Ingenious Inkling

Pink Christmas Penguins

My body decided to ignore the fact that it is Saturday and wake-up bright and early, so I joined the SplitcoastStampers Inspiration challenge to make a card inspired by something from Fair Indigo.  I chose these adorable organic Stuffed Animals to inspire my design.

 

I used Penguins inspired by Icy the Penguin and vibrant pink inspired by Jody the Owl.  I was lucky enough to be the Grand Prize Winner for World Card Making Day at Joy Clair, so I used one of my new stamps sets on the card - adorable Christmas Penguins.

I colored the ornaments and added some silver sparkle pen.  The background is inspired by the November Challenge at Joy Clair - Tis the Season to Eat, Drink & Be Merry - because I have no doubt my penguins would enjoy warming-up with a holiday beverage ... and the snowflakes in pink remind me of peppermints.  The sentiment is from Joy Clair Snow Fall.

 

World Card Making Day - Joy Clair

Joy Clair is offering a chance at a Grand Prize for participating in four of their World Card Making Day Challenges, so I had to give it a try (the first was my Studio Post Here).

I started with the Rainbow Colors Challenge.  I stamped my new Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background in Monarch Versafine Clair ink on white cardstock and clear embossed.

Next I painted with a rainbow of watercolors.  Sentiment is from Joy Clair Coffee Talk using this week's Freshly Made Sketch on a kraft card base.

 

Next Challenge was Make & Mail - to make a card and coordinating envelope to put in the mail.

I incorporated the Simon Says Stamp Tag It! Challenge and stamped on a kraft tag using Joy Clair Coffee Talk Stamps and Versafine Clair Inks.

I stamped my Envelope with the Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background Stamp.

My third challenge was to use the Ink Smooshing Technique ... I used two colors of Pink Distress Ink and instead of water, I used my Technique Junkies Iridescent Shimmering Bliss Spray for a gorgeous all-over shimmer.

I used Joy Clair Creeping it Real Stamps for a Pink Halloween with the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers ... because Later Witches.

I'm also linking-up at Simon Says Stamp for World Card Making Day.

I have had a fantastically creative World Card Making Day ... I did some shopping (with my Impression Obsession Winnings and their 20% off sale) and lots of creating ... so fun!

My Paper Crafting Mayhem Space

One of the World Card Making Day Challenges at Joy Clair is to share your crafting space.  I thought about cleaning my space-up, but decided to share today's reality instead.

Here's where I've been creating today.  My MISTI is always right at hand ... as is my Pink 3M Tape Gun.

 

My Gina K. Cleaning cloth on top of the scissor basket (I like my scissors) ... and stamps, dies and inks everywhere.

My paper trimmer on my other table is currently covered with birthday goodness ... gifts and cards that arrived in the mail ... including a handmade card from my Gran, the original paper crafter.

 

Also I got my first Danial Smith Water Color Split today from Lydia ... so pretty.

My auxiliary room (aka Guest Room that is a craft room when we have no guests) is in decent shape ... love my new rug.

 

Here are a few more pictures of my space, so you can get a sense of the larger space where I work (when my paper cutter was much cleaner).  The far table is where I have my MISTI (near my large computer screen, so I can see challenge photos while I create).  The door to the left is the Guest Room.

 

I have my Paper racks on the wall by the front door (the first table is what you see when you walk into our Condo).

 

Inspirational Arrows

Since I still had my Joy Clair Inspirational Arrow stamps on my studio table, I couldn't resist inking them up again for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

I chose colors from the Color Throwdown for my Palette (perfect excuse to use my new Pineapple Ink from Taylored Expressions).

I added a few cork arrow stickers have had in my stash forever to finish my design.

They are also celebrating National Simplicity Day at CCCE Stampers with one layer cards.

Be Fearless

My card is inspired by the July Inspiration Challenge at Joy Clair Stamps.

I took my inspiration from the colors in the photo and a few other elements.

The sentiments from Joy Clair Inspirational Arrows were inspired by the anchor quote in the picture.  I also added a knot to my ribbon and some red striped washi tape inspired by the stripes.

I used the layout from Try Stampin' (or Not) on Tuesday and incorporated some foiled polka dot washi tape for their optional theme of foil.

Blue Baby Tax Deduction

It's an Anything Goes Challenge at the Joy Clair blog in April inspired by this photo board.

For some reason, even though the pictures are tea/coffee themed, all of the blue made me think of a baby card, so that's what I created.  I just love the Joy Clair New Baby Onesie set.

I pulled in yellow from the sash on the dress in the upper left photograph together with the caramal color of the tea/coffee ... and added hearts inspired by the heart on the teapot handle ... and I couldn't resist adding a mustache just because.

The layout is this week's Match the Sketch.

A Cup of Christmas

It's been fun collaborating with Joy Clair Stamps for the month of March.  

Today I combined stamps from Joy Clair's Christmas Coffee & Ugly Sweater Background Builder (I love how the repeated design elements work together).

 

 

Remember, leave a comment on all of the posts with the Collaboration Image (below) for a chance to win.

 

 

 

I found with Christmas Coffee, it worked better for me to stamp the outline first and then stamp the inside pattern.

 

 

The MISTI makes it easy to line-up your stamps.

 

 

I used the Ugly Sweater Builder and my Memory MISTI to stamp the background for my card (yes indeed my Christmas Trees are upside down ... lucky for me, I could just flip the design).

 

 

The layout is this week's Match the Sketch.

 

 

I'm also joining the Sisterhood of Snarky Stamps for their N is for NEED Coffee Challenge.

 

 

I'm also taking inspiration from the Coffee Loving Card Makers Challenge.

 

Onesie Funsies

I love Baby Onesies, so when I saw the New Baby! Stamp Set from Joy Clair, I knew I wanted to use it to create for our March Collaboration with Joy Clair & My Sweet Petunia (remember leave a comment on all posts with the Collaboration Image for a chance to win at the end of March).

I decided to use a piece of Gel Press Print that I created with my MISTI for my Onesie "fabric" ... it's the perfect shade of red for gender neutral designs.

I also used my MISTI to position the sentiments & images to adorn the front of my Onesies ... so many possibilities in this set.

I fussy cut the images and then used a Black Sharpie to make sure the edges were nice and defined ... so stinkin' cute.

 

I decided to go with some Clean & Simple designs for these cuties ... the first one uses this week's CAS(E) this Sketch!

I added a blue strip of paper and coordinating blue enamel dots from Eyelet Outlet.

The second one uses the layout from CAS Colours & Sketches.

I love that the set has both a Congratulations & Congrats Sentiment ... and what a fun font.

 

My Sweet Petunia (MISTI) and Joy Clair

Throughout the month of March, the My Sweet Petunia Design Team will be collaborating with the Joy Clair Design Team to bring you lots of inspiration.

Joy Clair also has a wonderful anything goes Mood Board Challenge ... don't you love these pictures?

When I saw the Joy Clair Stamp Hugs and Smiles Clear Stamp set, my first thought was ... I wondered if I could use that lovely swirly floral image and my MISTI to create a stamped frame.

After a couple of experiments, I determined that a 5 1/2" square was the perfect size to make this idea into reality.

I left my stamp in the same place on my MISTI and rotated my paper to create my frame.

I used two colors of Catherine Pooler ink to ink-up my stamps moving from darker at the corner to the lighter in the center of the square (all of my samples are stamps on Ivory cardstock).

 

Ta Da ... a lovely floral frame.  I used my MISTI to add my sentiment & then added some paper flowers to accent the larger flowers in the stamp.

 

Next I tried this lovely Blue Green color combination using the same dual inking process.

 

 

This process was seriously addictive and so easy to create.

 

The stamp set includes so many fun sentiments (this one is for my sister ... she makes me laugh until my belly hurts).

I love the contrast of this color combination.

 

I love that sweet little jar of hearts.

For my final card, I used a color combination inspired by the Mood Board (and one that Lydia Fiedler had used on this Sassy Modern Deer card).  Pink (Flirty Flamingo) & Green (Lemon Lime Twist) don't seem like they should blend ... but they do.

You can see how easy it was to position my smaller stamps inside the stamped frame.

The pink is much brighter photographed in my light box.  I watercolored this Jar of Hearts.

Here are the four panels all together.

I hope this tutorial made you look a bit differently at the stamps in your collection and how you can use them with your MISTI (or even better, makes you want to add this versatile Joy Clair Hugs and Smiles Stamp Set to your stash).

 

Dashing Through the Snow!

We had our first snow in Iowa this week ... it was blustery and blowing, but it was clearly white stuff falling from the sky.

I personally love having all four seasons, and enjoy each one equally (okay maybe not equally ... Autumn is the front runner in my book), but I do love the beautiful clean white landscape after new fallen snow.

I used lots of Eyelet Outlet brads to create my fun snowy scene.

 

I started by die cutting various snow drifts from white cardstock then added lots of the new beuatiful Pine Tree Brads to create my landscape and some Snowflake Brads (in two sizes) to the clear blue sky.  

 

The new Sled Brads (which come in two colors) were perfect for my penguins who are bundled-up for the wintry conditions.  There is even a white bear brad waiting for his turn on the sled.

 

 

There are a few Prancing Deer Brads who tend to run out in front of your car this time of year, especially on the tree-lined roads, so you always have to be on alert.  

 

Finally there is a new Red Truck Brad taking home his holiday tree (that like our holiday tree growing-up always seemed to be a bit too big for the space when we got home).

 

The finishing touch was a sentiment from Joy Clair Stamps Snow Fall stamped with my MISTI in pine tree green.  Normally, I would have had to stamp my sentiment first, since the backs of the brads can make the panel bumpy ... but with my MISTI, I could wait until I finished my scene to decide on sentiment placement.

 

 

And TaDa! ... perfect sentiment every time.

 

 

Eyelet Outlet products used:

 

• Pine Tree Brads
• Sled Brads
• Red Truck Brads
• Penguin Brads
• Prancing Deer Brads
• Snowflake Brads

 

Did you know we have a Flickr Gallery to showcase Eyelet Outlet Design Team Creations?

 

 

You can visit me in blogland at Ingenious Inkling,

and you can find Lauren & I making holiday cards

all year long at Jingle Belles