Ingenious Inkling

CLEAR Holiday Cheer Deer

At Jingle Belles we're still celebrating holiday cards that contain clear elements, whether those be in the form of pre-printed transparencies, acrylic embellishments, or just shaker or window cards which utilize a bit of plastic packaging.

When I saw Lauren's Transparent card base last week, I knew I had to try to channel my inner Lauren and make my own.  My 5 1/2" card size was determined by the size of my transparency and where I folded to match the pattern on the front & back.

 

 

 

I also took some inspiration from the "Deer" Santa Challenge at the Inspired by .... challenge.

 

Pretty much, when I channel Lauren, I reach the point that I think I'm done ... and then I add at least two more things.

 

 

 

I started with the deer and added distressed papers (inked with Distress Ink and Gold Metallic Ink), bling swirls, hole-punch-computer paper, vintage postage stamps, die cut flourishes, glittery snowflakes ... and a vintage Penny Black Sentiment ... all on a perfect gold design transparency card base.

 

I'm also joining the Krafty Chicks for their Christmas Challenge.  And the Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog is to pair a Sentiment with a Winter Animal.

How did I do?  We hope you'll pull our your favorite CLEAR elements and join us. 

They Say It's Your Birthday

I needed a few quick birthday cards tonight ... so I combined this week's Freshly Made Sketch with some Project Life Cards.

I inked my Fab Four Stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps in Versafine Clair Morning Mist & paired it with a vintage Stampin' Up Sentiment.

It's also Anything Goes at Seize the Birthday.

Now to go put this one in the mail.

Lookin' Sharp

I am loving these coordinating Truly Taylored papers & stamps from Stampin' Up for guy cards.

The layout is this week's Paper Players Sketch.

Lookin' Sharp

When I saw the stacks of green containers at The Card Concept, it made me want to make my own stack of green papers.

I punched a collection of papers from Stampin' Up's True Gentlemen Collection using the Tailored Tag Punch.

I stamped two sentiments in green from the coordinating Truly Tailored stamp set.

For the Creatalicious Challenge Anything Goes with a Birthday theme, I made a horizontal variation of the same design.

 

Cue the Confetti

This week's TGIF Challenge features three of my favorite Stampin' Up Colors, so I had to join the fun.

I broke out some new Stampin' Up sentiments from Birthday Wit & Picture Perfect Birthday.

My background is embossed and I added Gold Glitter Flakes for my confetti.

Santa Brought Me Mid-Century Modern

For our first card-making prompt at Jingle Belles, we're breaking-out the gifts Santa brought us. 

I have had this Simon Says Stamp Ring Wreath Die on my wish list for quite some time ... and I was thrilled with out my first card using it turned out.

I started by die cutting my wreath from black cardstock for the frame.

Next, I die cut the wreath using two different shades of teal glitter paper and a sheet of silver glitter paper (actually I used scraps of glitter paper and cut out multiple partial wreaths ... since a lot of the circles are the same size, this works well).  It was so relaxing to fill in all of the circles.

I stamped Joy from Simon Says Stamp Big Words - Encouraging Words (using my MISTI made it fool proof even after I had adhered the wreath to my cardstock).  I finished with a black cardstock bow punched with the Stampin' Up Bow Builder.  I just love the mid-century modern feel of the glittery bauble wreath.

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

Retro Christmas Wreath

When I saw the fun retro colors in the Wreath Inspiration Photo at The Card Concept, I knew the Daily Flash Eggnog Collection from October Afternoon would be perfect (and have long been hoarded in my stash).

I started by cutting a wreath shape from pink cardstock.  Next I began decorating my wreath using Pillow Puff Stickers & Pop Drops from the Egg Nog Collection, as well as Bling and Enamel Dots from Eyelet Outlet.

I used Foam Tape to attach my wreath to a Stampin' Up wood textures designer paper panel reminiscent of the inspiration picture and then added a pillow puff sticker sentiment to the middle of the wreath instead of the house ornament in the picture.

With all of that fun bling, this card will have to find it's way to someone on my Christmas Card list who is "bling-worthy" (which means they appreciate the hoarding of bling and what it means when you share this much with someone).

Soft Sayings

I'm not usually one for card kits (because I don't follow instructions well), but when the kit contains fabulous elements, you don't necessarily need to follow instructions to get beautiful results.

These cards are from the Soft Sayings Card Kit from Stampin' Up.  I adore the color combinations and the bits of golden glitter.

The green is Stampin' Up Emerald Envy, one of my new favorites.

The flowers are so delicate and beautiful.

And All of That Stuff

I just looked at how many Falliday Challenges I have yet to complete ... and how much time I have yet ... and it's going to take a valiant effort to make it.  It is unlikely, but I will go down trying.

Tonight I made a card for the We Wish You a Snarky Christmas Challenge.  Strangely enough, while I have a fair number of snarky stamps in my stash (okay, probably more than a fair number) very few of them are Christmas (must correct that problem).

I went with this sentiment from CatsLife Press, which is more of a dry snark in my opinion.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for my layout.

It's also Anything Goes at The House that Stamps Built.

Creep It Real

I'm still trying to get a few more Falliday Fest Challenges done before the end-of-month deadline.  This one was to make a card inspired by this movie poster using those colors.

I started with the idea of a black cat and shining peachy moon.

I sponged my orange paper with pink & peach inks to tone down the color.   I couldn't resist the foam top hat for my kitty (because the creature in the poster looks like he would be wearing one).   The layout is this week's Global Designer Project Sketch.