Ingenious Inkling

Drive You Crazy

The current Cardabilities sketch is perfect for an elegant valentine.

I love the layered hearts ... I started with the intention of using three die cut hearts, but as I played around with the positioning, I decided I liked the negative of the bigger heart better (more contrast for the smaller heart).

Instead of a third heart, I used a paper flower.  I finished with two die cut Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourishes, sequins, and a printed custom sentiment.  Papers are from My Mind's Eye Love Me Collection.

Getting In Shape

We're Getting in Shape at Jingle Belles ... no jumping jacks or wind sprints required.  We're making shaped cards (anything other than square or rectangle.

I picked-up these Spellbinders Nestabilities Heirloom Ornament dies last year, so I wanted to see if I could make them work for a shaped card design.  

I positioned my folded card base where the fold is right below the cap of the ornament at the top, and then cut a second ornament from gorgeous silver metallic paper (holding it in place with washi tape before running it through my die cut machine, so the pattern would stay perfectly centered inside the ornament design.

I added two strips of solid metallic paper, some red gems, and a few wraps of metallic silver embroidery thread around the top.  The finishing touch was an SRM fancy Christmas Sticker in the center.

Fusion Challenge ~ Heartful

I love all of the beautiful hearts in the current Fusion Card Challenge, so while I'm usually a Fusion Girl, this week I went with the hearts only as my inspiration.

I started with a bag of felt hearts and one of glitter hearts and started moving them on my brown cardstock background until I got an arrangement that worked for me.

After adhering the hearts (both were stickers, which made it super-easy), I added a few white stickers on top of the glitter hearts for sentiments.  I finished with heart pearls and a tiny piece of heart-themed flair.  Lots of love on this card.

I'm also joining the Time Out Challenge where the Theme is Valentines with an Optional Twist of Hearts (yeah, got that covered).

I hope you'll come join me at Fusion Card Challenge for some Heartful inspiration.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• Lacquered Bacon sounds intriguing
• Love Emily McDowell's Greeting Cards
• Stunning nighttime photos of NYC ... so ready for another visit there
• Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing sounds so refershing
• How cute are these Love Bug Cupcakes
• Free Printable Groundhog Day Card ... an underappreciated holiday
• These little Candy Huggers are too cute
• Tutorial for lining your envelopes
• DIY Envelope Wall

Happy Thursday!

Love Love Love

Hero Arts Words of Love Digital stamps make Valentines easy.

For this card I used two digital stamps from Hero Arts together with heart die cuts and punches and the Hero Arts Basic Grey Tiny Stars Background stamped in Charcoal.  The tiny stamped heart is from Hero Arts Messages with Flourishes.

I'm joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  

And there's still time to link-up at our *new to you* challenge at a2z scrapbooking (just make sure you include at least one Hero Arts stamp).

There are all sorts of new Hero Arts Stamps in the a2z Scrapbooking Store, including the new monogram collection (love the *S*) ... go check them out.  And remember, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store.

You Make Me Happy

Having a little fun tonight playing with foam monster stickers ... text stickers ... and heart pearls ... all from my stash for the Love Me Do Challenge at Shopping Our Stash.

Hearts Hearts everywhere ... love these cuties.

Glowing Birthday

I wanted to complete the trifecta at Stamplorations for January, so I made a card using their second monthly sketch.

I knew I wanted to use a border punch that I have, and when I saw The Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge ... I knew we were going NEON.  And I needed a cure for my Monday Blues since our heater motor decided to die today ... so we'll be shivvering for a few days until a new one arrives (thank goodness for electric blankets and space heaters).

I punched arrows from different NEON paper scraps and assembled my design.

Love how those colors pop ... the sentiment is Stamplorations Sentiment Builders Happy.

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

I don't think I've ever been able to join the fun at the Papertrey Blog Hop, but today the stars were aligned.

The theme is Hearts ... don't you just love these inspiration photos.

I had lots of ideas ... but not a lot of options for stamps in my collection, so I used my colored pencils and made a fun kiddie valentine featuring Tremendous Treats: Valentine and coordinating die cuts.

That is actually a scrap of Christmas designer paper, but I thought it worked perfectly with lots of punched hearts ... love that little guy.

The layout is this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

Nice Kitty ... Naughty Kitty

When I saw this awesome Kitty Trio Image at The Graphics Fairy, I knew it had to be a Christmas card ... which was perfect for our Bring in the New Prompt at Jingle Belles.

First order of business was to find a Santa Hat for one of the kitties ... this hat is from Paper Smooches Hats Die Cuts.  I die cut it from my new Red Velvet Cardstock from Gina K. Designs (such a great red).

The sentiment from 'Tis the Season by Julie Ebersole fit perfectly into the little sign.  The finishing touch was to use my Spectrum Noir markers to add a colorful glint to their eyes.

Thursday Link Love

Another fun week of finds from skipping through blogland:

• Tutorial for making your own quirky little magnets
• Who doesn't love a little Valentine's Day Origami Love these fun vintage PhotoBooth Props ... such great colors
• I have always loved succulants ... glad to see they are trending
• How to align a gridded background on a card (adorable cards too)

Have a terrific Thursday