Ingenious Inkling

Hey Girl

Whenever I see one of Dawn McVey's cards on Instagram, I almost immediately know it is hers by the color palette.  She has a group of colors that she rocks in her cards ... her home ... and her wardrobe. 

When I saw in her Instagram stories last night that she posted her first color inspiration challenge (#dawnsingdoescolor) I wondered if it would be what I call her signature colors ... and indeed it was.  I immediately went searching for those five colors of cardstock in my stash and started creating.

 

I not only used the photo as my inspiration ... but dawn herself.  Her big messy bun ... the bandannas she wore in her hair while it grew out after her treatment ... her love of vintage elements ... and her love of flowers.  If I could have figured out how to incorporate nail polish, I would have.

 

I used this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch for my layout and Julee Ebersole's Essentials by Ellen Voices in my Head.  I added a knot of red velvet ribbon to the bun and a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Handful.

 

 

To bring in the vintage element, I added a trio of S&H Green Stamps topped by a trio of tiny pink blooms.  I love how this turned out exactly how I imaged it in my head ... thanks to DawnSing for the inspiration.

Sarcastic Comment?

I had an ask for a Birthday Card for an 11 Year old who loves Friends ... Ink Road Stamps The One with All the Stamps to the rescue.

 

I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! to incorporate multiple Icons from the show for a mailable card design on an Ivory Cardstock base.

 

 

With my Wood Grain Cardstock I'm also joining the Simon Says Stamp Knock on Wood Challenge.

New York, New York

I recently realized that it's been 10 years since my first trip to New York City with Lauren.  At the time, I thought it might be my only trip to NYC ... and never dreamed it would become an annual tradition that we plan for all year long.  There were so many first experiences on that trip that I fell in love with including Dim Sum.

 

 

Today's Makeover Monday is a tribute to New York City inspired by this Enjoy the City card from April 2012.

 

I love the buildings ... the stamping on designer paper ... and the feel of NYC.  I started with the Hero Arts Abstract Skyline Bold Prints Stamp.  I searched for some cloud designer paper in my stash (which I'm sure I have, but couldn't find quickly) ... instead I chose a patterned designer paper that I thought had a cloud like background feel.

 

I stayed with the purple ink for the stamping ... I chose a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together that reflects how I feel about travel right now.  I wanted to keep the loud elements in the design, so I cut some Alexandra Renke Clouds from ivory cardstock to float above the skyscrapers.

This card gives me a great sense of longing ... and makes me wonder when I get to have this experience again, what will it be like?

Alcohol Ink Die Cutting

This weekend I enjoyed several crafty video calls ... and I was so grateful for that time to create apart ... but with others.  I normally create alone ... and after a week steeped in house of noisy people contact at the office, I always enjoyed and needed that alone time to re-charge my introvert battery.  Now I sit alone all week (mostly talking on even more video calls), and I have really been craving crafty contact.

I had fun just playing with creating alcohol ink backgrounds this afternoon.  It had been a while since I'd played with them, so just made lots of inky messes.  These cards were made from a favorite result that combined Raspberry, Red and a bit of Coral.

I die cut it with another of my new Gina Marie Designs Dies - Quilt Die #12 Blocks & Lines.  I die cut it once from black cardstock for the frame and a second time from my Alcohol Inked panel.

 

On one of my calls, there was a discussion of a love stamps that contain profanity (mostly because it is so unexpected) ... and the fact that both of us collected them.  Until now, I've never quite known who to send cards to made using those stamps ... but now I do.  These are from a set called Oh Hell No from Paper Issues (you'll just have to guess my profanity word of choice from the set I used today).

The alcohol inked frame was too pretty not to use, but I struggled to figure out exactly how to use it.  Lauren suggested something texty, so as I played with different book pages, I settled on this schematic drawing from the 1928 manual of Automobile Ignition Starting and Lighting from the American Technical Society.   It seemed perfect for my brother who recently painted a large piece of equipment in his work studio as he put it *full-on Bret 'the Hitman' Hart* pink.

 

I played around with the placement of the frame until I got a look I wanted and then cut the word Electrical Equipment from the title of the page.

 

The sentiment is stamped on the margin of the book page using a stamp from AlteNew called Engineers Rule ... while I would define my brother as more of a Bricoleur than an Engineer, the sentiment still applies.

 

I'm also joining the AlteNew April Inspiration Challenge.

Maaama!

I'm finishing-up my Mother's Day cards to get them in the mail ... and this week's Little Red Wagon Challenge is all about Maaama!

Thanks to some enabling from Chris Dayton, I purchased some new Dies from Gina Marie Designs.  I love this Art Deco Fan Background ... so lovely and versatile.  I die cut it from a piece of watercolor paper that I had sprayed with a combination of Distress Oxide Sprays and I placed it over a lacy designer paper.

 

I added a trio of purple flowers and retired Simon Says Stamp Sentiment stamps on a scrap of the lacy paper.  This one will take some extra postage to mail, but it's worth it for the recipient to have a year 'round bouquet.

I took my inspiration from The Card Concept {Hello Spring} Challenge.

 

 

My friend Sam (@samvandesigns at Instagram) is continuing her Use My Stuff Challenge with a theme of Flowers this week ... these vintage Prima Flowers are happy to have a home. #umschallenge #umschallengefloral

Hell Hath No Fury

I always love starting my Saturday with my Sisters at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers ... and after this week, my snark is feeling pretty strong.  The theme this week is U is for Upcycle (Earth day is April 22nd).

 

 

We often order coffee from local roasters across the US, and one of our recent purchases from Trade Coffee (Sightglass) came in this box that had awesome coffee drawings on the inside.  I didn't know what I was going to do with it ... but I new it was cool enough to save.  So today I die cut two STAMPlorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Nesting Rectangle Dies from the box (the reverse side was Rust, which was perfect for the Color Challenge at Just Us Girls).  Running the cardboard also helped flatten the cardboard slightly for better mailing.

 

When I need snark ... and coffee ... there is no better stamps than those by the talented Becca Cruger (The Damsel of Distressed) at STAMPlorations - these are from her Dark Coffee Set from the Grins by Becca Cruger line.  I stamped the lady on the Stitched Nesting Tag from STAMPlorations.

 

 

If you like these fun stamps, they're having a sale right now on all stamps in their Spring Clearance Section.  I finished with a trio of Brown Eyelet Outlet Enamel Dots.

 

 

and here are those fun Just Us Girls Colors.

 

I'm also linking-up at the STAMPlorations Anything Goes Challenge.

Earth Day Candles

We're still celebrating the upcoming Earth Day at Jingle Belles by making cards with recycled items.  I started by going through my hoard of stored packing pieces.

 

I went with the Donna Downey Grey Polka Dots because it was long enough to do a skinny card.

Then I went through my vintage books and pages and found this lovely pink candle image recycled from a vintage Ideals Magazine.  Most of the pages in the books were black and white (with a few color pictures) but to add interest, they would do monochromatic tinting of the pages of images and poetry ... and needless to say, this entire page was pink.

 

I used my MISTI to stamp the two part sentiment from Hero Arts Stacking Snowflakes.  I finished with some coordinating enamel dots and several thin strips of cardstock to act as mats.

I hope you'll look around your home and have some recycled fun with us.

 

I'm also joining Jen's Get Cracking on Christmas Holiday Card Challenge ... fun to see we're not the only ones making holiday cards all year long.

 

And this week's #staycraftywithhero Challenge is a Holiday Headstart ... love that.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland adventures:

• Nine Things Whose Meaning Have Changed
• I always enjoy a piece of Tres Leches Cake from the Mexican Bakery
• Alcohol Ink tips
• I can never get enough of Japanese Eggplant
• I stay at their hotel just for these cookies
• Small Space Living Tips
• how cute are these little Pasta Birds Nests
• free Artist Paper Printables
• Recycled Card Garland
• this Steak Salad looks so good (shown)
• love this Kitchen Refresh
• I qualify as a Clumsy Person

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Silliness Good Day

Sometimes cards are well planned and thought out ... and other times creativity is just for a general release and silliness.  Tonight is the latter.

This little PaperArtsy Zinski Mini (AN38) looked-up at me from a box of stamps I was trying to organize, and I knew he needed to see some ink.

 

I used the color challenge from The Paper Players.

 

I also incorporated the Clean & Simple Theme from the Always Fun Challenge.

I used the So Saffron ink and a Hexagon Stencil from Darkroom Door.  My Zinski Mini ZN38 was then stamped in Grey Granite.

Sentiment from PnkFresh Studio My Favorite Things to Say was stamped in Seaside Spray ... and then I finished with lots of dots from Paper Smooches Flutterby.

Yep ... a good day for pure Silliness.

You Slay Me

The April Taylored Expression Maker Challenge features one of my favorite colors ... Orange (#TEMakerChallenge).

 

I also wanted to add both stripes & embossing to my design.  I used the striped sketch layout from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch and two scraps of orange designer paper from my stash.

 

I stamped the dragon from Taylored Expressions Mythical Grumplings in a combination of Orange and Brown Ink and added some color with Spectrum Noir Markers and a white paint pen for the fangs.  The circle behind the dragon is dry embossed with circles, similar to the ones in the designer paper (you can see it more clearly at the top left of the circle).

 

I finished with one of the sentiments from the Mythical Grumplings set.