Ingenious Inkling

Green Geometric Birthday

I spent the afternoon trying to make art ... and failing.  However, now I know what not to do in the future.  

I decided to see if I could rescue anything from my failed attempts.  I chose the Code Word Geometric at Addicted to CAS for my inspiration and decided to make a masculine birthday card, since my stash needs restocked.

 

 

I die cut Hexagons from a piece of Alcohol Ink paper and another scrap of gelli printed paper - both in greens.  I positioned them on a white card base, adding foam tape to the overlapping one for dimension.

 

 

I debated between a stamped sentiment and a sticker, and ultimately went with the sticker because the color and font seemed just right.

 

 

I'm also joining the Time Out Challenges 10th Birthday Celebration.

Text Me Christmas

This week's Jingle Belles theme is TEXT ME – create a holiday card that celebrates text.

That might mean using some letter stickers, dictionary pages, texty patterned paper, or just creating a card where the sentiment is the star. Great creative with your words and make sure you get TEXTY.

I started by spraying a vintage dictionary page (containing the word NOEL) with Dina Wakley Evergreen Enamel Gloss spray and let it dry.  Next, I used a stitched rectangle and die cut and die cut it horizontally across the page.

 

I stopped it with an outlined Joy Crafts Sketch Art - Christmas Tree die cut from Dark Brown Cardstock.  Next I die cut the star from gold glitter cardstock & decorated my tree with Pinkfresh Studio Sparkle & Shine Ombre Glitter Gems.

I stamped a sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly (in my stash since at least 2008 ... hence the tiny tilt on the straightness of the words) on the right side of the dictionary page with two pieces of a brown Love from Lizi peel-off sticker to help balance the design.

I finished by attaching it to the next size stitched rectangle from kraft cardstock.

And we've got Memory Box Celeste Snowflake Trio Dies for one lucky participant, so come join the fun.

 

Thursday Link Love

Another week of blogland discoveries:

• The 10-10-100 Decluttering Challenge (I seriously need to do the Pantry one - I think it's from growing-up with a fear of not having enough)
• Strawberry Jam Cake
• gorgeous mixed media project by Emma Williams
• have you ever tried Vinegar Pie?
• a way to calm anxiety
• my Grandma always had a decanter of Green Goddess Dressing
• questions to get to know someone better
• Chocolate Bread Pudding (shown) ... yum
• Bar Stools into Night Stands
• Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies
• love these Identity Portraits
• Crème Brulee for Two
• I loved my Potholder Loom
• Whipping Cream Cake

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Be Your Beautiful Self

My sister & her husband love Moose, so when I saw Liam the Moose by Elizabeth Craft, I knew he needed to come live with me. 

He's been sitting on my studio table waiting for the right inspiration.  Today that inspiration arrived, courtesy of The Card Concept.

 

 

I used the Moose & browns as my inspiration for my Clean & Layered Card design, but I paired it with purples, since that is my sister's favorite color.  I also framed my moose like in the inspiration photo, but used a hexagon instead of a diamond.

I used one of the Lindy's Gang papers I created for the glasses, scarf and background hexagon.  I also added some eyeball stickers from my collection.

 

 

I finished with a fun sticker sentiment using the Vertical Sketch from Paper Craft Crew.

 

Imagine ...

The newest Human Face Challenge at Shopping Our Stash had me shopping my archives of wood mounted stamps (and had me questioning how I ever embraced stamping before the MISTI).  

 

 

I don't have a lot of human face images because I feel like most of them require coloring, which is something I usually don't do a lot of, so I'm not often drawn to buying those designs.  Given that fact, I decided to start by looking through my woodblock stamps, where I discovered this forgotten John Lennon image from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (which has apparently been retired).  My step-dad, Brother & Nephew enjoy the Beatles, so I often picked-up images whenever I found them, and they are the ones I've hung onto through the years.

I inked the image using Salty Ocean & Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide inks, using my finger to blur the line between the overlaps.

 

 

I framed it using a thin frame of purple cardstock and then went searching through my collection of printed & sprayed papers to see if I had something in those two colors that might work.  I found several, but couldn't find a die that worked with the rectangle shape I had framed, I ended-up cutting the largest of my Hexagons from my favorite paper.   

Once I had the image centered in that paper, I decided to cut another Hexagon a size smaller from my next favorite paper.  Then I kept cutting hexagons until I came-up with those layout I liked finishing with some of the Lindy's Gang purple and pink sprayed papers from last week.

 

 

I finished with a vintage sentiment from a company called Peddler's Pack.

She Believed She Could

The February Saturday Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Anything Goes with an Optional theme of Wings.

I chose the Floral and Butterfly images from Penny Black April in Paris Stickeroos supplemented by a single butterfly from Penny Black Dreamscape Stickeroos attached to a bright pink Gelli Press print before I die cut using Penny Black Stitches of Love Frame.

 

I attached the die cut panel to a kraft card base before stamping a two-part sentiment from Penny Black She Builder.

Mid Century Masculine Birthday

Bev at Uniko is celebrating Uniko's 12th Birthday, so I had to join the fun (if you don't have any Uniko stamps, you can still play along with the free downloads).

 

 

One of the many things I like about Uniko is how easy their stamps make it to design masculine cards.  I also love all of the fun Mid Century Modern designs.  Just switching-up the colors can make it so easy.  For today's birthday card, I used the colors from this week's Color Throwdown.

 

 

I inked the Uniko Background Blocks Mid Century Modern II with Lime & Blue inks.  Next I matted it in thin frames of each color before a scalloped border at the bottom (using this week's Freshly Made Sketch) and attaching it with foam tape to a brown card base.

 

 

I stamped my Uniko Anniversaire Arts Decoratifs sentiment and centered it on the block.  Brown pearls were the finishing touch.

 

Poinsettia Holiday

We're still creating with Red at Jingle Belles this week.  I knew I wanted to create a red gelli press print to start my card, so I used the vibrant red Pan Pastel together with a Studiolight Fantasy Collection Mask.

 

 

Rather than use white or ivory to pick-up the red, I decided to use vibrant pink paint for several red & pink color challenges including the Color Hues Challenge.

 

 

It's also the colors at Crafting Happiness Challenge.

I die cut the Impression Obsession Poinsettia from vibrant red cardstock, cutting the largest petals twice to fill out the bloom a bit.  I used vibrant pink gems for the flower center.  I positioned the bloom on an ivory circle die cut with Impression Obsession Wacky Stitched Circle.

 

 

I finished with a typed sentiment from Impress Holiday Word.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of skipping through blogland:

• Ground Beef Casserole
• Celebrating the Done List
• Bananas Foster Bread Pudding
• Snickerdoodle Martini
• I completely agree that Hobbies are good for you
• Taco Pizza Rolls
• Journaling Prompts
• Marshmallow Brownies
• vintage book magic
• Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting (shown)'

Have a tremendous Thursday!

Do What Makes You Happy

The February Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs is Strip Card Making - to make a card that features at least three strips of something.  Since I still had some of my Lindy's Gang Magicals paper on my studio table, I cut three strips from it to build my card around.

When I saw the layout at Hand Stamped Sentiments, I knew where my design was headed.

I positioned the three strips on a white card base, and then I used the Gina K. Designs Floral Banner Die (that was free with purchase) for the horizontal banner element.

 

 

I die cut three stitched circles and finished with a sentiment from Gina K. Designs Hygge Time and some glitter gems.