Ingenious Inkling

Caffeinated Christmas ~ Stars

With my prior win at the Caffeinated Christmas Challenge, I was thrilled to be joining them as a Guest Designer for the July Challenge, which is Coffee & Stars.  

 

 

The sponsor for this challenge is This Calls for Confetti.

They provided me with the sentiments I used on my card ... both inside the ornament and at the bottom of my design (thanks so much).  I die cut the large sentiment using a the gina marie designs Ornament Die and then inked it with two colors of Red Distress Ink. 

I added a wooden coffee cup embellishment at attached it to some gorgeous Mintay White Christmas Paper.

 

 

The paper features several 8-pointed stars often called the Star of Bethlehem or Star of the Sea.  I also added a number of stars that I punched from gold glitter paper to frame my ornament and decorate my coffee cup.  With my glitter paper stars & glitter paper for the top of my ornament and hanger, I'm joining the Die Cut Divas Glitter Challenge.

I love how it looks like the little squirrel at the top right of the paper is ready to pounce on my ornament (just like he used to pounce on my bird feeders).

I sure hope you'll come join me for the July Challenge.

Explore

When I saw the Travel Theme at The Male Room Challenge, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to use some neglected Alterations Travel Dies.

 

It was also the perfect opportunity to do some recycling for The House that Stamps Built Challenge.  My lovely gold speckled background is packaging from a Gina Marie Designs Die that was just to lovely to throw away.

 

Oh how I miss my travel this time of year ... and miss seeing my friends and family as we explore new things ... I miss you all.

On the Farm

The new Impression Obsession Challenge is On the Farm.

 

 

I made a single layer CAS card using one of my favorite farm images from Impression Obsession - Windmill stamped in Fresh Asparagus ink from Gina K. Designs on Neenah Desert Storm Cardstock.

 

I added two different colors of brown paint splatters and finished with some Gina Marie Designs Matte Enamel Dots.  Sentiment is from Impression Obsession Words for Art.

I'm also joining the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where they theme is It's a Man Thing.

Wishing It Was a Donut

I haven't left the house that much since the shelter-at-home recommendations, but when I saw there were fresh raspberry filled donuts at the bakery this morning, I put on my mask and headed out for a quick trip ... and they were most certainly worth it (and I was also able to make it a "two-birds" trip with a stop at the Post Office while I was out).

 

So when I thought about the flavor of my doughnut for the Picket Fence Food & Drink Challenge #pfs100, I knew it had to be Raspberry.

 

 

I used my Spectrum Noir's for coloring.  Stamps are Picket Fence You Make Me Glazy and the tiny Hashtag from Picket Fence Here is Where I Work on the Coffee Cup.  I finished with some matte enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs in coordinating hues.

Lean on Me

The theme at the May Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs is Lean on Me ... create cards of encouragement that include a matching envelope, so you can send them on their way.

 

 

I started with a sentiment from Emily Loggans - Have Faith Stamp set and the sketch from the Fab Friday Challenge.

 

I added a second sentiment from another Emily Loggans set, Be the Rainbow with a wrap of Grey Ribbon using the colors from Just Add Ink.

 

 

I finished with some matte enamel dots and added a bright pink envelope with  a rainbow and sentiment from the Be the Rainbow Stamp Set.

 

Love how all those words work together.

 

Retro Floral Magic

When I saw that the current Retro Rubber Challenge was Spring Flowers, I thought it was a good opportunity to go through the drawers of my older stamps.  It's probably reached the time to purge and reorganize, but I'm just not quite there yet. 

 

I found the Birthday Art Set by Wendy Vecchi that I received when I took her class at Creativation 2019, so these stamps are from January 2019 (more than a year old).  I had never inked it since, so it was good to take it for a ride.  What is cool about these stamps is that they came with a coordinating stencil to use with each piece of the flower, so you could sponge on color vs. needing to color with pens or markers.  I did not, however, have a coordinating die, so I detail-cut the image when I was done.

 

I used papers from Die Cut with a View Preserved Paper Collection and a layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches.  The two die cut shapes were cut using two of the Gina Marie Designs Geometric Oval Frame Dies from wood grain papers from the same DCWV paper collection.

 

 

As I hunted for a sentiment, I saw this Pink Song Lyric Sticker, and remembered that the theme at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stamps is M is for Magic ... you know the bird on that card is thinking "how dare those flowers steal my space in the spotlight ... see how things look when I just disappear".

 

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

At Jingle Belles we're creating with a Sketch for the next two weeks.

 

 

I started with my tag and this Grinch Stamp set from Gina Marie Designs.  

I stamped his hand on the green tag and then paper pieced the ornament and sleeve. 

 

 

I used a metallic pen for the ornament cap.  I added some Eyelet Outlet Clear Swirl Bling flourishes and finished with some EO Holiday Bling in the tag corner.

 

One lucky participant will get the Laurels Dies from Paper Smooches.  I hope you'll find the sketch inspiring and come join our fun.

Alcohol Ink Die Cutting

This weekend I enjoyed several crafty video calls ... and I was so grateful for that time to create apart ... but with others.  I normally create alone ... and after a week steeped in house of noisy people contact at the office, I always enjoyed and needed that alone time to re-charge my introvert battery.  Now I sit alone all week (mostly talking on even more video calls), and I have really been craving crafty contact.

I had fun just playing with creating alcohol ink backgrounds this afternoon.  It had been a while since I'd played with them, so just made lots of inky messes.  These cards were made from a favorite result that combined Raspberry, Red and a bit of Coral.

I die cut it with another of my new Gina Marie Designs Dies - Quilt Die #12 Blocks & Lines.  I die cut it once from black cardstock for the frame and a second time from my Alcohol Inked panel.

 

On one of my calls, there was a discussion of a love stamps that contain profanity (mostly because it is so unexpected) ... and the fact that both of us collected them.  Until now, I've never quite known who to send cards to made using those stamps ... but now I do.  These are from a set called Oh Hell No from Paper Issues (you'll just have to guess my profanity word of choice from the set I used today).

The alcohol inked frame was too pretty not to use, but I struggled to figure out exactly how to use it.  Lauren suggested something texty, so as I played with different book pages, I settled on this schematic drawing from the 1928 manual of Automobile Ignition Starting and Lighting from the American Technical Society.   It seemed perfect for my brother who recently painted a large piece of equipment in his work studio as he put it *full-on Bret 'the Hitman' Hart* pink.

 

I played around with the placement of the frame until I got a look I wanted and then cut the word Electrical Equipment from the title of the page.

 

The sentiment is stamped on the margin of the book page using a stamp from AlteNew called Engineers Rule ... while I would define my brother as more of a Bricoleur than an Engineer, the sentiment still applies.

 

I'm also joining the AlteNew April Inspiration Challenge.

Maaama!

I'm finishing-up my Mother's Day cards to get them in the mail ... and this week's Little Red Wagon Challenge is all about Maaama!

Thanks to some enabling from Chris Dayton, I purchased some new Dies from Gina Marie Designs.  I love this Art Deco Fan Background ... so lovely and versatile.  I die cut it from a piece of watercolor paper that I had sprayed with a combination of Distress Oxide Sprays and I placed it over a lacy designer paper.

 

I added a trio of purple flowers and retired Simon Says Stamp Sentiment stamps on a scrap of the lacy paper.  This one will take some extra postage to mail, but it's worth it for the recipient to have a year 'round bouquet.

I took my inspiration from The Card Concept {Hello Spring} Challenge.

 

 

My friend Sam (@samvandesigns at Instagram) is continuing her Use My Stuff Challenge with a theme of Flowers this week ... these vintage Prima Flowers are happy to have a home. #umschallenge #umschallengefloral