Ingenious Inkling

Ombré Pine Bough Christmas

We're still creating with an Ombré Wonderland at Jingle Belles this week. 

I used watercolor paper and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Spray to create my own Ombré painted background.

I die cut The Greetery BotaniCuts Pine Bough from coordinating cardstock and then inked the boughs with Cracked Pistachio and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink for more Ombré effect and contrast with the background.

 

 

The branch and pine cones were cut from brown cardstock and inked with some darker brown ink.  I finished by stamping the two-part sentiment from The Greetery Snowflake Soirée in Brown & Peacock Feathers.

Playing with the Distress Oxide Spray makes me want to create some more Ombre painterly backgrounds ... love the effect.

Paper Macramé

I finally got the chance to give my Macramé Dies from The Greetery a try.

I started by just die cutting them all from kraft and ivory cardstock.

 

 

I love how much fun I had playing around and layering the die cuts.  I'm also linking-up at the Cards for Guyz Clean & Simple Challenge (It might be a little stretch since I do have a few small layers, but also lots of CAS space in the design).

I also had fun playing with the Hoop Dies and the snowflake die for a perfect masculine holiday card.

 

 

An Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Bling was the perfect center to the snowflake.

Just a Note

When I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch, I thought it would be perfect to showcase some stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter ... remember discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your order

 

 

I chose to feature three images from the Sewing Essentials Sticker Set.

 

 

 

I positioned three stickers on blue & brown plaid designer paper.  I paired them with the perfect stamped sentiments from The Greetery Opposites Attract.

 

 

With the Wheel on the Vintage Sewing Machine, I'm also joining the Simon Says Stamp You're On a Roll Challenge.

AAA Cards Summer in January

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to Guest Design for the current AAA Cards Challenge which is Up To One Third with the optional twist of Summer in January.

 

 

 

I started my card design with the fun Happy Camper Stickers from {a vintage girl} & her daughter.  Then I realized the stamps from The Greetery Destination Summer were the perfect size to create a fun little Summer in January scene.

 

 

I finished with a sticker from {a vintage girl} & her daughter Valentine Dividers under the sentiment (remember my discount code SMILYNSTEF gets you 15% off your sticker purchase).

Rainbows & Happiness

A friend recently mentioned that she wanted to mail bright & happy cards of encouragement throughout the Winter ... I thought that sounded like a fabulous idea.

And what's more bright and happy than a Rainbow ... specifically the one from the Better Days Ahead set from Essentials by Ellen.

 

I stamped the rainbow in bright colors and then added the Audrey Hepburn sentiment from the same set.  The die cut is the Crimped Frame from The Greetery, which I attached to the rainbow background with foam tape.

Focus on Gloss

Today I had the joy of attending the Focus on Gloss Class by Dina Wakley.  I only had four colors of her Gloss Spray (Night, White, Lime & Fuchsia), but I made the best of them and had a lot of fun.

I used watercolor paper and mixed media paper ... but I think I had the most fun with some Ranger Kraft Tags. 

 

I used several stencils from A Colorful Life Designs, with my favorite being the Circles Make Circles ... I used both the stencil as well as printing from the negative from the paint on the top of the stencil which gave a punchinella effect.

 

I also tried spraying on top of my Karin Marker Backgrounds I made a few weeks ago, which also produced some fun effects ... I really love how opaque the sprays are.

 

After the class, I used several of my favorite tags to make sure cards.  The first one uses the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge at Paper Craft Crew Challenges - Masculine, Thank You Card & Twine.

 

I used new stamps I got this week from The Greetery ... this one is from Sentiment Suite: Thank You Stamp Set.  

 

 

I liked it so much, I decided to make a second feminine version with Stamps & Dies from The Greetery Destination Stamp Set.

 

This combination of colors is just dreamy.