Ingenious Inkling

New York, New York

Despite the impending government shutdown and flash flooding, I'm still planning to head out on my annual trip to New York City next week. 

 

I wanted to sneak in a card for the Darkroom Door Challenge at Topflight Stamps to honor Rachel Greig using Darkroom Door Stamps, so I chose my Darkroom Door New York Vol. 1 Set to ink-up.

I had a neglected box of kraft cards on my studio table, so I went with a clean & simple monochromatic design.

 

 

I still remember seeing her beauty as we rode by on the Ferry on my first trip to NYC in 2010.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

 

Woodblock Pumpkin

Whenever I join Amy T's Woodblock Wednesday Challenge, I always seem to take a walk down memory lane.  I am also always amazed that I used to stamp with woodblocks all of the time (because of the heavy black areas on this pumpkin, it took me 5 tries and two different inks to find a combination that worked (which was pretty much the norm back in the day ... not so much now with the magic of the MISTI allowing re-stamping).

 

 

I also remember buying these stamps on my annual trip to Chicago, Illinois to visit all of the stamping stores.  You couldn't really buy online then, so it was a pretty magical experience seeing all of the new possibilities for creating. 

 

 

These are from Northwoods Stamps from 2009.  I keep all of my Halloween woodblocks in their own drawer, because I know I'll never part with the ones that I have, so I pull them out year after year.  I stamped it in Catherine Pooler Midnight Ink, which gave great coverage and stamped into a foam pad for a bit of give to allow better coverage.  Next, I pulled out my Prismacolor Pencils and colored away (adding a bit of Sharpie marker to the eyes and mouth).

 

 

I dug into my vintage Halloween paper stash using this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout and finished with a few Pinkfresh Studio Crystals.  With some 2009 stamps, I'm joining the Retro Rubber Tic Tac Toe Challenge straight down the middle with pattern paper, circles & coloring for my  choice.

 

 

Here's the Freshly Made Sketches layout.

 

 

I'm also joining the Inspired by Pumpkins Challenge.

 

A Christmas Story

At Jingle Belles the theme is still A Christmas Story where we're asking you to create a card inspired by the many holiday books or movies that we all adored in childhood (and likely still adore them today). 

So whether you love “A Christmas Carol”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” or “It's a Wonderful Life” we're asking you to create a card inspired by your favorite holiday book or movie.

Bumble the Abominable Snowman aka Yeti from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 1964 Stop Motion Animation Special has always been my favorite Yeti.  I built my card around this long-hoarded foam sticker adding the glittery star and Eyelet Outlet Candy Cane Brad in his Yeti hands. 

 

 

I paired with with snowflakes & candy cane striped designer paper with him perched on a stitched die cut oval from one of my red gelliprints.  The perfect sentiment is from Hello Bluebird Yeti or Not.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Monday Christmas Challenge.

Seize the Birthday

I'm thrilled to be back for another Surprise Party Guest post at Seize the Birthday.

 

 

The next Challenge is to create with Repetitive Die Cut.

 

 

I thought about a variety of possibilities for a birthday and settled on Birthday Candles from Impress.  I die cut the five candles repeatedly out of gold cardstock & then attached them to my black card stock (inspired by the University of Iowa Hawkeye team) cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". 

 

 

I framed it with black cardstock & then attached it to my gold card base with foam tape for dimension.

 

 

I finished by die cutting the Simon Says Stamp Happy B-day Die Cut by CZ Design from gold polka dot designer paper & layered it on black cardstock with a vellum background.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes at the Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge.

I hope you'll have fun with your die cuts and come join us.

Thursday Link Love

another week of skipping through blogland:

• Ways to embrace Living Slowly
• I've been wanting some Dutch Apple Pie
• Productivity Methods
• Apple Streusel Baked Oatmeal
• don't neglect these Self-Care Behaviors
• Coconut Cream Poke Cake
• love Anne Fogerty's 50's Fashion (one of many shown)
• a fabulous home in a former grocery store
• Mint Brownies
• I love watching Documentaries (I've seen four on the list)
• Carrot Cake Cookies
• America's Best Small Towns
• Apple Dumplings remind me of my Grandma
• how to make your own sparkly toile pumpkins

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Colors of Halloween

The next Challenge at Shopping Our Stash is Color Me Beautiful - showcase your favorite coloring medium.

 

 

I chose my Gellipress as my favorite medium.  It works so well for large stamps like So Franken Cute from Picket Fence Studios.

I used a combination of green inks to create my paper and then stamped Frankenstein in black ink before detail cutting the image.  I used a scrap of the green inked paper for stamping my sentiment as well.  I added some silver pen to his posts & brackets, and used colored pencils for a bit of green shading.

 

 

I used another gelliprint (that one with paint) for my background.

Can't wait to see how you shop your stash to join us.

 

Uniko Round in Circles Birthday

I absolutely loved the color combination at this week's Color Throwdown Challenge (as well as the inspiration photo).  It makes me want to pull together an outfit in those hues.

 

 

I found four inks in those shades and used one of the stamps from Uniko Background Builders: Round in Circles.  After stamping all four, I die cut it with a stitched rectangle die cut.

 

 

I used the navy ink for a sentiment from Uniko Bauhaus Blocks that I die cut with the same stitched rectangle.  I used form tape to attach the rectangle and more tape for the sentiment to give the white-on-white dimension.

 

 

I'm also linking-up my masculine birthday card design at C is for Celebrate Challenge at the Less is More Challenge.

Better With You

This afternoon I wanted to make a card for the I'll Be There for You Challenge at Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero.

 

 

I inked-up a stamp from Hero Arts Roadside Messages stamp set in Versafine Clair Blue Belle Ink and cut it out with the coordinating die cut. 

Then I used the same ink with the Hero Arts Stacked Circles Stencil on Navy cardstock.  I liked how the circles in the stamp were repeated in the design of the stencil.

 

 

I added a strip of textured red cardstock with two Love from Lizi Gold Metallic Peel-off strips to frame it.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Happy Little Stampers September Stencil Challenge.

Scrappy Floral Birthday

One of the good things (and or bad things depending on your perspective) about making cards for 20+ years is that I could probably make cards for days just using scraps.

Today I decided the remaining floral stickers on my table needed to find a home, so when I saw the layout from CAS Colours & Sketches, I knew just what to do.

I positioned the flowers and petals on three 1 1/4" white cardstock squares punched from a scrap of papers on my desk.

 

 

I went to my scrap bin and found two pieces of designer paper that coordinated with my blooms, and then used foam tape to mat the flowers on golden cardstock squares.  I finished with one of my wood mounted cherished tiny happy birthday! sentiments from A Muse Artstamps. 

I finished with a scattering of golden gem stones.

 

A Christmas Story

At Jingle Belles this week's theme is A Christmas Story where we're asking you to create a card inspired by the many holiday books or movies that we all adored in childhood (and likely still adore them today). 

So whether you love “A Christmas Carol”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” or “It's a Wonderful Life”, we're asking you to create a card inspired by your favorite holiday book or movie.

I chose "A Christmas Story" as my inspiration for this week's card using stamps from The Ink Road Leg Lamp.  I sprayed my papers with Fortune Teller & Cocktail Party Distress Mica Stain Sprays with the Pinkfresh Studio Rounded Braided Rectangle Die Cut for the images.

 

 

I chose my colors for the Color Hues Red/Purple Challenge which included a hop to honor Lindsay.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers V is for Vivid Challenge.

 

 

And the Mica Spray is a metallic, so I'm linking up at the Christmas Craft Creations Metallics Challenge.

 

 

Come share your favorite Christmas Movie or Book with us at Jingle Belles.