Ingenious Inkling

Creating with Friends

This afternoon I joined a group of friends from across the time zones for an online crafting meet-up ... I didn't realize how much I needed it.  The friendships I have made in this industry have been the very best.  It really lifted my spirits and talk about art supplies, projects, and tater tots ... and I got several cards finished too.

Last week Tami of The Paper Forest shared a Video that featured how she had been inspired by several cards I had made (which made my heart so happy), so today I decided to join in the virtual challenges she shared on The Paper Forest Facebook Page.

Challenge #1 was to make a card using Sketch #426 at Freshly Made Sketches.  I decided to make another Easter Card using The Ink Road Eggstra Stamp Set.  I masked and stamped two of the Easter Eggs and colored them in shades of chocolate brown.

 

I paired it with chocolate colored papers from Prima's Engraver Collection and a piece of recycled packaging from the Hero Arts Die I used in yesterday evening's card for Daring Cardmaker's Recycle Challenge.

Yesterday I opened my hoarded back of Riesen's Chocolates, and I will confess I did get a bit Chocolate Wasted.

 

I'm also linking-up at the Spectrum Noir Spring is in the Air Challenge.

 

My second card was for The Paper Forest Challenge #2 - to use this color combination.

 

I used the colors for layering the Birch Press Caprice Heart Die for my first Mother's Day Card (I like to send as many cards as I can get made to all the wonderful mothers in my circle).  I love the look of those colors layered together.

 

The layout is from Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch.  Sentiment is Memory Box Big and Little Valentine's Set.

 

I hope you found some time to create today.

Rock On

Yesterday I read this article about Generation X and Quarantine, and most of it rang pretty true ... seriously, I used to read encyclopedias to entertain myself.

But the one thing that brought back the biggest flood of memories was the making of the perfect Mix Tape.  How I would hold my cassette tape player next to my bedside clock radio and try to hit record at the exact perfect moment when the DJ announced one of my favorite songs was going to play (and hope that my brother didn't come running through the room making noise) ... or setting the needle down on the record player and rushing to hit record before the song began. 

And how after high school, the perfect mix tape was one that lasted me through my drive to night classes at college and back (48 minutes each way) after a full day at the office ... and it was a bonus if it was something I could sing along with on that drive back home and keep myself awake.

So it was those memories that inspired today's card.  The Cardz 4 Guys Challenge is to use a Stencil (my foiled strip used a Stencil and Therm-o-Web Transfer Gel before applying Gina K. Designs Jelly Bean Green Foil) and the All Sorts Challenge is all about Men and Boys.

 

 

The stamp set is Mama Elephant's Rewind (it looks like it is discontinued, but they released a portion of the images under a new Mix Tape Set).

Addicted to CAS is code word Texture ... you can see the wonderful texture of the foiled Transfer Gel where the light is reflecting on the left.

 

 

And lastly, Simon Says Stamp is Anything Goes.

Are you mailing your cards?  This one is going in the mail along with others. Make sure you're taking this opportunity to send some positive vibes across the miles.

Do You Feel It?

One thing I've discovered about working from the corner of my studio at home is that I really take very few steps all day.  I'm 10 steps from the bathroom and 10 steps from the kitchen, but mostly I'm just sitting in my desk chair on conference calls.

So tonight, after I was able to disconnect, I put on my walking shoes and went outside for a stroll around the neighborhood.  It felt so good to get some sunshine on my face, feel the wind in my hair, and see tiny sprouts signaling the beginning of Spring.

When I got home, I pulled out two of my favorite Wood Block Stamps from CatsLife Press for the Retro Rubber Challenge (looking back, I've had these stamps since at least 2010 or longer).  That little chick always makes me smile ... and the sentiment was perfect for today.

 

I did my Retro Rubber Challenge Tic Tac Toe down the right side with a Baby Animal, Twine and Patterned paper ... love the green & yellow color combination.  I used a colored pencil to add some highlights to my little chick.

 

 

It's also Anything in the Animal Kingdom at the Allsorts Challenge.

 

And the Inspired by Challenge is Hello Spring.

Makeover Monday - My Happy Face

This week's Makeover Monday is this baby card that I stumbled upon from September 2011.

 

 

I kept the layout, the use of designer paper strips, the square shape, and a three color palette, but changed the theme to incorporate Taylored Expressions Grouchy Grumplings 2  This card is for all the women who have been told to SMILE MORE at work ... my serious thinking, working face usually isn't a smiley face.

 

 

I love that a found the perfect use for that scrap of yellow Therm-o-Web flocked paper leftover from this card.  The color palette is from Just Us Girls Challenge.

 

I'm also joining the March #TEMakerChallenge at Taylored Expressions with Square, White & CAS.

 

Ode to Working from Home

I've started working from home this week along with most of the rest of our company.  We did lots of planning on how to work from our off-site disaster recovery center (since we've previously been displaced by rising river waters several times), but not really any planning on how to work with our entire team working from home ... especially not in the midst of such ever-changing times.  There will be another learning curve to master for sure.

This card is an ode to that experience that so many of us are having.

 

The chair from Paper Smooches new Abode Stamp set was stamped on designer paper inspired by the mid-century modern inspiration photo at the Inkspirational: Photo Challenge.  I pulled in the grey from the back wall ...

 

... and for the Paper Smooches Animal Challenge, I added the yellow bird of happiness (because a friend told me yellow is her happy color ... and now every time I see yellow, it makes me happy too) from Paper Smooches Sunnyville to perch on the back of the office chair.

 

I finished with a sentiment from Paper Smooches Inhale Exhale (been doing a lot of that this week) all using this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

 

I finished with a row of black pearls inspired by the dots in the wallpaper.

Choose Joy ... Read On

One thing I've been doing in these uncertain times is mailing cards ... I mailed 10 this morning and will keep mailing cards.  People love REAL mail, especially hand-made mail ... and sending a little encouragement is so easy to do.

I was thrilled to see Hero Arts has a new Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge #staycraftywithhero ... and it's all about Encouragement.

 

 

I wanted to use some Hero Arts Stamps for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! which happens to be their very first sketch.

 

 

In case you're curious, you can click here to see the card I made the first time in October 2012 (yep, I've been playing along since Sketch #1)

When I looked through my Hero Arts Stamps I was drawn to the wood mounted Bookcase Stamp I received at Creativation in 2018.  I've never inked it because honestly after years of using my MISTI, the thought of stamping a background without it seems scary (even though pre-MISTI I did it all the time).  I got it nice and inky, pressed hard, and got a great result with a single inking.

I trimmed the individual shelves to use with the sketch design and for the highlighted circle in the sketch, I added some blue colored pencil to the stack of books and stamped the pair of glasses from Hero Arts Irreverent Birthday Messages (a little Harry Potter nod).

 

My sister and I were talking this week about what we were reading ... and how much we were enjoying reading, so I chose the perfect sentiment from Hero Arts To Seize or Not to Seize.

And speaking of joy, Tami from The Paper Forest shared cards she made that were inspired by some of my cards ... super fun ideas from an awesome lady.

Now go mail some cards! (and if you don't have enough books in your house to last you until the end of times, there's free streaming at Audible).

 

Roll With It

We purposefully live in a dependent-free household - no children, pets or plants - so we can pick-up and go and be gone as long as we want without concerns to get home to care for things.  So needless to say, I'm not usually drawn to animal stamps for my cards.

 

However, I do make an exception for Paper Smooches because Kim's animals are so darn cute ... so I can participate in this month's Paper Smooches Animal Challenge.   I decided to use an animal I had never inked before and chose this adorable princely Frog from one of Kim's early sets (2011) Little Fella (I believe she designed a similar set for Cornish  Heritage Farms that I used to own prior to Paper Smooches ... yep, I've been a Kim fan for a long time).

I used Colors from the Color Throwdown and a Layout from Freshly Made Sketches for my design.

 

Remember to look through all of your papers (even seasonal ones) ... this perfect green plaid is from the Christmas collection Santa Squad from Bella Boulevard.

 

I colored his crown with a Jewel Brush gold metallic pen from Kelly Creates and added some golden gems (and then stamp again with your MISTI to get those nice black lines just in case your marker covered them a tiny big ... how could that happen??). 

I went through my entire Paper Smooches collection before settling on this one from Calorie Free ... because sometimes you get the Prince ... and sometimes you get the Frog ... and sometimes it's somewhere in between ... just gotta Roll With It.

 

 

It's also A Bit O' Green at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

Water Colored Embossed Stencil

The theme at the CAS Stencil Challenge is to use Heat Embossing with a Stencil.

 

 

I wasn't sure what to do, so I went searching at SplitcoastStampers and found this Watercolor Bokeh Technique I thought I could modify.   I used Taylored Expressions Liquid Watercolors to create my rainbow background.

Then I used a circles stencil and Gina K. Designs White Pigment Ink to apply ink.  Finally, I clear embossed the white ink.  I didn't get quite the contrast I was hoping for, but I still liked the effect ... sort of a 70's tie-dye.  I cut it into three pieces for three cards.

For the first one I used some Easter Bunny stickers and a sticker sentiment.

 

Then I found these psychedelic 3-D Pineapple stickers in my stash that worked perfectly.  You can see the embossed circles more in this card.

 

And one more fun little pineapple ... because we know that an UGH is perfect for some situations.

 

I love challenges that make me play with my supplies ... I don't do it nearly enough.

Makeover Monday - Grumplings

For today's Makeover Monday, I wanted to join the Taylored Expressions Maker Challenge for March ... which is White, Square and Clean & Simple. 

I chose this card from February 2016 when I only had a few Taylored Expressions Stamp sets (my how times have change ... Taylor's stamps currently take up the biggest storage space in my studio).  

 

I wanted to use my new Taylored Expressions Mythical Grumplings for the card ... I also wanted to use the Color Combination from The Paper Players.

 

I started with a textured white square card base and stamped the fun little Unicorn in Coastal Cabana.  I colored his mane, tale, tummy and face with Calypso Coral markers.  I also added a little belly button gem and some teensie tiny googly eyes.

 

I wanted to use one of the sentiments from the same set, but they were all too vertical to work with the square card layout, so I used one from Taylored Expression Big Grumpy.

This is one makeover I actually don't like as much as the original ... trying to combine the two challenges left the colors a bit off and it feels like there's just too much white, but that's okay (and that is the challenge theme) ... each creative endeavor is a learning experience. 

However, I decided to do a makeover version 2 to see if I could end-up with a card I liked more.  I realized the challenge only says WHITE ... not lots of white, so I made a second one using less white and slightly better colors (my Coastal Cabana in the first card is a bit too blue and needs more of a green tint).

 

This time I used a monochromatic Mythical Unicorn Grumpling with a contrasting Belly Button gem and skipped the googly eyes.  I found a scrap of Gel Press Print on my studio table that worked perfectly for the landscape.  I used a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy Cat this time.  The color balance on this one feels much better.

 

And it's Anything Goes with Dies at Happy Little Stampers.

Easter Bunny

I was looking through some Pebbles Lullaby baby papers to make a card and saw this adorable bunny paper, so I switched gears.

 

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch.  Sentiment is from Memory Box Springtime Typewrite Sentiments and I found that cute little 3-D bunny at Hobby Lobby this weekend.

 

I'm also joining the Inkspirational Challenge where the theme is Animals.

 

And Make it Monday is In the Pink.