So Precious!

Happy Saturday folks! Are you ready for another Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge?? Your hostess this week is the lovely and very witty Andrea Murdock...she wants to see you using "Spring Colours" this week.

I inked up "Tiny Miles and Maisie"...how cute is this little pair?? The paper is from October Afternoon and the little sentiment tag is from the dollar store. The punched border was created with a Martha Stewart punch and I added a bit of machine stitching and some pearls to finish it off.

"Tiny Miles and Maisie" were stamped on Neenah paper with Memento Ink and then coloured with Copic markers. I cut them out and popped them up on foam squares for just a bit of dimension.

Copics: W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, RVooo, R81, R83, R85, R89, E50, E30, E31, E33, E35, E37, E59, C9, C5, C3, C1, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, G20, G82, G85

If you play along with the "Spring Colours" challenge this week, you could be the lucky winner of "Caroline", the stamp Andrea used on her gorgeous card this week. Just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project. Hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog for some inspiration from the amazing Krafty Girls and our very talented Krafty Guests. :)

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

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Tiny Miles and Maisie"

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Paper: October Afternoon, Bazzill, Neenah

Embellishments: Machine stitching, pearls, metal tag, Martha Stewart border punch

Dream Big

Good afternoon lovely blogging friends! Today is my turn to share a card for Sundays With Crissy, and I am absolutely in love with the challenge this month...Stitching!! If you happen to stop by my blog on occasion, you may have noticed that I almost always add stitching to a card. It's a compulsion, lol. I just love the way it seems to finish things off so nicely. To join in the challenge, your stitching doesn't have to be done with a machine though...you can stitch by hand or even add faux stitching to your projects.

The digital stamp I chose to work with today is Crissy Armstrong's "Maya Making Wishes" available at Whimsy Stamps. I have used this sweet image before, but I've been looking forward to colouring her again. Crissy captures the sweet innocence of childhood so beautifully in this image...do you remember making wishes on dandelions? Sometimes as adult, I think we forget how to find joy in life's small moments and simple pleasures. One of the wonderful things about digital stamps is the ability to resize and flip your image according to your specific project's needs...I wanted to make a smaller 4.5" sqaure card, so I printed Maya quite small so that I would still have room to add some different layers and embellishments to my layout. The papers are all from the Basic Grey Hopscotch collection. All paper edges were sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I've had the cute metal charm in my stash for quite some time, and thought the font was perfect for this image.

After resizing and flipping little Maya, I printed her on Neenah paper and then coloured her with Copic markers. To create the curly texture of her hair, I began by laying down little "squiggles" of black (100) and leaving white areas in between. A minimal amount of C3 was applied next (still leaving some areas white) and followed by the black again to add in a few more squiggles and dots. B60 was lightly applied to most of the white areas. For her wings, I applied the colours to the base and tips of the separate sections with light feather-blending followed by the colourless blender to fade the colours into each other. I kept playing with the application of colour and the blender until I was happy with the results. They were still a bit too intense for the more muted colours in the design paper, so I decided to go over the entire wings with a light layer of E50 and E0000. Stardust Stickles were applied as a finishing touch.

Colours: Skin: E50, E11, E13, E25, E29 Hair: Black (100), C3, B60 Clothes: G20, G82, G85, G99, C9 Wings: G20, G82, BG0000, BG10, RV000, blender

We'd love to have you play along with our "Stitching" challenge at Sundays With Crissy this month. You can find all the details/rules for entering the challenge in the sidebar at Sundays With Crissy. To link up your project, please visit Sarah's Sundays With Crissy post by clicking HERE...just look for the little blue Inlinks frog at the end of her post. If you play along, you could be the very happy winner of five of Crissy's gorgeous digital images!!

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

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Crissy Armstrong's "Maya Making Wishes" from Whimsy Stamps

Ink: Copics, Distress Ink

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Basic Grey

Embellishments: Machine Stitching, ribbon, crocheted trim, metal charm, Prima Hydrangeas, pearls, Stardust Stickles

Spoil Yourself!

Hey krafty friends!! I hope you all had a wonderful week. Our kids were home on "March Break"...a whole week of no school. Sadly, us grown-ups still had to work...no pajama days for mom and dad. boo. However, Dean and I kind of lucked out one evening when both Ainsleigh and Nathan were at friends' houses for the night. We took advantage and went out to dinner with friends, followed by some bowling. I'll let you know a little something about me...I am a TERRIBLE bowler! lol (and I am perfectly OK with that, hehe) We had a lot of fun, but were still back home and ready to turn in by 11:00. Yeah, I know...total party animals, huh? lol

So...are you all geared up for another Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge?? Your hostess this week is my very good friend and amazingly talented stamper Krista VanTol!! Her challenge is "Big Buttons!"...so go pull out those hoards of buttons I know you all have and play along with us this week. :)

Funny story...I giggled when I read the title of Krista's challenge. You see, when I first became interested in stamping a couple of years ago, I created a profile on Splitcoast Stampers. Until recently, I could not figure out how to resize my photos to upload them there, so my profile/gallery was completely inactive. I recently played around with a few programs on my computer, and I am happy to say that my gallery FINALLY has some cards in it! Well, when I was creating my profile so long ago, I thought I should come up with a "clever" name. Are you ready for it...my name over on Splitcoast is "StickAButtonOnIt!". Um, yeah. Really clever Melanie. lol This was before I had even started stamping...all I had done up until that point was blog surf. As I finally started stamping, I realized that I rarely "stick a button" on things...kind of ironic considering my SCS profile name. :)

Anyways, back to the challenge! I used "Brigitte" for my card this week...if only bath time were always that relaxing!! What a perfect way to unwind at the end of the day...bubble bath, cup of tea and a good book....that is until the knocking on the door starts. UGH. Never fails...somebody always "needs" something when I shut the door for my "retreat time". I'm sure you all can relate?? ;) The design paper is from Basic Grey. All paper edges were sponged with Stormy Sky Distress Ink. The sentiment (that comes with Brigitte) was stamped with the Story Sky ink and matted on Spellbinders Fancy Tags. The button-centred bow was tied with the aide of my Bow-Easy.

Brigitte was stamped on Neenah with Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. After cutting my image out with my circle Nesties, The bubbles were coloured to appear iridescent and then highlighted with Smooch Illuminate...although, I think I got a little heavy-handed with my application of the Smooch as they don't appear quite as translucent as I had intended. I cut Brigitte out with my circles Nesties, cut a tight mat by tracing around the circumference of the same sized die (which was then cut out by hand), placed that on top of a paper doily and backed it all with a Spellbinders Lacey Circle.

Copics: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59, YR31 Bathtub: B60, C3, C1, C00 Faucet: C9, C5, C3, C1 Bubbles: RV000, RV11, BG0000, B000, V00, V1 Towels: BG0000, BG000, BG01, BG09, C5, G20, G21, G82, G85

Brigitte is perfect for those "pamper" gifts that are so fun to give...and fun to receive as well! This image would be fantastic on a card with an enclosed gift card to a spa or to a bath and body type store...or you could even use her for invitations to a spa-themed party! How about a pamper-yourself gift package for a new mom? Or for a bride-to-be? So many possibilities!!

If you play along with the challenge this week, you could be the lucky winner of "Becky Broadsword", the stamp seen on Krista's gorgeous card this week. (just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp to be eligible) Hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog for some inspiration by the Krafty Girls and our lovely Krafty Guests.

I just want to say thanks again to all of you. Your comments are always so sweet. I am always so touched by the number of visitors, and by the kind words left here on my blog. I truly appreciate each and every one of you...thank you for being such a wonderful source of encouragement to me. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Brigitte" and coordinating sentiment

Paper: Neenah, Basic Grey, Bazzill

Ink: Memento, Copics, Stormy Sky Distress Ink

Embellishments: Ribbon, twine, button, paper doily, machine stitching

Tools: Nestabilities, Bow Easy

March Release Blog Hop at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!

Today is release day at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and we're having a blog hop to celebrate!! Along the way, you will get to see some gorgeous projects featuring the new March stamps that are now available for purchase at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store. This month features the Krafty Quotes #2 Set (which includes four larger scale quotes), five new adorable pirate tykes from Steven Leary and six new "Everyday Girls" by Annie Rodrigue (each comes with an accessory stamp and two coordinating sentiments!).

The hop starts over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog where you will find a complete list of all the blogs on today's hop. As you hop along, make sure to leave comments at each and every blog as Kimmie will be drawing random winners of some of the new stamps from the hop participants!!

Did you arrive here right from the Challenge Blog? If not, just pop over there first to start the hop at the beginning and to read over all the details of today's hop.

My card today features one of the new "Everyday Girls" by Annie Rodrigue...this is "Lucy". I fell in love with this cute little bookworm as soon as I saw her. I love to read...I've pretty much always got a book on the go. The patterned papers are from the Basic Grey Hopscotch collection and the paper with the script on it is from DCWV (Once Upon A Time stack). The sentiment "Everyone deserves a fairytale!" comes with Lucy...she also comes with a book accessory stamp and another sentiment that says "Reading is food for the soul." I used the Spellbinders Labels 8 set to create the panel Lucy is matted on. All three layers were created with the same size die from the set...only the red middle layer was actually run through my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss. I simply traced around the inner edge of the die for the patterned paper layer and then around the outside edge of the die for the blue layer...they were then hand cut with my favourite Cutterbee scissors. Although this doesn't provide as "clean" a cut as when using the dies as they were designed, you can always use a fine grit sandpaper to soften any rough/uneven spots. I really like to use this technique as I feel that the jump between die sizes is often too big for the "tighter" matting that I prefer to use.



Lucy was stamped on Neenah paper with Memento Ink and then coloured with Copic markers. After cutting her out, I ran a grey marker around the edge to conceal the white core of the Neenah. She was adhered directly to the paper with my favourite Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue (the one in the white bottle with the green lid...seriously the BEST glue I have ever used. I always try to have a spare bottle in my craft arsenal, as I'm completely lost without it, lol.) The open blue book was popped up on foam dimensionals.



Colours: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59 Shorts: B32, B34, B37, B39, C9 Shirt: R32, R35, R37, R59, C9 Pillow: BG000, BG01, BG05, BG09, C9 Books: B12, B14, B37, C9, G82, G85, G99, E21, E25, E29

Don't forget to leave comments on every blog on the hop...you just might be one of the lucky winners of some new March stamps. :) When you finish the hop, make sure to visit the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store to get your inky fingers on the new stamps! For those of you who "need" them all, the "Gimmie Kimmie's Kits" will again be available...if you buy the stamps as these kits, you will get to take advantage of a great discount!!

It is now my pleasure to send you off to visit with Krafty Girl Elaine Hughes...I guarantee you will be completely blown away by her project. Elaine is a colouring phenomenon!!

Have fun friends, and happy hopping!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Lucy" and coordinating sentiment
Ink: Memento, Copics, Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Basic Grey, DCWV
Embellishments: machine stitching
Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8

Anything Goes at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and another round of March Sneak Peeks!!

Release week is always a blast at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...have you been keeping up with all the sneak peeks?? The March release includes a new Krafty Quotes set, some amazingly cute pirates from Steven Leary and the gorgeous Everyday Girls from Annie Rodrigue.

Today we're bringing you another round of sneak peeks with out weekly challenge. Your hostess this week is Miss Kraftin' Kimmie herself!! She's made it really easy for you this week...her challenge is Anything Goes!! So you have carte blanche this week...total creative freedom!!

My card features one of the brand new Everyday Girls by artist Annie Rodrigue. This lovely new mother is "Diana"...named after Kimmie's very sweet mother and Krafty Girl Diana Pickering!! Hmmm...I'm thinking this might very well be Baby Kimmie she's cradling in her arms. :) I just love this tender moment Annie captured so beautifully. The papers are from Prima. My card is pretty simple today...nothing fussy. I really like the patterns on these papers, so I didn't want to cover them up with a lot of embellishments. I think it also allows the image to really take centre stage. "Diana" comes with a baby rattle accessory stamp and two sentiments..."Sweet Little One" (which I used on the inside of my card) and "Precious Gift".

"Diana" was stamped on Neenah with Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. The folded baby blankets were paper pieced with some of the Prima paper and then shaded with Copics.

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59 Shirt: G20, G82, G85, G99, C9 Pants: B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C9 "Baby Kimmie's" blanket: E50, E41, E43, E47, B60, blender Bottle: B60, C3, Y11, Y17, E33, E37, E37

On the inside, I used one of the two sentiments that comes with "Diana". I also used the baby bottle accessory stamp that comes with Caroline.

If you play along with the Anything Goes challenge this week, you could be the lucky winner of one the stamps Kimmie used on her gorgeous cards...your choice of "Cap'n Charlie" or "Brigitte"!! (To be eligible, you must use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project.) You can check out all the beautiful "sneak peek" projects by the Krafty Girls and our lovely Krafty Guests on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog.

Are you loving these new stamps as much as we are?? They will be available for purchase tomorrow! We'd love to have you join us tomorrow for the release day blog hop...hope to see you then!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your Saturday. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Diana" and co-ordinating sentiment, baby bottle accessory stamp for

Ink: Memento, Copics

Paper: Prima, Bazzill, Neenah

Embellishments: pearls

Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8

Introducing the "Everyday Girls"...Day Three of Kraftin' Kimmie March Previews!!

Oooohhhh...you are going to LOVE the new March Kraftin' Kimmie images by artist Annie Rodrigue!!! Honestly, you are going to want to add them all to your Krafty stamp collection! They are called the "Everyday Girls"...and that's just what they are!! They capture those everyday moments and seasons of life, and show down-to-earth gals like you and me just being themselves. These stamps are so versatile, and I know I will find myself reaching for them time and time again!

For my sneak peek today, I chose to work with Caroline...I think she is just gorgeous in all her baby-belly glory! The "You Glow Girl!" sentiment used on this card comes with Caroline...she also comes with a baby bottle accessory stamps and an additional sentiment that says "Expecting a package?" The sentiment was stamped with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and matted on Spellbinders Fancy Tags. The pretty pink and green papers are from Prima. Finishing touches include machine stitching, pink pearls and some crocheted trim.

So, does anybody else struggle with colouring pinks?? I find pinks to be such a challenge! The R80 range was too intense for the look I was hoping to achieve, and they definitely did not match the design paper I had chosen ahead of time, so I needed to reach for a softer range. I ended up experimenting a lot to try to achieve the desired depth with my shading...but this proved to be difficult with these colours. I didn't want to add grays, as I knew they would likely "muddy" the soft pink hue. I tried some deeper pinks...but they were too red, and I was at risk of loosing that soft pastel pink shade that I wanted to keep. I added a touch of E99 to see if that would work...it helped a bit, but I only applied it with the tip-to-tip blending method so as not to completely alter the colour. After much time and effort to increase the depth of shading without altering the soft pink, I just decided to leave it alone before I ended up with a big mess, lol. To be honest, I'm not entirely thrilled with my colouring of the pleats of the pink portion of her gown...but that just means that I have some "homework" to do. :) I am going to have to work with my pinks until I become more comfortable with them and figure out some combinations that I really like. (Improving on weak areas always requires working outside your comfort zone. While it may be frustrating at first, in the end you will be glad that you spent the time to grow in these areas. Don't be afraid of making mistakes...it's often through those mistakes that we can learn the most!) Thankfully, the green part of her gown was much more cooperative! With darker colours, I always find it easier to build the deepest shadows without fear of "muddying" the colours. I often add a bit of gray marker (C5, C7 or C9) to the deepest shadows. In the end, I went in with my black and dark brown Conte Crayons applied with a paper blending stump to try to add just a wee bit more depth.

Copics: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, E31, E33, E37, E39, YR31 Gown: R000, R00, R11, R20, R89, E99, G20, G82, G85, G99, C9, additional shading done with black Conte Crayon

Want to see more??? Then the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog is the place to be...you will find a list of links to the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests who also have previews to share with you today featuring the brand new "Everyday Girls"!!

Please join us for one more round of previews tomorrow during our weekly challenge...and then again on Sunday for the official release day Blog Hop!! You know there will be gorgeous projects galore to get you inspired...oh, and I'm pretty sure Kimmie will be offering up some pretty sweet prizes as well!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Caroline" and co-ordinating sentiment

Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Prima

Embellishments: Pearls, crocheted trim, machine stitching

Tools: Spellbinders Fancy Tags

Ahoy Matey!! (Kraftin' Kimmie March Sneak Peeks....Round 2!!)

Today at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog, we are showcasing the soon-t0-be-released March images brought to us by Krafty Artist Steven Leary!! (Release day is this Sunday!) Steven is bringing us some brand new characters this month...some little PIRATES!!! Oh my goodness, they are absolutely adorable and I just love them. :)

Introducing "Becky Broadsword" and "Cap'n Charlie"! These young pirates were stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock with Memento Ink and then coloured with Copic makers. The "Ahoy Matey" sentiment is from a previously released Kraftin' Kimmie set, "Pirate Sentiments". I also used another sentiment from this set on the inside of my card that reads "It's Yarr Birthday!". (both were stamped in Walnut Stain Distress Ink) You might want to consider snagging yourself this sentiment set to go along with these new pirates...there are a TON of sentiments in this set, and they're just perfect for these new characters from Steven Leary!! Of course, you will need to wait until Sunday to get your inky little fingers on the new stamps!

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20, Hair: E50, E31, E31, E33, E35, E37, E59 Clothes: B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C9, E30, E21, E25, E29, 100, C10, C9, C5, C3, Y17 Swords: E50, E30, E25, E29, C3, C1, C00

Here's a shot of the inside:

These new little pirates would make amazing birthday cards for your favourite little tykes......OOOH could you just imagine a whole set of birthday invitations for a pirate themed birthday party??? Since these images are a little smaller, you could easily colour up a whole bunch of them for invitations, party favours, after party thank-you notes...oh, the list goes on and on and on!! I also think they would be great for Halloween or Dress-Up scrapbook layouts!

Alrighty landlubbers!! Off with ye' to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where ye' can feast yer eyes on all the sneak peaks by the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests!! :)

Please make sure to join us tomorrow for another round of previews featuring new stamps by yet another Krafty Artist...you are going to LOVE them!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Cap'n Charlie", "Becky Broadsword" and "Pirate Sentiments"

Ink: Memento, Copics, Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Paper: Bazzill, Neenah, MME,

Embellishments: Machine Stitching

Imagination (March Previews Begin Today at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!)

Howdy folks!! Can you believe we're already approaching another fabulous release at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps?? The sneak peeks are beginning today...you will find a complete list of links to the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests who have previews to share with you today over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog. Today we are showcasing the brand new set, Krafty Quotes #2!! The response to the first set of quotes released last month was incredible...you all seemed to love them!! I know I did. These quotes are large enough that they can easily stand alone as the focal point of a card...they are also perfect to pair up with your favourite stamped images, or to incorporate into scrapbook layouts. Krafty Quotes #2 includes four different quotes by Lauren Bacall, Mother Teresa, Lucy Maude Montgomery and Bette Midler.

For my card today, I chose to work with the Lauren Bacall quote, "Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." I really admire card artists who can pull off clean and simple cards. I struggle so much with this type of layout! I always take a really long time assembling my cards (as much as I try, I find it impossible to be "quick" lol), but this style really stumps me. I tend to sit in prolonged silence just staring at all the supplies on my table trying to figure out how to get the maximum effect with the minimal amount of supplies. I'll let you all in on a secret...this is actually my second attempt making a card with this quote. I had something all planned out in my head that I thought was going to look wonderful...however, after the card was assembled, it was anything but wonderful. lol I left the card up for a while trying to decide if it was salvageable. I finally decided to start from scratch. Sigh. (anybody else ever been there??) So, for my second attempt I decided to go with a shaped card, and used Spellbinders Lacey Circles for my card base. I did like the colour scheme of my first card, so I decided to stay with blue and white. There is no design paper on this card...just blue and white cardstock. For the central panel, I sponged in a sky with Memento Summer Sky Ink while the cardstock was still in the die. (I always use a hand cut cloud template when doing my skies. I just make sure to flip and angle my template so that the clouds appear random...that way, I avoid having a distinct, repeating pattern in my clouds.) I then stamped my Krafty Quote on top of the sky with Stormy Sky Distress Ink. The bow was tied with my Bow Easy, and I added a centre pearl as a finishing touch.

Hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog to see all the gorgeous samples featuring each of the 4 quotes in the new Krafty Quotes #2 Set. The Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests have again done an outstanding job with these stamps!!

We hope to see you back tomorrow with sneak peeks featuring the March images by one of our Krafty Artists!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Krafty Quotes #2 Set
Ink: Memento Summer Sky, Stormy Sky Distress Ink
Paper: Bazzill
Embellishments: Ribbon, pearl
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Circles, Circles, Bow-Easy, cloud template

Pip!!

Good morning friends!! Are you all set for another Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge?? Your hostess is the lovely Jeanne Streiff...she's challenging us to use Twine or Floss on our projects this week.

This lovely young mermaid is "Marina". I used some fun papers from Imaginesce. I matted her on the scalloped patterned paper because I thought it kind of looked like the scales I was trying to create on Marina's tail. To keep with the scalloped theme, I also pulled out my Lacey Circles Spellbinders and a Martha Stewart border punch. I used a little bit of white embroidery floss on the button and then added a little clamshell charm attached with jump rings. LOL...I had a bit of fun with the title of my post today. Do you remember what book talked about a goldfish kiss that made the sound "Pip!"??? Think waaay back to your childhood favourites. Think cats in hats, Pops that were hopped on, people houses, ham and eggs in less than traditional colours...gosh, I LOVED Dr. Seuss!! One of my many Seuss favourites was Mr. Brown Can Moo...and in that book, Mr. Brown could make the noise of a goldfish kiss...PIP! Too fun!! :)

Confession time...I was running a bit short on time this week so lucky for me I had this image already stamped out and partially coloured from a colouring demo I did at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Booth at Scrapfest back in October. I honestly cannot remember the complete list colours I used on her tail, but taking a look at it I will guess that the following colours were included: YG00, YG11, YG63, YG67, G99, Y00, Y17. When colouring the Kraftin' Kimmie mermaids, I like to try to replicate the texture of scales on their fishy tails. I lay down my colour in little "U" shaped flicks...be very lighthanded with these strokes as you will be building up the depth of colour. If you are too heavy-handed, you will end up with too much ink saturating your paper and will loose the crispness of the strokes. It's these crisp and clean strokes that will create the appearance of actual scales. I layer the strokes heavier towards the outer edges of the tail, especially the outer edge that is furthest away from the light source. As I work towards the middle of the tail (and the highlighted area), I use fewer of these "U" shaped strokes...and I will use much lighter colours for them in this area. I take my lightest shades (in this case they were probably YG00 and YG11) and go over all the strokes to soften them slightly...remember you want to keep some of the strokes visible to create the texture. I always end up going back in to add more ink for additional depth and detail. As a final touch, I used some Smooch Illuminate and Stardust Stickles for a bit of "glam". :)

When I pulled out this partially coloured image, I had coloured her hair in tones of yellow but I wanted to change it up a bit so I started playing with some auburn tones layered over top. I'm guessing that the blonde base would have included some Y21, Y17, E50 and some E30's...not sure though as it was so long ago. The additional colours I added were E11, E13, E17, E99 and E59. The skin was most likely coloured with my go-to combo of E000, E00, E11 and R20.

If you play along this week, you could win Stella Strawberry, the stamp Jeanne used on her beautiful card this week! (just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project to be eligible) You can check out all the gorgeous projects created this week by my fellow Krafty Girls and our lovely Krafty Guests at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog!

Thanks for stopping by today blog friends!! Your visits really do mean so much to me. I understand that life is very busy, and so the few minutes you take to stop by here at Paper Blessings is VERY much appreciated.

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Marina"
Ink: Memento, Copics
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Imaginesce
Embellishments: Crocheted trim, stretchy ribbon, button, embroidery floss, metal charm, machine stitching, Startdust Stickles, Smooch Illuminate
Tools: Martha Steward punch