Ingenious Inkling

Gift Card Holiday

We're still making cards that hold gift cards at Jingle Belles.  I found an ancient Gift Envelope Die from The Cat's Pajamas that used with some Memory Box Garland paper.  I sponged grey ink around the edges of the envelope to give it a bit more contrast from the background.  I also added a 3/8 inch Velcro Dot Closure that will easily allow the recipient to retrieve the card.

 

 

The card envelope worked perfectly with this week's Sketch Saturday.  Since my background paper had a lovely image in the right corner, I flipped the sketch and added a 1 3/8 inch vellum square.  The sentiment strips and stitches ticker are from Pretty Little Studio.

 

 

Here's a view with the gift envelope open.

 

 

We hope you'll join us, so we can see your holiday gift card creations.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun blogland discoveries:

• Peach Praline Upside Down Cake
• What Color would your family do?
• Intrigued by Boozy Hot Chocolate Bombs & Halifax Donair
• How to Be Happier
• Polaroids were the photos of my childhood
• how fun are these Embellishment Clusters
• I remember making Chocolate Cherry Bars in the 80's
• how sweet is this little Book Love Card
• Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits is calling my name
• love these Tissue Paper Pendants
• I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try cooking my own Tamagoyaki

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Pastel Birthday

When I saw the yummy pastel colors at the {Cupcake Inspirations Challenge}, I knew it was time to dust off my Distress Oxide Ink Sprays and have some fun.

 

 

I was really hoping the newest Distress Color was going to be a nice pale yellow (I love the beautiful patina hue too).  I used the closest I had and then die cut the wavy strip in the middle from pale yellow using the Vertical Sketch at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge for my layout.

 

 

I stamped images from Your Next Stamp Celebrating You on a scrap of sprayed paper and finished with a scattering of gems.

 

 

And it's all About Occasions at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

 

Something to be Thankful for

When I saw the Pitcher Bouquet at Poppies Fusion Card Challenge, it reminded me of the Farmhouse Containers Stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter ... remember my discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your order at the Sticker Store.

 

 

I paired one of the metal farmhouse container stickers that reminded me of the image with a flower sticker from the Pink Steampunk Stickers.

I then added two of the floral cameras from the Vintage Cameras Sticker Set.

 

 

I used the Fusion Card Sketch and covered my card base with coordinating floral paper from Pebbles Lovely Moments.

 

 

The sentiment is from the Sticker Set Typewriter Phrases.

Girl Power

The current Challenge-theme at A Blog Named Hero is Anniversary.  Today I'm thinking about the Anniversary of a Friendship ... you know when you find that friend who laughs at the same things you do ... who doesn't even question why you're taking a picture of a man-hole cover or some graffiti on a wall ... who will share dishes with you when you go out to eat ... and who stocks their refrigerator with things you love when you come to visit.  Yep, that kind of friend.

 

Also since yesterday was Independent Book Store Day (which they are celebrating at Daring Cardmakers), I thought it was perfect to break-out my Hero Arts library-themed stamps and dies for my card design.

 

 

I started with die cutting the library card and library card holder from Hero Arts Library Card Stamp & Cut.  I also die cut the Hero Arts Bold Graphic Confetti Die for my background.

 

 

I added sentiments from the Library Card set to the library card.  For the Pocket, I used sentiments from Hero Arts Library Quotes & Hero Arts Empowerment.

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

 

 

I finished with a stamp from Hero Arts Dare to Dream along the bottom.

Go celebrate those friendships (and mail a card).

Blowing Bubbles

This week's lesson at Wanderlust was the first in a serious of Recycle-themed designs.  

The first exercise was to find a focal image in a magazine ... and then work backward cutting out the pages in front to create an aperture around the image.  I forgot to take a picture of my finished aperture before I moved on to adding gesso, white paint and Oil Pastels.   I was disappointed when the Gesso lifted some of the color from my focal image, but I just worked with it ... sort of gives her a more ethereal feel.

 

 

Orange and Green are not a color combination I would normally choose, but I worked with the colors in my focal image (green) and the colors of the pages on top of it (orange).  I learned from my color wheel that combination is called Split-Complementary.  

The words and phrases I added were found on the pieces of the pages that I cut away ... Serendipity for sure to have such great ones on the *throw-away* pieces.

I am still enjoying stretching my artistic muscles with different materials and ways of thinking about creating art.

hey sistah!

The Waffle Flower Weekly Challenge theme is Color Crush - create a card with your favorite color.

 

 

I have several favorites, but somehow Orange is the color that usually rises to the top, so that's what I went with using this week's hues from the Color Throwdown Challenge (I would totally  have those pillows in my house).

 

 

I chose inks in all four hues and applied them direct-to-paper in Diagonal Stripes on a piece of white cardstock.

 

 

I stamped one of the blooms from the Waffle Flower Bouquet Builder and die cut with the coordinating die cut.

The sentiments are from Waffle Flower Sisterhood.

 

 

On the First Day of Christmas ...

my true love gave to me, a Gift Card in a Gift Card Holder.  Yep, our current prompt at Jingle Belles is all about creating gift card holders.

I found a gift card holder tutorial that I made with a 12" x 5 1/2" piece of glittery designer paper and coordinating tag from Pebbles Cozy & Bright.  This design just takes four scored folds, some strong tape and a few die cuts.   I love that it's totally mailable.

 

 

I used Essentials by Ellen Tag Trio for the gift card opening and a vintage My Favorite Things File Folder Edges Die for the rounded tab.  Finally I finished with the My Sweet Petunia Cut-Align to cut the perfect slit to tuck my gift card holder closed.

 

 

There's plenty of room to add a holiday message.  We hope you come join us.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of hopping through blogland:

• Chocolate Strawberry Crème Brulee ... yes please
• how cool is this DIY Coffee Bar Makeover
• Lemon Blueberry French Toast Bake (I love lemon with berries)
• are you having Re-entry Fear
• Banana Oat Bars
• How fun are these Resin Dominos
• I love making Cinnamon Apples ... I haven't tried adding vanilla and honey (I just use cinnamon and water)
• If it's on the menu, I often order unique version of Eggs Benedict
• Lemon Curd Hand Pies
• I really want some Steak Bites
• Embroidered Art Brooches (shown)
• I'm intrigued by Mango Sago ... and this Creamy Coconut Lime Mojito

Have a tremendous Thursday!

NYC Taxi Cab Birthday

My Facebook Memories have been reminding me that this week in 2010 I took my first trip with Lauren to NYC.  At the time, I thought it would likely be my only trip, so we crammed so much into that experience.  It turns out we made it into an annual adventure, so we've had the thrill of sharing so much of the City Together.

When I saw the image at the Inkspirational Challenge it made me remember the few times our feet were just too tired to go any more, and we took a taxi (which is actually slower than our feet, but gave us the chance to have a rest).

 

 

I decided to combine the Inkspirational Image with the AAA Cards Challenge to create a card using only a 1" wide strip and use some Small Stamps as an Optional Twist.

 

 

I cut my 1" strip of cardstock and used a blending brush with Distress Oxide Weathered Wood to create the blue-grey rainy sky.  Next I added some street washi tape for the road, trimming some off the bottom to leave more room for my small sentiment stamps.

 

 

I stamped the taxi cab from Hero Arts City Adventure on gold cardstock with black ink and detail cut the vehicle.  Next I stamped sentiments from City Adventure & Hero Arts Wish Boo Peek-a-Boo Parts to turn it into a Birthday Card for the #staycraftywithhero Challenge.

 

 

I also used the colors for the current Color Hues Challenge - Yellow & Gray.

 

 

Here are some of my favorite photos from that trip 11 years ago.  We still talk about the Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall

 

 

And how magical it was to see the view from the Top of the Rock at night.

 

 

We also rod the Staten Island Ferry over and back, so I could see the Statue of Liberty.

 

 

But mostly extending a virtual friendship with card-making bestie Lauren into a real life one that enriches my life still today.   This was her getting to enjoy one of her favorite dishes Brandade at La Bonne Bistro.  Can't wait until we can see each other again.