Not quite what I imagined

Funny how in my brain its one way then when I'm finished it's totally different. I really wanted to use Hero Art's Real Leaves however those leaves are really big. The Lawn Fawn one's however are perfect sized so I got them out instead. Originally I was going to make this for a color challenge however things went south real quick. Thankfully it works for the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Let me encourage all of you guys that follow that don't normally craft to enter into this challenge. Create something this weekend.. anything, what ever it is take a pic of it and submit it. You don't have to blog about it just submit it.. You have until Tuesday like noon ish.. I don't remember the exact time with the time zones and what not. They will pick a random winner. You could win $50 dollars.. $50! That can go along way in the crafting world. Anywho I got sidetracked...

Starting with the middle I made a strip of paper with various distress inks and then stamped the leaves with various distress inks. It was bright... I can't help it I just make bright stuff. It was way to bright to be in the center so I pulled out some vellum and covered it... it actually looks pretty cool. Found some brown paper from Hello Luscious. Inked the white card stock and ta da..

I used a ton of different distress inks including a couple from the new limited edition pack. A part of me was slightly disappointed with them. Ripe persimmon is a stunning color however you can make it with spiced marmalade with a hint of barn door. This will be faster but I was kinda hoping for a truly "new" color. My guess is I bet I could recreate the other colors with some fiddling around. They are beautiful though and I was lucky to get my hands on them.

I haven't put all of my distress inks into the cool tool manager yet so I'm just gonna list them here as I want this to be a quick post. Here goes: Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Ripe Persimmon, Antique Lenin, Gathered Twigs, Pine Needle, Barn Door and Warn Lipstick. I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two.

The sentiment is from Close to my heart.. they are fantastic stamps.. way expensive but high quality.

Do you have any exciting plans for this weekend?

Katie

Church Sample #2

As promised here is the second sample. My fist sample and the 411 concerning them can be found here.

The sample:

And my "fab" version:

I used a different paper for the yellow of course it's also Echo Park... added some bling and that cute butterfly I had lying around. As he was fairly easy to make I may add him to the kit... providing glossy paper can stick to card stock with glue... I'll have to test it. He was created with alcohol inks. Following Kathy Racoosin lead I pulled the white pen and and filled in the dots and made up a few dots in places just to balance it.

Here's most of what I used:

InLinkz.com

The current challenge at Simon Says Stamp is Anything goes so I'll enter it there. It's a random drawing but worth a shot.

Katie

Echo Park Men Only

One of my goals in this crafting adventure was to be able to make nice enough cards for our Board members. When I first started I was sent out into the world to buy home made cards at almost $5 each, and they were not that great. We have two male birthdays coming up and Simon Says Stamp and Show is having a men only challenge perfect time to put my my skills to good use.

I can not tell you how much I adore that paper.. actually working with pattern paper has become a new love of mine. Thankfully the Wee Memories challenge of using pattern paper is still going on and I am able to enter the card there...It's my first time at entering a 3rd entry. I can't help it Echo park paper is soooo yummy. Anywho I'm getting to excited.

Here's my card:

Here's what I used:

InLinkz.com

The ribbon I purchased from Stamp Fever. Tonight's crafting night I have all sorts of things to work on. :D I hope your evening is as much fun.

Katie

Church Sample #1

Once a year at Church we have a "Super Saturday". Essentially what happens is some samples are set up... the ladies sign up to purchase them.. then on the First Saturday in November we all hang out and put our various kits together.

Of course I was asked to make a set of card kits for this year. I was originally asked to do a class, which would be great except I don't have equipment for 15 people. We settled on card kits. This gave me more then enough stress. I've never done this, yes putting a kit together is fairly easy... time consuming but fairly easy. However I ran into some problems:

Problem #1 Finding an exact cost of each card - Sure technically each card costs less than a dollar however there is no way to find out how much. Most of the items being used I already own an example being ink, how do you quantify that? I am charging 1 dollar per card and yes there will be a profit, however that money will go to the ladies that aren't able to afford something. It will also go towards purchasing adhesive for the station that will be set up and for replacing anything I may run out of.

Problem #2 Creating a card that any one can make - A card kit only using Elmer's glue and scotch tape (the basic house hold items) for someone who's never made a card before and may not have any creative talent. There are so many cute establishments that can be done but they need glossy accents. So I kept it simple, very simple. Pattern paper is your friend :D

Problem #3 Not knowing the quantity needed - I have no idea how many will be ordered. It could be 1 it could be 100 so keeping that in mind I had to choose a simple lay out that I could recreate 100+ times within a reasonable amount of time. I've been assured I will have helpers to help with these kits. Depending on how many are ordered I may have to call in the Calvary.

Problem #4 Exact patterns - I've taken a number of card classes and just about every time someone freaks out cuz their paper/embellishment/ribbon isn't exactly the same as the sample.

(Actually it's paper that got me into this mess. You see like all other paper crafters I have created a sizable stash and so I offered to give some to the event if they needed it... note to self don't do that again.) I could only imagine how non-crafters would panic with it not being the same. We (the leader of the event and I) went in circles on this subject. I stuck to my guns..buying paper that I could get or order easily and making them all the same.

With all that said, I'm excited to help. With any luck I'll spark the crafting bug in someone. If I can do that then it was worth all the work and stress.

Over the next few days I will sport samples to you with my take on the same card. Sort of a spin on last weeks Penny Black blog theme Drab to Fab... not that my samples are drab. lol

The sample:

And my take:

I used:

InLinkz.com

For my "fab card" I inked the card, ruffed up the edges. I also used little pearls for the flower centers. They were a free gift with my first order at Simon Says Stamp. I also black embossed the image, instead of a brown ink. Brown embossing would be awesome however I don't own that. I adore that Cosmo Cricket paper. The best part is it's reversible, the red flowers is what's on the back.

I was planning on entering my version this into the same Wee Memories Challenge as yesterday's card since I love that paper so much. It's hard to choose between the two. I will also enter my version into the Simon Says Stamp die challenge.

Katie

Wee Memories #69

I wish Monday's were easier. I woke up this morning thinking it was still the weekend. :( Thankfully waking up on Monday is done for this week. Hooray!

So what contest are you entering now you ask? Well the Wee Memories one of course. I had to participate as their sponsor is Echo Park Paper. Which is dare I say my all time favorite... don't quote me on that one yet.

I adore Echo Park Paper, their 6x6 pads are awesome. For all of you non paper folks reading this here's the 411 on paper. Paper usually comes in 12x12 sheets which is ok for some things but the patterns are really big.. to big for cards really. Plus getting the whole series can get expensive. The companies got smart and started making 6x6 paper pads.. the entire collection in one pack scaled down for cards at a great price of $6... just perfect! What makes Echo Park paper packs so awesome is they come double sided just like the larger sheets do... genius. You don't get as many sheets of paper however I don't care.

Here's my card using the ever so cool 2 sided paper, the one side pretty flowers the other side pink and white checkers:

I took a close up of the flowers so you could see how 3d they are:

Here's some of what I used:

InLinkz.com

The pearls came as a gift... I'll post about that later this week. The thread is left over from my cross stitching day's. I now keep the floss at my craft desk.

I hope you had a good weekend,

Katie

Lawncaping Challenge #18

It's that time again!

Text.. I spent a few days trying to figure this one out. It came out pretty cool. I won a set and I had to use it but I had a heck of time trying to come up with something different. Then I got a copy of a letter from our cousin. He's on his mission and it sounds like hes having the time of his life to. I'm quite envious. He will be an amazing architect one day and with my drafting background this is what I created:

I need to work on my drafting hand writing.. I'm a bit rusty but that's ok. I drew in the blue border the old fashioned way with a ruler and a pencil. Ick.. I hated doing it in class. The arrow and lines are by hand as well. Everything else is pretty self explanatory.

I've decided to try out a new tool that links all the pics of what I used so here goes:

Rich Cocoa	Lemon Drops	Chicken Feed	Chili Powder	Faded Jeans
Ink Blending Tool	Friend Definition	Harold's ABC's	Copic Sketch Markers	Harvest Season
Happy Haunting	Glossy Accents

InLinkz.com

What do you think?

Kaite