Witt & Sass Launch Chubby Unicorn Pink and Green

Welcome back my friends, today I am sharing the 2nd card I made as a member of the design team for Witt & Sass's launch.  This week has been all about the Chubby Unicorn, and this card I originally made as an example card for W & S's card challenges (this challenge specifically dealt with the colors pink and green, rectangles and rhinestones).  I started out by stamping the Chubby Unicorn in black Amalgam ink from Gina K.  I then stamped the grassy area around him using the 2x3 BB stamp Grassy Hill.  I made a mask to cover up my stamped images, then went to town making the background.  For that I used Distress Oxide inks, starting light pink at the top and ending in a redish-pink color at the grass line.  I used Altenew's Simple Shapes XL to stamp the rectangle shapes.  I spritzed it with shimmer spray before removing the masking.  I stamped a sentiment from the Chubby Unicorn stamp set in Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink, then covered it in clear embossing powder and heat embossed it to my card base.  Next I colored the grass, again with Distress Oxide inks with the mini ink blending tool.  Satisfied with the background, I Copic colored my Chubby Unicorn and used some clear Wink Of Stella to the hair and horn.  I trimmed the cardstock to 4" x 5.5", allowing me to mount my card panel onto a slightly wider A2 sized black cardstock base.  I then adhered multiple sized rhinestones to the background, following the transition in color from top to bottom.  The rhinestones at the bottom I colored with some red Copic markers as I didn't have that color gemstone.  Finally, I added the very small green rhinestones to the unicorn's hair and tail.

This card was extremely fun to make, I hope it gives you some ideas for the challenges as well as general card ideas.  Please head over to the Witt & Sass FB page for more card ideas from other DT members and all things Witt & Sass.  Please visit the store as it should be up and running before this post publishes at https://www.wittandsassstampcompany.com/ along with their blog attached to the store's URL. Besides the great products, it has lots of inspiration and information about W & S, some of it quite funny, so don't miss out!  I also have a W & S blog link below for your convenience. If you'd like to see more of my creations, Instagram has all of my cards as I do not write a blog post for every card I make.  On Instagram I am jktaylor911
Stay tuned for card #3 tomorrow.  And again, I love questions and comments.

W & S Blog link

Happy crafting and blessings to all of you!     

Jill ✂                   

Creative Escape Papercrafting June's Fully Loaded Kit, First Four Cards

Well hello my fellow crafter's and friends, I know it's been a while since my last post (I believe I mentioned there may be a delay through May) as I dealt with some health issues and the death of a very dear friend.  But I'm back, and I have a very fun kit to show you from Creative Escape Papercrafting (CEP).  I'm a guest designer and I've made 4 cards so far from the June kit and I'll share how I made each one.

June Fully Loaded Card Kit

My first card (going counter-clockwise from the back right corner) is the Giraffe Shaker card.  I used a lot of elements in that card alone.  The June kit is built around The Pebbles Happy Hooray Collection.  There are 18 sheets of specialty paper, a 40 pack of ephemera, and a 12" x 12" cut-apart sheet that has a nice pattern on the back, so you have options.  The other 2 major items are the Altenew Halftone Stars stamp set and a Spellbinders Celebrate word die + balloon die.  I'm not going to list all the other pieces in the kit except when I use them on a card.

I knew I wanted to do a shaker card as soon as I saw the Heidi Swapp hot pink glitter decorative frame.  I decided first on the elements for the outside of the frame, then decided on 2 different specialty papers for inside the shaker and around the frame.  I used the giraffe and star ephemera on the outside, and a piece of rolled up candy ephemera on the inside, which I adhered so it wouldn't shake around with the other elements.  I used the Spellbinders die to make the balloon and string, then used a small piece of white/yellow baker's twine from the kit for the bow, which I adhered with a glue dot from my stash.  The Spellbinder's "celebrate" was die cut from some green glitter cardstock from the April card kit I had leftover..  That's what's nice about the kits, there are leftovers to use with other projects/cards and keeping the non-perishables like the stamp sets and die cuts are great items to either start a stamp and die collection, or add to your existing ones.  I used some of the 3D foam from the kit to adhere the giraffe where it hit the acetate window.

To assemble my shaker, I adhered some strips of Thermoweb dimensional foam (from April's kit), but cut them in half down the length of the strip.  I then adhered it all around the back side of my frame (I previously glued the clear acetate window in place).  I then filled the window with about half of the Studio Katia Crystal Rainbow Fusion Sequins that I received from CEP.  They are very bright and almost iridescent!  I then carefully placed the rainbow striped specialty paper to the foam adhesive on the back of the frame.  I decided to keep the card large so that you could really see the specialty paper on my card base.  It is 5.5'' x 5.5''.  I cut and scored the yellow cardstock in the kit for my card base, rounded the bottom corners, then adhered a slightly smaller piece of the specialty paper on top, so that the sides would show the pop of yellow that coordinated so nicely with the other elements in the card.  Lastly I positioned and adhered the shaker element to my card base.  Card #1 complete!! 

In card #2 I decided to use the Altenew stamp set.  I first cut some cardstock that was about 3.5" wide by 5.5" in length.  I heat embossed the 3 stars onto the panel using my Ranger's Silver Pearl embossing powder (it leaves a really nice sheen to the stars).  

I then blended 3 colors of Distress Oxide Inks- Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Fossilized Amber over the star panel.  I buffed the stars with a cloth when done to remove any ink remaining on the stars.  I then splattered some DIY shimmer to the panel and blotted dry.  

I picked out an acetate cupcake ephemera to use at the base of my star panel.  I used small glue dots from my stash to adhere it so that the adhesive would be nearly invisible.  For my card base, I used the blue cardstock in the kit, die cut a piece of white cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Quilted Backdrop that I bought from CEP and adhered it to the blue base.  Next I cut strips of the green glitter cardstock (from April's kit) and positioned them so that the reveal was about 1/8th" on both sides from my colored panel.  Last I adhered my colored star panel to the prepared base.  Card #2 done!

Card #3 features a large central oval ephemera sentiment image that I applied some Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink along the edge to coordinate with the main specialty paper in the background.  That paper was the 12" x 12" Pebbles Happy Hooray cut-apart sheet, which I chose to use the backside of, and take advantage of the "YAY" sentiment strip along the bottom edge.  I also applied the same Distress Oxide ink to the other 3 edges to make the card more cohesive.  

I chose red to be my accent color and used it for my card base, as well as the Sizzix Ticket die that was placed between the ephemera piece and the specialty paper.  The red paper came with the kit.  I adhered all layers (popping up the ephemera piece) with the included 3D foam pieces in the kit.  To finish off my card, I used the blue and white cord included in the kit by tying it around the top of the folded cardbase and tying it off on the right side.  That'll do it for card #3!!

Card #4 uses all kit supplies except for the die cut background hills and frame.  That is a Lawn Fawn product called Stitched Hillside Backdrop: Landscape (as it comes in Portrait as well) that I purchased from the store (though I believe they sell the Portrait version).  I inked the edges of the 2 hills with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink as I felt that coloring the entire hill would look too obtrusive.  I decided on the blue and white polka dot specialty paper for the sky.  I glued that to the back of my die cut frame/hills, and while it dried I picked through the ephemera to decide what would go on next.  First I found the "PARTY" rectangular piece printed in rainbow colors.  It was just a tiny bit short, so I decided to frame it, again with the green glitter cardstock from April's kit (I love that stuff!).  I adhered the two pieces together, then found several animal pieces in the ephemera.  I picked out the Zebra.  I adhered both elements, using my small glue dots on the Zebra that you can barely see.

I also added a star that I found in the ephemera pack.  I adhered all of this to my white standard A2 card base.  Looking at the card, I decided it needed a little bling!  So I pulled out 4 sequins (red, orange, yellow-green, and green) from the Studio Katia pack I received and applied them following the color of the words "PARTY."

Now I thought I was done.  However, as I was writing this blog and looking at my cards, I realized I had to do one more thing to this card.  The flat yellow star was screaming for some of my  Wink of Stella!  So I grabbed not the clear one I usually use, but the yellow one.  I wanted the star to be a bit more vibrant.  So now my friends, card #4 is done!!

I hope you enjoyed my examples.  This kit is a lot of fun, especially for kids celebrations.  Although the Altenew stamp set makes it very versatile.  My goal for the next few cards are making some a bit more for adults.  So stay tuned and see how I do!  
Don't forget to visit me on Instagram, as they have my largest selection of card creations.  I am jktaylor911.  Please visit the store, there are so many new items to see and a newly redesigned online store at https://creativeescapepapercrafting.com.  Also visit their Facebook page to see what all the talented designers are creating as well as new happenings with CEP.  For your convenience, I've linked everything to the store and social media.

For now I say goodbye, and blessings to you all,

Jill Taylor✂

Kennedy Grace Creations Grateful for Your Friendship (November Mood Board) card

Hello friends, I made this card for Kennedy Grace Creations using their November Mood Board  as inspiration.  This card is called, Grateful for our Friendship, because life is truly so much better with friends!  It showcases how you can stretch your stamp sets to be used for the holidays even though they are not holiday stamps.

 I primarily used the KGC stamp set You Inspire me to make this card.  I first prepped my card panel with Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink (DOI) by dragging the pad down in vertical stripes to create what looks like a weathered wood panel door.  I then lightly traced a circle the size that I wanted my wreath to be and then used 3 of the small images from the stamp set (small leafy branch x 2, and the 3 dots) to make my wreath.  I used mostly Distress Oxide inks, inking each stamp one color and stamping it around the circle, then changing colors and again stamping around the circle, turning the leafy branches in different directions.  I tried to space out the colors in my stamping so as not to have one color be predominant in any location.  I did also use metallic gold pigment ink and metallic copper pigment ink to give the wreath a little shimmer here and there.  I stamped the dots (berries) on the wreath last using Fired Brick DOI and filling in any areas that needed it.  I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set from KGC, You Inspire Me, in DOI using two of the colors from the wreath.  I stamped and die cut the bow from The Ton's Christmas Wreath Builder stamp set.  The tails ended up being a bit too long, so I trimmed them down to fit my card.  It is a layered ink stamp that I embellished with Copic markers for depth of color and a white gel pen for highlights.  I also stamped additional small branches around the "Grateful" sentiment and found some metallic gold card-stock and die cut some small poinsettias from a Spellbinders die set I had.  I placed rhinestones in the centers of each flower that I had colored with a Copic marker to match the deep red on the card.  I also found in my stash of adhesive stickers some small gold dots from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I used three around my sentiment as well.

November Mood Board

To finish my card, I mounted a scalloped-stitched die cut frame from Avery Elle in a complementary color.  I them adhered it to a Confetti Cream side folding card base from Stampin' Up!

I hope you enjoyed my card and will feel inspired to stretch some of your non-holiday stamp sets this year. 

Gratefully yours,

Jill

Please be sure to follow the Kennedy Grace Creations blog, facebook, twitter, instagram and pinterest. Our Design Team has great projects to inspire you with our great stamp sets.  You Inspire me

**Kennedy Grace Creations products are linked to the store for your convenience!

Kennedy Grace Creations Mood Board Shaker Card

Hello, this is Jill making a card for Kennedy Grace Creations!!  I created this card for October with their Mood Board as inspiration.  I used a stamp set originally tailored for Moms/Mother's Day, etc. as I loved the flower image and always thought it would make a great shaker type card.  It's called Loving Mom.  I only used the largest flower image on this card and took my cues on coloring it from the mood board.

First I die cut a circle into an A2 sized 80# NSW card stock using a MFTs Die- Circle Shaker Window and Frame set.  I knew I'd be using a MFTs Circle Shaker Pouch, so the sizing of the circle die was perfect for the pouch.  I then stamped the 4 flower images around the die cut window and placed masks over each one, as I was going to color the background with some Distress Oxide inks.  As I sometimes like to do, I had already practiced the background on another piece of lesser quality card stock since I wasn't exactly sure how it would look.  I used first Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink in various spots on the paper.  Then I used Black Soot to fill-in, blend, and cover-up some of the Twisted Citron.  The only change I made was adding the Encore! Silver pigment ink.  It bridged the two colors nicely and added a little sheen as well.  I removed the masks and immediately liked the bold whiteness of the flowers against the background.  So I decided that I would bring in the orange color to the inside of the window, the window frame and the stamens on the flowers.

I'd been wanting to use this Silver Gem Nuvo Glimmer Paste that I'd had for a couple months, so I used the inside circle of the window I had die cut, placed a Penny Black Hypnotic stencil over it and carefully spread out the paste onto the circle.  Once dry (which it does rather quickly, so clean your stencil and spatula immediately, or you'll regret it!) I air-brushed the circle with my R12 Copic marker so that the card stock and the glitter was the same color.  I then went about coloring my flowers.  I used C1 and C3 Copic markers on the petals, and E93 and R14  on the stamen.  I also added some clear Wink of Stella to the stamen as well.

I chose a sentiment from another KGC stamp set called Time to Blossom.  I heat embossed the sentiment with WOW! Opaque White embossing powder.  I chose multiple color sequins from a variety of KGC sequin mixes.  I regrettably didn't have any orange sequins (that I will have to fix!).  I mounted my trimmed panel onto 110# NSW card base that I had used some 1/2" adhesive backed foil in burnished silver from The Ton along each side. The frame was difficult to decide what color/finish it should have.  I finally decided on orange foil (I used a Peel and Stick Toner Sheet and Foil from Deco Foil).  I layered it on top of other rejected frames to give it some dimension and sturdiness.  Finally, not quite satisfied, I found the silver metal "together" piece that I'd had for years in my stash.  I do not know who made it, possibly Making Memories, as I used to buy a lot of their nick-knacks way back when.

So that is it!!  My October Shaker Mood Board card, and another lengthy dissertation from me.  I'll forego a products list since I include it in my write-up.  KGC products are linked.  Please, if I was not clear on a product that I used or a technique, use the comment section and I'll be sure to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed my card.  Join in the fun of creating cards with the October Mood Board and post it on the Kennedy Grace Creations Fan Page on Facebook!  If you prefer to share elsewhere, remember to tag it #kennedygracecreations so we can admire your work. 


Have a blessed day!

Jill 💌

The Ton's Anemones and Distress Oxide Inks+

Adventures in Coloring!

Welcome to my card-making blog. For those of you new to my site, today I hope to inspire you a bit to try something new.  This card was definitely a first for me.  First time using The Ton's Fresh Cut Anemones (layered stamp), and first time using my Distress Oxide inks for stamping (I'd used them in other techniques, but not this one).  Since I am not very familiar with anemones, I checked out images in Google Chrome.  I came across a picture of several different colored anemones in a bed of foliage (like you were looking down at them).  They were gorgeous, and I loved the green foliage background against the deep/bright colors of the flowers.  So I now had an idea for my card.  I figured I would need to watercolor the background and then stamp the actual leaves on top of that.  I started with some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper and pulled out my MISTI as I figured I'd need to re-stamp the images several times to get a good, solid impression with the Distress Oxide Inks.  That was an understatement!!  I re-stamped 4 or 5 times the first layer, and even then it was not solid.  So I decided to get out my paint brush and let the water smooth out the color.  That it did nicely, but I lost some of the white lines intended to be there on that first layer.  The available colors of the Oxides made it a bit hard with the color layering to achieve the colors I was envisioning. I ended up using more than 3 colors, as I needed more contrast.  I ended up using a couple browns on the 3rd layer of the purple flowers to achieve the contrast I wanted. The orange flowers were the easiest (I changed my mid-tone color to one that was deeper in color, though) and the pink flower was difficult too, as I wanted it to stay very light.  However, the Oxides don't have a lot of light pinks, so that flower I was not very satisfied with in the end.
Once the flower stamping was done, I created masks to go over each flower for the foliage stamping. Before I could stamp the foliage though, I needed to create a green background with Distress Inks and water coloring.  The background needed to have a variety of greens loosely flowing into each other.  I needed some deep, shadowy areas, a little light area, and a lot of mid-toned areas.  A lot of the leaves were going to be fairly light, but with shadows.  Well... Either my background was not dark enough, or the Twisted Citron Ox. ink is not as light as one would think.  Either way, when I stamped the first layer of the leaves, you could barely see them.  I re-stamped several times, but they just didn't show up.  I went ahead and stamped the second layer in Lucky Clover, and that color just didn't look right.  At this point, I'm beginning to think all my work would be lost on a botched background!!  
I decide to change over to brown and to really bring out the shadows and the contrast around the leaves making them appear lighter.  So I re-stamped first with Frayed Burlap, then Walnut Stain.  It was beginning to look better!  I decided to really darken the shadow areas between the leaves and painted on some Ground Espresso Distress Ink.  Still not satisfied with the overall contrast, I looked around at my stash of markers and decided my Tombow's would work.  I selected several colors to experiment with, but ended up primarily using a deep red and a medium brown.  I went over the leaves, the shadows, even the flowers for more contrast and lining on the petals.  I decided the stamen needed to sparkle a bit, so I used a Sakura Jelly Roll pen in Silver Star to make dots all along the area the stamen were.  That made a big difference.  My last Tombow marker was a light yellow that I used on the lightest parts of the leaves.  I even stamped the stems in the background with Fossilized Amber Distress Ox. ink to help them show up more.
Satisfied with my flower panel, I die cut a white frame from MFTs, stamped silver dots onto it, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  After adhering the frame, I adhered my panel to some deep purple card stock from Stampin' Up!  I then die cut the 2 piece Hugs sentiment from Avery Elle. The Orange card stock pieces I die cut 3 times for a bit of dimension, then layered on some clear Wink of Stella.  Lastly, I gathered some sequins and glued them into place.  Another card saved!!
I learned a lot on this venture.  It was fun experimenting and trying different color mediums.  Don't be afraid to change up your coloring if it isn't working out.  Lots of times a completely different color or product might just be what's needed.  My next step had my Tombow's not worked was going to be colored pencils. Well, that's it for today.  Won't post until I get my products list included below.

Happy crafting,

Jill

Supplies List:

The Ton Stamps: Fresh Cut Anemones
Stampin' Up!:  Warmth and Wonder (for the dots)
Avery Elle:  Simply Said Hugs Die
My Favorite Things Die-namics:  Rectangle Frames
Distress Oxide Inks:  Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover
Distress Inks:  Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso
Tsukineko Encore! in Metallic Silver
Stampin' Up! Clear Embossing Powder
Tombow Dual Brush Pens:  027, 090, 847
Sakura Jelly Roll:  Silver Star
Wink of Stella:  Clear
Assorted Sequins