Ingenious Inkling

Top 10 Cards of 2024

Each year I enjoy taking a walk down memory lane and picking my Top 10 Favorite Non-Holiday cards of the year (you can see my 2023 Picks Here & my Top Five Holiday cards here).

Here are the cards I've chosen this year in to no particular order.

1.  I love the bold graphic design feel of this striped card for the Time Out Challenge paired with the ombre sentiment.  I love this color combination too.

 

 

2.   This Unity Stamp Company card was one of a series that combined multiple things I loved ... stamping on designer paper and adding ink to bring the images to life.   I loved how changing the colors produced a completely different look.

 

 

3.  While I've always titled this post card, I really should change it to art, since I share non-card favorites. I had so much fun at the Whimsical Women Art Retreat in Florida with my friend Cyndie.  One of my favorite projects from the retreat was this fabric collaged tote bag.  We got to "shop" scraps of fabric for the project.  I built my design around a piece of fabric with color squares.  I detail cut out buttons and fish that I layered with star fish and other sea-themed fabrics that continue to remind me of the joy of creating at that event.

 

 

4.   I always love a good snarky card and this one I made for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers still makes me snicker.  I also love ice cream cones because they remind me of my Papa who would take us to the Dairy Mart, where he would let me get a double cone.  I love how I was able to make a waffle cone heart accent.

 

 

5.  I love this Life of the Party Saturday Sketch Card for many reasons.  The color combination is a favorite, particularly the strong orange-forward design and the bokeh background (and the reminder that I often think I'm making a challenge card until I go to post and realize I didn't read the instructions clearly).  It features coloring with alcohol markers that I don't do nearly enough.  And it features Dee, who was gifted to me by my crafty friend Bev (who graciously shares her home and fabulous swimming pool with me ... not to mention the wonderful company of her and her fabulous family.

 

 

6.  This was my participation in a community-wide Tiny Art public art show at the various libraries, that was then moved to the Art Museum.   I had fun creating a glue-as-I-go collage starting with a Gelliarts printed transparency from my stash.  I added two different vintage trading stamps, translucent blooms, butterflies, words, dots of gold, and gold hearts.   I was proud of myself for putting my art out there in the public space ... and even prouder when I went to pick it up, having the library employees tell me it had been their favorite.

 

 

7. I have been paper crafting friends with Erum who designs for AlteNew for over 20 years (which seems crazy as I think about it) and I am always in awe of her creating talent.  I want to create with AlteNew products, but I always feel like they require more time, effort and skills than I have to do them justice.  However, having said that, I loved how this AlteNew card turned out where I stamped on pink cardstock and added ink to add dimension.

 

 

8.  One of my favorite things about being a cardmaker, is being able to make cards that are specific to the recipient.  This collaged birthday card for a friend featured lots of his favorite things and even has his initials in Scrabble tiles (a favorite game).

 

 

9.  As you've seen in several examples above, I love creating my own papers.  This card features paper I made using Lindy's Gang powdered watercolor for both the background and the adorable Moose accessories.  It also features a Moose with eyeball stickers wearing glasses, which makes me smile.

 

 

10. And my final card of my 2024 list is a Mixed Media Collage using four different GelliArts prints together with rub-ons, trading stamps, and an image from Sande Poema's Cardmaking Community, which I've enjoyed participating in this year.

 

 

I hope you've had as much fun as I have walking down art making memory lane of 2024.  

Mamma Mia!

The newest challenge at Shopping our Stash is Mamma Mia! - Create a Mother's Day card or a card for another important woman in your life

 

 

I decided to combine the SOS challenge with the Lawn Fawnatics Bingo Challenge ... I went with a Bingo straight across the bottom.

 

 

I started with some Rainbow striped paper from Lawn Fawn Rainbow Every After Collection checking off two of the boxes.  Since I didn't have any Lawn Fawn Stencils I had to get creative ... so I used the negative of one of the flowers from the Lawn Fawn Magic Iris Floral Wreath Add-on to add some stenciled flowers to the corners ... I think this qualifies as Cute too.

 

 

Lastly for the Glitter element, I die cut Lawn Fawn Giant Happy Mother's Day together with the Lawn Fawn Magic Iris Floral Wreath Add-on from glitter foam.

 

 

I finished with a bit more inking on the designer paper (best way to fix a few smudges from my tiny stencil) and some bling in the center of the blooms for a bit more Cute factor.

We hope you'll shop your stash and come join the Mamma Mia! fun.

Blossom Avenue Newsprint Florals

I like to make lots of Mother's Day cards to send to all of the amazing mothers in my life (and non-mothers who stepped into mother-like roles), so I usually look for an idea that I can mass produce, but still have enough variance to keep me interested.  I found it by combining Unity Stamp Company Newsprint Floral Greetings with Unity Stamp Company gorgeous Blossom Avenue Papers.

I stamped the Newsprint Floral image in Versafine Claire Nocturne ink on five different Blossom Avenue Papers and clear embossed.  Next I smooshed several colors of ink onto my glass matt, sprayed with water, picked-up the ink with a transparency and used ink-smooshing to color in the stamped flowers.

For the first one I used two different shades of yellow Distress Ink, which I thought worked well with the green in the paper.

 

Since I don't have a Unity Stamp Company Mother's Day sentiment, I used the You Are Amazing Sentiment from the Newsprint Floral Greetings stamped on light ivory cardstock.

 

 

I added a thin black mat before positioning the panel on a sweet corn cardstock card base.  I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says: Make Your Own Background Challenge.

 

 

I did the same technique using Catherine Pooler inks as well.

 

 

I just love the messy painted look from ink smooshing.  I'm linking this up at A Place to Start Challenge to Add one or more Flowers.

 

 

The technique even worked on the heavy floral paper.

 

For one of the more neutral papers, I used two shades of orange.

 

 

I really like the combination of colors.

 

 

I did one more on a heavier floral paper.

 

 

This one took some inspiration from the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

 

 

I really love how they all turned out.  Can't wait to get them in the mail.

Unity Daisy Mother's Day

I'm still on the hunt for a Mother's Day card design that will let me mass produce.  I thought it might be Unity Stamp Company de Fleur daisy & coordinating stencils.  

Unfortunately, I struggled to figure out where to position my stamp on the paper to work well with the stencils, which is why I ended-up with a rather wonky shape for the front of my card.

 

I used a wide range of Taylored Expressions Inks with the five stencil layers and finished with sentiments from Unity Stamp Company Family Love and love. just love. regardless.

 

 

I'm joining the Just Add Ink Challenge with my Leaves & Flowers.

I'm also linking-up at Simon Says Stencil It Challenge.

Glittery Patterned Paper Mother's Day

The newest Lawn Fawnatics Challenge is to feature Patterned Paper.

 

I realized when I starting writing this blog post, that I actually used one of the lawn fawn papers featured in the image - from the Lawn Fawn Rainbow Ever After 6x6" petite paper pack.  I die cut it with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Stackables and layered it on my own subtly textured Patterned Paper using my gelliarts press.

 

 

I die cut the Lawn Fawn Giant Happy Mother's Day from Glittery Foam and added some flower embellishments.  I finished with a few punched hearts, one with the Luv U sentiment from Lawn Fawn how you bean? conversation heart add-on.

Boots & Blooms

I broke out the Never Before Used Boots & Blooms A2 Designer Layering Stencil from Taylored Expressions for a few cards (and I'm joining Darnell's NBUS Challenge).  It's also perfect for the April Stencil Fun Challenge Spring / Flowers.

 

 

I started with the colors from the Color Throwdown Challenge with a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips - Birthday.

 

 

For my next card, I added in some purple for the tulips (the intention was for it to be red, but since I didn't clean my stencils, the blue & red combined to make this gorgeous purple).

 

 

The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch with another Taylored Expressions Sentiment Strips - Birthday sentiment.

 

 

And for the final one, I made a Mother's Day card with a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Penned Pretty. 

 

 

I'm joining the Addicted to Stamps and More Stencil and/or Die Cut Challenge.

 

 

I just love the iris and tulip combination ... they both remind me of my Grandma's garden.

 

Gelliprinted Mother's Day

The newest Color Hues Challenge is (drum roll) ....

 

I pulled out Gelliarts prints in those colors (which is much easier now that I've added a new hanging file folder box to sort them by color) and mixed them together with the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch.   

I used three different peach gelliprints for the stripes and flowers and a green one for the background.

 

 

I chose light green cardstock for the Simon Says Stamp Mother's Day Flowers Die and finished with some glittery enamel dots in peach and a few light green enamel hearts.

 

Finishing #marchprintingchallenge

The #marchprintingchallenge has ended, which is always a bit of a let down for me (not that I couldn't create my own daily practice, but I love the fun of doing it with others).

Day 25 is book text.  I pulled out a few vintage book pages and a couple of stenciled for some fun layered designs.  The right stencil is Pronty Crafts Pay It Forward Cubes.

 

 

 

I used one of these prints with the two stencils for the Just Us Girls Stencil Challenge.

 

 

I added flowers and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment from Sassy Mama by CZ Designs.

 

 

Day 26 is my nemesis image transfer.  You'd think after failing at least 100 times over the years, I finally would have mastered it ... but unfortunately it literally took me 20 tries to get this one that pretty much worked (a few lines down her face I wish I'd wiped away).  I don't know why I keep trying this because I have no idea what I will ever do with the resulting prints.

 

 

Day 27 is lines.  I pulled out my scrap of exposed cardboard and made quite a few prints.  My favorite was the final clean-up print on the plate.

 

 

 

Day 28 was Art Journal, which I just wasn't feeling, so instead I share my new Harjes Shoes I got on our trip to Washington DC with my favorite RBG socks.

 

 

Day 29 was Rainbow.  I chose 5 Neon Dina Wakley Paints for my rainbow.

 

 

Day 30 was Pastel.  I chose my Pastel colored Pan Pastels and the Joggles St. Elizabeth Hilaire Racing Spots Stencil.

 

 

Here was another attempt.

 

 

 

Final Day 31 was feather, so I pulled out my treasured Feather Stamp carved for me by the talented @ginaisartsy.

 

Top 10 Favorites of 2023

Each year I enjoy taking a walk down memory lane and picking my Top 10 Favorite Non-Holiday cards of the year (you can see my 2022 Picks Here & my Top Five Holiday cards here).

Here are the cards I've chosen this year in to no particular order.

1.  This Mother's Day Daisy Card was for a Lawn Fawn Marbled Paper Challenge.  I love that all of the elements except the white outline of the daisy were made with my Gel Press ... it's always so fun to be able to create my own papers.  I also love how the background die cut texture and all of the white spatter helped pull the design together.

 

2.  This card was for "the letter B" Challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  I love it for several reasons ... it uses Ellen Hutson products (Ellen retirement of her store and stamps were one of the saddest things for me in 2023, but I also look back with great fondness on getting to enjoy drinks and laughter with her at Junkiefest, as well as how much I enjoyed designer with her programs) and that this card was one of the stars of my first (and likely only) card display at an art gallery for Valentine's Day.  It was such a great honor and so fun to have so many friends come and enjoy my exhibit.  Also, it's been another great year designing for Shopping Our Stash.

 

 

3.  Another Shopping Our Stash / Ellen Hutson combo also made the list.  This one was to make a card inspired by Pajamas ... and it turns out, also inspired by one of my favorite foods.  I love the allover layered stamping that gives it the feeling of a childhood book illustration together with the punny sentiment.

 

 

4.  This was my first year doing the month-long Index Card a Day (ICAD) Challenge.  Lauren does it every year, so this year I thought I would join the fun.  This one was for the X is for Xylophone Challenge and I was quite thrilled how it turned out like the Xylophone toy of my youth as well as the fun stamping with individual alphabet stamps.  I absolutely loved playing that thing and ended-up playing a real one in Junior High Marchin Band (theme from Ice Castles anyone?).

 

 

5.  I always love the artsy fun of building a collage, especially when I can incorporate lots of things that remind me of the recipient.  This one was also for one of my favorite challenges, the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers S is for Steampunk Challenge.  The gears were die cut from a rejected gelliprint, which helped me justify saving all of the "rejects" and the vintage Boy Scout book elements made me smile.

 

6. One of the highlights of 2023 was the opportunity to Guest Design for #staycraftychallenge with Hero Arts.  I had a lot of fun using die cuts & stamping to create this fun little village.  When I can find ways to stretch my stamps (in this case turning a flower into a shining sun) that always makes me happy.  I do miss all of my faraway friends & family.

 

 

7.  In 2023, I also had a ton of fun being the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday.  This card was for the Fall Colors Challenge.  I die cut a large pile of leaves from my fall colored gelli prints and ended-up making quite a few of these clean & simple designs ... I just love when the perfection of CAS sings combined with the dimension of the gathered branches.  That kraft cardstock is a favorite, and I also love the tiny twine bow.

 

 

8.  This fun and snarky Miss Dee card reminds me of my wonderful trip to Alabama to finally meet my pen pal Beverly.  We had a fabulous time floating in her pool, creating fun inky backgrounds, coloring stamped images and even a little shopping (with a stop at my favorite Sonic).  I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful people through this hobby of mine.  Also, how can you not love Miss Dee.

 

 

9.  I had fun making gift sets this year with this masculine abstract collage set that combined stamping, stencils and die cuts on my favorites list.

 

 

10.  My final card to round out the top 10 was a Color Hue Challenge Red & Gold.  I loved the effect of the tone-on-tone stamping in reds topped by glimmering gold including my favorite glimmer dots.

 

Alcohol Ink & Blooms

Another fun thing my friend Cyndie and I did when we were together was play with Alcohol inks and metallic mixatives.

 

 

 

Tonight I turned several of those panels into Mother's Day Cards with Penny Black Bouquet Masterpieces and Penny Black Stitches of Love Dies.

 

 

 

I used a a variation of the Tuesday Morning Sketch.  I'm also linking-up at the Crafting Happiness Flower Challenge where my card was a Top Pick last month.

 

 

I made a second using Penny Black Vintage Masterpieces and a second alcohol ink panel ... the white flowers are so elegant.

 

 

 

The sentiment on both is from Simon Says Stamp Sassy Mama.

 

 

I'm linking this card up at the Cupcake Inspiration Mother's Day Challenge.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.