Ingenious Inkling

Laugh Till You Leak

I was feeling like a little CAS cardmaking this morning, so I decided to start with the CAS Mix Up Challenge to use a Stencil and Pastes or Gels.  I was thrilled that when I opened my jar of Fern Green Picket Fence Studios Paper Glaze, it was just as mixable as when it was new. 

 

 

I paired it with a Dina Wakley Dot Stencil for the Addicted to CAS Dots Challenge.

 

 

I stuck with Dina adding the Essentials Silhouette image.  I paired it with a sentiment from Dylusions Quote bubbles for a card that makes me snicker.  Taylored Expressions Cilantro Ink paired nicely with the Fern Green Glaze on a kraft cardstock base..

 

 

I'm also joining the Creatalicious Challenge where the theme is Anything Goes with an Option of using a Stencil.

Hope you laugh till you leak this week.

Thank You for Being My Friend

I like seeing if I can turn color challenges into ink-blending combinations.  For this card, I used the colors from the CAS Colours & Sketch Challenge.

 

I translated those colors into these Distress Oxide Ink colors - Speckled Egg, Stormy Sky & Peeled Paint.

 

I did my blend horizontal to work with the sketch, and since the colors reminded me of a landscape, I thought it was the perfect home for the adorable Peach and Paper from Picket Fence Studios.

 

 

I used a sentiment from the same set and finished with a sprinkling of sequins.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Wishing It Was a Donut

I haven't left the house that much since the shelter-at-home recommendations, but when I saw there were fresh raspberry filled donuts at the bakery this morning, I put on my mask and headed out for a quick trip ... and they were most certainly worth it (and I was also able to make it a "two-birds" trip with a stop at the Post Office while I was out).

 

So when I thought about the flavor of my doughnut for the Picket Fence Food & Drink Challenge #pfs100, I knew it had to be Raspberry.

 

 

I used my Spectrum Noir's for coloring.  Stamps are Picket Fence You Make Me Glazy and the tiny Hashtag from Picket Fence Here is Where I Work on the Coffee Cup.  I finished with some matte enamel dots from Gina Marie Designs in coordinating hues.

Falling Leaf Birthday

I'm still stocking my birthday card stash even though I have to mail them to my co-works now, rather than hand deliver them.  

I started by die cutting the Lawn Fawn Cross Stitched Circle from the Simon Says Stamp Tumbling Leaves Stencil that I had filled with Picket Fence Studios Paper Glaze in Fern Green.

 

I paired it with one of my Gel Press Prints on a piece of Clothing Pattern Instructions.  The sentiment is Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips.

 

I'm also linking-up at Seize the Birthday Anything Goes.

Paper Glazed Funky Leaves

My Paper Glaze from Picket Fence Studios arrived, so I had to play.  There's a bit of a learning curve (at least for me) to get nice even coverage.  The sheen is just gorgeous when it dries.

I combined the Funky Leaves Stencil with Ocean Poppy Paper Glaze (because in my studio leaves can be any color I want).

 

Gina K. Designs Turquoise Sea Ink was the perfect mach for the Picket Fence Studios Happy Happy Happy Birthday Sentiment stamped on a scrap of watercolor paper left over from glazing (which is why the letters have a softer look).

 

The layout is this week's Sketch from The Paper Players.

 

 

 

This Too Shall Pass

I have so many great sentiment sets from Simon Says Stamp, and I wanted to use some of them for the current Freshly Made Sketch, since it just screams multiple sentiments to me.

 

I gave my new Fern Green Paper Glaze from Picket Fence Studios a try using the Tumbling Leaves Stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  My first attempt needed some work to get the Glaze even, but I was able to use the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circle Die on a portion of the leaves for the sketch.

I used sentiments from Simon Says Stamp You Got This & You Got This with C Z Design.  I'm taking this card to work to have on hand ... and since cards for the office often need room for the whole team to sign, I made this one on a 5" x 6 1/2" card base.

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at the Simon Says Stamp FlickR Group Challenge #143.

My 10 Favorites of 2019

Each year I like to go back and revisit all the art I made and choose my ten favorites from the group (You can see my Five Favorite Holiday Cards of 2019 here) ... here are my favorites in no particular order.  I found it a little challenging to narrow down the group this year, which I suppose is a good thing ... here's to another year of creating projects I love.

1. This card was for the January Blog Hop with My Sweet Petunia and My Favorite Things.  I loved designing for My Sweet Petunia ... and how the various blog hops often pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I also loved being able to incorporate my Gel Press prints into cards ... this one did both.  I want to do more smaller prints this year.

 

 

2.  I took a fused glass class in February from a new Instructor and really enjoyed the experience.  He held the class in his home studio in his basement, so I got more hands-on experience with things than I did in the professional studio.  I loved this cool dichroic glass bracelet, earrings and pendants that I made.   It was a bright light in the midst of our home flooding due to frozen pipes next door and the subsequent weeks of repair.

 

 

3. I love the texture and variety in this card for the SplitCoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge.  I love collecting vintage items ... but I love using them on my cards even more.

 

 

4. This card for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Ombre Challenge still makes me laugh ... so grateful for Ink Road Stamps ... and clean & simple monochromatic designs.

 

 

5.  I loved taking a class from Alexandra Renke at JunkieFest and getting to design with her gorgeous products this year.  I also love that I was able to incorporate my Gel Press prints into this design.

 

 

6. Grateful to have had another year designing for Technique Junkies ... I loved how this paper-pieced dogwood card with Shimmering Bliss Sprays turned out ... the Dogwood is the state tree of Missouri, so it always reminds me of the arrival of Spring during my childhood.

 

 

7. This card was for a Stamping Friends Trifecta with My Sweet Petunia, Gina K. Designs and Picket Fence Studios.  I was so grateful to have the opportunity to design for My Sweet Petunia and all of the other great companies that partnered with our team ... such a blessing (and I adore Gina K.'s cardstock and colors).

 

 

8.  Love this card made with the Inspiration Colors from Butterfly Reflections Ink ... and great stamps from Avery Elle ... this card still make me happy.

 

 

9. This card was created as a Guest Designer for the Feeling Sketchy Challenge Blog and combined digital images with the coloring techniques that I learned from Kathy Racoosin at JunkieFest ... loved how combining coloring with markers and pencils turned out.

 

10.  This card was made for a Guest Designer as Die Cuts With a View Sketch Challenge ... I love how all of the papers and stamps work together in this design.

 

 

Here's to another year of fun in the studio.

Trifecta of Fun!

The teams at Therm*O*Web, My Picket Fence, and My Sweet Petunia are all joining together today for a Trifecta of Fun.  

 

 

I started with a card that combines products from both companies ... the cool new Therm*O*Web Flock Transfer Sheets in Sunshine Yellow and A Sunny Day from Picket Fence Studios with the coordinating Die.

 

 

To make the background, I used Therm*O*Web Decofoil Transfer Gel with A Colorful Life Designs Rough Edge Circlezz Stencil.  I attached the stencil to my watercolor paper using the fabulous Pixie Spray (this stuff is magic) and then applied a thin layer of the transfer gel.

 

 

After about an hour, when the transfer gel is clear and dry, I placed the Sunshine Yellow Flock Sheet (cut slightly larger than the stenciled area) soft side down on top of the gel and then ran it through my laminator two times ... and voila.

 

 

The cool surprise was that I loved the remaining piece of the Flock Sheet almost more than the flocked water color paper, so I used them both for my card ... BONUS!

 

I used my MISTI to stamp Picket Fence Studios A Sunny Day in Gina K. Designs Black Amalgam Ink, so I could channel my inner Kathy Racoosin and color her with Spectrum Noir Markers and my new Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils.  I finished with a sticker sentiment.

For my next cards, I used Picket Fence Stamps and some backgrounds I made playing with some Alcohol Pearl Inks ... love those color combinations.

 

 

My first card features Picket Fence Beautiful Girls - Isabella.  I used my MISTI to stamp her in vivid blue and then added a tiny paper flower to her hat.

 

 

For the bright hues, I used a fun set from Picket Fence called Sympathetic Unicorn (don't we all need more sympathetic unicorns in our lives).

 

I added a little pink sparkle to her horn & heart.

For Therm*O*Web I got to use some fun Designer Toner Sheets from Brutus Monroe called CrossHatch ... I paired it with Gina K. Designs gorgeous Glittering Green Fancy Foil ... will you look at how cool that looks in the light.  

 

I paired it with Cathy Zelske's Happy Hour stamps, because the gorgeous green reminded me of Margaritas.  And I used my My Sweet Petunia Cut-Align for that perfectly trimmed sentiment.

 

I just love all of that green goodness.

 

I'm also thinking about relaxing with my girlfriends and enjoying that Margarita, so I'm linking up at the Relaxation Challenge at TIME OUT Challenges (love how there's even a margarita on the challenge badge).

 

The pattern of the DecoFoil Sheet sort of minded me of a road, so my second card uses a fun running shoe sentiment ... so true for running and for so many other things in life.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the fun products from our Trifecta of Companies - Therm*O*Web, My Picket Fence, and My Sweet Petunia.  All three companies are giving away a $25.00 shopping spree, so make sure you leave comments on the design team blogs to join the fun.

Thermoweb Design Team

Jeanne Streiff

Giovana Smith

Stephanie Severin

Ilina Crouse

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Ceal Pritchett

Susan Wymer

My Sweet Petunia Design Team

 

Stamping Friends Trifecta

The My Sweet Petunia Design Team is having fun creating with two of our dear friends ... Gina K. Designs and Picket Fence Studios.  Each company will be giving away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky blog commenter from all of the participant blogs.

 

I love Gina K.'s cardstock ... the colors are so vibrant and the card stock is the perfect sturdy weight.  I decided to stamp on three different colors of half sheets using the new Elegant Asters Stamp Set ... I thought it would be fun to have stamping on both the front and back of my folded card.  I used my Memory MISTI, so I could easily stamp off all the edges.

 

 

The first card used Gina K. Designs Sweet Mango Cardstock and the three flowers in the set.  I wanted a tone-on-tone look for each card, so I worked with a monochromatic design.

 

The Memory MISTI allowed me to stamp all three flowers at once, clean them with my Gina K. Designs Tidy Towel (love that thing) and then stamp again.

 

 

After filling my cardstock, I folded it in half and made my first card.  I stamped the large flower and two sets of leaves on Gina K. Designs Sea Glass cardstock and cut them out with the coordinating Dies.

 

 

I added some Eyelet Outlet Bling in the center of my bloom and some enamel dots before finishing with a sentiment from Picket Fence Studios Going to Be Okay.  I just love how her cardstock colors work together.

 

 

Next I decided to stamp with only the leaves in the set on Sea Glass Cardstock.

 

 

Aren't those leaves just beautiful.

 

 

Again I covered the entire half sheet and folded it to make my card.

 

 

I used more die cut leaves together with the Gina K. Designs Wishes Word Die cut from fun foam.  The sentiment is Picket Fence Studios Ways to Say Congrats paired with the tiny BEST Stamp from Gina. K. Designs Mini Wishes Stamp Set.  Love how it all works so well together.

For my final card, I combined the flowers and the leaves, which allowed me to stamp them all together using my Memory MISTI very quickly.  This time I used the yummy Jelly Bean Green Cardstock from Gina. K. Designs.

 

 

Stamping so many images at a time, my half sheet was filled in no time at all.

 

 

Next I stamped the butterfly from the Gina K. Designs Elegant Asters Stamp Set twice on Sea Glass Cardstock and die cut them.  Then I added some adhesive pearls.

 

 

I used more of my Fun Foam with the Gina. K. Designs Hello Word Die and perched my butterflies on several of the flowers ... this card just makes me happy.

I hope you had fun on my creative journey today ... if you don't have any of this yummy cardstock, you should really consider adding some to your stash.

Now it's time to HOP ... remember, three $50 gift certificates up for grabs chosen from commenters on the participant blogs.

Gina Krupsky

My Sweet Petunia

Picket Fence Studios

Karen Hightower

Ilina Crouse

Sheri Gilson

Jeanne Streiff

Cathy Tidwell

Lydia Fiedler

Donna Idlet

Susie Moore

Ceal Pritchett

Lisa Hetrick

Giovana Smith

Mindy Eggen

Stephanie Severin <<---- You Are Here

Rema DeLeeuw

Chris Dayton

Emily Loggans

Heather Ruwe

Arjita Singh

Karen Reategui

Melanie Muenchinger

Angela Bode

Beth Silaika

Jen Timko

Jana Millen

Lisa Henke

Anna Wight

Judy Rozema

Susan Wymer

Hannah Schroepfer