Ingenious Inkling

Patina Coffee and You

It's one of my favorite times of the year again ... the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

 

To me, STAMPlorations has some of the very best Coffee-themed products.  As I was looking through all of my choices, I realized I had never used this gorgeous Zen Coffee 1 Cover Plate Die.  I decided to die cut from one of my Gel Press Prints that has a gorgeous Patina look with turquoise and Copper Metallic Paint.  I love how it looks on the light turquoise card base.

 

 

 

I kept it simple with a sentiment from STAMPlorations Anywhere There's Coffee stamped in Catherine Pooler Sand Castle Ink.

 

 

I picked up a new adhesive this week at ScrapMania and tried it for my Die Cut, and it worked like a charm - E6000 Spray Adhesive.

 

Hoping to See You Soon

The current Memory Box Challenge is all about Beautiful Backgrounds.

I chose one of my favorite Gel Press prints for my background.  I love the serendipity of Gel Press printing and never knowing what's going to be there when I pull back the paper.  This one combines beautiful blues with metallic golds for a wonderful aged pattern.

 

 

I combined my beautiful background with a new-to-me Memory Box Die - Brilliant Sunflower, which has an open area to really let the backgrounds shine through,  I paired it with a sentiment from Memory Box Holiday Greenery (holiday stamps aren't just for Christmas).  

 

 

I finished with a little clear sparkle pen in the center of my sunflower.

 

 

My Memory Box Holiday Greenery sentiment stamps date back to at least September 2019, so I'm linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber Stamps.

And it's Anything Goes at the Inspire. Create. Challenge.

 

There are so many people I am hoping to see soon.

Yellow Roses

I started my design with two of my Gel Press Prints for the Blue & Yellow Color Hues Challenge.

 

 

I stamped the Hero Arts Christmas Rose Bold Prints on my Yellow Gel Press print and die cut it with a Hexagon die.  I added white pearls to the centers of the blooms.  

 

 

Even though they are technically Christmas Roses, I think in these colors they work perfectly for Spring.  The Layout is from Freshly Made Sketches.

 

 

I'm also joining the #staycraftywithhero Challenge, which is Bring on Spring!

 

 

The sentiment is from Hero Arts To Seize or not to Seize.

 

 

I'm also joining the Stay Crafty with Hero Floral Challenge.

 

Vintage Car Birthday

The current Seize the Birthday Challenge is to make a card using three shades of green.  When I saw the green gel press print on my studio table leftover from Saturday's Mixed Media Art Journal experimentation, I thought it would be the perfect piece to build my card around.

 

 

I settled on the sketch from the Sketch-N-Scrap Blog for my layout and pulled out three coordinating green shades of cardstock.  I need more masculine cards, and the first vintage car I remember our family having was green, so I chose stamps from Ciao Bella Paper Ride to Live.

 

 

I used four different stamps from the set and die cut the ivory cardstock with a stitched circle die.

I finished with a sentiment from My Favorite Things Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes.

 

 

I'm also joining the Going Green Challenge at The House that Stamps Built.

Believe in Magic

Did you see the adorable little Unicorn Princess at the Fusion Card Challenge?

 

She reminded me of my Unicorns at Play stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter.  Remember, discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your order.

 

 

I chose the cute little pink one to feature on my card.  I paired it with some Vickie Boutin designer paper and used one of my Gel Press prints for the pennant design in the sketch.

 

Pinkfresh Studio Birthday

Sometimes when I do Gel Press printing, some of my favorite papers I make are the papers where I roll the excess paint or ink off my brayers onto a piece of cardstock. 

When I looked at one of the lovely roll-off papers from last weekend's class, I realized it had three of the colors (blue, green & yellow) from the current Pinkfresh Studio Monthly Challenge, so I die cut it into a tag using the Pinkfresh Studio Essentials: Classic Tag with Fillable Elements Die Set.

 

 

I die cut a second tag from the pinkish-red in the color challenge.  The focus of the challenge is Alphabets/Words, so I used the Dipped Wood Alphabet Stickers from Pinkfresh Studios Holiday Vibes Collection for a Birthday Card.

 

 

My card base is designer paper from  the Pinkfresh Studio Office Hours Collection with a layered flower sticker from the Let Your Heart Decide Collection.

I'm also joining the Tag You're It Challenge at Little Red Wagon.

 

Gel Press-a-Palooza

I spent my weekend enjoying a virtual Gel Press Retreat. 

I used my 5" x 7" press and learned lots of new techniques, including a good way to store it without getting bubbles (an ongoing problem I've had).

One of my favorite techniques using bleach resulted in this wonderful card.

 

The flower is from Sketchbook Florals from Taylored Expressions with a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Background.

The background is a piece of paper I painted using leftover paint from yesterday's art journal page (I'm learning not to throw anything away ... you never know when you can use it).

 

And another fun technique was printing on Deli Paper backed with adhesive to make our own washi tape.  So much fun.

Arty Saturday

I was blessed with a Saturday day of inky, painty, arty fun.  I started by creating my own Ephemera for my Wanderlust class.  I never thought of using bits of my own gel press prints to adorn my pages.  I cut them up and scanned them to create sheets I can use again and again.

 

 

She also taught us how to use Paint Pens & spritzes of water on texty pages for more ephemera options.

 

 

The last piece of the creative process was choosing a vintage photo from my stash.  This is my Dad & me (with my Uncle Randy in the background .. love those plaid pants).

 

 

The last step was to put it all together.

 

 

I'm really enjoying this creative process more than I expected ... I love stretching my wings.

Hero Arts Flower Power

I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing at The Ink Pad Blog today featuring Hero Arts Flower Power Layering Stamp Set, which was one of the stamp set in the Hero Arts early ShopBox Release.

 

 

There are four layers for the floral hair ... and another four for the face.  For my first card, I only stamped three of the layering stamps for the hair, leaving the background flowers white.

 

 

 

I started with a soft pink for the flower insides.

 

 

Next I stamped a brighter pink for the flower centers and highlighted blooms.  For the face layers I only inked the lip portion of the face highlight stamp.  I used some pink pastel pencil to highlight her cheeks.

 

The current #staycraftywithhero challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is to create a gift card holder.

 

 

I found a super-easy gift card holder template at H Made Boutique made by scoring a 4 1/4" x 11" cardstock base

 

 

 

The card then opens at the top and the Gift Card slides into where you have scored & attached the middle (I used the Hero Arts Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies for my opening).

 

 

 

I used the coordinating die to cut out my lovely lady.

 

The background is a brayer roll-off paper from my Gel Press topped with a paper I made by painting a paper bag with Gesso, Watercolor Paint and Salt.

 

Next I used yellows and orange to create her a sister ... I love the empowering sentiments in this set.

 

The background for this card was made by brayering acrylic paint on colored cardstock.

Gel Press Birthday

When I saw the AAA Birthday Challenge to use a LARGE sentiment, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to break out one of my favorite die cuts.

 

 

I chose a purple and blue Gel Press Print for the Die-Versions Solo Sentiments Happy Birthday Die.

 

 

I paired it with a sentiment stamp from My Favorite Things More Essential Sentiments.

I'm also playing Tic Tac Toe with the Paper Craft Crew (Birthday Celebration; Die or Punch; Feminine).

 

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Dies R Us Challenge.