Distress Dragonfly

I just love the options on the Color Throwdown board this week.

Here's my entry

I sprayed some watercolour card with distress antique linen, using both the spray stain and oxide spray as they do give different effects. Once dry I stamped script and splodges randomly using crumb cake ink (my kraft) and distressed the edges. The dragonfly was die-cut and coloured using oxide inks. Love, love, love the pop of colour the rust gives, so gorgeous. I also sprayed another piece of watercolour with forest moss oxide spray and used that for my die-cut embellishment - a close look will show all the speckly goodness. There are two layers of that of course - you know me, I love the extra depth. The piece of mossy meadow behind was dry embossed for added texture and also distressed. My crumb cake/kraft card base was sponged heavily around the edges and the final step was adding white gesso splatters. I've left a sentiment to be added when the occasion arises.

Materials used:

• stamps - Entomology (Tim Holtz), Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up)
• card - crumb cake, mossy meadow (SU), watercolour
• distress spray stains/oxide sprays/oxide inks - antique linen, rusty hinge, forest moss, black soot
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, water spritzer, heat tool, distressing tool, craft foam, foam strips, white gesso, fan brush, SU crumb cake ink, Subtle embossing folder (SU)

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a crafty day!

Cheers

Kerry

 

JAI#659 - Just Add a Colour Combo

We've a beautiful colour combo for you to play with this week at Just Add Ink:

You all know I love playing around with colours and inks and for this card I had a wonderful time with my waterbrush, lol.

I began with a piece of watercolour card, inking all over with coastal cabana then adding pretty peacock mainly along the left side but also a bit top and bottom. A few water splatters here and there and once the ink was dry I stamped my floral image in waterproof ink, then did the faux bleaching technique where you simply use water to remove the inks. Again I dried it off and added tiny touches of lemon lolly yellow to the flower petals only, leaving the leaves and stems in their "bleached" state. I added some script stamping randomly in coastal cabana ink and sponged the edges with a bit more pretty peacock. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Floral Trims, Entomology (both Tim Holtz)
• card - distress watercolour, basic white, pretty peacock
• other - MISTI, blending brushes, water brush, sponge dauber, craft foam, picket fence distress paint, paintbrush, Small Talk sticker (Tim Holtz), Dimensionals

There's plenty more to inspire you over on the JAI blog. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #622 - Just Choose Two

It's time for another Just Add Ink challenge and this week it's a 'pick two' variety.

I chose 'friends' and 'foliage' for my mixed media piece.

I can definitely picture these three birds having a good old natter as they perch there, can't you? Just catching up or maybe sharing where the best food supplies or nesting materials are. 😀

Materials used:

• stamps - Entomology (Tim Holtz)
• card - crumb cake and basic black (SU), Curators Meadow Solids pack and 6x8" Collection pack (49 and Market)
• other Curators Meadow Collection items - 12x12" Rub-On Transfer Sheet, Laser Cut Elements
• other Tim Holtz products - picket fence and frayed burlap distress paints, vintage photo distress archival ink, ground espresso distress oxide ink, rusty hinge distress spray stain, distress crackle texture paste, mini bubble stencil, palette knife, water spritzer
• other - sponge daubers, distressing tool, craft foam, Dimensionals, Wordies Sentiment Sheets - Friendship (Creative Expressions)

Head on over to the JAI blog to see which two items my team mates picked for their amazing creations, and of course we'd love you to 'choose two' and join us.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Mixed Media Case-ing Heaven

I fell instantly in love the second I saw a card recently made by Tiffany Solorio and wanted to try recreating it. Luckily for me Tiffany put a tutorial on YouTube, so after watching it a couple of times I went to my craft room and got to work. 

I've made some changes from the original and of course when it comes to ink smooshing backgrounds, you can NEVER make exactly the same as someone else - or even yourself, roflol - so there are definite differences. But I had sooooooo much fun making it and am very happy with the outcome, and that's what matters.

Materials used:

• stamps - Entomology (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - basic white, heavy watercolour, vellum
• distress spray stains - antique linen, speckled egg, iced spruce, rusty hinge, crackling campfire
• distress oxide ink - speckled egg, antique linen
• distress paint - picket fence
• dies - Specimen, Brushstroke Butterflies (both Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
• other Tim Holtz products - mummy cloth, hardware heads, brickwork 3D embossing folder, mini cobblestone 3D embossing folder, ground espresso archival ink, water spritzer, Small Talk sticker
• fan paintbrush, heat tool, Big Shot, Dimensionals, sponge dauber, basic grey marker (SU), distressing tool, white embossing powder, Versamark ink

If you're interested, here's the link to Tiffany's tutorial.

I'm so grateful to makers who post videos or blog entries so I can learn from their experiences and try out new (to me) things, especially as I delve more into mixed media. I'm definitely doing as the sentiment says and going where my heart takes me. 

Do you like to learn that way? Would you prefer it if I gave detailed explanations of how my projects are made? I'd like to hear what you want to get from your visits here so please let me know in a comment. You're so quiet out there, lol!

Thanks for calling in. Have a crafty day!

Cheers

Kerry

Smile

Love the colours in the Hand Stamped Sentiments swatch this week so sat down and made a vintage/shabby card. 

I've gone with soft versions of highland heather and coastal cabana and just put pops of orchid oasis in (flower centres, corsages) as it's darker than the other colours and I didn't want it to overwhelm them. There are speckles of coastal cabana on both the tag and background paper as well. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Entomology (Tim Holtz)
• card - very vanilla (SU), sweet vintage digital junk journal (Etsy)
• distress oxide ink and spray - antique linen
• other - tag die, Big Shot, lace (SU), Bouquet flowers (TH), orchid oasis decorative dots, sponge dauber, craft foam, Dimensionals, distress tool, highland heather and orchid oasis Blends markers, BG34 Copic marker, mini paper dolls (TH), frosted crystal embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry 

Color Hues #37 - Guest Designer

Hi all. As my card was lucky enough to be picked for Color Hues challenge #35, I get to be Guest Designer for their new challenge.

 The colour combo for challenge #37 is

For my card I kept it very simple, construction-wise. All the work is in the smooshed background and watercolouring of the butterfly. And speaking of, how gorgeous is this butterfly in yellows? I'm lovin' it!

I used SU's coastal cabana for my pale teal. Originally I tried pool party but it came out too green, so I switched. The base layer is quite watered down to make it paler, then the deeper shades are with no water added. I tossed some (neutral) tea dye distress ink in there too for a bit of variety and to tie in with the card base. Little splats of yellow ink over the background give a connection to the butterfly. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Specimen, Entomology (both Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - crumb cake, watercolour
• inks - coastal cabana (SU); tea dye, squeezed lemonade, mustard seed (all TH distress)
• other - stitched rectangle die, MISTI, craft foam, Dimensionals, aquapainter, water spritzer, heat tool, Idea-ology Label Stickers (TH), black embossing powder, black marker, Big Shot

There are plenty of gorgeous samples to look at from the Color Hues design team so be sure to follow the link to the Color Hues blog to view them. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI#588 - Colour Challenge

Hi everyone, it's time for a colour challenge with Just Add Ink and this time we're using some of SU's 2020-2022 in-colours. 

I went for a vintage look and cracked open two Tim Holtz stamp sets I've had for some time but in all the busyness of packing and moving, hadn't gotten around to using. The colours lend themselves so well to a floral theme and I love the pop of colour the magenta madness provides! Bright pinks aren't usually my thing, lol, but here it's just perfect.

Materials used:

• stamps - Floral Outlines, Observations, Entomology, Field Notes (all Tim Holtz) 
• card - watercolour, brushed gold, early espresso
• distress oxide inks - antique linen, vintage photo, frayed burlap
• other - MISTI, gold embossing powder, embossing buddy, aqua painter, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot Switch, craft foam, sponge dauber, vintage photo archival ink, heat tool 
• inspired by an Emma Williams creation

More samples await you on the Just Add Ink blog and hopefully you'll see something to inspire you to sit and create - and, of course, if you do we'd love to see it in our gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

JAI #581 - Just Add Legs

Welcome! It's time for another weekly challenge with Just Add Ink and this time around we want you to

So many possibilites - we can't wait to see what you come up with!

I decided to feature a creepy crawly with lots of legs (could have been influenced by the huntsman spider that's been wandering around my place for the last few weeks, lol). Now, as luck would have it, around the same time I began to think about creating, my new distress colour arrived and was needing to be used - you know how it is ;-D My first play was to combine this luscious purple (villainous potion) with the gorgeousness of orange (crackling campfire) and when I saw them together - oh wow! Immediately a vision of a card came to mind - and the rest, as they say, is history, lol.

My grunge side has definitely come out to play with this mixed media card - take a look, then I'll tell you all about it.

My first step was to create the background on thick watercolour card. I sprayed with villainous potion and crackling campfire oxide sprays and once they were dry, did a little stamping in black before stencilling with distress crackle paste. I wanted fine crackles, so applied only a thin coat here and there through my stencil. Once it had done its magic, I rubbed distress crayon into the crackles to highlight them then sponged black ink around all the edges to create a border and draw the eye in to the centre. The last step was to add some paint splatters in both black and white. Just love all the speckly, crackly goodness!

I made a second background in predominantly orange ink with some purple speckles, cut out a piece for my tag, stamped my creepy crawly on it and again on plain card. It was coloured with a distress marker then I added glossy accents to give it that creepy, shiny hard shell look. I added a few pieces of ephemera and a remnant rub to the tag as well as some grunged-up mummy cloth. 

Like I said, I really got my grunge on! Not my usual style but it's fun to step outside your box every now and then, don't you think? 

Materials used:

• stamps - Fragments, Damask, Entomology, Specimen (all Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - watercolour, basic black, basic white
• distress oxide sprays - villainous potion, crackling campfire
• distress oxide inks - crackling campfire, black soot
• distress paint - black soot, picket fence
• distress marker - mowed lawn 
• distress crayons - black soot, crackling campfire
• other Tim Holtz products - distress crackle paste, Harlequin stencil, Remnant Rubs-Specimen, Ephemera Pack-Field Notes, Halloween Trimmings
• other - water spritzer, heat tool, tag die (Kaisercraft), Crop-o-dile, MISTI, craft foam, Dimensionals, embossing stylus

We'd love to see your creations in our gallery. Meanwhile, head on over to the JAI blog to see the jumble of legs my fellow team-mates have created to inspire you!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry 

Beauty

This week I gave my ladies a colour challenge so today I sat down to make my own card for it. Originally I had something completely different planned, but an urge to try out the smooshing technique with SU's inks made me change my mind. Here are the colours:

And here's my card:

I smooshed my background using daffodil delight and calypso coral then added a few splatters of soft suede and some partial stamping in the same colour. My flowers were cut from watercolour card and I scribbled them with SU's markers then gave them a good spritz with water, which achieved that gorgeous watercolour effect I am loving! The thing that took the longest was deciding which colour card to use for my base - I tried a few different ones before being happy with Sahara sand, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps - Entomology (Tim Holtz)
• card - blackberry bliss, watercolour, Sahara sand
• SU inks and markers in the colours shown above
• dies - Wildflower Stems 2 (Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle (Paper Rose)
• other - water spritzer, heat tool, craft foam, mini Dimensionals, paint brush, Small Talk sticker (TH)

Pretty sure I'll be doing some more of these techniques again soon!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry