Ingenious Inkling

Treat Yourself

The current Lawn Fawn Challenge is all about Fun with Food ... and what better summer food than ice cream.

 

I started by ink-blending my base panel with Prize Ribbon, Dusty Concord and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks.  Then I gave it a few spritzes of shimmer spray for overall glimmer.

 

 

I blended more Distress Oxide inks onto a scrap of white cardstock, so I could  stamp the Ice Cream Container, Ice Cream Lid and Spoon from Lawn Fawn's Treat Yourself.  I die cute white cardstock with the Lawn Fawn Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables and positioned them inside.

I'm also linking-up at the Little Red Wagon Stay Cool Challenge.  The Simon Says Stamp Challenge is also about Food & Drink (don't you love that you can both eat & drink ice cream).

The Best is Yet to Come

I opened my new Prize Ribbon Distress Oxide ink and made an attempt at some ink blending using Speckled Egg and Shaded Lilac (clearly I need to watch more tutorials because I never get the smooth blend my friends do). 

I decided to add the MB Makes Marks Marker Stencil over the top and spray with the Prize Ribbon Distress Oxide Spray.  I put another piece of paper on stop of the stencil to pick up the extra spray before pulling up the stencil to reveal the magic underneath. 

 

 

I decided to add some dragonflies from Cheryl's Flutterflies at the {a vintage girl} & her daughter together with some of their Typewriter Phrases sentiment stickers using this week's Freshly Made Sketch layout.  Remember discount code GNOMIES gets you 20% off your order in their shop.

 

I'm also linking-up again at the Quit Bugging Me! Challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  And I'm joining My Time to Craft Challenge Blog where the theme is no patterned paper.

 

Retro Happy Birthday

I should be cleaning my studio, but instead I made a card with things I found on my studio table.  

I saw that the Seize the Birthday Challenge was to use an Embossing Folder (and re-stocking my masculine birthday cards is also on my To Do List), so I grabbed the Tim Holtz Retro Cirque Embossing Folder and embossed the piece of yellow cardstock from yesterday's card.

 

After Embossing, I grabbed some Crackling Campfire Distress Ink and a domed foam applicator to bring out the embossed texture.  Next I sprayed with Avery Elle Clear Shimmer Spray (which reacts subtly with the inked surface).

 

 

I grabbed scraps of cardstock and put my card together using the Sunday Stamp Sketch.  For my sentiment, I grabbed a scrap of designer paper outlined with my Fude Ball Pen (love these pens) and finished with some Simple Stories Birthday Blast Stickers.

 

 

I'm pretty sure I could make cards for days with just the items that need to be put away on my studio tables ... back to cleaning.

Kaleidoscope Ink Blending

I had a few leftovers from Saturday's Stamp Joy that were too pretty not to turn into more cards.

The first one was an OOPS from the final card ... as you can see at the bottom left, I accidentally dipped my Lemon Meringue blender brush into the Fruit Punch Ink by not following the instructions of only  have one ink pad open at a time.  Thankfully I caught it immediately and didn't ruin my mask (which you'll see in the next card).

 

But it was so pretty how the ink faded into the white, I thought it was perfect for the Less is More CAS Inking Challenge.

 

 

I added a birthday sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Birthday for the Addicted to CAS Code Word Birthday Challenge.  It took all the effort within me not to add some bling to this design.

 

 

Next I used a technique I learned at Stamp Joy several years ago ... offset cover-plate shadowing by cutting a second cover plate from black cardstock ... with the Kaleidoscope Cover Plate Die cut we used as an ink blending mas for one of Saturday's cards (I loved that you can overlap 4 colors of ink to create the full rainbow).

 

 

I used a sentiment and the coordinating dies from our exclusive set and added some Iridescent Drip Drops to finish the design.

Saturday Stamp Joy

Yesterday I spent all day hanging out with my Taylored Expressions friends at their virtual Stamp Joy event.  Lots of learning and making fun cards.

A fun Kaleidoscope stamp set and die were the star of the show.  This one was embossed with the die and then ombre ink blended.

 

 

Next we moved on to stamping & coloring (on the back) of a piece of vellum.  I loved how we framed it with the scallop die.

 

I also loved the stamping along the bottom, even thought it took me several tries to get it lined-up the way I wanted.  As I learned in later cards, I should have stamped it on my background paper first, and then lined-up my card where I wanted it to be.

 

Another fun event exclusive was this confetti stencil that allows you to use 4 ink colors to cover your paper.

 

 

Also since this was our mass produced card (we made 4) there were tips for stamping the present by stamping on the background paper in the MISTI and then aligning the negative over the image to place your die cuts.

I failed a bit on the next one by stamping one of my little guys too far from the edge of my die cut.  I fine tipped black marker to the rescue ... can you tell which one is taller than the others?

 

 

Using a mask and ink blending to highlight was another simple technique that really helps that middle penguin pop.

 

I absolutely loved the ombre shadow effect with this big hello.  Definitely trying that one again.

 

 

And the final card was interactive with spinning kaleidoscopes.

 

 

My favorite part was the vibrant rainbow blend I got with just four ink colors (not to mention the cool effect of using the die cut as a stencil).

 

Of all the virtual events I've attended during the last year, Taylored Expressions are by far my favorite.  The products is ready do go ... the teachers are fantastic ... the free product is unique and fun ... and I always learn new things.

Easter Sunrise

The March Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs is to created a Masked & Ink Blended Sunrise.

 

 

I looked at a lot of Sunrise Pictures and decided to go with one that reminded me of Easter Candy Colors and make an Easter Card.  I blended Lemon Drop at the bottom for the sun, then Sea Glass at the top for the sky and then came in with Innocent Pink in the middle blending into each color.

 

 

I stamped the Gina K. Designs Bunny from Some Bunny in Stormy Sky Ink and detail cut it.  Then I used my Sky Colors for two of the Easter Eggs from the same set.   I detail cut all of the images before attaching them to my ink-blended sky.

 

I matted it in the same stormy grey and added it on top of one of my Gel Press Prints before finishing with a fluffy bunny tail.  The sentiment is a combination from Gina K. Designs Some Bunny and Happy Hearts.

I'm also linking-up at the Critter Challenge at The Paper Craft Crew Challenges.

 

 

My first ink blending tore when I removed the washi tape, so I trimmed it down to make a second card.  For this one I stamped the Bunny Outline together with another sentiment from the Gina K. Designs Some Bunny Set.

 

 

For this one, I flipped the color because I thought the Sea Glass grounded the bunny a bit more than the Lemon.

Coffee Sticker Cards at The Ink Pad NYC

Today I'm creating with the fun little box of Coffee Stickers from The Ink Pad.

I love how the box contains a wide variety of coffee images together with coffee bean and plant images as well.

 

 

 

I combined lots of different stickers from the set to create a card background on kraft cardstock.

 

 

 

 

I finished the cards with two perfect celebratory sentiments from the Everyday Explorers Time to Celebrate.  It's the perfect card for that friend who loooooovves his coffee.\

 

 

 

For my second coffee card, I started by creating a background with the Michelle Ward Hex Pattern Stencil sold exclusively at The Ink Pad.

 

 

 

I chose three Ranger Distress Oxide Ink colors that I thought worked well with the lovely colors in my coffee pot and coffee cup.

 

 

 

 

I love how beautifully Distress Oxide Inks blend ... with this combination on kraft cardstock it almost looks like the Milled Lavender ink is glowing.

 

 

 

 

I used Ranger Archival Ink to stamp a sentiment from Everyday Explorers Small Victories. 

 

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes Stencil Challenge.

 

 

 

 

If you have Coffee Lovers in your life, these fun Coffee Stickers from The Ink Pad are perfect to have in your stash.

 

 

Autumnal Amber Blend

It's Sunday, so that means some Ink Blending Practice ... I decided to have my blend take its inspiration from the current Rainbow Card Color Challenge ... Autumnal Amber.

 

 

I chose four colors of Amber-toned Distress Oxide Ink ... but unfortunately all ink pads were pretty dry (and I couldn't find the re-inkers - that will be my next studio treasure hunt), so I didn't love the end result.

 

 

One way to save a not-so-great-blend is a cover plate die ... I used Birch Press Design Delfina Layer C, which I thought left plenty of the blend to show through ... much better result in my opinion.

 

I reached into my vintage paper flower bag and layered some amber blooms with a big bold brad center.

I finished with a sentiment from Birch Press Design You are Awesome.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Ink Blending Challenge at TGIF Challenges.

And the Allsorts Challenge is also celebrating Autumnal Colors.

You Are Not a Mess

I have friends who are spectacular ink blenders (have you seen the blends from SkyPaperScissors??) ... me, not so much.  I need lots more practice and a lighter hand.  Today I tried it with the Domed Ink Blenders from Scrapbook.com and that seemed to help me get softer edges.  

 

I wanted to do an ink-blend for the current Butterfly Reflections Ink Mood Board Challenge ... I used Tattered Rose, Crackling Campfire & Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink.

 

 

After blending I did several spritzes of water.  To bring in the gold from the Mood Board, I die cut PinkFresh Studio Floral Square Dies from Gold Cardstock.  I chose two that reminded me of images in the mood board (I love that blue bloom).

 

 

The sentiment is from PinkFresh Studio My Favorite Things to Say ... and then I finished with a scattering of tiny gold gems.