HoPe

Hello!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

When I first thought about digital stamps, I said no thank you.  THEN I tried a digital stamp and needless to say I'm in love.  My favorite digi's come from Craftin Desert Divas.  

 

This HOPE digi caught my eye from the very beginning.  My family has been touched by cancer.  My Dad is a survivor, my Grandma is a survivor, several cousins survivors.. Cancer has touched so many lives.  My hope is that one day there will be a CURE..  Celebrate those survivors we have with us, Remember those we have lost and fight back for a CURE. 

 

Needless to say this Hope bear means a lot to me.  I decided to use lavender as my color for the ribbon.  Lavender is the color used to represent all cancer awareness colors. 

 

I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color (I am just learning the art of alcohol marker coloring and have lots of practice, but I was happy with the outcome).  Glossy accents was my best friend.. and wink of stella.  You can never have too much glitter!  The photo may not pick it all up, but it is glossy and glittery all over!

 

The cloud needed something more than just colored in so I jogged my brain a few moments and came up with Texture paste, blue gelato and white/clear glitter.  I mixed these three items on a slate and then with a paint brush placed it where I wanted.  I wanted it to look 'puffy' so I made some puffs as I went along.  I could see the glitter, but like I said.. one can never have too much.. so while it was wet I sprinkled (dumped) some more over the texture paste concoction.

 

I tried a few different approaches to a background, but remembered I had a background stamp from Sparkle N Sprinkle and what a fit!!

 

I have a mass amount of flat back pearls and these fit perfectly on the sides for the finishing touch!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Crafting

~Kara

 



Thank you

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by

 

I was raised to send thank you notes and still do to this day.  I try to send as many as possible and this one hits it out of the park.

 

My favorite thing to look at is the sky so a thank you note with the sky background is ME!

 

I started out using the Brutus Monroe cardstock (I'm obsessed with his cardstock).  I then took Brutus Monroe ink (Zest, Locomotive and Aubergine and the detail ink for the tree line)  These are chalk inks and are phenomenal.  They are permanent and you can water color with them if you wish.. I took my blending tool and created a beautiful sky.  I am all about sunsets, so to see the ending of the sunset on this card made me smile from ear to ear.

 

I then took my MISTI (by the way goes beyond it's name) and lined up the tree line stamp (from Concord & 9th - written in stars.  and stamped 2.5 times to make my tree line.

 

I stamped Thank you (from Honey Bee Stamps) and embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder.  Lindy's embossing powder is out of this world amazing.. it has a shimmer to it and it just adds a beautiful touch.

 

I then took the star stamp from the written in stars set and stamped several and embossed with again Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder.  I had to include the shooting star from the same set.  I just recently got the Sparkle pens from Spectrum Noir and so I tried to use the yellow and fairly certain I may not use it again over embossing powder.. It kinds just ran off.. Lesson learned!

 

I hope this sparked a creativeness in our mind to craft. 

Happy Crafting

~Kara

 



Snowflakes from The Ton

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by

 

I hope that you had a GREAT Christmas if you celebrate.  I wanted to share a tag and a card I made using the Snowflake stamp set from The Ton.

 

The first one is a card I made knowing it would go to my Dad and step Mom.  I could make purple everything and not blink an eye. 

 

I am going crazy over the 'bokeh' look.  I knew I could achieve the same general look with the snowflakes.  I took my distress ink and made the background with two different colors (Dusty Concord and Shaded Lilac).  I used the same colors for the larger snowflakes. 

 

The brighter purple I used Brutus Monroe ink Aubergine.  It made those smaller flakes pop!

 

I then took the gorgeous embossing power from Stampendous in the shabby white to emboss.  I feel like this is kind of chucky in style.  It's different than other embossing powers I have used. 

 

I then added Merry Christmas  and embossed to complete the card.

 

 

The tag I used the same exact colors and technique.  Adding to and from to make it a gift tag.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you had a very Merry Christmas

~Kara

 



Gingerbread shaker card using a digital image

Hello!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  Today I wanted to share a fear I conquered, LOL.  That is using a digital image!!!  Sounds craziness, but I just wasn't sure how to.. if I'm being quite honest.  I can't be alone in that.

 

To top it off, I was almost boycotting digital images because I like the physical aspect of stamping to paper.  I have been scrapbooking for years and refuse to go digital.. To me scrapbooking is the art of placing paper to paper.  Maybe I am alone in this, but I guess it's how I feel.

 

The first thing I noticed about the digital image.. you can make it how large or small you'd like.. so the possibilities are endless in that aspect. 

 

I used the digi image from Craftin Desert Divas.  Not only are her digi's super cute, but her stamps are full of adorableness.

 

I also used the Brutus Monroe cardstock for my base.  It's super important to have a good cardstock and his cardstock is        AHHHH-MAZING!

 

I then used the Lawn Fawn Lets Bokeh set.  I am obsessing with the bokeh look right now.

I wanted a simple stamp and I really didn't want it to be Christmas.. So I used the word Joy from the Stamps of Life set.  I stamped it with black versa fine and used clear embossing.  I love clear embossing.  It adds that shine and crispness.. A picture may not show, but I love it.

 

Adding in my shaker elements added the final touches to this shaker card.   I'm on a mission to find a way to not have my elements stick to my transparency film.. It always seems to stick in the wrong places.. aka her nose in this one..

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope this has sparked some creativity!  Happy Crafting

~Kara

I entered this card into the Monthly creative challenge at Sparkle N Sprinkle anything goes.



Howdy

Howdy!  Thanks so much for stopping by. 
 

There are so many different options for many of these new dies.  I took out the Western Boot and just had this idea of adding a lasso to my card in some fashion.

 

It all came together just perfectly.  I used the Western Boot from the November release.  Once I die cut the boot I knew I wanted a solid background.  I traced the die with a pencil and fussy cut.  I then erased any lines left over.  I glued the boot die cut onto my solid white and perfecto!  Just the look I was going for.

Using my Cricut, I then cut out the word howdy and boy oh boy did it make the card.  I wanted to some how frame the word howdy .. I tried a few different options and then it dawned on me.. use the jute .. So I lined the rectangle and glued it all down.

I formed the lasso and glued it down. That jute was a little wild, so I did have to put a few books over it for the night.

I love this and love how it turned out!  Masculine cards are sometimes tough to come up with. This is a great idea for you to use.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  When shopping with Die-Versions be sure to use kara15 to save 15% off.  This is not valid with any other sales or promotions.

 

Christmas Tree from stakes

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Today I want to share a Christmas Tree that I made from stakes.  I may have raided my husbands stash of stakes to make these, LOL. 

 

I cut my desired lengths for the branches.  I then laid them out and cut the main trunk to the length I needed.  I did no measuring.. I really was not striving to be perfect as I wanted it to look not perfect.. if that makes sense. 

 

I painted the stakes and after it was dry I took a piece of sandpaper to each branch and the trunk.  Again, I wanted it to look a bit 'rustic' and not perfect.   

 

The first one I made, I did not put glue on before nailing and what a mistake that was.. on the 2 following I did put some E6000 glue down and then nailed.  The branches are now secure.. very secure.

 

I then used my cricut explore air to cut out the words for each branch.  I wanted the words to grow in size with each branch.  I found the general idea for these on pinterest.. However, if you want you could google Christmas words with how ever many letters you are looking for.  I then placed the vinyl onto the stakes. 

 

I had some ribbon and twine laying around so I used bells and small ornaments I had to hang on the branches.  Put a dab of hot glue on the back side of the branch so they stay in place.

 

This particular tree I did not mod podge over, but the other two I made I am giving away so I did mod podge so the vinyl would never come off.  That is totally optional. 

 

I hope this may has inspired you to get some wood pieces out with some power tools and create!  Have fun

 



Cricut projects

 

Thank so much for stopping by!  I wanted to share a few projects I have done with my Cricut.  I will admit, some of these projects were very time consuming.. The end result made them all worth it!   These were all given as gifts.

 

~Kara

 

 

 

 

Camo Wedding Card

 

Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by

 

Today I wanted to show a card I made for a wedding.  I absolutely love how it turned out.

 

I took my embossing folders out to choose the look I was thinking. I embossed a background panel and also paper for the white heart.  I then cut out the hearts using my Darice heart die.

 

I had made enamel dots from perler beads, so this was the perfect opportunity to add some to the card. I tied a little bow for the white heart..

 

Adding some camo paper behind my white panel added the final touch. 

 

It's a simple card. 

 

Thanks for stopping by

~Kara