Ingenious Inkling

Love Your Guts

The current TGIF Challenge is Alcohol Blending, so I thought getting inky was the perfect way to end the weekend.  Alcohol Ink blending was one of the first techniques I learned using refills for alcohol ink markers.  I've always enjoyed the magic of it.

 

I decided to use the Ranger Silver Ink Blending Cardstock that has been unopened in my stash for much too long together with new Marabu Alcohol Inks.  I use a sprayer of Alcohol Ink and an air puffer to blow the around.

 

 

I also went in and added silver foil to the top of the almost dried inks.  I decided to use this as my background for the current Sketch at The Paper Players.

 

 

I decided to use the Love Your Guts Die by CZ Designs from Simon Says Stamp as my Sketch Shape die cut from Vellum & Silver Glitter Foam.  I'm also linking-up at Crazy 4 Challenges where the theme is Vellum.

 

 

I finished with a few clusters of silver glitter enamel dots.

 

Stamperia Calligraphy Collection

I love the gorgeous Stamperia Paper Pads at The Ink Pad.  Today's cards are made from the Calligraphy Collection by Stamperia.

One thing I love about the pads is that they are 8" x 8", so there's more landscape to make different cards sizes than just A2.  This square card allowed me to showcase the wonderful alphabet paper.

 

 

Another nice touch is that there are a few pages with elements that can be cut out for use on the card designs like the fountain pen and the tag sentiment.

The 8"x8" paper size is also perfect to make a slimline card layout.

 

I love the contrast of these different papers, especially with a wrap of ivory card and the sentiment cut from another piece of paper from the collection.

The quote on this card talks about how you can write letters to travel with your heart, so I'm linking-up at the Travel Challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz.

 

My final card features another detail cut fountain pen and ink well, together with another tag design and sentiment from the collection.  I just love the tones of sepia in the papers.

I'm linking this one up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

I hope I've given you some ideas about how fun it can be to just use some wonderful Stamperia Paper Collections for cardmaking.

 

Steampunk

When I saw The Male Room Challenge was Steampunk, I knew I had the perfect stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter.  Remember discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your order.

 

 

I combined stickers from Steampunk, Gold Steampunk, Vintage Tech, Vintage Bulbs and Pink Steampunk for my card.

 

The layout is a Horizontal Sketch from Paper Craft Crew Challenges and the Miss You sentiment is from Inky Antics Silhouette Sentiments.

 

 

Peaceful Tapestry Snowflake Tag

This month's Gina K. Designs Monthly Mix Challenge is a Double Header.

 

The challenge is first to create a tag that goes on a card ... and second to use Red & White.

I started with Gina's Red Velvet Cardstock and stamped the new Holiday Tapestry Stamp in Cherry Red Ink for a tone-on-tone design.  Then I die cut it with the middle tag from Gina's Tag Trio Die Set.  I added some Cherry Red Ribbon to the top of the tag.

 

I topped my Tapestry with one of the new dies from the Snowflake Trio Die Set (I layered two snowflakes for a bit more dimension) with an Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling cluster in the center.

I finished with a sentiment trimmed from the trio of words stamp from Gina K. Designs Seasonal Greetings.

I'm also joining the 25 Days of Christmas Tags Challenge.

 

My card was inspired by Lisa Tilson's Picket Fence Tag on Day 17.

 

 

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

Coffee Lovers Mojo Monday

Yesterday's two sticker cards came together so quickly, I had to make one more for the Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop.

 

 

I used two more images from the Coffee First Sticker Set from {a vintage girl} & her daughter (and I still have enough to make quite a few more cards) - remember discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your order with the current Mojo Monday Sketch.

 

The sentiment is from {a vintage girl} & her daughter's Motivational Quotes.

 

 

Since I attached my sentiment directly to the card, I couldn't add the bow from the sketch, so I added a few wraps of twine vertically instead.

 

Inspired By Challenge

One of the World Cardmaking Day Challenges at Scrapbook & Cards Today is to make a card inspired by a project or bonus file from their Fall Issue.  I chose this Falling scrapbook layout by Ali Moore on Page 29 of the Magazine to inspire my card design.

 

Things I incorporated into my design included a woodgrain background, the collage feel of the layout, Vellum Circles, an upside-down tag, a dictionary page, horizontal sentiments and a vertical sentiment along the side.  I also kept the neutral tone with cream, white & black.

I used Unity Stamp Company Candles & Cake (wit & wisdom) and the sentiment from Unity's 3 Tiered Birthday.

 

 

I love how this turned out.  Can you see the inspiration?  

Thank You for Being My Friend

I like seeing if I can turn color challenges into ink-blending combinations.  For this card, I used the colors from the CAS Colours & Sketch Challenge.

 

I translated those colors into these Distress Oxide Ink colors - Speckled Egg, Stormy Sky & Peeled Paint.

 

I did my blend horizontal to work with the sketch, and since the colors reminded me of a landscape, I thought it was the perfect home for the adorable Peach and Paper from Picket Fence Studios.

 

 

I used a sentiment from the same set and finished with a sprinkling of sequins.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Smooshed Floral Cluster

When I saw the September Sketch Challenge at PinkFresh Studio, I immediately thought about doing a spotlight with one of their beautiful floral stamps ... I chose Floral Cluster.

I stamped it twice in Archival Ink and then Ink Smooshed around the edges of one using Acetate with Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink.  I stamped a second time smooshing the flowers in the center with Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber Distress ink ... then after it dried I added a bit more Fossilized Amber Distress ink for more pop of yellow.

 

 

I die cut a circle from the yellow image and mounted it in the center with foam tape.   I added a scattering of yellow pearls and finished with a sentiment from PinkFresh Studio My Favorite Things to Say.

 

 

Since the Floral Cluster is at least from June 2019, I'm also linking-up at the Yellow & Green Challenge at Retro Rubber.

 

 

I'm also joining the new Color Hues Color Challenge, who are also doing Yellow & Green.

 

It's Just Another Mojo Monday

When I saw Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch, I knew I could make it work with the items scattered on my Studio Table ... I do love circles & banner flags.

The background is a Gel Press Print using the Michelle Ward Downtown NYC Map Stencil, found only at The Ink Pad in NYC (and thankfully can also be purchased in their online store).  It's a nice large stencil, so you can use parts of it like I did on my card.

 

Next I silver heat-embossed the Michelle Ward's Mini Manhole Cover stamps (also found only at The Ink Pad) as well as the arrow stamp from the same set to use as my sketch banner.  With my embossing, I'm joining the Embossing Challenge at the My Time to Craft Challenge Blog.

 

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I punched my circles from a vintage Popular Science Magazine from March 1949 and assembled my card adding lots of gems. 

Finally, my circle punched sentiment is from a newly discovered line of stamps at The Ink Pad called Everyday Explorers Co.  This sentiment is from a set called Small Victories ... aren't those so important these days.

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at The Corrosive Challenge Blog & the Anything Goes Stamp It! Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Howl at the Moon

The current Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge #staycraftywithHero is to watch a Card a Day with Hero Arts video at Creativebug and make a card inspired by it.  I chose Day 16 - Color Layering because I knew I had several Hero Arts Color Layering sets in my stash that had yet to see ink.

 

I bought this Hero Arts Color Layering Howling Wolf Stamp Set and Die because my sister loves wolves.  I used several of the tips from the video including using a die template in my MISTI to position my stamps and dies for the various layers.  For my Wolf I used Sand, Watering Can & Onyx Black for my layers.

 

I tried several color combinations for my moon, but finally settled on another tip Libby gave, which is just to use only the detail layer of the stamp (on a lighert grey cardstock).   After stamping, I used a brush to add some golden ink to the edges for a little moonlight glow.  The sentiment is from the same set.

I used my new Cloud Edger Stencil with Watering Can Ink to create both the ground and the sky (love it) and then attached the wolf and moon with foam tape.