Flowers, flowers and more flowers!

Happy Tuesday craft friends! I thought I had programmed this post for yesterday but my little brain forgot to schedule it! 

I am very excited that I will begin teaching card-making classes at my local store called Scrapbook Centrale! I am so looking forward to the first class which should in March. The first class will be "faux watercolor" technique with Tombow markers.

The store started carrying Studio Katia and let me tell you I have been having fun with these stamps!

I started by die cutting my Bristol paper with the Darling Ribbon and Dotted Frames dies and I stamped my flower with Versafine Onyx Black ink.

My Tombow markers were the first markers I owned when I started card-making. I haven't used them in years but boy I have fallen in-love all over again. I used one color of pink and one blue for the flower from the Thank You So Much stamp set. I started with an initial wash of color, adding color in the shaded areas and blended to cover the whole petal with my water brush. Once it was dry, I went in a second time to intensify the shading. I added some blue around the flower and blended out also with my water brush. I love the effect and it didn't take much time to complete. 

This second set is such fun, it comes with two stamps that can fit together. I decided to use both but one outside and one in so when the recipient opens the card you see the pair.  I also only used one marker per color family for this one and painted the flowers all in the same way as the first project.

I used Bristol paper for this one also and die cut the flaps of the card with an MFT border die. I used my hole punch and added seem Lawn Fawn black Lawn Trimmings to tie the card flaps together. The sentiments are both from the Studio Katia Blooming Bunch stamp set.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

Feeling like spring!

Happy Wednesday crafty friends! Weather has been strangly spring-like here in Montreal. We don't usually get away with that in February, but i'll take it! lol!

I am enjoying playing with flowers and different coloring mediums lately in spring/summer colors.

This one features some newer Simon Says Stamp exclusive products, I just love their new floral frame dies. So many possibilities. For this project I used Distress Oxides for the background (Bristol card stock) in Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral (one of my favorite mixes) and i sprayed water drops with my Distress Sprayer.

I die cut my SSS Rose Flower Frame from Neena Solar White 80 lbs card stock and die cut it again with an MFT square die.  I decided to turn it into a shaker card so I added acetate to the flower frame. The sequins mix is by Neat and Tangled and the colors complement the background beautifully.

I put the shaker together and added a simple hello die from the SSS Hello Beautiful Gorgeous die set. I put the entire panel on a Neena 110 lbs. card base. I love the happy colors!

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Studio Katia Critters!

Happy Monday crafty friends! I haven't created a project featuring a critter in a long time (or at least it feels like a long time). The stamp set I used is by Studio Katia and it is dang cute!

But I mean how cute is that little lion from the Birthday Lions stamp set! This was an easy project, I started by die cutting my panel with the Avery Elle Wonky Stitched largest die and used my MFT cloud stencil with some Distress Ink in Shaded Lilac.  I then stamped my images from the Birthday Lions set on Neena 80lbs card stock and used my Copics in a rainbow of colors. Once my coloring was done I used the matching dies and added the sentiment (from the same set) on the first balloon. I added white gel pen detail on the yellow and orange balloons and the lions eyes and nose as well. 

I wanted more clouds so I took my MFT stitched clouds dies and added them to the card base. I put my elements together and then added a sprinkling of the Lucy's Little Things Rainbow gems (LOVE THESE). I finished off by adding a bit of glossy accents to his eyes and nose!

Thanks for taking the time! Have a great week!

Kim

CAS-ual Friday's Sketch Challenge!

Happy Friday crafty friends! Yup, it's that time for another fun challenge over at the CAS-ual Friday's Challenge Blog!  This time it's a sketch challenge!

I decided to flip the sketch for my project. I am usually drawn to white with bright colors but there is something about this Raspberry card stock that I simply love! I started by die cutting my circles and putting everything together using the die cut inlay technique. I then stamped my flowers and leaves from Pretty Posies in a shade darker than the card stock. I then die cut my Smiling Fri-Die from white card stock and fun foam. I used the same ink to shade my card stock and I topped it off with Nuvo Glaze. I then stamped the Sweet Fried from Special Delivery in VersaMark Ink and gold embossed the sentiment.

I finished off by adding some Fun-Fetti hearts and a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

Join us at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog for the chance to win $25 worth of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and, drum roll please... Michelle with double the prize if you use CAS-ual Fridays stamps!

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day and happy hump day! Popping in to share two quick Valentine's day cards using some alcohol inked backgrounds and all die cuts except for a portion of the sentiments!

I made the alcohol inked backgrounds a while ago. The first card features a mix of pinks, corals, reds and a touch of the Copper Mixative.  I just had to use my Falling Hearts Confetti Cuts by Reverse Confetti, it was backordered everywhere and I managed to get one from the oh so fast to ship Vanessa at Butterfly Reflections just in time for Valentine's day. I die cut it from woodgrain and vellum and stacked them for an offset look. I actually used glossy accents to glue the vellum and I am really impressed - you can't see the glue at all. This was a quick and easy one to put together I used a Lawn Fawn banner and sentiment and popped it up with foam tape. The tiny hearts are by Doodle Bug they are the cutest ever and come in a rainbow assortment.

This one was just as simple, mostly the same Alcohol Ink colors only I added the Silver Mixative. The cover die is by Tailored Expressions, another new product I just picked-up. I decided to turn it into a shaker card. I finished off the card with the Simon Says Stamp brush script Hugs die and the same Lawn Fawn Valentine sentiment only partially stamped.

Hope you are having a happy heart day, thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Looking forward to spring!

Happy Monday crafty friends! Spent a weekend with weird winter weather patterns so I was inspired to break out one of my favorite floral stamp sets to cheer me up!

This W Plus 9 Kind Soul stamp set makes my heart happy :) I took out my Tombow markers that I haven't touched in years and let me tell you I was so happy that I did! I only used two colors on each of the flowers and the leaves.  

I started by stamping the bouquet on a large piece of Bristol card stock only meaning to color the flowers. I added a wash to all of the leaves and flowers and blended out with my water brush. Once everything was dried I went back in with a darker color only adding a bit to the areas that would have the most shading and blended out once more with the water brush (which I used to have more control on the amount of water on the image).

Once I was done coloring, I decided to turn it into a one layer card. Using watercolor as opposed to Copics makes this so easy as there is no seeping of color on the back of the panel. I scored my card at 4.25 and creased it with my bone folder. 

I die cut the awesome, Awesome from Neat and Tangled in black card stock and glued it on the card front and then stamped the You Are from Avery Elle just above. To finish off the project, I added a sprinkling of Studio Katia diamond gems.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

Winter inspires rainbows!

Happy Wednesday (or hump day) crafty friends! For some reason I have been focusing on rainbow colors lately, more than likely inspired by winter which has been pretty intense thus far this year.

I have been playing a lot with my last Mama Elephant order and this project is no different :)

All of the stamps used are from the new Pretty Lovely stamp set by Mama Elephant from their January release. I cut a piece of Strathmore Bristol paper to 5.25 x 4 inches and I stamped the flower with VersaMark ink repeatedly around the border and white embossed the images with Nuvo embossing powder (love the pure white).  I decided to use my oh-so-loved Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color in the flowers.

Once I finished the flowers I decided on the large Lovely sentiment from the same set with the accompanying smaller sentiments. I stamped them with Versafine Onyx Black Ink (I always used this ink for sentiments unless I need to use my Copics on or around the sentiment). I love the black intensity you get from the Versafine.

I colored in the Lovely with the same colors of Zig markers and topped it off with Glossy Accents.  I then wanted to accent my flowers so I went in with a very pale green (Green Shadow I think???) used my water brush to soften the lines. I then finished it off with some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins!

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

Winter Rainbow with Mama Elephant

Happy Monday crafty friends! Snowy Sunday yesterday so I had time to spend in my craft room :)

My project today was inspired by Laura Bassen, I just love her graphic style especially with her rainbows :)  So I decided to try my luck with this project and I am so happy with the way it turned out.

I used the stitched rain drop from the new Mama Elephant Cloud Nine die set and die cut a variety of colors from both Lawn Fawn and My Favorite Things card stock. I found the centre point of my panel and started placing the rain drops from the centre on the entire panel and I cut the excess off with my Tonic paper trimmer. I then die cut my Mama Elephant Birthday Script die from a fun foam, StickIt and Neena 80 lbs sandwich.

For the happy I used the Happy Birthday from the Occasional Labels set and cut the birthday and simply added white gel pen to complete the white frame. I placed my panel on a Neena 110 lbs card base and that was it.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

CFC192 - Hearts, Hearts and More Hearts

Happy Friday crafty friends! Time for another challenge at the CAS-ual Friday's Challenge Blog! This week we are all about the hearts and the more the better!

I decided to start this project by playing with my alcohol inks on Yuppo paper. I loved the way the panel turned out with dark pinks and reds and you can see the swirls in the hearts.  I die cut my panel with the Heart Board Fri-Die - this is a fabulous die, it gives you five hearts that you can stack or use separately like I did here.

I embossed my background panel with a 3D embossing folder and I popped up my hearts with foam tape. I then chose a sentiment from the Cupid's Arrows stamp set, I love this sentiment - very Grey's Anatomy lol! I white embossed it on Tonic flat mirror card stock in red and also added it with foam tape.

To finish off the project I used my favorite ever accent hearts from the Fun-Fetti Fri-Dies set.

Join us at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog for the chance to win $25 worth of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and, drum roll please... Michelle with double the prize if you use CAS-ual Fridays stamps!

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim