Challenge at Cute Card Thursday.

Let's Kick Cancer's Butt!

It's been a while since I joined in the fun at Paper Smooches, so tonight I made a card using the Designer Drafts Sketch.

I used stamps from Hope.

Orange is the ribbon color for Leukemia ... and this card is for a friend who is kicking cancer's butt!