Ingenious Inkling

Washi Birthday Make-Over

I had so much fun doing the Gina K. Designs Make-Over Challenge the last two weeks, I thought I would expand and look for other cards in my history that deserved a make-over too.  I chose this Avery Elle Washi Tape Birthday card from August 2015 because it has been way to long since I played with my Washi Tape (and as we know, some of that tape just doesn't age well).

 

I started my card with the heart and flower washi tape, and built my color palette around that using red and that shade of blue.  I used the same Cake & Candles Sentiment from Avery Elle.

 

 

I also decided to try to make a larger card (mine ended-up around 5" x 6 1/4"), which gave me room for two pieces of flair instead of a flower (one is the fabulous Keith Haring and the other is from A Flair for Buttons.

A Beary Happy Birthday

CAS cards should be the easiest to make ... after all, it's just paper and ink.  But for me, the fact that it's just paper and ink, can make it more challenging to get the end result want (because there's no trimming the panel smaller, covering with a sequin, etc.). 

In the case of this card, I kept managing to get the Twilight Versafine Clair on my fingers ... and then smudging it on the pristine white background.  I washed my hands multiple times ... and was finally happy with the 7th (yes 7th) iteration.  Remember, making cards isn't just what you see on the blog.

 

 

I wanted to join the Challenge at AAA Cards to make a CAS one-layer card with an optional twist of adding Polar Animals.

 

I used five stamps from two different Essentials by Ellen sets for my design - Arctic Pals & Bear Ware 2 ... love those cute little Polar Bear faces.  I also used the Less is More Challenge for my Off Center (or Off Centre) Layout Design.

 

 

And finally my Frosty little Polar Bears are joining the Frosty Challenge at Addicted to CAS.

 

 

 

Pawsitively Special

This card resulted from too many challenge ideas floating around in my head.  Both Seize the Birthday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge have a stencil theme ... and Paper Smooches Challenge is Anything Goes, so I knew I wanted to start with a Paper Smooches Stencil.

 

I thought it would be fun to see what it would look like if used the Paper Smooches Buffalo Check Stencil by first brushing on one ink and then off-setting the stencil slightly and inking with a second color ... I love the effect.  I used Rina K's Electro Pop Neon ink in Blaring Blue & Loud Lime.  Pixie Spray makes stenciling so much better.

 

Next I wandered off to find a sketch ... I chose the current CAS(E) this Sketch!, so I trimmed down my stenciled background to allow the card to have some more white space for a CAS design ... and then I added some paint splatters in a darker green.

 

 

I knew I wanted a birthday card, so I played around with several different sets before spotting the Paper Smooches Paws for a Cause Stamp Set in my stash ... those puppies are absolutely  perfect for Where the Red Fern Goes at The Library Challenge.  I used Gina K.'s Amalgam Ink to stamp my dogs on loud lime cardstock (that ink is the absolutely best for silhouettes) and then stamped a few bones to use in lieu of the flower embellishment in the sketch.

 

I finished with a sentiment from Paper Smooches Happy Birthday and mounted both the focal rectangle and sentiment on foam tape for dimension.

 

Lawn Fawn Happy Birthday

The current Lawn Fawnatics Challenge is Old & New - make a card combining a supply you've had in your stash for awhile with something new.

 

I knew I wanted to use my the row of gifts from my new Lawn Fawn Simply Celebrate Winter to make a card inspired by this one by my friend Sam (also, so I could join her Use Your Stuff - Birthday Challenge) - #umschallengebirthday

 

I stamped and Die Cut my gifts with no real plan in mind ... then I decided to spray with several colors of Distress Oxide Spray.  I realized I really needed to stamp the gifts again, but I had removed my stamp from my MISTI.  I put the negative of my die cut back into my MISTI, positioned my stamp in the opening, picked-up the stamp with my lid and then inserted my die cut back into the negative space, so I could stamp again ... TA DA!.  

After I sprayed, I remembered I had some backgrounds in my stash I had created using the same spray combination.  The old on my card are these Stitched Rectangle Lawn Cuts I've had forever ... I used three sizes for my layers (and managed to attach the bottom one upside down ... oh well, no one will notice other than a card maker).  I used a combination of the Large Stitched Rectangle Stackables and Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables (I store them together).

I added three sizes of bling to the top of my packages and layered on some grid washi tape, a scrap of sprayed paper and a scrap of white paper to fill out some of the white space.

 

And I'm seizing the toppings at Seize the Birthday where the theme is Layer It!

Gifted Birthday

I love that Taylor changed up the #TEMaker Challenge for 2020.  The challenge is to use one of the elements to make a card ... but as a perennial over-achiever, I had to find a way to use all three.

When I was at Stamp Joy, I bought the products to replicate my favorite card ... so that was the plan for the morning ... only one problem ... it really didn't seem to fit with any of the challenge elements.  I wasn't going to let that stop me ... I pushed through to figure out a solution.

I started by die cutting an oval and masking the center of the Taylored Expressions Gifted Background Stamp (I originally tried Taylored Expressions Oval Mask, but the plastic was too thick to get a good stamped image around.  I switched to cardstock (but should have switched to typing paper to get the mask even thinner ... learning for next time).

I left the oval in place and positioned the Taylored expressions Gifted Stencil over the stamped image.  I finally used my Taylored Expression Blender Brushes with a masculine trio of hues - Lime Zest, Pineapple and Gumball.

 

I used the same die cut and the slightly larger size to cut a frame for my masked oval (which helped cover some of the issues from using the cardstock vs. typing paper) and then stamped a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Big Bold Birthday using the Grey Ink for the Challenge theme.  I trimmed down my stenciled piece and placed it on a grey card base.

I have been in search for micro gems, so I asked my friends at Stamp Junkies the other night, and they directed me to a few new stores.  These lovely blue gems are Craft Buddy D.I.Y. Self Adhesive Crystals ... I love that each sheet of gems has four different small sizes.

I'm also linking-up at the Seize the Birthday Layer It Challenge since I've got three layers to my design.

 

And it's Anything Goes at The Male Room.

Makeover Monday

I love the idea of the January Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs ... Let's Reflect.  The Challenge is to take a card you've made the last year and create a do-over.  I think this is an idea I may adopt for my blog this year.  I posted my first card online in November 2006, so I've got a ton of cards that would be eligible for Makeover treatment.

I started with this card from May 2019 using Gina K. Designs Elegant Asters, Mini Wishes Stamp set and the Wishes Die.

 

I wanted to keep the monochromatic palette, the all-over leaf stamping and the die cut from foam in my new design (I also kept the enamel dots and die cut leaves by the time I had finished).

I pulled out my Memory MISTI which makes it easier to stamp off all the edges of the 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of cardstock.  I stamped with Gina K. Designs Lucky Clover Ink (I treated myself to her entire Ink Collection during the holiday sales ... now to get all the cardstock).  I used all three leaf stamps from the set again, stamping them in groups of three to fill the cardstock.

I folded the card and stamped two more of the leaves to die cut for accents.  I also die cut the Wishes from Foam ... but this time I used Green Glitter Foam.

 

For this card I used coordinated enamel dots instead of the contrasting white I used in the first design.  I attached the second bunch of leaves with foam tape for dimension.

 

What a fun design exercise (not to mention the fun of having another version of a card I loved).

Brilliant Blue Snowflake

My crafty friends and I have been talking about how our rate of acquiring art supplies the past few months has well exceeded our rate of using them.  My friend Sam threw down a Use My stuff Challenge to use those products to make a some birthday cards, so you have them ready to send in the upcoming months.  

I also wanted to join the CAS Stencil Challenge to use a new Stencil. 

 

I picked up several new Gina K. Designs Stencils and new colors of Glitz Glitter Gel, so I wanted to break them out.  Seriously, how gorgeous is that Brilliant Blue Glitz Glitter Gel with the Stellar Snowflake Stencil.  I like to use watercolor paper as my base, because for me the sturdier paper works better for stenciling the gel.

 

Since it was a CAS challenge, I resisted the urge to add a big more bling and just let the snowflake shine.

I wanted a vertical sentiment and I didn't have a Gina K. Birthday sentiment that was thin enough to let the Snowflake be the star of the show ... so I used Winter Wishes from the Gina K. Designs Seasonal Greetings Set and I'll stamp the birthday sentiment on the inside (that way the recipient can display it for a longer time if they want to).

 

 

It's also Snowflakes at the Just Us Girls Challenge this week (and their graphic is even a similar blue).

 

Lastly, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is also about Something New.

Lookin' Good

This card combines the My Favorite Things Sketch & Color Challenge.  

 

I combined the retired MFT Accent It - Cute Camera Die-namics (one of my earliest MFT Purchases, which reminded me of all the Polaroid Pictures my Dad would take when we were kiddos) with a perfect sentiment from Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings 2.  I used the Grout Grey for the Smart Phone Screen.  I added some Micro Bling to the cameras for a bit of sparkle.

 

 

Party Time!

The theme at the Simon Say Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog is Party Time! ... and parties often involve Beer, so it was the perfect opportunity to use some new Beer Happy stamps and Three Cheers Dies from Creative Expressions.  I reversed the circles, so I could have the beer pitcher pouring into the mug.

 

The bokah paper seemed appropriate depending on how many beers you might have consumed ... and I loved the font on the sentiment from Beer Happy (the set has so many sentiments).  I cut both the Mug and Pitcher from a matte gold cardstock ... the layout is this week's Sketch from Just Add Ink.

 

As Beautiful as You

My pile of *never been inked* stamps has been growing much more quickly than I can use them, so my plan is to really start focusing on that pile and applying some ink. 

The Simon Says Stamp FlickR Challenge is an Anything Goes, so I grabbed the first Simon Says Stamp set in the pile, which just happened to be As Beautiful As You, which was a STAMPtember collaboration with Neat & Tangled.

 

What drew me to this set is that with one floral stamp I knew you could cover the entire front of the card ... and you could do various monochromatic designs like I did here ... or all sorts of coloring and painting.  My card was inspired by the blues of this week's Inspired by Challenge.

 

I added a white sentiment ... and white and silver enamel dots to bring in some of the other colors before mounting it on a dark blue card base.