Mermaid Kisses

It's time for a colour/inspiration challenge with Just Add Ink!

I chose to concentrate on the colours, a stunning combination and to my mind, absolutely perfect for a mermaid ...

I stencilled my background first using the three lightest colours and cut the panel die from white glitter card. The two darker colours were added into my watercolouring plus there's more sparkle on the mermaid's tail.

Materials used:

• stamps - I am a Mermaid (Picket Fence), Turtley Amazing (Pink & Main), Ocean Wisdom (Stampendous)
• dies - Jolly Wave panel die (Waffle Flower) 
• stencil - Jolly Wave (Waffle Flower)
• other - water brush, Big Shot, clear Wink of Stella, foam dots, circle punch

What do these colours make you think of? Hope you get a chance to play along.

Thanks for swimming by.

Cheers

Kerry

Still Kickin'

Over at Tic Tac Toe Challenges we've a new grid to inspire your paper crafting. 

I made a fun birthday easel card using elements from the left vertical row of stitching, animal and polka dots.

I just adore that donkey's face! Looks like he's been partying hard, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps - Still Kickin' (Unity Stamp Co), All About You (My Favorite Things)
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, MISTI, bakers twine, pennant punch, water brush, foam squares, patterned papers from Stampin' Up

I hope you'll get the chance to play along with us and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Eat The Candy

It's Choose Two or More time at Just Add Ink and this time around our choices are:

For my card I picked spots and stripes, always a great combo, and have them not only on my background papers but also on the sweet little Pup-Bee. 

As I love the sentiment stamp, I planned the whole card around it, lol. All the pieces for the pups were cut from plain card and coloured using inks then assembled. I thought it would be fun for the Woof or Treat (ghost) pup to use a pink sheet rather than white because (a) it looks adorable! and (b) it helps it stand out from the mostly-white background. By the way, how cute is that cat face candy bucket? Love it!

Hopefully there's plenty of loot in their buckets to enjoy! 🍬👅

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely Legs - Best Witches (Colorado Craft Co)
• dies - Pupkin, Buzzy Pup-Bee, Woof or Treat (all Spellbinders)
• other - papers from Etsy, distress inks, blending brushes, Big Shot, foam squares, MISTI

We hope you'll pick your own two or more items to create with and join the challenge. Check out more samples from the team over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for popping by.

Cheers

Kerry

A Thing for Plaid

The current theme at Inkspirational Challenges really caught my eye.

  optional twist of PLAID

Plaid was the magic word, lol, as I absolutely love it. Coincidentally, I had some plaid sitting on my craft desk from a previous project, so that dictated the theme I chose.

I cut my hello die from plaid card and edged it with a brown marker, stamped the Autumn and leaves then coloured with Copics. Wanting to define the edges of the card but not looking to add more layers, I used my marker there too. 

Materials used:

• stamps - You Autumn Know (Lawn Fawn), More Than Autumn (Stampin' Up)
• Copic markers - YR02,YR61,YR82, E13
• other - MISTI, Big Shot, patterned paper from Mintay, ruler

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wickedly Awesome

This week I'm delighted to be guest designer at AAA Cards Challenge who have a fun colour combo for us to play with:

I managed to incorporate all four colours on my card.

I stamped and watercoloured my focal image first before fussy cutting with scissors and scalpel. Next a patch of ink blending on the backing card and some water splatters for interest and texture. I used masking to get my sentiment two different colours and outlined and tilted 'wickedly' for emphasis. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Pink Green (CC Designs)
• dies - stitched rectangles, sentiment strips
• other - Big Shot, water brush, watercolour pencils (Tim Holtz), foam squares, MISTI

I hope you'll join the fun and play along with these colours. Check out more inspiration on the AAA Cards blog!

Thanks for flying by.

Cheers

Kerry

Candy Time

Today's offering is a fun and simple Halloween card inspired by a creation I saw somewhere by Jean D. Her blended yellow and orange background really appealed and made me think candy corn, so that's the origin of my card.

The background is blended oxide inks while the focal elements were coloured with Copics.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Frights (Tim Holtz)
• oxide inks - scattered straw, carved pumpkin
• Copic markers - Y08,Y15,YR04,YR15,C0
• other - blending brushes, twine, Big Shot, stitched rectangle die, foam squares

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Magical Chapters

It's the first Friday of the month, which means a new challenge from All About Papercraft. This month it's...

I chose the occasion we probably celebrate the most often - someone's birthday - for my card. 

As a voracious reader, I'd happily receive this one myself, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps & dies - Twilight Tales (Pinkfresh Studios)
• die & stencils - Nature's Narrative (Pinkfresh Studios)
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, Big Shot, foam squares and strips

I hope you'll join us in creating a celebration project. Check out more inspiration from my fellow design team mates over on the All About blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Brighten My Day

Over at Tic Tac Toe Challenges we've a new board to whet your creative whistle, this one suggested by yours truly.

As much as I'm very appreciative of the arrival of spring here, I also really love enjoying a "second autumn", as it were, through challenges based in the northern hemisphere. I'll never pass up the opportunity to play with all the delicious things associated with my favourite season! With that in mind, I had a ton of fun creating my card and used the left diagonal line of autumn/fall colours, leaves and metallics.

For my background I sponged around the edges of the card before embossing. I layered on some distressed hessian and lace that had been coloured with oxide sprays. My leaves were die cut before colouring with distress inks and I gave them a coat of distress glaze to enhance and preserve the colours. My frame was cut from woodgrain card and coloured with spray stains and oxides. Metallic aspects are small gold dots and some gold ink splatter.

Materials used:

• stamps - Caring Thoughts (Simon Says Stamp)
• dies - leaves (stash), Decor Frames (Tim Holtz), sentiment strips (Paper Rose)
• other - hessian ribbon, lace, linen thread, calypso coral ribbon, gold dots, woodgrain card, Pinewood Planks embossing folder (Stampin' Up), various distress and oxide inks and sprays, MISTI, distress glaze, Big Shot

Entering in the Four Seasons challenge - anything goes Fall.

Check out the gorgeous samples from my team mates over on the Tic Tac Toe blog and thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Witchy Business

It's time for a new challenge with Just Add Ink and this time around we're asked to ...

As I'm enjoying making Halloween crafts I thought it would be fun to try a bit of witchy paper piecing.

I used digital papers so I could reduce the size enough to get maximum pattern within the confines of the stamp. The rest of the image was coloured with Copics then fussy cut, while the spiderweb background was foiled.

Materials used:

• stamps - Miss Witch (CC Designs), If the Hat Fits (SSS)
• dies - essential stylish ovals (Spellbinders), spider web (Tim Holtz)
• other - Copic markers, MISTI, digital papers, foam squares, foil machine, silver foil, spiderweb press plate (Spellbinders), silver sequins, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Have you got stamps with nice open areas suitable for paper piecing? We'd love you to play along! Check out more inspiration on the challenge blog.

Entering in the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - W is for Witch

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Halloween

Two Old Bats - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Frightfully Fun

Following on from the dragon-mouse of my last post, I'm adding a vampire-mouse to the menagerie. This little cutie is the epitome of sartorial splendour and on his way to some frightfully fun shenanigans, no doubt - at the Blood Bank, perhaps? 😜 

Isn't he adorable? There's two layers to 'fright', of course, and I inked a little behind that and the mouse for a bit of shading. And on the inside:

Materials used:

• stamps - Ghostly Greetings (Catherine Pooler)
• dies - Little Mouse, Halloween Costumes Scary (both Elizabeth Crafts), Vault Gothic Portraits (Tim Holtz), Capsule Basics (The Greetery)
• other - blending brushes, paper from Etsy, foam squares, Big Shot

Inspired by and created for the following challenges:

Two Old Bats challenge - anything Halloween

Colourful Options challenge (red, black, white, orange)

Just Us Girls challenge (die week - Halloween)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie challenge

Die Cut Divas challenge - shaped cards (no squares or rectangles)

Thanks for swooping by!

Cheers

Kerry

Trick or Treat

Having grandchildren is a wonderful excuse to make cutesy cards and though my grandbabies are a little too young still to appreciate them, I don't let that deter me! 😂 Today's card is one such, featuring an adorable wee mouse dressed as a dragon for the all-important trick-or-treating.

All the die pieces were cut from white and coloured with inks. For my background I masked the moon and blended oxide inks around it then stencilled the shading and a touch of a pattern for added interest. 

Materials used:

• dies - Little Mouse, Halloween Costumes Cute (both Elizabeth Craft), sentiment from stash
• stencils - moon mask, Gothic (both Tim Holtz)
• other - distress and oxide inks, water sprtizer, Big Shot, blending brushes, foam squares

Inspired by and entering in the following challenges: 

  

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Farm Fresh

Today I'm playing along with the Festive Friday challenge with a sweet friendship card.

The options I included on my card are brown, burlap, farm animals and distressed technique.

I stamped on an offcut piece of card (the inside of a frame used for something else) and watercoloured then edged with a brown marker to match the bottom background layer. The sentiment was the perfect fit for a very old speech bubble die - proof you should never throw stuff away! 😁 The background papers were torn or distressed apart from the gingham, which I was going to sew but forgot before it was attached to everything else and then was too bulky. Duh! 

Materials used:

• stamps - Seen & Herd (Unity Stamp Co)
• other - distress inks, MISTI, speech bubble die (SU), Farm Shabby patterned papers from Etsy, linen thread, foam squares, water brush, Big Shot, E47 Copic marker, distressing tool

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Twinkly Christmas

Today's card was inspired by the Passion for Markers challenge, which has the theme 'for a child'. I stamped my image and coloured with Copics for a cute and fun child's Christmas card.

How adorable is a baby reindeer?!! There is Glossy Accents on his red nose of course and I added touches of sparkle to the lights/baubles and stars with clear Wink of Stella. A little tinsel trim adds more sparkly delight.

Materials used:

• stamps - Twinkle Toes (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - Essential Stylish Ovals (Spellbinders)
• Copic markers - E50,E51,E53,E55,E57,E47,R24,R27,RV11,Y35,B0000,B06,T1,T2
• other - MISTI, papers from Etsy and Mintay, Big Shot, craft foam, Glossy Accents, clear Wink of Stella, mini tinsel trim (Stampin' Up)

Have a twinkly day and thanks for calling in!

Cheers

Kerry

Turning One

Welcome to a new challenge with Just Add Ink. It's our stencils and/or dies challenge and we've added a theme sure to appeal to many of you.

My offering is the card I made for my daughter to give her niece, who recently celebrated her first birthday. 

Pooh and Piglet were cut from thick watercolour card for a bit of texture, while all the accoutrements were cut from white. There are three layers to the number one and I added bling for that something extra.

Materials used:

• dies - Essential Arches, Classic Pooh Birthday Accessories, Pooh & Piglet (all Spellbinders), Large Numbers (Stampin' Up), Santa's Helper (Tim Holtz)
• other - Classic Pooh Birthday Numbers embossing folder (Spellbinders), blending brushes, Big Shot, rhinestones, foam tape/squares
• inspired by a Meghann Andrew card

So adorable!

I hope you'll get out your kid-friendly dies/stencils and play along. Don't forget to check out other samples for inspiration over on the challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

M is for ...

Today I'm playing along with the AAA Cards challenge.

I picked Minnie Mouse as my M and made a clean and simple birthday card.

Isn't she a sweetie? 

Materials used:

• stamps - Your Day Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Classic Mouse (Spellbinders), Beach Bound Christmas Additions (HoneyBee), Hearts Balloon (Waffle Flower)
• other - Big Shot, Y08 and T1 Copic markers, MISTI, craft foam, polka dot paper (Etsy)

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry