Ingenious Inkling

Wheatfield Sympathy

Tonight I needed some sympathy cards for a group to sign.  I had the Taylored Expressions Foil It Wheatfield on my studio table, so I decided to combine it with the Taylored Expressions June #TEMakerChallenge.

 

 

I used Cotton Candy Blue foil on the wheat because I didn't have a color that would pass for Pineapple ... and because in the land of card making, things can be any color you want.  I chose kraft as my third color.

 

 

And why is it so hard to photograph the glimmer of foil.  I finally settled for a small portion of the image reflecting the light.

I finished with sentiments from Taylored Expressions Mini Strips Sympathy and some Pineapple enamel dots.

You Make Me Smile

When I make a hot foil card like yesterday's #staycraftychallenge card, I always use my Hot Foil Plate to attach the leftover foil - this time from Hero Arts Zen Circles - to a piece of cardstock. 

I attached yesterday's silver foil to a piece of green cardstock (because that was the cardstock scrap on my studio table).  I've found that attaching the foil this way usually has a bit of a distressed look, which worked well with this allover design.

 

 

I stamped a similar swirly square from Hero Arts Texture Blocks stamps set using the greens from the Hero Arts Reactive Ink Palette that came with one of the My Monthly Hero packages and assembled the card using a sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

 

 

I added a sentiment from Hero Arts Hero Greetings in the center of one of the squares and finished with some green enamel dots.

 

 

 

Zen Foiled Roadside Birthday

The newest challenge at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero is Smooth - try some ink blending.

 

I ink blended a cardstock panel using the Distress Oxide Ink equivalent of the the ink colors in The Paper Players Challenge and gave the panel a spritz of Hero Arts Frost Shimmer Mist (it got a bit lost behind the foiling on the blue, but you can see it a bit on the lemon yellow ink).

 

 

Next I foiled the panel using the Hero Arts Zen Circles Hot Foil Plate with silver foil (my one other color choice).  If you look close, you can see some other circles in the background ... that would be me trying twice of foil with Decofoil instead of Hot Foil (how many times do I have to do that before I remember).  I sort of liked the effect when I was all done.

 

 

I finished by stamping the Hero Arts Roadside Messages Happy Birthday in Navy adding a bit of lemon coloring for the flags before attaching it with dimensional foam.

Copper Birthday Balloons

When I saw several challenges featuring Balloons, I decided to use Copper Foil with my brand-spanking-new Pinkfresh Studio Make a Wish BetterPress Plate (I was thrilled when I saw you could also use it with the Glimmer Foil Machine, which is what I did for my card).

 

 

I attached two strips of metallic copper cardstock to the ivory card base, and then I trimmed down the Balloon panel and framed it with the same cardstock, for a clean & simple masculine design.  I attached the balloon panel with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

 

 

I'm linking my card up for Code Word Balloons at Addicted to CAS.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at Just Add Ink with my Balloons & Birthday.

 

 

And lastly, with my Copper Foil & Copper Cardstock, I'm linking-up at Seize the Birthday Use Metallics.

Midnight Resolutions

The plan this morning was to sleep in, but my body had other ideas and woke up like it was a Monday morning work day.  I know when it does that, there's no fighting it, so I got out of bed.  Then mid-morning, it felt like I might be able to get a little nap, but it fought me on that effort too, so I got back-up and planned to clean-up my studio and do a little purging.

However, as soon as I found this gold foiled alcohol ink panel buried on my studio table, I took a sharp left and decided to make a card instead ... what's a girl to do when inspiration strikes.

I decided to join the December Unity Show & Tell Challenge, which is Anything Goes, and turn my lovely panel into a new year's card (yes, despite my best efforts, I failed to get a few Christmas cards mailed in time, so now it will be New Year's Cards).

I die cut the inky panel with a stitched square and used extra-strong tape to attach it to a glitter paper covered card base.  A tip for adhering to glitter ... after I attach the tape, I run the entire card through my Empress Embossing Machine to squish it all together nice and strong.

 

 

It only took three tries to find the right bright royal blue ink (cussing myself that I'm not more like SkyPaperScissors with all of my inks properly swatched) for the Unity New Year - Midnight Resolutions image (saving the other two with the stamp for another time).  I framed it in royal blue and gold paper before attaching with some foam tape and shimmery gold thread.

The finishing touch is a few Pinkfresh Studio Ombre Sparkle & Shine Glitter Drops.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Party Time Challenge.  I'm also joining the Cobalt Blue Challenge at The Dream Factory.

Joy to the World

It's been one of those days in the studio where everything I touched seemed to be a mess.  I literally tried six times to foil these Hero Arts Snowflake Pattern.  I even went to watch a video to make sure I had everything lined up correctly, but the foil just wasn't adhering.  Finally after I walked away, I realized I'd been using the laminating foil & not the hot foil (I had even tried three different laminating foils before I figured it out) ... uggh.

There was also an embossing powder spill all over my paper cutter, a smashed finger that tore my fingernail, and a new die cut that just refused to cut. 

When I finally got the Spellbinders Opal Glimmer Foil to work on the navy cardstock, I figured I should call it good for tonight with this card. 

 

 

I die cut the snowflake panel using Hero Arts Rounded Rectangle Infinity Die Cuts, taking inspiration from the TGIF Challenges.

 

 

I added the adorable Doodlepops Snow Buddies and the included little snowflake elements.  I added a few more clear gems to fill the sky before mountain on a red glitter card base.  Sentiment is a Tim Holtz Christmas Sticker.

I'm also joining the Celebrate Challenge at the Cut It Up Challenge.  It's also a Christmas Challenge at Little Red Wagon Challenge.

Merry ChrisMoose

This morning, I wanted to make a card for the December #TEMakerChallenge at Taylored Expressions. 

The December challenge is a sketch that I decided to turn into a Tag.  I used the foil with double-sided tape technique that we used in last weeks Online Card Class, taking my inspiration from my Share Joy Pick-up Sticker for my MISTI Magnet.

 

 

I decided to bring in the Christmas Moose from Taylored Expressions Quick Critters-Winter using the colors from my stripes.

 

 

I did a little inking on my Moose and positioned him on a stitched circle.  I finished with a scarf and a little holiday holly.  The sentiment is from the same set.

For the background, I used Taylored Expressions Weathered Embossing Folder with their Plum Punch cardstock.

 

 

I'm also joining the Can You Handle the Pressure? Challenge with a Twist of Holly and the Simon Says Stamp Challenge to use Craft Dies (my moose, holly, scarf & stitched circle).

Tape Foiled Holiday

I'm resting & relaxing with Jennifer Maguire and Cathy Zielske this morning in the Online Card Classes Relax & Reward card class.  Jennifer shared a number of ways to use different adhesives with foil, so I did a twist on one of them for this card.

Rather than use cardstock, I used Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays designer paper for my base.

 

I used two widths of strong two-sided tape with two different foils - ThermoWeb Decofoil Green & ThermoWeb Gina K. Designs Glimmering Gold.  I found that burnishing the green foil with my teflon bone folder gave it a slightly burnished look, while it didn't seem to affect the gold foil.

I finished with a Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays Sticker Sentiment & Pinkfresh Studios Sparkle & Shine Ombre Glitter Drops.

 

 

I'm linking-up my card for the December Holiday Vibes Challenge at Pinkfresh Studios.

 

 

and I'm joining The Paper Players for their Christmas Challenge.

Snowflake Christmas

Somehow our weather seems to have gone straight from Summer to Winter, which makes me side since the cooler fall temps are my favorite.  We had to bundle up in coats, gloves and hats to walk to breakfast today.

So it seemed appropriate to create with snowflakes this afternoon for the #staycraftychallenge at Hero Arts October Holiday! Celebrate! Challenge.

 

 

I started by hot foiling the Hero Arts Snowflakes in Silver on light blue cardstock.

 

 

Next, I stamped the Hero Arts Make Your Own Snow Globe on a white tag and colored with watercolor markers, adding some silver metallic pen to the snowflakes falling in the sky.

I finished with some green twine & silver bling.

All Things Fall

The September Challenge at Unity Stamp Company is All Things Fall.

 

 

I started by using Orange Foil on the Unity/Therm-o-Web Circles a Plenty Card Front (so hard to photogram, but you can see a bit of the sparkle where the light hit it at the top of the card). 

I went through my collection and only found one "Fall" Stamp Set, so that's what I went with - Unity Stamp Company Give Thanks. 

 

 

I added a strip of orange gelliprint down the center and framed it with brown Love from Lizi Peel-off Strips. 

I stamped the tag in brown and the different leaf clusters in a combination of brown & orange for fall colors.  I finished with the sentiment from the set in orange, a gold dot on the dot of the tag, and a brown jute bow where the stems overlapped on the tag.