Ingenious Inkling

I heart SNOW

Yes, we're back for our NINTH year of Jingle Belles.  I still remember when we dreamed-up this idea to keep us connected through out the year ... and to take back our December one holiday card at a time.  Thankfully it has worked so well on both counts, that we're going to keep on going.

Prompt number one is No Time Like the Presents ... before you put that wrapping paper away, pull out a scrap or two and use them to create a card for next year's holiday (or maybe you still have some scraps that were just too pretty to recycle ... well, now's the time to use them).

On the scale of present-wrapping skills, Lauren would be a 10 ... seriously, her presents come wrapped so beautifully I often wait several hours to open them because I just want to look at them a while longer.  I, on the other hand, would be down in the 1-2 range on that spectrum.  Pretty much, I'm a gift-bag or go home type of wrapper (to my credit, they are usually very cute gift bags and often involve yetis ... but hey, they're still bags).

So even though I help determine our prompts for the year, I was ill-prepared to make a gift wrap card this year ... because I bought none (I actually had all my gifts mailed by the first of December and never ventured out into the Christmas shopping mayhem ... yes, I'm that person).  So as I searched through the stash in my gift wrapping closet, I found a couple of pieces of vintage gift wrap from the Veterans of Foreign Wars that my mother-in-law must have gifted to me at some point.

How cute are those patriotic little tumbling snowmen in their stars & stripes.   We're a bit scarce on snow in Iowa this year ... but I'm sure it will come eventually.

 

I covered my card front with the paper, added a few leftover snowflake stickers (one of my goals this year ... use-up those leftovers) and finished with three sentiment stickers from three different sticker sets.  Perfectly adorable ... and mailable.

I hope you'll join us this year ... making one holiday card a week ... to take back your December one holiday card at a time.

Burst of Flakes

The mail carrier brought me lots of Unity Stamp Company goodness today (I bought gifts for myself from their recent sale).

I combined stamps from three different sets for the current Black-On-Kraft Challenge.

 

The main part of the card is the Burst of Flakes border background.  Next I added the Let It Snow Sentiment from Snow, Snow Cute ... and then because there was a little space between the sentiments and the border, I added a single snowflake from Warm & Cozy Season.  Then I went a little bling-crazy on the centers of the snowflakes.

Snow and Cocoa

I picked-up a goodie package of Crate Paper's Snow and Cocoa Collection (it's also available Digital) and it included these adorable mason jars with an acetate pocket on the front for tucking in all sorts of scene elements.

I tucked some elements inside and attached others on the outside for fun dimension.  This collection was so fun, I even used the packaging in my design (the blue stripes and collection name).

I added a wrap of gold twine to the jar and more to the sentiment tag.  This creation was inspired by the It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas Challenge at The Paper Players.  I'm also linking-up at the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

 

The next card (and this entire collection) are for the New To You Challenge at Paper Crew Craft.

Love the little brrrr sticker.

The final card is inspired by the W is for Winter Challenge at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers ... I'm sure his hello snow is said with a tiny bit of snark.

 

What a fun and relaxing evening of papercrafting ... love playing with new goodies.

My Sweet Petunia (MISTI) and Reverse Confetti

Today the Design Team at My Sweet Petunia is hopping with the Team from Reverse Confetti ... so much fun.

I started with the the adorable Happy Winter set, which has been on my wish list for a long time.  Before the MISTI, I might not have even ordered it because getting it lined-up correctly would have been quite a challenge.  

Now with my MISTI, it's a piece of cake ... I absolutely love that big pom pom.

 

I love those colors too ... which I had a hat like this for myself.

I finished with a sentiment from Sentimental Christmas (love that font).

Next I used the cool new Rounded Strip Panel Confetti Cut with some marbled kraft cardstock.

I left a few of the pieces in the die and decided to pair it with Circle Wishes stamped on a pale green paper.

 

I stamped a few stars in black ink on the remaining marbled paper, but decided they were too dark.  Then I decided I wanted six stars on the light green paper ... before my MISTI, I would have abandoned that idea because I likely would have had to stamp 10 or 15 stars to end-up with six that looked identical.  Not so with my MISTI ... six stars ... all six perfect.

For my final card, I wanted to join in the monthly Sketch For You to Try Challenge at Reverse Confetti.

With that big circle for the focal point, I knew I wanted to curve a sentiment to fit inside the circle.  I used sentiment stamps from the new Kindness Cards.

The MISTI makes it easy to adjust the curve until I get it just right.

I also like using the grid of the MISTI to help lay out my card design to see if I like everything before I attach it to my card base.

I curved a second sentiment from Reverse Confetti Clink along the bottom and added the Clink Confetti Cuts for the three smaller elements in the sketch.

I just love that color combination ... and it came together by accident by using scraps and inks I had on my craft table ... that's why I keep most of my art supplies within my line of sight ... because you never know when inspiration will strike.

 

So now it's time to keep on hopping ... we will choose two lucky commenters from the hop to win one of two prizes: a $60 shopping spree at My Sweet Petunia or a $60 shopping spree at Reverse Confetti.  Comments must be made no later than Sunday, March 25th, at 11:59 PM CST and winners will be announced on Tuesday March 27th, on the Reverse Confetti and My Sweet Petunia blogs.

 

Amy Tsuruta

Ilina Crouse

Lisa Henke

Jeanne Streiff

Susan Liles

My Sweet Petunia

Tricia Barber

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Deanne Kuntz

Ceal Pritchett

Melissa Phillips

Giovana Smith

Audrey Tokach

Chris Dayton

Kathy Schweinfurth

Stephanie Severin <<<----- YOU ARE HERE

Laurie Schmidlin

Janine Tinklenberg

Amy Rohl

Dina Kowal

Heather Hoffman

Jana Millen

Reverse Confetti

Jennifer Timko

Kelly Lunceford

Joan Bardee

Olga Moss

Judy Rozema

Jeanne Jachna

Susan Wymer

 Lydia Fiedler

MISTI Joy

My schedule & my mojo have not been cooperating this week to finish up the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  I was struggling a bit with an idea for the Color Challenge for Tag number eleven.

They even provided a lovely picture for inspiration.

I ultimately took my somewhat literal inspiration from Carolyn Peeler's tag on the front of her card.

I started by picking my four ink colors (I only used one shade of mint).

I started with the Mint, followed by Mauve, Taupe and Grey inking portions of the My Favorite Things Typewriter Text Background stamp.  I also sprayed some water after inking to add a bit more blending to the colors.  I didn't want to overlap too much and end-up with mud. (And yes, you close observers, I did stamp my image upside down ... thankfully in this case it didn't matter since I was going to die cut from the ivory cardstock).

I die cut Ellen Hutson's Concertina Tag from my stamped background and then again from Taupe (aka light kraft) cardstock.  I die cut a third time from Mint cardstock to cap the top of my tag.

I finished with Grey Sequins, Mauve Gems and Mint Holly leaves together with my die cut sentiment.

I'm also joining the Christmas Time Challenge at My Time to Craft   It's also Let's Play Tag at Shopping Our Stash.

Christmas Card Trio

Eyelet Outlet Brads make any Christmas card a little extra-special.

I started with simple holiday stickers and added brads to each one to *kick-it-up-a-notch*.  This one uses this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch. 

I added some of my favorite glitter enamel dots (that work perfectly with my glitter paper) and a sentiment sticker.

I loved how the tree brad fit right over the tree riding on top of the car ... oh the memories wandering through the tree farm to find that perfect tree (and then it seldom fitting when we got home).

 

For my next one I added a Santa Hat Brad to make my Christmas Cardinal just a little more festive.

 

 

And my final one this week is a variation on the Sunday Stamps Sketch all decked in gold with a lovely ornament and warm woolen mittens.

 

 

Make sure you add some extra brads and bling to your holiday cards this year.

 

Eyelet Outlet Products used: 

• Ornament Brads
• Pine Tree Brads
• Bell Brads
• Santa Hat Brads
• Holiday Mitten Brads
• Gold Glitter Enamel Dots
• Enamel Dots Vacation (black)

Dashing Through the Snow!

We had our first snow in Iowa this week ... it was blustery and blowing, but it was clearly white stuff falling from the sky.

I personally love having all four seasons, and enjoy each one equally (okay maybe not equally ... Autumn is the front runner in my book), but I do love the beautiful clean white landscape after new fallen snow.

I used lots of Eyelet Outlet brads to create my fun snowy scene.

 

I started by die cutting various snow drifts from white cardstock then added lots of the new beuatiful Pine Tree Brads to create my landscape and some Snowflake Brads (in two sizes) to the clear blue sky.  

 

The new Sled Brads (which come in two colors) were perfect for my penguins who are bundled-up for the wintry conditions.  There is even a white bear brad waiting for his turn on the sled.

 

 

There are a few Prancing Deer Brads who tend to run out in front of your car this time of year, especially on the tree-lined roads, so you always have to be on alert.  

 

Finally there is a new Red Truck Brad taking home his holiday tree (that like our holiday tree growing-up always seemed to be a bit too big for the space when we got home).

 

The finishing touch was a sentiment from Joy Clair Stamps Snow Fall stamped with my MISTI in pine tree green.  Normally, I would have had to stamp my sentiment first, since the backs of the brads can make the panel bumpy ... but with my MISTI, I could wait until I finished my scene to decide on sentiment placement.

 

 

And TaDa! ... perfect sentiment every time.

 

 

Eyelet Outlet products used:

 

• Pine Tree Brads
• Sled Brads
• Red Truck Brads
• Penguin Brads
• Prancing Deer Brads
• Snowflake Brads

 

Did you know we have a Flickr Gallery to showcase Eyelet Outlet Design Team Creations?

 

 

You can visit me in blogland at Ingenious Inkling,

and you can find Lauren & I making holiday cards

all year long at Jingle Belles

 

 

More Falliday Fest Fun

I've been having a blast trying new techniques at the SplitCoastStampers Falliday Fest.

The first one is created by wrapping cotton cord around an acrylic block and inking it with white ink and then pouncing on navy cardstock to create a snowstorm.

 

The stamps are from Honey Bee Stamps Let It Snow ... I love the die cut for the sentiment.

The next technique used the leftover paint-covered transparencies from my Dendritic Technique Card.  I attached it to a piece of Razzleberry cardstock ... love how the color shows through the paint.

To bring out the metallic gold paint on the transparency, I mounted it on a gold glitter card base.  I miss Hambly's transparencies.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This week we're celebrating the creative art of Embossing ... dry embossing, heat embossing, or even textured or embossed papers ... whatever you can do to add a little texture to your holiday project. 

I tried embossing one of my Gelli Prints with a Darice Fancy Snowflakes embossing folder, and the results were pretty much lost in the pattern of the background.  Next I tried applying Lawn Fawn Blue Jay ink direct-to-paper and the embossed texture came to life.  

I love the results.  Sentiment is from The Ton Holiday Lyrics and Flower Bling that is new from Eyelet Outlet (I thought the shape of the flower echoed the snowflakes in the background).

 

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Craftaholics R Us.

We hope you'll come join our embossing fun.

Blue Winter Wonderland

We're still making cards inspired by our gorgeous fireplace photo at Jingle Belles.

This week I started my inspiration with the Snowman Silhouette on the Mantel and then continued with inset squares inspired by the shape of the fireplace and lots of fun snowflakes.  I couldn't resist topping that big snowman head with a Paper Smooches die cut plaid hat.

The purple flower bling from Eyelet Outlet was the perfect finishing touch for the tops of my snowflakes.

I'm also joining The Holly and Ivy Challenge where the them is Anything Goes.