Ingenious Inkling

Holiday Leftovers

One of my favorite things about the holiday meal is the leftovers … I always enjoy a little stuffing and cranberry sauce on my ham sandwich.

So this week at Jingle Belles we're celebrating Holiday Leftovers by creating cards using all of those little leftover pieces of paper, alphabet letters, stickers, ribbon … you know those things you have saved because they were just too cute to throw them away … well, we want to see you use them to make some fun leftover holiday cards.

I went to my Prima Santa Baby Collection and used leftover paper scraps and stickers for my card using this week's Sketch Saturday.

 

I added a few more orphaned sentiment stickers and a few stray pink postage stamps to finish my design.  I love how Santa is holding the mug of cocoa and the cupcake stickers.

 

 

 

One lucky participant will get fun Be Merry and Classic Stamp set from Couture Creations, so break out your leftovers and join our holiday meal.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland finds:

• Window Swap lets you gaze at the view from windows all around the world
• Summer is for Crunchy Cucumber Salads
• Love the gorgeous texture in Dena Tollefson's paintings
• why didn't I think of Air Fryer S'Mores
• One Pan Suppers
• How to Hold Chopsticks
• Hello Robin's Mackles'more Cookies (shown)
• Side-effects of Resilience
• Three Ingredient Pina Colada
• Julie Child on the Fear of Failure
• Basic Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Heck Yeah!

I started this card with the Retro Rubber Challenge Tic Tac Toe ... my plan was straight across the top with a punch, blue & washi tape.

 

 

I went searching for blue washi tape and found two with fun expletives and a tape measure, which reminded me of my Dad and brothers repairing things ... which was perfect for the fun Animals Workin' Hard! stickers from {a vintage girl} and her daughter ... remember you can use my code SMILYNSTEF for 15% off the entire store.

How fun are those little guys ... the snake wearing work jeans cracks me up.

 

 

I used the layout from the CAS Colour Challenge together with stamps from Essentials by Ellen - It's all Good for the sentiment and Painted Stripes (from April 2019 and yet to be inked) stamped across the top in light blue ink.

 

I'm continuing my Summer of Stamping with Ellen Hutson #EBESummerofStamping.

 

Fearless, Independent and Original

Since Sunday was the final game of the Premier League, I had to make a Soccer-themed card.  It's been so fun to watch our team (Liverpool) do so well this year ... and even more fun that we have live sports back to watch.

 

I used this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch together with Doodlebug Soccer-themed papers from my stash and sticker sentiments.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at The Male Room Challenge where the theme is Sport.

 

A {Vintage Girl & Her Daughter} Sticker Store

I'm thrilled to finally share that I am a member of the inaugural design team for a super-cool Sticker Store - {A Vintage Girl & her Daughter} (follow them on Instagram here).   They also have the {Vintage Girl Shop} that sells amazing chipboard for all of your mixed media creations.  You can use my code SMILYNSTEF at checkout for 15% off your order.

To start designing, I got to pick a large selection of stickers and then received the latest creations like these awesome quarantine sticker sets ... the sets are 6 1/2" x 3", so they're perfectly sized for card-making.  

 

 

\and these fun sets ... girl with sanitizer looking for boy with toilet paper (snort).

 

 

I made my first set of cards using the fun new Happy Birthday Unicorn set.

 

 

These paired perfectly with the Echo Park Imagine That! Girl paper collection.  For my first card I used some of the fun Ephemera from that collection to frame a single sticker layering with a silver doily.  I also used Spots & Stripes for the Little Red Wagon Challenge.

 

I embellished with some tiny enamel heart stickers, a stray bow sticker that was on my studio table, and Birthday Sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typed Sentiments.  This card just makes me happy.

For the next one I joined the Daring Cardmakers Three Musketeers Challenge and used three Unicorn stickers on one card.

 

 

I embellished with Enamel Dots and finished with a Typewriter Sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typewriter Sentiments.  The colors in these stickers are just so vibrant.

 

Third card feels like it's for a 6 year old girl with lots of blingity-bling.  I was thrilled that I was actually above to lift and reposition these stickers (several times actually) until I got them in just the right place.

 

 

Here's a sneak peak of more of the sets I'll be creating with in the future ... fun Campers, Vintage Cars & Vintage Cameras ... I love how you can color some of the stickers (or leave them black and white).

 

 

There are fun sentiments too ... love the different drink themes and the super-cool Motivational Quotes.

 

I'm always a sucker for sentiments for cards ... Christmas quotes perfect for Jingle Belles; Autism themed for several friends; and GRL PWR.  I also got some fun chipboard from {Vintage Girl} to try.

 

And there are lots of cool Steam Punk elements that will be awesome for collages and mixed media.

 

 

And how about more vintage goodness ... can't wait to decorate those containers with some blooms.

 

 

And a mixture of fun ... I love stickers that combine a sentiment and image for super-easy card making ... and you know some of those Tequila stickers are going with those Funky Cactuses.

 

And if you love animals, there are lots of choose from ... the Animals Workin' Hard will be so fun for some masculine cards.

 

Some more animals and those awesome Vintage Typewriter Keys ... can't wait to play with those.

 

 

And not all the stickers are on white ... they have some fun kraft stickers too.

 

 

Go check out the {A Vintage Girl & her Daughter} Sticker Store to find your favorites.  I can't wait to share my creations with you.

Focus on Gloss

Today I had the joy of attending the Focus on Gloss Class by Dina Wakley.  I only had four colors of her Gloss Spray (Night, White, Lime & Fuchsia), but I made the best of them and had a lot of fun.

I used watercolor paper and mixed media paper ... but I think I had the most fun with some Ranger Kraft Tags. 

 

I used several stencils from A Colorful Life Designs, with my favorite being the Circles Make Circles ... I used both the stencil as well as printing from the negative from the paint on the top of the stencil which gave a punchinella effect.

 

I also tried spraying on top of my Karin Marker Backgrounds I made a few weeks ago, which also produced some fun effects ... I really love how opaque the sprays are.

 

After the class, I used several of my favorite tags to make sure cards.  The first one uses the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge at Paper Craft Crew Challenges - Masculine, Thank You Card & Twine.

 

I used new stamps I got this week from The Greetery ... this one is from Sentiment Suite: Thank You Stamp Set.  

 

 

I liked it so much, I decided to make a second feminine version with Stamps & Dies from The Greetery Destination Stamp Set.

 

This combination of colors is just dreamy.

Happy Mail

The July Challenge at Jaded Blossom is to make card that is Red, White and Blue, which was the perfect opportunity to break out my Jaded Blossom Mailbox Die.  I love how it has a little pocket to hold a gift card (or other little treat).

 

Rather than use the square die for the front of the Mailbox, I used a sentiment from Jaded Blossom Happy mail stamped in red ink.  Then I stamped the mailbox and letter in light blue (they come separately in the set, so it makes it super easy) and added happy faces to each one (also included).

You Get Underwear

This week at Jingle Belles we're still making cards inspired by this Colorful Inspiration photo.

 

This week I took my inspiration from the multiple banners.  I used Taylored Expressions Party Pennants Background inked and stamped with my MISTI with different colors. 

 

Sentiment is from Taylored Expressions Spoiler Alert.

 

I finished with red bling on the top banner and purple bling on the bottom one.  Hope you'll come join us.

Just Say Yikes

After seeing Lauren rock the Washi Tape for this week's Shopping Our Stash Black & White Challenge, I had to break mine out using this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch.

 

I used my new Ellen Hutson Essentials by Ellen Better Days Ahead stamp set (it was a gift with purchase this month) in shades of grays and blacks as I continue to join Ellen's Summer of Stamping #EBESummerofStamping.

 

 

And of course the set has the perfect sentiment for a Black & White rainbow ... and I finished with an Eyelet Outlet Flower Bling.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• a Good Sauce can make everything better
• How to Calculate Percentages
• these Greek Chicken Tacos look amazing
• How to store your Strawberries

Have a tremendous Thursday.