Ingenious Inkling

Winter Wonderland Christmas

 Since I still need more holiday cards, and my Pinkfresh Studio Happy Holidays papers were still on my desk, so I used them to make another Magical Holiday Card for their December Challenge.

 

 

I used this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch.  A card showed-up in my memories where I had used tape & foil over designer paper, so I did that again today with some Decofoil Silver Star Foil.

 

 

I used a scrap of paper from yesterday's card, red cardstock & coordinating ephemera to finish the design.

 

 

And I incorporated a Christmas Tree, Pine & Holly Branches, Stars and Gifts from the Daring Cardmakers December Elemental Christmas Challenge.

 

Snow Loved

The November Memory Box Challenge is Food and Drink. 

 

 

I had fun giving the Memory Box Layered Polar Bear his own Iced Coffee with an Eyelet Outlet Iced Coffee Brad. 

I also added the scarf from the Memory Box Tall Bundled Snowman Die cut from a plaid designer paper (with inking on the bottom layers) to keep him warm in the swirling snow from the Simon Says Stamp Swirling Snowflakes Embossing Folder that was sprayed with Therm-o-web Silver Glitter Dust Spray.

 

 

I finished with a sentiment from PaperTrey Ink Just Sentiments - Snow.

 

 

My scarved polar bear in the snow with his coffee beverage also took it's inspiration from the Just Us Girls Mood Board.  I'm also linking-up at the Food or Drink Challenge at Make My Monday Challenge.

I'm LEAF-ing it Up to You

At Shopping Our Stash, the newest prompt - I'm LEAF-ing it Up to You - is all about creating with LEAVES.

 

 

I started by foiling the Gina K. Designs Thankful Leaves with Therm-o-Web Peach Princess Foil and cutting them with the coordinating Dies.  Next, I used the same Peach Princess Foil with a Black Toner Card Front to create my foil-covered metallic cardstock.  I'm also joining the Gina K. Designs Monthly Mix Challenge to make your own metallic cardstock.

 

 

I attached the leaves (using foam tape for some to add dimension) and finished with a sentiment from Gina K. Designs Spring Tulips.

I used another Black Toner Card Front together with the negative of the leaves and die cut them with the coordinating dies for another Gina K. Designs #monthlymixchallenge card.

 

 

I mounted them on cardstock de-bossed with the Gina K. Designs Lattice Embossing Folder and finished with some gems and a different sentiment from Gina K. Designs Spring Tulips.

I'm also linking-up at the Cut It Up Colors of Fall/Autumn Challenge, and I'm joining Paperminutes Autumn Challenge.

Midnight Resolutions

The plan this morning was to sleep in, but my body had other ideas and woke up like it was a Monday morning work day.  I know when it does that, there's no fighting it, so I got out of bed.  Then mid-morning, it felt like I might be able to get a little nap, but it fought me on that effort too, so I got back-up and planned to clean-up my studio and do a little purging.

However, as soon as I found this gold foiled alcohol ink panel buried on my studio table, I took a sharp left and decided to make a card instead ... what's a girl to do when inspiration strikes.

I decided to join the December Unity Show & Tell Challenge, which is Anything Goes, and turn my lovely panel into a new year's card (yes, despite my best efforts, I failed to get a few Christmas cards mailed in time, so now it will be New Year's Cards).

I die cut the inky panel with a stitched square and used extra-strong tape to attach it to a glitter paper covered card base.  A tip for adhering to glitter ... after I attach the tape, I run the entire card through my Empress Embossing Machine to squish it all together nice and strong.

 

 

It only took three tries to find the right bright royal blue ink (cussing myself that I'm not more like SkyPaperScissors with all of my inks properly swatched) for the Unity New Year - Midnight Resolutions image (saving the other two with the stamp for another time).  I framed it in royal blue and gold paper before attaching with some foam tape and shimmery gold thread.

The finishing touch is a few Pinkfresh Studio Ombre Sparkle & Shine Glitter Drops.

I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Party Time Challenge.  I'm also joining the Cobalt Blue Challenge at The Dream Factory.

Tape Foiled Holiday

I'm resting & relaxing with Jennifer Maguire and Cathy Zielske this morning in the Online Card Classes Relax & Reward card class.  Jennifer shared a number of ways to use different adhesives with foil, so I did a twist on one of them for this card.

Rather than use cardstock, I used Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays designer paper for my base.

 

I used two widths of strong two-sided tape with two different foils - ThermoWeb Decofoil Green & ThermoWeb Gina K. Designs Glimmering Gold.  I found that burnishing the green foil with my teflon bone folder gave it a slightly burnished look, while it didn't seem to affect the gold foil.

I finished with a Pinkfresh Studios Happy Holidays Sticker Sentiment & Pinkfresh Studios Sparkle & Shine Ombre Glitter Drops.

 

 

I'm linking-up my card for the December Holiday Vibes Challenge at Pinkfresh Studios.

 

 

and I'm joining The Paper Players for their Christmas Challenge.

All Things Fall

The September Challenge at Unity Stamp Company is All Things Fall.

 

 

I started by using Orange Foil on the Unity/Therm-o-Web Circles a Plenty Card Front (so hard to photogram, but you can see a bit of the sparkle where the light hit it at the top of the card). 

I went through my collection and only found one "Fall" Stamp Set, so that's what I went with - Unity Stamp Company Give Thanks. 

 

 

I added a strip of orange gelliprint down the center and framed it with brown Love from Lizi Peel-off Strips. 

I stamped the tag in brown and the different leaf clusters in a combination of brown & orange for fall colors.  I finished with the sentiment from the set in orange, a gold dot on the dot of the tag, and a brown jute bow where the stems overlapped on the tag.

Autumn Leaves

The current Memory Box Challenge is Crazy for Orange.

 

 

I knew I wanted to die cut some scribble leaves from Orange Gelliprints, so when I didn't find any in my stash, I pulled out the paints and made some.  I discovered I could use Therm-o-Web Gold Foil to add a bit of gold to the still wet bits of paint.  I noticed a few wet bits before I put the gelliprint through the die cut machine ... there was a piece of foil on the studio table, and I had a Lauren moment and thought ... why not ... and it worked beautifully.

I die cut the Memory Box Scribble Leaf Bundle Background from the Orange Gelliprints and cut the Memory Box Scribble Leaf Bundle Outline from matte gold cardstock.

 

 

I arranged the falling leaves on a 2" strip of slightly darker orange gelliprint and finished with a sentiment from Memory Box Best Life Typewriter Sentiments and finished with gold & orange fairy jewels.

 

 

I'm also joining the AllSorts Challenge to use die cuts.

 

 

And The Male Room Challenge is all about Leaves.

I Mean Business

When I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch, I knew it was time to go diving into the scrap bin. 

 

 

I decided to hunt for yellow papers to use for this week's Color Hues Challenge of Red and Yellow.

 

 

I used a red card base for my 1 1/4" punched yellow paper squares.  I was thrilled to finally find a home for that little scrap of Therm*o*Web flocked paper from four years ago (you never know when just the perfect project is going to come along).

 

 

I found paper with these yellow drinks, and decided to go with that as my focal image inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Monday Delicious Drinks Challenge.  I framed it in some red velvet paper and chose this fun snarky sentiment to finish the design.

From Flower Bouquet to Card

At our retreat this weekend, Chris Dayton made us an adorable paper flower bouquet with a die cut sentiment that was *potted* in a collapsible CLIC & GO watercolor cup from Faber Castell (so cute).  She asked that if we dis-assembled, to use the flower to make a card, so that's what I did this morning.

I found one of my Gel Press Prints from the weekend. (with fabulous ThermoWeb iCraft silver foil) that I made during the weekend to use as my background.  I found the flower stamps in The Stamp Market Just Add Flowers.

 

I wasn't sure the source of the leaves, but the sentiment is Simon Says Stamp + CZ Design Just Because die.

I used the layout from Atlantic Cards Sketch to assemble my card.  I attached the alcohol ink panel to a larger white card base to work with the large sentiment.

 

 

I used Taylored Expressions Bits & Pieces Drip Drops for the dot elements on the sketch.  I trimmed the leaves & flower petals where they hang over the edge of the card after everything was attached.  I also used foam tape on some of the smaller flowers & the sentiment for dimension.

 

Bunny Hugs

The new Challenge at Shopping Our Stash is Under the Weather - create a card that is weather related or a Get Well theme (and if you're an extra-points type of crafter, use both).

 

 

I decided to go with a super-cute Get Well theme featuring sweet little rabbit from Hello Bluebird First Snow (or in Iowa, Last Snow which hopefully happened last week - I'm ready to put the scarf & gloves away for the season).  I thought the Bunny looked like he was sending a get well hug from afar.

 

 

 

The background is a Gel Press Print that I created using Plastic Wrap for #marchprintingchallenge with Gelli Arts.  After die cutting the stitched rectangle, I sprayed it with Pixie Spray and then applied some gold foil.  You can see that more clearly in this photo.

 

 

I colored the bunny with my Graph'IT Markers and finished with two stamped sentiments from Hello Bluebird Typed Everyday.

Here's a look at the Gel Press print before die cutting.