Inchie INKlings

The Inchie House by Julia Stainton

Inchies are such a great design surface aren't they? It's so fun to discover different ways to use that tiny square inch.

Did you know that Inchies have been up-sized? Yes, that's right! Now there are more possibilities to using them! The Inchie + is a 1.5" size square and the Twinchie is a 2" size square. This works great for larger designs or how about mixing and matching them for different looks?

Today I'm going to look at the Inchie and Twinchie in a different way and take a fun building block approach. These simple shapes can be combined together to make a fun image, just like this  house.

If combined two Twinchies and two Inchies and with a tiny bit of cutting you can make a fun little image. Use your imagination. What else can you think of that could be built with some of these sweet products?

Here's how I started off. The black Twinchie is cut in  half to make a triangular roof. To create the chimney, the small black Inchie was cut in half.

To easily cut Inchies, I turn to my favorite tools. I love the Tonic Non-Stick Micro Serrated Scissors and the Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer. They are perfect for cutting cardstock and all manner of things but their sturdy blades make it easy to cut cleanly through the thick Inchie products.

To create my little house theme, I've covered some of the cut Inchie elements with patterned paper. For this card I've used the new Lily Bee Design Memorandum line 6x6 Tiny Tablet. I love these prints and colors for a warm homey look.

As you can see, all my papers were slightly distressed using the Tim Holtz Sanding Block. A sentiment is easy to add with some Tiny Type Stickers

If you like the idea of an Inchie house, how about personalizing it for the seasons. Wouldn't a little house in a snowy scene make a perfect Christmas card or how about a sweet house with a fall wreath on the door for Thanksgiving. The possibilities are endless!

Supplies:

Twinchie Squares, Assorted

Inchie Squares, Neutral

Black Cardstock

Black Tiny Type by Cosmo Cricket

Wood Bingo Pieces, Motif

Memorandum 6x6 Tiny Tablet by Lily Bee Design

Tim Holtz Sanding Block

Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

White Pigment Ink by Ranger

Tonic Non-Stick Micro Serrated Scissors

Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer

 

Have fun looking at your Inchies in a new way and thanks for stopping by!

All Mixed Up by Julia Stainton

Inchies are fabulous little pieces of paper goodness with so many possibilities. If you're reading this blog, you either already are addicted to Inchies or  you're new to Inchies and looking for ways to use them. Today I'd love to show you how inchies can unify a design.

I love squares for designing with and as you know, Inchies are 1 inch squares. These tiny squares are the perfect size to create a grid on cards. As I love squares, my favorite way to make a grid with Inchies is to have a square grid and end up withe a square card design. If you like the more traditional 4.25" x 5.5" card size best, you may want to create a grid with Inchies that is 2x3 tiles or 3x4 tiles in size.

By arranging the Inchies into a very easily unified grid, you can tie the design together. This allows you to mix it up and use all manner of stamps, paper or embellishments and any combo thereof to create a fun design.

This is a FABULOUS way to use up all those bits and pieces you have laying around from other projects and making them into one sweet project.

As you can see in the above photo, I've used tickets, brads, buttons, staples, stamping, punches, patterned paper and embellishments to decorate each of the nine Inchies a little differently. By using and Inchie to form the base of each tile, I have a unified but diverse project. Once you've created all your Inchie tiles, arrange them onto the card to see what looks best before the final adhering the of the Inchies.

Enjoy using Inchies to create with all those little bits and pieces you have laying around and create fun mix and match designs.

Supplies: Solar white Cardstock by Neenah, Out of Print 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey, Inchie Squares White by Inchie Arts, Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Dutch Mustard Soup stamp set by Unity, Country Gingham Flower by Maya Road, Frayed Burlap Distress Ink by Ranger, Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger, Aquamarine Archival Ink by Ranger, Rose Madder Archival Ink by Ranger, Tissue Tape by Tim Holtz, Classic Butterfly Punch by Martha Stewart, Out of Print button by Basic Grey, Hello Luscious Stitched Brads by Basic Grey, Sweet Threads Petals by Basic Grey, Mini Ticket Transparency Strip Black by Maya Road

Happy creating!

 

the Gallery Inchie INKlings Challenge Winner

A huge thank you to all who joined in our first challenge in the Gallery!

I can't believe that I just posted this without sharing the prize package - Geri you have won a $25 gift certificate to our store and you can use it to purchase whatever you would like! Please contact us via email if you haven't received a message from us shortly.

 

Following is our winning entry created by Geri - I love how Geri combined our challenge of black and white with mossy green/gray.

 

I would like to encourage you to visit the Gallery and join in the fun by sharing your work there as well as leave compliments for others who have shared their creations.

It is time to put my thinking cap on and come up with our next challenge, so stay tuned. I'm hoping to be back before heading off to CHA, but with doing a lot of year-end bookkeeping tasks the creativity has been pushed to the back seat for now. Oh to be able to clone myself or reduce the paperwork required to keep a business running :-D

Thank you again!

 

Happy New Year and an inchie INKling Challenge!

For those of you who have had such great patience and been such a support of our little "habitat" here on the web I am thrilled to share our latest challenge with you.

We are currently celebrating the 12 days of Christmas in the CLASSroom: Day 8 - Parisian Inspired Inchies and an Inchie Challenge and have some wonderful blog candy for you there! So be certain to head over and leave us a comment.

 

You have TWO WEEKS to become a member of our gallery and add a project (or more than one project if you are so inclined - the more projects the more opportunities you have to win) to our first INCHIE CHALLENGE in "the Gallery". There will be a fun surprise "in store" as we will be selecting a winner from these entries using a random number generator. So here is the challenge:

• create an inchie that uses black/white/and one color of your choice.
• rubber stamping must be a part of your entry and we would appreciate if you would use rubber stamp manufacturers that we carry in our store - Lockhart Stamp Company, Memory Box Company, Hero Arts, Stampers Anonymous, Claudine Hellmuth Creative Layers, 7 Gypsies, Pink Paislee, Maya Road, Webster's Pages, etc.
• You have until midnight PST January 16, 2011 to share your challenge entry. We will select the winner using a Random Number Generator from the entries at that time and post the winner on the gallery challenge as well as here on our blog.

Remember to visit the following 12 Days of Christmas blog candy drawings --- be certain to post a comment to the question on each individual post to be included in that drawing!

• One Stampin' Treasure
• Two Melting Tools
• Three Copic Goodies
• 3 Stamps + 1 Color Sampler = Four Memory Box Treats
• Five treats from Claudine's Lines
• Six Sizzix Goodies
• Seven Alterable Items

Max and Whiskers Trio @ The CLASSroom

Hello dear creators of Inchies!

I have two new sketches for you to play with.  We are going to play in The CLASSroom for these sketches so make sure you link your cards to The CLASSroom post.

Cheers, Lisa

 

Goodbye Cornish Heritage Farms Sale

You may have heard by now that Ellen is liquidating her CHF stock at 40% discount.  To that end, I wanted to share a few cards that might inspire you inchie lovers with stamps and paper that are still left in the store.

These cards were made several years ago, but all have an inchie theme and I know how much you folks love new sketches and layout ideas!

Please Note:  If I have not listed the supplies for a card, it means that the product is no longer available.  If you have questions, please ask them in the comment section of this post.

This card features the 8x8 paper pack by Kim Hughes called Mocha Chica has 24 sheets and is on sale for $5.99!

----------------------------------------------------------------

These next two cards feature the stamp set called Baby Love (Kim Hughes Collection) which is a HUGE set with 27 images for $14.99.

See you soon for the next sketch challenge!

Inchingly Yours, Lisa  

Inchie Card Sketch #8 by Lisa Strahl

All I can say is WOW.  I just love that you all are loving these inchie sketches as much a I do!!!!

We had such great participation in this challenge that I want to give a random lucky winner a box of white inchies from Inchie Arts, LLC.

The Sketch #8 winner is:

Happy Heart (Nancy), please send us your snail mail address!  Here is a link to Nancy's card.

Just one inchie to focus on for this sketch.  Have fun!!!

Inchingly Yours,  Lisa

Inchie Card Sketch #7 by Lisa Strahl

Hello!  Hope everyone has been well this past few weeks.  You all have contributed some amazing creativity to Sketch #6 and I am blessed each time I see a new link come in.

We are going to change things up just a little in that the Sketch will be open until I post the next one, rather than just a week long period.  That will give all of us a little more flexibility to put up a new sketch and a little longer for you to work on your cards.

The winner of Sketch #6 is Betty Benton!  Please send your snail mail address to customerservice@ellenhutson.com to claim your Inchie Stamp Prize - IB Rose Bouquet.

I also wanted to mention that The CLASSroom Teachers focused on Inchies last week - lots of FAB-U-LOUS inspiration there for the inchie fascinated.  Here are the links to the posts:

Inchie Photo Art Frame by Julia Stainton

Colorful Butterflies by Sharon Harnist

Thank You Blocks by Kim Hughes

Polyshrink Inchie+ by Lisa Strahl

Without further chatter, here is Inchie Card Sketch #7:

I hope to do some creating with this sketch myself this week!

Inchingly Yours, Lisa Strahl

Inchie Card Sketch #6 by Lisa Strahl

Hello lovely Inchie friends!

I had a wonderful post written, but Typepad decided to close down and thus all of my jabbering was lost.  Maybe that's a good thing!

I wanted to share the new sketch with you tonight anyway and I will be back soon to give you all of the details on how I made the digital papers.

Supplies used include:  Black Embellished Butterflies inked with Old Paper and Antique Linen Distress Ink, Inchie Style Stamp Set, Jet Black Archival Ink , Black Tiny Type Stickers, red jewels, Black Inchie Squares and Jenni Bowlin Papers resized and printed from the ScrapHD Program.

Have a restful and creative Sunday, Lisa

Inchie Card Sketch #5

Happy Inchie Card Sketch Day!

I have to tell you how touched I was by your outpouring of well wishes and concerns after my little accident.  That you for being patient - I felt like I was letting ya'll down since you have been so kind to play along with these sketches right from day one.  It means a lot to me.  *hugs*

Today's sketch is going to give you the chance to make LOTS of inchies!  That doesn't mean that it has to take a long time though...let me show you what I mean.  Note:  All measurements you need are right on the sketch, hope that helps. 

My first "make it quick" tip of the day is to use a 7/8 inch square punch.  Can you cut 7/8 on your trimmer?  I am sure you can.  BUT, can you eyeball this perfect little layout of the butterfly and flowers?  You can use your punch as a viewfinder of sorts to help you decide on the best use of your patterned paper.

Speaking of patterned paper, the Webster's Pages 6x6 Petite Paper Pads are ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for Inchies and Artist Trading Cards.  Sorry I had to yell there, but I am serious.  They have so many serendipitous images nestled within their papers.  De-li-cious.  I used Lullaby Lane/LIfe's Portrait for this design.  Other's available include Garden Gala/Seaside Retreat and Home for the Holidays/Winter's Wings.

Another essential tool for this card is the Design Ruler.  The next two pictures show how I was able to space these 14 inchies exactly 1/8 of an inch apart in a frame on this card.  I used a few pieces of Judikins Eclipse Tape to hold my card and ruler in place while I adhered the squares down.  The beauty of the Eclipse Tape is that it is tacky enough to hold the project, but won't damage it.

 

You also may have noticed that I am using Black Inchie Squares.  They make the perfect frame for my little images.  :)  Here are my inchies perfectly placed.  *happy sigh*  The perfectionist in me sings with joy.  Don't laugh, you know you have the same problem.

 

To finish the card I stamped the "Never give up hope" sentiment (Beacon of Hope set) with Jet Black Archival Ink and embellished with a Black Butterfly (Jenni Bowlin), Cream Lace (Prima) and a row of black pearls.

So there you have it!  Go forth and INCHIE my friends.

Oh!  One more thing, Ellen is putting on one of her rare store wide sales this weekend so if there was something you wanted to stock up on, now is the time!

 

Inchingly Yours, Lisa Strahl