Stash die cut find

Thank you so much for stopping by!  It's starting to get cold here in Ohio and I have the holidays on my mind.  I am hosting Thanksgiving, a Christmas cookie party, coordinating our company's party, decorating our home, our country club and all this has to be done by December 6th.  Cookie baking is in full force and I will be completing the decor this weekend.  Load of things on my plate!

Today I am continuing my SIC Die Cuts week.  I adore die cuts, and use them frequently in my creations.  I love when they coordinate with stamps, but also stand alone dies.  Yup, I just love them all!

I was checking out my stash today and came across this fabulous background I created when I made this card here.  It's the opposite of that background.  This one had tons more sparkle and needed just the right theme to work with it.  Christmas with all the sparkle was the perfect theme!

The die cut background was created by running the cover die with each card stocks through the die cutting machine a piece of Press and Seal wrap behind it.  Then on each piece, peel the positive part of the die off the wrap and swap them!  It's really that easy!

Leaf Canopy is a versatile stamp and die set.  It is a perfect set for any theme, from sympathy, to birthdays to Christmas; this set can be used for them all!  I recently used it on a set of cards for a business.  Today, its being used with vellum and white embossing powder to give the feel of an icy branch of silver dollar eucalyptus.....which is one of my favorite greens for the holidays.....  The sentiment was created by using the Merry Christmas die set from Altenew.  Its a great set and has several options for creating the sentiment you want.  AND, I of course had to add even ore sparkle with sequins!....I have an addiction really.....

I'm adding this creation to this weeks Addicted to Stamps challenge, Anything Goes.

It was great to see you!

Another reject

Hi ya'll!

A super quick post.  I have another card with a fabulous layered die today.  Again, I've been working on my AECP program and this is another creation I made, I wasn't thrilled with so I'm not using it for my submission.  I thought this had great potential, until I messed up the sentiment!  I tried to fix it, but didn't like how it looks.

The Altenew Peony Dream 3D die cut is fantastic!  A large piece of watercolor paper was painted in various colors of red.  Then the flower pieces were die cut from the different values.  It's a great way to create these layered flowers, the large paper allows you to create many different flowers that complement each other.  I whipped out a few to keep in my stash for future projects.

The background was stenciled and stamped which helps to ground the image so it doesn't look like it's floating there.

I'm bummed the sentiment stamping went awry, this had great potential.  Oh well!

Have a colorful day!

Halloween and health

Hi y'all!

I've been remiss in my posts.  We had Halloween trick or treating last Thursday.  Then last Friday, I spent the day in the ER with weird numbness across the left side of my face and down my left arm.  After a round of tests and scans....it's apparently nothing scary.  It however did lead to migraines on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't get to finish my watercolor week, but I'm not worried.  I know I will be using that technique many more times!

My SIC....Self Inflicted Challenge.... this week will be die cuts.  I love die cuts!  I think they're versatile and you can use them in so many different ways.  I've also been working on my current class for the AECP Level 2 program.  This card is a reject for that class, but I do like it.

The 'You Are' sentiment should have been a shade darker.  Using a MISTI to repeat the stamping down the left side of the card is incredibly helpful. It keeps the sentiment in line and perfectly spaced.  Sparkle was added down that part of the sentiment with clear sequins and iridescent gems....love those!....

The sentiment was created from watercolor painted paper and die cut with Script Words from Altenew.   To add more interest and to make it pop, it was layered with a die cut from More Mustard from SU!  I have ton of their paper, which I love.

The background was finished off with some ink splatters in various shades of yellow.  It's so bright and cheery with LOTS of sparkle!  I'll be sharing this with one of my girls, they are FABULOUS!!

JUGS Easy Watercolor

The weather is changing, tomorrow the time changes, my daughters are getting older....which means I'm getting older!....  Change is everywhere!

I'm beyond HONORED to have been asked to be the guest designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge Blog this month!  How much fun is that?!?  I love that they switch up their challenges every week, keeps me on my toes and those brain cells firing.  These ladies have fabulous creations for us each week, please be sure to visit each and everyone of them and give them some love and thanks for inspiring us each week!  For this week, the theme is 'Thanks'.  The timing was perfect, as I had an order for some thank you and sympathy cards for a family member this week.
 
They needed it for the business, so I kept the design simple and without any embellishments....UGH, that was hard!.....  Sticking with my SIC this week, I decided to do some watercoloring.

I think I may be addicted to watercoloring now.  The flowers are coming along nicely, but I love using them for specialty papers.  I created a piece of paper using Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolors.  I chose Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake and Lagoon for this as teal is the color of their business logo.  When the paper was dry, the open leaf images from Altenew's Leaf Canopy was stamped with Emerald ink and die cut.  It gives a nice variegated image for interest while keeping the design simple.

The background was die cut from the Layered Snowflakes Cover die from Vellum paper.  It adds a texture element without making it fussy....aka, not business like.....  Using spray adhesive, it was mounted onto a piece of white card stock and run through my die cutter so it would adhere well.

That's it!  Thanks so much for joining me on my journey this month with JUGS!  I'm really excited and honored to be a part of what they are doing!

Super quick!

It's a quick post tonight.  I was subbing today at school and had a busy afternoon.  I completed my creation and wanted to post it before I head to watch Expedition Unknown....my guilty pleasure!...

Watercolored peony!  Practice is definitely making it better!  The colors were inspired by this weeks Global Design Project challenge.

Thanks everyone, have a colorful night!

Its getting better?

Put your feet up and relax, I'm sure it's been a busy day.

I took a step back from the complex image from yesterday and decided to tackle the Beautiful Peony stamp set.  It is a fussy image, but I thought if I embossed the image, it would be easier to watercolor?

I was right!  I decided to emboss it with copper bling embossing powder, just to make it a little 'extra'.  I used my Japanese watercolors for these....and since I don't know Japanese, I can't tell you the name of the colors....it has a large variety of reds and oranges to use.  Painting with the embossing powder is so much easier!  The raised embossed areas keep the water where it needs to stay and you can just tap the color into the place.  Easy peezey!  I didn't emboss the leaves so they were harder to create, and the ink moved a bit when I painted them.

I decided the card needed a minty green paper background with ink blended with Volcano Lake on the lower left corner of the paper and added splatters when I was done.  A piece from the Fine Frames Cover Die cut from white card stock was added to bring the eyes to the focal point.

To bring in more copper, the sentiment is die cut from a shimmer yardstick left over from my wedding 5 years ago....I never throw anything away.....  It added the perfect amount of shimmer!

I'll be teaching all day tomorrow, so I'm hopeful I can get my creating in.

Have a colorful day!!

H2O Color Challenge

Welcome back, thanks for stopping by!

Last weeks self-inflicted challenge (SIC) was so fun!  I really enjoyed taking time for myself every day to support my addition creative side.  I'm continuing the challenge this week, but instead of focusing on a single stamp set, this week I will be working with watercolors.

Watercolor class in college was the bane of my existence.  It is something I've NEVER been really been good at, unless it's just an abstract ameba type creation.  I think that's why I like making papers and using them to die cut from or use the free form amebas as backgrounds.  That's easy.  No focal point to perfect, just free painting all over the paper.  Because actually making a watercolor painting, not so good for me.  The paints end up grainy, or I use too much paint, or too much water, AND then the creation doesn't look at all what I had planned!  UGGH!....I think I may have a mild control problem....

However....I love, love, LOVE, the beautiful watercolor flowers I have been seeing everywhere!  That's what drew me to Altenew when I came back to paper crafting this year.  There are many beautiful and delicious sets to watercolor....I'm obsessed with their stamps, which doesn't help with my addiction....  I have tried to do some, but have hated each and everyone I've made.  Hence, my theme for this week.  I will master this technique!!!....or it will kill me, either way should be entertaining content for you....

I decided to pull out Altenew's new stamp set Grateful Heart.  Erum Tasneem on the Altenew team makes the MOST BEAUTIFUL watercolor flowers, they just make my heart sing!  I thought I'd tackle it with this stamp set.

 Perhaps I should have watched more of Erum's lovely videos?  Perhaps I should have chosen a simple image? I definitely should not have selected a lovely parrot tulip, with all it's variegation, stripes and texture....they are one of my favorite flowers....for my first foray into the H2O world.  The other 'should'?  I SHOULD have realized it WAS a parrot tulip when I STARTED and not until AFTER I had finished my painting....my 20+ years of florist-ing completely failed me....  Seriously, how did I not see it?  I mean, the leaves TOTALLY read tulip!!  *sigh*

I ended up using too much paint, not enough water, too much control and the image is pasty instead of clear and transparent.  *sigh*.  Anyhow, I am putting this baby out there.  It's not horrible, I mean, it does read flower.  The lovely orange color with the touch of lime green was inspired by the JUGS photo challenge this week.  I don't have any pumpkin/fall stamps and my Sunflower Daisy stamp set is still smoking from all its work last week!


The results thus far:

Watercolor - 1
Kristin - 0

Stay tuned to see if I make it out of this week alive....

Have a water-colorful day!

Here it is!

The last post of my challenge week!  I'm so glad I have decided to make this time for myself.  It has really be a joy creating all week, which make me a happy mom and wife!

For this final card, I had a peach daisy I had made when I created that jig earlier in the week.  I decided to create with my favorite colors, navy, green, coral and yellow.

The navy blue background is stamped with the leaf images from the Sunflower Daisy stamp set.  The panel is then splattered with metallic gold watercolor paint....I love that stuff!.... and a strip of gold wash tape from Altenew helps to add interest to the background.

The daisy images and leaves are assembled together before placing it on the back panel.

Finally, the sentiment is die cut from a piece of ink blended coral paper....the ink, not the paper....  To add more gold, its layered on another die cut from mirror gold paper.

That's it!  My first week of challenges is complete!  I've decided to change up my challenge a bit by either using a stamp single set for a week or technique.  Next week.....watercoloring!

Graduation and a new program

I't so great to see you here!  Thanks for stopping by...

I was very excited to have graduated from Level 1 of the AECP program!  That last project was HUGE and took me forever to get completed.  I'm now onto my next level of the program.  The first class is Beyond Basic Backgrounds taught by Lydia Evans.  This post is FILLED with techniques, so I thought I'd enter them all in the Just Add Ink challenge this week, 'add a technique'!  Kind of apropos...

This first card focuses on perfect spacing with a repeating background.  I created a card with this technique right here in the last level.  With this one, I decided to challenge myself with different shapes that need to fit like a puzzle.  The Follow Your Arrow set is perfect for this!

The background is first ink blended with a rainbow of colors!

Next, using a MISTI, lay out the arrows in a square formation with even spacing between each arrow.  Stamping with Versafine Black ink, rotate your paper in the MISTI and stamp until the entire paper is covered.

Stamp and heat emboss the sentiment in white on black paper, then repeat the processes with the long arrow in black on white paper.  Using the inks from the background and a watercolor brush, color in the arrow to match the background.  Color in edges around the arrow with a black artist marker. 

This next card uses Water Bleaching for the background.  Now, I don't have any Distress inks....I know, shocker!....and water didn't work with my Altenew inks very well.  I decided to try spraying rubbing alcohol on my stamps then stamp.  It worked perfectly!  BUT....

Use the rubbing alcohol sparingly, as it's not really good for your stamps.  Again, the background was created by ink blending ink with Lagoon, Volcano Lake and Just Green.  The stamp is placed in the MISTI, as you need to stamp twice to make the effect happen.

Finally, the sentiment is stamped and die cut.  Add a few splatters and some simple sequins for some interest!  The layout for this card was inspired by this week's layout from Freshly Made Sketches.  It's a great place to get ideas if your stuck for a layout.

Lastly, this creation is QUITE the color explosion!  Using freezer paper and the Snowflakes Layered Cover dies from Altenew and their 36 Watercolor Pan set, each space is colored with a color of the rainbow.....sorry the photo is terrible!....

Once the panel is dry, the Mega happy die is used to cut out the sentiment from the decorated panel and 5 white pieces of card stock.  Then glitter glue in various colors is added to make it just that much more 'extra'.

This isn't a card I would give just anyone, but this is perfect for my littlest one.  She is my crafty extra girl!....just like her mama....

It's my least favorite of the 3, but I LOVE the technique and know I'll be using it often.

Alright!  Have a very colorful day!

Soft support

I have discovered I don't tend to make sympathy cards unless I need them.  It's just not something I gravitate toward I guess.

I found a challenge last week with this color story and I thought I'd try it.  The colors are so soft and pretty, a change from the bright colors I've been using all week.  I kept with the grey to work this card into the CASology challenge this week, FOG and the Watercolor Wednesday Challenge All About Occasions

 The daisy was created using Soft Lilac and Lavender Fields.  The first layer was with Soft Lilac stamped off and stamped 3 times.  The second layer using the same ink without stamping off.  The third layer was stamped with Lavender Fields then the 4th was double stamped to increase the depth of the color.

The background was stamped on grey card stock using the Gentleman's Grey ink set.  Just a little hint of leaves to carry the eye across the card but not distract from the daisy image.  The added thread was a first for me.  I like the tiny amount if interest it added.

The card was finished with white and black water color splattered paint and a sentiment from Sentiment Strips and a couple of sequins.

I hope you have a colorful weekend!

Craftin' away!

I've been so busy baking for our holiday cookie party and crafting in the studio, I almost forgot to post my creation for the day!

 I know...it's like vintage wallpaper.  It's just so bright and pretty IRL, and SUPER easy to re-create!

I started by using my 'rub off' yellow ink panel....it's how I clean my blend brushes....and added a bit more ink in the corners.  Then, using the Altenew 36 Watercolor Pan set, I splattered some Warm Sunshine paint across it as well as some clean water splatters.

The daisy is incredibly bright using the Altenew Red Cosmos ink set, and with the green leave using the Green Valley inks...it's awesome!  It reminds me Dorothy Draper fabric, like this one...

 Oh, how I SWOON over this fabric!!  I sooo love it...  Anyhoo.  I kept the layout simple so the daisies would shine.

Stamping the solid leave images from the set in the yellow for the background, helps to tie everything together and also ground the daisy, so it doesn't look like it's just floating there in space!   The sentiment was added in the center of the layout to keep it from looking like an after thought sticking it in the corner or something.  Finally a few sequins.....I'm sure Dorothy would approve.....

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a colorful weekend, and I'll hopefully see you tomorrow!

My favorite so far...

I'm continuing with my challenge, and I have to admit I LOVE this card!  I was inspired by my AECP For the Guys class, where Jen Razza used Warhol to inspire masculine cards.  You can see my original post for the class here where I used the same inspiration with bow ties.  When I began to play with the colors for this flower, I thought of that class and our Warhol inspiration!

Used my Misti to create a jig.  it took some trial and error.  I had my card stock cut at a local Office Max and the card panels were NOT straight....I won't say which one....Airport Hwy Toledo.....  So disappointing since the Neenah paper is not cheap.  Lots of trial and error but I was able to crank out about 10 great daisies!  These 4 were my favorites out of the lot.  I'll be using the others for another project.  You can check out the video on how I created the jig below.

When creating the color combos, you will still want to use the varying values of the colors.  In other words, your base stamp will be the lightest color, the second stamp the second lightest and so forth.  For example, the first daisy....which is my favorite!....started off with Altenew's Sunkissed ink for the first image, Orange Cream for the second, then I moved over to Deep Iris ink and Midnight Violet for the final color.  Unexpected color combos are a great way to spice up your stamp usage!

Keeping the layout and the sentiment simple, allows for the daisy image to really shine! With that in mind, I'm entering this card in the Addicted to Stamps Challenge this week, Clean and Simple!

What kind of color combos can you come up with?

Have a colorful day!