Ingenious Inkling

Lazy Saturday Drive Through the Corn Fields

My husband and I have a rare weekend off together with no plans.  He suggested we go for a drive in the country, so we decided to head north and check out the Edgewood Locker.  Because of the wet fall, there are still quite a few crops in the fields and lots of tractors on the roads, so there was lots of activity to see on the drive.

The place was hoppin' when we arrived.  Outside was a chalk board advertising a special on Brats.  The first meal I remember eating in Iowa was grilled Brats, so for me, they have a special connection to this state.  We didn't need 48, but we did get some Sweet Onion, Pineapple, and of course Cranberry & Wild Rice for the holidays.

The store had all kinds of meats and cheeses, and they were very reasonably priced.  We ended up coming home with Ranch Cheese Curds, Smoked Pork Chops, an assortment of ham and beef sticks, and lots of other meats for the freezer.

Here's my dear husband carrying all of our wares (the freezer bags from Aldi's are perfect for keeping road trip foods cold).

 
 All-in-all a very relaxing drive resulting in lots of fun new foods to try.

I Hope You Dance

I love hosting the Inspiration Challenge on SCSeach week ... I feel like it stretches me and brings out a level of creativity that often surprises me.  This week I fell in love with the Etsy store of Lorelie Kay Designs ... the way she combines vintage elements into such a fun and funky style really speaks to me.  Particularly, I loved this I Hope You Dance Tiny Dancer Ballerina Resin Collage Ring.  I immediately had an idea in my head for a card design and had so much fun bringing it to life.

Initially I thought I would scan a page from a dictionary, but the font size didn't quite work.  So instead, I copied a definition for Dance from an internet dictionary multiple times into a Word document using 11 pt Byington font.  I adjusted the line length so that the definition would start at a different place in the line each time.  I used 1 1/2 spacing between the lines & printed the definition on Ivory cardstock.  Next, I trimmed each line into equal sized strips of paper.

I randomly adhered the strips of paper to a piece of Turquoise Basic Grey paper and then trimmed the finished piece into 4 1/4" square and attached it to a dark brown card base.  The Wordsworth Dancing Girl was stamped in Dark Brown into the background, using foam underneath so I could press down hard enough to get the ink in between the strips of paper.  I finished by highlighting a few of the words with Pebbles Pearlescent Chalk.

I hope you have fun & find inspiration.
 

Thursday Link Love

Here are some of my favorite links from the week:

• I've been thinking about a new recipe to try for the family Thanksgiving feast ... maybe Pumpkin Snickerdoodles ... Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Gorgonzola ... or Apple Strudel Bars.
• Love this amazing Paper Christmas Wreath ... I think it would be fun to make for different holidays.
• These elegant Fabric Flowers make me want to head to the fabric store.
• Snowballs are one of my favorite guilty pleasures ... I think I'll have to bake this fun Snowball Cake for my birthday next year ... then again, there's Raspberry Zinger Cake too.
• These fabulous framed collages are pure magic.  I'd love to try the concept for cards.
• I really want to watch this documentary Between the Folds about the intriguing art of paper folding.

Happy Friday!

Invent a New One

I needed to make a couple of masculine cards tonight, so I decided to create both a vertical and horizontal version of Kazan's Sketch #39 from 2 Sketches 4 You using Basic Grey Archaic papers.

The first features one of my favorite sentimentsfrom the Stampers' Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection, as well Stampabilities Vintage Flourish 03.

The second card features another great sentiment from Inkadinkado.

 
 
 

Santa's Village

I've always loved Webster's Pages, so when I saw Ellen Hutson had 6"x6" papers in her shop, I decided it was time to take the plunge.  This fun paper called Santa's village works perfectly for CPS Sketch 141. 

I added stamped snowflakes, presents, and a sentiment from Hero Arts Clear Design Holiday sayings.  I also added Distress Stickles in PIcket Fence and Rock Candy to the snowflakes and fun patchwork roof, and some Antique Bronze Stickles to the door for an all over glittery shimmer for the Hero Arts Puttin' on the Glitz! challenge.  Unfortunately, the glitter glue lightened the Maroon stamped snowflakes, so they look a little pinker than I'd like, but I still love the overall effect.  The finished card is 5 1/2" square (I trimmed a 1/4 inch from each side of the page).
 

Owlways in my Heart

The current challenge at the Embellish Magazine Blog is to incorporate this wonderful color combination with owls. 

As I was putting away my October Kit of the Month from Unity Stamps, I noticed it contained an adorable owl and equally cute sentiment, so that was the start for my design.  I was also inspired by the layers of colors in the owls eyes and nose/beak in the photograph collage.

The background is embossed with the Pebbles Impressabilities plate.  I spritzed the coral cardstock with water before running it through my Cuttlebug.  I love the subtle textured design.

I stamped the owl on the ivory cardstock for the legs, and then three more times to paper piece him together.  The heart on the sentiment is also paper pieced. The corner punch is from EK Success, and the green & ivory layers were cut with Nestabilities.  I attached the ivory cardstock to brown cardstock and hand-cut the middle layer.
 

Embrace Giggle Grove

It's another gorgeous day in the midwest, so I think I'm going to fore-go my usual studio time for some time in the great outdoors.  I did make a quick card while watching CBS Sunday Morning (my favorite weekend morning routine) for today's SCS Featured Stamper Challenge. 

My card was inspired by chrisations.ink's Stumped card.  It reminded me of the Giggle Grove Trees from Unity ... unfortunately, those images turned out to be considerably larger than I remembered, so I had to alter the design a bit to make it work.  The finished card is 4" x 8 1/2".

When Spellbinders were on sale for 40% off at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago, I finally broke down and decided to add some to my collection ... of course, when I went to check out, they were all out of stock, but I did get rain checks and finally picked them up on Friday.  I used the Classic Ovals Large to cut out my image and the Giga Scallop Oval punch for the frame.  The sentiment is from Unity's Bevy of Butterflies and Cornish Heritage Farm's Scratched Grid Backgrounder is the base.
 

Tis the Season of Joy

While I had all of my vintage goodies out on my craft table, I decided to do one more blocked sketch - Sketch #40 at Card Patterns.  I love how the Crafty Secrets Christmas Time Vintage Cuts work so beautifully with the Basic Grey Wassail papers ... makes the card come together oh so quickly.

It's too soon to tell, but I'm feeling like I might actually have most of my holiday cards done by December this year ... then again, it could just be wishful thinking.

Vintage Blocked Christmas

I love blocked sketches ... I'm sure it's the linear left-side of my brain (where I spend most of my work day) spilling over into my right-brained creative endeavors ... but it's also a fun way to use scraps of paper, stickers, and other little bits & bobs.

The first sketch is Beate's Weekend Sketch #105. I will be storing this Sketch under my go-to designs... so perfect for so many occasions.  I used a vintage Crafty Secrets sticker that I won in Vicki's blog candy for the focal element together with Basic Grey Wassail papers.  I lightly stamped the Hero Arts Outline Bold Flourish (not sure why this stamp isn't in their catalog ... I recently purchased it at Michael's) on each corner and added some Ranger Tea Dye ink to distress.

For the second card I combined the vintage stickers with Crafty Secrets Christmas Time Vintage Cuts to create the entire Get Sketchy #13 blocked sketch.  Since most of my elements were horizontal, rather than vertical, I flipped the sketch to make it work.  The sentiment is from a very old K & Company sticker book.

Hope the weather in your corner of the world is half as nice as ours was today ... sunny, warm ... fantastic for November.
 
 

The Little Turtle

The Little Turtle

Author: Vachel Lindsay - 1879-1931

There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

My brother loves turtles.  I can't even begin to count the number of turtle pets he's had in his lifetime (and still has).  When I saw this cool Ceramic Turtle Box by Jonathan Adler (this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge) I knew I had to make him a turtle card.

I love the monochromatic design and the combination of textures, so that is what I translated into my card.

I decided on a light green paper and used tow different embossing folders for the texture.  I started by hand cutting the shell, and then the body. Next I attached the head and tail.  The finishing touch was an adhesive pearl eyeball.

A small square card is attached to the back of the shell to write a little note.

I hope you find inspiration.