Ingenious Inkling

Peony Dream Birthday

I'm using this extra day in February to sneak in a card for the February Inspiration Challenge at AlteNew.

 

I found some vintage Green Stamps at the Thrift Store today, which reminded me when I used to have to dial the machine to dispense them when I worked at the Ramey's Grocery Store in Aurora, Missouri that was right next door to my Papa's Modern Variety Dime Store.  I wanted to incorporate some of them into my card.

I used the colors from the inspiration photo with the AlteNew Peony Dream 3-D dies to create one large bloom and two leaves.  Since the background of the photo was brown, I used a light kraft paper for the card base that reminds me of the grocery bags from the store where I worked.

 

I used VersaFine Clair Rain Forest Ink to stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment from AlteNew Sincere Greetings and finished with some yellow pearls.

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

Stuck on You

The prompt theme at Jingle Belles this week is STICKERS ... they were one of the very first art supplies I collected when I started making cards (still miss the fabulous stickers from EAD Designs).

I have a big book of small Christmas stickers I picked-up on after-holiday clearance, but I've struggled to really figure out how to use them.  For this card, I used a page and a half of tiny ornament stickers to create my own background paper, and I love how it turned out. 

 

 

Then I used a larger ornament sticker as my focal point with a sticker sentiment to complete the design.

It's Anything Goes Christmas at The Holly and Ivy Challenge.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• 1950's Interior Design
• one of my favorite restaurant meals included a bulb of roasted garlic to spread on freshly baked bread
• Peanut Butter Bundt Cake
• I love her sunglasses, shoes & wedding bouquet
• if a Caipirinha is on the menu, it will always be my choice
• Love Barenaked Ladies
• how gorgeous is this Nutella Braid
• Beautiful Abstractions Quilts
• Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze
• Origami Picture Frames (shown)
• Curried Peanut Dip
• I love Book Lists
• a Lightened-Up Lobster Bisque

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Paper Glazed Funky Leaves

My Paper Glaze from Picket Fence Studios arrived, so I had to play.  There's a bit of a learning curve (at least for me) to get nice even coverage.  The sheen is just gorgeous when it dries.

I combined the Funky Leaves Stencil with Ocean Poppy Paper Glaze (because in my studio leaves can be any color I want).

 

Gina K. Designs Turquoise Sea Ink was the perfect mach for the Picket Fence Studios Happy Happy Happy Birthday Sentiment stamped on a scrap of watercolor paper left over from glazing (which is why the letters have a softer look).

 

The layout is this week's Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

 

Makeover Monday - Celebrate

This week's Makeover Monday is brought to you by this card from September 2018 and this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge, which also has a tall rectangular element..

 

The MFT Celebrate Speech Bubble Die-namics is perfect for this week's Sketch as well (just pop the letters in the spaces to help you position the little free pieces in the B, R & A and then pop the letters back out).

 

I also used the CAS on Friday Color Challenge, which incorporates two of the colors from the original design.

 

I did add a few sequins and omitted the ribbon/tag treatment.  I finished with a little Happy Birthday sentiment from MFT Hello Beautiful (just the perfect size).

 

This Too Shall Pass

I have so many great sentiment sets from Simon Says Stamp, and I wanted to use some of them for the current Freshly Made Sketch, since it just screams multiple sentiments to me.

 

I gave my new Fern Green Paper Glaze from Picket Fence Studios a try using the Tumbling Leaves Stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  My first attempt needed some work to get the Glaze even, but I was able to use the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circle Die on a portion of the leaves for the sketch.

I used sentiments from Simon Says Stamp You Got This & You Got This with C Z Design.  I'm taking this card to work to have on hand ... and since cards for the office often need room for the whole team to sign, I made this one on a 5" x 6 1/2" card base.

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at the Simon Says Stamp FlickR Group Challenge #143.

Introverting

Have you ever read the book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking?  In it, there is an introvert quiz.  My husband got a perfect score (all Introvert), and I am closer to the middle with stronger Introvert tendencies.  My Saturdays are usually spent alone in mostly total silence, recharging from a week of constant interaction from working in an open office environment. 

Today I did venture out to buy some Spring sandals - the new Keena Slide Sandal from L'Artiste, one of my favorite brands (it's 51 degrees outside, which has me itching to wear sandals), but otherwise it was just me and my studio. 

I spent the morning doing lots of food prep for the week, and the Beef Stew in the Crock-Pot is smelling quite yummy.

 

So when I picked my stamps for my Impression Obsession Tag You're It! Challenge Card, It's not surprising that I chose Impression Obsession Introverting by Dina Kowal.

 

 

I used the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches.

 

and the layout is from Tuesday Morning Sketches (flipped to work with my Impression Obsession Plaid Tag).

 

And with my embossed tag, I'm linking-up at the Embossing Challenge at The Male Room.

 

Christmas in RED

We're still creating with RED at Jingle Belles.

I was searching through my large bin of holiday papers and found a piece with these sentiment squares ... I knew they would be perfect for the Sketch at Crazy 4 Challenges.

This is all made from 2 pieces of 6" designer paper ... and a wooden heart.  Sometimes it is just all about the paper.

 

 

I'm also joining the Christmas KickStart Challenge where the theme is also RED for February.

Thursday Link Love

Another Thursday filled with some favorite links:

• Adorable Crocheted Sloth Applique
• for me, the only Chocolate is Dark Chocolate
• Every Bear Jewel has such lovely rings
• Spaghetti Monster Spoons make me smile
• love this Hearts Strips Layaout
• fun take on Bean Art
• great Hallway Makeover (and wonderful rainbow bookshelves)
• Layered Taco Salad
• these Mini Quilts make me happy (especially the contrasting thread)
• I've always been drawn to Wooden Blocks (and still remember my little sister telling me the green blocks were "block-oli"
• 50 Random Acts of Kindness ... the world needs more
• Embroidered Photographs (shown)
• Lunch Lady Brownies
• How to Paint Furniture

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Fiercely Fuchsia Flowers

The current Rainbow Card Challenge is Fiercely Fuchsia.

Fuchsia is one of my happy colors.  In college I even owned a pair of Fuchsia suede boots (that I wish I still had). 

 

I started with a Lawn Fawn Fuchsia Wood Grain Card Base and added leaves stamped in Fuchsia from Flora & Fauna Leaf Patterns.

 

 

I layered some paper blooms and finished with a sentiment from Flora & Fauna Letterboard.