Ingenious Inkling

No Time Like the Presents

Yes ... the Jingle Belles are back ... bringing joy and mayhem for 2015 ... and taking back December one holiday card at a time.

So, there is No Time Like the Presents ... before you put away your wrapping supplies, pull out some of your favorites and make a card featuring wrapping paper or gift tags.

Let's just say my *wrapping* usually leans toward gift bags due to my less than stellar gift wrapping skills ... but when Lauren wraps a gift, it's an artistic masterpiece.  When my Christmas gift from Lauren arrived in the mail, my first thought was - open it carefully so you can re-use that awesome wrapping paper for your first Jingle Belles card ... and so I did.  

 

Aren't those colors amazing.  All I had to add were a trio of chipboard stickers and a trio of sequins.

We hope you'll join us for a fun year of creative inspiration.

My 10 Favorites of 2014

I always enjoy looking back on my year of creations ... and thinking about what I want to create in the coming year.  Here are my 10 favorite non-holiday cards from this year (here are my top 5 Holiday cards for 2014).

1 - I love how this grouping of flowers came together in this Cardabilities Sketch ... I also love the color combination.  I had an awesome time being part of the Cardabilities Design Team in 2014.

2 - I love how these patterned papers came together with a beautiful image from one of my favorite designers Papaya! Arts in a Fusion Card Challenge Design.  The sentiment speaks volumes ... and I am really enjoying being part of the Fusion Design Team.

3 - My term ended on the Crafter's Companion USA Design Team in 2014 ... I am grateful for all of the things I learned while I was part of that awesome group, including becoming a Certified Colorist for Spectrum Noir Markers ... and creating with Spectrum Noir's fabulous Blendable Colored Pencils like I did on this design.  I was also thrilled that they used this card in the promotional photographs for the Pencils.

 

4 - I love playing with inks ... and I particularly love how this inky technique using spray inks turned out.

 

5 - There were quite a few cameras in my designs this year ... and quite a few cards using the awesome Plus One Collection from Amy Tangerine ... this combines both.  I love the colors & patterns, as well as enamel dots and sentiment stickers.

6 - I love my Merimekko Shower Curtain ... and I love this card inspired by my Merimekko Shower Curtain.  Being inspired by the world around me makes me happy.

 

7 - 2014 was definately the year of the sequins ... I loved using different sizes and colors ... and I love wood grain sequins with a wood grain background ... and typewriters and text ... and seam binding ribbon. Yep, pretty much love it all.

 

8 - I love when a design concept is so simple and versatile that I just keep creating ... which was the case with these washi tape cards.  Washi Tape + Stickers = so many possibilities ... and I love SRM sticker stitches too.

9 - Sometimes clean & simple makes my day ... especially when it involves Snoopy ... this card still makes me smile.

10 - I love when a card design lets the designer paper be the star of the show like it did with this wedding card design ... it also reminds me how much I love gold & grey ... and hexagons.

I hope you had fun walking down memory lane with me ... I'm looking forward to another very creative year in 2015.

Gold Lang Syne

At AAA Cards they are asking us to create a card using a little gold.  

I thought some gold would be perfect for a card to celebrate the New Year.  I used Delicata Gold Ink to stamp an Auld Lang Syne stamp from Artistic Outpost and clear embossed, which gives the gold a bit more contrast.

I layered on a gold doily, gold metallic paper and lots of gold sequins to finish the design using the layout from Sketch Frenzy Friday.  

Totally Cool & Swanky

When I saw Amy's Cool Dudes, I knew I wanted to break out my Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes & coordinating Snowdudes Dies (might need to add the Cool Dudes to my stash).

As I looked through the rest of my Paper Smooches stamp stash , the sentiment from Good Gab caught my eye ... this turned into the perfect little valentine for one of my nieces or nephews.

Papers are Carta Bella Devoted ... and my Swanky Snowdude is colored with Spectrum Noir Markers (DR1, DR6 & OR3).  I finished with some epoxy dots for his buttons.

Sketch is Paper Smooches SPARKS December Designer Draft.

I'm also joining showCASe your style where the theme is to use at least one die cut.

I Love Donuts

I have really been loving that donuts have been a new theme showing-up in papercrafting ... because seriously, I love donuts.  

I have such fond memories of Dad taking my brother and me to the Daylight Donut Shop for breakfast ... and the agonizing decision between a bear claw, cinnamon swirl, or the delicious cherry, orange or blueberry cake donuts.  My brother usually chose the maple long john (no maple for me) or a twist ... always with a tiny carton of ice cold milk.

I looked at several Donut Stamp Sets (Lil' Inker Eat More Donuts, Reverse Confetti Donut You Know), but ultimately the sentiments won me over in Simon Says Stamp I Love Donuts ... especially the one on my card (although I wish it included a jelly donut shape ... may have to try to make my own).

I stamped my donuts in Dark Brown ink on Kraft Cardstock and clear embossed.  I used Spectrum Noir Blendable Colored Pencils to create my cherry frosting (36, 37 & 42).  After coloring, I stamped the sprinkles and added Spica Glitter Pen for a bit of sparkle.

My design was inspired by the colors and shapes in this week's Just Us Girls Challenge using swirly cardstock from Studio Calico and the back of a Piece of Core'dinations Pink Whitewash Cardstock.

The layout is the Sweet Sunday Sketch.

And I'm linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

 

You Warm My Heart

What kind of cards do you make on Christmas Day? ... Christmas Thank You cards of course.  

When I saw the festive picture at Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge, I knew I wanted to cut into my Lawn Fawn Snow Day Papers and play.

I just love the colors of this collection ... and it comes with two pages of fun tags, which make perfect focal elements for a card.

I added some coordinating glitter paper, lawn fawn sequins, and an SRM Thank You stickers by the dozen using this week's Retro Sketch.

Thursday Link Love

More finds from the depths of blogland:

• Best Book Covers of 2014
• Love this cute little Polar Bear Hoodie
• Things I know at 40 (or in my case 40+)
• Tutorial for an adorable easy Snowman Card
• Outfit a Game Designers Toolkit at the Dollar Store
• This Crock Pot Kung Pao Chicken looks yummy
• These Vinyl Record Clocks are amazing (shown)
• Lauren's awesome tutorial for Collaged & Layered Doily Trees
• How to create skin tone with colored pencils

Merry Christmas!

Five Favorite Holiday Cards - 2014

Since Lauren & I started Jingle Belles in 2010, I've been recapping my five favorite Christmas cards of the year (you can find 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 here) ... I always enjoy revisiting my creations for the year.

Here they are in no particular order:

1 - This first one was for our Jingle Belles prompt to make a holiday card for those who might not celebrate Christmas.  I love every element of this card ... and how well they all work together.  The bow behind the brad & the binder punch are design elements I should incorporate more often ... and the stickers make for such easy assembly.

 2.  I had fun making the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist this year ... and this is the tag I kept for myself.  I love the elegance of the silver glitter stripes ... and the glittery cardinals were the perfect touch for our cardinal loving family.

 

3. This was certainly my weirdest card of the year ... but also the most fun to make.  My husband came-up with the idea of Christmas Corn for the Food Prompt at Jingle Belles ... and we ran with it.   We spent the afternoon discussing different elements ... and then figuring out ways to incorporate them.  It still makes me smile ... especially the look on the raccoon's face as he tries to sneak a present from under the Corn.

4.  I was thrilled with how cool the punched silver glitter branches looked when I made them into a wreath card for a Fusion Card Challenge ... and it's also a great example of my love of sequins in 2014 ... certainly my favorite embellishment of the year.

 

5.  This card celebrated RED at Jingle Belles.  I love when a piece of designer paper works perfectly for a card design ... I also love that some of the oldest embellishments in my studio finally found a home.

And don't forget ... if you want to take back December 2015 one holiday card at a time, join the fun at Jingle Belles starting January 1st.

Up Town Birthday

When I finished this card, I got ready to take the remaining scrap of My Mind's Eye Good Day Sunshine Up Town 12" x 12" Paper to my overflowing scrap bin, but when I turned it over, I saw a row of adorable houses on the other side (likely the reason I bought the paper in the first place), so I decided to cut it up to make some more cards.

I trimmed the row of houses 4" wide (perfect for a long/narrow design) and all I had to do was add a Hero Arts Elegant Birthday sentiment banner to the sky (I imagined an airplane located off the right side of the card was pulling the banner).

The remaining scrap had the three little houses that were on the other side of the bridge.  I paired it with a few cardstock scraps from my stash, for a similar design.

I love that both cards are funky & fun ... and super-mailable.

As always, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store.

Friends are the Family You Choose

I was organizing my studio tonight when I found this Project Life Card in my stash.  I thought it would be perfect for the Family Challenge at Less is More.

While I am extremely grateful for the large and diverse family with which I have been blessed ... I am equally thankful for the family of friends I've gained throughout my life.   It's so nice to have both during the holidays ... and all through the year.

The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch.