Ingenious Inkling

Snow Much Fun!

What better way to celebrate the beginning of Summer (in the US) than by making cards that feature SNOW at Jingle Belles this week … it might mean snowflakes, snowmen, or a snowy scene … just make sure your card features some of that wonderful white stuff.

I love non-traditional color combinations for my holiday cards, so I started with these fun colors from the MFT Color Challenge.

 

I started by using my MISTI to stamp the entire MFT Snowflakes Splendor stamp set in Be Mine Berry-colored ink all at once.  Then I did a second stamping to fill in the rest of my paper.

 

Next I used the Coordinating Dies to cut out more of the snowflakes for my focal image.

 

I layered them and topped them with an Eyelet Outlet gem before adding a sentiment from MFT Snow Globe Sentiments.

Here Comes Santa Claus

This week for the Jingle Belles prompt celebrating all of the North Pole inhabitants, I chose this Doodle Pop Santa and his little Mouse friend.

 

The sticker sentiment is from SRM and I added a bit of bling down the side for this week's Sketch Saturday.

Santa Baby

This week at Jingle Belles we're celebrating Santa Claus ... St. Nick ... the Jolly old Guy himself ... or you might choose to feature Mrs. Claus, the Elves, Reindeer or even our favorite, a Yeti ... anyone who might be living at the North Pole.

 

I wanted to use some never before used Santa from my stash.  I had never paper pieced this cute little Santa Die from the Sizzix Side Order Collection ... it included the tiny embossing folder & the noel word die cut, so I combined them all with some wood grain cardstock.

Cute ... fun ... masculine ... and mailable.

Text Me

We're still TEXTING at Jingle Belles ... creating cards that primarily features some texty elements.

This week I had to ink up this new Texty Block Party Christmas Stamp from Uniko ... so many fun Christmas Phrases in my new Catherine Pooler Rouge Ink on Kraft.   My MISTI makes it so easy to get perfect coverage on a large stamp like this one.

 

 

I added some texty designer paper to finish the design and a gem on the top of the Santa Gnome's Hat.

I'm also joining the Uniko Anything Goes Challenge with a Masculine Twist, since this will be a Holiday Card for one of my male co-workers.

Text Me

The next prompt at Jingle Belles is to create a card featuring text ... You could use letter stickers, book pages, dictionary pages, texty patterned paper or just create a card where the sentiment is the star of the show ... just make sure you get TEXTY.

I decided to use some of my massive designer paper stash and went on a treasure hunt for text ... I found it in Shimelle's American Crafts Christmas Magic collection.

 

I took my sketch and design inspiration from the current Fusion Card Challenge ... instead of a hedgehog, I've got an adorable little Penguin from Essentials by Ellen's Arctic Pals paired with his own tiny little snowman friend from EBE Ugly Sweater Accessories.  The background is Essentials by Ellen Alpine Snowfall Die cut on light blue paper positioned over a white circle.  The sentiment is from Arctic Pals as well.

 

We hope you'll get texty and come join our Jingle Belles fun.

Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas

We're still creating Vintage Cards at Jingle Belles this week.  I dove deep into my vintage stash and layered on lots of vintage goodness.

 

I started with a vintage dictionary page and then layered on a beautifully aged vintage receipt.  Next came three kinds of vintage trading stamps (I have a soft spot for these because they remind me of filling-up the books with my Grandma).   Then I finished with lots of vintage-like elements for dimension and texture.

I'm also joining the Anything Christmas Challenge at The Holly and the Ivy Challenge. 

 

I've Got a Vintage Pair of Roller Skates

This week at Jingle Belles we're going back in time ... we're asking you to create a card with a vintage or retro vibe … either by using new products that are vintage-in-style or by incorporating actual vintage items into your design (or heck, really go for it and use both).

I recently returned from California where I was able to attend a Print-makers' Fair.  At one booth, I picked-up a few tiny vintage cards including this vintage boot in a roller skate filled with roses.  I wasn't sure how I would use it ... but I loved it. 

I love how it paired perfectly with several designer papers with vintage designs including some numbers, text, flourishes and holly.  Sentiment is once again Bluebird Typed Christmas (apparently my go to sentiment set).

We hope you'll break out your (likely) hoarded vintage stash and join the fun (PS There's also a fun prize up for grabs from Lauren's Ety Store Just Enough Stuff).

Oh SKETCH-mas Tree

We're still creating with our fun Sketch at Jingle Belles this week.

Since my card recipe worked so well last week, I stuck with it for a second card design.  This time I used a dimensional Glittery Star Tag with a glitter paper background for lots of sparkle.

 

I used another typed sentiment from Hello Bluebird Typed Christmas stamped using my MISTI in brown ink and cut with my Cut-Align for my sentiment.

We Wish You a Merry SKETCH-mas

We're getting sketchy at Jingle Belles this week.  I drew the sketch with Christmas Tags in mine, but you can use any shape for the layout.

 

 

I always shop for Christmas Tags at the After Christmas Sales, so I have a selection for my card making stash.  I couldn't resist featuring this adorable Yeti Tag for this week's card.

 

The background is embossed with Taylored Expressions Plaid and sentiment is from Hello Bluebird Typed Christmas (a super-versatile set).  I widened the vertical piece of the sketch to work better with the width of my Yeti.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says: Anything Goes Challenge ... and Marsha's All About Occasions Challenge at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

 

Can't wait to see what you create ... hope this layout inspires you.

Bokah Earth Day Christmas

We're still creating with recycled products at Jingle Belles to celebrate Earth Day.

My card includes multiple recycled elements ... the bokah sky is from a 2018 holiday card; the trees in the background are cut from Studio Calico packaging; and the silver on the car & wheels was recycled from a specialty paper sample book from the local print shop that our marketing team lets me have every year when the new one comes out. 

 

I even pulled the paper for my present and tree out of the trash can by my studio table (the scrap was just the right shade of blue-green to go with the sky.

Lauren & I both went on a hunt to find those fun Tim Holtz Home for the Holidays Christmas dies ... loved piecing that car together.