Thinking Inking

Playing with "Inchies"

When Karen Lockhart first told me about "Inchies," I'll have to confess that I didn't quite share her excitement. I was picturing only one tiny image on a 1" square of card stock. (And that is a valid inchie.) But after I made a little 1" mask and started putting it on top of my stamps, even the ones that had images well over 1" tall, I started seeing some interesting shapes to crop out. I thought that I would approach these thematically, so this is my first set, a flower trio. (If you click on any of the images here, you should get a pop-up window of a larger sized image.) The actual size of each of the focal images is slightly above 1", around 1-1/16". I didn't have a 1" square punch, so I chose my closest-to-1" Spellbinders Nestability Classic Square dies to trim these. The black mat (hand-cut)  brings it up to right under 1-1/8". Now that level of tolerance  for mathematical imprecision wouldn't fly with my husband if he were building something! But it works for me here--it's close enough. (Lockhart stamps used are Zinnias, Ranunculas, and Geraniums.)

I used my Copic markers to color these images--an inordinate number of them too--it was fun! If you are interested in precise colors, let me know. I snapped a photo of each image alongside the markers that I used, and I can get that too you if you need it.  When I finished, I considered putting them all on one card; but as much time as I had spent on each little canvas, I decided to let them stand alone.  I used my Spellbinders Nestability squares once again to emboss the frame of the Arturo note cards (celadon, buttercream, and lavendar). Nichole Heady has an great tutorial on the embossing process here.

So, what do you think of "inchies?"  Leave me a link if you decide to play with them! And don't forget that Ellen's sale started at midnight and goes through December 2. You must use the promo code CELEBRATE in order to get 15% off of your entire purchase. The sale price won't show up until you enter the code.

Have a great day!

Edited to add a newsflash: I just saw some more super-cool inchies!  You've got to check these out: Sharon Harnist made a too-die-for Christmas tree book with inchie decorations, and Cindy Lyles made some *perfect* little art canvases!  I'm pretty sure that Mish and Trudee have some in store this weekend as well.  Thanks for indulging us!

Strawberry Shortcake

Yes, I know that summer is long gone. Believe me, I know! I think I jinxed our weather when I said that we had no snow a couple of days ago. We don't have much, but "Baby, it's cold outside!"

In spite of that,  I found this Wordsworth Shortcake stamp too fun to pass up, and I have just the Martha-ish friend to give it too. (She'll think it's a good thing.) I stamped it on watercolor paper in Black Brilliance ink, then watercolored it with my watercolor crayons and waterbrush. I next trimmed it with my Spellbinders Nestability plain oval and rubbed a bit of distressing ink on the edges. That whip cream was just begging for white Liquid Appliqué, and I couldn't refuse. I used a red Spica glitter pen to add a bit of glimmer to the strawberries, then matted it with a Chocolate Chip scalloped oval mat.  That cool patterned paper is more of my beloved Cosmo Cricket, this time from their Hey Sugar Collection.  I sewed the layers together on a mat of Choclate Chip cardstock, tied an ivory taffeta ribbon, and mounted it on a 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" base. It still seemed to need something, so I added a line of type from Tiny Wise Words Collection, a set that I have used often when a card needs a little something in the word department.

I have another post coming tonight, but my digital camera battery decided to die about half an hour ago.  The nerve! Thanks for stopping by.

Soft Sky Blossoms

I had this cool piece of Figgy Pudding paper still sitting out on my desk and thought I'd try it with SU's Garden Silhouettes. I love browns and aquas together! Besides Figgy Pudding, I used SU's Soft Sky and PaperTrey's Stamper's Select White.

I inked the entire stamp with Soft Sky ink, then used Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery markers to color over the stems and leaves. I then huffed on the stamp to make sure that the Soft Sky was still nice and damp, then stamped.  Those pearls are the pale blue ones, and the corner beads are Cowboy Dew Drops.  Also, I used SU's ticket corner and photo corner punches.

I'll have more to post late tonight. . . but most of you will be sleeping. :-D  Thanks for visiting!

Julee's Mojo Sketch meets TK

Monday I received my first set of Verve stamps, so it was only fitting to play Julee Tillman's Mojo Monday Challenge this week. I have to say that this one put me through my paces! I had to alter the proportions slightly in order to make it work with the focal image that I chose, but it's pretty close. Thanks for a great challenge, Julee, and thanks also for the quick shipment and wonderful stamps too!

Both backgrounds as well as the focal image are from Cornish Heritage Farms: Stonehearth Hutch,  Victorian Pattern Backgrounder, and Leaves #3. The "Wishing you Peace" sentiment is from Wonderful Wishes by Verve Visual--a very useful sentiment too, I might add!  It's great for Christmas or Sympathy, and it fit beautifully on some Cuttlebug tiny tag dies that I had here. I used Prism Razzleberry Dark , SU Basic Gray and Basic Black, and Neenah Natural White cardstocks with the first card and Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson ink. It's a lovely ink on the card, but it's a bear to get a good photo of because of the shimmer.

The second card does not fit Julee's challenge, but when I already had my brayer dirty with a deep red ink, I thought I'd knock out one more Christmas card. For this one I used SU's Purely Pomegranate ink and cardstock, along with Basic Black and Poison Ivory cardstocks. I also use SU's Purely Pomegranate ribbon (which is on special right now, if you check with your SU demonstrator), a ticket corner punch, and a gold Paint pen. Stamps are CHF Village Christmas and Leaves #3.

For those of you having SU withdrawal on this blog, I'm working on a card tonight.  :-D  I have completed a couple of SU projects that I love this week, but I can't post them. Back to the desk. . . Have a great day!

P.S. In case you missed it yesterday, Ellen Hutson has a sale starting tomorrow, Friday, November 30, and continuing through December 2. You must use the promo code CELEBRATE in order to get 15% off of your entire purchase. The sale price won't show up until you enter the code. Also, you will want to go to this post on her blog and leave a comment. Why?  Because she has an cool giveaway on Friday, November 30. HTH!

Noel Angel

I am having the most fun using my paper instead of hoarding it!  I have a stack of paper left from last year, and do you think I want to use what I so carefully doled last year?  With a few exceptions (like my Wonderland paper), no. The colors and patterns aren't so fresh, and it does nothing for me.  Lesson learned!  I will use it this year. Next year will bring another wave of  "I need that!"

Tonight I started with my Basic Grey Figgy Pudding pad. (Okay, I admit it: I feel better about using any pretty paper when I have a second pad or piece on my shelf, preferably uncut. Maybe that lesson hasn't penetrated quite as deeply as I'd hoped!) Next I chose a Lockhart stamp, Noel Angel, and colored it with the Copic Markers and Spica Glitter pens pictured below. That colorless blender with the blue mark on it is my special one that I've babbled about before--mostly blender, but with a few drops of my favorite pale blue color added.

I finished it off with some pale aqua velvet ribbon and some Cowboy Dew Drops right under the ribbon. I liked how they looked directly on the ribbon, but I wasn't sure how easy it would be to glue them to velvet, and I thought they'd stick up too much for the Post Office to be happy with. Can you believe that I didn't tie a knot anywhere?  I'm still hyperventilating over that decision! But how do you tie a knot in velvet ribbon and make it lay nicely?  I might have to experiment with that before I actually mail it.

Check this out! I was at Ellen Hutson's store tonight looking for the links to some of the things I'd used and saw that she has a sale coming up starting Friday, November 30, and continuing through December 2. You must use the promo code CELEBRATE in order to get 15% off of your entire purchase. The sale price won't show up until you enter the code. Also, you will want to go to this post on her blog and leave a comment. Why?  Because she has an great giveaway on Friday, November 30. (Anybody wish you had a set of Nestability Scalloped Hearts?)

I had two more cards for you tonight, but since I used pearlescent ink, I'm having a hard time getting a good photo.  I'll work on it in the daylight tomorrow. Thanks for visiting!

More Paper Play

A few months back I had ordered some gorgeous shimmery KI Memories Alpine Holiday Collection paper, and I finally dug it out and put it to use tonight. The first card was another challenge card for Sharon Johnson's Challenge 10, the one using patterned paper and a stamped sentiment. I have to admit that I cheated on this one just a bit. . .  I hung a tiny ornament off of "Merry" because it needed a bit of spice there!  The "Merry Christmas" is a Wordsworth set, Giving Christmas, and the tiny ornament is from another Wordsworth set,  Tree Extravaganza. Ribbon is last year's SU Cranberry Crisp stitched grosgrain.

The second card doesn't fit the challenge criteria, but I had the paper out already and wanted to get one more card made for the stash. Here I used a Rubber Soul set, Holiday Whimsical, along with my Spellbinders Plain and Scalloped circle die sets. The ribbon is SU's Blue Bayou stitched grosgrain.

You would think that I have snow on my mind, wouldn't you?  We still have bare ground in my part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula--seems a bit odd since some Texans have snow, but I'm not complaining. Paper snowmen work just fine. . . 

Have a lovely day!

Sharon's Challenge 10

One of my favorite stampers, Sharon Johnson, issued a challenge that caught my eye: stamping using only a sentiment with patterned paper. Why did I want to play? Because I need to enhance the Christmas card stash, of course!

My first Challenge 10 card used SU's Peaceful Wishes set (now there's a set that I have gotten my money's worth out of!), along with Cosmo Cricket Wonderland Collection, some of my all-time favorite paper.

Additionally, I used a Spellbinders tag die, my sewing machine, my Crop-a-Dile, and some Fiskar's scalloped scissors. (I am kicking myself for not getting a Create-a-Cut about a year ago.) Eyelets are SU Fresh Favorites, and ribbon is last year's Cranberry Crisp. (I dread running out of that color ribbon.)

My next two cards use Cosmo Cricket Wonderland and Be Good Collections, along with PaperTrey sentiments from Holiday Wishes. I used a pearl from the SU pretties kit, but the pin is a thinner, shorter one. I put a drop of Crystal Effects under the pearl to keep it in place. Tag edges are trimmed with SU's tag corner punch. Ribbon is SU's Moss taffeta, a perfect color for this paper.

Card three uses the papers and stamps listed above, but it is a tall card, 3-1/4" x 6-1/2", closed. I used a Spellbinders scalloped rectangle die to get the artichoke scallops, and Mocha Gold seed pearls to enhance the ticket-punched edges.

Tomorrow night I have another of the Sharon-challenge cards to share, but with different papers and a different attitude.  Have a good Monday!

Chipboard Ornament

I played with several things tonight, four of which are not quite finished. So, how about a little appetizer until I have time late Sunday afternoon to finish putting my cards together? We put up our Christmas tree today and made frosted sugar cookies. Tonight I pulled out a package of Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked Ornaments and thought I'd whip one together to hang on the tree and see how long it takes our son to notice it.

I covered the chipboard shape with paper from my 8" x 8" Cosmo Cricket Wonderland pad, then used a Basic Grey detail file to sand the edges.  I used a sepia tinted picture of my son as the focal point, then covered the back with matching printed paper. To reinforce the hole at the top (though I don't think it needed it since even substantial chipboard is fairly lightweight), I added an antique copper jumbo eyelet from We R Memory Keepers, then a Moss taffeta ribbon. (Do you think a seven year old boy will squawk about the ribbon? If he does, I'll just untie it and add some Dew Drops. . .) I love this picture!  It's his "Mona Lisa" smile--the one that I rarely capture since he'd prefer to ham for the camera.

This was a quick and easy project and could be dressed up more with tiny tags at the top. I'll probably make a little tag for the back with a note in it for him.  Thanks for visiting!

Snowbunny Wishes

After taking four hours to get a card put together last night, I thought I'd go for something sweet and simple tonight so that I can get to bed earlier! I used one of my Wordsworth clear sets, Vacation Collection. I stamped the skier in Black Brilliance ink on PaperTrey Stamper's Select White card stock, then colored it with my Copic markers in these colors: B000, Y21, E00, and R11. The layout is pretty close to CPS Sketch 39, I noticed after I finished tonight.

Other cardstock colors are SU's Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink for the photo corners, Regal Rose for the focal image's mat, and Prism Iced Pink for the main background. Stamped backrgounds are from Cornish Heritage Farms, Paisley and Polka Dot. Ribbon is SU's stitched Soft Sky. It's not apparent in the picture. but I added white Fun Flock to the snow, the skier's socks, her color, and her ear muffs. I'm really liking flocking lately. It's a bit more understated than glitter, but it's just right sometimes.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Time Well Spent Bouquet

Stampin' Up surprised its demonstrators with a Level Three Hostess set from the new SU catalog--what a wonderful gift! After being rescheduled by UPS twice, mine finally came on Tuesday night. This was the first chance that I've had to play with it. The style reminds me of a cross between Doodle This and Double Line Doodles--doodling, but an updated, neater-than-it-used-to-be doodling.

I masked to get the appearance of layers with most of this focal image; the one exception is the center of the large flower. It is raised on a dimensional. For the rest of the overlapping flowers, I relied upon masking, coloring, and a hint of a gray shadow. I used my Copic markers in the colors pictured here.  (Okay, I tried a watercolor crayon version first, but I'm not happy with it yet. I probably won't throw it away because I spent too much time cutting it all out and layering it.  Still, it needs help!)

That marker to the right of the others, the one labled 0, but with a blue swatch across it?  That's my custom background marker. I mentioned this once before, but I'll say it again in case you missed it before: this marker has really saved me time on blending a background when I want just a hint of blue. Can you see the faint blue just around the flowers?  That blue is what you get when you take a colorless blender and add just a few drops of a pale color like B00 or B000. I had a colorless blender that was starting to get a bit worn, so I figured it was worth a try, and I love it!  I just color with my custom marker, swipe the edge with the real colorless blender, and it is blended into the paper. I don't have to work long at all to get a smooth transition.

I had intended to make one of Mish's tent cards, hence the out-of-the-box cut at the top. The proportions weren't quite right though, so I changed directions. (Yes, you are sensing four hours of plodding along to get one card. . . Good thing our Thanksgiving meal turned out better than that!) I used Soft Sky card stock as a background, stamped with Soft Sky ink. The focal image flowers are stamped in Black Brilliance. I added some clear Diamond Stickles to just the dots on the flowers. As large as I had the bouquet, I couldn't quite fit the words that came with the set on the card front, so I used words from a PaperTrey set, Faux Ribbon. The ribbon is SU's Soft Sky stitched, and corner decorations are twinkle stickers.

Thank you for visiting!
 

Thankful. . .

I'm posting early, but this is my Thursday post. Tomorrow will be pretty busy. Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving, I am resolved to focus on being thankful rather than worrying about whether my pie crust will be perfect or my turkey will be dry.  My family loves me. They'll eat it and smile either way.  And perhaps that's one of the things that I'm most grateful for--not their eating my cooking, but their love. I'll spare you the rest of my rambling thoughts along this line. . .

In looking through my stamps for a Thanksgiving themed stamp, I spied this one that I hadn't played with yet, a Lockhart Indian Corn stamp. When I finished coloring it with my Copic markers and Spica Glitter Pens in the colors pictured, I rummaged through my patterned papers and found this Flair Autumn Splendor paper with perfect Indian corn colors!  I used CPS Sketch 40, but turned it on its side to accommodate my tall rectangular image. Solid paper is Neenah Natural White and Prism Razzleberry Dark.

I used Dew Drops from the Flame, Paris, and Poinsettia bottles. Each bottle contains many shades and sizes; I'm guessing that I'll have enough in each bottle to leave to my grandchildren someday. Seriously, these little gems go a long way. I just dumped a few out in my hand to find the shades and sizes that I wanted, and glued them on with Tombo Mono Multi. If you use Tombo Mono Multi on something like this, use a small enough drop that it doesn't seep out from under the bottom of the glass pebble. Mono Multi stays sticky; it doesn't seem to ever harden as Crystal Effects does. They both hold well. I tend to use the Mono Multi simply because it's initial tackiness is higher. But I like Crystal Effects or Ranger Glossy Accents if I need a dimensional product or if I have time for the piece to lay flat for a few minutes.) I used the gold cord because a ribbon interfered with the Dew Drops. I tried several ways of wrapping it before happening upon wrapping it like a present. It solved my problem of having some dead space, without covering up the words that I wanted to show.

I hope that you and those you love have a wonderful day today! I appreciate your visiting me here.

One More PaperTrey Monogram Project

I have one more PaperTrey Monogram project to share with you. For this one I used the Ambassador Monogram along with the Borders and Corners Monogram Edition. I included a little 3" x 3" gift card on which I use Spiral Bouquet as well.

First the candle: I started with a We R Memory Keepers Coppered Out circle frame to hold my base monogram, which I had stamped in Mellow Moss and Elegant Eggplant and  punched out with my 1-1/4" circle punch. I carefully bent the frame around a glass jar so that it would fit the cylindrical shape of the candle better.

Next I decided that I needed to use elastic cord to attach it so that it could be moved down as the candle burned, or removed entirely. The problem was that I had metallic elastic cord only in gold and silver. . . Fortunately, since I have a healthy Copic Marker stash, that wasn't a problem!: I simply colored the gold elastic cord with my E09 marker, and voila, copper! I hid the frame holes with a couple of Paris Dew Drops. From there on, it was just a matter of cutting mat layers with my Spellbinders Nestability Petite Scalloped Circle dies. (I used both sets.) The back layer is cut from a sheet of copper foil, through which the Spellbinders dies cut like butter; I thought that it would not only tie in with the copper frame, but also put a layer of metal between the candle and the paper.

On the card I used Elegant Eggplant card stock, stamped tone on tone, as well as Neenah Classic Cream card stock for the left half, stamped in Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, and Mellow Moss SU Classic inks, and Versamagic Perfect Plumeria chalk ink. I used some tiny mauve pearls to embellish the centers of the flower bases, and tied it all up with Cream taffeta ribbon. There!  One more gift is finished for my emergency stash!