Little Elf

I have another gorgeous stamp from CC Designs to share with you today.
This is Little Elf and I think he is adorable.

I painted a background sky using London Blue, Grape and Turquoise Dylusions paints and then used white to stencil on some stars.

I used an older CC Designs sentiment and ripped the paper to create a snow hill.

I used antique linen and walnut stain around the tag edge and coloured him with copics and popped him up with dimensionals.

The background is soft sky Core'dinations card which was embossed with Nordic Sweater by Sizzix.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenge :

Just Keep On Creating - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

3 Reindeers

I have a cute Christmas card to share today using the adorable new CC Designs stamp set called
3 Reindeers.

There are 3 reindeers in the set and all are gorgeous, but this one is my favourite because of the cute little puppy reindeer :)

I created a background with paints and a snowflake stencil on watercolour paper.

I also flicked some white paint over the top of it.

I tore a snow hill and used versafine sepia instead of black for the sentiment so that it would coordinate better with the brown reindeer.

Then I added some diecut snowflakes to the scene.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Cute Card Thursday - Snowflakes

Southern Girls - Crazy for Critters

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Santa's Elves and Dylusions

I have had lots of fun this month, creating Christmas cards for Anna's Craft Cupboard :)

I have loved colouring the gorgeous elves in the MFT  Santa's Elves set and I have also loved creating backgrounds for them using Dylusions Paints.

I thought I would do a little tutorial on how I created my card.

I used the smooth side of some watercolour paper for the painted panel.
You can also use other types of heavyweight card.

I had done a little reading about using these paints and found that some people use baby wipes to spread it on to the card and to blend it.
It was actually one of the reasons I got the courage to buy the paint, as I'm not a painter.  It just seemed so easy, less messy and there were no brushes etc required either.
But after having tried it, I must say I'm not a fan of this technique.
Although the colours are lovely, it just doesn't have the depth and richness I want.

I used my Tim Holtz Mini Foam Ink Blending Tool to apply the paint instead and I was much happier with it.

This photo shows the difference between using a baby wipe (left) and blending tool (right).
I might try the baby wipe again, perhaps I just need more practice :)

You can also see in the photos that I don't own a craft mat :(
I guess I'll buy one someday, but in the meantime I just use a plastic bag as a work surface.
I use my blending tool to get a small amount of paint out of the lid of the paint pot.
You really only need a tiny amount!
Then I swirl it onto the plastic bag, which blends it into the foam and then it blends onto the card more evenly. You just use the plastic bag as a kind of paint palette!

To the smooth side of some watercolour paper I added circles of Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise paint.
I usually apply 3 areas of a colour to start with.

Then I applied Dylusions London Blue paint.

Then I applied Dylusions Crushed Grape paint.
You can see how the colours blend together to create new, deeper colours.

I then added more London Blue and Vibrant Turquoise over the top of these circles of colour.
I still applied it with the blending tool, but I also got messy.
I used my fingers to blend the paint out.  I didn't really think I would like doing this but it was actually fun!!! :)
This blending was just done randomly over the top of the paint circles.  And I mostly blended with my fingers, moving the paint out in all directions.
So that was like a topcoat of paint and the undercoat can still be seen through it.
This adds depth to the background.

There is no right or wrong way of applying this paint.
You can just keep applying more over the top until you're happy with it.

And if you're like me, this takes a while and you'll get pretty messy.
Make sure you have lots of baby wipes at the ready to clean your hands!!!

After I had created the painted background I applied some Tombow Mono Multi Glue to the back and waited for it to set so that it would be repositional.

I then applied it to a piece of black card.
(You'll notice this is longer than my watercolour piece. I used a smaller piece of watercolour paper that I had because I knew I would be covering up the bottom of it anyway).

I sponged Dylusions White Linen paint onto the Kaisercraft Ornamental Template.
I didn't use the entire design, but chose certain areas to sponge.  Placing some on the black card as well as the painted panel.

I used some of the white linen paint again on a wet paint brush and flicked the paint over the card in a diagonal direction.

When this had dried, I removed the panel and added a white mat behind it.
Then I glued it to the card, lining up the snowflakes again.

I stamped the sentiment onto white cardstock and tore the top to resemble a snow mound.
And I added a couple of small strips of white card to either side of the panel before attaching the sentiment so that it would sit flatter.

Then I attached the elf to the snow with X-Press It Foam Mounting Squares and adhered the whole piece to a white card base.

Using these paints is so much fun and each background you create is unique and beautiful.
I hope you give them a try too :)

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Christmas Rose

I have a card for CC Designs to share today.
They have released so many cute Christmas stamps this month and Christmas cards are my favourite things to make, so I'm happy :)
This one is called Christmas Rose.

I decided to make a bokeh background with distress inks and white paint.
And I coloured her with copics to coordinate.
I used unconventional Christmas colours I know, but I think it works .
And if not, at least it's unique :)


I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :
ABC Christmas challenge : U for unlimited and V for vibrant
Word Art Wednesday : Anything goes with a sentiment

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Santa's Elves

I have a card to share for Anna's Craft Cupboard today.

I was lucky enough to get this MFT stamp called Santa's Elves!
Yippee!!! I was so excited because I have wanted this one for so long.

He was so much fun to colour in and he's absolutely adorable isn't he?!

As well as colouring fun, I also had some "messy" fun with this card :)

I used some Dylusions paints for the first time.
I fell in love with their colours and decided to take a chance and buy a few in the hope that I could create some beautiful backgrounds.

I used London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise, Crushed Grape and White Linen.
I love this colour combination and I think it works well for a Christmas card.

I used 2 stencils for the painted background.
A Kaisercraft template called Ornamental
and a Crafter's Workshop one called Confetti for the white elements on top.

I painted onto the smooth side of some watercolour paper.

The panel was then mounted onto a Kaisercraft C6 white card.

And I popped the elf up on some x-press it foam mounting squares for some added dimension.

I decided to use some Doodlebug Designs Candy Shoppe alpha stickers for the sentiment.
It is a bit hard to see in the photo, but this is sparkly and looks so good against the painted background without drawing too much attention away from the elf.
After all, that elf deserves all of it ! :)

Copics used :

BG 0000, 01,02,05,09,10,11, 13, 15, 49

B04

BV 02, 04, 13

C1

E 000, 00, 04, 11, 21

R30

I love making Christmas cards!
I hope you get some crafty time to make some too :)

Thanks for dropping by today

Kathy

Thankful Lucy

I have a card for CC Designs to share today.
I decided to make a thank you card for a teacher with this gorgeous new stamp called Thankful Lucy.
She's adorable isn't she?!

I also used a new die called Cloudy Days and Waves  to cut an interesting edge for the sentiment.
The sentiment is a retired CC Designs stamp.

Copics used :

E 000, 00, 04, 11, 21

W 1, 3, 5, 7

R 20, 81, 83, 85

BG 10, 11, 72

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Simon Says Stamps - anything goes
Words to Craft By - Logic vs Imagination
DJ Card Creations - Never Before Used Stuff  (Thankful Lucy stamp and Die)

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

MFT Blueprints 5 - Tag Builder Die-namics tags

I have another post for Anna's Craft Cupboard today featuring the fabulous Blueprints 5 -  Tag Builder Die-namics by My Favorite Things.

There are so many wonderful elements included in this die that I thought I would make a few tags to showcase some of them.

This Tag Builder Die-namic includes a solid tag with a stitched edge that you could use on it's own but I have used it for the back of all of these tags.
It also includes two other tags.  One has a rectangular window with stitching around that (bunny and hippo tag) and the other has a square window with a smaller rectangular opening below it. (house tag)
They also have an opening for string or ribbon to go through and two different types of reinforcements for this.

One of the greatest things about this tag die, in my opinion, are the different ways you can die-cut your sentiments.  You get the fishtail label (bunny), the banner (hippo), the rectangle piece in the square window die (house) and there is a larger fishtail flag too.  They only fit smaller sentiments but there are usually a couple of these in most MFT stamp sets.

There are many other fun parts to this die too such as little hugs and kisses and hearts.
And even the left over parts from "windows" being cut out have stitching around their edges too, so you get lots of useful extras to use on something else :)

I decided to try making a shaker tag from the two window tag.
I've never made one before and I was really happy with how it turned out :)

This is how I made my shaker tag if you'd like to give it a try :)

• I used the solid tag to cut an acetate piece for the shaker front and a back from white card.
• I used the tag with the 2 windows to cut a front from purple card.  I also used it to cut some foam leaving the lower rectangle window in place. Because the sides of the tag are so tiny I thought I would try this instead of using foam mounting tape.  I had never done this before and it was SO much quicker and easier :)  I just used the die to cut it and then glued it to the back tag piece.
• I used the heart confetti die from this set to cut out some hearts in pink and purple and put them inside the shaker window.
• I glued the acetate sheet on top of the foam piece and then glued the purple piece on top of this.
• I cut another of the 2 window tags from white card and stamped the "Be Happy" from the MFT Happy Hippos stamp onto the rectangle window piece. I glued this in place over the foam in the bottom window.
• I stamped the house and heart banner from the MFT Up In The Air set, coloured them with Copics and cut them out. I used glue and glue dots to adhere to tag.
• The birds from the MFT Happy Hippos set were coloured with Copics, cut out and adhered.

I think this might make a nice tag for a new home or housewarming gift or maybe even for a wedding or engagement?

Trumpet Bunny Tag 

Ingredients :

Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes paper

MFT Strike Up The Band  (for bunny and sentiment stamp)

MFT Up In The Air (cloud stamp)

white card

On this tag I tried using paper for the top layer rather than cardstock. 

I used the solid tag die to cut a white cardstock back and the light blue paper from the Watercolor Wishes pad and the rectangle window tag die to cut the dark blue paper from the same pad.

It ended up being a lighter tag, but it is still sturdy enough and the papers look beautiful together.

Hippo Tag

Ingredients :

Doodlebug Spring Things Paper

MFT Happy Hippos ( for hippo, hat and sentiment)

white and pink card

I really love the banner die! I have wanted one for a long time, I think they look fantastic. 

I curved the sentiment stamp slightly and stamped it onto white card and then used the die to cut it out.  Then I folded the banner along fold lines and glued them down so that it was fairly flat. You could leave it though if you wanted to and then the banner would have more height.

Making these tags has been so much fun!!!

They are a great way to use up all those little bits of card and paper you have saved.

And they're a great way to use those extra stamps you've coloured and then done nothing with too.

When I was making my hippo cards last month I had coloured this hippo and the birds I used on the house tag and cut them out but then decided not to use them.  I actually just put them in the plastic sleeve the stamps come in for safe keeping and they were there ready and waiting to be used :)

I LOVE the Blueprints 5 Tag Builder Die-namics.  It's perfect!

I can't wait to make some more for Christmas presents :)

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy