Frog Leg Card/Diamond Fold Card

Hello crafters and welcome back to Inkallusions. I am finally getting it together by learning how to portion my time better. I become so involved in what I am doing that I lose all track of time.

I would like to share some 4th of July cards I made to decorate my home this year.


I have taken creative license and renamed the Diamond Fold card to the Frog Leg Card courtesy of my son. At first glance he exclaimed, 'It looks like a frog's legs'. I could not agree more. Thus the christening of this card. Since we were nearing the celebration of the birth of the United States of America, I chose to create something patriotic. These are the results.

I can see this design being used as place cards for the holidays or a rehearsal dinner displaying a photo of the bride/groom to be with the appropriate attendant/parent. What a wonderful keepsake which can be displayed year round. This is what the card looks like when it is flat in the envelope.

Here is a view when it is opened and displayed.

You can watch this video to see how it all came together.

Of course you can create the look of additional layers with the creative use of ink. As always keep inking in the name of love.

Until then.

Still Easter

Yes, it is still Easter at my house. We actually have not put away the decorations. I am enjoying having them out since we have been innudated with rain for the past few weeks. I have to admit the dreariness was getting me down. When I looked up and spied one of these cards looking back at me my spirits were immediately lifted. I hope they have the same impact on you.

This one is fun and whimsical. On looking back on it, I should have stamped grass under the feet of the bunnies. They look like they are just floating. When I create more for mailing, I think I will do just that. A card can never have too much ink.



These photos show a close up of the girl and boy bunny. Aren't they precious? The entire set is from Studio G. Gotta love those dollar stamp sets. I used the Sakura gel glaze pens on these. I got carried away with apertures and glaze. That raised embossed effect you get is incredible.

This final picture is of the flowers in the center of the card that makes that aperture come alive. I used the Nestabilities scallop circles and since they are graduated, used one die for the paper and a smaller die for the card behind the aperture. The paper by the way is from Die Cuts With a View. I had a chance to pick up a kit that has some inspirational paper and embellishments to get you crafting.
I stamped the image using Black Staz On ink and used my Glitter markers and glaze gel pens on the flowers and the sentiment.

It was hard to reign myself in and not add more ink to the card. Mmmm. This one is inkalicious. And as always done with love.

Until then.

More Easter

Although Easter Sunday has come and gone, it is never to late to share ideas for the coming season if the Lord is willing and the creek don't rise. ( I heard that growing up.) Here are a couple of more cards for your enjoyment.

This is the card opened. I decided to use the aperture to place a phrase inside the card. The photo below shows what the card looks like when it is closed.

The base of the card started out white and I used several shades of yellow and green to achieve this look. I tried to keep it analogous and use black as a powerful accent. The He Is Risen is slanted on purpose. I wanted to give the illusion that the circle is rising towards the heavens. Again, I inked using the stencil brushes. I just love those.

This next card used those same Studio G stamps and the Sakura glaze pens. I actually used the Sakura pens on the Happy Easter and Ranger clear glaze on the egg to make it shine. Yummy.
So as not to be outdone I gave the words some sparkle and shimmer of their own using the Sakura glaze pens and some of the Fiskars glitter gel pens. And of course the eggs wanted in on the bling action. I feel that the gel pens really brought this card to life. The 3-D effect is outstanding.

It was a lot of fun experimenting with these cards. I had never done apertures before and once I started I could not stop. So guess what you will see on the next five cards or so? You are sooo smart. Apertures. As always I will find creative ways to Ink in the Name of Love.

Until then.

The Learning Lab #1--Quick Cards

Hello and Happy Spring!!!!!
On the QVC Yahoo scrappers board one of the members posted regarding 6x6 paper. She wanted to know how else could she use it for other than matting photos. I believe she enjoyed scrapping in 12x12. I have a few 6x6 albums but find that it is limiting for telling complete stories. I would rather devote those to a special event. Her question was exactly the challenge I needed.

In addition, I needed to create some quick cards. That idea evolved into a series of quick cards using 6x6 paper. Here are a few of the photos.

I also created a video demonstrating the project. Since the video exceeded the limit set by Blogger, I uploaded to Vimeo. I sped up the footage and when Vimeo converted the movie, some of the takes became unstable and blurred. I will work tomorrow to separate out the video into two smaller ones.

Until that happens here is the link to see this one.

http://www.vimeo.com/3806460

I hope you will join me again on this blog for more from the Learning Lab. In subsequent posts, I will focus on each of the cards and share some of the elements and techniques used to create them.

Keep Inking In the Name of Love.

Until then.

The Brown Series Two

Hello. This has been a whirlwind weekend for me. It has been read across America week to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. I read aloud The Gingerbread Cowboy to my son's kindergarten class and then again to a group of sixth graders on Friday. They both loved the western take on an old classic. I love reading. I will devour a good novel in one evening. It has been discovered that I will read to exhaustion.

Upon coming home I hurried to my computer because Kelly at Flowers to Flourishes was having a marathon sale this weekend. You had to register by March 2nd to participate. I was good. I think I only ordered two items on Friday and three on Saturday. The sale ran through Sunday night where I picked up several bargains. I might just faint when I see my invoice. I am so glad that she hooked up with our QVCYahooScrappers group to get this event going. Thanks, Kelly, you ROCK.

Back to the title of my post. This is the second card in my brown/earth tone series. I have been working to step out of my comfort zone. I took a few close ups to give a better idea of some of the techniques I used.

On these two flowers I stamped that fabulous medallion on the orange and a second generation stamp on the lt. blue flower. I adhered the felt centers using a cream colored brad.

On the right hand side of the card I stamped a medallion below the flower to echo the one I decided to use on the flower.

Kind of like a repeat pattern. I also used the medallion to stamp a background on the card since I decided not to use a backer. There is a lot going on with this card, but I wanted the look to remain simple in appearance; therefore, the background effect is achieved through second generation stamping.

If you look closely at the

bottom tags you will notice that the corners have been rounded. Each was embossed using three different circular cuttlebug folders.

After embossing I used a cosmetic wedge to transfer the blue ink to the raised portion of each embossed center.

I then used the Anna Griffin Chocolate Ink to stamp the sentiments from Inkadinkado peg words set. They are intentionally stamped at an angle.

The main quote is from Fiskars and is stamped in chocolate on orange which is inked in blue and matted on brown cardstock--all from Bazzill. Of course to finish off the card I edged the entire perimeter in blue ink. There is ink all over this card. I really love the title quote: Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy yours and spread a little Ink in the Name of Love along the way.

Until then.

The Brown Series One

Hello again.

Wow, do I have a treat for you. While cleaning in my studio, I came across some papers I had used for designing some wedding invitation samples. Then I remembered the Little Yellow Bicycle stamps that I had recently received and the creative juices began flowing.

I recalled that I had cut the sample paper to specific measurements. Then I thought how can I test my new stamps and use up all of my paper to create a variety of cards by simply changing the greeting/journaling?

This is the first result of my efforts. I had so much fun working on this card. I did hit a lull when I could not decide how to or if I should use the medallions. Yes, you read correctly. I stamped with Tim Holtz Marmalade Distress Ink and cut out three of them. I finally settled on the one in the left hand corner. You will probably see the other two show up on another card.

The Thank You is from Imaginisce, stamped with Anna Griffin Chocolate ink and trimmed using the Deckle edge scissors. All other paper used on the card is from Bazzill texture. I love the Bling paper, especially the String of Pearls which is what I used for the medallion and the Thank You. The handwriting stamp is from Paper Wishes Hot off the Press. I absolutely adore their rubber stamps. The detail is incredible.

And now for the focal part of the card. That breathtaking butterfly and the stem of flowers. I could not decide how to approach the butterfly. I finally decided to use a variety of the Tim Holtz Distress inks with my stipple brush. Once I had coverage in about three different shades, I pounced using the Chocolate ink. The outline of the insect was meant to be left open, but I closed it off by using a Marvy Uchida brown fine tip marker.

For the flowers I used a variety of Marvy markers. Lt green and dark green was used on the leaves. That same brown was used for the stem and the flower were a mixture of orange and scarlet. I tried to go deeper on the edges of the flowers to give them some depth. I was pleased with the overall presence of the card. The small dots leading to the butterfly are also from a LYB stamp set. The ribbon is American Crafts, brad from PaperWishes and flowers are Prima. Of couse I could not leave well enough alone. Once I had finished stamping the handwriting pattern, I used that same brown ink to pounce the edges of the card. A bit of orange was mixed in for the top and bottom of the card.

My aim is to see how much I can maximize this color combination. Of course each one will be happily Inked in the Name of Love.

Until then.

It's the Luck of the Irish, doncha know

While shopping for groceries last week, my son wanted to buy a box of Lucky Charms cereal because there was a car inside as a prize. After putting away the box, it ocurred to me that he was my lucky charm, thus giving me the idea for this card. I stamped the letters using the KI Memories Alpha stamps and the Studio G St. Pat's Day acrylic stamps. The rainbow was created using colored embossing markers and puffy paint on the clouds. The hat was colored using Derwent Metallic colored pencils--it is a little hard to see the shading. While I was at it, I did several charms including a pint of ale and a pot of gold. You will see those on another card. The swirl is from Little Yellow Bicycle. To achieve the pseudo rainbow, I tore a piece of paper and used the edge to create my pattern and using a stipple brush, applied the various ink colors. I did not matte the rainbow, it has been applied directly to the card front.

Keeping with the tradition of St. Patrick's Day I'd like to share this information from http://www.history.com/

The Chicago River

Chicago is also famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week!

Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only forty pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours. Although Chicago historians claim their city 's idea for a river of green was original, some Savannah natives believe the idea originated in their town.

They point out that 1961, Savannah mayor Tom Woolley had plans for a green river, but due to rough water on March 17, the experiment didn 't work and Savannah never attempted to dye its river again.

Don't let that happen to you. Always use your dyes and Inks in the Name of Love.
Until then.