"Glinda" (It's Release Day At Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!)

Welcome to the release day blog hop at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! Kimmie has yet another fabulous line-up of stamps for April including the "Playtime Lulu Set" by Cheryl Alger, "Bug Buddies One" and "Bug Buddies Two"  which are two new sets by Emilie Goulet, Wizard of Oz themed stamps by Annie Rodrigue and finally the "Oz Sentiments Set" to compliment Annie's stamps this month.

Our hop today began over at the Kraftin Kimmie Stamps Blog where you will find a complete hop list. If you've been following along, you should have arrived here after visiting with the super sweet and talented Angie Baker. As you hop along, make sure to leave comments because Kimmie will be drawing two lucky winners who will each receive a package of some of the new April stamps.

My card today features the gorgeous good witch Glinda. Well truthfully, this was supposed to be my challenge card from yesterday, but we had a little something come up that prevented me from being able to play along. (The challenge is a sketch, so make sure to check it out HERE and play along for your chance to win yet another new April stamp!) I used paper from two MME pads, Miss Caroline All Dolled Up and Madison Ave. The flourish was created with an MFT die and I topped it off with a spray of pearls and some Prima roses. All paper edges were distressed and then sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I adore the font on the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sentiment which is part of the "Oz Sentiments Set"...it's so pretty!

Glinda was stamped in Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. I also added some additional shading with a black Conte crayon and a paper blending stump. The background was sponged in with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. She was cut out and matted with Spellbinders Circles and Lacey Circles.

Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20  Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59  Dress: B000, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, C9, RV000, R81, R83, R85, R89  Crown: Y17, Y21, E17, E18

Make sure to stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store after the hop where you will find all the new April stamps available for purchase! Kimmie will of course be offering the Gimmie Kimmie Kits again for those of you who just have to have it all! These kits grouped together by artist are available at a discounted price, but only at a limited time so make sure to grab yours before they are gone!

It is my pleasure to send you off to visit with one of our lovely guests Tammy who I know has something gorgeous to share with you.  :)

Have fun hopping...and don't forget to leave those comments for your chance to win some new stamps!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Bug Buddies...Day Two of Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Previews!

Good morning and happy Friday to you all! It's day two of the April Kraftin' Kimmie sneak peeks and today we are introducing two fun new sets by Emilie Goulet, "Bug Buddies 1" and "Bug Buddies 2". Each set contains three main image stamps and several coordinating sentiments.

This cute ladybug is from "Bug Buddies 2", as is the "Hey Ladybug!" sentiment. This is a little 4x4 note card. The heart paper is from Cosmo Cricket "Tea for Two". The image was stamped in Memento Ink on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copics. It was cut out with Spellbinders Labels 2. The sky was sponged in with Memento Summer Sky and a handmade cloud template.

Black: C1, C5, C9  Reds: R27, R46, R59, C9  Stick: E13, E17, E47, E59  Bag: YG00, G82, G85, B99, C9  Grass: YG00, YG03, YG67, G99, C9

SNEAK PEEK BLOG CANDY: Kimmie is giving away ONE "Bug Buddies 1 Set" and ONE "Bug Buddies 2 Set" to two lucky stampers!! To be eligible, just hop around to visit each Krafty Girl who has a sneak peek to share today and leave a comment on their personal blogs. You will find a complete list of their blogs at the KKS Blog, which is also where Kimmie will post the winner tomorrow. Good luck!


Hope to see you tomorrow for our weekly challenge and another round of sneak peeks!


Blessings, 


Melanie

"Playtime Lulu"...a Kraftin' Kimmie Sneak Peek!

Hi folks! It's almost time for another release at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps and we're kicking off the previews today! For this first round of sneak peeks, the Krafty Girls are introducing a brand new set by Cheryl Alger called "Playtime Lulu". The set includes three main image stamps and several coordinating sentiments.

I inked up the image of Lulu playing dress-up for my card today. I think this image will be very nostalgic for many KKS fans. I'm sure we all snuck into our mother's or grandmother's closets to find the perfect outfit and accessories for playing "grown-ups"...and of course no ensemble would be complete without a pair of snazzy high heels. ;)  I used some pretty paper from Cosmo Cricket "Tea for Two" and cut out a few layers out with some Spellbinders.  The flourish is an MFT die and the little flowers were made with a paper punch.

Lulu was stamped on Neenah cardstock with Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. Her dress and hat were paper pieced with the Cosmo Cricket papers. Shading was added with Copics. Her boa was covered in Polar White Flower Soft and then sprinkled with Glamour Dust. I had originally coloured the pearl necklace with my Copics, but then thought it would be fun to give her some "real" pearls with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen. However, I should have made the pearls a little larger than the ones drawn on the image as my pearls all ended up running into each other and lost their definition. I think making each pearl a little larger would have helped to maintain the "pearl" shape better. Oh well...lesson learned. :)

SNEAK PEEK BLOG CANDY: Kimmie is giving away ONE "Playtime Lulu" set to ONE lucky stamper!! To be eligible, just hop around to visit each Krafty Girl who has a sneak peek to share today and leave a comment on their personal blogs. You will find a complete list of their blogs at the KKS Blog, which is also where Kimmie will post the winner tomorrow. Good luck!

Krafty News:

• Moving Sale: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is having a moving sale!! There are a ton of fantastic stamps priced at 30-75% off! 
• Krafty Klubhouse "Going Places" Kits: Don't forget to pick up your "Going Places" set which is available exclusively at the the KKS online store!
• Kimmie's Kard Kits: Check out these fantastic kits that include card bases, cardstock, design papers, a dew drop Memento ink pad, some twine/ribbon and of course a KKS stamp!

We hope to see you tomorrow for another round of Krafty Sneak Peeks!

Blessings,

Melanie

"Come Hither Eyes"...another SCACD Hop!!

Good morning crafty friends!! We though it would be fun to have another hop featuring the newest exclusive Susana Loves Stamps that hit the SCACD shelves a couple of weeks ago. There are two brand new collections in this line, "Eyes of Beauty" and "Eyes of Dreams".

The complete hop list can be found on the SCACD Store Blog...if you've been following along, you will have arrived here after visiting the talented Crystal's blog. There is also a "mystery prize" that will end Sunday night at 9:00 pm EST.

I decided to make a tag using "Come Hither Eyes" using an Inkssentials tag and some Luminarte Silks. I also wanted to make use of an embossing folder after being inspired my fellow DT member Alex who recently posted a wonderful tutorial on various ways to make use of your folders...you can find that tutorial HERE. I embossed the tag and then used a brayer to roll black craft paint over the raised pattern. I thinned the black paint with a bit of matte medium. I inked up a music staff rubber stamp with Archival ink and randomly stamped bits of the pattern over the tag. I didn't even bother to put it on a block...just held it in my hands touched it to the tag so as to create an "imperfect" impression. I then started randomly applying Luminarte Silks in Guatemalan Green, Coral Berry and Honey Amber. I also mixed a little Teal Zircon Luminarte Mica powder with some matte medium to create a fourth colour to add to the tag. I let my inner child out to play and applied these colours with my fingers. :)  To soften the effect and to aide in blending, I spritzed the tag with water from a Mini Mister. "Come Hither Eyes" is perched on a element cut with Spellbinders dies. I also used the Madera Corner and Elegant Scrollwork dies from Memory Box. Finishing touches were added with a black Viva Decor Pearl Pen, a scrap of a paper doily painted with black acrylic paint, a Tim Holtz ticket painted with the Luminarte products and a Prima flower.

"Come Hither Eyes" was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Copic markers. I love the cute wings on this image, but you could always exclude the wings to further expand the versatility of these gorgeous stamps. :)

The "Eyes of Beauty" and "Eyes of Dreams" collections are available at SCACD and at Quixotic Paperie for our international friends.

The next stop on today's hop is Alex...I know she has something fabulous to share with you!

Don't forget to pop by SCACD to do a little crafty shopping. Here's a little teaser of some of the newest products now in stock:

• New 6x6 paper pads! (Heidi Swap, Basic Grey and Melissa Frances just to name a few!)
• Mixed media crafty goodies!
• The NEW 2012 Spellebinders and Embossibilities are on sale for 15% off until this Sunday 

Have fun on the hop!

Blessings, 

Melanie

Playing "Tag" at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!

Good morning! I woke up this morning and realized I forgot to schedule my post for this morning...oops! As I am literally running out the door to take my daughter to ballet, this is going to be super short and sweet. I'll pop on a bit later to update with details.

The challenge at the KKS Blog this week is to make tags, or to use a tag on your project. I made a tag with the Scripture Sentiments Set:

For full details, please make sure to pop by the KKS Blog where you can also see all the Krafty Girls' handiwork. :)

(As I said, I'll be back later to include all the details!)

Blessings,

Melanie

Quick Craft Ideas

Happy Saturday to all my crafty friends out there! I though I'd pop on with a couple of craft quickies. If your schedule is anything like mine, you probably have to squeeze your crafty moments in whenever you can. I am typically a slow crafter, so most of my cards are done over several sessions between colouring, choosing embellishments, deciding on a layout, cutting and assembling...it's quite the process!

As much as I love making detailed cards and projects, sometimes it nice to pull out a minimal number of products and tools and finish off a project in a relatively short time period. I have a few such projects to share with you today that use some Viva Decor products available at SCACD. They are super easy and quick to create...although they will require a bit of drying time.

First up is a little "treasure box". This is just a cheap wooden box I picked up at my local dollar store. Using a stencil I've had kicking around for a while, I applied some Viva Decor Crystal Gel with a palate knife to the box. Susana has a fantastic assortment of Stencils in stock at SCACD. The Crystal Gel is a fun product that dries clear and holds it's dimension so it's perfect for adding texture to all sorts of surfaces. After allowing the gel to dry completely, I applied some brown acrylic craft paint to the box. I wasn't terribly neat with the application as I wanted it to have a kind of "antiqued" look. I also used a rag to help rub the paint into the wood and to buff it off of the gel. I also added a few rhinestones for just a bit of bling. :) The pearls were made with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen.

While I had the Crystal Gel and stencils out, I looked around for something else I could play with. I had a few kraft envelopes sitting on my desk, so I pulled them over. Again, I used a stencil and applied the gel with a palate knife.

After the gel was dry, I sponged brown ink on the first envelope to highlight the pattern and added some brown pearls with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen.

For the next envelope, I coloured the dried gel with my Copics, sponged around the edges with brown ink, added little groupings of pearls with the Viva Decor Pearl Pen and topped it off with a little rhinestone at the bottom. I really love my Viva Decor Pearl Pens. They really are a fantastic money saver as you can get so many pearls from just one pen. I use my brown one a lot, and I've hardly made a dent in it! I also love that you can customize the size of your pearls. As you can see in the envelope below, I was able to make pearls of assorted sizes.

Again, these are some old stencils I had kicking around...they were quite flimsy self adhesive ones that tore after I was done with them, lol. If I had been patient, I would have waited until my GOOD stencils arrived from SCACD. However, I am not patient and I wanted to play with my Crystal Gel! lol  I have since purchased some stencils and am looking forward to putting them to use in future projects. I really hadn't thought much about using stencils in my projects until recently. They are so versatile and can be used with so many different mediums like paint, ink, sprays, gels, markers, modelling paste...the possibilities really are only as limited as your imagination. :)  You can find Susana's stencils here HERE.

So those were my Saturday craft quickies.  They were fun and easy to create...and they allowed me to get messy with some great art products, which I love to do. :)

Don't forget to check out the newest Susana Loves Stamps release...these stamps are beautiful! Susana has also been busy adding many great new products to the store. Remember, Susana also carries a ton of products for all you mixed media fans! From canvases, to stencils, to tags, to paints, to sprays...she's got you covered! She recently brought in some fabulous Dylusions products which look incredible! The Luminarte products are also a beautiful line that work well with both traditional paper crafts and canvas art. So grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea and take a good look around SCACD...nothing better than shopping in your jammies with a hot coffee in hand. ;)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Melanie

"Susana Loves Stamps" Release Day at SCACD!!

Good morning and welcome to the release day blog hop for SCACD!! We are celebrating the release of two brand new exclusive collections from the "Susana Loves Stamps" line at SCACD, "Eyes of Beauty" and "Eyes of Dreams". The stamps are now available for purchase as complete collections or as individual stamps. When purchasing the complete collections, you will also receive a bonus accessory stamp! Our international crafty friends can purchase them at  Quixotic Paperie .

Today's hop is full of inspiration from the SCACD design team as well as some special guests designers. I know we have all had a lot of fun creating with these gorgeous new stamps. :) To ensure that you hit every blog on today's hop, make sure to start the hop at Danni 's blog. If you have been travelling along in order, you will have arrived here after visiting with one of our lovely guests, Angela Wood.

My card today features the lovely "Mariposa Eyes" from the "Eyes of Dreams" collection. The pretty papers are Prima Nature Garden. The chipboard corner embellishments are Make It Crafty Ornate Corners. I also had a chance to play with my new Vivienne Butterfly Die from Memory Box. The flourish is also a Memory Box Die, "Elegant Scrollwork".

"Mariposa Eyes" was stamped on Neenah cardstock with Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. Her dress was paper-pieced with the Prima paper and shaded with Copics. I absolutely adore the eyes on these stamps...they are so pretty!

Skin: E000, E00, E11, RV95  Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, E33, E35, E37

It is now my pleasure to send you off to visit with another one of our talented guests, Mary Johnson.

Have fun on the hop, and make sure to stop by SCACD afterwards to do a little shopping. You can find the new stamps HERE. You can also take a peek around the store to see all the wonderful new products Susana has brought in recently. No matter what your artistic style might be, Susana definitely has products to suit your specific needs. :)

Happy hopping and shopping folks!

Blessings,

Melanie