Ingenious Inkling

12 Tags of Christmas - Florals

My Tag for the 8th Tag of Christmas with a Feminine Twist was inspired by Emily's flowers & use of color.

 

I loved her poinsettias in shades of magenta and purple, so I started by using my Gina K. Designs Stitched Circles dies (they nest inside each other for a perfect border) in ombre purple and grey for my base.

 

Next I die cut the Perfect Poinsettia Dies from My Favorite Things in Magenta Purple & Lime Green.  I finished with a sparkly flower center, some glittery ribbon & a perfect tiny sentiment from Flora & Fauna Holiday Word Party (love this set).

I love being inspired to try something new ... and how awesome it turned out.

Get Out the Fat Pants

A quick card for the Unity Stamp Company Christmas Card Challenge ... one of my favorite Unity Sentiments - Get Out the Fat Pants.

 

I combined it with some thin washi tape & the Christmas Tree from Spruce Up the Season and an Eyelet Outlet Enamel Star on the top of the tree.

Black & White Christmas

As with Birthday Cards, my stash of Masculine Christmas cards fell short as well, so I need to make some more.

I found a new (to me) Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K's StampTV, which is to make black & white holiday cards ... perfect to solve my masculine card dilemma.

Also my new Tiny-Wreath-Builder-Bundle arrived in the mail today from Simon Says Stamp ... so you know I had to ink it up (with my MISTI of course).

I intended to use several branches from the stamp set for my wreath, but I loved how it looked after the first branch (they are closer on the smaller template), so I just stamped a snowflake from Gina K's Holiday Wreath Builder Set and punched it out with a 7/8" circle punch.  All I added was a single white pearl to the center of the snowflake.

 

I finished with a sentiment from the Holiday Wreath Builder set and a strip of black cardstock to ground my wreath.

I'm also joining CAS on Friday where they are also making Holiday Cards.

Bring on the Mistle-Doe

The challenge at AAA Cards is to create a Mostly White Design.

 

Normally I would go straight for the snowflakes, but since the challenge is sponsored by STAMPlorations, I reached into my STAMPlorations stamp stash and chose Becca Cruger's Reindeer Games set.

 

Taking a page from the Lauren Bergold playbook, when you're creating with lots of white ... make sure you add lots of textures.  I embossed white cardstock with Taylored Expressions Nordic Holiday & Plaid before trimming into strips to use with the Sketch from The Paper Players.

I finished by creating my own Mistle-DOE with a few punched branches and some white pearls hanging from a gold star ... and adding a tiny bit of color to his hooves & hat.

 

 

I also took some inspiration from the {PIN}Spirational Challenge Photo with all that white and a little pop of color.

 

Washi Christmas

Tonight I was packing-up supplies for our annual work outing where we make Christmas Cards to deliver to local nursing homes.  I usually provide most of the supplies from my stash, and enjoy spending time with many people who have never made a card before.

I always pack lots of washi tape, since it is forgiving and easy for a first-time cardmaker to use.  As I was packing, I decided to take a break and make a few washi cards of my own with my selection of holiday tapes.

I took my inspiration from Rhodé's lovely card at the CAS on Friday Challenge.  I didn't have a curved die with stitching on both sides, so I had to get creative and do two cuts while flipping the paper to frame my washi middle (this one is from Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders)

I started by applying rows of Washi Tape to a scrap of white cardstock.

I cut my cardstock into two pieces to make two more holiday cards.

 

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Coolest Yulest.

 

These designs are great for masculine cards.

I'm also linking-up at Hiding in my Craft Room where they are celebrating Any Holiday!

Shines Down Upon Us

I use feedly blog reader to browse hundreds of blogs each week (which is how I discovery my link love that I share).  I have a folder where I save all of the card-making challenges I find, so I have a single place to go for inspiration ... and sometimes (like now) when I have a lot of challenge ideas saved, my brain tries to combine a bunch of them when I'm dreaming about potential ideas ... like it did with this card.

I started with the More Than Words Mini Challenge, which is to use the word SHINE in a design.

I went searching for stamps with SHINE and settled on a vintage wood-mounted stamp Inky Antics called Openings in Heaven that has one of my favorite Sympathy Sentiments (and one of my favorite fonts too). 

As I thought about the subject of *STARS* shining, I decided that the CASUAL Friday's Challenge to Use Shades of Gold & the TIME OUT Challenge to use Black & White and 1 Color (that one color being gold) would also inspire my design.

The TIME OUT Challenge also had a twist to do a single layer design, so I decided to use Gold Metallic Ink and my A Colorful Life Star Stencil  (remember code TJ10Stephanie gets you 10% off everything in the Technique Junkies store) with my sentiment ... only one problem ... I apparently put all my Metallic Inks together somewhere in my studio (for safe keeping ... who knows???) and I couldn't find a single ink pad.  I did however find a pot of Brea Reese Matte Metallic Gold Texture Paste, so I moved on to plan B.

 

I wanted the texture of the paste to really shine through, so I used my finger to apply it in a rough coat.  

I added a wrap of gold metallic thread to finish the design.

 

When There Are No Words

I used my last sympathy card today ... so I had to make some more.  Because we all know that when you need a sympathy card is not the time you want to be making one ... so I always make sure I have some in my stash.

I pulled out several Retro Wood Block favorites for tonight's cards.  The first is from Outlines Rubber Stamps and is good to have for so many occasions when you want to say something ... but there are no words.

I paired it with the bird from Unity Stamp Company's Sympathy & Sadness using this week's CAS(e) this Sketch!

 

The second one features Hero Arts In My Thoughts together with the Atlantic Hearts Sketch.

Papers are all from Authentique's Sea-Maiden Collection.

 

Playing Dress-Up

When I saw the theme at the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge was Playing Dress-Up ... I knew it was time to break out my Taylored Expression Sarcasti-chick and some of her Halloween Closet Dress-Up Clothes.

She's promising to grant your birthday wish ... but we all know, she's just there to get a piece of cake and glass of wine.  The Sentiments are from Taylored Expressions Party Pals.

I dressed-her-up in vibrant pink and added some silver bling stickers.  The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

I'm also joining the Clean & Simple Challenge at Seize the Birthday.

Beauty in Ordinary Things

The design team at the CASology Challenge this week was super-creative in interpreting this week's Cue Card.

I had lots of ideas (the first one I had to trash because I couldn't find the stamp set I was looking for ... don't you hate when that happens.  I'm sure I will find it next week when I'm looking for something completely different).  Finally I went with a Glass Coffee Pot ... the epitome of The Office (and my Office).

I paired it with the final line from the TV Show The Office ... which is so true.  And sometimes the most beautiful things is that first taste of morning caffeine. 

Both Stamps are from The Ink Road Scranton, PA.

I also took my inspiration from the glass of wine at the Fusion Card Challenge (and used the Fusion Sketch too for my CAS Design).

WTF

A clean & simple masculine design for the Sketch Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.  Instead of a trio of flowers, I used a trio of words above & blow the large center sentiment.

I used the colors from The Paper Players Challenge.