Ingenious Inkling

Quatrefoil HUGS

I love the inspiration photo of art by Adolfo Serra at the Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop.

I chose the primary colors and scattered design elements to inspire my card. I die cut the Cover Plate: Quatrefoil Die from Navy and light blue cardstock and layered them slightly offset to create a shadow inspired by the scattered mountains & trees.

I die cut the HUGS from Red Core'dinations cardstock intending to use the Big Hugs Die Cut ... then I realized I liked the Die Cut negative even better, so I attached it to blue cardstock.  The letters are perfect for the All Caps Falliday Fest Challenge.

Let's Party

This is the inspiration photo for today's PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop.

I have no birds or floral stamps, so I had to get creative.  I took my inspiration from the colors and how they contrasted with the background ... and how the bird carrying flowers reminded me of carrying birthday balloons (can't you see her bringing those to the birthday party instead of balloon bouquet).

There just happened to be a Gel Press Print on my studio table with all of the right colors, so that's what I created my design around using the Text Block: Party Time Die Cut.

I die cut from Red & from my Gel Press Print to fill in the balloons ... then I used the rest of the Gel Press Print to frame my design.

Take One More Step

I love the Heart & Sole Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink for running cards.  This one is for someone who is getting ready to run her first marathon.

I stamped the show in three colors and used this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

First Step

The PaperTrey Ink Team is inviting us to Play Along with Them for their New Release.

The challenge is to create a card inspired by one of the cards made with the new releases.  I chose Nicole's gorgeous wreath card from Day 2 to inspire my design ... I loved that color combination.

My choice of hues ended-up being a bit more vibrant, but I think you can still see the inspiration.  

It was the perfect opportunity to ink-up my PaperTrey Ink Heart and Sole Stamps to celebrate my sister, who completed her second 10K this weekend with a new personal best race time finishing second in her class ... go girl!  The framing sentiments reminded me of how the wreath framed her sentiment.

I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! for my layout.

Love Hopes All Things

Sneaking in a late-night last-minute card for the PaperTrey Ink July Blog Hop inspired by this lovely invitation photo.

I needed a wedding card for my stash, so I decided to feature my new Inspired: Love Mini Stamp Set.

I used Broken China Oxide Ink on watercolor paper with my MISTI.  For texture, I added several wraps of cotton cord, and to bring in the postal element of the photo, I finished with a stamp from the 2011 set Text-Style Postmarks, which I will confess I had never even opened until tonight

The layout is this week's Sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches.

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Today is the June Blog Hop at PaperTrey Ink with this lovely photo for inspiration.

The ombre vases reminded me of the canning jars on a long-hoarded scrap of Dear Lizzy designer paper, so that is where I started.  I filled the jars with stamps from PaperTrey Ink's Initital Sentiments: Birthday.  I started with light pink ink using my MISTI and then inked the bottom of the stamp with slightly darker pink ink to get the ombre effect on my stamping.

I finished with some Eyelet Outlet glitter enamel dots for the center of the flowers.  I created an ombre background by tearing scraps of pink papers.

I used the stamp inking method with my MISTI to create my ombre sentiment.  This time I inked scraps of designer papers to create the ombre tones in my background.  I finished with a pink bloom, a pink ribbon wrap and pink pearls to bring in the elements of the flower in the inspiration photo.

 

Can't wait to go see what everyone creates.

 

Floral Thankful

The PaperTrey Ink March Blog Hop Challenge comes from Victoria Johnson floral prints.

Since I don't have any PaperTrey Ink floral stamps in my collection, I started with a piece of floral designer paper that reminded me of the prints.

I originally intended to put the yellow Thankful Die from the Counting my Blessings Die Set directly on the floral paper, but it got lost in all of the patterns. Next, I added a strip of coordinating pink cardstock, and then the yellow die cut was too light.  I die cut a second Thankful from navy cardstock and layered the sentiments ... and then it was just right (third time is the charm).  

I finished with a paper flower and some mint green punch leaves.

Lots of Hugs

The February 2017 PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop is inspired by this gorgeous photograph.

I drilled in on the colors ... a flannely grey background with deep grape purple, bright pink and a pop of green from the figs and the plate.

I die cut my Big Hugs Die Cuts from all three colors and then added some green pearls for a pop of color.

Hip Hip Hooray

This afternoon I'm joining in the celebration of 2014 at PaperTrey Ink.  Since I don't own any of the stamps or dies featured today, I went with a similar die cut to the Text Block Birthday inspired by Laura Bassen's design.

I seldom do the inlaid die cut technique because it's a bit futzy for me, but the Phrase Play #11 Die Cut has large enough pieces, I gave it a try (I only lost one piece in the process, which required a partial re-cut ... pretty good for me).

Since I don't own the coordinating sentiments, I borrowed one from a Clearly Besotted Sentimental Type Set to finish the design.

 

Bravo

Today at PaperTrey Ink they're celebrating 2012 ... and featuring Sentiment Signs, one of the PTI Stamp sets I have in my collection.  My inspiration came from this fantastic card by Keeway.

While I love the look of perfect splatters, I usually end up with a mucky mess, so I took a more CAS approach with Spectrum Noir IB2 and IB3 markers.

I used a 4" x 4 1/2" watercolor paper card base.