Ingenious Inkling

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.

Plaid Deer Hunter

I thought the Plaid Cupcake Inspiration Photo was perfect for a Masculine Birthday Card.

I chose some plaid-like papers in more of a rusty orange than red, but I think they still capture the feel of the cupcakes.

Sentiment is Essentials by Ellen Totally Awesome paired with the EBE Leaping Deer Die Cut.  Layout is this week's Match the Sketch.

Sprinkled with Fun

The Mix-It-Up Challenge at Ellen Hutson this month features one of my favorites ... Avery Elle.

I started with one of my favorite sentiments from Avery Elle Cake & Candles (because I do love to celebrate any day with cake).

I used this week's Match the Sketch and Essentials by Ellen Warm Fuzzies Sentiment & Bear Wear Party Hat & Cupcake.

The colors & Inspiration for my design came from the photos at The Heart Desires (do you see the subtle snowflake paper behind the sentiment).  I also thought some of the stitches from Essentials by Ellen Stitches Cover Plate looked like snowflakes as well.  I love how the gold pops with the blues.

I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas

For our final Jingle Belles prompt of 2016 (can you believe it) we're bringing you an inspiration photo.

I wanted to start by capturing the gorgeous white-on-white feel of the mantel decor, so I die cut my Hero Arts Tag from textured white cardstock, stamped the sentiment in Art Print Brown ink, and then attached it with foam to white cardstock embossed with a Nordic Holiday design from Taylored Expressions.  

Next I pulled in the wood-grain from the wine rack and the touches of blue on the wine labels and the mantel with Eyelet Outlet Enamel Dots to finish my design.  

I love how it captures the peaceful rustic feel of the photo.

Grateful Autumn

I wanted to make an Thankful Card for The Paper Players Challenge this morning.

This week I am grateful that our heat pump has finally been delivered and will hopefully be connected and operating this week.  Due to a long, complicated series of events (specialty order required, wrong unit ordered, hurricane hitting manufacturing plant, etc.), we haven't had working heat or air conditioning since June, so we are thrilled that we're close to controlling the temperature in our home again.  I am also grateful for how mild our Autumn has been so far, so it hasn't been much of an issue for the last month.

I also took my inspiration from this week's Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge with a theme of Felt.

I found some pretty felt leaves in my stash that were so old the adhesive had dried (Glue Dots to the rescue).

When I saw the off-set layers in this week's Freshly Made Sketch, I knew I wanted to do the off-set die cut technique I learned from Sankari at Stamp Joy ... it is so easy, and adds mailable elegance and the appearance of dimension.  I used Taylored Expressions Retro Cutting Plate for my background.

I layered paper flowers and also fished out some vintage buttons from my stash inspired by the Curtain Call Photo.  Somehow the only Taylored Expression Thank You stamp I have is Graphic Greetings Thankful, so I trimmed one of the sentiments from that collage to complete my design.

I'm also joining the Crafty Calendar Challenge which is Autumn Colors.