Ingenious Inkling

Live a Beautiful Life

When I was playing with my alcohol inks on Sunday night, I started on a piece of Ranger Black Alcohol Ink Blending paper, but I couldn't quite make it work, so I set it aside. 

Last night I tried again bringing out pearlescent and glitter inks together with some white and finally got a cool effect.  I came in at the end adding a touch of silver foil.

 

 

I decided with all of the silver to feature a vellum butterfly sticker on silver paper from my stash. I used the layout from the Inspire.Create.Challenge replacing the circle with the butterfly ... but looking at it now through the camera lens, I wish I would have angled it a bit (why are design facets always clearer when you photograph).

 

 

I stamped my Impression Obsession Words for Art Sentiment on vellum in black ink and clear embossed and backed it with silver metallic paper to stay with the theme.  I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Thinking of You Challenge as this one goes in the mail.

 

 

Now to figure out more inks that will work on this black paper.

 

 

I'm linking-up at the TGIF Challenges Alcohol Ink Blending Challenge as well.

 

Gel Printing Travel Adventures

One of the items on my Grand Forks travel agenda was to give the Damsel of Distressed (go give Becca a Like) her first Gel Printing experience.  We had so much fun creating, we never wanted to stop ... and needless to say, she was a super-quick learner (and bought us matching shirts from Unglued for our creative day).

 

We started with 5"x7" plates and basic acrylic paint and stencil techniques ... as you can see, Becca rocked it.

 

 

Here's Becca putting the stars onto that magical Unicorn print.

 

 

I had some fun playing with new Elizabeth St. Hilaire Stencils & Masks from Joggles inspired by Gustave Klimt.   The bottom two prints use the one called Rectangle Motif.  The top right is ARTplorations All Swirls. 

 

 

I also had fun creating with one called Cubes on the top right and bottom left.

 

 

 

And more Rectangle Motif on the top left.  The bottom left is All Swirls from ARTplorations.

 

 

Then on day two of our creative adventures, we spent a little time learning alcohol ink printing with the Gel Press.

 

 

And next up was playing with die cuts and stickers to turn prints into cards.  This one features the ARTplorations All Swirls Stencil together with words from the CUTplorations You Word Die Set and the CUTplorations Awesome Word Die.   I think that die cuts can completely transform some Gel Press Prints that felt more like "rejects" when you pulled them.

 

 

I'm linking-up at the October Anything Goes Stencil Challenge at STAMPlorations.

 

 

Here's another card made from these prints.  Becca had stamped and painted a group of houses and had this cutie left over after finishing her cards, so I added it to my design.  I had fun using Ranger Sentiment Stickers to create a little poem.

 

 

I'm linking this one up at the Anything Goes Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

 

 

And one more stamping directly onto the Gel Press Print with an image from Sassy & Saucy from Inky Antics by Andrea Ockey Parr.  

 

 

Mixed Media Magic

Once of the goals for my crafty trip to North Dakota was for Becca (aka Damsel of Distressed) to teach me how she makes her mixed media canvases (click on over to see her amazing creation).  

Messy and relatively unstructured creating are not my comfort-zone, but I hung in there with the process and ended-up with a canvas I adore (with only one near melt down when I feared I had created more of a mess than art).

The first step was choosing the items for my canvas.  Our starting point was a cup of end-of-life paint brushes.  I also added pieces of jewelry (I will never look at jewelry at garage sales the same again), flowers and buttons to the design, as well as a chipboard circle.

I also chose some papers for collage, which came later.

 

I really loved the colors of my pieces and built them around the pieces of jewelry in the design … that’s when Becca told me we were going to paint it all white (WHAT!!).  

Here are close-ups of several of my vignettes.  I decided that the coral, teal and green from that piece of jewelry were going to be my color palette (I had originally intended on the raspberry too, but once I got going, I didn’t like it when I tried to add it to the mix).

 

 

Here’s a close-up of the larger focal point of the piece.

 

 

We took pictures, so we would remember the layout and then the painting of everything white was next.  I have never been quite so paint covered and had so much fun.  It was liberating to bring everything together with paint.

 

Next we stamped on our gessoed canvas.  I chose images mostly from Paper Artsy that I got from The Ink Pad and some Distress Inks in my chosen color palette.

 

Next up was to add some paper collage.  I loved using intention to choose my papers (even though they all weren’t ultimately visible in the end).  

Since we went to see the play Proof last night (and since my career is in finance), I chose a page with some hand-written math formulas and some charts from a math book to put into the background.  I also chose some music and some vintage texts bits.

I also added some vintage S&H Green Stamps that always remind me of my beloved Grandmother and a page title at the top that I liked.

 

And as you can see, we also used stencils to add some texture past to the design.  When I do this again, I would probably add a bit more, because it turned out looking really cool once we added color.

Next we added paint, inky drips to the page, as well as splatters.  I believe this was the point I had a bit of a mental melt down because to me I felt like I was making a mess, but Becca assured me it was all going to come together (and of course she was right).  Ultimately adding more color, made the design feel more cohesive to me.

 

Next up was adding back the focal elements to the design.  I loved this part.  I stayed pretty true to my initial design, but ended-up adding the cut-off bit from my chipboard circle at the top of the canvas.  I really loved the button clusters because they also reminded me of my Grandma.  It would have been so fun to try to make this kind of art with her.

 

 

Next we added more color, splatters and even some Inka Gold to the texture of the design.

We chose some quotes and then finally called it complete.  I loved the process … I loved making art with a friend who shared her processes … and I adore my end result.  I can’t wait to display it in my studio.

 

 

Here are a few more close-ups of the finished piece.

 

My advise to you is whenever you have the opportunity, make art with artsy friends, especially those whose style is different than yours (even if it’s just on a Zoom call … but in person is so much better).  It expands your horizons and helps you see art from an entirely different angle.

 

And remember to love … and create … with all your heart.

Also, it never hurts to end your crafty day with drinks and dessert … mulled apple cider and chocolate torte  FTW.

 

You're All Kinds of Wonderful

When I saw the inspiration photo at the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge, it reminded me of several painted panels I've had near my studio table for some time just waiting to become a card.

 

 

I had done a paint smooshing technique with Dylusions Shimmer Paint that I got from The Ink Pad in New York City (they are celebrating their 23rd birthday with 23% off your order if you use code 23YEARS at checkout). Sale applies to in-stock merchandise only and ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, September 26th.

 

 

I put drops of paint on a piece of parchment paper and then sprayed with water before dragging pieces of white cardstock through the colors.  I added more water until all of the paint was on paper.

 

Each one got a different mix of color.  I loved the shimmery effect.

For today's card, I embossed one panel with the Pinkfresh Studio Essentials: Slim Stitches Die (also at The Ink Pad).  I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Stitch It Challenge.

 

 

One a second panel, I stamped the large flower from Pinkfresh Studio Friendship Blooms and fussy cut the bloom before attaching it to a circle cut with the Pinkfresh Studio Diagonal Stitched Circles together with leaves stamped & cut from a green/blue painted panel created using the same technique.

 

 

I'm also linking-up at the Seize the Birthday Stitching Challenge.

 

I stamped the sentiment & clear embossed on the same green/blue painted paper.  I finished with some green gems.

That makes a Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge horizontal across the top with Die Cut, Orange & Embossing.

 

I is for Image Transfer

At the last Art Camp Lauren and I had, we tried (relatively unsuccessfully) to do image transfer.   This week one of the ABC's of Art Printing was I is for Image Transfer, so I revisited the technique.

I tried about 20 different fashion magazine images, but these two were the only ones that produced a visible transfer.

 

 

While I liked them both, I was hoping for a higher success ratio.  I posted the images in one of the Facebook Gel Printing Pages and several of the members graciously provided tips for achieving more success, so I went back and tried a second time.

 

 

Their recommendation that I use a darker more opaque paint for creating the transfer on the plate finally yielded success.

 

 

However, I'm still struggling to find the best paint to pull the prints, so I will try again.  In searching through my paints, I clearly need more opaque colors with higher contrast.

 

 

Regardless, I still love the effect (no idea what I'll ultimately do with them, it just fun to see it work).

 

 

Here are a few more I tried.  The right one I just picked-up directly from the plate with no second color.

Learning how to make new art makes me happy.  

Hope your Saturday is happy too.

Ink Cube Background

The September Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K. Designs is to create a background using Ink Cubes ... only one problem ... I love Gina K.'s inks so much, I own the collection in the full size pads. 

 

 

After hunting through all of my extras, I found that I had a few neutral colored cubes, so that made my color combination challenge pretty easy to make.  I did a half-sheet of white cardstock not entirely sure where I was headed.  

 

 

I added a white ink splatter hoping it would unify the design a bit more, but I didn't quite get the look I was hoping for (but did manage to get white ink all over my floor and studio table, so an emergency cleaning session had to interrupt my design work).

I decided to go with a slimline design featuring the images from Botanical Blocks Mini, since I liked the idea of repeating the block design theme with my focal stamps.  

 

I finished with and offset positioning of the sentiment in the set and a few scattering of smoky grey gems to finish the design.

Christmas Cookie Snowmen

This week at Jingle Belles, we're still making cards inspired by these adorable Snow Globe Cookies from Missy's Sugar Shop.

 

Coming off my #CrushingOnCardstock classes last week, I decided to cut 1/2" paper strips in the four background colors of the cookies as my starting point.  Next I cut those into 3/4" strips and then staggered them on a black card base.

 

When I went hunting for the perfect holiday critter to feature on my card, I found a sheet of Doodlebug Winter Wonderland Enamel Sprinkles Stickers, which also included snowflakes that look like the snowflakes on the cookies.

For the sentiment I used Simon Says Stamp Reverse Holiday Sentiment Strips.

We hope you'll come join the fun with us.

Love Your Guts

Today's paper crafting goal is to clean my studio.  I have way too many piles to even begin creating.  

But of course while I was cleaning, I got sidetracked by a bit of striped paper I had leftover from Day 1 of the Crushing on Cardstock Class at Online Card Classes.  I decided to cut it into strips and make one more card inspired by Kristina Werner's Designs.  The colors are Oceanside & Sorbet from Concord & 9th.

 

 

I mounted the checkerboard design with foam tape on a floral card base and topped it with a Love Your Guts die cut sentiment from Simon Says Stamp by CZ Designs.  The finishing touch were s cattering of silver sequins.

You're a Blessing

Tonight's creativity is brought to you by another Crushing on Cardstock Class.  I'm no Debby Hughes, but tonight it was fun to try to channel some of her design skills into my creation.

I used Gesso to stencil on stone cardstock.   Next, I created my "wreath" with Circle Shaped Dies from Studio Light and Ivory cardstock (normally I would never combine white gesso with ivory cardstock, but I followed her lead and loved the effect).

 

 

I combined solid & glittered cardstock using Alexandra Renke Dies for my leaves and stems.  I punched some oak leaves from a scrap of cardstock covered in paint and gel medium from my stash.

I added some flowers and iridescent gems and a Taylored Expressions Be Bright Sentiment to finish the design.

And it's Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp.

 

 

 

And the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge is All Things Feminine.

Hello from Iowa

Another card for the 2nd day of the Crushing on Cardstock class at Online Card Classes.  This one was taught by Jennifer McGuire and was about layering dies with die cut backgrounds.

 

 

I combined Carved Pumpkin & Mustard Seed Distress Oxide Ink for my blending together with the Iowa Delight Die and the Greetings from Iowa stamp from Memory Bound in Ankeny, Iowa and the Hero Arts Bold Graphic Confetti Die.