Ingenious Inkling

Super Hero

I love this fun Shazaam paper from Rusty Pickle ... perfect for featuring some Super Hero embellishments from The Eyelet Outlet.

I decided to play along with the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge from Stamping Smiles Designs.

I went with 3 of a kind, Enamel Accents & a Square Card.  My enamel accents are the new Flat Back Resin Super Hero Shields.

I also used three Super Hero Saying brads.

I'm also linking-up at Virginia's View Friendship Party because I can think of several friends who would appreciate a note reminding them they are super (and providing them a few super hero shields to fend off the villains that tend to creep into our daily lives).  Sometimes we just need a reminder that we have a cape & helmet.

Trendy Geometric Thanks

I decided to make one more geometric pattern for Virginia's View Challenge.

I started with a piece of White Cardstock with Color Burst using a wonky circle stencil.

I pulled out my Trendy Triangle Stamp set from My Favorite Things and started stamping.  I probably should have had a plan and used a ruler, but since my circles were wonky, I decided to stick with wonky triangles too.

I started with the large green triangles and then added three different smaller triangles in blue.  I finished with a MFT Many Thanks Die Cut.

I'm also throwing my hat in again at the MFT Card Design Superstar.

 

Mandala Madness

This week's theme at the Instagram Group #sisterswithheartinart is Mandalas.  Since I'm hanging out at Art Camp with Lauren (aka the Mandala Queen), I had to give one a try.

I started with watercolor paper and a large doily stencil ... and some awesome Color Burst Powders.

Today Lauren and I took a road trip to visit Elizabeth at Paper Anthology (If you live in the area, the talented Lauren also teaches classes there ... check them out).  I picked-up the AltENew Stamp Set Dodecagram, which is perfect for creating Mandalas.

I finished with a large decorate brad in the center, as well as lots of gems.  I backed it with a piece of vintage sheet music that I used to mop-up some of the extra watercolor paint.

This is another fun geometric pattern design for the Virginia's View Challenge.

Here's a peek at a few more of our Color Burst Creations playing with texty tape and texture paste.

Hip 2B Square

I"ve had the pleasure of spending all day with Lauren in New Jersey playing at our very own *Art Camp* in her living-room.  We have lots of Ken Oliver Color Burst and we've had a blast creating with them.

 

I wanted to create a card for the Geometric Pattern Challenge at Virginia's View.

I created the background of my card using a Hexagon Stencil on a piece of vintage sewing pattern instructions using a variety of Color Burst powders.  I love how the vintage paper absorbed the colors.  

After letting the paper dry overnight, I reattached the stencil and traced some of the hexagons using a thin black pen.

Next I added some Scotch Washi Tape that was covered in wonky geometric patterns.  I finished with a fun geometric sentiment using chipboard Thickers.

To add a few more geometric elements, I inked-up my new circle stamps from the Finnabair Don't Forget to Fly stamp set that I picked-up at The Ink Pad when I was in NYC.

I'm also joining the Make it Colorful Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Lauren & I create together across the miles every week ... but it is so much better creating together in the same room ... lovin' it.

Embellished Sunshine

My name is Stephanie ... and I have an embellishment problem.  Seriously, every time I go craft shopping I come home with new embellishments.  Stickers, gems, flair ... you name it.  

So needless to say, I have no end of possibilities for the All Things Embellished Challenge at Virginia's View.

I decided to see if I could make a card using only paper and embellishments ... turned out to be pretty easy.

A quick stop at Tuesday Morning yesterday yielded these awesome We R Memory Keepers Hello Darling Cork Stickers.  To dress-them-up a bit, I added a tiny flip flop and a tiny pearl to the center of the biggest bloom (because even embellishments can be embellished).

The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch.  I finished with sequins and a multitude of tiny gems on my kraft card base ... because you can never have too much bling.

Ombre Favorites

They are playing favorites at A Blog Named Hero ... to create a card using anything that's favorite to you.

I started with the very first technique I ever learned ... and one that is still my favorite, embossing the Hero Arts Studio Calico Grid Pattern.

Next I added another favorite ... watercoloring in monochromatic ombre green (which was resisted by the embossed grid) for Virginia's View Challenge.

I finished with more favorites ... gems, a cute little owl, and a hand-written sentiment (both from my new Hero Arts stamps Friends by Lea ... because new stamps are a favorite too).

I'm also joining the Embossing Challenge at Make My Monday.

And I'm playing Tic-Tac-Toe for the current Hero Arts challenge with Circles, Background Stamp & Watercolor.

Grand Bazaar Thanks

The new Virginia's View Challenge is to use your Pattern Paper.  One of my favorite ways to use Pattern Paper is to combine multiple papers from the same collection ... in this case, I took my inspiration from both the colors and elements in the inspiration picture below and used papers from Basic Grey's Grand Bazaar Collection in my design.

I started by overlapping various sheets from the collection looking for both pattern & color balance.  The layout from Freshly Made Sketches has multiple overlapping panels which works well for this type of pattern paper design.

I used the largest pattern design for the background (don't you love those Moxie Fab Foxy Foxes) ... I cut the panel in such a way that the overlapping of the other panels would cut off any of the fox heads.  

Next, I used a more solid pattern for my EK Success Stitched Elephant Sticker ... so he didn't get lost in all of the designs (also the orange provided a nice contrast to the turquoise).  Finally I cut out a single vertical stripe from one of the striped papers from the collection for the vertical element in the design (which also pulls in the lighter turquoise from my elephant sticker).

The finishing touch were some SRM Sticker Thank You sentiments ... the bold black lines work well with patterned designs.

I'm also joining Loves Rubberstamps Challenge to use two or more designer papers.

Fireworks Watercoloring

The talented Virginia Lu has started a new Inspiration Challenge called Virginia's View ... and the first theme is Watercoloring with these fabulous inspiration photos.

I loved those emboss resist thank you cards, especially the colors at the top right ... so I decided to try *watercoloring* with my Memento Fireworks Sprays to achieve a similar effect.

I stamped Wild Flowers with Label with Versamark Ink on a square of Watercolor Paper and clear embossed.  Next I poured several colors of Fireworks Spray (New Sprout, Pear Tart & Summer Sky) and used a big paint brush to apply wide strokes to the paper ... I love the effect.

I finished with a partial sentiment from Hero Arts With Sympathy for my label and scattered some tiny teal gems in the sky.

I'm also joining the Fun Day Friday Challenge where the theme is Florals.

A huge thanks to Virginia for the inspiration to have a little watercolor fun today.