Ingenious Inkling

Retro Happy Birthday

I've spent most of last weekend and this morning trying to reassemble my studio.  Last weekend I got the bright idea to replace some broken plastic storage with a vintage dresser that I found for half-price at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, however I'm currently in that interim phase where everything is worse before it gets better.  

Hopefully by the end of the three-day weekend, I'll have everything much better than when I began.  With 20+ years of paper crafting supplies, it can be very hard to make those purging decisions that need to happen over time.

 

 

During the sorting and purging process, I found these fun vintage Flower Child Stickers by Jen Hadfield for American Crafts.  I thought they would be perfect to use for the Retro Challenge at Seize the Birthday (since unfortunately at my age, my childhood qualifies as Retro).  I paired them with a crafty feeling paper from Simple Stories Hey, Crafty Girl collection.

 

 

I used one sticker sentiment and a vintage stamped sentiment from A Muse to finish the design together with a rotated sketch from Just Add Ink.  I have so many happy memories of all of those retro elements.

 

Travel Thank You

I always appreciate those who take care of things for us while we travel, so I wanted to make a special Thank You card.

I used lovely new Traveler Papers from Mintay paired with this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch.

 

 

I dug out an old school Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix BigZ Elegant Flourishes Die Cut.  I die cut it several times from a scrap of aged grey designer paper that I thought worked with the trunk and camera in my focal image.

 

 

I finished with some Taylored Expressions Gold Matte Enamel Dots that looked like the dots on the trunk.  I finished with a Wood Mounted Thank You sentiment from A Muse Artistamps.

Celebrating You!

My card started with wanting to join the Seize the Birthday Embossing Challenge.

 

 

Next, I saw the Color Challenge at The Paper Players, so I embossed some hot pink cardstock to go with my black & white.

 

 

I combined four vintage woodblock stamps from A Muse, Impress and Stampin' Up for my white square using the layout from Atlantic Hearts Sketch. Bin also joining Sentimental You Challenge at Little Red Wagon Challenge, since mt three sentiment stamps are the star of the show  

 

 

It's a Wrap

At Jingle Belles this week, we're still creating with leftover bits of wrapping paper, gift tags or ribbon from the holidays.

Did you know Lauren is the world's best gift wrapper (and I am likely the worst).  I like to think of myself as a good gift buyer & sender, but trust me, it won't be wrapped.  When I get a gift from Lauren, I put it in a place of reverence, so I can just admire it for a few days before I open it up to see what is inside.

This gorgeous metallic snowflake ribbon was on one of my gifts from Lauren this year, so I wanted to save it to make a holiday card.  I wrapped it around a piece of white cardstock that I used to clean an alcohol ink covered stencil (gotta love those leftovers).  I then used foam tape to attach it to a kraft card base.

 

 

I went through multiple possible embellishments before deciding on this gorgeous button that is carved from a seashell that was in my step-mom's button collection (the card will likely go to a family member who will treasure the keepsake).  I positioned a strip of gold glitter underneath it to help ground it against the patterned ribbon.  I added a bit of light blue twine to tie it to my alcohol-inked background.  With the sparkle of my ribbon & my glitter paper, I'm joining the Just Us Girls Sparkle Challenge.

 

 

Glitter & Sparkle is also the theme at the Christmas Craft Creations Challenge.  And it's Anything Christmas Goes at The Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge.

 

I finished with a vintage woodblock Sentiment from A Muse Artistamps.

Remember, one random participant will receive the Simon Says Stamp Mid Century Holiday Plate Die to add to their collection.

 

Woodblock Wedding

It's time for another Woodblock Wednesday.

 

 

I needed a wedding card, so I pulled out two favorites from my stash.  The Art Deco Couple from A Muse Artistamps still had the price tag from Expressions With Heart, a favorite wood block stamp store that my friend & I used to venture to several times a year to spend the day shopping (miss hanging out with you Pam).

 

 

The sentiment is from Catslife Press.

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.

 

Index Card a Day 2023

Each year, I do two months of gelliprinting challenges, and I love the feeling I have creating art every day.  For years, Lauren has done two months of Index Card a Day art (June & July), so I decided to join her for that fun.  You can see my daily posts on Instagram (@SmilynStef)

There are specific daily challenges and weekly themes.  You can do them all or none ... they are just suggestions for inspiration.

 

 

I stayed pretty-on path for the first week as I got warmed-up.

My first one isn't really a sapling, but I have my little tree stamp small dimension with my layout.  The A Muse tire swing stamp reminds me of my childhood and the hours we spent on ours that hung from the large hard maple tree in our back yard.  I used watercolor markers to create my landscape.

 

 

One of my ICAD goals is to break-out neglected supplies, so or the day 2 Dots Challenge, I broke out some oil pastels to create my rainbow dots, and then I had to go through multiple tools to finally find one that I could use to draw around the oil pastel (Sharpie ended-up being the winner).

 

 

I have quite a collection of maps, so I used part of a California map for Day 3.  I poked holes along several roads, and then I threaded a needle with some blue thread and stitched along the road.  I finished with some clear stickers that had messages that encouraged me.

 

 

I used a paper towel roll and brown paint to create some coffee rings for Day 4 Espresso.  Next I stamped more circles from Birgit's Mini Textures stamps from Carabelle Studio.  I finished with a tiny cup of Espresso.

 

 

I inked the rainbow for the Day 5 Stripes Challenge.

 

 

For wildflowers, I found some stickers made from real wildflowers in my stash.  I put them on a gelliprinted background.

 

 

For day 7, I punched out a Treble Clef from a piece of vintage music in my stash gifted to me from my dear Great Aunt Mary.  It was fun remember her and honoring her with my art on an inky background.

 

 

I'm having fun working on the week 2 prompts.

Woodblock Wednesday

Today I'm joining Amy T for her Woodblock Wednesday Challenge.

 

When I saw the colors at the Just Us Girls Challenge, I knew the papers from the Bo Bunny Whiteout Collection would be perfect.

 

 

I chose a dark blue snowy paper for the background, and trimmed two ticket strips from another piece that featured the two shades of blue.

 

 

I used two woodblock stamps - the snowman from Savvy and a vintage A Muse sentiment ... and as you can tell they are much loved & much used. 

I used a layout from the Sunday Stamp Challenge with a bonus challenge to make it a Celebration Card.  Since I needed a masculine birthday card, that was perfection.

 

 

I used layered stitched circles instead of the heart from the sketch.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Ice Ice Baby Challenge at Challenge Up Your Life & the Baby It's Cold Outside Challenge at Little Red Wagon.

Frosty the Snowman

Day 10 of the 12 Tags of Christmas at Ellen Hutson is - Frosty the Snowman with Amy Tsuruta.

 

 

I started with the Poppystamps Whittle Friendly Snowman and dressed him with a black glitter top had and plaid scarf using Memory Box Dashing Holiday designer paper.  I added some Doodlebug Eye See You Shape Sprinkles.

 

 

I used a vintage A Muse sentiment stamp to finish the design.

I'm also linking-up at the Poppystamps Gift it! Challenge with my cute little gift tag.

I used the pretty plaid Memory Box Paper to turn this tag into a card that I'm linking-up at The Holly and Ivy Anything Christmas Challenge.  

 

Repetition Birthday

This week's Just Us Girls Challenge is all about Repetition.

 

I started with this repeating circles Gel Press Print that to me just screams that it need to be a birthday card.

 

 

I used this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday (or Not) Sketch and several vintage wood mounted stamps for a slimline design, so I could feature as much of those overlapping repeated circles as possible..

 

 

I paired my vintage Savvy Stamps Birthday Owl with a repeatedly stamped A Muse Happy Birthday sentiment for a second element of repetition.

 

 

It's perfect for a birthday party I'll be attending this weekend.