Ingenious Inkling

embrace the journey

I love this week's Freshly Made Sketch because I love the effect of clustering several small elements together into a cohesive focal point.

I took my color & design inspiration from the lovely modern quilt at the Inspired By Challenge (those are my colors).

I started by embossing a piece of watercolor paper that had been sprayed with four shades of Shimmering Bliss Spray (leftovers from the Butterfly Card) from my scrap pile with Spellbinders / Fun Stampers Journey Pretty Plaid Embossing Folder.  Next I went direct-to-paper with brown ink to bring out the plaid pattern (realized when I went back and looked at the photo that grey probably would have been a better choice, but when you're working in your Alterna-Studio off your phone, you just go with it).  I matted it on kraft to bring out the wooden tones of the bedside table.

Next I punched a circle from the leftover sprayed paper and another from teal cardstock ... pulling in the lime green with my square.  I pulled in the darker teal from the edge of the quilt with my punched branches.  I finished with a sticker sentiment mounted on foam tape for dimension ... sort of love how this one turned out.  

I'm on week five in my Alterna-Studio ... we're supposed to have flooring installed in our first floor by the end of the week and all of the many boxes returned the week after that, so I can start reassembling my studio ... I am so ready to have my space back.

Live It Up

The theme at the Inspired By Challenge is a Football Party.

 

I used a combination of football papers that include play drawings and grass from the field, as well as a white wood grain inspired by the background in the photo.

 

The Sketch is from this week's Fusion Card Challenge ... but instead of Penguins, my Black & White are the referee stripes.

 

Faith. Hope. Love.

Tonight I'm joining in the PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop to make a card inspired by this photograph.

 

I always like this challenge because it has a very short time window (especially when you work all day) and because my PaperTrey Ink Stamp Stash is relatively limited, so it forces me to be creative with what I have.

No flower stamps or dies ... so I looked for images that could replicate the feel & color of the piece.  I like the pale green stenciled background on the embroidery hoop fabric, so I die cut the Hexagon Cover Plate from watercolor paper (for a more fabric-like texture) and layered it on top of light green cardstock.

Next I stamped the butterflies from Melissa Bickford's Heart-2-Heart #10 in two shades of pink on the same watercolor paper because they included hearts, another inspiration element from the photograph.  

And with hearts comes love ... in this case Betsy Veldman's Inspired: Love Mini Stamp Set.

I die cut my stamped images in an oval (which worked better than a circle given the layout) and then cut a second oval from wood-like paper to frame it.  I finished with a ribbon bow like the one on top of the Embroidery Hoop in the photo.

Inspired by Money on Honey

The Challenge theme at Shopping Our Stash is to make a card inspired by a Food or Beverage Label.  Hunting for my inspiration took me back to the years of hosting the Inspiration Challenge at SplitcoastStampers ... during that time, I looked at everything I saw as a potential item to inspire a card design.  I loved looking at the world that way ... and it was fun to revisit that frame of reference for this challenge.

I chose this package of honey candies in my pantry as my inspiration.

 

I started with the Cuttlebug Honeycomb background embossed on light blue cardstock ... then I made it *spongeworthy* for the TGIF Challenges (I have often used that Seinfeld reference to items that I love that have been discontinued) ... by sponging on a slightly darker blue ink to bring out the texture of the design.

Next I went searching for a bumble bee ... but settled on a butterfly from Concord & 9th Floral & Flutter that I die cut from gold glitter cardstock (to incorporate the golden crown on the bee).

 

Then I added a champagne pearl flourish to bring out the bee flying pattern that was on the packaging.  Finally I incorporated the dark chocolate brown and added a AlteNew Wings of Hope Sentiment to finish my design.

Here they are side-by-side to see the inspiration.

 

The Library Challenge ~ Oscar

I love playing along with The Library Challenge ... I love books ... I love creating cards inspired by books.  The Challenge is to create a card inspired by The Cover, The Title, or The Story of the book.

When I stumbled across this gorgeous book cover for Oscar by Mauricio Segura, I e-mailed the challenge to see if they ever take suggestions ... turns out they do, and I'm joining the challenge this week as a Guest Designer.

I loved the composition of this book cover ... the bright colors and how they overlapped and contrasted with the bold black text. 

I immediately thought of creating with Distress Oxide Inks (Abandoned Coral, Squeezed Lemonade & Twisted Citron).  I looked for a solid image like the piano, but instead settled on bold solid words from Cas-ual Fridays Bomb Diggity Stamp Set.  I flipped the coral word upside down like the piano and overlapped the yellow.  My MISTI makes getting those solid colors stamped so easy.

 

Next I added black bold sentiments where the title, authors name, and translator information are located on the cover.  I finished with a Tim Holtz #hashtag to turn this into a birthday card.

I hope you'll come join the challenge ... I'd love to stop by and see how the book cover inspired you.  

ORANGE You Glad It's Christmas

This week at Jingle Belles we're bringing you a wonderful Inspiration Photo.

My eyes narrowed in on those plaid wrapped presents under the tree.  I went searching through my paper stash and found some orange and green plaid ... the hues were a bit more muted in tone, but I still felt like they captured the feel I was going for.

I added some orange patterned paper inspired by the pillows ... and some Stampin' Up Wood Paper inspired by the Coffee Tables. 

Sentiment is Reverse Confetti Sentimental Christmas & I decorated my white Christmas Tree with some Eyelet Outlet Long Fancy Bling.

The layout is the final Sketch for You to Try ... I'm excited to see what Reverse Confetti will be doing next, but I will miss her sketches.   I've been creating with her sketches since October 2007 (which I think may have been her very first sketch).

Hoppy New Beer

Today's card is a perfect example of how my mind wanders during the creative process.

I started with the intention of making a card for the Drink Up! Challenge at the Naughty or Nice Challenge.  We love all kinds of beverages at our house (we often joke about how many different beverages we buy when we check-out at the grocery store).  My beverage stamp collection is similar ... I never met a beverage stamp I didn't like.

I picked out my stamps, and then went searching for some inspiration.  When I saw the picture at the Inspired By Challenge, I was off to the races.

I also saw the Re-Cycle Challenge at The Male Room, so I knew I wanted to incorporate a piece of packaging on my table ... some wonderful textured paper that had protected my cardstock order as it shipped from Reverse Confetti this week.

And after incorporating all of those ideas together, here's what I ended-up with.  A scrap of Gel Press that was printed on a vintage clothing pattern made the perfect "hills" with my recycled paper adding texture.  I colored the antlers a darker brown to bring in the colors from the house.

 

The stamps and coordinating die cut are from Your Next Stamp Reinbeer.  My card is also perfect for the Shades of Green Challenge at Sunday Stamps (It's a good time of the year to be green).

Retro Christmas Wreath

When I saw the fun retro colors in the Wreath Inspiration Photo at The Card Concept, I knew the Daily Flash Eggnog Collection from October Afternoon would be perfect (and have long been hoarded in my stash).

I started by cutting a wreath shape from pink cardstock.  Next I began decorating my wreath using Pillow Puff Stickers & Pop Drops from the Egg Nog Collection, as well as Bling and Enamel Dots from Eyelet Outlet.

I used Foam Tape to attach my wreath to a Stampin' Up wood textures designer paper panel reminiscent of the inspiration picture and then added a pillow puff sticker sentiment to the middle of the wreath instead of the house ornament in the picture.

With all of that fun bling, this card will have to find it's way to someone on my Christmas Card list who is "bling-worthy" (which means they appreciate the hoarding of bling and what it means when you share this much with someone).

Penguin Christmas

This weeks SplitcoastStampers Inspiration Challenge comes from The Company Store.  Their catalog arrived in my mailbox this week, and as I thumbed through I immediately saw inspiration ... specifically, this adorable Holiday Penguin Stocking.

I knew I had some holiday penguin stickers in my stash that needed a home, so I combined them with some papers from my Paper Marbling Marathon with Lauren earlier this year.  I started with green & gold marbling on kraft cardstock and added some birch wood wrapping paper (that I made a special trip to Pier One to pick-up this week ... it's fantastic) that reminded me of the background in the picture.

I attached my penguin sticker to a Ranger Craft Tag and stamped my vintage Hero Arts sentiment in Stampin' Up Emerald Envy ink.  I tilted it like the stocking in the photograph.

For the second one I started with a piece of red & white marbled cardstock on kraft paper.  For this one I skipped the tag and attached my penguin pair directly to the wood wrapping paper.

I used wood mount Hero Arts Winter Wonder for my sentiment with my new Catherine Pooler Designs Rockin' Red Ink (still lovin' that ink).  My sentiment is from 2014, so I am also linking up at Retro Rubber which has an Anything Goes Challenge this week.

I hope you join us and find inspiration.

Creep It Real

I'm still trying to get a few more Falliday Fest Challenges done before the end-of-month deadline.  This one was to make a card inspired by this movie poster using those colors.

I started with the idea of a black cat and shining peachy moon.

I sponged my orange paper with pink & peach inks to tone down the color.   I couldn't resist the foam top hat for my kitty (because the creature in the poster looks like he would be wearing one).   The layout is this week's Global Designer Project Sketch.