A Word on Love, from Mother Teresa

Happy Saturday!! Today's challenge over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog is brought to us by the very lovely and very talented Michele Boyer...she wants to see "Scoopy Scallops" on your creations this week!

My card this week features one of the four quotes from the Krafty Quotes #1 Set. This one is from Mother Teresa. I thought it would be fun to pair it up with this "fruity" strawberry paper from October Afternoon. I tried to pull in several components with scallops: a scalloped oval, scallops on the background paper and a little bit of scalloped crocheted trim at the bottom edge. I also used Stella Strawberry's accessory berry stamp. (stamped twice and then nestled together. Copics: Y00, YR31, R02, R17, R32, R35, R59, YG00, YG03, YG67, G24, G99.) I added just a couple of pearls and some machine stitching to finish it up.

We'd love to see your Scoopy Scallops creations this week!! If you make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project, you could be the lucky winner of "Judy", the stamp Michele used on her very "nifty" card this week!! For some gorgeous inspiration, please check out the beautiful scalloped creations by my fellow Krafty Girls and our amazing Krafty Guests at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog!

If you've been playing along with Kimmie's contest to be a Guest Krafty Girl in the month of April, then don't forget to participate in our last challenge of February!! You folks are rockin' this contest, and I know it's going to be very difficult deciding who will be the lucky stamper!!

Have a wonderful weekend friends. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Krafty Quotes #1" and "Stella Strawberry's" accessory stamp

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, October Afternoon, the blue paper the quote is stamped on is a scrap...not sure which company

Embellishments: Pearls, stitching

Tools: Spellbinders Scalloped Oval, Ovals and Fancy Tags

It's All About Love

Good morning friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...we enjoyed a three day weekend here! Monday was Family Day...we attempted to sleep in, which was cut short by our neighbour deciding to start up his snowblower at just after 7:00 am. Hmpf...what's up with that??!! Then our dog wanted out. (normally he waits until around 8:00 or later to go outside) Then Ainsleigh woke up earlier than she does on a typical school morning, and decided it was a great time to put on some noisy music and start choreographing dances. Lovely. Our dog Kalev, (who incidentally is a pretty sorry excuse for a Siberian Husky, lol...he much prefers to be in a warm house than out enjoying all the snow that is supposed to be his natural habitat) wanted back in after only five minutes outside. He then promptly sat in the kitchen and started to howl for more water in his dish...which he NEVER does!! I had really only hoped to stay in bed until around 8:00 or 8:30, but I ended up getting up around 7:30 as I figured falling asleep again was pretty much a lost cause. In reality, this was pretty typical of "family life" though...we did end up having a great Family Day despite the less than desirable start to our day. :)

Today, it's my turn to share a card over at Sundays With Crissy. Our challenge this month has been All About Love. For my card, I chose to use Crissy's beautiful carousel horse digi "Dance of Love" available at Whimsy Stamps. I decided to try a technique for a pleated background that I saw over on Amazing Paper Grace...Becca Feeken is an incredibly talented papercrafter, and her blog is a favourite of mine. (It is a constant source of inspiration...her work is absolutely stunning, and I am always so grateful when she shares her expertise through tutorials.) I used my circle Spellbinders to cut a "window" out of my patterned paper. The pleating was done with two strips of paper that were scored at 1/4 inch intervals. (Each strip was about 1 3/4", so that when they were formed into a circle, the diameter would be slightly larger than the cut-out circle on the patterned paper, which was about 3") The pleated circle was adhered to the centre of my cardbase, and the patterned paper later was then attached with a double layer of foam squares...the extra height was required to accommodate the pleated layer. To frame the circular window, I used the same size of circle Spellbinders with the Lacey Circles set to create a border. Finally I added some machine stitching and dollar store pearls

"Dance of Love" was printed on Neenah smooth cardstock and coloured with a combination of Copics and Conte Crayons blended in with a paper stump. I really love the soft blending you can achieve with the Conte crayons...I found them very effective for helping to create the musculature and bone structure in the horse. They also helped to soften the dappled effect that I first loosely laid down with my Copics. If you chose to use Conte Crayons, Prismacolour Pencils, or some other medium in combination with your Copics, you must lay down your marker ink first. If you attempt to layer the Copics over these other mediums, it will ruin your marker nibs. If this should happen though, don't fret...remember that the nibs are replaceable should something happen to them. :) I used some additional foam squares to adhere "Dance of Love" to the pleated background.

(OOPS...noticing just now that I accidentally typed 2010 instead of 2011 into my watermark on the close-up. lol)

Copics: W00, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, 100, C9, (I only skipped C7 here because it is completely dry...need to get a refill!!) C5, C3, C1, C00, B60, BG10, BG11, BG72, BG75, BG78, R32, R35, R46, R59, Y00, Y21, Y26, YR31, E33, E35, E37, E59, Black and Brown Conte Crayon

We would love to have you join in our "All About Love" challenge at Sundays With Crissy! Crissy is offering a prize of FIVE DIGI'S this month. You can read all the details on Sarah's post from February 1st. You can also link up your project on her post....just look for the little blue Inlinkz froggie at the bottom of her post. (The list of rules for entering the challenges at Sundays With Crissy may be found in the sidebar.)

Thank you so much for stopping by today friends...it means so much that you take the time out of your day to stop by for a visit. :)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps "Dance of Love" by Crissy Armstrong

Ink: Copics, additional shading with Conte Crayons

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, My Mind's Eye (Olivia)

Embellishments: Machine Stitching, pearls

Tools: Spellbinders, ScorPal

Look Ma...no Copics!! (A Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Sketch Challenge!)

Mornin' friends! This week's challenge over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog is a Sketch designed by our very talented Krafty Girl Elaine Hughes...Elaine's colouring never ceased to "WOW" me!!!

I decided to combine one of the brand new Krafty Quotes #1 with an older Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp for my card today. I have always love this sweet image called "Bench Friends"...just a quiet moment shared between two besties! I thought it went just perfectly with the Krafty quote "The best thing to hold on to in life is each other. by Mother Teresa" (this is one of four quotes in the set!). The brown paper is from MME and the blue butterfly paper is from Prima. When deciding on papers, I deliberated over two different colours of blue cardstock for matting...I realize now that I should have gone with the other shade. After inking the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, this blue took on a very "turquoise" hue...and now it just doesn't look quite "right". Sigh. Live and learn! That pretty little crocheted flower was a gift from one of the Krafty Day attendees, Angela Alway...she was so sweet and generous with these little handmade gems. Thanks so much Angela...I'm just sorry it took me so long to use it! I wanted to have a big brown bow behind the flower, but I could not find my wide ribbon anywhere. (I'm sure I'll find it sometime today or tomorrow since I don't need it now. lol) So, I reached for my thin ribbon and tied a triple loop bow with the aide of my Bow-Easy. The Krafty Quote was cut out with Spellbinders. (I took the artistic liberty of playing with the scale and position of the different components of Elaine's fantastic sketch...my sentiment panel is quite a bit larger than on the original sketch! As a result, I really had to shift the image panel over to accommodate it.) Usually I stress about my machine stitching being pretty straight and even...but not this time. :) Since I had already distressed all my edges, I felt having a slightly wonky stitching line would suit the feel of this card very well. I didn't go too crazy...but I let the paper wander a little under my machine's presser foot. I also made sure to touch the very white stitching with a little of the Walnut Stain Distress Ink to antique it a bit...otherwise the white thread would have been a bit too harsh and "clean" for this distressed card.


I stamped "Bench Friends" on some light brown cardstock in Memento Rich Cocoa. I began by laying down a very light layer of brown Prismacolour pencil, just to block out where I wanted the shadows to be. I then worked on building up the shading with my Conte Crayons and a paper blending stump. The shading is gradually faded out as the areas of the image get closer to my light source...which I chose to have coming from the upper right hand corner. Some of the lighter areas on the image have no shading...allowing the bare cardstock to show in these areas helps to develop your highlighted spots without the need to lay down more colour. Finally, to really make those highlights "pop", I used some white Conte Crayon and/or white Prismacolour pencil to play up those brightest edges. I opted to use this lightly textured cardstock rather than Kraft as it has some "tooth" for the Conte Crayons to grab on to. Now, you all know how much I LOVE my Copics...but I have to admit that it was a lot of fun to play around with my Conte Crayons again. When I was a teenager, they were one of my favourite mediums to use for drawing horses. I'm a little rusty with them though, so I'm hoping to find time to work with them more. It's always fun to try out a different or unfamiliar medium...so don't be afraid to experiment!!


Here's a closer look at the Audrey Hepburn quote I used from the Krafty Quotes #1 set:



We'd love to have you join in with Elaine's sketch challenge this week...if you use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp (you can buy them HERE!) on your project, you could be the lucky winner of the new Krafty Quotes #1 set...one of the four quotes from this new set is featured on Elaine's gorgeous card! You can link up your project at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where you will also find some gorgeous projects by my fellow Krafty Girls and our Krafty Guests based on Elaine's sketch.

Don't forget about the Krafty Guest contest...you've got to complete each challenge in February to be eligible, so keep those submissions coming!!

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Bench Friends" and "Krafty Quotes #1"
Paper: Bazzill, My Mind's Eye, Prima
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Embellishments: Ribbon, Crocheted flower (courtesy of Angela Alway!!), brown pearl, machine stitchingTools: Spellbinders, Bow Easy

Let's Go to the Hop...February Blog Hop Time at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!!!

Welcome to the official release day BLOG HOP at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! Once again, Kimmie has assembled a fantastic release of new stamps...7 fabulous new 50's retro images by Annie Rodrigue, 5 adorable new spring-themed stamps by Steven Leary and an incredible brand new line of stamps called Krafty Quotes!! (There are 4 quotes included in this first set!)

The hop begins at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog where you will find a complete list of links to the blogs on today's hop...so, you should have arrived here from the very talented Lori's Blog! As you are hopping along today, make sure to leave comments at each blog as Kimmie will be drawing some lucky hop participants who will win packages of some of the new stamps!!

As always, I am completely in love with the new stamps by Annie Rodrigue!! For my card today, I combined two new stamps...Danny and Joanie! I'll let you know a little something about me...I LOVE musicals!! Grease just happens to be on my list of favourite musicals...it's so much fun to sing along with! I think super-cool Danny and sassy Joanie look all set to break into a rendition of "You're the One That I Want"!! "I got chills, they're multiplyin', and I'm losin' control. Cause the power you're supplyin'...it's electrifyin'!" hehe (Are you all groovin' in your seats and singing along with me??!!) Miss Joanie certainly is "electrifying" in that too-hot-for-words outfit!! The striped paper is from My Mind's Eye, the black and white swirly paper is from Karen Foster and the red paper is from Pink Paislee. I used Spellbinders Lacey Squares for the frame behind Danny and the sentiment (which comes with Joanie) was matted on a Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio.

The images were stamped on Neenah Smooth Cardstock with Memento Ink and coloured with Copics. I cut smokin' Joanie out and popped her up on foam squares outside of the main image panel just to add a bit of visual interest. I altered her eyes a bit, and gave her some pretty baby blues. :) Joanie comes with two sentiments..."I dig you!" and "You're the cat's pajamas!".


Copics: Skin: Eooo, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, E33, E35, E37, E59, YR31 Clothes: R32, R35, R46, R59, 100, C9, C5, C3, C1, C00

Here's a closer look at Danny...he's so COOL! Danny comes with two sentiments as well...."You ain't nothin' but a hound dog!" and "Hey Daddy-O!"



Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: 100, C9, C5, C3, C1, B60 Pants: B000, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99 Shirt: C00, C1, B60 Jacket: 100, C9, C5, C3, C1, B60 Bike: R32, R35, R46, R59, 100, C9, C5, C3, C1, C00, B60, YR31, Y21 Ground: W7, W5, W3, W1, W00 (Sky was done with Stormy Sky Distress Ink, a makeup sponge and a cloud template)

The new stamps are all available for purchase now at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store!! If you "need" the whole collection, you can purchase them as the "Gimmie Kimmies Kits"...there are two sets, one for each artist's images, and they are offered to you at a discounted price!

Ok...I've kept you long enough!! It's my pleasure to send you off to visit with the incredibly talented Krafty Girl Tracy Cornhill...just wait until you see what she has created for your viewing pleasure!! As you hop along today, don't forget to leave those comments for your chance to win some of the new stamps!

Have fun friends!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Joanie" and "Danny"
Ink: Memento, Copics,Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Karen Foster, My Mind's Eye, Pink Paislee
Embellishments: Ribbon
Tools: Spellbinders Lacey Squares and Ribbon Tag Trio

"What's Shakin'?" (Day 4 of the Kraftin' Kimmie February Previews!!)

What a busy week it's been at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! We're gearing up for another release tomorrow, and the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests have been busy bringing you sneak peaks featuring the February stamps over the last few days. We've got another round of previews today in conjunction with our weekly challenge! This week our lovely hostess is the wonderfully talented Donna Wardle and her challenge is a list: 3 colours, 2 design papers, 1 ribbon and 1 button.

My card today features the sensational "Fanny"!! How much fun is she?? Now, I have never been to a diner where the waitresses deliver your food on roller skates (it was a bit before my time, lol), but I imagine it must have been so much fun! I am loving these new retro images by Annie Rodrigue...I always enjoyed watching Happy Days reruns as a kid, and some of these new characters look like they stepped right out of an episode!! In keeping with Donna's recipe challenge this week, I predominantly used brown, yellow and teal. My two patterned papers are from October Afternoon. I used some pretty teal ribbon I picked up at The Paper Pickle in Chatham and added a cream button...which I realized after didn't really stick with the "3 colours" part of the challenge. Oops. Sorry Donna! (maybe white or cream won't count as one of the colours??? lol) The sentiment "What's Shakin'?" is one of two that comes with Fanny...the other sentiment says "You're Nifty!".

"Fanny" was stamped on Neenah Cardstock and coloured with Copics. What a cutie...she's totally rockin' that uniform!!

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, Y21, Y26, YR31, E31, E35, E37, E59 Clothes: BG10, BG11, BG15, BG49, c9, Y00, Y11, Y15, Y17, E43, E47

If you play along with the fabulous challenge this week, you could be the lucky winner of the stamp Donna used on her GORGEOUS card!! Just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project to be eligible for the prize. There's inspiration galore over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where you can drool over the incredible creations by the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests...you can link up your project for this week's challenge there!

Also, don't forget about Kimmie's current Krafty Guest contest...you MUST enter every challenge in February to be in the running for the Guest Spot so please make sure to find some time to get inky this week!!

I hope to see you all back tomorrow...why, you ask?? For the February Release Day Blog Hop of course!!! One more sleep, and you will be able to get your inky fingers on all the brand new February stamps including the brand new Krafty Quotes #1 as well as all of Steven Leary's and Annie Rodrigue's newest images!! J0in us tomorrow for the hop where you will see an incredible assortment of designs featuring Kraftin' Kimmie's newest stamps!!

See you tomorrow folks. ;)

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Fanny" and

Ink: Memento, Copics

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, October Afternoon

Embellishments: Ribbon, Button, twine

Tools: Martha Stewart Punch

You're Nifty!!! (February Krafty Peeks...Day Three!!)

Welcome to round three of the February previews for Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!! Today, we get to show you some of the soon-to-be released stamps by Krafty Artist Annie Rodrigue!! February brings us some groovy retro characters....think Happy Days and Grease!!! (lol...I may have even squealed a bit when I saw these ones!!)

For my card today, I combined two fabulous new characters...meet "Judy" and "Richie"!! I thought these two would be adorable paired together. Just picture them at the local diner...Richie spies gorgeous Judy in her teeny shorts and sipping Cherry Coke from across the room, and is thinking about heading over to introduce himself. He's a little shy though, in his letter jacket and carrying his school books...too cute! After stamping and masking Judy, I stamped Richie higher up on the paper. He is drawn on a slightly smaller scale, so stamping him in this position on the page makes him appear to be a further distance away than Judy. (This way, the images still work together even though Judy is a little bigger than him. You can effectively combine images of different sizes if you make the perspective work in your favour.) The ginham design paper is from Making Memories and the pinwheel papers are from Echo Park. The "You're Nifty!" sentiment actually comes with another new February stamp, "Fanny"...you'll see her on some of the other Krafty Girls' sneak peeks today!

The images were stamped on Neenah Smooth cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

Copics: Judy: Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59, YR31 Shirt: R000, R00, R35, R37, R59, C9 Shorts: BG000, B32, B34, B37, B39, C9 Richie: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59, Jacket: YG00, YG23, YG25, G28, C9Pants: BG000, B90, B93, B95, B99, C9 Ground: W3, W1, W00

For a list of links to the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests who have sneak peeks to share with you today, please stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog...just wait until you see what they've created for today's previews!!

Just a reminder folks....did you see the POST about Kraftin' Kimmie's current contest for an April Krafty Guest Spot??? Well, one of the requirements for submission is to complete each challenge in February, so if you haven't finished your project for our Seeing Red challenge, you'd best get yourself into your craft room today, hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the knob and even lock the door for good measure so you can make sure to meet the deadline!! lol Time's a tickin' because a new challenge will be posted tomorrow...we're so excited to see all your submissions, so go get inky!!

We hope to see you back tomorrow for another round of previews and our weekly challenge...and don't forget to mark your calenders for our Release Day Blog Hop this Sunday!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a fabulous Friday!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Richie" and "Judy", "You're Nifty" sentiment that comes with "Fanny"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Making Memories, Echo Park

Ink: Memento, Copics, Chalk Ink
Embellishments: Buttons, Embroidery Floss

Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8, Bow Easy

Day Two of the February Previews at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!

Today, we're bringing you another round of previews at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog featuring the soon-t0-be-released stamps by artist Steven Leary!

I used the adorable "Springtime Bunnies"...aren't they cute?? I decided to make a clean and simple little 4.5" square notecard. The nice thing about small notecards is that you can use up some of those little scraps of paper you have left over from other projects....and they are just perfect for tucking into little unexpected places for a special someone to find. :) I pulled out some scrap ribbon, a button and a bit of embroidery floss to finish it off. I used to do a ton of cross-stitching, so I have quite a selection of embroidery floss colours. No sense in letting them go to waste!!

Springtime Bunnies was stamped on Neenah Smooth Cardstock and coloured with my Copics. I was trying to give them a furry look, but I got a tad heavy-handed with my markers and ended up overblending...something you want to avoid when you're trying to create texture. The sky was created with a little hand-cut cloud template, a makeup sponge and Memento Summer Sky Ink. (I forgot to record my Copic colours this time, so I must apologize for not having a marker list today.)

To see the rest of the sneak peeks by the other Krafty Girls, please stop by the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog for the complete list of links. Make sure to join us tomorrow for another round of previews featuring some of the February stamps by another fabulous Krafty artist!! We will also have a final round of sneak peeks during our weekly challenge on Saturday, followed by our official release day blog hop on Sunday!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps: Springtime Bunnies

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill,

Ink: Memento, Copics

Embellishments: Ribbon, button and embroidery floss

A Sneak Peek of Something New at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps!!!

Good morning friends! It's almost time for another release at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps...are you ready to fall in love with another batch of incredible stamps?? The Krafty Girls and Krafy Guests have been busy creating some beautiful projects with these new stamps, and we're very excited to share them with all of you. :) We will showcase a different artist/line of stamps today, tomorrow and Friday. Then for both our Saturday Challenge and our release day blog hop on Sunday, we will show you projects featuring a variety of the new stamps! Each day, you can visit the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog for a list of links to the Krafty Girls who will be sharing sneak peeks.

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps has become known for their sweet, whimsical images that are so much fun to colour with markers, pencils and watercolours! But this month we are launching a new line of stamps that are headed in a different direction!

Today Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is debuting a new line of stamps that will appeal to both scrappers and stampers alike! The sets are called 'Krafty Quotes'!! Each month we'll be releasing a new set and each set will have four quotes which are larger in size than your average word stamps. These gorgeous sentiments are perfect to accent your scrapbook pages, your main card images or to become the focal point of your design!

This month, Krafty Quotes #1 features quotes from Audrey Hepburn, Louisa May Alcott, Lucille Ball and Mother Teresa!!

I have never made a card with the sentiment as the focal image, so I was excited to give it a try! For my card today, I chose to use the quote "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship." from Louisa May Alcott. I used Spellbinders Labels 4, Labels 8 and Petite Ovals Small to create the layers on this card. The design paper is all from The Paper Loft. I've been on the hunt for some pretty background or accent stamps, and found a gorgeous flourish from Impression Obsession when I was at Scrappin' Great Deals this past weekend. I inked it up with Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, stamped it off slightly on a scrap piece of paper and then stamped it onto my design paper to create a very muted background. I then inked up my Krafty Quote with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and stamped it over top of the flourishes. All paper edges were lightly sponged with the Walnut Stain Ink. I then added a couple of pearls and a Bow-Easy bow to finish it off.

I can't wait to work with the other quotes in this brand new set...I am just loving them, and I think they are so versatile. Can you believe I actually made a card without pulling out a single Copic marker?? lol Just wait until you see what the other Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests have created with the Krafty Quotes...hop on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog for a list of links to their blogs!!

Make sure to come back tomorrow for another round of sneak peeks featuring new images by one of our Krafty artists!!

Blessings friends,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Krafty Quotes 1", flourish/swirl stamp from Impression Obsession

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Embellishments: Pearls and ribbon

Tools: Spellbinders Labels 4, 8 and Petite Ovals Small , Bow Easy

Seeing Red

Morning friends!! I hope you have had a fantastic week. :) We've got another brand new challenge at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog..."Seeing Red"!! Our hostess this week is the very talented Tracy Cornhill!!

This week, I inked up "Abigail Apple" from the January release. She's so cute, and I just adore her pretty dress. The sentiment comes with Abigail, as does a little apple accessory stamp. The pretty red paper is from MME...I've had this sheet in my stash forever, so I was thrilled to finally put it to use! I pulled out two Spellbinders sets for this card...Lacey Squares and Fancy Tags.


"Abigail Apple" was stamped on Neenah Smooth Cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and coloured with Copic markers. Now, I ran into a bit of a colouring conundrum with this image (hehe...love that word!!). I set out to colour her dress with an assortment of red Copics to match my paper...only to discover that my R22 was pretty much bone dry. Not cool!! That's one marker I do not have a refill for yet, so my plan was pretty much toast. However, I had already tried to lay done the first layer of reds so it was too late to change the colour scheme of her dress drastically. On to plan B...paper piecing!! I stamped Abigail's dress and hair bows onto the design paper and set to work shading it with some red and gray markers. I decided to cut out the arms that I had already coloured, and paper piece them on top of the red dress piece. (I pretty much always colour faces and hair first.) I then stamped the ribbon trim for her dress, all the apples and the basket on a scrap of Neenah. After colouring them, I carefully cut them out (love my little Cutterbee scissors for detail cutting!) and adhered them. If you don't yet own a Quickie Glue Pen, you should run out and get yourself one...it's the perfect tool for adhering fussy little paper-pieced components. Quick tip...always ink around the edges of your little pieces of paper so that you don't end up with a harsh white paper core showing on your final product...you want each paper-pieced area to appear as seamless as possible. Finally, I added some glossy accents to the apples in her basket for a bit of shine...I left the apples on her dress un-glazed so they would appear more like fabric.


Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, E21, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59, Ribbon Trim: Basket: Apples: Shading on Red Dress: R27, R46, R59, C9, C10, colourless blender

Looking for a little inspiration for Tracy's "Seeing Red" challenge?? Well, look no further than the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog where you will find some stunning projects by my fellow Krafty Girls and our February Krafty Guests! If you join in our challenge this week and make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps on your project, you could be the lucky winner of the stamp that Tracy used on her beautiful card this week! Just link up your card/project on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog.

Oh, and in case you missed the announcement the other day, Kimmie is holding a contest for a Krafty Girl Guest Spot during the month of April!!! The details for entering can be found on THIS POST...but one of the requirements is to play along with each challenge in February, so make sure to get working on your "Seeing Red" project ASAP!!!

That's it for me today. I'm off to meet up with my good friend and fellow Krafty Girl Krista at Scrappin' Great Deals where she's teaching a class today. (Her classes are fantastic...if you're local, you should definitely sign up for the next one!! Two other amazing Krafty Girls are also teachers at SGD...Angie and Andrea!! I know their classes are incredible too, so make sure to check out their schedules as well!!) After a little shopping, we'll be heading out to spend the day with Kimmie and some of the other fabulous Krafty Girls for a stampin' party in honour of Kimmie's 40th!! We're going to eat, laugh and of course colour to our hearts' content! I usually end up being horribly un-productive at our get togethers, as I spend more time laughing and chatting than colouring, lol. However, we've got another release coming up very soon, and I know that we are all busy getting these fabulous new images coloured up for the sneak peeks!! Friends...you are going to LOVE them!! I know...I'm being a tease, hehe...but you won't have to wait much longer to see them!! ;)

Thanks for stopping by today...it means so much that you all take the time to visit here at Paper Blessings! :) I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Abigail Apple" and matching sentiment
Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, MME, Bazzill
Embellishments: Viva Decor Pearl Pen, crocheted trim
Tools: Spellbinders Fancy Tags and Lacey Squares

HUGE KRAFTIN' KIMMIE BIRTHDAY SALE!!! (oh...and might you be interested in being a guest designer with the Krafty Girls??!!!)

Big news today Krafty Friends!! As some of you may know, we're celebrating Miss Kimmie's 40th birthday, and what better way to celebrate with all of you Kraftin' Kimmie fans than to offer a big sale!! Not only that, but Kimmie is also running a contest through the month of February for an April guest designer spot with the Krafty Girls!! Check out all the details below (they are also listed on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog):


SALE: To celebrate the Big 40, Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps is having a SALE! You KNOW how much we love a SALE! Use coupon code BDAY and you will save.....40% on orders over $50!! Holy rubbah, Batman! That's right! But this sale is ONLY good for Feb. 3rd and 4th, so get shoppin'!

CONTEST: Have you ever thought that you might have what it takes to be a Krafty Girl??? Well, we're holding a contest and YOU could be the winner of a Krafty Girl Guest Spot for the month of April!!! Here's what you'll need to know:

Krafty Guest responsibilities:

- provide samples and post on your blog for 4-5 days of Krafty Peeks leading up to and including the Release Day Krafty Hop for April (mid month)
- join in all Saturday challenges for the month of April and post them on your blog
- samples must be submitted in a timely fashion and blog posts must be up on time

Krafty Guest will receive:

- a package of April release stamps will be sent to you in advance of the release to play with and make samples with (top secret...keep them under your hat.....heehee)!
- you will get to be a part of the Krafty Girl yahoo group and hang out with the other designers for the month of April
- if local, you will get to join us in the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps booth at Scrapfest in Kitchener on April 8/9th
- you will receive a discount coupon code, to use during the month of your guest spot

To Enter:

- you will need to submit a card/project for every challenge during the month of February and link it up to the appropriate post on the Challenge Blog
- let us know that you are applying for the Krafty Guest spot position by sending us an email at kraftinkimmiestamps@gmail.com and tell us a little about yourself, your crafting and include a link to your blog and and online galleries
- be sure that you can commit to the Krafty Guest responsibilities for the month of April
- EVERYONE is encouraged to apply....don't worry if you've never been on a design team before.....we wanna see your STUFF!!!


We can't wait to see your submissions for the Krafty Guest Spot contest!! I encourage you all to enter...it was a little over a year ago that I entered into a guest designer contest that Kimmie had. I was so nervous about entering, and I almost didn't submit anything. However, at the encouragement of some friends I finally sent in my submission. LOL...you should have seen me when I opened the email from Kimmie telling me that I had been chosen as one of the guest designers!! I was just a tad excited, hehe. The lovely and talented (and now also full-time Krafty Girl) Donna Wardle was the other guest chosen at that time, and I know she was thrilled too! "Working" alongside these very talented and very sweet ladies is such a blast...and we get to play with some amazing stamps to boot!! So, no second guessing yourself...play along with us this month for a chance to be our April Krafty Guest!!

Now what are you waiting for??? Get yourself over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store for some serious birthday bash savings!!!

And most importantly.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMMIE!!!!


Blessings,


Melanie