Ingenious Inkling

She's a Lady

The newest challenge at Shopping Our Stash is She's a Lady - Create a Card that features a woman or a card for a special woman in your life.

When I was sorting through my product for a purge, I found this never-been-inked vintage Pattern Pieces stamp by Tim Holtz from Stampers Anonymous.  I stamped her in Art Print Brown and used markers to add color.

Next I started building a collage using one of my Alcohol Ink panels, stitched tape, vintage lady tape, some vintage trading stamps & vintage buttons.

 

 

I finished with a Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strip.

Collage Celebration

Today's card is a collage to celebrate a milestone of a co-worker.  As I've said many times before, one of my favorite things about cardmaking is being able to make a card that is very specific to the recipient ... and collage even makes that more possible.  

I started with a page from a vintage rate calculation book. and then layered on a vintage receipt, vintage savings stamps from Iowa, a piece of Tim Holtz Ephemera, and a tag saved from my many t-shirt purchases from Life is Good (they are my favorite v-neck t-shirts).

 

 

Next I added stickers from A Vintage Girl &  her Daughter.

 

 

And for Amy T's Woodblock Wednesday, I stamped a sentiment from a vintage stamp (2005) from Corona Island Stamps called Enthusiasm on a piece of vintage paper from my stash.

 

Vintage trading stamps always make me smile.

Gather

I just returned from spending a long weekend at the Gather Guest House & Creative Studio in Waunakee, Wisconsin with a group of paper crafting friends.  

I tried to narrow down what I took to work on, so I could stay more focused on creating.  I started with an Anna Griffin holiday cardmaking kit.  I was thrilled to be able to get that many cards added to my holiday card stash.

 

 

The first morning I went for a long walk all around the neighborhood.  I love walking in new places and just letting myself be open and observant of everything around me.  I loved this mural on the side of a fishing store.

 

 

These car decals reminded me of decals I got on one of my first cards (and made me want to design some for my current car).

 

 

I also got to taste my first fresh guava, and it was amazing.

 

 

Next-up was watercoloring.  I created some backgrounds and worked on STAMPlorations panels that you can see in Monday's post.

Next I worked on cutting out images from my collection of books, so I could build a collage stash like my friend Lauren.

 

 

Sunday I snuck away to go cheese shopping for the crew at Brennans Market.  I also bought some Mead to bring home.

 

 

I planned to take more photos, but the fact that I didn't just means I was totally in the moment enjoying fabulous time with friends.

 

Uproot & Move

Another collage card that combines vintage maps, music, images with some gel prints.  I'm a glue as I go collager ... Just pick a piece I like, glue it down, and continue building up the layers. It makes me trust my decisions.

 

 

I loved combining all of the flowers, especially the one that fit right on top of her head like a fabulous hat.  I also loved the vertical feel of the trio of paint brushes.  I also love those Dina Wakley Collage Words ... the transparency is perfection.

I'm linking-up my collage at the Vintage Challenge at My Time to Craft.

And since Stencils were used on my Gel Prints on the background and along the right side, I'm joining the Stencil Challenge at Inkspirational Challenges.

Spend Energy on What Matters

The TGIF Challenge is What Would You Do Without Stamps?

 

 

That's a pretty easy one for me, but today I'm picking Collage as the answer to that question.

I started with an inky foreign texty die cut piece with washi tape on the right side.

 

 

I added a few layers and decorated the traced butterflies with some hand-drawn bodies & some nuvo drops (you can see I got in a bit of a hurry before they dried, so there was a but of mush, but I'm okay with that).

The sentiment is a Dina Wakley Collage Words that impart a wise thought (one of the many options for sentiments that don't involve stamping).

My Time to Craft is celebrating their 500th Challenge with Numbers ... if you look at the top right of the text, you can see 1435.

Beautiful Blooms

The Simon Says Stamp Challenge is Beautiful Blooms.  

 

 

This collage card started with a large Tulip and then a little planting map of Bulbs blooming in June.  A favorite memory was sitting on the couch with my Grandma going through the bulb catalogue deciding on our order of which colors we would plant the next year.  I always loved the magic of them returning year-after-year.

The sentiment are more Dina Wakley Media Collage Words.

Collage Fun

When I visited Lauren in the fall, we decided to have what we called Collage Camp.  She worked on amazing mini-books, and I had fun shopping her stash to make some cards.  What it reminded me is that I should spend more time cutting things out, so I can then have fun playing and combining images.

This one was one of my favorites.  I started with a Gel Press print and then built the elements.  The top back piece reminded me of a Ruth Bader Ginsburg collar.  

I'm not a collage planner.  I find a piece I like and I glue it down ... I'm committed.  I just keep adding layers until it makes my heart happy.  Lauren told me that style of college is something that is recommended you try to learn to trust your artistic voice ... love that.

 

I added the Buddha, a sea shell, a lotus and lastly an image that reminded me of The Electric Company (a happy memory).  I figured the Buddha would be listening to some relaxing meditative tunes.

I finished with a tissue sentiment from Dina Wakley Media Collage Words.

Here's one more that was a lot of fun.  This one starts with some very subtle design paper as the base with a cool inky print on top.

 

 

Next cam layers of burlap, a patterned piece of wood from a magazine, an Asian print page stenciled with Pinwheel Bricks stenciled on top and the final layer is a Wax Seal on a doily.  Playing with your artsy besties leftovers is so fun ...  I love how they all work together.

I finished with another Dina Wakley Media Collage Words.

Top 10 Favorites of 2022

Each year I like to go back and revisit all the art I made and choose my ten favorites from the group (You can see my Five Favorite Holiday Cards of 2022 here) ... here are my favorites in no particular order. 

1. My first card revisits a long-ago technique - Faux Cloisonné - which uses magazine pages and embossing.  This card used a page from my vintage collection of National Geographics.   I love being able to make old techniques new again (my first recorded use of it was with a Lands End Catalog page in 2006).

 

 

2.  I was sad to see the end of Reverse Confetti in 2022, but happy for Jen for following her heart.  This Valentine features some of my favorite Reverse Confetti stamps (perfect for Galentine Cards) and Confetti Cuts together with a favorite Gel Press Print.

 

 

3. I love the colors from this card made for an AlteNew Inspiration Challenge ... the dies can be a bit futzy to assemble, but I do love the end effect ... I also love how my Gel Press print incorporates into this design too.

 

 

4.  I miss Paper Smooches too, so it was fun to pull out lots of stamps in my collection for this Father's Day Card for Shopping Our Stash ... it was fun including so many elements that remind me of the recipient.  I have loved designing for SOS this year.

 

 

5.  I loved participating in Birgit's month-long Gel Printing Challenge.  My favorite was this cool print I made by stamping onto the plate with a lemon ... the creative magic of gel printing is still one of my favorite creative outlets.

 

 

6.  I had so much fun Guest Designing for the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  It was such a fun challenge to see how many elements from their store I could incorporate into my cards.  I loved exercising my mixed media muscles.

 

7.   I was so grateful that Lauren and I were able to resume our annual trip to NYC and for a few days of art camp.  We declared 2022 Collage Camp, and I had so much fun going through Lauren's pre-cut collage elements and putting together some cards.  This collage card coordinates perfectly with my Frida Khalo Inspired Monster that Lauren crocheted me for my birthday (she is on my desk at the office, so she can make me smile every day).

 

 

8.  This card that was inspired by a card made by my friend SkyPaperScissors who is an ink-blending aficionado.  It reminds me how grateful I am for long-distance friendships that have sustained me in 2022.  It also reminds me that I really want to spend more time ink blending in 2023.

 

 

9.  I had fun taking a Mixed Media Washi Tape Class with Donna Downey.  Years ago, attending Donna's first Inspired Event was a real game changer for me ... it was the first time I spent significant money to invest in growing my artistry (and first time I traveled to an event by myself).  It was a game changer, and the first time I really used the word artist to describe myself, so it was fun to revisit art with her and be able to thank her for the inspiration.  I had fun combining washi tape with other media.

 

 

10.  My final card was a winner at one of my favorite Challenge Blogs - the sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.  I first used Taylored Expressions Sarcasti-Chick at the first Junkiefest event, where I eventually met the members of my crafty crew.  It was such a relief to find others who I really "clicked with" in this paper crafting community.  And this card just makes me smile.

 

 

I always start down memory lane wondering if I will find 10 pieces I love enough to feature ... and then as usual, have narrow down the possibilities to get to just 10 creations.  I love the experience of revisiting my year of artsy creations.

Thanks for going on this artsy journey with me.

 

Holly and Ivy

The newest Shopping Our Stash Challenge is Holly and Ivy - create a card using Christmas plants and greenery (trees, boughs, poinsettias, mistletoe, etc.)

 

 

I went shopping in my stash and found a package of Idea-ology Pocket Cards Christmas that were filled with greenery.  I felt in love with the one featuring sea glass & black with a single pine branch, so I built my card around it.

 

 

I used one of the plaid pocket cards (I love that they are two-sided) and some Concord & 9th Sea Glass Cardstock for my layers.  I added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Label Sticker for my sentiment and then shopped my drawer of washi tape adding three of them to finish the design (I really love the December 25th tape in Sea Glass).

Collage Camp Fun

While I was at Lauren's for what we dubbed "Collage Camp" I had fun playing with all of our bins of collage fodder.  She has lots of cut-out images and leftover bits, so it was fun to play and just glue as I went.  We determined she likes to move all of her things around for quite a while, take a picture, and then assemble.  I prefer to just find a piece I like, glue it down, and then just build around it gluing as I go.

Here is the first card I made together with my new Frida Kahlo Monster that Lauren made for my birthday.

 

 

Here's one more view ... with the circle die cut inky sheet music, I'm linking-up at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge to use Punches and/or Dies.

 

 

Here's a second collage card with Fran's Coneflowers from Stampendous that I colored with a combination of markers.  

 

 

Lauren let me use her cool Pavilio white vinyl lace tape, and I finished with some gold water color paint splatters and a sticker sentiment.

I'm linking this one up at the Little Red Wagon Flower Power Challenge.