Ingenious Inkling

Unity Tulips

The January Challenge at Unity Stamp Company is all about Nature. 

 

That made it the perfect time to use my never-been-inked Unity Stamp Company Slimline Tulips Stamp & Coordinating Stencils.

 

 

Tulips have such a special place in my heart.  At the end of summer, my Grandma and I would sit together on the couch and look through the Tulip Catalog together dog-earing the pages as we decided what to order.  We both loved unique colors and petals.  She had an entire rainbow of flowers filling a 6+ foot wide strip down the side of the acre where their house sat.  I wish I had photographs ... but am so grateful I have those memories.

I inked with the colors above inspired by a Tulip called Fire Wings.   Can't wait to try other tulip combinations that I had in my garden (black tulips were some of my favorites, so that might be next).

 

 

I kept it clean and simple with a sentiment from Unity Stamp Company ... Hello Fresh Start.

It's also Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp.

 

Vroom Valentine

There's a Valentine Challenge in the Honey Bee Stamps Facebook group.  As I looked through my stamps, I thought it would be fun to feature the fabulous (and un-inked) Honey Bee Car Show Stamps.

I started by created a plaid background with the Honey Bee Watercolor Lines Stencils (affiliate link on sale for $5.00).  I did Purple with the small lines a light blue with the wide lines going the other direction.  It didn't feel quite Plaid enough, so I flipped the small lines and shifted them slightly to ink them in red.

 

 

I stamped the Honey Bee Car Show car in the same purple, stamping multiple times with my MISTI to get a slightly darker hue.  

Next I used Honey Bee Bee Bold Alphabet to die cut my sentiment from black cardstock.

I finished by adding some red Honey Bee Gems to the tail lights on the car and adding some glitter heart sticker I found in the children's craft section at the craft store.

 

I'm also joining the Plaid Challenge at Just Us Girls.

 

 

And at the Make the Cards Challenge they are creating Valentines.

Cool Yule!

This week at Jingle Belles the theme is The Twelve Days of Christmas.  We're giving you the option of creating a card for your True Love; or creating a card that features a Heart or Hearts; or lastly creating a card inspired by the lyrics of the song (or any combination of the three). 

I chose to combine the first two using the adorable Cool Yule Polar Bears from Impression Obsession and Hearts.  After seeing all of the adorable cards that Laura Williams made with the set, I had to have it.  I took my card inspiration from the Just Us Girls Challenge Photo Inspiration.

 

 

I started by Gel Press Printing my background using Tiara Ruby Double Pigmented Acrylic Metallic Paint.  

 

 

Next I embossed the print using a Cuttlebug Heart Embossing Folder and then applied Gina K. Designs Red Hot ink direct to paper for some more contrast with the embossed texture.

I stamped two of the polar bears in black ink, detail cut them out, and then colored with markers.  

 

 

I stamped the sentiment from the same set and die cut using Spellbinders Tag That! Die.  I finished by adding a stitched landscape cut from white shimmer paper and attaching the stamped elements with foam tape for dimension.

We can't wait to see what part of the prompt inspires you.  One random participant will receive the Impression Obsession Christmas Words Stamp set just for joining us.

 

 

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through blogland:

• Kasespatzle was a favorite dish in Kansas City
• 10 Micro-Habits
• Chocolate Toffee Cake
• Make the Most of your 24 Hours
• this Cherry Tart is so vibrant
• I love the open shelves and concrete counters
• Cheeseburger Egg Rolls
• Women's Fashion History Timeline
• Baked Chicken Street Corn Tacos
• How you can Watch the Olympics
• And if you can't travel, you can watch Travel Movies
• love these ideas for repurposing toys (one shown)

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Love Your Guts

When I was cleaning-up the bits and pieces from my Snarky Card this week, I decided to use them to make another Valentine.  The scrap of Gel Press Print had a perfect contrast with the wine-colored card base.

 

I added more Love from Lizi Peel Offs to frame it and a few coordinating gems.  

Then the focal point CZ Design Love Your Guts Sentiment was die cut from Vellum and a scrap of the same wine-colored card stock.

The finishing touch was a scattering of Doodlebug Heart Stickers.

 

 

I'm linking-up at the Global Design Project Valentine Challenge.

Snoopy - A Man's Best Friend

The current theme at The Retro Rubber Challenge is Dig it... it's the 50s! - to create using the lovely pastel colors from the 1950's.

 

 

I decided to use an image that was also from the 1950's (1950 & 1958 according to the dates on the size of the wood stamp base).  I'm guessing the stamp itself called Man's Best Friend made by Rubber Stampede for Michael's is likely at least 20 years old.  They have become collector's items and are quite expensive if you can find them.

 

 

When we had our Crafty House getaway last year, Chris Dayton shared her collection of vintage Snoopy stamps with me, so I was able to feature one of those images today.  We had a black & white beagle named Snoopy when we were growing-up, so the cartoon was always near and dear.

Since there wasn't an orange in the challenge colors, I colored Charlie Brown's shirt & shoes with the pale yellow.  I used Tim Holtz Hexagon dies for my stamped image and for the other retro colors (from scraps of designer paper) for the Hexagon Challenge at the CAS on Friday Challenge.

 

And Global Design Project is all about Love/Valentine.

I finished with a couple of stickers (a puffy heart & sentiment) that pulled in a fourth color in the palette.

Since this card is for my brother, with my Peanuts image & the color Pink, I'm going Something that Begins with P at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Gel Press Snark

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are creating with G is for Gel Printing this week ... and you know there's no way I'm passing-up a chance to combining two of my favorite things.

 

 

I went through my Gel Press prints and pulled out two especially grungy and visually interesting ones with color combinations I loved.  I paired them with sold card bases in coordinating colors using this week's Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

My Snark is a Tim Holtz Small Talk Snarky Sticker that I embellished with some Love from Lizi Peel-offs and another gold dimensional sticker from my stash.

 

 

More Tim Holtz Small Talk Snarky stickers and Love from Lizi Peel-offs ... and I couldn't resist some Doodlebug Eyeball Stickers.

 

 

Ardyth Inspired Sakura

I was thrilled to see that one of my favorite inspirations is the Featured Stamper at Splitcoast Stampers today, so you know I had to join the celebration of Ardyth.

While I have a list of her recent techniques on my list to try (seriously, if you haven't subscribed to her YouTube Channel you should), I decided it would be more fun to wander back into her extensive gallery for my inspiration.  I chose this gorgeous card from March of 2017 as my Inspiration.

 

 

Ardyth developed a wonderful LIMES Technique to use when you're making a card inspired by another stamper, so I followed her technique for my card.

• LIST (things about the design that inspire you) - for me it was the large bloom, the four color inking technique, the layout and Mother's Day
• INCLUDE (things you want to include in your design).  I decided to keep 3 of the 4 (I passed on Mother's Day and went for an encouragement/birthday card instead)
• MODIFY - I decided to use a different Mondo Bloom from Ellen Hutson and to go with four different Distress Oxide Inks for my color.  I also added a mat to the white card base.
• EXCLUDE - I passed on the glitter on the flower
• SPIN - instead of glitter, I added gems that coordinated with my flower color; I also positioned my sentiment differently to work with my bloom; and used foam tape for dimension.  Additionally I added some spin to the inking technique that I'll talk about below.

 

 

I used these four colors of distress ink on my paper together with the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Sakura Stamp and Die.  The Distress Oxides combined together more than the contrast that Ardyth got with the Distress Inks she used.

 

 

 

I started by spraying it with Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent Spray, which gave a slight reaction with the ink.  Then I went in with splattering of Gem Pink & Gem Violet from the Gansai Tambi Gem Color Paints which got me to the contrast I was hoping for in my design.

 

 

The sentiment is from Essentials by Ellen Besties with gems from Pinkfresh Studio Essentials Gems.

Thanks to Ardyth for Inspiration today & every day.

Clothed in Strength and Dignity.

I picked-up a new Penny Black She Builder Stamp Set at Scrapmania over the holidays and decided to ink it up for a card to mail my Gran.  It's also perfect for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is Something New.

 

I decided to pair the new with the old - a 2007 Penny Black Stickeroo called Pen & Ink, which I used as my main image.

I finished with a simple scattering of gems.

Candy Cane Christmas

We're still creating with no calorie Treats & Sweets at Jingle Belles this week as we Get Fit for 2022.

I built my card around the classic holiday treat - the Candy Cane.

 

 

In my Christmas scrap drawer I found the candy cane circle and a scrap of candy cane paper that worked perfectly together. 

The green strip was the reverse side of the Candy Cane paper.  I finished with some red gems and a stamped sentiment from The Ink Blot Shop Mixed Holiday Greetings.