Ingenious Inkling

Happy Mother's Day

I like to send Mother's Day cards to lots of the special women in my life, so I continue to make some to go into the mail.

This one combines multiple challenges, but started with the AAA Card Challenge Color Challenge Palette.  I went shopping for the colors in  my GelliArts bin and found all four hues.

 

 

My GelliArts print that had both greens also used a stencil for the Just Us Girls Stencil Week and the CAS on Sunday Stencil Challenge.

 

 

Using the Sketch from The Paper Players, I added a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Penned Pretty.

 

 

I finished with a Spellbinders Butterfly sticker in both shades of pink.  I'm also joining the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Clean & Simple Challenge.  And lastly, I'm linking at the Simon Says Make It Girly Challenge.

 

Simon Hurley Create Bursts Thanks

My thank you card stash is depleted, so I used the Simon Hurley Create Bursts to mass produce some card fronts.  I used a combination of blue inks to stamp the bursts on white cardstock.

 

 

I added a few vintage postage stamps in blue and finished with a CZ Design Thanks die cut from the darkest blue in the background & positioned on vellum.

 

 

For this one I followed the same formula using Simon Says Stamp Thanks sentiment die.  That vintage little Mr. Zippy makes me smile.

 

Rainbow Tulips

I had a discussion with a co-worker this week about Tulips.  She mentioned hers were getting ready to bloom, which immediately took me back to sitting with my Grandma AtKisson on the couch in the Fall thumbing through the bulb catalogs marking the ones we might want, and then narrowing it down until we finally placed our joint order. 

Next it was on our knees in the dirt deciding how close to place the bulbs and tubers, so we got the look we were hoping for come Spring.  My grandma's garden was filled with perennials that returned year after year, which I loved.

So when I saw Gina K. Design's Rainbow #monthlymixchallenge for April, I thought of the rainbow of colors that was my Grandma's garden.  I stamped the tulips from Gina K. Designs Spring Tulips in black ink and colored them in a rainbow of colors using my Faber Castell pencils and some eraser blending.  I added a sentiment from the same set.

 

 

I die cut the flowers using Gina K. Designs Single Stitched Rectangle die cut and added a thin yellow border using this week's AAA Cards Challenge Sketch, with the second sentiment from Gina K. Designs Blooming Butterfly.

 

Umbrella Redux

After yesterday's card, I had another idea for a card for the Inspired By ... Rain Challenge.

 

 

This time I stamped the Essentials by Ellen Bear Ware Umbrella Twice on Yellow cardstock and colored the handle with a Teal Marker.

 

 

Next I stamped the dots from Essentials by Ellen Abstract Paint Strokes inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches layout.

 

 

I finished with a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen Casual Greetings.  I'm also linking-up at the Umbrella Challenge at Simply Clean & Simple.

Chillin' with my Peeps

I wanted to make a fun Easter Card using the Scrapbook.com Hippity Hoppity Stamps.

I decided to use the colors from the TGIF Challenge.

 

I stamped a trio of Peeps in the three challenge colors.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the CAS on Sunday Bunny Challenge.

 

 

I also took inspiration from Double D Easter Challenge.

 

Celebrate the Season

It's week two of our Flat Feliz Navidad Prompt at Jingle Belles where we're creating Flat One Layer holiday cards.

I started by stamping the Gina K. Designs Graphic Tree in White Pigment Ink and embossing with White Embossing Powder.  Next I painted Green Shimmer Paint over the tree.

 

Next I stamped the sentiment from Gina K. Designs Graphic Tree and positioned it like the tree's trunk.  I finished by blending Gina K. Designs Medium Spruce Ink around the edges.

You have until Wednesday at 6pm EST to join us at Jingle Belles.

Puppy Sympathy

The newest challenge at AAA Cards Challenge is to make a card that incorporates the center element and one of the spokes.

 

 

The first silhouette that came to mine were the dogs from Paper Smooches Paws for a Cause, which also incorporates the Pets Spoke of the Challenge.  I decided to make a Pet Sympathy card to have in my stash.

 

 

I used one sentiment and the paw prints from the Paws for A Cause set and another from Paper Smooches Sympathy Sampler.

 

 

 

And with my two sentiments, I'm linking-up at the Inkspirational Challenge to use two or more sentiments.

Flat Feliz Navidad

This week at Jingle Belles our theme is Flat Fleiz Navidad - it is generally called the One Layer Card; though some folks refer to it as the No Layer Card. 

What does that mean? It means your entire design is flat... your elements get stamped, drawn, embossed, etc, directly onto the card base; so basically you're not taping or gluing ANY additional papers/diecuts/layers to that base. We're looking (as the title implies) for completely FLAT cards this time. Are you up for the challenge?

I started by using a torn piece of typing paper as an inking mask creating three shades of Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide Ink (start at the bottom and then keeping inking over the whole space to keep the bottom darker than the top). 

 

Next I stamped two Memory Box Sentiments from Memory Box Christmas Tiles and Memory Box Dashing with Reindeer, 

Next I added Memory Box Holiday Greenery Stamp.  I used alcohol markers to color the greenery, turning part of the leaves into a poinsettia.  I added a few extra berries & a leaf to finish.  I colored out of the lines a bit, so I just embraced that coloring style ... sort of like the fill stamps that are meant to be a bit off from the base image.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the March Memory Box Petal Power Challenge.

Plow Around the Stump

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge theme is Anything Goes on the Farm.

I made a single layer card combining stamps from Penny Black Shade Canopy with Penny Black Life is Simpler.

 

 

I clear embossed the tractor and colored with my alcohol Ink markers.  I took some of my inspiration from this photograph of my Dad on my brother-in-law's farm tractor.  He was having so much fun.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at G is for Green at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

 

Masculine Birthday

The AAA Birthday Challenge for March is to make a masculine card.

 

 

I started with an Ephemera Birthday Tag with an orange ribbon, which I then framed using the LDRS Creative Floating Circles Die cut from one of my GelliArts prints.

 

 

It's also Clean & Simple with Ephemera at the Inkspirational Challenge.

 

 

I used the rest of the same Gelliarts Print together with the layout from this week's Sketch Challenge at The Paper Players to make a second masculine birthday card.

 

 

I positioned another piece of birthday ephemera in the center of the Die Cut circle using foam tape.

 

 

I'm also joining the 613 Avenue Create Challenge, which is Anything Goes with an Option of an Occasion.