Ingenious Inkling

Soccer Birthday

This week is the 500th Sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. 

I thought I had been with them from the beginning, but the oldest card I could find was for Sketch #24 in March 2012, so almost the entire time.  I always love their layouts.

 

 

Since I've been watching Soccer all day (actually mostly listening to Soccer; my husband is watching), it seemed appropriate that I made a Soccer-themed birthday card for a fellow soccer fan.  

 

 

I'm also joining The Paper Players Challenge (Masculine - Die Cut - Birthday across the middle).  I die cut a Hexagon from Plaid paper from the Authentique Soccer Collection to coordinate with the shape on the Doodlebug Soccer Ball Paper.  The sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp Birthday Sentiment Strip.

 

Love Your Guts

Today's paper crafting goal is to clean my studio.  I have way too many piles to even begin creating.  

But of course while I was cleaning, I got sidetracked by a bit of striped paper I had leftover from Day 1 of the Crushing on Cardstock Class at Online Card Classes.  I decided to cut it into strips and make one more card inspired by Kristina Werner's Designs.  The colors are Oceanside & Sorbet from Concord & 9th.

 

 

I mounted the checkerboard design with foam tape on a floral card base and topped it with a Love Your Guts die cut sentiment from Simon Says Stamp by CZ Designs.  The finishing touch were s cattering of silver sequins.

Cookies for Santa

This week our Jingle Belles theme is to make a card inspired by these adorable Snow Globe Cookies from Missy's Sugar Shop.

 

 

I started with the Memory Box Snowmen Snow Globe Die cut from White Cardstock.  I cut the clouds twice and layered them with foam tape for dimension.  I colored the snowman arts & accessories inspired by the colors in the Snowman Cookie.

 

 

For the background, I blended Catherine Pooler inks and then sprayed with water.  When that dried, I added a few spritzes of Shimmer Spray.  Next came some Distress Oxide Spray and then I finished with splatters of White Enamel Ink.

I attached that panel to a Memory Box Purple Cardstock base inspired by my accessories and the background in the cookie photo.  I finished with a sentiment from Memory Box Typewriter Holiday.

I'm also joining this month's Memory Box Challenge to use a white focal element.

 

You're a Blessing

Tonight's creativity is brought to you by another Crushing on Cardstock Class.  I'm no Debby Hughes, but tonight it was fun to try to channel some of her design skills into my creation.

I used Gesso to stencil on stone cardstock.   Next, I created my "wreath" with Circle Shaped Dies from Studio Light and Ivory cardstock (normally I would never combine white gesso with ivory cardstock, but I followed her lead and loved the effect).

 

 

I combined solid & glittered cardstock using Alexandra Renke Dies for my leaves and stems.  I punched some oak leaves from a scrap of cardstock covered in paint and gel medium from my stash.

I added some flowers and iridescent gems and a Taylored Expressions Be Bright Sentiment to finish the design.

And it's Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp.

 

 

 

And the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge is All Things Feminine.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland finds:

• How to make Chinese Dumplings
• are you good at reading Body Language (I find it's more challenging on video calls)
• Apple Fritter Bread feels like Autumn
• Chai Spiced Pumpkin Cake does too
• Pieces of Life Wisdom
• how about Lunchroom Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
• this cute Beachy Card makes me long for the sea
• do you make Breakfast Pizza at home?
• love the Floral-on-Text design
• low-carb Frozen Lemonade sounds refreshing
• I love these crocheted Yip Yips (shown)
• I want some One Pot Beef Stroganoff, but it will have to be all for me since my husband doesn't do mushrooms
• don't forget to enjoy Free Museum Day
• Giant Monster Cookies - yes please

Have a tremendous Thursday.

Hello from Iowa

Another card for the 2nd day of the Crushing on Cardstock class at Online Card Classes.  This one was taught by Jennifer McGuire and was about layering dies with die cut backgrounds.

 

 

I combined Carved Pumpkin & Mustard Seed Distress Oxide Ink for my blending together with the Iowa Delight Die and the Greetings from Iowa stamp from Memory Bound in Ankeny, Iowa and the Hero Arts Bold Graphic Confetti Die.

Crushing on Cardstock Chevron

This is my card from the first part of Day One of the Crushing on Cardstock Class at Online Card Classes.  Kristina Warner taught us how to create a Chevron pattern using 1/2" strips of cardstock. 

I chose the colors from the current Color Hues Challenge (Turquoise & Coral - or in my case Concord & 9th Oceanside & Sorbet).

 

 

I attached my chevron pattern with foam tape to a silver floral patterned card base and then wrapped the card with a piece of coordinating jute fiber that was in my fiber jar.  I finished with a few coordinating sequins and a sentiment from Concord & 9th Hi There Bear (stamped in Sorbet).

 

That's Dreadful!

I'm ready to start stocking my Halloween card stash. 

I resisted buying any new Halloween products at Scrapmania this weekend (I bought plenty of other products), so instead I pulled out Authentique Mysterious papers from my large stash of vintage (aka retired) Halloween papers for this week's Paper Craft Crew Challenge Sketch.

 

 

I added a Boo Tag, some sticker sentiments, and a scattering of sequins to finish the design.

 

Vacation Adventures

We've enjoyed almost a full two week vacation and now we must return to reality.  We took a westward road trip to see our Nephew get married in the mountains of Colorado.

Our first overnight was in Grand Island, Nebraska where we enjoyed an early supper at Kinkaider Brewing Company.  

 

 

Then we walked around downtown enjoying the painted wings #wingsacrosstheheartland

 

 

And buying some fun new art - a Mary Kolar Bad Hair Day Mask.

 

 

The wedding was in a beautiful outdoor mountain setting near where my Nephew had proposed.

 

 

We spent the day enjoying a hike along the river.

 

 

After another day visiting with family, we headed eastward again for a few days in Kansas City.  This was our view for miles & miles.

 

 

We tried staying in the Crossroads Art District this time at the Crossroads Hotel and enjoyed the neighborhood (except for the horrible road construction).  Thankfully it was mostly walkable and we enjoyed all of the outdoor art.

 

 

We took the opportunity to check out some new-to-us Museums.  We started at the World War I Museum and learned so much.

 

 

Next we explored the Negro League Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum (where the memories of our High School Band Director taking us to see Count Basie play were strong).

 

 

 

Our final museum was the small but sufficiently funky Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.  Our favorite exhibit was Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Pulsa Topology - a room full of hanging light bulbs where you held your hand near a sensor and it picked-up your pulse and made the lights flash in rhythm.  

 

 

Our favorite meal was at the Grünauer.  I must learn to make the Käsespätzle.

 

 

But alas it's back to reality.  I have missed traveling so much; it felt so good to get out for a bit and see the world.

Reindeer Magical Holiday

We're still creating with only cardstock at Jingle Belles this week (not a snip of designer paper allowed). 

I chose three shades of Green Cardstock from Memory Box that I cut into strips and attached to a scrap of white cardstock to create my base design before trimming into a rectangle.  Next, I used the Memory Box Pinpoint Snowflake Plate on top of the attached strips.

 

 

Next I die cut the Memory Box Reindeer Window and Antlers from heavy white cardstock for my focal point for the August Memory Box Challenge to use a White Focal Point in your design.

I finished with a Red Fairy Jewel on his nose and a sentiment from Memory Box Holiday Greenery stamped in two shades of green.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Add a Sentiment Challenge.