Ingenious Inkling

Woodland Squad

This weekend I had fun playing with the new Taylored Expressions Woodland Squad Dies.

I die cut them out of a lot of different Gel Press prints and neutral cardstock colors, and then had fun piecing together different color combinations.

 

 

I initially stamped the eyes, but couldn't resist coming back in with some stickers for a more wide-eyed look.  I paired them with sentiments from Taylored Expressions Mini Strips Harvest.

 

 

I'm linking this cutie up at the Make the Cards Challenge Fall Theme.

 

 

The golden print for the cute little fox has blue undertones, so I added some blue twine to the ribbon. 

 

 

I could go various ways on this one, but I'll go straight down the middle with Orange/Rust, Free & Layers for the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.

 

 

And how do you not love that adorable little deer.   I'm linking him up at the In the Forest Challenge at Daring Cardmakers.

Bring Your Heart Comfort

Today's design started with the Retro Rubber Stamp Challenge to use a Tag.  I went hunting through my Gel Press/Inky drawers looking for tags.

 

 

I chose the tag at the top left that I made with Dina Wakley Gloss Spray, because I thought it would have nice contrast with some Autumn leaf colors.  

 

 

Next I took one of those orange tags and used My Favorite Things Die-Namics Falling Leaves.

 

 

I pulled out a rusty Gel Press Print and a golden Alcohol Ink Roll-Off paper from the big-drawer-of-prints, and pulled the card together using the layout from Sketch Saturday.

 

 

And for my Retro Rubber Stamp sentiment (in this case Retro Acrylic), I chose one from Simon Says Stamp Moments of Grace from December 2018.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at Global Design Project.

 

Stars and/or Stripes, Forever

Since it's Independence Day in the USA this week, at Jingle Belles we're creating holiday cards featuring stars or stripes (or both).

I went with candy cane striped paper from Doodlebug's Night Before Christmas Collection for my background.

 

I added a red polka dot paper and tiny tags from the same collection.  I finished with an enamel dot at the top of each tag and a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Label Sticker.

 

My layout is a rotated variation on this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

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

Come join us ... we can't wait to see what you create.

Masculine Merry Christmas Take Two

We're creating masculine holiday cards at Jingle Belles this week (with our lovely Guest Designer (and my dear friend) Bev).

I started with some handmade paper that almost has the look of tree bark.  Next I layered on one of my gel printed tags in greens.

 

 

Next up was a 3-D glittery jar tag from my stash (candy & a gingerbread man felt masculine to me), a Dymo-like Label Sentiment sticker and lastly instead of ribbon at the top of my tag, I went with a Santa Hat Sticker.  I love the traditional holiday green & red for masculine designs.

 

I'm also joining the Masculine Challenge at Inspire.Create.

I hope you'll figure out what you like for Masculine Holiday cards and come join us.

Mondo Squishy Pastel Hugs

This week's theme at Shopping Our Stash is the Power of Pastels - create a card with a Pastel color palette.

 

 

I went shopping through my cardstock scraps and found a Pastel Rainbow.  Then I decided to create a card as an homage to the cardmaker who was the first to inspire me to join the cardmaking community that I think of now as my family - Julie Ebersole aka Paper Trufflez aka JulieHRR (and then she led me to Ellen Hutson, who is also one of the nicest people on the planet and my dealer (best store for crafty supplies) - see their story here).

I always felt like Julie spoke my language - both in her clean, simple and quirky card design and her literal use of words.  The Essentials by Ellen set Casual Greetings includes several of those phrases including the one I used today.

 

 

I die cut my pastel rainbow striped tag with the Essentials by Ellen Tag Trio Die (cutting a second time to shorten the tag a bit to work with my layout and where I wanted to position everything on the colors).  I also used a tip from another of my cardmaking muses Seeka - if you make a mistake (like I did several times trying to get my dies cut correctly), just stack another one on top (which worked perfectly to give necessary dimension too).

I tucked that cute little sunglasses critter behind the sentiment from the Summer of Stamping Soak It Up Combo by Avery Elle from Essentials by Ellen.

I finished with some lemon yellow twine and lavender pearls before attaching to my card base with my favorite 2" wide foam tape from Scrapbook.com.

Signs of Spring

The current Seize the Birthday Challenge is to create a card featuring the Signs of Spring.

If you live in Iowa, you know one of the long awaited Signs of Spring is the re-opening of the Ice Cream shops.  Many of them are just little walk-up/drive-through type stands, so they close for the winter months.  The first time you go and get your Spring Ice Cream is magical.  I think I might head to The Freeze and get an Apple Pie Freeze (made with locally made slices of pie).

 

 

I'm still using the Happy Cake Birthday! tags I found in my stash, this time with one of my Gel Press Prints and some coordinating sprinkle paper.  The sentiment is another Simon Says Stamp Birthday Sentiment Strip.  I finished with a Glitter Enamel Dot at the top of the tag.

 

 

 

I'm also joining the Make My Monday Challenge Birthday Challenge (where I was in the Top 3 for my Washi Tape card last week - Yay).

Happy Hooray!

Masculine Birthday Cards ... why am I always out of Masculine Birthday Cards.  This card is inspired by the Tag You're It! Challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz.

I stumbled across some Tag Paper from the Happy Cake Day! Paper Collection, which made it easy to pull this card together.

 

 

I used the layout from Sketch~N~Scrap with the horizontal sentiment across the tag cut from the label of the 12x12 paper.  I added an Eyelet Outlet Cupcake Brad and finished with a Simon Says Stamp Birthday Sentiment Strip.

 

Now I just need to make about ten more.

Denim Easter Bunny

When I saw the fun cloth bunnies at the Fusion Card Challenge, I had an idea to create my own cloth bunny using my piece of gel pressed denim from the #marchprintingchallenge with GelliArts.

 

 

I started with this Gel Pressed piece of Denim.

 

 

I stamped my bunny from Gina K. Designs Some Bunny using Versafine Claire Nocturne Ink.  Now the next question is do I have pinking shears (okay of course I have pinking shears) - so the real next question is can I find them.  Turns out they were in the Scissor Basket right where they belong (that's a crafting miracle). 

A little story - at the beginning of the pandemic when we starting working from home, my desk was positioned so that my studio was behind me.  During video calls, my boss kept asking questions about why I had so many pairs of scissors and what were they all for ... so, to solve that problem, I rotated my desk, so I had my art wall behind me instead LOL (a lady doesn't need to be questioned about the quantity of her art supplies).

I used the pinking shears to cut out my stamped bunny and then added an orange bow for his neck, inspired by the photograph.

 

 

The Gina K. Monthly Mix Challenge is to make a Tag, so onto a tag my cute little bunny went together with the stamped Happy Easter sentiment from the same Gina K. Designs Some Bunny stamp set.

I kept the card simple using a striped designer paper inspired by the striped bunnies and some blue ribbon at the top of my tag before attaching the tag to the card base with foam tape for dimension.

I'm also joining the Creatalicious Challenge where the theme is Anything Goes with the option of Easter.

With the texture of my denim fabric, I'm joining the Texture Challenge at Cardz 4 Guys.

Day 12 - Holly Jolly Christmas

Here we are at Day 12 of the 12 Tags of Christmas with Ellen Hutson - Holly Jolly Christmas.

 

 

I focused on the line "Have a Cup of Cheer" for my tag design with inspiration from these wonderful tags by Julie Ebersole and my winter manicure.

I used two of the Essentials by Ellen Tag Trio and dug back through the supply archives to find the perfect gold brad to attach them together.  I stamped the base tag in Red with the Essentials by Ellen Fa La La Background stamp ... I agree with Julie that the tone-on-tone is less distracting from the main images than stamping in black.

 

 

I finished with the Egg Nog that I've had in my refrigerator for some time now. I mix it half with skim milk for my "dessert in a glass" ... for me, it certainly is a Cup of Cheer.

Here's that manicure I mentioned ... I usually go much more subtle, but decided to go all out for the holidays.

 

Day 11 - Oh Christmas Tree

It's Day 11 of the 12 Tags of Christmas - Oh Christmas Tree.

I love using journaling cards in my paper crafting, so today I used one from Authentique's Colorful Christmas Collection for my tag.

 

 

I matted my card on a thin red cardstock frame and then used two sizes of red bling to decorate the tree.  I finished with a stapled piece of glittery ribbon and Eyelet Outlet Square Jewel at the top of the tree.

I took my decoration inspiration from the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge Inspiration Photo.