Ingenious Inkling

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

I don't think I've ever been able to join the fun at the Papertrey Blog Hop, but today the stars were aligned.

The theme is Hearts ... don't you just love these inspiration photos.

I had lots of ideas ... but not a lot of options for stamps in my collection, so I used my colored pencils and made a fun kiddie valentine featuring Tremendous Treats: Valentine and coordinating die cuts.

That is actually a scrap of Christmas designer paper, but I thought it worked perfectly with lots of punched hearts ... love that little guy.

The layout is this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

Papaya! Art Christmas

We're still celebrating No Time Like the Presents at Jingle Belles ... creating cards using leftover wrapping paper or gift tags.

My card background is tissue paper that I saved from a Papaya! Arts gift I received over a year ago ... I figured it was time to find it a home on a holiday card.  

I adhered the tissue paper to white cardstock using a glue stick (and embracing the wrinkles because I love the linen-like look).  Next I added lots of glittery snowflake stickers, a wrap of Raspberry Fizz Ribbon, and a sticker sentiment (all falling within the Use It Up category - yay!  I love my non-traditional holiday design.

I'm also joining The Paper Players where Everything Old is New Again ... I love recycling & repurposing.

You Were Meant to Shine

I'm working on some Congratulations cards this afternoon ... this features a glittery card made to use with Project LIfe (love how they are sized perfectly for cards too).

 

Finishing touches included a wrap of PapterTrey Ink ribbon and a Bravo Sticker using this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

Close Knit

I bought these sets (Purls of Wisdom & Knit Bits) from PaperTrey Ink because my sister loves to knit ... however, I think I've only inked the stamps twice.  As I've mentioned before, I love the PaperTrey Ink stamp designs, but for some reason I find them to be more challenging to create with ... they require a lot of precision, which isn't my strong suit.  When I saw the CASology Cue Card was Knit, I knew it was time to try to create with them again.

I won't lie ... it took me 8 or 9 times to get an ink combination I liked ... and to line-up the two-part sock stamping ... seems like it should have been easy, but it wasn't for me (and you can see one of my socks is still a bit wonky).  

I used a single color for the Shopping Our Stash Challenge .. Memento Sweet Plum ... but I combined the standard dye ink with the Luxe Ink for slight contrast.

 

Happily Ever After

I'm on vacation this week (yea me!) and one of the things on my to-do list is to replenish my card stash.  I try to keep a few cards for every occasion at the ready.  I thought this week's CAS(E) this Sketch would be perfect for a wedding card design.

I decided to break-out my Papertrey Ink Man & Wife Dies that I bought forever ago, but confess have never used. 

While I love the end result of my card, it was incredibly challenging to put together.  The tiny die cut pieces did not want to come out of the dies (no holes on the back to help release them) and assembling that groom took almost surgical-like precision.  I was grateful that I used some of my hand-made paste paper, because it was a thicker water color paper that stood-up better to the abuse.  I originally planned to make two of these, but after assembling this one, I was done.

I used DCWV Silver glitter paper for the brides dress ... the sentiments are from Papertrey Ink's Love & Marriage.  The paper I used for the background and tuxedo is My Favorite Things Steel Grey Cardstock (love this color) and the silhouettes are MFT Natural Cardstock.

I attached the sentiments & the bride with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

Sings When the Dawn is Still Dark

Tonight I needed a sympathy card for my depleted stash.  This Faith Bird Stamp from Crafter's Companion is one of my go-to images for sympathy cards ... it includes both a lovely image and soothing sentiment that makes for easy card making.

I used the lovely colors from this week's Inspired By Challenge using papers from Fancy Pants Park Bench Collection & PaperTrey Ink's Smokey Shadow cardstock.

The layout is this week's CAS(E) This Sketch.

Orange You Glad ...

I wanted to join Orange You Glad It's Friday? Be Inspired Challenge at The Alley Way Stamps to make a card inspired by this photograph.

I needed a get well card, so I stamped the bandaid from Gotta Bug? with a little face.  I used my orange glitter pen to highlight the bandaid and the thermometer.

Next I stamped one of the speech bubbles from Talk to Me, and then stamped the Gotta Bug? sentiment inside.  

I die cut my background from some orange patterned cardstock using PaperTrey Ink QuatreFoil Die Cut and then attached it to a light blue base, incorporated the shades from this week's Dynamic Duos Challenge.

I attached my stamped elements with foam tape for dimension & then added a few *bugs* to the background (accented with orange glitter pen).

Washi Wonderful

Tonight I'm playing with lots of washi tape ... 7 different rolls if you're counting ... for this week's Use Washi Tape Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

I'm also joining the Make Your Own Background Paper Challenge at the Moxie Fab World.  I used a large piece of Cardstock lining up all of the blue & red washi tapes from my collection ... and then trimmed the paper to fit my card front.  I added a wrap of Pure Poppy Ribbon and a brand spankin' new Hero Arts Glow Girl Stamp (stamped in Red & colored with Blue) to finish the design.

I'm also celebrating Something Old (several of those Washi tapes & that ribbon have been in my stash for quite some time) and Something New from my stash (new stamps ... and a few new Washi tapes including the peppermint one I found in a Christmas clearance bin) with 7 Kids College Fund.

Chalkboard Thanks

At the PaperTrey Ink Make it Monday Challenge they're celebrating Betsy Veldman's fantastic Chalkboard Tehcnique.  I've been intrigued by the technique since I first saw it, but today I made some time to actually give it a try.

Thankfully the technique is fogiving for messy white powder embossers (i.e. me) and I love the finished effect.  I used stamps from four different sets for my subway-like art design ~ Sentiment Signs, Mailbox Greetings, Heart Prints (highlighted with some pink colored pencil), Signature Greetings, 

Life is Too Short ...

I've said it before & I'll say it again ... white cards are hard.  I had this entire card finished, and I managed to get a big black inky smudge on the sweater, so I had to start all over ... however, I'm glad I did (and glad I had enough extra paper) because I love the finished card.

While my knitting and crocheting skills are rather limited, I have a sister & dear friend who are both have mad yarn skills, so I wanted to make a yarn-themed creation for this months Paper Trey Ink White & White blog hop.  This is the inspiration photo.

I've been hoarding that floral embossed paper for longer than I care to admit ... I'm always on the lookoutfor cool specialty papers when we travel, especially whites & creams, because I love to use them for wedding cards.  I thought this floral paper would make a fantastic sweater ... and thankfully I was right (using the Shape Up Series: Sweater Die Collection).  I used foam tape to attach the sweater to the card, to keep the white-on-white design from blending in too much.

I tried buttons down the front of the sweater, but it covered-up too much of the patterns ... so instead I used one of my step-mom's vintage buttons as a broach ... here's a close-up of this beauty ... you can also see the wonderful knitted-like texture in the paper.

I cut my sentiment from Purls of Wisdom into three parts to fit it around the sweater ... love that I can do that with acrylic stamps.  I positioned the stamps on the card base where I wanted the words, and then pressed down my acrylic block to pick-up the stamps and keep them all in place ... however, note to self -- stamp the sentiment first before getting the entire sweater finished & attached with foam tape to the card base (hence the inky smudge referenced above).

Here's a fabulous crocheted scarf I received in the mail for the holidays ... a girl can't be sad when she's wearing a rainbow around her neck.