Ingenious Inkling

A New Baby

The theme of the current Impression Obsession Challenge is New Beginnings.

I needed a baby card for my stash, so that seemed like the perfect New Beginning.

 

I have never been a liquid adhesive user ... but after watching several people have success with Gina K. Designs' Connect Glue, I took the dive ... and haven't looked back.  I used it to attach those cursive letters from Impression Obsession's Congrats Word Set and it worked like a charm.

I die cut the four icons from Impression Obsession's Baby Set from Red & Blue cardstock and finished my design.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Cute Card Thursday.

We Didn't Like Him.

Lisa Arana shared a great video in the Unity Stamp Company e-mail today of a Quick Background technique using the MISTI. She challenged us to use the technique and post it in the Unity {show & tell} group on Facebook. 

I realized as I surveyed my Unity inventory that I definitely lean toward Itty Bitty stamps and sentiments, so it was a little challenging to find an image to repeat ... so I got creative with the technique using the Wine & Friends Itty Bitty Stamp.  Using my MISTI made it easy to move the row of glasses around.   I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color the large glass of wine & trio of hearts.

 

I stamped three rows of glasses & finished with a snarky sentiment from Unity Stamp Company She Used to Care. 

 

My Sweet Petunia (MISTI) and Pink & Main

The design teams from My Sweet Petunia and Pink & Main are having a fun Blog Hop today.

This stamp company was new to me, so I had fun choosing from their fabulous stamps and dies ... and I also played with some of their designer papers (they are two-sided ... love that) and Glossy Dots.

First ... I have a long-time love of tiny sentiments, and they have an awesome selection.  And I couldn't resist pairing them with these adorable little Planner Peekers (they are meant for planners, but are perfect for card-making).

I started with the Owl who looked super-serious in those too-big glasses, so I paired him with some "Get It Done!" sentiments.  I used two from the Planner Peekers and one from Get Fit.  My MISTI makes it so easy to get the alignment I want (I started out with them straight, but decided I liked it better a little wonky) and then stamp them all together.

I colored him a dark blue and paired him with the Beach Bum papers (awesome for masculine designs).

I finished with a coordinating wrap of twine.

The Unicorn seemed much less serious, so I paired her with papers from the Rainbow Collection & sentiments from Planner Peekers and Happy Mail (again ... love the tiny sentiments)

I colored my unicorn in shades of Hydrangea Blue with a silver sparkly horn.

This one is also for the Paper Made Bakery Tic Tac Toe Challenge ... where I went with Bold Sentiment, Red & Twine.

For the final in my trio, I re-stamped the Panda directly on my robin egg blue card base.  I was able to line up all of my stamps on my MISTI and stamp it at once (which would be adorable for making sets).  The sentiments are from Happy Mail.

Love this cute little guy.

I used a strip of paper from the Beach Bum Collection & finished with some Eyelet Outlet Enamel Heart stickers.

The next set I fell in love with was the set of Easter Icon Stamps ... I love stamps that can be punched out with a circle punch (again, takes me back to things I fell in love with when I started stamping many years ago).

I decided to find colors that I could pair with those vibrant Rainbow Collection Papers.

So much spring fun ... and of course, perfect coverage when I stamp with my MISTI.   I used a 1 3/4" punch, which left a nice border.

I made another trio of cards with a variation on a theme.

I couldn't resist those sweet little bunnies in jelly bean colors.  I added a sticker sentiment to finish the design.

This card is also for the Here Comes Peter Cottontail Challenge at Shopping Our Stash.

The little check felt like he needed to be yellow, so I paired him with two other Icons stamped in Orange on Yellow Cardstock and attached them with foam tape for dimension ... I added some of those Glossy Dots with the Rainbow Paper.

This one is also inspired by the If You Give a Crafter A Cookie Challenge (aren't those cookies adorable).

For the final design using these stamps, I made a spring card using three stamped butterflies and a sentiment from a tiny extra set that was included with my order called Flower Mouse on a 4" x 8" card base.

I also couldn't resist trying the Coordinating Dies & Stamp sets from Pink & Main ... I chose Congrats ... perfect for babies, weddings, new home, graduation, or any event that deserves a congrats (there is a sentiment for each).

I love that there is a die cut for both an outline and the word to really make the word pop ... It was perfect to use with all of the paper scraps from the Rainbow Paper Collection that I had on my studio table (and do you see ... more awesome tiny sentiments).

I wouldn't resist adding a few more of those fun Glossy Dots to finish.

Keep hopping along for more fun ... we will choose two lucky commenters from the hop to win one of two prizes: a $50 shopping spree at My Sweet Petunia or a $50 shopping spree at www.pinkandmain.com - leave your comments no later than Sunday, March 25th, at 11:59 PM CST and winners will be announced on Tuesday April 3rd, on the PInk & Main and My Sweet Petunia blogs.

Mitsyana Wright

Ilina Crouse

Pam MacKay

Jeanne Streiff

Yolie Burke

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Mindy Eggen

Ceal Pritchett

Pamela Pease

Giovana Smith

Annie WIlliams

Stephanie Severin <---- YOU ARE HERE

Michelle Currie

Susan Wymer

Lydia Fiedler

My Sweet Petunia

Sweet Little One

The February Reverse Confetti Sketch For You To Try comes to the rescue for a needed baby card.

I am also lovin' my new VersaFine Clair Inks (onesies are stamped in VersaFine Clair Cheerful with a single impression ... look at that coverage) and sentiment is stamped in Catherine Pooler Garden Party.  All Stamps are from Reverse Confetti Cute as a Button with coordinating Onesie Confetti Cut Die.

With my dotty background, I'm also joining the Retro Rubber Challenge.  My Reverse Confetti stamps are at least one year and 4 months old (I made my first card with them in October 2016).

 

Crafty Biathlon

I'm playing with some Card Olympics at My Favorite Things while watching the winter sports on television.

This card is for Event #3 - the Crafty Biathlon.

The challenge was to combine a Technique from a list with a Card Type ... I chose Dry Embossing with a Z-Fold Card.

I needed a wedding card, so the Z-Fold is perfect for tucking a check or gift card in the back fold of the card (which was one of the other card types ... sort of like throwing an extra Quadruple Loop into my long program).

I also threw-in a version of Inlaid Die Cutting with my sentiment rectangle (another extra technique), as it fits into the opening on the front of the card.  I put the entire folded card through the embossing folder, so it is covered in snowflakes.

Sentiments are from My Favorite Things LJD Together Forever.

I added another rectangle of white cardstock under the sentiment to write a little message and sign our names.

I'm Thrilled for You

I finally had some time to do some "just because* creating tonight, so I chose to combine this week's My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge & Color Challenge to use some of my new MFT Products.

The colors remind me of a roll of life savers (the one on the left would be Cryst-O-Mint ... do you remember those ... that was the color of the package and the life savers were a clear cool mint?  They were my favorite.

 

I used my new MFT Geometric Greenery & Dies together with my Die-namics Stitched Tag-Corner Rectangle Dies.  I finished with a few rows of "cryst-o-mint" pearls to tie more of that color into my design.

Amazing

This card is for a co-worker who reached an awesome milestone.

I started by embossing a piece of kraft cardstock that was marbled with red, white & blue paints (from my outdoor paper marbling extravaganza with Lauren last year) with a star embossing folder.  Embossing Folders are this week's theme at Challenge Up Your Life. 

Next I used the direct-to-paper technique with blue ink to make the stars stand out a little more against the background.

I die cut the Sizzix Tarnished Trophy from Silver cardstock & then printed the milestone before punching with a circle punch and matting with a scalloped circle (punched twice to look more like a ribbon award.

Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Amazing Messages .. with AWESOME being my Word for the Anything Goes Word Week Challenge at Just Us Girls.

It's also Anything Goes at the Die Cuts R Us Challenge Blog.

Welcome Baby

It's World Card Making Day (and my birthday if you want to click over and help me celebrate), so of course I had to find some time to make a card.

I chose to join the October Mix It Up Challenge with AlteNew & Essentials by Ellen.

I started by die cutting Essentials by Ellen Concertina Tag from ivory cardstock and then trimming it down to use a single tag.  I die cut the star to frame the tag hole from yellow cardstock.

I stamped & die cut my AlteNew Little One Onesie from the same yellow and then stamped and die cut the flopsie bunny from Essentials by Ellen Bear Wear.  The sentiments are both from AlteNew Sentiments & Quotes.  The Ink is Taylored Expressions Earl Grey.

And the layout is this week's CAS(E) this Sketch!

Antique Cars

Today I'm featuring Antique Car Washi Tape backgrounds with awesome vintage car illustrations.

For this first card, I attached the Washi Tape to a scrap of white cardstock.  I love the wonderful grey/tan shade of this tape.

My first card uses a vintage Mercedes Benz with this week's Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

I added a Happy Birthday Road Sign Arrow Brad together with a sticker sentiment to complete the masculine design.

 

 

For the next one, I attached the tape to a scrap of lime green cardstock to coordinate with my fun little card.  This tape isn't quite as as translucent as other Washi Tapes, but you can see how the different color of cardstock did change the hue of the background.

 

 

I would totally love to have one of these fun little Goggomobiles.  I used another Road Sign Arrow sentiment for this design.

 

 

 

 

 

My Sweet Petunia MISTI & Kitchen Sink Stamps Blog Hop

I am thrilled to be joining the Blog Hop with the My Sweet Petunia MISTI team and Kitchen Sink Stamps.  

The Hop is coinciding with the Kitchen Sink Stamps 10th Anniversary Sale ... they are offering 35% off all items in stock and Free Shipping at $65 (US Only)  The Sale Excludes Out of Stock and Special Order/Retired Items.  The Coupon Code KSSDECADE is good through Sept. 25th - 29th (midnight PDT)

 

I was given the Plaid Plus! Stamp set to create with (thanks so much KSS).  I love plaid and stripes, and the MISTI give you so many possibilities.

I started by stasmping the Three-Row Stripe from the set three times in Sunkissed Orange from AlteNew ... I keep my stamp in the same place on my 12" MISTI and move the paper vertically to cover it.

Next, I trimmed and rotated my paper so I could do the same stamping the other direction using the Darker Autumn Blaze Ink.

For me, this plaid screams autumn, so I added some fun Pumpkin Washi Tape & Pumpkin Brads from Eyelet Outlet, together with a sentiment sticker.  I finished my design with some matte black enamel dots.

For my next plaid, I combined Lucky Clover & Peacock Fethers Distress Oxide Ink.  This time I created by Plaid by rotating my paper four ways and stamping on each edge.  Then I positioned the center piece of the plaid and stamped two more times.

Here are both Plaid pieces for a combined view.  I purposefully left my ink a bit blotchy because I thought it made it feel more like *flannel* plaid.

I used my second plaid for a fun birthday card design (because plaids are perfect for any occasion).  I love that this could be masculine or feminine with these hues.

In addition to making plaid, you can also just go with the stripes.  For this card, I stamped the Double Stripe from Plaid Plus! in Vermilion and the Stars in Indigo.

Then I used the stripes with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

 

The sentiment is from another Kitchen Sink Stamp Set - 3 Step Baseball.  I finished with a few silver star embellishments.

The prizes for this hope are amazing ... one winner will get a $50 Gift Certificate to Kitchen Sink Stamps ... the second winner will get their choice of a standard or mini MISTI.  Everyone who comments on every stop on the hop will be entered to win one of the two prizes.  Commenting deadline is 11pm CST on October 2nd and winners will be announced on October 3rd on the My Sweet Petunia and Kitchen Sink Stamps blogs.

Have fun hopping.

Maria Colosimo

Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

Lydia Fiedler

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Ceal Pritchett

Giovana Smith

Chris Dayton

Stephanie Severin << --------- You Are Here

Lynn McAuley