Ingenious Inkling

Sending Hugs

When I saw the lovely card by Neet & Crafty for her Guest Designer post at the Uniko Ltd blog, it inspired me to sneak in a card for the January Gina K. Monthly Mix Challenge to use Red for a Celebretory Card (Valentine's Day (or Galentine's Day) feels like a great celebration day for me).

 

 

I used the Gina K. Designs Water Droplet Stencil with Gina K.'s Faded Brick & Cherry Red Inks.  Next I positioned it behind a die cut heart using foam tape.

 

 

I finished with a simple sentiment from Gina K. Designs Happy Hearts (stamped once in each red color of ink to get the color I wanted).

 

 

I'm also joining Tic-Tac-Toe at The Paper Players with a Vertical line down the left side (die-cut, red & stencil).

 

 

And with my lovely stencil pattern, I'm joining the Pattern Challenge at Addicted to CAS.

Happiness

I really loved this week's Wanderlust lesson on Ephemera and Contrast.  

I started with a vintage picture of my Great Aunt Mary that I snapped from her photo album during our last visit together, vintage sheet music, and lots of wonderful vintage ledger papers from Lauren (have you checked out all of the vintage goodies at her store Just Enough Stuff).

 

I went through my designer paper scrap bin and decided to go with a teal color palette for my pages (no surprise I had a wide selection of paper choices).  I used circle dies & punches to create my layout.

Next up was lots of washi tape and then White Gesso

 

 

I should have added ephemera at this point, but forgot ... so I added it at the end (postage stamps & trading stamps)  together with highlights from Stabilo CarbOthello Pencils.

 

The word stickers and dictionary definition are both inspired by Aunt Mary.  She wanted nothing more than for me to be happy ... and asked me each time we were together if I was (and if the answer was no, she encouraged me to make changes, so I could be happy).  

Thanks to her pride in me, her love, her undying support, and her belief in me, my life is certainly a much happier place.  I had so much fun making this page to honor her memory and the impact she had on my life.

You Are Beautiful

I was thrilled to get some of the 2021 early Hero Arts Stamp Shop Box releases from The Ink Pad (which are so super-cool they sold out but are now back in stock).  I am also thrilled to be Guest Designing at the Ink Pad Blog to share my first card.

 

 

I had lots of fun playing with the new Cut & Color Layering Flower Power Set.  There are actually 8 different layering stamps in the set.  I used them all, but you can certainly use different combinations to create lots of possibilities.

 

 

Some things I learned in my stamp layering process were to use the centers of the flowers to help you align the hair layers ... and use the eyes to help align the face.  

I also re-inked the lips on that stamp with a slightly darker color for more contrast (yay for the MISTI).

I paired her gorgeous face with a background created with Karin Markers and another Gel Press Print cut with Hero Arts Nesting Dies.

 

 

I love how there was a separate stamp for the iris of the eye, so I could match them to the colors in her hair.  

To finish the design, I couldn't resist adding tiny bits of purple bling in her hair.

Who in your life needs to hear that they are beautiful?  What better way to tell them than a card they can treasure.

Merry & Bright Colorful Christmas

This week at Jingle Belles we're creating cards inspired by this Boho Colorful Christmas image from Love the Day.

 

 

There are so many possibilities for inspiration in this photo ... but my eyes went right to that adorable deer in the embroidery hoop ... so that's what I used for my inspiration.  Here's a more close-up shot.

 

 

I started by Die Cutting the large Waffle Flower Embroidery Hoop from bright pink paper and a second time from one of my salted watercolor papers for the inside.

 

 

 

Next I added a thin pink Alexandra Renke Rectangle Frame and die cut the scarf from the Impression Obsession Snowman Die from White Felt. 

I die cut the retired Essentials by Ellen Prize Stag twice from brown cardstock & then die cut the anglers three more times from the colors in the picture.  Next I decorated the stag head with teal gems. I finished with a sticker sentiment before attaching to a piece of white shiplap designer paper.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland finds:

• Love the art of Stephanie Kilgast fusing animals with trash & thrifted objects
• Irish Beef Stew is on the menu for this week (with some added butternut squash chunks)
• can't wait to create with this cute little Dumpling stamp set
• How cute (and portable) are these Mini Quiches
• love the idea of these Infused Vodkas
• Amy T's rainbow valentines are amazing
• also love Joan's nesting heart ice cream cone
• and Seeka's ink blending and masking ... be still my heart
• I really want a Bernie Beanie (and those mittens) ... my gloves haven't been cutting it for my nightly walk
• how fun are these Paint Poured Shoes
• an adorable Crocheted Unicorn (shown)
• I really want to paint a Marshmallow wall
• free printable Valentine Prints

Have a tremendous Thursday!

It's 5 O'clock Somewhere

When I saw the theme at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge was Let's Be On Time, I started thinking about what sentiments in my stash talked about time.

I started with three clock stickers from three different sticker collections from {a vintage girl} & her daughter - Steampunk, Gold Steampunk and Wild West.  Remember using my discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your sticker purchase.

 

 

The paper I used is from Stamperia Atelier Collection, because I thought the vintage feel of the paper design worked well with my clock collection.  The layout is from this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments. 

 

I finished with a pint glass of beer and sentiments from Cathy Zielske's Happy Hour Stamp Set for Simon Says Stamp.  It looks perfect paired with a local Italian-Style Pilsner.

 

You Are the Best

This afternoon while watching the football playoffs, I decided to play with my collection of Pinkfresh Studio products and join their Create & Connect Inspired by Challenge.  Here's are the two inspiration projects.

 

 

I chose the card as my inspiration.  I started with a piece of 6" designer paper from the Pinkfresh Studio Office Hours collection that has similar colors and the angled color block design.  Next I found a coordinating oval chipboard frame from the Pinkfresh Holiday Vibes Christmas Collection and backed it with a Pinkfresh Studio oval journaling die cut embellishment from Indigo Hills 2 that was inspired by the floral element at the top left of the Inspiration Card.

 

My focal point is also a Pinkfresh Studio Ephemera Die Cut from Indigo Hills 2.

I scattered some enamel dots and finished with a stamped sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio Modern Layered Florals.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at The House That Stamps Built.

Wanderlust Dandelion Wishes & Recollections

This week's Wanderlust lesson felt a lot more in my wheel house than the previous ones.  It started by cutting apart pieces of paper bag (I also used two different kraft papers I had on rolls) and painting them with gesso.  Once the gesso dried we added Watercolor paint (I used my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor set I got from St. Louis Art Supply).  I then left those to try overnight.

 

 

I tried every white pen I have in my house with no success to draw my dandelions.  I finally used the spray tube of my Dina Wakely White Gloss Spray to "paint" my flowers.  One of the paint pens I had tried splattered on my page, so I just went with it.

 

I didn't follow all of the instructions in the class (for one thing, to use my own hand-writing) and have finally started trusting my own artistic intuition as I create in my journal.  I just went with the general feel of the class and did it "my way". 

 

I used some Alexandra Renke floral papers, washi tape, stickers and gems.  I finished by stapling my paper bag pages into my journal.

Merry Inchie Christmas

We’re still celebrating Inches and Twinchies at Jingle Belles.

This week I decided to start by stamping some tiny wood mounted sentiments on a background created with Karin Brushmarkers and punched them out with a 1” Square Punch.   In the days of wood mounted stamps, I was quite the tiny sentiment collector.

 

 

I attached them with foam tape on top of a 1 1/4” and 1 3/8” square before placing them inside slimline die cuts from Heffy Doodle.

 

I added an Eyelet Outlet Holiday Coffee Cup Brad for the Shopping our Stash Need a Cup of Coffee Challenge.  I love that it has the word Joy to match my stamp. 

I finished with a wrap of metallic twine.

 

 

I'm also joining Jenn Shurkus for her Get Cracking on Christmas. #getcrackingonchristmas

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through blogland:

• how beautiful are these Lemon Cream Brioche Donuts
• printable Star Wars Valentines & Light Saber Wraps for Candy ... super-cute (shown)
• Perler Bead Soap Dish Tutorial
• Caramel Apple Monkey Bread (I never thought of making it with cinnamon rolls)
• No-Sew Fleece Scarf
• Hash Brown Ham Cheese & Egg Cups
• Course Syllabus for making friends as an Adult
• I miss traveling and experiencing public art
• used some extra Fat-Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt to make this Chocolate Yogurt Cake this week ... so good (super-moist but not overly sweet).
• free heart-shaped printables from Graphics Fairy
• I want to try making my own Tuna Poke Bowl
• Pomodoro Technique to help stay focused
• Miso Egg Drop Soup with Kimchi

Have a tremendous Thursday!