Stamping with Crafty Friend Jill Hawkins!!

Hey there! It's a Monday, and what better way to start off the week, than with a card! I wanted to share with you a little number that I made up a few months ago. You might remember the Re-Mix challenge they had over at PC Magazine for a publication call? Well, you were supposed to choose a crafty friend to work with. One of you makes a card and the other re-mixes the idea and makes a card as well.  

Well, my special crafty friend Jill Hawkins over at Fastest Turtle joined with me to make some card magic together. Now let me just say, Jill is a gem! She is so kind, and generous and FUNNY! She just cracks me up all the time. I loved working with her. Her style is fun and fresh and she does really intricate work. Every time I see something of hers I go, "MAN! That is awesome!"  I was so happy she was willing to be my partner. And wouldn't you know, we made cards that got picked up for publication! YAY! (Too bad PC Mag had to shut down before actually using them. Boo :(

So today to start our week out right, Jill and I are sharing the cards we made. Here is the first one. Some spotlight stamping:

This started as a die cut water-colour panel. I stamped the images with coloured ink and then spritzed them with water. I then stamped the background in varying greys and then splattered the whole thing with some gold spray mist.

And here is the second card using some coloured embossing paste and a stencil. This stencil is definitely my favourite! All the inks I used to tint the embossing paste with are Distress Inks. I love all these colours together.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts which I covered with a healthy dose of Glossy Accents.

And actually, you get to see a little bonus card. This card was originally different.... Here is the first attempt I made when I used water-colour and the stencil together (A technique you can learn from the Online Card Classes: Watercolor for Cardmakers). I used the same supplies, just different colours and technique. I started with a panel of card stock painted with some gesso. I decided the card above was stronger, so I entered it as the one for publication instead. That's the great thing about crafting! You can try different things to see what results you get. It's a fun way to learn.

Please be sure to check out Jill's blog and post to see her take on these cards. She creates amazing things! She is currently on the MFT design team and creates stunning cards every week that are inspiring and get your crafty blood pumping. Be sure to stop by her blog to say "HELLO Wonderful," to her!!

Thanks so much Jill for being my special crafty friend! You make me smile and give me the urge to bust out my ink and stamps. A girl couldn't ask for much more than that! God bless you, friend....

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a great week! Get craft and do something special for yourself. I hope amazing things are in store for you, starting with today!

Until next time,
xoxo
k

Looooove You: Ink blending

Hello there!! I have fallen deeply in love with Distress Inks, have you? They blend like a miracle on paper. Here is one of the first cards I did with some blending. It's been sitting in the archives waiting to be used. And today, is that day!

I have since picked up 4 of the mini cube Distress Ink sets. I love the cubes! They come in great colours and are small enough that they don't eat up a lot of space in the studio (which is already limited!)

I masked off my water-colour paper to create my white frame and blended my ink in the centre. I then did a little spritz-spritz to add some ink movement.  I then stamped over it with my Origami stamps (Mama Elephant Stamps). I mounted it onto a Plum Pudding (PTI) card base and called that thing good, after adding some sugar dots, of course. You can never go wrong with some sh-sh-shugah!

That's all for today! I wanted to do a quick pop in to say hello. And since my kids are out of school for most of this week, I don't see a lot of crafting time in my future and pulled a card to share just so I could come and see you.  Cause I love you like that ; )

How are things? Thanks for all your comments and love. I hope all is well with you and yours.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

k

Paper Wings Productions August Challenge

**I have never had more than one post in a day, this is momentous! So if you're interested in The Card Concept blog post too, please scroll down! Yay for double post days!**

Hey there crafty peeps! Today marks the Paper Wings Productions August Challenge!  Can I get an "Aw-yeah!"??

Ok, are you ready for this? Here is my card based on the challenge: Anything Goes!

I love the Vintage Technology set. It's just so great. And this little cassette (as you may know) is a fav of mine right now. I was playing around with a lot of sets and this little cassette just kept sneaking back into my hands! It has a mind of it's own!

So here is what I did:

I stamped and fussy cut my cassettes and then using Distress Inks and my Aqua brush I painted each one a different colour. I wasn't looking for perfection or control really, just a nice smattering of paint. A little 'rock-n-roll' if you will.

I splattered my card base with some black paint and then lined up the cassettes leaving a spot for my sentiment. I used some Magenta embossing powder and the Solid Whimsical Alphabet stamp set to create the word MIX. (my photo below was my testing emboss... you want to be sure you are going to like it before you put it on your card of cute cassettes!!)

I then used some Basic Grey alpha stickers to finish off the sentiment. And just so you know, I did a little google for some nice graphic prints of cassette tapes. I needed some inspiration and that's how I got the sentiment. You can find it around the web-o-sphere. But you know, it rings true to me, which is why I wanted to use it.

Because as time will attest, life is definitely a mix tape. You never know what is going to come next. Sometimes you feel like dancing and other times you want a slow sap-song to cry your eyes out to. But regardless the music keeps coming ; )  This seems like a good card for a friend who might need a little pick-me-up. You know, some love from one friend to another.

Ok. That's all for me today. Check out the Paper Wings Productions blog and participate in this monthly challenge! It's a great challenge for everyone because, well, Anything goes! AND there's something fun to win, so what are ya waiting for?!

Thanks for stopping in today. And thanks for your comments! I love hearing from you so drop me a line if you have an extra moment to spare!

xoxo

k

Vintage Technology Clear Stamp Set

Solid Whimsical Alphabet Clear Stamp Set

InLinkz.com

Mama Elephant, Die Cuts and Inks, OH MY!

Hello! Happy day to you!  I wanted to share a card with you today. This is a funny story, and so I'm-a gonna share it.... I made this card for a design team submission, but then it turns out that the call was really really old and I didn't realise it until just this week! So, while that's kind of a bummer, I'm really glad I made it anyway because I had a lot of fun making my own stencil with a SSS die cut and then inking with Distress inks (for the sun). It turned out really vibrant and while it might be a bit dark, I kind of like how it jumps out and grabs ya!

I used Paper Smooches edge die cuts for the grassy hills and inked those with some Mowed Lawn distress ink. I put a smaller hill in the background and left it lighter. The cloud die cut is actually a thought bubble from Simon Says Stamp but I just left off the little thinking dots to make it a cloud and added some more ink.

I coloured that bunny with some Copic Markers, but I think next time I will try coloured pencils instead. It just made him too dark for my taste. I wanted him to pop a bit more, but I did give him a little bowl cut hair do, if you look close enough. Kind of dorky. But cute!

Thats all for right now. We are looking at the weekend fast approaching (as well as school break) and I couldn't be more relieved! Sometimes the weeks can bring you down with too many things to do and you need a nice weekend to lighten things up! Unless of course there are too many things to do on the weekend and then your just tired!

Ok, have a great day!
love to you and yours,
k

*Mama Elephant UP AND AWAY Creative Cuts Steel Dies MEL-009

*Simon Says Stamp SUNSHINE Craft Dies S187

*Paper Smooches BORDERS 1 Wise Dies Kim Hughes

InLinkz.com

You brighten My Day

I finally got my hands on the new Watts Up set from Simon Says Stamp. I just love it so much. So very cute. 

I couldn't wait to try it out and whipped this baby up. 

Again, I used the specialty paper and some distress inks by Tim Holtz to do the background. I covered it with colour and then spritzed it with water. It made this cool mottled look. Matted it with black and added it to my card base. Then just stamped the other images over it and added a pop up heart in yellow. Pretty simple.

I am really loving distress inks. I could live on Jennifer McQuires You Tube page and watch every video (oh wait, I DID!)

I love all the possibilities and hope to do more soon. Did you see the resist technique with the ironing? I know... you want to try it too...

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm going to try and take the kids down to the pool today. I mean, we live in Singapore, so we should, right!?

loves

k

Runway Inspired Challenge #58 and CAS(e) this sketch #73

 So this is my very first shot at a Runway Inspired Challenge and a CAS(e) challenge!!

I have eyed them for awhile but it's taken me awhile to get my crafting groove working for me in this new space. But now, I'm ready...

Hopefully I can keep this up! 

Heres the challenge...

It's actually a 2 way challenge this time with a CASe sketch too.

Here's my take on these challenges:

By way of explanation.... I've been looking for the Tim Holtz distress water-colour paper everywhere.  Well, maybe not everywhere, but there are few places that I have found here in Singapore that have crafty supplies and I have been out of luck finding the paper I want. But, I did find this specialty paper by Ranger (Inkssentials) that is slicky and shiny and for all sorts of mediums, or so it said on the package. So I pulled out my ink pads and used them like watercolors. The difference is it doesn't soak in and bleed like water-colour paper would. The ink sits on top and pools in this really fun way. 

Overall, I like how the paper took the ink, but of course its totally different than I had expected. Which is good! I ended up using something like 8 different inks because I was looking for the right shades and didn't know how they would take. They started to mute when I dried them with a heat gun, so I had to reapply over and over. I had better vibrant pools of colour when I just let it air dry. Good thing to know, eh?

The other thing to note is the black background paper... I actually ran it through my Cuttlebug with a Provo Craft embossing folder and then drew inside the indentations with a white gel pen. I wanted to mimic the shorts this hot lady is wearing in the challenge. I just needed to figure out how to do it best. I thought of just stamping but couldn't find a background stamp I was happy with. (how is that even possible with all the stamp sets I have!?) I like the texture this gives the background. It's the kind of card you want to touch. which I like.

Anyway, I was realising Mother's Day is coming up and I need to get moving on my card so it makes it back to the states in time for my momma to feel the love! Feels good to actually get it done on time.

Alrighty, thats it! Check out the challenges Here and Here.

Hope you get to play along too!

Thanks for stopping by.

k

Distressed Postcard

I picked up a package of postcards from Michael's awhile back. I was really excited to use them and then let them sit, for months. I'm not proud of how I am, but I'm not scared of sharing the truth, and this IS what happened ; ) It all finally came together for me when I added to my distress ink collection at CHA. Here is what I did:

I started with some Tim Holtz masks. They are clear plastic and sticky on one side. I laid those down first and then blended 4 different Tim Holtz distress inks over top. After peeling up the masks, I stamped over the entire card with Background Basics: Text Boxed in Dark Chocolate (not fully inked) and then some Polka Dot Basics II by Papertrey Ink with more distress ink. I only did polka dots on the left side. I added some nifty vintage stamps I got from my sister-in-law, (I have no idea the company), and then added my sentiments by Ali Edwards. I honestly love THIS set!  I threw on some glitter while the polka dots were still drying to add a little somethin' somethin'. I'm pretty sure you can't see that part ; )

Ok, so the back is printed just like a postcard. A small square for postage and a line down the middle to separate the message from the address. I love the idea of sending postcards, just randomly to anyone. You never know, you may get one of these in the mail, so keep your eyes peeled. I also love that it didn't take me an entire night to make it up. It came together really fast! So what do you think??

Thanks for stopping by today. You make me smile!!

k

Deets:

Stamps: Loving Words by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday, Polka Dot Basics II, Background Basics: Text Boxed by Papertrey Ink, Vintage Stamps (company unknown)

Ink: Shabby Shutters, Broken China, Tea Dye, Scattered Straw Distress Inks by Tim Holtz, Jet Black by StazOn, Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink

Paper: Postcard

Accessories: Glitter

365 Cards: What's Your Sign?

Happy Wednesday my friends! I am finally home from my trip. My mother leaves today and we have been trying to craft up a storm, but you know there is just SO much chatting to do! Here is my card for todays 365 Card Challenge:

The challenge is to make a sign for your card (or make it your card!). I know, I know... it's no longer really summer. We are maybe closer to saying goodbye than hello but I really wanted to make this sign. I used some of my new goodies I got at CHA. Nothing that is new on the market, but it is new in my stash so it was fun!
This sign is made of grunge paper by Tim Holtz. It is kinda leathery and not like paper at all. I stamped on it and then used distress inks to give it some color. I also used some sponging for the grass too. I have these flowers that I stamped onto some white paper YEARS ago. Its a SU! set, that was never mine and I don't even know which friend it belonged to. We used to get together and we would stamp each others sets so we had them in our stash. Well it feels good to finally use them!

Ok. That is it for today. I have lots of fun sets to show you this week, and be sure to stay with us for next weeks sponsor Art Glitter. I can't wait to have my house in a flurry of glitter!! 

Thanks for stopping in!

loves

k

Deets:

Stamps: Hero Arts Clouds, Kim Hughes Summer Trees, Sassafras Lass Vintage Frames

Ink: Tim Holtz Perfect Medium, SU! Basic Black

Paper: Papertrey Ink Stampers White, Tim Holtz Grunge Paper

Accessories: SU! Earth Elements Markers, Gelly Roll Glitter Stars Pen