Ingenious Inkling

Queen of the Entire Freakin' Universe

The February Challenge at Unity Stamp Company is a Sketch.

I opened a drawer of Unity Stamps and picked out the first one I saw that had yet to be inked - Unity Stamp Company Queen of the Universe.

 

 

She seemed perfect paired with Scenic Route Designer paper from Echo Park.   I stamped the image and sentiment in Brown and then paper pieced her top from the same mustard paper I used for the borders.  

I finished with a red marker for some lipstick and a gold metallic pen for her jewelry and belt.

 

 

And with this sassy vintage gal, I'm linking-up at V is for Vintage at the Sisterhood of Snarky  Stampers.

 

Coffee ... Santa's Little Helper

I'm thrilled to still be Guest Designing at the Caffeinated Christmas Challenge Candy or Cookie.

I paired a Cottage Cuts Coffee Cup with a sentiment from STAMPlorations Caffeinated Christmas on a journaling card from Echo Park My Favorite Christmas.

 

 

I added a little Hero Arts Santa from Kelly Purkey Holiday Planner Christmas to the Coffee Cup label for a little more fun.

Christmas Cheer

The current theme at Jingle Belles is The Man with the Bag - creating cards that feature Old Saint Nick.

My background is some Santa Claus designer paper from Echo Park Jingle All the Way building on the Sketch from Try Stampin' (or Not) on Tuesday.

 

 

I used papers from the Carta Bella Christmas Cheer collection to build the rest of the Sketch Layout including some Plaid for the Double Trouble Challenge for my Masculine holiday card design.

 

 

I added some enamel dots and Carta Bella Christmas Cheer Stickers to finish my design.    I went with a Hot Cocoa theme since the Caffeinated Christmas Chard Challenge is also a Masculine theme.

 

 

I decided the card needed a bit more to tie in the kraft color, so I added a wrap of kraft twine around the left border element of the sketch.

 

 

We hope you'll break out your favorite Santa products and come join us at Jingle Belles.

Scenic Route

I had some fun using Sketch Challenges to put together some cards with Echo Park's Scenic Route papers and chipboard.

 

The first one uses the sketch from the Sketch ~N~ Scrap Challenge.

 

 

I use three of the papers and two chipboard pieces.

 

 

The next card uses five chipboard stickers and the wonderful global map designer paper from the Echo Park Scenic Route collection with the Sketch from the Stick it Down Challenge.

 

 

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Addicted to Stamping and More because for me, my favorite occasion/holiday is a trip with my Sister.

Spring Umbrellas

The inspiration for this card started with The Little Red Wagon Save Me from April Shower Challenge to use an Umbrella on your card.  I started with some lovely umbrella designer paper from Echo Park My Favorite Spring.

 

 

I took further inspiration from The Card Concept How Does Your Garden Grow Challenge for my Clean & Layered Design.  I was inspired by all of the rain that would have been needed to make all of those gorgeous blooms grow.   I also added a vintage fabric bird (with his own little bird house) that loves spring blooms and a lady bug (which I'm sure is loving his home in that flower bed).  Finally I chose the perfect floral spring sentiment from the same Echo Park collection.

 

 

The layout is this weeks Vertical Sketch from the Paper Craft Crew.

 

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.

 

Birthday Candles

I ordered from the recent Echo Park paper sale, and I also picked-up the current Card Kit, which was birthday-themed.  

I used the Sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments (rotated)

 

 

I also played Tic Tac Toe with the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  I went vertical down the left with stripes on my candles, the tag die cut and designer paper.

 

 

I finished with a seam binding bow on the top of my tag.

 

Oh Hoppy Day!

When I was searching for something in my studio this week, I found my stash of Easter embellishments, so I pulled them out.  I decided this morning was as good of a time as any to start some Easter Cards.

I built my card around this fun little felt Easter Bunny sticker and this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

 

 

I paired my Bunny with this fun Oopsy Daisy paper from Echo Park Celebrate Easter.  I paired it with a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Tag Team - Easter.

 

 

For the arrow element in the sketch I pulled out my hoarded SRM Sticker Zig Zag Stitches stickers.

Cardstock Christmas

For the next prompt at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to step away from the designer paper … yes, put it away … none allowed … not even a scrap … because the next prompt is to create a card using only CARDSTOCK.

You can tear it, ink it, stamp it, spray it, emboss it … but stick to only cardstock for your holiday card design.

When I thought of cardstock ideas, my memories took me back to the first innovative cardstock product I remembered - Core'dinations and the magic of embossing it. I made some card samples for them way way way back in the day, so I knew somewhere I still had quite a stash of their paper (and I actually remembered where I had it stashed ... a crafty miracle).

 

 

I chose the blue cardstock and embossed it with the Echo Park Mini Triangles embossing folder that reminded me of tiny Christmas Trees and then got out my nail file and sanded away to reveal the light blue Core'dinations core.  Next I sprayed the cardstock with shimmer spray and splattered with white acrylic ink to bring in a snowy effect. 

I die cut my STAMPlorations Merry Christmas Sentiment from the same blue cardstock, but the contrast didn't work ... I tried a lighter blue, which didn't seem to work either ... but when I combined the two to create a drop shadow ... Voila!. 

 

 

After gluing them together, I added some more shimmer spray.  My choice of the blue color palette and clean & simple design was inspired by the Less is More Shades of Blue Challenge.

 

But Always Bring Coffee

The Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is drawing to a close, and I wanted to sneak in one more card.

 

 

Like Amy T mentioned in her post today, my Mojo felt absent this morning, so I chose to take my inspiration from the Echo Park Coffee Paper Pad.

 

I used the card at the Global Design Project to inspire my layout with all of my paper pieces.  I chose a paper for my background with coffee cups that reminded me of the circles in the Inspiration card.

 

I finished with some pink enamel dots.