Ingenious Inkling

Paint Roll-Off Tiled Birthday

I loved this month's Sketch at The Male Room and had been thinking about ways to interpret it.

 

 

I was doing quite a bit of Gel Press printing today, so I had lots of pieces of paper that I had used to roll-off my brayer to clean it, and I really loved some of the color combinations, especially the ones with the metallic paints.

I used a 5/8" square punch and punched out all of the squares I could get from the paper.  Next I layered them onto a piece of purple-grey Alexandra Renke paper that was also on my studio table.

 

 

I needed masculine birthday cards, so I pulled out this sentiment from Taylored Expressions Penned Pretty.

 

 

I liked the look so much, I did another one with another roll-off sheet.

 

 

Since my sentiment is from April 2000 (it has been retired) I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber Challenge.

 

Winnie the Pooh Birthday

On my list of things to accomplish this weekend were some birthday cards.  I used the March Sketch Challenge at Unity Stamp Company. 

 

 

I used my never-been-inked Winnie the Pooh Sweet Little Smiles for my focal image with the separate party hat stamp, so I'm also linking-up at the NBUS Challenge.

 

 

I stamped & colored Pooh and then managed to lay my image down in some residual ink on my studio table (ugg) so I started over and stamped and colored him again, but I liked my first image better.  My solution was to detail cut the first image and use foam tape to attach him on top of the second image for some dimension, but I couldn't get that tiny pom pom on the top of the hat to line up ... so solution number two was to swap it for a felt flower ... a card maker always has to be ready to pivot.

 

 

I finished with a reverse birthday sentiment from Unity Stamp Company ... so kind, so caring, so you Sentiment Kit.

I'm also linking-up at the We Love Stamping Challenge where the optional theme is Spring.

Franklin's Wisest Words

I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing for the newest Retro Rubber Challenge Challenge, which is an awesome Sketch.

 

 

I chose this 2000 Woodblock Stamp Franklin's Wisest Words from DRS Designs to build my card around.

I started with the Beer Designer paper that is at the top from the Moxxie Tie the Knot Collection and built my card around that.

 

 

I paired it with two different colors of Alcohol Ink backgrounds.  I embossed the golden one with an embossing folder that reminded me of the bubbles/fizz in Beer.  I added thin borders of dark grey cardstock to ad a bit more definition to the layers in the sketch design.  The finishing touch was a Beer Mug Brad from Eyelet Outlet.

I hope you'll break out your Retro Rubber Stamps and come joint he fun.

Animal Crackers

The current #staycraftychallenge at Hero Arts is Animal Crackers.  

 

 

I pulled out all of my Hero Arts animal stamps and decided to go with the Color Layering Brave Lion that had never been inked.

 

 

I inked-up a big scripty Happy Birthday from Hero Arts Birthday Messages for a one-layer design.

It's also an Anything Goes Challenge at The Corrosive Challenge Blog and All Creatures Great & Small at Make My Monday.

In My Heart

The February Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to incorporate Hearts or Flowers.

 

I started with a Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple Adorable Amore.  I love how they fit exactly into the Penny Black Stitches of Love Dies to add a bit more texture.

 

 

I used the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch with a Penny Black Music Lines Sticker and another sticker sentiment.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at The Male Room Nature Challenge with my sweet winter scene.

 

Washi Tape Valentine

Sometimes after a long work day, playing with my washi tape feels almost meditative to me.  Tonight I decided to use colors from the Color Throwdown Challenge and see what I could pull together.

 

 

I started with the wide gold floral tape in the center and then moved up and down with repeating tapes in the three colors.

 

 

I went simple with stickers and ephemera to finish my Valentine.

 

I'm also linking-up at the IN(K)SPIRE me Valentine Challenge.   I also think it's the perfect Valentine for a Guy at Cardz 4 Guys.

Cheers

The February #TEMakerChallenge at Taylored Expressions is a Sketch.

 

 

I combined papers from Authentique's Harvest Collection with the Taylored Expressions Hoppy Day Stamps.

 

Clean, simple, mailable & masculine ... love it.

White-on-White Birthday

This afternoon I'm watching football and restocking my birthday card stash.

I started with the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge of Embossing with a Twist of Borders and paired it with the White-On-White Challenge at AAA Cards Challenge.

 

I used a vintage Cuttlebug Happy Birthday Embossing Folder with heavy white cardstock.  I trimmed it down and attached it to a white card base with foam tape for the border.

To keep it Clean &  Simple, all I added was a Simon Says Stamp birthday sentiment strip.

Just Us Girls is also having a Clean & Simple Birthday Challenge, so I'm linking-up there as well.  

 

 

 

With the Candles at the top left (on the cake), I'm also linking-up at Seize the Birthday.

 

Woodblock Wednesday

Today I'm joining Amy T for her Woodblock Wednesday Challenge.

 

When I saw the colors at the Just Us Girls Challenge, I knew the papers from the Bo Bunny Whiteout Collection would be perfect.

 

 

I chose a dark blue snowy paper for the background, and trimmed two ticket strips from another piece that featured the two shades of blue.

 

 

I used two woodblock stamps - the snowman from Savvy and a vintage A Muse sentiment ... and as you can tell they are much loved & much used. 

I used a layout from the Sunday Stamp Challenge with a bonus challenge to make it a Celebration Card.  Since I needed a masculine birthday card, that was perfection.

 

 

I used layered stitched circles instead of the heart from the sketch.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Ice Ice Baby Challenge at Challenge Up Your Life & the Baby It's Cold Outside Challenge at Little Red Wagon.

Let It Snow!

The December Challenge at Poppy Stamps is Let It Snow! 

 

 

Strangely enough I didn't have any snowflakes, but I do have the adorable Poppy Stamps Whittle Snowman, so I added him as an accent to a birthday card, since I need to restock my masculine birthday card stash.

 

I die cut the Poppy Stamps Playful Happy Birthday Die from a Gel Press Print.  I also die cut the Whittle Snowman's hat from the same print.  I finished with a few Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling stickers.

And it's Anything Goes at the Corrosive Challenge Blog.