Ingenious Inkling

Sketches, Stickers, and Scraps ... Oh My

Last night, rather than doing a Makeover Monday card, I challenged myself to make cards using this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch, Orphan Stickers in my overflowing Sticker Bin and Scraps from my Paper Bin.

 

 

The sketch just seems perfect for playing with stickers and papers.  It reminded me of when I used to have a big box of things I'd cut from magazines to make collages that I would hang around my room.

I started with this cork typewriter sticker.  The background paper is something I know I stamped more than 10 years ago using acrylic blocks that I had wrapped with rubber bands (which turned out to be today's Try a New Technique Challenge at SplitCoastStampers - making the old new again and stamping with what we have on hand) ... makes me want to try that technique on a Gel Press Plate.

 

I cut two 3" circles in from coordinating cardstock scraps and then added more smaller stickers to finish the design before mounting it all on a kraft card base.

For the next card I started with that adorable orange monster.  This time I cut slightly smaller circles from two designer paper scraps to coordinate with the polka dot background.  The dimensions seem a bit more balanced in this one, especially with him grounded on the longer sentiment.  

 

I couldn't resist adding the stack of books and his own little potted plant.

Then when I had the final pink monster and scrap of pink Eiffel Tower designer paper ... I sort of fell into an 8th Grade-cover-my-binder-with-stickers creative craziness.  I have no idea who I'll give this card to (who am I kidding, I'll mail it to Lauren at some point ... probably not on her birthday) ... I had a ton of fun making it.

 

Sometimes it's fun to remember why I started this hobby ... as a creative outlet for play.   And I still like stickers as much as I did in the 8th grade (hint hint ... big sticker news coming soon).

Smile a Little Brighter

The current Stay Crafty with Hero Arts Challenge is to create a one-layer card (#staycraftywithhero).

 

 

I thought it would be fun to start my single layer with a piece of watercolor paper sprayed with Distress Oxide Sprays.

Next I stamped the large cover image from the Hero Arts / PinkFresh Studio You Make a Difference Set using three colors of Ranger Archival Ink - Orange Blossom, Poppy & Tiger Lilly moving from light around the outside to darker around the inside.

 

I used Potting Soil Archival Ink to stamp the sentiment from Hero Arts Color Layering Iris in the Center.  I finished with some orange gems in the center of the cone flowers.

Independence Day

I found a few sets of 4th of July stickers when I was cleaning out last week, so I decided to make a few cards today.  I keep all of my red, white and blue (or ivory, white and blue) paper collections in a 12" container, so I can pull them out this time of year.  It's amazing how they are all paper collections for the same holiday ... but how the colors are all so slightly different that they don't always work together very well.

For the first one I used a sketch from Crazy for Challenges.

I combined three different papers, a journaling cards and several of the stickers I found on my cleaning binge.

 

 

The next one I turned into a birthday card for my stash using the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

 

The sentiment is a vintage Happy Birthday woodblock stamp from Hero Arts.

 

 

The third one used the rest of the polka dot paper together with pieces cut from another paper in the stack and an Independence Day sticker.

 

I took my inspiration for all of the layers from the table setting in The Card Concept.

 

I finished with some glittery star stickers and a few wraps of soft nubby yarn ...  and then I got them into the mail.  I wish I was seeing people in person for the long holiday weekend ... but hugs across the miles with have to do this year.

Christmas Mitten

We're still SHAPE-ing Up at Jingle Belles this week.  For my second card, I enlarged a clip art picture of a mitten to card sized and then traced it onto a scrap of red designer paper for my mitten base. 

 

 

Next I attached the green designer paper to the cuff and trimmed it to fit.  I tied a loop of kraft ribbon where the paper joined, and the attached my mitten to a small card base. 

I decorated my mitten with a round holiday sentiment from Catslife Press punched with a 2" circle punch that I attached to a scalloped circle that was punched from the same green designer paper, but sponged with green ink for a slightly darker look (and to cover those little white bits that show when you punch designer paper).  I finished with a tiny red gem in the middle of the snowflake.

 

I'm linking-up at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge which is all about Occasions.

Harry Potter Birthday

Tonight's request was a Harry Potter Birthday Card.  I decided to go with a single layer card using stamps from two sets from The Ink Road.

 

I used The Ink Road Mari Party & Expecto Stampo with Versafine Clair Warm Breeze Ink on Kraft Cardstock.

 

 

I accented with a few gem clusters.

It's Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• I wanted to try Frozen Coconut Lemonade
• love Elly Rodgers Illustrations
• Color Palettes of Iconic Film Scenes
• Buckeye Crunch Bars
• fun Birthday Party Backdrop ideas (one shown)
• Homemade Kit Kat Bars look interesting
• Movies re-imagined as Vintage Book Covers
• Some days I feel like I need a Merit Badge just for making it through ... how to make your own Embroidered DIY Merit Badges
• Gotta try some Skillet S'Mores
• Illustrated Periodic Table shows how you regularly interact with each element
• Chicken Tinga Taquitos
• Best Road Trips in each State
• I love a fresh Buttermilk Bar Glazed Donut

Have a Terrific Thursday!

Pastel Rainbow Oh Happy Day

The current Rainbow Card Challenge is all about a Pastel Rainbow.  Since I've been all about paper scraps lately, I decided to stay on that path.

 

I went through my cardstock scraps and grabbed pastel pieces that were big enough to cut with my 1/2" strips die from The Stamp Market.

 

After I randomly covered my card front with the die cut strips, then I went back and cut the Rainbow Stripes Die from The Stamp Market from the leftover cardstock pieces that were large enough.  I die cut an oval as the background for my rainbow and then cut it in half.  Sentiment is The Stamp Market Tons of Type.

The pastel orange is a big dark, but I just let it be (it's always interesting to me how much more clearly I see design issues after I photograph a card).  It was a fun way to use scraps and use my collection of products from The Stamp Market.

Oh Ale Yeah

The current Creative Confetti Challenge is Shape Up! ... to make shapes take center stage on your card. 

 

 

I stamped several images and sentiments from the Power Poppy O Hoppy Day Set using the colors from the current Hand Stamped Sentiments Color Challenge.  

 

I used Hexagon, Square and Circle Dies and Punches to cut out pieces of the images.  I made the square glass of the beer the central focal point of the design and then built the rest of the images around it using foam tape for some of them for some dimension on my kraft card base.

 

That was a fun little design exercise to end my day.

Makeover Monday - Designer Paper

I did a major clean-out of my studio last week (there's a giveaway on Instagram if you want to check it out) and boxed-up a bunch of paper to take to the local craft exchange store.  I still have a large box of designer paper scraps I need to go through, but for my Makeover Monday card, I wanted to find a design that used a lot of paper scraps ... I chose this Valentine's Day card from February 2011.

 

This card used papers from a single paper collection ... I challenged myself to find papers from my scrap bin that would work together.  I started with a scrap of birthday paper and then found other scraps that would work with it (I made sure they had one or two of the colors and were the same shades of the color family ... in this case the teal and yellow unify across the palette). 

I cut them all into 3/4" strips and then managed to put together three card with the scraps it cut on kraft card bases.

 

 

For the first one, I discovered the first one was the perfect size for these Tim Holtz Snarky Big Talk Stickers.  It was also the perfect opportunity to use some leftover stickers from my stash as embellishments.

 

 

For the next two, I used a large wood mount Happy Birthday sentiment from Stampotique Originals (I just love that size & font) and more leftover stickers (these were from an Easter set).  These cards are just so fun and easy to put together.

 

 

And yep, more stickers.  When I assemble my cards, I line of the paper at the bottom and just let it hang over the top of the card.  Then when I"m all done, I just take my scissors and trim along the fold.  That makes it super easy to assemble.

I hope these cards gave you some ideas for digging through your paper scraps.

Happy New Home

The current challenge at A Blog Named Hero is to combine new & old Hero Arts stamps from your collection.

 

My youngest brother (there are almost 20 years between us) bought a house this week, so I wanted to make him a congratulations card.  As I looked through my stamp, I thought how many of the statements from the Hero Arts I Love How You? Stamp set that were intended to go after the I Love How You stamp would also now apply to him as he would finally be living on his own (from 2017) ... so I found a few more sentiment stamps from other Hero Arts sets I could combine them with.   

 

 

I think the oldest set is likely Everyday Sayings ... and then there is Hello Gorgeous from 2016 and the newer Hang in There Potted Plants for the New Home sentiment and the plant that I colored with colored pencils and embellished with a few gems before I "hung" it on a gold brad before attaching the panel to my kraft card base with foam tape.