Carpe Diem

I was really drawn to the graphic for the Colorful Options challenge this month.

So dramatic! I really wanted to create but didn't want to fall back on Halloween or autumn as a theme. As I love the suited image in the collage, I decided to try something along those lines. Here's how it turned out:

I made my background with distress spray stain and oxide spray on watercolour card, then stamped over it with archival ink. The gentleman is three layers and for fun I added the orange tie as a sort of reverse of the image in the collage. As the background stamping is about living life to the fullest, I thought the Carpe Diem sentiment die was a perfect fit.

Materials used:

• stamps - Do What You Love (Pinkfresh Studios)
• dies - Gentlemen, Tailored (both Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle, Carpe Diem (stash)
• other - crackling campfire distress spray stain and oxide spray, water spritzer, Big Shot, MISTI, hickory smoke archival ink

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wishing You Luck

Can you believe March is here already? Yikes!

On the plus side, the March challenge over at Simply Clean & Simple to make a CAS card with an optional additional theme of 'Green' did spark an idea ... 

Plenty of ink smooshing to keep me happy here, lol, for both the background and die-cut lettering, which is three layers for depth. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Bitty Buzzwords: Seasons (Honey Bee Stamps)
• card - kraft, watercolour
• dies - Bold Text 2, Tailored (Tim Holtz), Curio: Spring findings (The Greetery), stitched rectangle (Paper Rose)
• distress oxide inks - mowed lawn, rustic wilderness, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon
• other - Big Shot, MISTI, crackling campfire archival ink, water spritzer, heat tool, blending brushes, Dimensionals, craft foam, clear sequins, mini glue dots

Hope you get some crafting in your day! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #642 - Just Add a Sketch

It's a great sketch over at Just Add Ink this week so I couldn't help playing along.

I made a masculine card using the Tim Holtz Tailored die set (which I'm absolutely loving at the moment as you'll have seen from yesterday's card, lol) and a blue/grey colour combo.

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Sentiments (PinkFresh Studios)
• card - night of navy, smoky slate, basic white (SU), Piece of Cake Masculine (Nitwit Collections)
• dies - Tailored (Tim Holtz/Sizzix), Perfect Sentiments (PinkFresh Studios)
• other - mounting tape, Dimensionals, sponge daubers, Big Shot, computer and printer, night of navy and smoky slate inks (SU), MISTI

We'd love you to join our challenge and add your own creation to our gallery, and of course there's more to inspire you over on the JAI blog.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept Challenge #190

Welcome to another inspiration challenge with The Card Concept. Here's our mood board for challenge #190:

Inspiration for my mixed media card came from the luck theme and colour palette.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Text (Tim Holtz)
• card - basic black, basic white, garden green (all SU), black and white tartans (Paper Rose), grey houndstooth (Nitwit Collections)
• dies - Tailored (Tim Holtz), Playful Alphabet (SU)
• other - sponge daubers, MISTI, white embossing powder, heat tool, Dimensionals, craft foam, garden green and basic grey inks (SU), Versamark, Big Shot

Do head over to the Card Concept blog to see what my fellow design team members have created to inspire you, and of course we'd love to see your own card in our gallery.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Tic Tac Toe Guest Designer

This week I'm guest designer for Tic Tac Toe challenge #196 and here's the challenge board:

I chose the diagonal line from top left - heart, free, die cut - and made a Valentines card.

Materials used:

• card - basic black and smoky slate (Stampin' Up), watercolour, Backdrops (Tim Holtz)
• distress inks - lumberjack plaid, hickory smoke, black soot
• other Tim Holtz products - Tailored thinlits, Gothic stencil, lumberjack plaid embossing glaze, Sentiments label stickers, Sidekick
• other -heat tool, Dimensionals, blending brushes, Country Bouquet punch (SU), R27 copic marker, Versamark ink

For the hearts I first smooshed my Versamark ink pad over the stencil then sprinkled with lumberjack glaze and set it, inked over with the matching distress ink and punched out the hearts after it dried. The die cut pieces were also coloured with distress inks once cut - the pieces from the jacket have to be inked on both sides as you fold back the lapel portions. 

Thanks for calling in. I do hope you'll visit the Tic Tac Toe blog and see the wonderful creations the design team came up with to inspire you.

Cheers

Kerry