Ingenious Inkling

Mini Christmas Collage

For the December @mini.collage.collective Challenge they have chosen Green as the theme.

I started with a 3 7/8" square of Green Gelliarts Print.  Next I added my favorite green from my childhood ... S&H Green Stamps.  Then I added some Korn King Stamps as well.

 

 

Since I had a red & green theme going, I decided to make it a Christmas theme with a Tim Holtz Stitched Christmas Frame, a sticker frame, a little reindeer stamps from the National Wildlife Federation, some word tiles, and some holly gems.  I finished with a fun little Santa Hat.

I really love putting these small collages together.

The Courage to Let Go of Certainty

I think the quote on this card applies to more than just creativity ... at least that's how my life feels right now (my tendency is to hold on tight to certainly with both fists).

I made this card when Lauren and I had Art Camp earlier this year.  I water colored an ATC sized piece of paper and added some painted strips of dry wall tape, washi tape and a Tim Holtz Paper Doll.

 

I finished with a Dina Wakley Typed Ledger Sentiment and some Washi Tape on a calendar page.

Collactober2024 ATCs

One of the things on the plan for Stephanie & Lauren's Art Camp 2024 was to make some ATCs to exchange with our friend Linda Brun.

I decided to combine that plan with themes from #collactober2024 collage challenge.

 

 

I started with Prompt 03 Red Balloon after I found the perfect red balloon image when I was going through Lauren's Richard Scarry books she has on her cutting book shelves.

I decided to make a torn paper background from designer paper, inspired by some of the art we saw at the New York Public Library Yesterday.

 

 

The sentiment was cut from another children's book on the cutting book shelves.

Next, I tacked prompt 07 - Bouquet.  I started by water coloring a piece of watercolor paper and cutting it down to an ATC.  Next I trimmed down some strips from the painted watercolor paper and wove them vertically & horizontally.

 

 

Next I layered on a thistle bouquet that I found in Lauren's college item box (so much fun shopping someone else's supplies) and finished with some sticker sentiments.

Final ATC was my take on prompt 12 - Call from the Void (I took a rather literal approach after I found the fun little pink phone sticker).

I started with my take on a technique I had saved on Instagram.  I swapped the cardstock for designer paper and changed the number of circles in the grid to fit on my ATC.

 

 

The finishing elements were two dictionary definitions for the prompt.

GelliArts Printing Week

I've enjoyed another week of GelliArts Printing for the #abcprintingchallenge.

 

 

H is for Household items had me printing with an Egg Carton.

 

 

I is for Image Transfer.  It took me ten tries, but I finally got a really good one.

 

 

J is for Jack-o-Lantern was my worst print of the week, but I made it and moved on.  I used the pumpkin die from The Stamp Market.

 

 

K is for Key.

 

 

L is for Leaves using the Botanical Stencil from The Crafter's Workshop.

 

 

M is for Mixed Media Collage.  I used four different GelliArts prints for my collage, together with rub-ons, trading stamps and a bird image from Sande Poema's Cardmaking Community.  

 

 

The layout for my collage is from Sketch~N~Scrap Challenge.

 

 

And finally, N is for Neon.  Neon paints are transparent, so layering is a bit more challenging.  I just played around with lots of colors.

 

 

I hope you had fun on my Gelliprinting adventures this week.

Vintage Collage

This week we're celebrating the Spirit of Christmas Past at Jingle Belles … which means creating a card with a vintage design. That could mean incorporating actual vintage elements, using new products that have a vintage style, or using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe – whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive to your endeavors, this week we are sponsored by Lauren's fantastic Etsy Shop Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card member who links-up their vintage design.

I went to my vintage drawers and pulled out all sorts of bits to create my glue-as-I-go collage. 

 

 

I started with a vintage hymnal page of a Christmas Carol (which ended-up almost completely obscured when I was done). 

There are vintage trading stamps, a vintage hand-written cake recipe, a vintage dictionary page, a vintage holiday stamp, a translucent lily and lots of Tim Holtz vintage-y bits.  I finished my stamping a few sentiments from Tim's Stampendous Tiny Text Christmas.

I'm also linking-up at the Add-A-Sentiment Challenge at Simon Says.

Holiday Leftovers

One of our favorite things about the holiday meal is the leftovers ... I happen to enjoy little stuffing and cranberry sauce on my ham sandwich or eating sweet potatoes topped with pecans and  marshmallows for breakfast.

So this week, we're celebrating Holiday Leftovers at Jingle Belles by creating cards using all of those little leftover pieces of papers, alphabet letters, stickers, ribbon ... you, those things you have saved somewhere because they were just too lovely to throw away or recycle ... well, we want to see how you use them to make some fun holiday leftover cards.  

It just so happened that this was quite a timely challenge.  My studio was a disaster, so I gathered all of the holiday bits from my studio table to make this card.

 

 

I told you my table was a mess.

Here's what I came-up with, and I love it.  It was fun how all of the different papers worked together.

 

 

I even found a sentiment on one of the scraps. 

We can't wait to see what you make with your leftovers.

Tiny Art Show

This year I joined in the fun of participating in the Tiny Art Show at the various local libraries.  

My art is displayed at the downtown Cedar Rapids Library near our home.  Last year the art was displayed in a glass-doored display case on the second floor.  When I went to visit on Saturday, I was surprised to see the display front and center in the first floor lobby.

 

 

You picked-up a 3" white canvas at the library, created your art & uploaded your description using your name and provided QR Code, and then dropped off your art at the Library.  In August, the Art from all of the libraries will be combined for a show at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

Here's the panel with my piece ... can you pick it out?

 

 

Here it is up close.  I ended-up building my glue-as-I-go collage (meaning I didn't plan out the piece in advance, but just attached various elements as I built the design) on a piece of gelliarts printed transparency, and then I attached the entire collage to the canvas.

I used translucent flower stickers, butterfly ephemera, vintage trading stamps, sticker sentiments, gold puffy hearts and dots with a gold metallic Sharpie.

 

 

I was really happy with how it turned out.

Here are a few of the others I loved from the art show.  I loved how Annie Graham Suggs used the reverse side of the frame to house her bamboo pebble, and Allison Zordell's sponged galaxy.

 

 

I also loved Beth Orth's mixed media piece that incorporated bicycle chain as a frame.  Kathleen Hoeper created a wonderful carved block print.

 

 

I always appreciate the opportunity to participate in City Art Events.

Postal Perfection

When I saw the Daring Cardmakers Postal Perfection Challenge, I knew it was time to pull out my large collection of postage stamps and create a collage.

I started with a scrap of inky painty paper that was used to cover my work table and found a gelliarts print that coordinated.  Then I chose some postage stamps & positioned them on a lime green Doodlebug Design Doily.

 

 

I finished with a flower, some golden pearls to pull out the circles of gold ink on my background paper, and a stamped sentiment.

Woodblock Birthday Collage

It's time for another Woodblock Wednesday with Amy T.

 

 

Birthday Stamps are some of the Woodblock Stamps I save the most of.  This Stampin' Up Woodblock was part of a set called Four Square, but this is the only stamp I still have.  I added it to a collage that I personalized for a friend's birthday who loves board games, coffee and books.

 

 

I built my collage using a layout from Sketch~N~Scrap Challenge with some inky scraps and vintage papers ... I even stamped my sentiment on a scrap of vintage dictionary page.

 

January Gel Print Grand Finale

This week I finished the final days of #gelprintjanuary2024.

 

 

For Day 28 of DIY Texture, I went back to an old favorite - plastic wrap.  This time I tried it with different paint viscosities and got different effects than in the past, which I loved.

 

 

For Day 29 Fabric, I found a scrap of faux leather in my stash that I had for die cutting earrings.  I loved the cool texture I got on the plate ... and that metallic leather would make cool earrings too.

 

 

For Day 30 I pulled out my pastel PanPastels to print, and I think those might be my favorite prints of the month.  I have to do more printing with this medium.

 

 

 

and the final day was collage, so I just tore & punched some prints that were still out on my studio table for a quick collage card.

 

 

I definitely need to work on finding ways to add small bits of creating into the every day (it brings me joy).