Ingenious Inkling

Hanukkah Song

Something that's pretty important to us ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ is to make sure our card-making festivities include EVERYONE who is special to us, whatever occasion or holiday in which they partake!

So this week we're making cards for our friends who don't necessarily celebrate Christmas. Hanukkah is the most famous of the other winter holidays, and it (plus our favorite Adam Sandler song!) inspired our title, but you could choose Kwanzaa, New Year, Hogmanay or Solstice; or you could go totally non-denominational with a general winter-themed card.

I started with this peaceful Penny Black Starry Night Stickeroo and built my Hanukkah card around it with a few more sticker sentiments and sticker letters too.  

 

Those Stickeroos have been in my stash for a very long time (and have been a titch neglected), so I'm linking-up at the Penny Black Anything Goes Challenge with an option of Old or Neglected.

I die cut some metallic silver into an oblong octagon and then die cut some Swirling Stars.  I finished with a wrap of ribbon and a few sprinkled gems."

Magical Birthday

The Challenge theme at Shopping Our Stash this week is No Ink ... the perfect opportunity to use some papers & coordinating die cuts from Echo Park Imagine That Girl collection in my "not yet been used" stash.

I finished with some Eyelet Outlet bling jewels and SRM Stickers Birthday Stickers for my sentiments using a sketch from Feeling Sketchy.

 

STAMPlorations CAS Challenge

After Guest Designing, I am thrilled to a full-time member of the STAMPlorations CAS Design Team.  Our first challenge for October is ...

I love Orange ... it's one of my favorite colors.  I started my design with a small piece of orange & gold metallic Gel Press print from my Art Camp adventures.

I die cut CUTplorations Fearless Word Die in red & gold metallic cardstock and then layered them slightly offset to create a shadow.  

The sentiment is from Bold Sentiments: Fearless.  I added a few stitches stickers from SRM Stickers.

Here are the details for the challenge:

• Players can link up to 3 CAS cards.
• Players can enter a CAS card with or without the optional color twist.
• Non-STAMPlorations products are OK (but we'd love to see you rock STAMPlorations products)
• Prizes: $10 Gift Certificate for the winner; $5 Gift Certificate to the top picks
• If there are 50 or more entries: 1 random winner of product of choice (3x5 stamp set OR 2 standard size stencils OR 1 CUTplorations word/phrase die)

Come join the fun.

Holiday Wreaths

We are still celebrating the Holly & the Ivy at Jingle Belles.  

For this week's foliage card, I decided to make a punched leaf/branch wreath card.  I've made quite a few as I wandered back through my blog, but this time I decided to combine three different leaf/branch punches in my design.  I started with lots of tiny scraps of green cardstock (this technique is a great way to use those little scraps).  Remember to flip your punches over and punch both ways, so you end up with leaves moving in two directions.  I even did a few out of patterned paper.

Next, I punch a circle around the size I want for the center of my wreath and start attaching leaves around it (I use a small glue dot for each leaf) until I have the basic circle formed.  I remove the circle and complete by adding more and more layers, tucking them in as I go (like you would with real foliage).

For the first one, I used a 4" square of birch bark paper and decorated the wreath with Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brads.  I used an SRM sticker for the sentiment before attaching to my red card base using foam tape.

Since I had lots of leaves left, I made a second card.

For this one I used this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches and decorated my wreath (and card) with red adhesive gems.  The finishing touches were more SRM stickers.

 

Dedication & Determination

Today at the Eyelet Outlet Blog, I am making cards that feature the Army Men Brads ... these cards are a great way to send encouragement and appreciation to those serving in the military.

 

I combined them with Express Yourself Military Stickers from SRM Stickers for some quick and easy card designs.

 

 

I attached my Army Men Brads to a piece of white cardstock and then attached that strip of paper to my card front using foam tape.  I added a strip of designer paper and three stickers to finish the design.

 

 

Here's a close-up of the three different brads included in the set.

 

 

I used the same technique for this design, this time only using blue stickers.

 

 

Christmas in July

Those of you who follow my blog know that I make Christmas cards all year long.

I love that I never have to put away my favorite Christmas products ... and I love that when November comes to a close, I have lots of one-of-a-kind Christmas cards to send across the miles.

I also love that a Santa Hat can turn almost any creature into a Christmas icon ... even a skunk.

 

For my focal image, I combined the cute little skunk from the Woodland Animal Brads with a Santa Hat Brad ... isn't he adorable.

I used Green Glitter Washi Tape on Holiday paper to create the starburst for this week's Retro Sketch.  I added multi-size black pearls to accent my little skunk and a sentiment sticker from SRM Stickers.

Here's a close-up of this cute little Christmas Critter.

Of course I couldn't stop with the Skunk ... I had to make a card featuring his friend the Raccoon.

 

This layout is from The Paper Players and features more SRM Stickers and multi-sized Adhesive Pearls.

 

Here's another view of this cute little guy.

 

 

Remember, it's never too late to start taking back your December one holiday card at a time.

Products used

• Woodland Animal Brads
• Santa Hat Brads
• Glitter Green Washi Tape
• Pearl Bling - Multi-Size - 100 Count

 

Washi Love

When I saw the sketch at the As You See It Challenge, I knew I wanted to play with Washi Tape.

Next I layered on two SRM Stickers before finishing with a piece of flair and a red card base.

I'm also joining the Love Sweet Love theme at the TGIF Challenge.

Clear

The theme at CASology this week is ...

I started with a clear journaling card ... added two clear SRM Baby Stickers ... and then finished with some translucent washi tape with clear dots.

The finishing touch was a 3-D baby elephant sticker that's been hanging-out in my supplies for way too long.

Layout is Retro Sketches.

Happy New Home

I wanted to join the Taylored Expressions Share Joy Challenge ... only one problem ...  I needed to make a card for someone who just got a new home ... and I have no stamps in my Taylored Expressions stash for that event (which must mean I need more Taylored Expressions stamps).

So I did what every good stamper does ... I got creative.  I went through the stamps I did have and decided I could use the coffee steam from Joe-To-Go to stamp a fun background.  I stamped it one direction in bright pink and the other direction in a darker red to use the colors from the image.

 

 

I found this great *badge* in my stash for the focal point and added a few corkboard stickers with hearts for the theme.  I finished with an SRM Sticker sentiment.

 

Oh Christmas Trees

We're celebrating Christmas Trees at Jingle Belles this week.  I considered die cuts and stamps ... and then as I was thinking about my design, I realized I have enough Christmas designer paper (a lot of it discontinued) to make all of my cards this year ... so I decided to make a concerted effort to turn those pretty papers into cards.

I found this trio of trees on some fun Kaiser Craft papers (love these colors).  I added one of the border die cuts and an SRM Sticker sentiment that was the perfect size.

I'm also joining the weekly Christmas Card Challenge where the theme is anything goes.

We were thrilled with how many people joined us for our first prompt ... hope you'll join us for number 2.