Ingenious Inkling

As Old As You Think You Are

I'm joining the Seize the Birthday theme to Use a Stencil.

 

 

I love the blue and green stenciled background of this Gel Press Print using one of the Joggles Klimt inspired stencils by Elizabeth St. Hilaire.

 

Fox Friends Birthday

I've had these cute little fox stickers on my studio table for a while, just waiting for inspiration.  And along it came with the Just Us Girls Challenge Inspiration Photo.

 

 

My niece is having a baby soon, and her baby shower last weekend was filled with adorable little woodland creatures.  

 

I took my inspiration from the design and colors. I started by stamping a little banner from Taylored Expressions Party Streamers across the top, which works for the October #TEMakerChallenge to use something that starts with an S. 

 

 

I picked three pieces of designer paper inspired by the colors in the photograph for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and finished with a perfectly sized sticker sentiment and some tiny star stickers (for more S items).

 

 

I'm also joining the Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge to feature an Animal in your design.

Magical Day

When I saw the Autumn Boldness Colors at the Sunday Stamps Challenge, I was pretty sure I had a piece of paint brayered paper in my stash from Art Camp (you can click through to see the process) in that exact color palette.

 

 

And sure enough, my memory hasn't totally failed me (although some days I wonder).

 

 

I decided to use the paper as my card base and combine it with some new Poppy Stamps products for the Poppy Stamps Make it Magical Challenge (because what is more magical than a Whittle Unicorn).

 

 

I die cut the Poppy Stamps Geometric Deco Plate twice from Orange and Red Cardstock.  Next I die cut the Poppy Stamps Whittle Unicorn twice from shimmery yellow cardstock and a scrap of my background paper (that I used for the mane, horn and heart outlines).

 

 

I paired it with a sentiment from Poppy Stamps Whittle Wild Animal Sentiments to finish the card.

I'm also linking-up at the Dies R Us Anything Goes Challenge where they sell lots of Poppy Stamps dies.

It's Cupcake Time

I decided it was time to use some of those beautiful background papers I've been making for some masculine birthday cards.

I started with this week's Sketch Saturday and a piece of Alcohol Ink paper for my background.

 

 

I combined a journaling card, an SRM Happy Birthday Sticker and a Love from Lizi peel-off and this card was done in no time.

 

 

Next I combined another strip of that same Alcohol Inked background with a Gel Press print using the Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

I rotated the sketch, so I could make my balloon papers work and added a little party hat sticker on top of the Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game (I hated that game; any time I got spun in circles, I got sick ... add a blindfold and you're pretty likely to get to get thrown-up on).

I finished with an SRM Make a Wish sticker across the balloon panel and some Love from Lizi Peel-offs to frame the balloons.

 

You're All Kinds of Wonderful

When I saw the inspiration photo at the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge, it reminded me of several painted panels I've had near my studio table for some time just waiting to become a card.

 

 

I had done a paint smooshing technique with Dylusions Shimmer Paint that I got from The Ink Pad in New York City (they are celebrating their 23rd birthday with 23% off your order if you use code 23YEARS at checkout). Sale applies to in-stock merchandise only and ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, September 26th.

 

 

I put drops of paint on a piece of parchment paper and then sprayed with water before dragging pieces of white cardstock through the colors.  I added more water until all of the paint was on paper.

 

Each one got a different mix of color.  I loved the shimmery effect.

For today's card, I embossed one panel with the Pinkfresh Studio Essentials: Slim Stitches Die (also at The Ink Pad).  I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Stitch It Challenge.

 

 

One a second panel, I stamped the large flower from Pinkfresh Studio Friendship Blooms and fussy cut the bloom before attaching it to a circle cut with the Pinkfresh Studio Diagonal Stitched Circles together with leaves stamped & cut from a green/blue painted panel created using the same technique.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Seize the Birthday Stitching Challenge.

 

I stamped the sentiment & clear embossed on the same green/blue painted paper.  I finished with some green gems.

That makes a Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge horizontal across the top with Die Cut, Orange & Embossing.

 

Peachy Washi Birthday

My card is inspired by the photo at the Peach Birthday Fusion Card Challenge.

 

I used a combination of peachy washi tape to create my background inspired by the layers of the rainbow.  I love how the design in one of the tapes looks like a row of lacy rainbows.

 

 

I brought in the gold from the picture with a Gold Embossed Sentiment from Poppy Stamps Peony Bouquet and the Poppy Stamps Susanna Blossom die cut from gold cardstock. 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Poppy Stamps September Wonderful Washi Challenge.

There's also a Washi Tape Challenge at Little Red Wagon.

Gel Press Retro Birthdays

This mornings ABC's of Gel Printing theme was Stamps & Stencils.  I had fun using both including this wonderful Donna Downey Foam Stamp for my prints.  This is one of my favorite color combinations.

 

 

I decided to go ahead and use that center print for a birthday card using the Retro Rubber Stamp Challenge Sketch.

 

 

I stamped Hero Arts wood mounted Birthday Blackboard from 2013 and then die cut a circle from it for the focal point getting as many of the words I could inside the circle.

 

 

The Catherine Pooler Inks are perfect for getting solid coverage for single stamping of a big wood mounted image.  The sentiment is from one of my oldest and most-used Hero Arts acrylic sets in my collection - Essential Messages from 2010.

 

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Stencil Challenge.

And since I had my leftover gel print bits from yesterday, I decided to do a male version of the card.  I didn't have enough print for the Retro layout, so I used the sketch from Sunday Stamps.

 

 

I turned the rectangle into a square to better frame my circle die cut ... again Catherine Pooler inks for coverage, although I had to use Archival for the sentiment because she doesn't have a good rust color in her palette.

 

 

This one uses another vintage wood mounted Hero Arts Happy Birthday from 2007 - still a classic font & size.

Baking-Up a 100th Birthday Celebration

A friend asked me to make a 100th Birthday Card using these fun baking-themed 3-D stickers.  I used the Sketch from Paper Craft Crew Challenges for my Layout.

The background paper is actually from Pebbles Cozy & Bright Christmas Collection, but I thought the colors worked with the stickers.

 

Instead of wrapping the panel with string, I used Alexandra Renke Washi Tapes.  I swapped the sentiment oval in the sketch for a tag that was the right size to hold my 100 stickers from Amy Tangerine.  I finished with a scattering of epoxy hearts rather than bling and a Happy Birthday Sentiment tucked in at the bottom.

 

 

Lawnfawnatics Inspired Finger-Painted Gel Press Ocean

Today's ABC's of Printing Challenge theme at GelliArts is F is for Finger-painting.  I always loved the tactile joy of finger-painting and still use my fingers as a tool in my art, so I thought it would be fun, but wasn't quite sure where to start. 

Then I saw the Inspiration Photo at the Lawnfawnatics Challenge and inspiration struck ... how gorgeous are those swirls and colors.

 

 

I started by laying down a thin layer of Cobalt Teal with my brayer (my gel press is stained yellow of alcohol inks, so the colors aren't true) and then put my fingers to work with Manganese Blue.

 

 

Next came Permanent Green Light and Iridescent Bright Gold.

 

 

Then I finished with more Manganese Blue and Liquitex Bright Aqua Green.  I didn't clean my finger between painting, so there are bits of each color all around.

 

 

I pulled my prints with copy paper and ended-up with three.  I pulled the first and then applied a thin later of the Bright Gold Paint to pull a second.  The third is a clean-up print.  I ended-up using bits of all three in my card.

 

 

For my card, I trimmed down the gold print for the base on a black card base.  Next I used the Largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackables Circle to cut out my ocean.  I used the third clean-up print to stamp my sentiment from Lawn Fawn Simply Sentiments and put the rest of the print on the inside of the card.  

 

I finished with a row of golden gems and the whale option from the Lawn Fawn Narwhal & Friends die cut from Periwinkle glitter paper with a gold glitter spout and googly eyes.  I die cut the solid whale in black for a bit of shadow for contrast.

 

 

I'm also joining the Birthdays Challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

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.