Ingenious Inkling

Houndstooth Birthday

I'm playing a little Tic Tac Toe with CAS-ual Fridays.

I went with the horizontal center - houndstooth, white & embossing - great for a masculine birthday card, which is perfect for Brown Sugar Challenge For the Boys.

The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

 

And I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Emboss It Challenge. 

Italian Angel Sympathy

I had a request to make an Italian-themed sympathy card ... unfortunately, I have lots of stamps for France and England ... but nothing Italian in my stash.  

So I went to my back-up go-to option when I need something specific ... The Graphics Fairy ... where I found this beautify photo of a stone angel from Italy.

The image was converted from a *.jpg to a *.png, so I could make the picture slightly transparent before printing it on white cardstock to give it a softer feel.

I finished by stamping a sentiment from CAS-ual Friday Beanstalks in Grey Flannel Memento Ink on the angels banner.

Birthday Trio

This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is called Three Thirds ... to create a card using three of something ... on just 1/3 of your card.

I used the sketch at Clean & Simple Stamping which features three 1 1/4" punched squares or polka dot paper from Basic Grey's Highline Collection.  I also used three pink pearls ... and three stamped black elements (cake, happy & birthday).

Additionally, my card was inspired by Three Pillows from Crazy for CAS.

A Three Thirds Trifecta I do believe.

Hip to Be Square

When I saw the Shades of Gray Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to ink-up my new Too Hip stamps from the Sweet Stamp Shop.

I stamped my Hip little Hippo (I'm guessing his name is Huey) on light gray textured card stock and cut him out.  He was then attached to a darker gray cardstock panel before stamping his hip glasses (I needed to attach first, since they go a little off his face).

Then I paper-pieced his classy fedora from darker grey cardstock and attached it with foam tape for a bit of a tilt.  I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch added some square gray gems & a sticker sentiment from Cosmo Cricket.

Congrats ... Congrats

Tonight I needed a baby shower card for twins.  I started with the Making the Rounds Challenge at CAS on Sunday and combined it with this week's Unscripted Sketch.

The genders are unknown, so I used neutral hues from Pebbles Seen & Noted Collection.

 

Two storks ... two congrats ... and two paper-pieced bundles from Lawn Fawn's Plus One Stamp Set.

I'm also joining the Over the Edge Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

Courage

This week at CAS-ual Fridays they're asking us to create a card that features a Word that describes what we hope for the new year ... my hope is:

Courage - 

• The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution;
• bravery; 
• the confidence to act in accordance with one's beliefs; 
• behavior typical of a hero;
• the ability to do something that you know is right or good, even though it is dangerous, frightening, or very difficult

And here's my card featuring gorgeous Danube Blue Ink and a StampaFe quote from Mignon McLaughlin.  I picked-up this great stamp on our trip to Santa Fe.

It's another One Layer Simplicity card with just a few strips of Washi Tape.  

I'm also joining the Winter Blues Challenge at Less is More.

Here's a close-up of this great stamp ... love how she's going through the door to her next adventure.

Dance on the Table

I wanted to break-out my Avery Elle Cheers stamps to join in the New Year's Celebration at CAS-ual Fridays.

I pulled out all of my black, silver & grey Washi Tape and started playing with this week's Retro Sketch.

It got a little tricky since I had to do some overlapping of the straight strips of washi to make it work for this angled design, but I love how it turned out.

I added three different sizes of silver sequins to finish the design ... they reminded me of champagne bubbles ... so fun ... and perfect for the Bling It On! Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Silent Night

The December Challenge at Stamplorations is Stamps & Silhouettes ... and the challenge at The Christmas Card Challenge is Black & White ... so I decided to combine the two.  

I die cut my Christmas Tree Silhouette from textured black cardstock & then decorated it with pearl flourishes.  I'm also joining CAS-ual Fridays where they theme is Out on a Limb.

Since to me, the silhouette on the white background imparted peace, I finished with a sentiment from Crafter's Companion's Christmas Magic.  I'm also joining Christmas with Trees at The House that Stamps Built.

Count Your Blessings

I ended-up spending most of my day shopping ... one stop, led to the next, and the next ... and before I knew it, the day had slipped away.  

One of my stops was at JoAnn's where they had lots new Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas product on display.  I couldn't resist picking-up some felt leaf stickers that are perfect for Autumn cards.

There's a photo inspiration at the BasicGrey Challenges Blog with a theme of Autumn Colors ... our maple trees have already started turning and our yard is covered with leaves.

I went searching through my Basic Grey collections and found some Autumn colors in the Konnichiwa papers.  The banner paper is from Carte Postale.  I added a few of my new felt leaves & an SRM Fall Sticker Sentiment.

The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketches.  

I'm also joining the Fall Colors & a Leaf Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

Trick or Treat

For September, the challenge themes have turned to Autumn.  I combined several challenges for this fun Halloween card design.

The layout is from Freshly Made Sketches.  I used scraps of designer paper & a piece of my hand-made Paste Paper for the banner flags.

I used the She's Krafty and She's Just My Type Challenge from CAS-ual Fridays.  My fun Halloween Text is from Fresh Squeezed Stamps Holiday Subway Series.

And the Falling For You Theme comes from The Paper Players.