InkspiredTreasures.com

Dec 18 2008

DCBD106 – Color Challenge

 

I broke down.  Yep…I bought Holiday Lineup at the last minute and just now am getting to use it.  I tried to resist…but I should have known better.  Those snowmen were just calling my name and I love the expressions on the elves and reindeer.  Who could resist?  Not me…

 
Yesterday was the Diva Coffee Break Designer’s color challenge and I missed getting this posted.  I had a couple deadlines over my head and just couldn’t do it all.  So, I’m making up for yesterday by posting my card today.  The challenge was to use the colors of Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze and either Kiwi Kiss or Tangerine Tango.  I managed to get ALL of them on my design!  The Tangerine Tango is shown in just the carrot noses!  I actually LOVE all these colors, so it wasn’t so much of a challenge!

I used my favorite coloring medium right now…reinkers and my AquaPainter.  I like how much more control I have on the depth of color.  I also used some of the Holiday Treasures designer paper, which went with these colors perfectly.  And, of course, the Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon…I go through a TON of it…I think I’m on my 4th or 5th roll!  Happy Holidays is from Many Merry Messages stamp set.  I think I’ll send this card to my mom and dad…they will get a chuckle out of the snowmen!

Check out the rest of the Diva’s…I haven’t peeked at their creations, but I am sure they are fabulous!  Enjoy!

Dannie Graves
Chris Austin
Dee Tollaksen
Heidi Michel
Julie Semones
Kristin Moore
Lisa Freeman
Selene Kempton

 

Dec 16 2008

Ornament tutorial

I promised a tutorial on the square ornament I did for the Blogger’s Challenge last Friday and finally was able to finish it last night.  Really very easy to do.  I have a ton of stuff to accomplish today, so enough chit chat!  lol!  Oh, I did try to use the scallop edge punch, but it was really difficult to line up the corners evenly…and since they are so prominent, I really didn’t want to spend the time it took to figure out the correct dimensions. 

Supplies:

Two Designer Paper designs
Coordinating cardstock color
Adhesive
Jumbo Eyelet
Ribbon
Stamp or embellishments for decorating

Cut first layer (base) of cardstock 3 3/4 x 3 3/4
First designer paper 3 1/2 x 3 1/2
Second designer paper 3 1/4 x 3 1/4
Cardstock color 3 x 3
First designer paper 2 3/4 x 2 3/4
Second designer paper 2 1/2 x 2 1/2
Cardstock color 2 x 2

 

 Layers

 

 

 

 

Step 1

Lay base 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 cardstock square on paper.  Place first designer paper (3 1/2 x 3 1/2 sparkles) a quarter turn from base and adhere to largest cardstock color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2

Make another quarter turn and place second designer paper (3 1/4 x 3 1/4 stripe) over first designer paper, aligning with base cardstock.

 

 

 

 

Step 3

Turn again and place cardstock (3 x 3) to line up evenly with first designer paper (sparkles) square.

 

 

 

 

Step 4

Turn again and place first designer paper (2 3/4 x 2 3/4) so it lines up layered evenly with second designer paper (stripe) square.

 

 

 

 

Step 5

Turn again and add second designer paper (2 1/2 x 2 1/2 stripes) lined up to cardstock layer.

 

 

 

 

Step 6

Turn again and add final 2 x 2 cardstock square to center.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 7

Finish by decorating center.  I added a jumbo eyelet to the top point and ran the ribbon thru to hang the ornament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other ornaments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one I used the Small Felt Flurries and a Rhinestone brad in the center.

I love making these…so fast and easy.  And, different papers, make them look completely different.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 15 2008

Snowman Cheeseball

 
OK, so it isn’t paper arts, but I had to show you the Snowman Cheeseball I made for my husband’s holiday party on Friday.  I thought he turned out SO cute!  If you know me, you know I LOVE snowman…my house is decorated all over with them during the holidays (and after until Spring!)

It makes a HUGE amount, though.  If I made it again, I’d cut the recipe in half for a group of 20 of less…especially if you are having other appetizers with it.

It is two different flavors…the head is an onion/dijon mustard flavor and the body is a pesto flavor.  Both were yummy.  The pesto one is a little milder.  The scarf I made from a Strawberry Fruit Roll-up…just cut it into strips.  The nose is an actual small carrot cut into a pointed shape.  The eyes and buttons were made from sliced ripe olives.  After you make the cheeseballs, you add a layer of whipped cream cheese over the top so it makes him snowy white…then add the embellishments.  It wasn’t hard at all.

I adapted the recipe a little bit, so I’ve included my changes.  I think it made it easier to make and didn’t change the outcome that I could tell.

Tip:  When you serve it, take the first bite…otherwise people think it is too pretty to cut into and eat!

Dec 13 2008

Jingle All The Way Decor Elements

My husband’s annual Holiday Party was held last night at our home.  I’m EXHAUSTED today…but it was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the meal.  We also play Dirty Santa (each person brings an unmarked, wrapped white elephant gift).  There were some really BAD ones this year…we laughed and laughed! 

As our holiday gift, I made one glass block for each of the families to take home with them. I started with a rectangle glass block (Menard’s) that measures 4 x 8 x 3.  I used some Santa ribbon I found at Target’s that completely covered the sides and adhered it to the block with Sticky Strip.  (Stampin’ Up!’s ribbon just wasn’t side enough to cover the sides.)  The bow is separate and adhered to the top of the ribbon with Sticky Strip.  I used the small size Jingle All The Way in red…they were SO easy to put on!  (Hint…it is best to work with the Decor Elements in a warm spot…the basement was too cool and made it harder to get them off the paper.  Once I put the heater on, they came off easy as pie!)

I think these make a really CUTE holiday decoration!

 

 

  

Here they are all lined up on my table.  (Actually one was missing…it was upstairs!)

Well…I’m headed back to watch some more holiday movies and heat up the leftover White Chicken Lasagna for dinner!  Love the Hallmark channel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 12 2008

Bloggers Challenge – Holiday Ornaments or Decorations

Shhhh….I’m supposed to be getting things ready for my husband’s holiday party tonight.  I have the White Chicken Lasagnas to make along with the filling for the Lemon Jelly Rolls, and still do a little cleaning and setup.  But, I just had to take a break and make up something for the Blogger’s Challenge.  Don’t tell!  lol!

I think ornaments are so much fun to make.  I had trouble narrowing down my choices of which one to make for today.  I actually had a glass ornament (filled with designer paper) started that I could have used, but decided to go this route instead.  This is very easy…just graduated sizes of squares and then add a focal point.  No stamping…just all cutting and punches.  I did use my scoring tool to score some textured veins into the white poinsettia and leaves that is a little hard to see.  I used a Jumbo eyelet for the top hanger and used the yummy Red Riding Hood taffeta ribbon.

Since I was in a hurry, I didn’t do it, but I think this would look awesome with all scalloped edges on it…maybe I’ll do that tomorrow using the Ski Slope paper!  I’ll plan on doing a short tutorial, too, with sizes, etc.

Have a great weekend!  Tonight is the last of the BIG THINGS I need to do before Christmas.  Then I can relax and enjoy the holidays and all the fun stuff like baking, card making, and gift wrapping!

Dec 11 2008

Contest Winner – Circle Album

Well, I see someone over at SCS has made up a tutorial for a circle album journal.  So…I thought I’d show you my completed Album that won the June Stampin’ Up! Schoolhouse Rock Contest.  I had this on the back burner to make up a Tutorial, but time got away from me!  I did earn 3 free stamp sets for winning…that was pretty awesome!  I remember getting the call…I was shaking by the time I got off the phone with the Stampin’ Up! person.  Very exciting.

A lot of this features retired Jersey Shore designer paper and previous In-Colors, but remember, I made this back in April/May before it retired.  Easy enough to do with any designer paper…I think Christmas papers would be very cool.

 

I started with 9" circles in Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi textured papers.  The ABCs on the front are Lots of Letters chipboard, colored with craft inks and then covered with Iridescent Ice EP to make them sparkle.  The frame is from the Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware.  Ross is stamped with the Short Order Alphabet on Pumpkin Pie (my son’s favorite color!) and punched with the Designer Label punch.  I used the Wild Wasabi stripe ribbon to tie it closed.

This is what it looks like completely open and tied open.  Each "room" has a different age…first ride on the bus, first grade, senior year and finally graduation day.

 

 
I used the stamp set, Office Accoutrement to do the memo fields on each page and on the back.   

Several punches…the Round Tab at the top for each page, the small and large stars, circles and scallop circle.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out and hated to send it off to Stampin’ Up! for their contest.  Maybe one day I’ll do another one for ME!  (Note to self…when designing for contests, go ahead and make TWO so I have one to keep and one to send in!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 10 2008

Diva Coffee Break Designers 105

Last week I had to miss playing the DCBD challenge because of stamp classes, but this week’s sketch was too fun to miss!  Selene Kempton did the sketch design for this week.

So, since I’m still in shock over seeing my beloved Merry & Bright stamp set on the retired list, I thought it would be appropriate to pull him out and and use him for this week’s challenge.  I also have a bunch of this small snowflake pattern paper from Ski Slope Designer paper left.  I used a lot of the other designs…just not this one.  For me, the colors of Chocolate Chip and Old Olive are a little non-traditional…at least with snowmen!  But I do like how this turned out!

First, I stamped the snowman with Basic Brown on Whisper White and colored his hat and scarf with Old Olive and Chocolate Chip markers.  I added a little Tombow Multipurpose Glue and Dazzling Diamonds around his body to make him sparkle!  I layered the white on Old Olive and pierced the upper left corner with the piercing template.  For the base card I used Old Olive and layered the Snowflake pattern onto Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I used the Chocolate Diamond patterns from the same Ski Slope designer paper instead of ribbon.  For the bottom greeting, I wanted to have the Merry & Bright words continue…so I used Christmas from Fundamental Phrases.  I also pierced a row across the front of the card to the word Christmas.  So my greeting to everyone is "Merry & Bright Christmas!"  Thanks, Selene, this was a fun and quick card sketch to use!

Make sure to check out the rest of the Diva Design Team’s creations this week! 

Selene Kempton
Heidi Michel
Chris Austin
Dannie Graves
Dee Tollaksen
Julie Semones
Kristin Moore
Lisa Freeman
Vivian Swain (off this week)

 

Dec 09 2008

Early Christmas Gift for You!

 

 

Dozens of sets from the 2008 Fall/Winter Idea book are retiring.  Now is your last chance to order them…they will only be available until January 18, 2009.

From December 9-23, take 10% off all retiring stamp sets and FREE SHIPPING on orders of $70 or more!

 

Alphabetical List

Retired List by Page Number

10% off Prices

 

PLUS, as a BONUS!  Customers placing a $40 or more order through me from December 9-23 will be entered into a drawing for a free Level 3 Hostess set, WINDOW DRESSING!  Second chance drawing is a Level 1 Hostess set of your choice!  Winners will be announced at 11:00 PM on December 23.

 

Orders shipped in time for Christmas delivery must be placed by December 16.

 

Dec 08 2008

Looking ahead to 2009

One of the things I do every year is re-cover my desk calendar.  I use the generic two pages to a month type so I can write down all my stamping events and keep track of mileage, class attendance, what projects we did, etc.  A LOT goes on in my calendars and when I misplace them, I am lost!  That is why I usually make them colorful and with my name on them.  I can see them easily on my messy desk or at the workshop!  lol!

This year I used the colorful Frosty Day designer paper and matched it with Inspired by Nature.  Looking closely at the designer paper, I figured the dots don’t look like snowflakes…more like sparkles, so it would work!  I used my Craft Spots to ink up the large flower in Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive, then darkened and shaded them with the watercolor pencils.  Along the left, I used 3 jumbo eyelets and 3 gold Rhinestone brads in the eyelets for a little BLING!  I used the Big Shot to cut my Go Go Boots letters for Connie and then added a felt Fushion Flower for the dot on the i and another small Rhinestone brad in the center.  The Tangerine Tango stripe ribbon covers the seam between the paper and the cardstock.  The back is entirely covered with the designer paper.  I love it!  And it certainly is colorful enough to stand out on my desk!

I’ve a busy week preparing for my hubby’s holiday party.  Need to finish up the glass blocks with Jingle All The Way on them for gifts, finish planning the menu, clean up my studio and the den, grocery shop, cook, bake…oh my!  I’m exhausted already!

Have a great week!

 

Dec 05 2008

Blogger’s Challenge 76 – Color Inspiration

I’m feeling a little low on creative inspiration today, so I’m going for a little "cheat" by using a gift card holder that my Stamping Club made last week.  My Last Minute Gifts Class was last night…fun…but it took them much longer than I anticipated (isn’t it always that way?)  But, a great group of gals and I certainly had fun, hope they did, too!  I know they loved the projects and I’ll be sharing them on here.

So, with a color combination of Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White as today’s challenge, how could I not pull out the Frosty Day Designer Paper from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I think this paper is FUN and this is my favorite pattern in the package!  Very non-traditional holiday colors!  And…Mr. Twigster fits right in with this paper as a little non-traditional snowman, too!

The base of this gift card is a Kraft Medium Size envelope.  For the outside, I stamped him in Basic Brown on Whisper White and colored his nose and scarf with Tangerine Tango and a little Bashful Blue around his body and the ground.  Then I added some liquid glue and Dazzling diamonds glitter all over his body and the ground.  Layered it on Chocolate Chip (oops!) and I used the Snow Blossom punch in Tangerine Tango with a Bashful Blue 1/2 circle and mini brad inside and popped it with dimensionals. 

Inside on the left side I used the verse from Wishing You Cheer stamp set…it is one of my favorites…and then the little tree is stamped in Kiwi Kiss and colored the ornaments with Tangerine Tango.  The right side is the pocket for the gift card.  To make the inside I first folded the envelope in half, then cut away the part of the flap and top portion of the right side, so I just had a pocket left.  I sealed the left side down.  Then I decorated the right side with more of the Frosty Day designer paper…Snowflake Pattern on the bottom and a trim of the reverse TT side to cover the seam. 

Before I placed Mr. Twigster on the front with dimensionals, I added some Tangerine Tango striped ribbon so I could tie the envelope closed. 

I’m excited to see what the rest of the Blogger’s have done this week with the color challenge.

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!