Ingenious Inkling

Jaded Blossom August Challenge: Ask for Salt and Tequila

The August Challenge at Jaded Blossom is Feeling Fruity ... I am thrilled to be Guest Designing for the month of August, so I'll be sharing lots of fun projects for their awesome new release this month.

I made both a card and a fun little gift pocket for the Fruity challenge.

 

 

For the card, I used my MISTI and three different small Lemon stamps from Jaded Blossom Happy Hour Candies and Food & Drink and stamped them repeatedly using Hero Arts Lemon Drop Reactive Ink. 

 

I finished with several sentiments from Jaded Blossom Let's Toast.

 

 

For my little gift pocket, I die cut the Jaded Blossom Ticket Book Die from black cardstock with the inner pieces die cut from Lemon Glitter Cardstock.

 

 

I folded the ticket forward and attached it with a staple at each side to make a little pocket that perfectly holds a packet of lemonade.  I finished with a sentiment & lemon slide from Jaded Blossom Food & Drink.

We hope you'll break out your favorite fruits and join the fun.

Fearless, Independent and Original

Since Sunday was the final game of the Premier League, I had to make a Soccer-themed card.  It's been so fun to watch our team (Liverpool) do so well this year ... and even more fun that we have live sports back to watch.

 

I used this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch together with Doodlebug Soccer-themed papers from my stash and sticker sentiments.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at The Male Room Challenge where the theme is Sport.

 

A {Vintage Girl & Her Daughter} Sticker Store

I'm thrilled to finally share that I am a member of the inaugural design team for a super-cool Sticker Store - {A Vintage Girl & her Daughter} (follow them on Instagram here).   They also have the {Vintage Girl Shop} that sells amazing chipboard for all of your mixed media creations.  You can use my code SMILYNSTEF at checkout for 15% off your order.

To start designing, I got to pick a large selection of stickers and then received the latest creations like these awesome quarantine sticker sets ... the sets are 6 1/2" x 3", so they're perfectly sized for card-making.  

 

 

\and these fun sets ... girl with sanitizer looking for boy with toilet paper (snort).

 

 

I made my first set of cards using the fun new Happy Birthday Unicorn set.

 

 

These paired perfectly with the Echo Park Imagine That! Girl paper collection.  For my first card I used some of the fun Ephemera from that collection to frame a single sticker layering with a silver doily.  I also used Spots & Stripes for the Little Red Wagon Challenge.

 

I embellished with some tiny enamel heart stickers, a stray bow sticker that was on my studio table, and Birthday Sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typed Sentiments.  This card just makes me happy.

For the next one I joined the Daring Cardmakers Three Musketeers Challenge and used three Unicorn stickers on one card.

 

 

I embellished with Enamel Dots and finished with a Typewriter Sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typewriter Sentiments.  The colors in these stickers are just so vibrant.

 

Third card feels like it's for a 6 year old girl with lots of blingity-bling.  I was thrilled that I was actually above to lift and reposition these stickers (several times actually) until I got them in just the right place.

 

 

Here's a sneak peak of more of the sets I'll be creating with in the future ... fun Campers, Vintage Cars & Vintage Cameras ... I love how you can color some of the stickers (or leave them black and white).

 

 

There are fun sentiments too ... love the different drink themes and the super-cool Motivational Quotes.

 

I'm always a sucker for sentiments for cards ... Christmas quotes perfect for Jingle Belles; Autism themed for several friends; and GRL PWR.  I also got some fun chipboard from {Vintage Girl} to try.

 

And there are lots of cool Steam Punk elements that will be awesome for collages and mixed media.

 

 

And how about more vintage goodness ... can't wait to decorate those containers with some blooms.

 

 

And a mixture of fun ... I love stickers that combine a sentiment and image for super-easy card making ... and you know some of those Tequila stickers are going with those Funky Cactuses.

 

And if you love animals, there are lots of choose from ... the Animals Workin' Hard will be so fun for some masculine cards.

 

Some more animals and those awesome Vintage Typewriter Keys ... can't wait to play with those.

 

 

And not all the stickers are on white ... they have some fun kraft stickers too.

 

 

Go check out the {A Vintage Girl & her Daughter} Sticker Store to find your favorites.  I can't wait to share my creations with you.

Book Club Challenge

Ellen Hutson has announced a hashtag game to play along with her Summer of Stamping, so I had to break out some Essentials by Ellen stamps and join the fun.

 

I started with The Library Challenge where the book to inspire are our cardmaking this week is Crimes Against a Book Club by Kathy Cooperman.

 

The women on the cover minded me of the lady from Essentials by Ellen Voices in my Head, so I stamped her in Auburn.  I stamped my sentiments in Teal with a pop of yellow and added some black and white striped designer paper.

 

I finished with a chipboard sentiment for a touch of adventure and a teal bow in her hair ... that pretty much sums up my life right now.  #EBESummerofStamping

Stay Away from the Donuts

I live across the street from a Donut Shop ... yes, you read that correctly, across the street. 

When I was working from the office, I would stop in every other week or so and take a box of donuts to the office.  Now I have to have a discussion with myself most mornings that I DO NOT NEED to walk over to the donut shop to get some breakfast before starting my day (so far I have successfully avoided weight gain during this work-from-home experience). 

It is that self-conversation that inspired my card for the Hero Arts #staycraftywithhero Out of the Box Challenge.

 

 

However, when I showed my crafty friends my card during our Saturday afternoon crafty video call, they thought the Stop Sign was to tell my friends to STOP & STAY AWAY from my Donuts ... so I suppose you could take this out-of-the-box card either way (because trust me, if I do buy the donuts ... you better not eat mine).

I started by stamping the donuts from Hero Arts Food Puns on Pink Cardstock, and then I punched them out using a 1 1/2" Circle Punch.  I used a smaller circle punch from the same light pink as my card base for the center of the donuts.  Then I used Glossy Accents to "glaze" my donuts.

 

Next I due cut the stop sign from Hero Arts No Trespassing Stamp & Cut and stamped one of the Sentiments in Black Ink (looking at it now, white ink might have been better).  I positioned my three elements using foam tape and then centered the two other sentiments from the same set above and below.

 

I think combining these two sets made a fun out-of-the-box card for today's situation ... and it will certainly make someone smile (especially if it comes with a freshly baked Donut).

Paper Smooches Flutterby

Lauren's next challenge at Paper Anthology Creation Staycation is to make a card that features Things with Wings!. 

 

 

Lauren and I just had a discussion yesterday about how much she loves birds ... and how much I don't.  Living in the City, the birds build nests under our window awnings about 10 feet from my sleeping head ... they poop all over the glass and wake me up way too early.  Also, the Geese are just darn aggressive.  So needless to say, I didn't feature a bird on my card ... but instead Paper Smooches new Flutterby for the Paper Smooches Pastel Challenge.

 

I also discovered that apparently I don't like Pastel Inks either ... so very few of them in my stash ... but I finally found a color combination that worked with the Paper Smooches Rainbow Sherbet Paper.

 

My diamond for the Freshly Made Sketch is a bit more of an off-set Rhombus after I trimmed it down to fit the car, but I like it.  I added a sentiment from Paper Smooches Sympathy Sampler and a few enamel dots.

 

Another bit of happiness to go in the mail.

Happy Spring

I wanted to join more of the Creation Staycation at the Paper Anthology Facebook Page.

Of course I had to join Lauren's Color Palette Challenge.

 

 

I literally held my paper scraps up to the computer screen to get the right shades of each hue.

 

I was inspired by the Spring Fling Challenge at Memory Box to use the Memory Box Scribble Frond Outline Die together with the Memory Box Springtime Typewriter Sentiments.  I added some tiny epoxy hearts in three of the colors.

 

I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch!

 

I also joined the Paper Anthology Plaid Challenge using a monochromatic yellow plaid to restock my masculine birthday card stash.

 

It's important that they be mailable, since I can't hand-deliver them for the time being.

 

Paper Anthology Creation Staycation

Paper Anthology, Lauren's local store Stamping Store in New Jersey, is missing all of their customers ... so they're creating a virtual Creation Staycation, so they (and you) can all create together online.

 

Their first challenge was a fun Sketch Challenge.

 

I used some scraps of designer paper and a fun Doodle Pops Sticker Love Notes for a Springy Mother's Day Card (I like to send cards to the awesome mother's in my life ... as well as people who were like mothers to me).

 

I added a shadow under my vase and all the tiny hearts that came with the flowers.  I finished with my favorite Simon Says Stamp Mother's Day Sentiment (discontinued).

There will be 4 Challenges every day for 4 days (16 changes to win some prizes) ... come join the fun and support this awesome store.

Mother's Day Bouquet

I've been hanging onto this lovely little crocheted circle, which was the last of a group that were made for me by Jessi Fogan (aka OneCraftyMama), but today I decided a Mother's Day card would be the perfect place to use my final one.

 

I used a Doodlebugs Bright Bunch Bouquet sticker and grounded it with some Grey Spectrum Noir Marker.  The background and floral inspiration came from the Yellow Makes Me Happy Inspired By Challenge.

 

I also played Tic Tac Toe with The Paper Players - diagonal of Pink, Spring & Patterned Paper.

 

The absolutely perfect Mother's day Sentiment is from the discontinued Simon Says Stamp set Mom and Dad Icons.

 

And the layout is the always reliable Mojo Monday Sketch (#535).

 

 

I'm also joining Dawn & Rite for a little Paper Shenanigans on Instagram.

Floral Fashion Inspired

The theme at The Paper Players is Clean & Simple Fashion Fun Challenge and the TIME OUT Challenge is to create a card inspired by an item in your wardrobe.  I'm sure you're not surprised that I chose a pair of my shoes.

I love these L'Artiste Amora Rainbow heals with a gorgeous all-over floral pattern and cut-outs throughout the design ... seriously, how do I not feel like I have super-powers when I'm wearing these.

 

 

I chose a similar floral pattern paper and then inspired by The Paper Players photo, also pulled out the pink and flowers in the inspiration photo.

 

I looked at several die cuts to pull in the cut out pieces in my shoes and went with the My Favorite Things Snow Drifts Cover-Up Die-namic.

 

I added some sticker sentiments that expressed how I like to live my life (and Wear My Joy).

 

I finished with a little bit of blue bling ... because life is always better with a little bling.