Blog Candy Alert at SCACD!!!

Good morning to all my crafty friends out there!! I'm just popping on with a quick post to remind you of the current SCACD BLOG CANDY!!

If you haven't heard the amazing news yet, Susana is welcoming a new artist to the SCACD family...Sylvia Zet!! This adorable new release is scheduled for September 9th, 2011. SCACD design team member Elaine Hughes has already shared two gorgeous sneak peeks featuring just two of these soon to be released stamps...you are going to love the new Sylvia Zet for SCACD stamps!

To celebrate this upcoming release, Susana is offering some BLOG CANDY! If you have not yet entered, you had best RUSH over to THIS POST at the store blog to get your name in because the blog candy closes tomorrow at 10:00 pm EST. Good luck!!

I'll be back either later this evening or tomorrow morning with a new card featuring one of the recently released Fall Flora Fairies at SCACD...hope to see you then!

Blessings,

Melanie

The Fall Flora Fairies Collection at SCACD

Good morning friends! Are you ready for some SCACD excitement??

Today we're introducing you to a brand new set of adorable stamps from the SCACD Stamp Co. called "The Fall Flora Fairies Collection". There are four cute little fairies in this set and they are available exclusively at SCACD, and of course at Quixotic Paperie if you're in the UK.

Today I am sharing a card featuring one of these fairies. This is Annie Oak Leaf...she's so sweet in all her autumn glory! The papers are from Basic Grey Pyrus. I added a little swirl cut with my Spellbinders Doodle Parts, a few Viva Decor Pearls (Dark Brown), a scrap of ribbon and a couple of dollar store leafs. The "Autumn Blessings" sentiment is from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps (Thankful Sentiments).

Annie Oak Leaf was stamped on Strathmore Bristol Smooth with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic markers. This was another experiment with a new paper...not super crazy about it to be honest. The ink doesn't blend very easily on this one, but thought I'd give it a whirl. (plus, a Michael's just opened up here last weekend and they had the paper pads on sale!) I'll try the paper again sometime soon, but I'm thinking it's going to be a new sketchpad instead. Her wings were given a coat of Stardust Stickles and the leaf she is holding was treated to a little Smooch Illuminate.

(my apologies, but I don't have a colour list this time)

For more inspiration featuring The Fall Flora Fairies Collection, please visit the SCACD Store Blog Follow Your Heart where you will find a list of links to the lovely design team members sharing projects today.

***SNEAK PEEK ALERT*** While you are visiting the Store Blog, make sure to check out the details of another sneak peek of our upcoming release featuring Sylvia Zet for SCACD...and a little birdie tells me there just may be some BLOG CANDY!!

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

Blessings,

Melanie

Let's Brew Up Some Fun...Release Day at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!

Today's the day...the new August Halloween stamps are available for purchase at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps! Over the last several days, you've seen the new stamps by Krafty Artists Cheryl Alger, Emilie Goulet and Annie Rodrigue...all three artist have created some fantastically creepy characters for this spooky release. We're celebrating the release with a blog hop today!

The hop begins over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where you will find a complete list of all the talented designers participating in today's blog hop. As you hop along, please make sure to leave comments at each blog as Kimmie will be drawing some lucky winners who will win packages of some of the new August stamps! So, if you've been following along you should have arrived here after visiting with one of our newest Krafty Girls, the lovely Nicole! Wasn't her spooky project amazing...I love her style!!  (if not, just hop on over to the KKS Blog so you don't miss any stops along the way)

My card today features the spooky and slightly demented Potion Master by Annie Rodrigue. I love all the details of this stamp....the frazzled hair, the crazy eyes, the slightly hunched back...she's awesome! :)  Potion Master comes with two sentiments, "Let's Brew Up Some Fun!" and "We Have Chemistry!". The papers are from My Minds Eye "Haunted". The edges were all sponged with Black Soot Distress Ink. The bow was made with my Bow Easy. I added a little spider button and a tiny glass "potion" bottle that I filled with black glitter and  red glass beads. (The bottle was a dollar store find.)

Potion Master was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copic makers. I tried to emphasize her crazy eyes by adding some deep red shading with my R59 (tip-to-tip blending method). I also wanted to give her a bit of a worn and "dirty" look, as I would imagine her laboratory is anything but pristine and sterile, so I added shading with my black Conte crayon. The image was masked and then the background was sponged with Antique Linen and Black Soot Distress Inks.

Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20, R59 Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59  Goggles: R27, R46, R59, Y38, C1, C3, C5, C7 Coat: E41, E43, E47, E50  Pants: T2, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C5  Shirt: G94, C5  Beaker: B60, YG25, YG00, E13

After you are done hopping around, make sure to stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store because all the new August stamps are now available for purchase!! Back by popular demand are the Gimmie Kimmie Kits if you want to buy the stamps as complete sets...the kits are always offered at an amazing discounted price, so make sure to scoop yours up before they disappear!

It's now my pleasure to send you off to visit with the always sweet and very talented Diana...just wait until you see what spooky fun she's been brewing up for you! Oh, and don't forget to leave comments along the hop for your chance to win some of the new stamps!

Thanks for joining us on the blog hop today!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Potion Master" and coordinating sentiment
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, MME
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Inks
Embellishments: Ribbon, spider button, glass bottle, glass beads, Martha Stewart Glitter

Make It Spooky at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps

Could we possibly squeeze any more fun into one day at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog??!! We have our weekly challenge, another round of August sneak peeks and bog candy!! For today's challenge all the Krafty Girls have made projects featuring the August stamps by Krafty artist Annie Rodrigue...just wait until you see what she has been brewing up for your colouring pleasure!!

Our challenge this week is "Make It Spooky", so look into your crafty treasure troves and pull out all things ghoulish and creepy and get Krafty with us.

This brand new little spell caster by artist Annie Rodrigue is "Magical Mathilda". (she comes with two sentiments: "Come and sit for a spell!" and "Bugs and hisses to you!") That's quite the book she's got there, no?...not sure what magic she's released by opening the cover, but she is quite enthralled with that wispy trail of spooky skulls! It kind of reminds me of the books in Harry Potter. (Remember the Monster Book of Monsters? Or how about that creepy one from the restricted section in the Hogwarts library...the one that lets out that spine-tingling screech when opened??) I have a little story about this card. You see, months ago I had coloured up a Halloween image and created this card base for it. I sat it on my shelf and looked at it for two days...and hated it. The colours were just "off"...so I very carefully used a piece of thread to tease the image off, and created another card base with papers that matched that coloured image better. I was not about to throw this one out though, so I stuck it in a file for future use. When I set about colouring up images for this month's release, I pulled out this card to see if it suited any of them, and thought Mathlida would look cute perched on the circular layer. I just made sure to colour my image to actually MATCH my papers this time, lol. However, I still should have coloured the "magic spell" darker...it's a bit too bright for this card still. Anyways, the point of my story is never throw away your "failed" cards or even bits and pieces of cards...you never know when they will come in handy! I can't quite remember for sure, but I believe the papers are from Basic Grey Wassail (yeah I know, Christmas papers on a Halloween card?!) and some MME paper that was heavily inked with Distress Inks to coordinate with the colour scheme (probably Bundled Sage and Black Soot Distress Inks). The ribbon is Offray from Walmart and the little brad was one I had in my stash. Circle and Lacey Circle Spellbinders were used for the circular panel. It was embellished with flat backed rhinestones (from Walmart) that were coloured with a C9 Copic marker.

Magical Mathilda was stamped on Neenah cardstock with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic markers. As I said earlier, I should have coloured the "spell" darker...I used several markers on it, but perhaps the C's should have been a little more dominant. I did use some black Conte crayon afterwards to try to make it appear "smokier", but I also applied a bit of Smooch Illuminate which may have decreased the effect. While I wanted the pumpkins to be orange, I still wanted them to have a "ghostly" feel since they are part of Mathilda's spell so I first coloured them in a base of BV23 and BV31. That was followed by some E97, E99, a bit of C5 for shadows along the left edge and a bit of RV000 for the highlights on the right edges. I think next time I'll try to colour them a bit more "transparent" so that you can see the wisps of smoke through them. I adhered Mathilda directly to the paper with my favourite adhesive Tombow Multi Liquid Glue, but I popped up the "spell" with foam squares for a bit of dimension.

Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20  Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59  Dress: R27, R46, R59, C5, C7, YG00, G20, G24, YG91, YG95, G99, C5 (and a bit of black Conte Crayon to deepen the shadows) Tights: E41, E43, E47, E50 (and black Conte Crayon) Book: E25, Y23, Y17, E31, (first coloured with a base of BV31 before applying red) R27, R46, R59, C5, C7, black Conte Crayon  Spell: BV00, BV23, BV31, RV000, C00, C1, C5  **NOTE** if you plan to use Conte Crayons for additional shading, please make sure to do so after you have completely finished with your markers so as not to contaminate your marker nibs. :)

We'd love to have you play along with our Make It Spooky challenge. Our random winner this week will receive their choice of one of the brand new August stamps!! (just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project to be eligible) The new stamps used by the Krafty Girls today will be available for purchase tomorrow, but in the meantime you can use any of last year's amazing Halloween release to play along with the challenge!! (I loved last year's Halloween release as well...so many fantastically creepy characters! you can find them all at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store) For more creepy inspiration and sneak peeks of Annie's newest Kraftin' Kimmie stamps, please make sure to visit with the rest of the Krafty Girls today...links to their blogs can be found at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog.

***SNEAK PEEK BLOG CANDY ALERT***:  Would you like to win some of the newest Annie Rodrigue Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps??!! Well, make sure leave comments for each of the Krafty Girls participating in today's sneak peeks, and Kimmie will draw TWO winners who will each win THREE of the new stamps!! Their names will be announced on tomorrow's post at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog.

One more sleep my friends, and then you can get your inky fingers on the new August stamps!! Please join us tomorrow for the release day blog hop. You will have the opportunity to see a variety of the new stamps in amazing projects by a fantastic group of very talented paper crafters sure to spark your creative juices...and then you can do some Krafty shopping!

Blessing,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Magical Mathilda"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, MME, Basic Grey
Embellishments: Ribbon, machine stitching, rhinestones and brad
Tools: Spellbinders

I Will Hug Him and Pet Him and Call Him George!....more Kraftin' Kimmie Sneak Peeks!

LOL...have you ever set eyes on a stamp and had a quote from a cartoon or movie pop into your head?? Well, that's exactly what happened as soon as I saw "Frank 'n Kitty", a brand new Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp by Krafty Artist Emilie Goulet that is will be released this Sunday! I took one look at Frank 'n Kitty and remembered the Loony Toons Abominable Snowman cuddling poor Daffy (who he thought was a bunny) and saying "I will name him George and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him." (If you have absolutely  NO idea what I'm talking about and think I'm a bit of a Loony Toon myself...which is arguably true some days, lol...I'll have a link at the bottom of the post to a little snippet of classic Loony Toons fun! But, not until after you see the new STAMP first!)

So without further ado...meet "Frank 'n Kitty"! This stamp is hilarious, and yet another shining example of Emilie's talent for creating such personality in her characters. The papers are from Echo Park. I added a bit of faux stitching with a ruler and a Copic multiliner. The "Trick or Treat" sentiment I used is from the Halloween Sentiments set, which just happens to be a perfect compliment to this year's Halloween release!

Frank is looking quite enthralled with his new pet...the cat (or "George" lol) on the other hand, not so much! As a matter of fact, I've seldom seen a cat look that, errr, let's just say perturbed. :) The image was stamped with Memento Ink on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. The background was sponged with Bundled Sage and Black Soot Distress Inks.

Frank
Skin: YG00, G20, G21, G82, G85, G99, C5  Hair: C3, C5, C7, C9, 100 Pants: BG0000, B91, B93, B95, B97, C3, C5  Shirt: Y17, Y23, YR16, E13, E17, E18, E59 Shoes: R22, R27, R46, R59, C5, E50, E41, E43, W00, E50, E31, E25, E29, E59  Ground: W1, W3, W5
Kitty: E50, E41, W00, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9

SNEAK PEEK BLOG CANDY ALERT: To see the rest of the sneak peeks for today, please visit the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog. While you're hopping around, make sure to leave comments for all the Krafty Girls as Kimmie will be drawing one lucky winner who will receive a complete set of Emilie's August stamps!! The winner will be announced on the KKS Blog in tomorrow's post. :)

Ok, as promised at the top of my post here is the LINK to the Loony Toons video snippet. Now tell me that this stamp doesn't remind you of this pair!!! It makes me giggle...and I think we all need a little giggle from time to time. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you plan to join us tomorrow for our weekly challenge and another round of sneak peeks!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Frank 'n Kitty"
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Inks
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Echo Park

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble...Kraftin' Kimmie Sneak Peeks Start Today!!

It's almost time for another fantastic release at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...and we're gettin' our Spook on for August! That's right, all the stamps in this month's release are Halloween themed!  Each day leading up to the release this Sunday, the Krafty Girls will be showcasing stamps by different Krafty Artists..tune in to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog each day for links to the participating Krafty Girls' blogs. On Sunday, we'll celebrate release day with a ghoulish blog hop certain to offer loads of spooky inspiration as you'll see a collection of cards featuring an assortment of the August stamps.

Today, we are introducing a trio of whimsical little witches by Krafty artist Cheryl Alger! This is "You're Boo-tiful" who comes with the sentiment matching her name. This little witch was a lot of fun to colour up with her cute hat and curly hair. I went with traditional Halloween colours to match the paper from Echo Park. One of these double sided Echo Park sheets had a bunch of tags and little sentiments on one side..I used two of them to frame the witch and for the sentiment. The sentiment was stamped with black Versafine Ink. I also used Bundled Sage and Black Soot Distress Inks on the paper edges. The little black "stitches" were added with a Copic multiliner.

"You're Boo-tiful" was stamped on Neenah cardstock with Memento ink and coloured with Copics.

Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20  Hair: E50, E31, E33, E7, E59  Clothing: C3, C5, C7, C9, V01, V04, V06, V09, YG00, G20, G21, YG67  Pumpkin: (I didn't write these down, so I'm working from memory...and I really fiddled around with a bunch of colours as I wasn't happy with it, so I'm pretty sure this is not an accurate or complete list. Sorry!) Y06, Y23, YR04, YR07, E08, E18

Please hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog to see what my fellow Krafty Girls have been brewing up in their craft rooms...pure magic I tell you!!

BLOG CANDY!!! How would you like to win yourself the complete set of all three witches by Cheryl Alger?? All you need to do is leave a comment at the blogs of all Krafty Girls participating in today's sneak peeks and Kimmie will draw one lucky winner who will be announced tomorrow! Remember, links to all sneak peeks can be found on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog which is also where you will find the winner's name posted the following day. Good luck!

We hope to see you back tomorrow for another round of spooky sneak peeks featuring stamps by yet another Krafty Artist!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "You're Boo-tiful" and sentiment
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Echo Park
Ink: Memento, Versafine, Copics, Distress Inks, Copic multiliner

Jackpot!

Good morning to all my crafty friends! I've got another "Peeker" card to share with you today. :) For anybody who may not be familiar with "The Peekers", they are a collection of adorable little girls designed exclusively for SCACD by artist Elisabeth Bell. Susana recently released the second installment of these lovely little tykes, "The Peekers Collection 2".

This is "Mama's Purse Peeker". I just love her...actually the entire Peeker collection has made its way into my heart. :) They are so much fun to colour up. This wee lass has hit the jackpot though...just look at that happy grin and little fist full of dollars! I remember as a little girl thinking what a treasure trove my mom's purse was...gum, hairbrushes, compacts, chapstick and of course money! lol The papers are from My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose. (check out Susana's amazing selection of paper HERE) The flower is from Prima (De Soie). The swirls were made with Spellbinders Doodle Parts. (SCACD's selection of Spellbinders can be found HERE.)

I stamped "Mama's Purse Peeker" on Make It Colourful cardstock  in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and coloured with Copics. The purse was paper pieced with some of the MME patterned paper, but shading was added with Copic markers before adhering it to the image. Oh...and I just noticed now that I splotched a bit of yellow from the purse handle right in the middle of the purse. sigh. So, please feel free to take a closer look...just not there, lol.

Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: Dress and Headband: YR00, YR04, YR20, YR23, Y38, E08, E18 Flower and Dots on Headband: RV000, R20, R22, R59, BG72, BG75, C5 Shading on Paper-pieced Purse: BG000, BG10, BG72, BG75, C5, C7 Money: YG00, G20, G21, C5, C7

The Peekers Collection 2 is exclusively available at SCACD and at Quixotic Paperie if you live over in the UK. Make sure to check in at SCACD frequently as Susana is always adding new products!

If you have not yet signed up as a follower over at the SCACD store blog Follow Your Heart, please make sure to do so! There is always inspiration to be found there by the very talented design team featuring stamps and products carried at SCACD.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: SCACD's "Mama's Purse Peeker" from The Peekers Collection 2"
Ink: Memento, Copics
Paper: Bazzill, Make It Colourful blending card, MME
Embellishments: Prima flower, ribbon, pearls
Tools:Spellbinders Doodle Parts