Ingenious Inkling

Let It Snow

It's been a week full of Christmas cheer at work. 

Tuesday night I helped the Networking Group make holiday cards for patients who will be spending the holidays at the hospital.

 

 

Yesterday we had our team holiday party where ugly sweaters were worn & reindeer games were played.  This year I went with the Aldi holiday sweater and matching socks.

Inspired by my attire, and putting away the things from our cardmaking event, I made a quick sweater card using this week's Freshly Made Sketch.  I love how the X's on my designer paper scrap repeat the X design in my holiday sweater.

 

 

I'm actually ready for a little snow.  We've only had one so far this year, which is behind what it feels like we usually have by now.  Maybe we'll get some white stuff for the holidays.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Winter Blues Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  I'm also joining the Black, White & One Color Challenge at CAS on Friday.

WTHeck Embellishments

This week at Shopping Our Stash we're asking you to pull out those WTHeck Embellishments from your stash ... So...what do you have in your stash that you look at and shake your head and think... What in the heck?? Why did I buy these??  How long have I had these??  Where did they even come from?? Why do I have so many of them?? How can I use them??

 

 

As I was shopping my stash, I found these large random photo corner stickers.  My only guess is that they were part of some sort of grab bag or mystery box I purchased at some point (or that they coordinated with a paper collection I no longer have).  Regardless ... why???

 

 

I decided to figure out if there was a way I could form some sort of shape with them.  I settled on a straight line on Kraft Cardstock.

 

 

I had one extra, so I paired it with it's mate to form a square and then added a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Snarky using foam tape.  I finished with a few Doodlebug Heart Sprinkles Stickers pulling out three of the colors from the photo corners.

Vroom Valentine

There's a Valentine Challenge in the Honey Bee Stamps Facebook group.  As I looked through my stamps, I thought it would be fun to feature the fabulous (and un-inked) Honey Bee Car Show Stamps.

I started by created a plaid background with the Honey Bee Watercolor Lines Stencils (affiliate link on sale for $5.00).  I did Purple with the small lines a light blue with the wide lines going the other direction.  It didn't feel quite Plaid enough, so I flipped the small lines and shifted them slightly to ink them in red.

 

 

I stamped the Honey Bee Car Show car in the same purple, stamping multiple times with my MISTI to get a slightly darker hue.  

Next I used Honey Bee Bee Bold Alphabet to die cut my sentiment from black cardstock.

I finished by adding some red Honey Bee Gems to the tail lights on the car and adding some glitter heart sticker I found in the children's craft section at the craft store.

 

I'm also joining the Plaid Challenge at Just Us Girls.

 

 

And at the Make the Cards Challenge they are creating Valentines.

Shopping Our Stash - the Letter S

I am thrilled to be joining the Design Team at Shopping our Stash for 2022.  

 

 

The first Challenge of 2022 is to create a card using things that Start with the Letter S (which reminded me of the Letter of the Day at Sesame Street).  I literally Shopped my Stash for as many things that begin with the Letter S as possible to see if I could see a theme.

 

 

I started with a Gel Press Print that reminded me of the Sky.  Next I stamped Grungy Stars from Dina Wakley that had Stripes & Speckles using Midnight Blue STAZ-on Ink and cut the card base into a Mini-Slimline shape.

Then I built my card using Stickers of a Spaceship, a Satellite, Saturn, and a Spaceman and some Smiling Stars.  I also add some Sequins and Sticker Sentiments that say to Shine brightly.

 

I love how many S Things I was able to incorporate into my fun card design.

Please Shop Your Stash for all things S and come join me.

Day 1 - Christmas in a Coffee Shop

Today is Day 1 of the 12 Tags of Christmas at Ellen Hutson, which is a tag inspired by the holiday carol, Christmas in a Coffee Shop.

 

 

I started with Joy Clair Christmas Coffee, which I paired with a scrap of Gel Press Print for my tag.

 

 

I added snowflakes from Joy Clair Snow Fall and some gems to finish the design.  I took my color inspiration from the Joy Clair December Mood Board. #joyclairdesignsmoodboard

 

 

I am also linking-up at the Make the Cards Christmas Challenge.

 

A Glimpse of Heaven

This week's My Time to Craft Challenge is about A New Home. 

My sister and her fiancé just got a new home, and I am so thrilled for them after years of apartment living that they will have their own space for them and for their pets.

 

 

I die cut a green Gel Press Print with the House & Trees Die and positioned it on top of a blue Gel Press Print before die cutting them both with a rectangle die.  I framed them both with a purple frame cut from a third Gel Press Print.

I finished with a poem written with Tim Holtz Sticker Sentiments.

I'm also joining the CCEE Stampers where the theme is to Create a Scene.

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.