Ingenious Inkling

Stamp Joy 2019

I had the privilege of attending Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy 2019 in Ankeny, Iowa yesterday (about a 2 hour drive westward for me). Taylor puts on such a fabulous event that is so organized and professional.  

First thing, I found my tribe and got lots of hugs.  Sue Doherty from Therm-o-Web and I had to compare shoes (because we're all about the shoes) ... hers were super-cool rainbow foiled converse ... I went with my Neon New Balance with the easy-on-off toggle.

 

I only took one class, but it was a great one taught by Susan Block with four interactive card designs.   I loved each card we made, especially because interactive is so-outside-my-box ... but they were all easy with a super-cool moving element.

This one was a technique Susan developed where you stamped on acetate, placed a piece of vellum over the image and colored the blooms, and then placed the vellum behind the acetate for this color-changing effect.

 

 

This one was also super-fun because the balloon basket slides down beneath the clouds.

 

 

And the best part was that I got to take the class with my friend Mona and my new friend Vanna.

 

 

Then there were 10 make and take stations, so it was fun to try lots of different techniques.  I NEVER make shaker cards, so this one was super-fun (and super-easy with Taylored Expressions new Adhesive Strips).

 

Also not one for making slider-cards, so I love how this little guy sleds across the card.

 

One of my favorites was this card because the technique was so simple ... and produced such an amazing result.  I thought of all sorts of color combinations I wanted to try.  You stamped the background, placed the stencil on top, and blended ink ... easy peasy.  If course the stamp was out of stock at the store by the time I tried this one (because obviously everyone else thought it was super-cool too), so on to my wish list it goes.

 

My other favorite was this beauty I made with my friend Suzanne.  You ink blended while the stamp was on the MISTI before stamping ... very cool variation in green inks on the leaves.

 

 

We've already put the event on our calendars for next year.

Therm-o-Web Rainbow

Therm-o-Web is having a Rainbow Challenge for World Card Making Day ... I'd love to win their entire collection of transfer sheets.

I took a page from the Jennifer Maguire Playbook and made a rainbow with scraps I had in my stash from Foil-a-palooza 2018.

 

Since I needed a card for Mail-it-Monday, I chose a favorite sentiment from CAS-ual Fridays Supercalifragilistic (and it's on sale) for their World Card Making Day Challenge.  Hopefully the rainbow of colors will brighten her day.

 

 

Stenciled Circles

I'm starting with some Stenciled Circles for my card at the Technique Junkies Blog today.

 

 

Trifecta of Fun!

The teams at Therm*O*Web, My Picket Fence, and My Sweet Petunia are all joining together today for a Trifecta of Fun.  

 

 

I started with a card that combines products from both companies ... the cool new Therm*O*Web Flock Transfer Sheets in Sunshine Yellow and A Sunny Day from Picket Fence Studios with the coordinating Die.

 

 

To make the background, I used Therm*O*Web Decofoil Transfer Gel with A Colorful Life Designs Rough Edge Circlezz Stencil.  I attached the stencil to my watercolor paper using the fabulous Pixie Spray (this stuff is magic) and then applied a thin layer of the transfer gel.

 

 

After about an hour, when the transfer gel is clear and dry, I placed the Sunshine Yellow Flock Sheet (cut slightly larger than the stenciled area) soft side down on top of the gel and then ran it through my laminator two times ... and voila.

 

 

The cool surprise was that I loved the remaining piece of the Flock Sheet almost more than the flocked water color paper, so I used them both for my card ... BONUS!

 

I used my MISTI to stamp Picket Fence Studios A Sunny Day in Gina K. Designs Black Amalgam Ink, so I could channel my inner Kathy Racoosin and color her with Spectrum Noir Markers and my new Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils.  I finished with a sticker sentiment.

For my next cards, I used Picket Fence Stamps and some backgrounds I made playing with some Alcohol Pearl Inks ... love those color combinations.

 

 

My first card features Picket Fence Beautiful Girls - Isabella.  I used my MISTI to stamp her in vivid blue and then added a tiny paper flower to her hat.

 

 

For the bright hues, I used a fun set from Picket Fence called Sympathetic Unicorn (don't we all need more sympathetic unicorns in our lives).

 

I added a little pink sparkle to her horn & heart.

For Therm*O*Web I got to use some fun Designer Toner Sheets from Brutus Monroe called CrossHatch ... I paired it with Gina K. Designs gorgeous Glittering Green Fancy Foil ... will you look at how cool that looks in the light.  

 

I paired it with Cathy Zelske's Happy Hour stamps, because the gorgeous green reminded me of Margaritas.  And I used my My Sweet Petunia Cut-Align for that perfectly trimmed sentiment.

 

I just love all of that green goodness.

 

I'm also thinking about relaxing with my girlfriends and enjoying that Margarita, so I'm linking up at the Relaxation Challenge at TIME OUT Challenges (love how there's even a margarita on the challenge badge).

 

The pattern of the DecoFoil Sheet sort of minded me of a road, so my second card uses a fun running shoe sentiment ... so true for running and for so many other things in life.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the fun products from our Trifecta of Companies - Therm*O*Web, My Picket Fence, and My Sweet Petunia.  All three companies are giving away a $25.00 shopping spree, so make sure you leave comments on the design team blogs to join the fun.

Thermoweb Design Team

Jeanne Streiff

Giovana Smith

Stephanie Severin

Ilina Crouse

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Ceal Pritchett

Susan Wymer

My Sweet Petunia Design Team

 

Be Good for Goodness Sake

For this week's Floral Card for Jingle Belles, I combined products from lots of different companies ... I also learned that photographing foiled designs is a bit of a challenge.

 

My background was made with Decofoil Transfer Gel, Brutus Monroe Tide Pool Foil & Carabelle Studios Accumulation De Ronds Stencil.  My flowers are from the lovely Little Birdie Handmade Flowers and the remaining elements are from Authentique Jingle Elements ... remember, you don't necessarily need *Christmas* flowers for a *Christmas* card.

 

We hope you'll break out your favorite blooms and join us.

 

Foil-a-Palooza

For our first artsy adventure at our annual Art Camp, Lauren and I tried a variety of foiling.  I won a Gina K. Designs prize package at Junkiefest and another Therm-o-Web prize package after Junkiefest, so we were well-stocked with products to try.

 

We started by applying Decofoil Transfer Gel with stancils so they could dry overnight ... we just kept going until the jar was empty.  We made two fo each stencil, so we'd both have one to foil.

 

 

For some we applied the past precisely ... for others we went for more of a grunge effect.  When we were finished, we laid them out on the painter's cloth to dry overnight.

 

We we worked, we washed the gel medium off of our stencils (we thought they were kind of pretty all hanging-out together in the kitchen sink).

 

 

While those were drying, we moved on to foiling some of the many toner sheets I had in my winnings with a Royal Sovereign Laminator.

 

These are Gina K. Designs' Ornamental Holiday in Twinkling Pink and Dazzling Orange.

 

After Foiling we used the Xyron to attach the reverse of the Foil to White cardstock (2nd Picture) ... we couldn't decide which one we liked more, but loved the double design possibilities.

Luaren was getting a little itchy from using only new products, so she added some vintage book pages and stitching on top of one of our foiled transparencies.  We also played with inks and Color Burst painting.

 

This morning, all of our Transfer Gel was dry, so much more foiling commenced.  Foiling is sort of magical every time you peel back the foil ... it reminds me of the feeling I got the first time I did heat embossing.

 

 

The AlteNew Kaleidoscope was one of the more precisely gelled stencils ...a nd it was absolutely gorgeous with Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foils ... the iridescent beauty of this foil is hard to capture ... it's stunning.

What we really loved was the grunge-foil effect we got when we left lots of texture in the Gel.

 

I used a View Master from The Crafter's Workshop, a Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis Stencil we picked-up at one of his art exhibits a few years ago, a man hole cover stencil from The Ink Pad and Carabelle Studios Stars in the Round.

 

By the time we were finished, we had a large pile of gorgeous foiled designs ... can't wait to create things with these pieces.  Seriously, if you haven't foiled ... you're going to want to give it a try.