Ingenious Inkling

Heart Love

It's the time of year for Heart Cards, and that's the Challenge theme at Just Us Girls.

I started by playing with some new Japanese Sakura Shimmery Pastels that I found at my local Create/Exchange yesterday to create a scribbled and blended background ... absolutely gorgeous color and shimmer.

 

As the packaging noted, they are harder than any Pastel I've ever used with less dust ... I had to use much less to get the color saturation I was wanting and they blended effortlessly.

 

 

Next I attached gorgeous wide Pink Peony Washi Tape from The Ton to white cardstock and die cut a Spellbinders heart.   The washi has gorgeous copper metallic elements, so I die cut Simon Says Stamp Etched Berry Branch from Copper Metallic Cardstock to adorn my heart.  I used the same copper metallic cardstock to frame my card.

 

I finished with some enamel dots on the berries to bring out another color in the washi tape and a tiny love sentiment from Catslife Press stamped inside another Spellbinders Die Cut Heart.  With my little Wood Block Stamp, I'm linking-up again at Amy T's #woodblockwednesday challenge.

 

I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Cut It Up! Challenge.

Five Favorite Holiday Cards - 2022

Since Lauren & I started Jingle Belles in 2010, I've been recapping my five favorite Christmas cards of the year (you can find 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 here) ... I always enjoy revisiting my creations for the year.

Here are this year's favorites in no particular order:

1.  This card was for our We Wish you a Plaid Christmas Prompt at Jingle Belles.  Paper Piecing and Yetis have been two of my favorite things for years, so it was fun to combine them with some of my favorite bright and happy colors for the holidays.

2.  This card was for the 12 Days of Christmas prompt at Jingle Belles to make a card for your true love that featured hearts.  I love the cool effect of the embossed metallic gel printed paper for the background combined with old-school detail cutting of my wintry scene.

 

 

3.  The Naughty Tag was my favorite from the 12 Tags of Christmas at Ellen Hutson inspired by Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.  And when my boss asked me if everyone got Naughty Cards for Christmas, I got to tell him it was a design specially reserved for him (he's a prankster who often exhibits what I would define as naughty behavior).

 

 

4.  Every year at least one Taylored Expressions Grumpling has to make an appearance in my year of card making, and I really loved how this one turned out ... the colors, dotty background, curled edge of the papers, and embellishments all worked together so well.  This one was for C is for Christmas (in July) at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

 

 

5.  My final card was a winner of the November Anything Goes Challenge at Jaded Blossom.  I was pretty proud of how I was able to turn my Coffee Gnome into a Grinch for the Caffeinated Christmas Holly Challenge, since I had the perfect sentiment.

 

 

As always, hard to pick favorites, but also fun re-visiting all the holiday cards I made (and gave) this year. 

Remember, if you'd like to have lots of holiday cards ready when December rolls around, you can join us for our 13th year of Jingle Belles Mayhem beginning January 1st

(It Must Have Been Ol') Santa Claus

Day 7 of Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas is - (It Must Have Been Ol') Santa Claus with Heather Meeson)

 

 

I loved Heather's Ho Ho Ho Shaker Tag, which is also perfect for the Shake It Up Challenge at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero.

 

 

I used Spellbinders Die-Lites Jolly Ho Ho Ho with Concord & 9th Tutu Glitter paper.

 

 

True with the song lyrics, I added the Santa from Hero Arts Merry Christmas Santa & Reindeer.  I filled my shaker with sequins and finished with a bright blue ribbon to coordinate.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says: Add Sparkle Challenge.

 

 

I also made a tic tac toe across the center for the Papercraft Crew Tic Tac Toe Challenge with Circles (from my O's), Die Cuts & Ribbon.

A Million Thanks

I had some left-over Leaves from my Gel Press Prints using the Spellbinders Autumn Leaves Etched Die Cuts on my table, so I built a card around this with inspiration & a sketch from the Inspired by Challenge.

 

 

The leaf paper and golden map paper are both from Carta Bella Autumn papers by Steven Duncan.

 

 

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments for Autumn theme from the Inspiration photo.  The Stamps were released in August 2016, so I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Retro Rubber Challenge.

 

Gel Printed Cards

This weekend's #abcprinting challenge included R is for Rainbow.  I used Dylusions Shimmer Paints to print the rainbow.

 

 

I paired it with the Spellbinders Kaleidoscope Die Cut in Black and white (for a drop shadow).

 

 

 

Stamped Sentiments are Unity Stamp Company Say It Big.

Next up is S is for Stencil (handmade).  I used this cool Bird Stencil that was handmade and gifted to me by my friend Bev. 

 

 

I stenciled in Blue and then went back in with Green (that didn't show through as much as I'd hoped).

 

 

I went back in with a Q-tip and paint on the bird to make it a bit more solid for my card.  I paired it with a vintage wood-mounted stamp (which clearly wasn't mounted straight at the end of the phrase).

 

Embossable Nature Sing

The current prompt at Jingle Bells is My Sweet Embossable You ... to create a card with embossed texture or head embossing (or both if you're into extra credit).

I went with the texture of an embossing folderusing the Spellbinders Forevergreen Embossing Folder on Green/Kraft Core'dinations cardstock. 

 

 

 

I sanded the embossed texture and then inked the embossed texture with Catherine Pooler Deck the Halls Ink for a bit more contrast. 

 

I attached it with foam tape to a red card base and added two sentiments from Spellbinders Mini Christmas Greetings.

Spellbinders Be Bold Dies

This morning, a friend invited me over for a crafty play date (yay for in person crafting and catching-up with friends) and let me use her new Spellbinders Be Bold Die Cuts (affiliate links - no charge to you).  I had been admiring cards made with the dies, so it was fun to give them a try.

I started with the Happy Birthday die set, which I had to hang off the end of my Platinum 6 plate and roll through both sides to get the full cut.  It also fits on the full width of the cardstock, so there's no room for error.

 

 

I used the colors from the TGIF Color Challenge for my Dies & Card Base (and neutral white for my happy).

 

 

I thought the Thank You Die was easier to position and use. 

 

 

For it, I used the colors from the current Color Throwdown Challenge.

 

Peace on the Earth Goodwill to Men

Day 6 of the 12 Tags of Christmas is inspired by It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (I love singing the songs while I make my tags). 

I also loved the wonderful contrast of navy and white on Emily's Tags.

 

I die cut a Navy Essentials by Ellen Shipping Tag.  Next I die cut a Taylored Expressions Evergreens and the Peace Sentiment from Spellbinders So Many Sentiments Etched Dies.

 

embrace the journey

I love this week's Freshly Made Sketch because I love the effect of clustering several small elements together into a cohesive focal point.

I took my color & design inspiration from the lovely modern quilt at the Inspired By Challenge (those are my colors).

I started by embossing a piece of watercolor paper that had been sprayed with four shades of Shimmering Bliss Spray (leftovers from the Butterfly Card) from my scrap pile with Spellbinders / Fun Stampers Journey Pretty Plaid Embossing Folder.  Next I went direct-to-paper with brown ink to bring out the plaid pattern (realized when I went back and looked at the photo that grey probably would have been a better choice, but when you're working in your Alterna-Studio off your phone, you just go with it).  I matted it on kraft to bring out the wooden tones of the bedside table.

Next I punched a circle from the leftover sprayed paper and another from teal cardstock ... pulling in the lime green with my square.  I pulled in the darker teal from the edge of the quilt with my punched branches.  I finished with a sticker sentiment mounted on foam tape for dimension ... sort of love how this one turned out.  

I'm on week five in my Alterna-Studio ... we're supposed to have flooring installed in our first floor by the end of the week and all of the many boxes returned the week after that, so I can start reassembling my studio ... I am so ready to have my space back.

Marbled Christmas Ornament

We're Shaping Up for the New Year at Jingle Belles ... which means we're making shaped cards (anything but a square or rectangle will do).

I decided to go with a holiday ornament shape (if you click over to the Jingle Belles post, you'll see that great minds thought alike this week). 

First I die cut my Spellbinders Nestabilities Heirloom ornament from a piece of folded white cardstock (overlapping the die slightly so I would have a fold) and then I cut it a second time from a piece of hand-marbled paper I made (my husband affectionately dubbed it a Christmas Radish).  

 

I added a glitter paper topper and stripes and finished with a large Simon Says Stamp Alexis snowflake and tiny white rub-on sentiment.

 

We hope you'll join us this week ... we can't wait to see what creative shaped cards you create.