Saturday, August 6, 2011

Feeling a Little "Distressed"?

Good morning folks!! We have some happy news to share with you at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...we have two lovely new ladies joining us as permanent Krafty Girls!! Please join us in welcoming Nicole Aspinall and Pam Varnell! We are so excited to have both of you joining our Krafty family and we look forward to seeing the creativity you bring to the team. :)

Well, it's time for another Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge, and today it's my turn to play hostess! I would like to see you use one of my favourite techniques: "Distressing". You can feel free to distress your papers however you like...Distress Ink, tearing, crumpling, distressing tools, scissor edges...whatever suits your fancy. :) So go ahead and take a little of your stress out on your paper...it's therapeutic!

Oh, and Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is sponsoring the Sketch For You To Try challenge this month!!! Jen Del Muro has yet another fabulous sketch for you to play along with, and she will be giving a sweet Kraftin' Kimmie prize to one lucky participant from the SFYTT challenge blog at the end of the month. I do love a good sketch...they make the assembly process much easier for layout-challenged stampers like me! lol I've used her great sketch on my Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge card today.

I'm sure you all have your favourite genre of stamps...I am a total "sucker" (pun definitely intended!!) for Halloween stamps...well, and Christmas stamps too!! I am always drawn to Halloween and Christmas papers, no matter what time of year it is! I decided to pull out one of last year's Kraftin' Kimmie Halloween stamps...this is fanged gent and his lady love are "Fred and Ginger". The striped paper is from Graphic 45. The other design papers are all from We R Memory Keepers "Heebiejeebies"....love that name!! I heavily distressed the edges with some dull scissors and sponged them with Black Soot Distress Ink. The "Love Bites" sentiment comes with Fred and Ginger...it was stamped in Versafine Ink on white cardstock that was sponged with Antique Linen and Black Soot Distress Inks.


One of the things I love about Halloween stamps is that they give you the opportunity to play around with different skin colour combos and shading techniques. Let's face it...not very many ghoulish characters have that lovely glowing complexion that we all strive to achieve with most of our colouring projects! Nope...vampires, witches, zombies and ghosts just cry out for deep, purple shadows...green skin may even be in order on occasion. Last year, I did a card with "Fred and Ginger" and I coloured Fred's face a la "old school vampires"...his face was chalky white with deep shadows around his eyes. This time, I chose to experiment a little with flesh tones and some purple shading. To be honest, it didn't come out quite as dramatic as I had hoped...but it's all a learning process. :) I try to take notes on what works and what doesn't so that next time I can hopefully apply what I've learned and come up with a better result. I did find that I needed to use a lot of tip-to-tip blending to work in those purples so that I ended up with a smoother blend. Sometimes certain colours will not blend seamlessly when applied directly to your paper, but if you touch your marker tips and combine the colours like that, it helps with the transitional areas. After I was done with my Copics, I used my Conte crayons and a blending stump to add additional shading. I was a bit heavy handed with the application of these shadows so I used a kneaded eraser to lift a bit of the Conte crayon after I was done blending. I really wanted to play up the difference in complexion between the living and the dead with Ginger. I applied the "blush" quite a bit heavier than I normally would to try to maximize the contrast of skin with blood still circulating through it. lol I think this pair is so much fun. Ginger is definitely swooning...but take a look at those puckered lips! I'm thinking she may enjoy flirting with danger just a wee bit. ;)



Fred: Skin: E0000, E000, BV00, V91, C00, T2 (additional shading with a black Conte Crayon in 2B) Cape: C3, C5, C7, C9, 100 Shirt: G82, C5 Tie: R27, R59, C5
Ginger: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59 Dress: RV000, V00, V01, V12, V15, V09, C5, C7

We'd love to have you play along with the "Distressing" challenge. If you do, you could be the lucky winner of "Fred and Ginger"...just make sure you use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project to be eligible for the prize. If you are in the need of some new stamps, you can go shopping at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store. Don't forget that you can double your chances of winning some Kraftin' Kimmie goodness by also entering the SFYTT challenge this month!

Don't forget to hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog to see the gorgeous distressed projects by the rest of the talented Krafty Girls!

Oh...and did you check out the "Frugal Friday" sales for this week yet? Each week Kimmie chooses a few stamps to put on sale at amazing discounts! Here are the stamps on sale this week (all at 40-50% off!): Tickled Pink Piggies, Krafty Quotes #2, Fireman Phil, Agnes, Snowshoe Fun and Private Message!! (just click on the above link to go directly to the Frugal Fridays Specials!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I truly appreciate your visit. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Fred and Ginger"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill,WRMK, Graphic 45

13 comments:

Tracey said...

Another stunner Melanie! Your distressing is incredible!!!

Tenia Nelson said...

What a super cool card!!! tfs!!

Michele Boyer said...

As always, your coloring just blows me away, Melanie. I don't know how you do it! I'd LOVE to sit and watch (study) you sometime. Absolutely stunning.

Amy Sheffer said...

Amazing card, Melanie! Love your coloring (always!) -- especially Fred's ghoulish skin tones. Great job with Jen's sketch -- love that the Krafty Girls are playing along!

Danni said...

Fabulous!! I could just sit and stare at your coloring for hours..you amaze me!! Gorgeous!

Unknown said...

....Did I tell you that I LOVE you!!! Well I do, I LOVE your work, your colouring and this challenge...AMAZING stuff Miss Mel..As always!!! Have a wonderful time at the play and away ....And you know that you can send me delicious chocolate ANYTIME!!! Xx

Pam Varnell said...

WOWZERS Melanie .... this is just stunning. Your shading and coloring is top notch. I just can't quit looking at this beautiful card. Love the paper you paired with it too. LOVE it.

Hugs,
Pam

Sanne said...

I totally love your card! What a great stamp, love it!

Hugs Sanne

Kraftin' Kimmie said...

Stunning once again, my sweet! I LOVE the skintones on both Fred and Ginger! And all your distressing looks awesome! Thanks for a great challenge!

Carole of Brum said...

Oh! Melanie, you have really made me think differently about Halloween cards. I've never been interested in them before, but your thoughts on being able to experiment with different skin tones has sparked my interest. may even make one myself! lol. Brill write up, by the way. Oh, and the card is fabulous, I'm very new to your blog but already I can see that the Halloween style really suits your colouring technique. Am gonna wait for more..... CoB

Janine - Ellabella said...

Super card! So much attention to detail, as always!

Unknown said...

Your colouring just blows me away Melanie. I've never seen anyone get those intense shadows like you do. I would LOVE to spend some time colouring with you one day!!
Sarah

Welcome! said...

This is perfect! Love Fred's skin tone! Gorgeous colours too!
Hugs, K