Ingenious Inkling

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.

Musical Birthday

Daring Cardmakers theme is Thank You for Music.  This card was made using a musical stencil with Color Burst Watercolor Powders.

I finished with some SRM Stickers for the Birthday Sentiments.

I'm also joining Seize the Birthday where the topping theme is Splatters ... I love how easy it is to create splatters with Color Burst Powders.

Let It Snow

Since blue & snowflakes worked so well for last week's Jingle Belles card, I stuck with it again this week.  I tend to gravitate to blue & purple snow-themed paper collections (like BoBunny Woodland Winter).

It also gave me the opportunity to layer on some felt snowflakes.  The layout is the sketch from The Paper Players.

I finished with an SRM Sticker Sentiment.

SOS Christmas

This week Jingle Belles is joining Shopping our Stash for a Shop Your Stash Christmas ... that means use products that have been in your stash for at least a year.

In my case, since I was hanging out at Lauren's house for Art Camp, I got to shop her stash.  I chose this D.O.T.S. Christmas tree that has to be at least 15 years old (probably closer to 20 I'm guessing).  Check out how Lauren used the same tree for her card this week too.

I stamped it on a piece of watercolor paper that had been *painted* with Color Burst Watercolor Powders.  I didn't get a good impression, so I stamped it again on a second piece.  Rather than waste the first piece, I cut out two sections of the tree to add some dimension.  I added a piece of water-colored dictionary paper along the bottom.

The layout is Leslie's Crooked Stamper Sketch Challenge.

I stamped a banner sentiment from My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas along the bottom of the tree for the sentiment and punch two snowflakes from the scraps of green water-colored papers.   Next I shopped through Lauren's bling and decorated the tree in yellow & pink.

When I got home, I shopped my own stash and added a golden star to the top of the tree & a row of SRM Stickers.

And yes ... there will be prizes from both blogs, so make sure you come join the fun.

Thank You.

The Kraft Journal is looking for CAS Thank You Cards, which is right up my alley.  I love kraft cardstock ... and I love clean & simple.

I also love a sketch that uses up scraps of paper on my studio table that would otherwise be going in the recycle ... so the sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketches was perfect.  The sentiment is an SRM Sticker.

As I searched for flowers to use on my card, I was thinking about how at one time I would have had hundreds of flowers in every shape and color ... and now it seems flowers are sort of *out* on the embellishment spectrum, so it was a challenge to find any in my stash that worked.  I also pulled out some brads, which are also a rather neglected embellishment.  Feels good to use some of those forgotten supplies.

Christmas Muse

Today I'm channeling the talented Christmas Muse Betty Wright and her gorgeous design.

I loved the silver with green, the tag, and the pop of dark red, so those are the elements I incorporated into my card.

I combined a silver doily, green holiday papers, a Penny Black Joy holiday sticker, sequins and an SRM Sticker Sentiment together with the sketch from Tis' The Season.  I was just thinking this week how seldom I use ribbon on my cards any more, but I thought this dark maroon ribbon pulled out those colors from the sticker.

Going Postal

We're still celebrating all things Postal at Jingle Belles.  I found some postage stamp die cuts in the clearance bin on my crafty adventures last week, so I decided to make my own postage stamp.

I also found these rockin' googlie eyed Christmas Owls ... I'd buy a stamp with Oliver the Red Nosed Christmas Owl ... wouldn't you.

With all of my layers, I'm joining the Layer it On Me Challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  Sentiment is an SRM Sticker.

Frosty the Snowman

At Jingle Belles we're making cards inspired by this wonderful picture of Cookies for Santa from the Bearfoot Baker.

I wanted to create snowman card using these awesome colors, so I started by stamping my Vintage Frosty from Artistic Outpost's Frosty & Friends in Lawn Fawn Peacock Ink (love this color).

I rounded the corners to turn Frosty into a tag and added an SRM Sticker sentiment, some white ribbon and red sequin accents.

I finished with a strip of Teal glitter paper and a few more sequins using the sketch from The Paper Players.

It's also Anything Goes week at the Christmas Card Challenge Blog.

We hope you'll be inspired by these cookies and come create with us.

Spooky Stooges

The Challenge theme at the Impression Obsession Blog is Holiday Cards ... any holiday.  Since I picked-up the new Three Stooges Pumpkin stamp with my winnings from last month, I decided to go for Halloween.  

I stamped my Three Stooges in Dark brown and colored with my Spectrum Noir Blendable  Colored Pencils.

Halloween was also the perfect opportunity to ink-up my new Solar System Stamps by Seth Apter ... I love how they look on the new Graphic 45 Rare Oddities papers.

Using the Mojo Monday Sketch I added a wrap of orange twine and an SRM Sticker sentiment to finish the design.

Monochromatic Cherry Birthday

For some reason, tonight I wanted to play with Washi Tape.  When I saw the Colour Me Monochromatic Challenge, i decided to see if I had enough types of Red Washi Tape to cover the front of a card ... turns out I do.

I cut my white cardstock base slightly larger than the finished size I want.  I start near the bottom one third and extend the washi tape beyond my card to lightly tape it to my surface (it makes lining-up the future pieces much easier).

When I'm done I trim off the excess using my paper cutter to produce a nice finished card front.   I added lots of SRM Sticker Sentiments to finish my design.