Ingenious Inkling

Occupation - Retirement

I went on a scavenger hunt through my extensive stamp collection thinking about the current theme at the Less is More Challenge - Occupations.

 

 

When I saw these two vintage stamps, they made me thing of my husband's occupation - Retired - aka Stephanie's Personal Assistant (when anyone asks what he's doing in retirement).  I'm traveling for work this week ... and my retire personal assistant will be overseeing a number of things at home including overseeing the delivery of new living room furniture (which I'm sure will also require that he take a nap to test out the new electronic recliner feature on the couch).

 

 

I stamped both the chair and sentiment (which I've had since at least 2007) in Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves brown ink and then paper pieced the pillow from a scrap of designer paper.  

Looking forward to the day when my occupation will also involve reclining, but I've got a few more years to go.

America

The theme at AAA cards is a design along the Edge featuring your Country.  Click through and take a look at all of the great cards from the Design Team.

 

 

I knew I had tucked away some new America papers & Stickers from Echo Park, so I pulled them out to design my card.

 

 

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for my layout.

 

 

One of my favorite Independence Day photos of me from my childhood that was published in the local newspaper ... swimming pools and watermelon.

 

Feline Dude

The current theme at Addicted to CAS is Feline.

 

 

I started with some fun cat Washi Tape from my stash and framed it with some vintage texty washi tape (text just seemed right since some of the cats are wearing reading glasses).

 

 

As I searched for just the right sentiments, I settled on Paper Smooches Slang Gang.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Animals Challenge at The Male Room.

 

 

And since one of my dapper cats is wearing a hat, I'm also linking-up at the CASology Hat Challenge.

You Deserve a HAND

This week's theme at Shopping our Stash is You Deserve a HAND - to feature a hand (or in my case Hands) and/or a Congratulations Card.

I stamped three hands from the Essentials by Ellen Handful framed by the Essentials by Ellen Instant Photo Frames.

I colored the nails, bracelet and cup of coffee and embossed the decoration on the top of the cup. 

I used the Sketch from the Make the Card Challenge for my layout with a sentiment from the same stamp set.

 

 

I finished with the make-a-wish Dandelion in the third hand.

With my Latte, I'm also joining the Simon Says Food and Drink Challenge.

Framed Flower Birthday

Today I'm joining Uniko's 10th Birthday Celebration by making Bev a Birthday Card.

 

 

The Uniko Framed Flower stamp I chose as my focal point has the same beautiful blooms as her birthday banner (as well as other classic Uniko floral designs).  I stamped it in a vibrant blue and cut it out using scissors.

 

 

 

Next I stamped the Butterfly from Uniko English Country Garden in bright pink and added some blue accents with my Spectrum Noir marker.  I used the same bright pink ink to add the sentiment from Uniko Happy Days.  I finished with some gold accents colored with the wonderful detail nib of my GraphIt Marker.

 

 

The color palette is from this week's Global Design Project.

 

 

The clean & simple layout is a rotated layout from Freshly Made Sketches.

 

 

I'm also celebrating the 11th Birthday at Less is More with my clean & simple design.

Squeeze You

Today I'm joining the Kraft+ Challenge where the theme is Inspired by Fruit.

 

 

I started with my favorite speckled kraft cardstock and added three oranges and a sentiment from Concord & 9th Orange You Sweet.

 

 

I finished with some hearts and some colored pencil highlights.

 

 

These stamps are from at least as far back as June 2017, so with my three hearts & sweet sentiment, I'm also linking-up at the Love, Love, Love Challenge at Retro Rubber Stamps.

 

 

And a squeeze is an expression of affection for CASology Challenge.

National Geographic Cloisonné

When I saw Julia's Faux Cloisonné card for the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge, I had to give it a try.  The first time I followed Beate's SplitcoastStampers Tutorial was with a Land's End Catalog in November 2006 (pre-blog).  I was the very first stamping technique I tried, so I figured it was time to dust it off and try again.

 

 

This time I pulled out a vintage National Geographic Magazine and stamps from Essentials by Ellen.  I started with Essentials by Ellen You Should Know with Gold Wet Embossing on a page of orange tree leaves. 

 

I realized I didn't have a coordinating die cut, so I used the Mixed Media technique of Fussy Cutting (after I glued it down, I realized I missed one tiny bit ... oh well).  I also used Die Cutting with the Essentials by Ellen Nice of You Sentiment and coordinating die cuts.  Additionally, the black cardstock has dry embossing.  The final Mixed Media product was dimensional acrylic paint in the flower centers.

 

 

I had another pretty magazine page of a South American Mural from National Geographic that I wanted to use, so I paired it with the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Gerbera.

 

 

This time my Mixed Media techniques were Wet Embossing and Die Cutting and my product was an a gold glitter acrylic paint marker.

 

 

How fun to go back over 15 years and revisit a technique that was just as fun to do and looks just as cool today.

Rainbow Tic Tac Toe

It's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge at The Paper Players.

 

 

I went vertical down the left side with Rainbow, CAS & Birthday.

I die cut The Stamp Market Rainbow Stripes Dies in six colors. 

Next I embossed white cardstock with The Stamp Market Pierced Plaid Cover Plate and then die cut with the largest of The Stamp Market Nested Notched Dies.

 

The sentiment is from The Stamp Market Tons of Type.

Snoopy - A Man's Best Friend

The current theme at The Retro Rubber Challenge is Dig it... it's the 50s! - to create using the lovely pastel colors from the 1950's.

 

 

I decided to use an image that was also from the 1950's (1950 & 1958 according to the dates on the size of the wood stamp base).  I'm guessing the stamp itself called Man's Best Friend made by Rubber Stampede for Michael's is likely at least 20 years old.  They have become collector's items and are quite expensive if you can find them.

 

 

When we had our Crafty House getaway last year, Chris Dayton shared her collection of vintage Snoopy stamps with me, so I was able to feature one of those images today.  We had a black & white beagle named Snoopy when we were growing-up, so the cartoon was always near and dear.

Since there wasn't an orange in the challenge colors, I colored Charlie Brown's shirt & shoes with the pale yellow.  I used Tim Holtz Hexagon dies for my stamped image and for the other retro colors (from scraps of designer paper) for the Hexagon Challenge at the CAS on Friday Challenge.

 

And Global Design Project is all about Love/Valentine.

I finished with a couple of stickers (a puffy heart & sentiment) that pulled in a fourth color in the palette.

Since this card is for my brother, with my Peanuts image & the color Pink, I'm going Something that Begins with P at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Gnome for the Holidays

The November Gina K. Designs Monthly Mix Challenge is to make a card featuring a Critter. 

 

 

The instructions specifically list a Snowman as an option for a Critter, so I figured if Snowmen were in ... then Gnomes meet the Critter criteria too. 

I used the Gina K. Designs / Therm~o~web Gnome for the Holidays Kit.  I die cut the Gnome pieces and holiday tree & then used the stencils to add decorations & stripes.

 

 

I used the Sketch from the CAS Colours & Sketch Challenge with a piece of texty holiday paper.  

 

I'm also joining the Global Design Project Christmas Challenge.