Young Crafters of the World!

Woot I found a new challenge to partake in! As I'm a young crafter I have to participate, that and the challenge is color a stamp image. I adore my Copic's and am happy to break them out anytime.

Last week I took a Copic class with the talented Jennie Black. I learned a ton from her most importantly how to properly use the colorless blender. Then when I saw this challenge I had to put the new tips to good use with this new stamp set. I just adore those leaves.

Here's my card:

Stamps all Hero Arts: Designer woodgrain, Real Leaves, Find Joy

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa and Vintage Photo

Starting with craft card stock I masked off the middle and stamped the wood grain stamp using the Memento ink. I later went back and stamped the inside as it was to plain. The leaves where stamped with Memento and colored with Copic's ....I will say one of the things I took away from the class was the importance of listing the markers used. So I promise to be better about letting you know which marker I use. I still want you to use your artistic license though... I used..

The green/yellow leaf: Goo, Go2, Go5, Y04, Y06, and C0

Orangy/Red/Yellow ish leaf: Y15, Y17, Y38, R12, R14, R17, and C0

Red leaf: Yr16, Yr02, R12, R14, R17, R24, and C0

All three leaves were colored with Co first then with their colors, cut out and outlined with E39. I added the vintage photo to the outside of the card, adhered everything down. Added some floss and then the sentiment, which was used with with memento. I'm very happy with the results and am excited to do more coloring soon.

Critters

I've said it a few times if I'm gonna make cards I may as well try to win some cool stuff with them. There are a few challenges I enter every time... mostly because their prizes are really cool or they are just really awesome....example being the Lawnscaping challenge.

The one contest I enter every month is Hero Arts Monthly Challenge. Lol this is the company that started me on this the whole thing. Here is a pic of my very first card I entered... oh so many moons ago. :D They give great stuff and a fantastic prize.. $50 in product.

I had a really hard time with the challenge this month. I was focusing on the cards for kids option. The fact is I have kid friendly stuff however it's not made by Hero Arts. I was considering not entering this month but I went back and actually read the contest details. Come to find out there were 2 other options! Critters or scenes.. I can do those easy. Next time I should read the whole thing first instead of skimming. Anywho I got to work...

I love how this card turned out.

The basics used:

Stamps: Antique Engravings, Fabulous Flourish, Envelope Pattern, and Find Joy

Ink: Memento Blk (butterfly), Spice Tin by Jenni Bowlin (Flourish), Soap Powder also by Jenni Bowlin (background), Faded Jeans (the darker blue around the edging), and StazOn Jet Black (sentiment)

And of course Copic's that I didn't write down.. looking at it I can tell you I used B04. That would give a you a good starting point. The flourish was spayed with Perfect Pearls mist after it was inked however the photo doesn't really show that.

The flourish looks really awesome in person and I didn't want to cover it up with the sentiment so I decided to put the sentiment on vellum. A long story short I ended up putting a piece of blue card stock behind it. I will have to keep playing with the vellum so I can get whats in my brain actually working in real life.

I have come along way in such a short time and to think its only been a few months, now to actually win something. Well I have won the Washi Tape... which I have been having mixed feelings about. I like it but at the same time I don't. I think its cuz of the colors I have.. I don't know though. I need to keep playing with them. I digress.. A couple of days ago I won some 6x6 samples of graphic 45 paper from Simon Says Stamp Blog. I'm not to sure what that mean's their paper packs are in 8x8 form. We'll see when it arrives. I'll keep ya posted.

Have a great weekend!

Katie

An Elegantly Embossed Card

I did another "kill two birds with one stone" it was a perfect fit. CAS-ual Friday challenge (Embossing) with Penny Black Challenge make an elegant card. Here's my card:

This was really fun to do...took a while but it was fun.

Stamps...all Penny Black: Majestic Composition, Hello Friend and To You They were all stamped with Memento black ink.

For the "leaves" I embossed a green piece of card stock using a Cuttlebug Embossing folder and cut them out.. that was kinda a pain but it was worth it. Dk looked at them as I was almost done and said they needed a pop of color so I sanded them some... he was right. Note to self.. next time sand it before cutting them out. Thankfully with glue and G09 they could fix any boo boo's not that there were any of course. ;)

The card was looking a little plain so I punched it up by clear embossing the majestic composition stamp. The flower was colored with Y32, Y35, Y38.

Easy Peasy

Loot pack #2

Woo Hoo my second order came :D

Sorry the photo is bad I took it with my phone instead of the camera. I was in a hurry this morning that and I was having to much fun with the die-namics . Oh wow are they cool... there's a reason they are called My Favorite Things.

Plus I got some fun stamps.. sorry Stamp Fever... but I had to use up my gift card. I did try to use it on stuff that I can't get at my local store, hence the My Favorite Things dies and the gelatos. :D Very exciting stuff. So exciting I had to place another order of die-namics. :D

Tomorrow night is crafting night I'm excited to see what pops out of my head.

Lawnscaping Challenge #16

The current Challenge is:

One layer ... I had a hard time with this. I think the Big shot has me out of practice. :D I wasn't super happy with the first card so I made a second. Technically I made a third however the third doesn't use Lawn fawn stamps so I won't submit it. Here's my first card:

The current sponsor is Jenni Bowlin so I broke out with my JB stuff and got to work. I scored off a rectangle and masked it off using post it notes. Then painted the grass with the Jenni Bowlin Paint dabbers. I stamped using the Jenni Bowlin ink pads then filled it in with the corresponding paint. The outside was kinda plain so I masked off the inside and pulled out my Hero Arts Friend definition stamp inked it with Stick Candy and ta-da..

Stamps

Lawn Fawn : Fly Free, Cruising through life (sentiment), Bon Voyage,

Hero Arts: Friend definition.

Ink: Stick Candy, Chicken Feed, Soap Powder, Spice Tin (sentiment)

Paint Dobbers: Stick Candy, Seed Packet, Soap Powder, Chicken Feed.

I am sorry to say, Chili Powder, Soap Powder, Chicken Feed are no longer being made. There are some other new colors so that's cool. Here's a full list of all available colors if your interested.

The Second card:

When I was cleaning up this little guy said use me... use me.. so I did. Then he needed a little something something so I reached for the washi tape. It looks cool.

I colored the soup in the bowl with Copic's NO I don't have the numbers. I used a light tan (E11?) and a bright yellow (Y09?) (hubby's suggestion) Then I used rock candy and diamond stickles to bring it to life. After which I drowned the whole thing in glossy accents. It's cute the washi tape gives it a bandage feel. Yellow is perfect for cheering up a sick day.

Thar be loot!

Aye mateys! Thar be the loot I plundered from the depths of the sea.. arrrr...

Well I didn't actually plunder it.... I got a very generous gift card from my awesome Mother in Law and legally obtained my loot via the internet. Here is my bounteous haul:

Lots of stuff for the big shot :D and some other fun goodies. Very happy with the corner chomper. I was talked into buying a not so great one and never really cared for it. Cheaper isn't always better. As this is what all the experts use so I am secure in my purchase. (plus I got it at 40% off)

So funny ha ha.. the sizzix texture plates.. (top left with 6 circles) so come to find out they only work if you own the texture and the silicone rubber mats...after a quick run over to Stamp Fever I now have them on order. Thankfully they are cheap.

You would think I'd learn you see I was given/picked out some Tim Holtz movers and shapers dies.. I tried and tried they just wouldn't' work. I resorted to pulling out the instructions and actually reading them. yeah that wasn't much help so I turned to my good pal YouTube.... sure enough there is the man himself telling me I need a base tray. huh.. who knew? After I watched the video I saw on the packaging in itty bitty print.. blah blah blah needed for use sold separately blah blah blah. Needless to say that to is on order.

Hopefully I won't need any other random things for the big shot. We'll see though one more box of loot is set to arrive soon.

Arrrr matey's here is a little gem I found to get you into the mood. Pippy in the South Seas with one of the greatest composers of this century..... Hans Zimmer.

Food and Drink Challenge

It's so great to get back into the swing of things. So far summer has been awesome and thankfully we still have some of it left. I am glad that life's travels have calmed down and I can get back into crafting on my usual days and back to my monthly classes :D Crafting with others is lots of fun. Plus I'm not just learning from the instructor but from all my new friends. Although I am kinda bummed Barbara and I won't be together on Saturday... that might be for the best since we can be quite the trouble makers. :D

All the Christmas stuff is coming out and it's time for me to get that second job to afford it all. :D Until then I will have to try and win free stuff. One of the best places for that is at Simon Says Stamp challenge blog.... not to be confused with Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog. It can be confusing as they both give away $50 to Simon Says Stamp and they both choose there winners randomly. Since it's not based on talent what have you got to loose?

This weeks challenge:

As you can see this week the challenge is Food and Drink. Did they know my husband is a chef? Ironically I don't have any stamps that reflect that. I found the two stamps I own that have to do with food and since the cupcake had been done really well by one of their design team members. I opted for the cornucopia. That and its a fun word to use.. cornucopia.. it's kinda like the cooking word Spatchcock (If your a vegetarian don't click on that)

I've been having lots of fun with the spellbinders nestabilities.. as you can tell.. dry embossing is also awesome :D the pattern paper where left over scraps from the last few days.... Basic Gray's Hello Luscious.

The cornucopia stamp I got when a friend was helping another friend get rid of some stamps she had left over from a stamp business that had gone under.

Inks: Memento Black, Distressed-antique Linen, Vintage photo and Walnut stain.

For once I wrote down the Copic's I used in no paticualar order:

R22, R24, R27 (the apples) G02, G05, G09 (the lettuce), YG03, YG 13, YG17 (the leaves) YR14, YR 16, YR18 (the pumpkins) V17 (grapes) E37, E47 (stems) Y15, and Y17 (for the bow)

er I didn't write down the basket ones sorry about that.. it was something like E11 and E15 ish... remember to use that artistic license you were issued when you bought your first marker/inkpad/stamp/paper/etc...

"You can do anything you want to do. This is your world" - Bob Ross

Requested Samples pt 2

As promised from yesterday's post here are 2 more of the cards I made.

My Favorite of the bunch:

The paper is Hello Luscious and the sentiment is from Penny Black Hello Friend. I also used the Hero Arts woodgrain stamp for the background. I believe the background ink is antique linen. The sentiment was stamped with vintage photo... I think.. It was a few days ago and I'm not thinking as clearly as I usually do (dreaded sinuses). Pearls are from Hero Arts and the bow is from some ribbon I picked up ages ago at Joann's.

Again Hello luscious paper. Ribbon is from Michael's (great 3 for a dollar sale) The sentiment is from Close to my Heart, for every occasion.... its my go to set. I'm sorry Lawn Fawn and Hero Arts but that set is awesome. I embossed with a cuttlebug folder (buy it when it goes on sale) and then sanded to make the dots more prevalent.

I'm very happy with the results of this latest challenge and Linda was so nice she let me keep the paper. :D Today is exciting....the first of 2 boxes of loot is coming, very happy about that. I'll try to blog about it, no promises.

Requested Samples

I may have mentioned before, my local stamp store Stamp Fever participated in the So Cal Shop Hop. Which is where 40 ish stores in all of Southern California sign up and give special promotions to those participating. I chose not to participate mostly because shopping in candy stores without money isn't my idea of a good time. I did want to be a part of the excitement so when Linda asked if anyone could help her I volunteered.

It was fun... I was reminded of how much work retail is but it was good and I'm glad I did it. Linda and I got to know each other better which is always a good thing. Plus I got to put my 2 cents in with the store. Which brings me to my post.

She had ordered some paper packs and they are not selling as fast as everything else. I of course, being the fixer I am, suggested there be some samples to inspire folks. She immediately gave me a pad and the matching stamp set to take home and play with. ... no pressure there. I personally didn't really care for the paper, it's ok but not something I wanted to spend my money on. I already own a ton of paper that I don't use and it's not really my style. Regardless I took the challenge.

I sat down and got to work. It was also the first time I could use my big shot. :D Oh my did the ideas flow. I worked for about 3 hours and created 5 cards! I've never had them come together so quickly. It was awesome! So awesome that I didn't want to stop but all good things come to an end and I do need to return the items I borrowed. Here are the two I decided to give to the store:

Paper: Hello Luscious, craft card stock

Ink: Jenni Bowlin

The tag is from a spellbinder nestabilities set. (One of my amazing gifts...thanks Sarah)

Embossed with a cuttlebug folder (also a cool gift from Sarah)

I used liquid pearls for the pearls, and a glitter pen for the birds.

Sentiment is from Close to my Heart

Paper: Hello Luscious, craft card stock

Ink: Jenni Bowlin

I also used the a spellbinder nestabilities set

Sentiment is also from Close to my Heart

I'll post the others tomorrow. :D

Katie

The Other Octopus

I've had this little octopus swimming around my desk ever since this post. I didn't want to file him.. he needed a home so I decided to make something just for him. I also decided I would use the one distress stain I own since everyone swoons about them.

Stamps Critters in the Sea, Hats off to you, Cruising through Life

The blue is the Broken China stain.. the gray blue is the white card that was inked with Faded Jeans I did after the stain.

It looks ok, water is kinda crazy so it fits. I'm not sold with the card. Dare I say I'm not sold on the distress stains either. I will admit it's prolly user error, but I don't enjoy them the way I enjoy the ink pads. I'd really like to see more examples. Kinda funny everyone raves about how cool they were but there really isn't much in the way of video's concerning them. I digress...

In another note unrelated to the card I got some serious loot coming in the mail thanks to my amazing friends and family. Yet another reason why Birthdays are good. :D My Mom got me the one thing I've wanting for a while.. a Big Kick :D (Amazon will sell it cheaper wait for the price to drop) very very very exciting. I haven't had the time to play with it yet. I can say it's out of the package.. it's a start.

1 for 2

Sorry about the pause in posts.. funny how life gets in the way. Looking back on it now I can't even remember what I did to drag me away from crafting. Well I did have a birthday (this past Monday) that was pretty cool. I know most women don't want to get any older and don't want to admit its their birthday but I enjoy it. It's a time for me to pause life and enjoy the day. This year it was spent on the beach. Perfect weather, tons of friends and family. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I made this card about 10 days ago for the Lawnscaping Challenge and the Wee Memories Dare to Color Challenge and forgot to take pics or submit the card. Good thing I remembered before both challenges ended.

I don't normally combine challenges. I feel it takes away from each challenge however this was a perfect fit. The Lawnscaping challenge was distressing and the Wee memories wanted to color so I used my distress inks and voila!

Holiday cards are all the rage right now and that's all fine and dandy however I am not in the mood for Christmas as it's still summer/birthday time. I did push my self to do a fall card though. This is what I came up with:

The grass is computer paper torn and inked with Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles.

Stamps: Blissful Botanicals and Hat's off to You

I used Memento Black and Copic 100 for all the black stuff. Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade for the leaves.

Simple and clean. Just the way I like it. :D