Ingenious Inkling

Autumn Scribble Leaves

When I saw the Tasty Autumn inspiration photo at the Inspired by Challenge, my eyes went straight to the leaves ... they reminded me of my Memory Box Scribble Leaf Bundle Dies.

 

I die cut the leaves from golden yellow and grey, and then used the layout from the Sketch Saturday Layout to assemble my card.

 

I die cut the outline of the Memory Box Scribble Frond from the same gold paper to position behind my oval.  I added a few gold Love from Lizi Peel-offs and then finished with a sentiment from Memory Box Big & Little Words.

 

 

 

There were enough bits and bobs on my desk to make another card, so I did.  The sentiment is a Hello Banner Script Die from Memory Box that got a little close to the edge when I die cut, so it cut off a bit of the H ... turns out I actually like it that way, so I used it die cutting a second in black for a drop shadow.

 

 

It doesn't show-up great in the photo, but the background is embossed with a Darice Bricks embossing folder.

 

I'm linking this one to the Just Us Girls Word Week Challenge - Leaves.

Fancy Skulls

When I saw the theme at Crazy 4 Challenges was to make a card with something that starts with the letter S, I knew it was time to break out the Fancy Skulls Stickers from {A Vintage Girl} & Her Daughter.  Remember to use my discount code SMILYNSTEF at checkout for 15% off your order.

 

I covered my grey card base with Fancy Skulls and then added the perfect sentiment from My Favorite Things Sassy Pants Spooktacular.  I added a single iridescent gem to the center of the bow tie in the middle.

 

How many of us have felt that way this week (I'm raising my hand)?

 

I'm also linking-up at the Season Challenge at the Time Out Challenges ... because for me, once we reach September, it is the season for skulls.

 

Next I made one for the The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Friends Challenge.

 

 

I kept this one clean & simple with another sentiment from My Favorite Things Sassy Pants Spooktacular.

 

I added another one of those great Iridescent Gems to the bow tie.

 

When I first saw Farmhouse Containers stickers from (a vintage girl) & her daughter, they reminded me something my Gran would fill with flowers.  The flower stickers from the Fancy Skulls Set are perfect.

 

 

How pretty is that bouquet with the wooden designer paper and polka dot paper die cut with my new Doodlebug Designs Border dies.  I added a few wraps of natural fiber twine and a sentiment from {a vintage girl} & her daughter GRL PWR Quotes (so many great ones in this set).

 

 

I also took my inspiration from the Inspiration Photo at Just Add Ink.  My world needs more bouquets.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Cute Card Thursday.

And with my last bouquet of blooms from Fancy Skulls and another perfect Farmhouse Container, I used the entire sticker set (love when that happens).  Sentiment is another great one from GRL PWR Quotes.

 

 

 

I kept this one simple with just a row of blue pearls.

 

 

I'm linking this one up at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I hope you enjoyed seeing lots of ways to use these fun stickers ... I sure had fun creating them.  Happy Saturday!

Close Knit Friend

In my recent crafty purchases, I picked-up this fun Hand Knitted Stamp Set from Darkroom Door.  Then today I saw a post where they have an Instagram Challenge each month, so I had to join the fun.  Here's the inspiration picture.

 

I felt rusty after not stamping a week, so I decided to go with a CAS single layer design using the three colors & inspiration from the photo.

I was inspired by the red lines in the road to stamp a red frame using the Knitting Needle Stamp on my kraft card base.

 

My black yarn basket is inspired by the night time image ... and used my colored pencils to add a pop of red with the knitting needles, inspired by the red criss-cross lighting framing the sign on the left.  

The sentiment is perfect for sending to those special friends I haven't been able to see like I would have in prior years.

I'm also linking-up at Simon Says Stamp Challenge to use your favorite Tool - I used two of my absolute favorite tools on this card - my MISTI and my Tidy Towel.  Can't stamp without them.

And I'm joining the Clean & Simple Challenge at Make My Monday.

Colorful Christmas

This week' at Jingle Belles we're taking our inspiration from this lovely holiday photo.

 

 

My initial inspiration came from the bottle brush trees in those wonderful colors. 

 

I stamped the tree from Essentials by Ellen Bear Ware 2 five times in the fun color rainbow. 

Then my inspiration for the sentiment came from the JOY on the right side of the fireplace and is from Essentials by Ellen Retro Holiday Greetings.  Finally, my wood grain card base was inspired by the flooring.

I'm still enjoying the Summer of Stamping with Ellen Hutson - #EBESummerofStamping.

 

Just Roll With It

I wanted to do more Stamping with Ellen tonight for her Summer of Stamping #EBESummerofStamping, so I decided to use my neglected Essentials by Ellen Wasabi Stamp & Die sets for a slightly different spin on The Card Concept Challenge.

 

 

I took a Clean and Graphic approach to the design and took my inspiration from the pink and green color palette, the food, and the stripes on the cake (my sushi mat) ... and sushi is a favorite tropical treat when I'm in the tropics because the fish is so much fresher.

 

 

I made my sushi mat by die cutting Essentials by Ellen Pattern Die Combo on a scrap of shimmery sprayed paper that was in my scrap bin.  I attached my sushi and chop sticks with foam tape for dimension.

 

Independence Day

I found a few sets of 4th of July stickers when I was cleaning out last week, so I decided to make a few cards today.  I keep all of my red, white and blue (or ivory, white and blue) paper collections in a 12" container, so I can pull them out this time of year.  It's amazing how they are all paper collections for the same holiday ... but how the colors are all so slightly different that they don't always work together very well.

For the first one I used a sketch from Crazy for Challenges.

I combined three different papers, a journaling cards and several of the stickers I found on my cleaning binge.

 

 

The next one I turned into a birthday card for my stash using the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

 

The sentiment is a vintage Happy Birthday woodblock stamp from Hero Arts.

 

 

The third one used the rest of the polka dot paper together with pieces cut from another paper in the stack and an Independence Day sticker.

 

I took my inspiration for all of the layers from the table setting in The Card Concept.

 

I finished with some glittery star stickers and a few wraps of soft nubby yarn ...  and then I got them into the mail.  I wish I was seeing people in person for the long holiday weekend ... but hugs across the miles with have to do this year.

Fruit Snack Inspired Card

In continuing with the Creation Staycation at the Paper Anthology Store, I made a card inspired by a label in my Pantry.

 

 

I chose my favorite dried fruit snacks for inspiration.

 

I didn't have a Panda ... but I had a Picture Book Walrus Die, so I built my card around him ... I added a black pearl nose and googly eyes.

 

I originally die cut the Simon Says Stamp You da Best sentiment in Red, but it didn't have enough contrast, so I added white on top.  I finished with one of the Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips.

 

 

I'm also joining the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies.

 

Living Room Rug Inspired

This afternoon I got to hang-out (via Video Chat) with friends from Junkiefest.  I'm an introvert who often goes all day on Saturday not talking with anyone, but even I've had a bit too much solitude time lately, so I truly appreciated the chance to see their faces, talk about life and see the projects they were working on.

 

 

I decided to work on the current Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge (#staycraftywithhero) ... to make a card inspired by something in your home.  I chose my Living Room Rug.

 

I found a Gel Press print in my stash that had several of the colors, so I die cut it with the Hero Arts Bold Graphic Confetti Die and then attached it to a grey cardstock base.

I took some of the confetti pieces and put them back into the die in different places to move the colors around.

 

I wanted to pull in a bit more shades of grey like the rug, so I added a strip of Suminagasi hand-marbled paper (that I made here) and stamped my sentiment from Hero Arts Hand Drawn Everyday Messages in Magenta Ink on a lighter grey cardstock before framing it with the rust and gold colors from the rug (I actually laid my cardstock down on the rug to find the right shades).

Ode to Working from Home

I've started working from home this week along with most of the rest of our company.  We did lots of planning on how to work from our off-site disaster recovery center (since we've previously been displaced by rising river waters several times), but not really any planning on how to work with our entire team working from home ... especially not in the midst of such ever-changing times.  There will be another learning curve to master for sure.

This card is an ode to that experience that so many of us are having.

 

The chair from Paper Smooches new Abode Stamp set was stamped on designer paper inspired by the mid-century modern inspiration photo at the Inkspirational: Photo Challenge.  I pulled in the grey from the back wall ...

 

... and for the Paper Smooches Animal Challenge, I added the yellow bird of happiness (because a friend told me yellow is her happy color ... and now every time I see yellow, it makes me happy too) from Paper Smooches Sunnyville to perch on the back of the office chair.

 

I finished with a sentiment from Paper Smooches Inhale Exhale (been doing a lot of that this week) all using this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

 

I finished with a row of black pearls inspired by the dots in the wallpaper.

As Beautiful as You

My pile of *never been inked* stamps has been growing much more quickly than I can use them, so my plan is to really start focusing on that pile and applying some ink. 

The Simon Says Stamp FlickR Challenge is an Anything Goes, so I grabbed the first Simon Says Stamp set in the pile, which just happened to be As Beautiful As You, which was a STAMPtember collaboration with Neat & Tangled.

 

What drew me to this set is that with one floral stamp I knew you could cover the entire front of the card ... and you could do various monochromatic designs like I did here ... or all sorts of coloring and painting.  My card was inspired by the blues of this week's Inspired by Challenge.

 

I added a white sentiment ... and white and silver enamel dots to bring in some of the other colors before mounting it on a dark blue card base.