Inky Button - Ink Along With Me

Right At Home

Good Afternoon Sistahs!

After a loooooong week of being away from my ink and paper, I have finally returned and I couldn't wait to play along with jen del muro's Sketch For You To Try.  Since we just spent the last week in Arizona with my mom and step-dad, I wanted to use jen's sketch to make a thank you card for them.

What do you think?

I have had this PTI set {Boards & Beams} for a few weeks now and it fit my needs perfectly.  I used a piece of Twitterpated*Colorfall from Imaginisce along the top in the thin panel. After I used my Copics to color in the house, I used chalks to create a sky and grass, then I popped the house up on top. The flowers are from Heidi Swapp & SU! Pretties kit and I used a 1" circle punch for the red behind the blue button. Whew!  That was FUN!

I hope everyone is having a super fun weekend!  More posts to come soon!

Inky Hugs & Happy Stampin'

Cupcakes Anyone?

Good Morning Sistahs!

So I made these cards this weekend, and I was so stinkin' excited to actually make them that I forgot to post them.  DUH!  I'm so having one of those weeks.  Am I the only one?

So for these cards I wanted to make a RAK for one of the gals in the PTI (Papertrey Ink) RAK group.  I wanted to stick with all PTI inks, paper, and stamps so this is what I came up with.

 

You probably recognize the sketch from Taylor's cupcake challenge a few weeks ago, I loved it so much I just had to use it for this card.  I stamped all the cupcakes first then punched them out with circle punches.  Then I added glitter to the tops of each cupcake, because you KNOW I love bling.  Then I added the cherries on top with Pure Poppy, which I must say I totally love.  It's a great red color.  I used Aqua Mist, SS White, and Pure Poppy for the cardstock, and the Eat Cake set for all the images.  Of course, no project is complete without the Glossy Accents on the cherries. 

Then...I remembered it's my Dad's birthday, and he's not much of a sparkly cupcake kinda guy, so I decided to CASE this card from Mary Jo Albright.  I loved how she used the letters from BIRTHDAY to fill the circles.  It's so stinkin' adorable that I had to use it for the card I needed for Papa Eddie!

 

Yes, this card is so incredibly simple, but if you know Papa Eddie, you know this is perfect for him.  Also, I needed to mail it, so I wanted it to be as simple as possible.  I absolutely LOVE the Aqua Mist/Pure Poppy combo from PTI so I used it again here.

I received my free stamps from Kitchen Sink so I'll be posting some of those cards soon.  I love to play with the Kitchen Sink Stamps!!

I hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday!

Happy Stampin'

Even More Good News?

Good Morning Sistahs!

 There is more Wow! I know...is that even possible?  Well apparently it is.  I entered a card into Papertrey's Monthly Contest and I received Honorable Mention!  How cool is that?  I am so incredibly honored.  To see the post from Nicole click here.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted the card to my blog, so I get to post it here for you now.  Yay!

Wednesday nights my family and I would go to Old Chicago and play Trivia.  (I am a pop culture freak!) Well Jen, (the trivia DJ,) was hosting for the final time a few weeks ago and we absolutely LOVE her, so I offered to make her a card for her final night.  The trivia is called Buzzwordz, and whenever the Bee would come on the screen we would have to turn our answer in.  The Honey Bee set immediately came to mind when we found out she was leaving us.  We definitely considered her to be our *Queenbee* so I knew her card was going to have to have a bee on it.

I of course had to glitter the bee, so I used both black and yellow glitter for the body. BLING!

Oh, and my last little bit of good news....I got an "A" on my paper!!  Woo Hoo!  I struggled and struggled with this darn paper, and boy was I relieved when it came back with an "A" on it.  Thank you Carisa for not letting me wander off track so much.  LOL

Hope your day is *bee-u-ti-ful*!

Happy Stampin'

OCD?

Good Morning Sistahs!

Here is the darned 3-day card! I must first share with you the fact that my BFF has, on numerous occasions, accused me of having OCD. I personally prefer to call myself, "particular," but you can make the call. I also loved Taylor's Sketch so I decided to use it again for this card. When you first look at this card, you'll think that I had an awesome honeycomb background stamp that I just stamped across the paper. However, you would be mistaken. Instead, I have this little honeycomb from Papertrey's Honey Bees set.

I used this stamp and the can't-live-without-it Stamp-a-ma-jig. First I stamped my small panel, then I stamped the large panel, but just where the small panel wouldn't cover. Here is where the "OCD" comes in. Since the stamp is so small, I really couldn't stamp in VersaMark then clear emboss because there were just too many individual stamps and the Stamp-a-ma-jig would just smear stuff and it would turn into a HUGE mess. So what did I do instead to get that yummy honey look? I covered each comb individually with Glossy Accents. I KNOW! Am I INSANE? Seriously!

It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be, I just used a straight pin to keep the Glossy Accents where I wanted it to be. But the effect...oh the effect...it looks like yummy honey doesn't it?

And I couldn't help but use the glitter on the bees again!

Let me know what you think....OCD? Particular? or fill in the blank....

Sweet As Honey Recipe:
Stamps: PTI - Honey Bees
Paper: PTI - Summer Sunrise, Bazzill - Raven
Ink: PTI - Summer Sunrise, SU! - Basic Black
Accessories: Scalloped Punch, Art Glitter - Black & Mellow Yellow, Circle Punches, Black Satin 7/8" ribbon, Dimensionals, Glossy Accents, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Come back tomorrow, because I have a fun card I can hardly wait to show you!!

Happy Stampin'

Another Cupcake Challenge

Hey Sistahs!

I'm sorry for posting so late, but I have been so busy. As you can see, I have a new blog banner. I have been wanting to update it for a while and figured I should work on it while I still have time. Since I'm the Inky Button I figured I should have some buttons on my banner. Although, If you look at my cards you'll see that I hardly ever use buttons. Is it because I don't have buttons? No, it's because I am a button hoarder. I have a giant jar-o-buttons, (see photo in banner,) and I never use them. Why? Why? Why? Well, I know why I love buttons, but I don't know why I can't seem to use them on a card. Maybe I'll challenge myself to use a button or two on one of my cards next week.

Speaking of cards, here is my submission for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #24.

It's hard to see, but behind the bee I used chalks to create a sky and clouds. The grass was made using a combination of Kitchen Sink & Papertrey stamps and the bee is from Papertrey's Honeybees set. I used glitter on the body, head, and legs, and glossy accents on the wings. The flourish was done with Doodlebug's Stick With It *Fancy That* collection and glitter. For the sentiment I used the honeycomb stamp to create a background and then stamped the *bee happy* in black. I found the fab ribbon at JoAnn's when I realized that I didn't order the coordinating ribbons for the paper I have. Luckily I found a ribbon that matched. Whew.

Here's a close-up of the bee. It's still hard to see where the glitter ends and the glossy accents begins.

TECC24 Bee Happy Recipe
Stamps: PTI - Honeybees, Kitchen Sink - 3-step Honey Bunny
Ink: Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, PTI - Lemon Tart
Paper: PTI - Lemon Tart & SS White, SU! - Always Artichoke, Basic Black
Accessories: Glitter, Glossy Accents, SU! - Stampin' Pastels, Dimensionals, Scallop Punch, Offray - Satin Ribbon

Happy Stampin'

Mojo Monday!

Good Morning Sistahs,

I was lucky enough to head out to Archiver's yesterday and stamp with my stampin' buddies. I have been doing a significant amount of blog hopping these days, and I knew yesterday's buddy time would be spent creating entries for Julee's Mojo Madness Contest. I haven't ever participated in her challenges, but I thought it would be fun since I feel like I'm on a roll. I couldn't decide which card I liked most so I decided to make two and see which one you think I should enter.

This first card I attempted was this one using Papertrey Ink's Bitty Baby Blessings set. I have a niece on the way, and I figured I'd better make her card before she gets here. I used the onesie, which ended up being the most difficult part of this whole card, and two sentiments. I stamped the first sentiment "sweet little baby" on the panel behind the onesie, then used the "welcome little one" as my main sentiment. I Cuttlebugged the Swiss Dots along the bottom, then used my new Doodlebug "Stick With It" adhesive transfers to create the flocked flourishes. (More on this product later.) I wanted to stay with the pink and black theme because it's so elegant and girly. Finally back to the onesie. First I stamped it onto some Basic Grey paper but I wasn't feelin' it. Then I stamped it onto the Sweet Blush but it was way too much pink and didn't offer enough of a contrast. I finally decided to stamp it on white and use my Copics to give it a hint of pink. That's the one I decided to go with. Last but certainly not least, I added the BLING!!

The second card I created to send as a RAK. I love my Bella Stamps and I loved the idea of Superbella's cape extending out of the box. Every time I use this stamp, I can't help but use red glitter for her cape. I mean seriously, she's a Bella, she deserves BLING! I used my Copics to color her in and then added Glossy Accents to her hair and boots. For her background paper I used my Scor-pal to score vertical lines at every 1/2".

Both of these cards were so fun to make! I have another vision for this layout using a different Bella, so we'll have to see if it comes to fruition. So many cards, so little time. LOL

Happy Stamping!

Cupcake Challenge

Hey sistahs!

I'm sure many of you probably know this, but Taylor VanBruggen hosts a Cupcake Challenge every Friday. You don't have to use a cupcake image as part of the challenge, but I happened to have one, so I used it.

I truly struggled with the three images on the side. So much so that I had to put myself to bed and sleep on it before I could wake up and make the card. Even then I wasn't sure what I was going to use.

I knew I had The main image is from Hero Arts' clear acrylic "Cupcakes" set. I used my orange Copics to color the cupcake cup and then used Warm 1 on a second cupcake to add a little detailing on the icing before I covered it with Dazzling Diamond Glitter. I cut the second cupcake's frosting off and popped it up on the first image. I stamped the cherry from the same set separately and covered the cherry with Glossy Accents then added red microbeads to give it more dimension. I added glitter to the leaf and brown to the stem then I cut it out and attached it to the frosting with Glossy Accents.

Once I finished with the main image, I had to focus on the three images next to it. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do, until, I remembered that I purchased some build-a-brads from SU! and hadn't used them. I found a small cupcake stamp in Papertrey Ink's "Limitless Labels" set and used it to recreate the main image for the brads. I wanted to use the word "yum" too ,but I couldn't find a stamp that would work, so I just busted out the pen and wrote it. Then I attached the ribbons to the back of the brads and called it good.

The DP is from Stampin' Up's "Summer Picnic." I love the polka dots and the warm colors the paper provided. The paper was actually what kick-started this card, well, that and the fact that I wanted to use my new Perfect Match cardstock from Papertrey Ink. Despite my little bit of stress, this was a fun card to make!

TECC23 Recipe:
Stamps: Hero Arts - Cupcakes, PTI - Limitless Lables, Stamping Bella - Sentiment
Ink: Brilliance Graphite, Real Red, PTI - Summer Sunrise
Paper: PTI - Summer Sunrise, SU! - Real Red, Whisper White, Summer Picnic DP
Accessories: Build-a-brad, Glitter, Glossy Accents, Grosgrain Ribbon, Striped Ribbon, Copics

I'm off to look at the other creations made for this challenge.
Happy Stamping!

Something's sketchy

I love summer because it means that I can play with the challenges on Splitcoast. My favorite challenge has to be the Sketch Challenge. It's a great way to get myself to use some stamps that maybe need a little more inky love. I recently received the "Out on a Limb" set from Papertrey (as an anniversary gift from my hubby,) and decided that this week's challenge was perfect for this set.

I always give my BFF a hard time about less being more, but in this case, I think less is less. What do you think? I mean it's pretty simple, and I usually love simple, but feel like maybe it's missing something.

I used Glossy Accents on all the flowers as well as the limb. I don't think you can see it, but I used the Sakura Clear Sparkle pen around each layer and in the center of the flowers. I used the single leaf stamp to add leaves around the blossoms and then colored them in with markers. After I stamped the Thank You in the top corner I traced over it with the Glossy Accents too. I absolutely love using Glossy Accents! I always keep a straight pin around when I'm using it so I can keep it where I want it to bed. If you give it a few seconds to dry you can easily scrape away any excess. It's also helpful to keep the tip open too.

On A Limb Recipe:
Stamps: PTI - Out on a Limb
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Basic Grey DP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Rhinestones, Glossy Accents, Sakura Clear Gel Pen, Dimensionals

Happy Thursday!

I'm in love!

Oh sistahs!! I have to tell you how in love I am with Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White Cardstock. I absolutely love paper and this paper is the absolute BEST. I was hesitant to try it because I just didn't think there was anything out there that I could truly love, but I have found it! Other's may claim to have the best, but this is it! I ordered the 40 sheet pack, but now I wish I would have ordered the 100 sheet pack.

I always hated making one-layer cards because I could never find a bright white cardstock that was sturdy enough to stand alone. After using my PTI cardstock for the first one, I could not stop myself and ended up making 3 different cards.

The first card I made used the technique I saw on Nicole Heady's blog here. I used my circle Nestability to emboss the circle, then I used Kitchen Sink's 3-Step Honey Bunny set and stamped the Gerbera Daisy in the middle. I made about 12 of these cards and put three different sentiments on them. The first one was from the same Kitchen Sink set using the "Hello" from the "Hello Spring" sentiment, the other two are from Stamping Bella, "If friend's were flowers, I'd pick you" & "thinking of you." I absolutely love the simplicity of this card and I can hardly wait to make more.

Daisy Recipe:
Stamps: Kitchen Sink - 3-Step Honey Bunny
Ink: 1-Pretty in Pink, 2-Apricot Appeal, 3-Pixie Pink, 4-Close to Cocoa
Paper: PTI - Stamper's Select White

This next card I made for my husband. It's always so hard to make a card that is masculine and says exactly what you want it to say. I find myself struggling every anniversary to make a card that isn't too girly with layer after layer of cardstock and paper. Our anniversary has since passed so I decided to give him this card just because. With life being as busy as it is, I don't want to forget to let those around me know how much I truly love them.

Curly Ewe Recipe:
Stamps: Stamping Bella - Curly Ewe and sentiment
Ink: Brilliance Graphite
Paper: PTI - Stamper's Select White
Accessories: Copic Markers, Rain Dots

I have one more one-layer card to share, but I'll have to do that tomorrow because I need to add some ribbon before I take the picture. Go out and share the love today. Send a card to someone to let them know how much they mean to you.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a.......CARD!

Hello Sistahs!

Yes, look it's a card! I mean seriously, it's been long enough hasn't it? Well, there's an interesting story that goes along with this particular card, or at least I think so. He He He!

So my friend Jen got married on June 21st. It was a beautiful wedding, and I was so proud of myself for the fact that I left myself enough time to make a card using her wedding colors, or so I thought. I have no idea why I thought her colors were Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie. But I was bound and determined to create a card using those colors. Well, I was right with the Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie, but it was BLACK instead. And when did I figure this out? When I was walking into the ceremony and picked up one of her gorgeous programs and saw that she used black with the other two accent colors. DOH! Here's the worst part, I was at the very same crop with her when she was assembling her programs! Hello McFly!

I think she still loves me even though I'm the biggest dork in the world.

So, now for the details. I used Papertrey's "Eat Cake" set to make this card, however, I didn't do the set justice. It has an adorable scallop along the bottom of each layer, and I managed to mangle it because I knew I wanted to put flowers between the layers, and as I was cutting, it was way too difficult to see the scallops because I used Iridescent Ice to emboss the cake and the more I tried, the worse it looked. So I decided to just trim off the scallops and call it good. I used the Fiskars Flower hole punch to make the flowers, which in my humble opinion, were the perfect size for the layers. I also wanted to put ribbon on the card, but decided I liked the baubles instead, mostly because it's hard to match that pink and they really were just accent colors. All-in-all I was pretty pleased with the card even though it should have been black. ARGH! Oh well, maybe for her anniversary I'll get it right.

Before I go, I had to leave you all with a PSA....

There is a great giveaway happening at Storage Units, Ink & More. Today is the last day you can enter, so pop on over and let them know what kind of stamp sets you'd like to see them create! You can win some copics, 6 sets of stamps, a set of acrylic blocks and so much more. While you're there, you can also check out their ink pad storage system. They are a great way to store your pads, definitely worth the investment. I've had their site flagged with the intention of purchasing one of their storage systems for myself.

More to come later, I'm off to stamp with my buddies!!