Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...with the Krafty Girls!!

Good morning friends! Time for another challenge over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog, and this week it's my turn to play hostess! My challenge gives you a chance to go a little green, and perhaps even save a few pennies in the process...Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!! So this week, I want to see at least one recycled item on your project. :)

I must confess...I am frugal. Well if you ask my husband, he might just choose to use the word "cheap", but that has such a negative connotation! I salvage and hoard all sorts of various items that may come in handy for something crafty. I am getting a bit more discerning with what I keep though, as I only have so much room to store it all! Ribbon from beautifully wrapped gifts immediately goes into my ribbon stash. Sometimes you find really funky little tags that might come on gift boxes or clothes...those find their way into my crafty bins too. Let's face it, some of our products for cardmaking can be pricey, so it's nice to save a little money where we can! It's also a great way to reduce garbage, and to help out our environment!

For those of you who don't know, my day job is at a cardiologist's office. During the holiday season, many of our wonderful patients bring in boxes of chocolates, trays of homemade goodies and lovely cards that always put a smile on our faces. This year, one patient brought in a box of Quality Streets chocolates in a funky little box with a magnetic closure...I called dibs on that box as soon as I saw it!! (and NO I did not eat ALL the chocolates!! I may have indulged in a few though, lol) I thought it would provide the perfect base for a fun altered gift box...and the front panel provided plenty of room to showcase one of Kimmie's stamps!

I chose to ink up Stella Strawberry for my box and paired her up with some great papers from October Afternoon...how perfect were these sheets with strawberries on them??!! I also found that cute little strawberry charm in my box of embellishments. The bow was tied with my Bow Easy. Before adhering my bow, I always cinch in my bottom of strip of my ribbon with a bit of thread so that it looks like the ribbon is all one piece...nobody will ever know that you cheated by using a bow-tying tool. Um...well, they won't know unless you come out and tell them on your blog. :) lol

I stamped Stella Strawberry on Neenah Smooth cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her with my Copic markers. I used a bit of the red polka-dotted background paper to paper-piece her underskirt. If you plan to paper-piece any areas on your image, make sure to add in some shading with your colouring medium of choice to prevent the area from looking flat. (I used my colourless blender, R20, R37, R59 and C9 on the underskirt)

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y23, Y26, YR31, E31, E33, E37, E59 Dress: BG000, BG10, BG11, BG23, BG78, C9, E50, E41, E42, E43, E47, R000, R20, R37, R59, YG00, G20, G82, G85

This is what the box looked like before I got my hands on it. :)

I added an accordian-fold flower to the top of the box.

Here's a little peek at the inside. There was a method to my madness you see...I had in mind to put together a strawberry themed gift package...body butter, shower gel and a fun bath pouf! Custom gift packaging is so much fun to create, and it adds such a personal touch to your gifts.

We'd love to have you play along this week...if you do, you could win "Stella Strawberry", the stamp I used on my project today! Just make sure to use at least one recycled item and a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project and then link it up at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog. While you are there, make sure to check out the projects by the rest of the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests...they are AMAZING!!

Did you order the new January stamps?? You can find them at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store. If you had a hard time making up your mind on which stamps to order, Kimmie has her Gimmie Kimmie Kits still available for a limited time...one click, and you can order each artist's stamps as a separate collection at a discounted price!

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Stella Strawberry"

Ink: Memento, Copics, Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Kraft cardstock, October Afternoon

Embellishments: Machine stitching, ribbon, strawberry charm, KaiserCraft pearl brad

Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Circle, Bow Easy

Ballerina Tilda

Good morning friends...and Happy Friday to you!! I was able to enjoy a few days off this week as my boss was away. As a result, I was able to get some of my crafting and colouring done during the daytime...usually I'm a late evening crafter. It really was a treat to have the house to myself for a couple of hours...it was so quiet!! Pure bliss. :)

Today I have a card to show you featuring the gorgeous Ballerina Tilda...this stamp was a gift from Phebe, owner of The Town Scrapper. (Thanks Phebe!) Some of you know that I have a soft spot for ballerina images as my daughter loves ballet. I was so excited to get my inky little paws on this one! I've been seeing these gorgeous flowers all over blogland, so I thought it high time I try making one. They are super simple folks...I just took two strips of patterned paper (I think I used 1"x 9" strips for this flower), scored them every 1/2", folded them accordion-style and then glued the ends together. The next step takes a little fiddling to shape it into your flower. I had cut a base for the flower out of scrap cardstock and covered it with some Score Tape and my Tombow Glue...then I arranged the flower on top and placed a really heavy book on top to weight it down until the adhesive was dry. That pretty pearl brad in the middle is from KaiserCraft. I also used my Spellbinders Lacey Circles to cut a mat for the flower. I pulled out my Viva Decor pen for another whirl too...still not having the best success with this product. Don't get me wrong...it's a fantastic product. I just need to practice with it more. This time around, I thought I was being clever by lightly tapping my card onto my hand after creating my pearls....you see, I thought this would help to level out the slight peak in the pearls. (you know how you can tap the bottom of pans to get the bubbles out of cake batter?? that's kind of what I was doing) I will NEVER do this again!! lol The pearls around the flower sure did lose their peaks...they totally flattened out. Yikes!! I was not exactly thrilled with this blunder, but there wasn't much I could do to fix them at this point. Once again I ended up with "smushy" pearls. Armed with my new found knowledge on "what NOT to do", I added some more pearls to the bottom punched border. These turned out much better...still not perfect, but a vast improvement on the above fiasco!! I am determined to get the hang of this product, as I know it will be a huge $$ saver for this pearl-lovin' gal! The layout of this card is courtesy of the January Sketch For You To Try. (I haven't entered a challenge in quite a while!)



Tilda was stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. I did add some Prismacolour pencil to her dress afterwards...mostly a bit of white to highlight the folds of her tutu. When I was assembling my card, I realized that Tilda was too bright for this muted and slightly vintage card. So, I pulled out my Antique Linen Distress Ink and used my Inkssentials Blending Tool to very lightly apply the ink over the entire image. It did help to mute the intensity of the Copics, but you need to use a very light hand as the Antique Linen Ink will make your white areas appear quite yellow if you apply too much. Her little tiara and the trim on her tutu were given a coat of Stardust Stickles



Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, R20 Tutu: RV000, R81, R83, R85, R89 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59

Phebe carries both Magnolia Stamps and Spellbinders at The Town Scrapper. You can contact her by telephone at 519-882-0623 or by email at info@townscrapper.com to arrange a visit to the store, or to place an order.

Thanks for looking in today folks, and I'll see you back tomorrow with a new challenge for Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Magnolia "Ballerina Tilda"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Prismacolour pencils
Paper: Neenah, Kraft cardstock, Bazzill, Basic Grey, SEI, Prima
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Circles
Embellishments: Tim Holtz tag, Viva Decor Pearl Pen, machine stitching, Martha Steward border punch, KaiserCraft brad

Fairytale Bliss

Time for another new challenge at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! This week's hostess is the lovely Tara Godfrey. She has set quite the enchanting challenge for us..."Fairytales"! There are a TON of Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps that are just perfect for this challenge. I spent a while trying decide which stamps to pull out for this one as there are so many options!!

I finally decided on combining three stamps for my card today: Prince Charming, Rapunzel and the little frog accessory stamp that comes with Lillith. A little masking of images and voila! A picture of fairy tale happiness...post froggie smooch of course!!! I also used a little trick I picked up from Michele Boyer...after inking up the stamp, I used a Q-Tip to remove the ink from the pupils on their eyes. (I also removed the ink from the little tiara Rapunzel is normally wearing.) After stamping the images, I drew in new pupils so that the two are gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. Don't they look completely smitten with each other? So smitten in fact, that Prince Charming decided to propose to the fair maiden after she rescued him from his amphibious curse...one kiss from sweet Rapunzel and Prince Charming was transformed from a little frog back to his very handsome human form. Being that he was stuck in the marsh hopping from lily pad to lily pad and dining on fine insect cuisine, the prince was unable to go ring shopping...so he pulled out the next best thing!! Hmmm...diamond ring or crown??? I think the crown will do just fine, thank you! Ok, so I am totally mixing up several fairy tales here...but that's what artistic license is all about, right?? lol The layout is super simple today, since my image panel ended up being so huge. The frame around the image was made with Spellbinders Lacey Squares and Fancy Tags. (The Lacey Squares required a bit of "surgery" to become a rectangular frame...I just added in a few extra sections to extend the length of the sides. The Fancy Tags were added in to help conceal the seams.)

All images were stamped on Neenah Smooth Cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. As stated earlier, I masked the images so that I could have them overlapping each other. After colouring with my markers, I used a variety of Prismas (I didn't bother blending them out with anything though...I still have to get some OMS, and I HATE the smell of baby oil! lol) I also added some shading with Conte crayons for additional depth (applied with a paper blending stump). The sky was created with a make-up sponge, Memento Summer Sky Ink and a hand-cut cloud template.

Rapunzel: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y23, Y26, YR31, E31, E33, E37, E59 Dress: R000, R00, R81, R83, R85, R89, BG000, BG10, BG72, BG75, C5, pencils and black conte crayon

Prince Charming: Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59 Shirt: C00, C1, C3, C7, blender, white pencil crayon, black conte crayon Pants: E50, E41, E42, E43, E47, black conte crayon

Frog: YG00, YG03, YG11, G28, G99


Grass: YG00, YG03, YG63, YG67, G21, G99, C9

Need a little inspiration to get those creative juices flowing?? Well, hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge Blog to see the incredible projects by the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests! If you play along this week, you may be the lucky winner of "Snow White"...the stamp Tara used on her beautiful card!! Just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project and then link it up at the Challenge Blog.

Need some new stamps? Then the Kraftin' Kimmie Online Store is the place to go! You will find the entire line of Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps there...including the new January stamps released last weekend! If you "need" to have the entire release for your very own, then the Gimmie Kimmie's Kits are the perfect option...there are three separate kits this month, and they are available at a discounted price. However, they are only there for a limited time, so act fast!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends. I also wanted to say a huge thanks for all the lovely comments left last weekend during the blog hop. My post had also featured a card by my daughter Ainsleigh...the comments left for her were so kind and encouraging. They put a smile on her face and completely touched my heart. Thank you all for your continued support. You all rock!! :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Prince Charming", "Rapunzel" and "Lilith's" frog accessory stamp
Ink: Memento, Copics, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, SEI
Embellishments: Machine Stitching, pearls
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Squares and Fancy Tags

Kraftin' Kimmie January Release Blog Hop!!

Good morning friends! Have you enjoyed all the sneak peeks over the last few days? Today is the day that you can get your inky fingers on all the brand new January stamps at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and what a release it is this month! My word, Kimmie has put together a HUGE release to ring in the new year...a total of 16 stamps!! She has six new stamps from Annie Rodrigue (each comes with a matching sentiment and accessory stamp), five new stamps from Steven Leary (two come with a matching sentiment) and five final stamps from past Krafty artist Crissy Armstrong!

As always, we are celebrating the official release day with a blog hop! Joining Kimmie and the Krafty Girls on the hop today are our amazing January Krafty Guests (who have been absolutely rockin' this release!!), all three very talented artists and our lovely Junior Krafty Girls. The hop starts over on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where you will find a complete list of the blog hop participants. Make sure to visit each blog on the hop, and don't forget to leave a comment at every stop...if you do, you just may be the lucky winner of a package of brand new January stamps!!

If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived here after visiting with the lovely and talented Michele Boyer...wasn't her card stunning?? It's ok to admit if you drooled over it a bit...I always do when I visit her blog! lol (If not, just hop over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog to start the hop at the beginning...where you'll also find a complete list of links to the blog hop participants.)

For my card today, I chose to work with another beautiful gal from the pen of artist Annie Rodrigue. This is "Andrea Acorn"...isn't she gorgeous??!! I know this is completely out of season, but her acorn attire was just calling for some autumn colours! I pulled out these pretty fall papers from The Paper Loft. The crocheted trim is from the dollar store...sadly, they don't seem to be carrying this anymore. Actually, they are not carrying a lot of the little "treasures" I liked to buy from there...including the pearls on my card. (I've not been able to find any new packs of ivory pearls for AGES.) Guess I'm going to have to break the budget and start buying them elsewhere! The bow was tied with the assistance of my Bow Easy...I never tie a bow without it!

"Andrea Acorn" was stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. After cutting her out, I popped her up on that gorgeous autumn leaves paper cut with one of my newest sets of Spellbinders, Labels 4. (This set was a Christmas gift from my best friend Amanda!!)

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, YR31, E31, E33, E37, E59 Dress: YR00, YR02, YR04, YR07, E08, C5, C9 Cape: G20, G82, G85, C5, C9

As with ever release day blog hop, I have a very special guest joining me here on Paper Blessings...my daughter and Junior Krafty Girl Ainsleigh!! Ainsleigh chose to work with "Abigail Apple" for her card today. I'm loving the bright and cheery paper from Echo Park that Ainsleigh used, and the sentiment comes with Abigail Apple. (she also comes with a co-ordinating accessory stamp) Ainsleigh added some Stardust Stickles to the Prima flowers and Abigail's hair bows. She also used a few dollar store pearls for accents.

I'm kind of hoping I might be the lucky recipient of Ainsleigh's card...it's GORGEOUS!!!

After you have completed the blog hop, make sure to head on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store and place your order for the new January Stamps!! For those of you who "need" the entire release, Kimmie will be offering her "Gimmie Kimmie's Kits" for a limited time. There are three different kits (one for each artist) that include all the January stamps...and these kits are being sold at a discounted price!!

Time for me to send you off to visit with Jeanne Streiff...just wait until you see what she has created!! Her work is always so inspiring. :)

Don't forget to leave those comments along the way folks...you just may be the lucky winner of some brand new January stamps!!

Blessings friends...and happy hopping!

Melanie and Ainsleigh

Melanie's Card:

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Andrea Acorn"

Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, The Paper Loft

Embellishments: Pearls, crocheted trim, ribbon, machine stitching

Tools: Bow Easy, Martha Stewart Punch

Ainsleigh's Card:

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Abigail Apple" and co-ordinating sentiment

Ink: Memento, Copics

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Echo Park

Embellishments: Stardust Stickles, Prima flowers, pearls

Fancy Florals...and Day 3 of Sneak Peeks at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!

Welcome to another new challenge at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and to add to the fun, we also have another round of previews featuring the brand new January stamps by Krafty artist Annie Rodrigue!!

I would like to take a moment to extend a very warm welcome to our newest full-time Krafty Girl Angie Baker!! I've had the great pleasure of meeting Angie in person, and she is such a doll! We're so excited to have her as a permanent member of our team. If you have not signed up as a follower on her blog, please make sure to do so! Angie is our lovely hostess this week, and her challenge is "Fancy Florals".

I would like to introduce you all to "Lily Lemon", one of five new images this month by artist Annie Rodrigue. I am loving the sweet gals Annie created this month...so fun and fruity fresh! I used some gorgeous papers from Prima on this card...I picked them up at Scrappin' Great Deals a few weeks ago. The edges of the papers were all sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I added lots of zig-zag stitching to this card and a few dollar store pearls. Those pretty flowers are from Prima...I'm totally guilty of hoarding those big roses with the coarse glitter. I've been saving them for just the right project. :) The little roses were treated to a bit of Stardust Stickles, just so they matched the larger rose.

Lily Lemon was stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Copic markers. How adorable is she?? I love her demure pose...just look at how she's twisting her hair around her finger. I was originally going to colour Lily as a blonde, but thought that perhaps the lemons adorning her hair would show up better against brunette locks. After colouring with my markers, I applied just a little white Prismacolour pencil to the highlights of her gown. Lily also comes with the coordinating sentiment "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" and an accessory lemon stamp.

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59 Gown: G20, G82, G85, G99, C5, C9, Y00, Y02, Y17, E33, E37, YG00, YG11, YG 63, YG67

We would love to have you join in the "Fancy Florals" challenge this week...if you make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp (you can buy them HERE) on your project, then you just might be the lucky winner of either Rebecca Raspberry or Stella Strawberry, as seen on Angie's stunning cards this week! You can link up your project on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog, where you will see the gorgeous projects created this week by the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests.

One more sleep friends...and then you can get your inky fingers on the brand new January stamps!! Please join us tomorrow for the official release day blog hop...Kimmie has a fantastic line up of very talented stampers participating in the hop!

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see you all tomorrow. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Lily Lemon"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Prima
Embellishments: Prima flowers, machine stitching, dollar store pearls, Stardust Stickles
Tools: Martha Stewart border punch

Kraftin' Kimmie January Previews...Round Two!

Welcome to Day Two of the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps January Previews! Kimmie has a HUGE release planned for this month, so we are highlighting a different Krafty artist on each day of previews. Yesterday we shared sneak peeks featuring some adorable animals drawn by Crissy Armstrong and today the Krafty Girls will be showing you previews of the great new stamps from artist Stephen Leary!! Stephen has come up with some super cute baby-themed images this month.

I chose to work with "Buggy Full 'O Ducks"...I LOVE this cute image!! What a busy mama duck...I can't even imagine having to keep track of all those energetic little ones. One baby at a time was all I could handle!! (There are almost 7 years between our kids.) The design paper is all from October Afternoon. All paper edges were sponged with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I also pulled out my brand new Spellbinders Lacey Circles to create a mat for the main image panel and used my Bow Easy to tie the little bow. The border was made with a Martha Stewart punch. I saved the little flowers that were punched out from this piece and lined them up along the bottom edge...no sense in letting them go to waste! I also decided that it was high time to pull out a Viva Decor Pearl Pen that I bought way back in October at Scrapfest...crazy that I've left it untouched for this long!! I love the concept of this product...you can use it to make pearls of any size you require. I'm always running out of pearls in the size I need for a project, and this pen has enough product in it to make tons of pearl accents...definitely worth the money. However, my execution needs A LOT of work! lol Many of my pearls are not quite "pearl shaped"...they are wonky and smushy. (Yup..."smushy"...it's a very technical term you know!) I think I'll be investing a bit of time learning the right "touch" with this pen so I can eventually create the lovely pearls I've seen on other blogger's work. The "Happy New Baby" sentiment come with "Buggy Full 'O Ducks"...I think it's such a cute little sentiment!

Buggy Full 'O Ducks was stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. (and there's a good shot of those "smushy" pearls! lol)

Copics: Ducks: E50, Y00, Y02, Y06, Y17, Y26, E33, E37, E59, YR00, YR02, YR07, E08 Buggy: R000, R00, R02, R81, R83 R85, R59, C10, C9, C5, C3, C1, C00, BG0000, BG10, BG11, BG72, BG75, BG79

If you have not yet visited the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog today, please make sure to stop by for links to the rest of the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests who have previews to share with you!

I hope to see you back tomorrow for our weekly challenge featuring another round of January previews..and then again on Sunday for the release day blog hop!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends, and I hope you have a wonderful Friday. :)

Blessing,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Buggy Full 'O Ducks" and matching sentiment

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, October Afternoon
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink Embellishments: Machine Stitching, Pearls made with Viva Decor Pearl Pen in "Cream", ribbon
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Circles and Petite Circles Small, Martha Stewart border punch, Bow Easy

Let the January Kraftin' Kimmie Previews Begin!!

It's almost release time again at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and this month's release is HUGE!!

Today we will be sharing Krafty Peeks featuring all five stamps from one of our past artists, Crissy Armstrong. These sweet animals are so much fun! All the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests are excited to show them to you, so be sure to pop over to their blogs today to check them all out!! (You will find a list of links to their blogs on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog) Then come back tomorrow for more peeks from another artist.....you'll have to wait and see which one!!

For my card today, I used the absolutely adorable "Cheeky Monkey"! I decided to make a small shaped card with one of my brand new Nestabilities sets, Lacey Squares. I've been wanting this set for a long time, and picked it up at Skribbles and Scraps during their boxing week sale. (My mother-in-law gave me a gift certificate for Christmas!) The cloudy sky was created with a hand-cut cloud template, a make-up sponge and Summer Sky Memento Ink.

"Cheeky Monkey" was stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and then coloured with Copic markers. I used layers of light-handed feather strokes to achieve the "furry" texture. After using my markers, I went in with a bit of Conte crayon and a paper blending stump to add some additional shading.

Copics: E50, E53, E57, E31, E33, E37, E29, E59, G20, G28, G82, G99, YG00, YG03

Time for you to hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog to check out the rest of the sneak peeks...and don't forget to come back tomorrow to see more of the new January stamps!!

Before signing off, I would like to answer a question left by Sonya on my post from last Saturday. Sonya, you asked if I did anything to make Prince Charming's eyes so white. Nope! I didn't add anything at all to them...that's just the natural colour of the Neenah paper. However, I do occasionally add just a hint of grey (or blue-grey) shading to the outer edges of eyes on Annie's images, just for a little dimension and to prevent them from looking too stark next to the skin colour. :)

Have a wonderful day folks, and thank you so much for stopping by. See you tomorrow!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Cheeky Monkey"
Ink: Memento, Copics
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Basic Grey
Embellishments: Buttons, twine
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Squares

Back to Business at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!

It's time for our very first challenge of 2011 over at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! Our lovely hostess this week is the incredibly talented Michele Boyer...gosh I just love her style!! Her challenge this week is "Time to Unwind"...no ribbons, trims, fibres, etc.

I decided to ink up "Prince Charming" for my card this week. I pulled out a sheet of paper from the Once Upon a Time stack from DCWV. It had this great picture of a castle on it, as well as some fairy tale text. I cut out castle with my Spellbinders Labels 8. I love the antique feel of this paper, and decided to age the edges of my paper by distressing it with my scissors and then sponging it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The sentiment was done up on my computer...I antiqued it to match the rest of the paper with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I then used a Mini Mister to spritz it with water to soften and blend the inks, and dried the paper with my hairdryer. (Lol...I really need to get a heat tool!)



"Prince Charming" was stamped with Memento Ink on Neenah Smooth Cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. I added a bit of Stardust Stickles to the crown. I think he's quite dashing!



Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59, YR31 Shirt: E50, E41, E42, E43, E47, RV34, V91, R89 Belt: E57, E59 Pants: BG000, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C9

We'd love to have you join in with Michele's "Unwind" challenge...if you make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project, then you could be the lucky winner of "The Krafty Stamper", which is the stamp Michele used on her gorgeous card this week! You can link up your project at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog. While you're there, make sure to check out the amazing cards by my fellow Krafty Girls for some inspiration!

I really appreciate that you've taken the time out of your day to stop by for a visit. I also wanted to say hello to some new "followers" who stopped by recently (some of you left such lovely comments!) after reading a very sweet post by my friend Crissy Armstrong...she posted cards by some amazingly talented ladies out there in blogland. I was so honoured that she included me in this list. (Thanks Crissy!) I'm always so touched that you all continue to check in on me here at Paper Blessings. I greatly appreciate the encouragement and support from all of you. My heartfelt thanks to all of you!! :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Prince Charming"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, DCWV
Embellishments: Black mini-brads
Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8