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

Make a Wish

This week I'm honoured to be the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday challenges. Here's the challenge brief:

My mixed media card uses both mediums.

I began by adhering a transparent layer (acetate sheet) over an oxide spray background then cut four frames from coral card, glueing them together and inking the edges. The bird is another acetate layer. On my background I embossed some vellum with a 3D woodgrain texture and attached it with the rough side up. Everything was given some white gouache splatters before the sentiment was added.

Materials used:

• acetate - Transparent Layers, Transparent Things 2 (both Tim Holtz)
• frame dies - Nesting Piercing Ticket Frames (Waffle Flower)
• oxide sprays - salvaged patina, saltwater taffy, scattered straw
• embossing folder - Lumber Large 3D Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Pixie spray adhesive, foam tape, white gouache, fan brush, Metallic Sticker Book (Tim Holtz)

I hope you'll check out the lovely projects the STB design team made and be inspired to play along with the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

MVP

Howdy and welcome to a new Tic Tac Toe challenge. This time around I'm the featured designer and this is the grid I devised to play with:

I made a card using the top horizontal row of numbers/initials, plaid and sports.

Materials used:

• dies - Playful Alphabet (Stampin' Up), Flags & Banners, Frames & Sentiments (Spellbinders Classic Mouse), stitched rectangle, tag
• papers and ephemera - Man Cave collection (Mintay)
• other - sponge daubers, foam squares, Big Shot, crop-o-dile, large eyelet, leather cardstock (Tim Holtz), distress inks and sprays

I do hope you'll play along and create using our grid as inspiration. There's more samples to see over on the challenge blog, so check those out and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

With Love Rose

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls where I'm guest designer for this month, and the word is ...

I had inky fun with some layering dies and stencil.

I began with cutting all the petals from vanilla cardstock, then the four largest layers again from blush card. Each layer was inked either completely or just around the edges for shading, then I curled some of them. Leaves were coloured and curled too. The background was inked and stencilled before adding white gouache splatters. As usual, the die-cut sentiment is multiple layers. This die is actually all in one piece but it just wouldn't sit right over the leaves, so I cut it in two. A great card for Mother's Day, Valentines, birthday, anniversary, get well or just because.

Materials used:

• dies - Lovely Layers Rose (Honey Bee), With Love (Waffle Flower)
• inks - tattered rose, shabby shutters, peeled paint, forest moss (Tim Holtz), caramel toffee (Altenew)
• other - blending brushes, white gouache, fan brush, trellis stencil (Tim Holtz), foam squares, craft foam

I hope you'll check out the JUGS blog for more samples and be inspired to join the fun and create with flowers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Possibilities

Howdy and welcome! Today is a new challenge with Just Add Ink and we are asked to...

I've made a mixed media card featuring autumn colours and a sweet fairy.

I began with my background, using watercolour card and distress spray stains to create the look I wanted. Once it was dry I die-cut the border then stamped over using archival ink. The little lad was fussy cut and raised on foam pads. I had some leftover card from the background so used that to die cut the leaves, adding some bolder colour inks to them before gluing them in place. The sentiment came from a sticker book and is mounted on black card for dimension. Lastly I sponged ink around the pile of leaves where the fairy is standing to create a 'ground' look, mounted the panel on craft foam and attached it to my card base.

Materials used:

• stamps - Exquisite (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Fall Foliage (Tim Holtz), stitched rectangle
• ephemera - Autumn Stories & Backgrounds (Maremi's Small Art)
• distress spray stains - dried marigold, speckled egg, weathered wood
• distress oxide inks - weathered wood, vintage photo, crackling campfire, frayed burlap, rusty hinge
• other - water spritzer, heat tool, frayed burlap archival ink, foam squares, craft foam, Big Shot, Small Talk sticker book (Tim Holtz), blending brushes

If you've got any kind of wings in your stash, we'd love you to play along! Check out more samples for inspiration over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Let's Get Together - Just Add Ink Challenge #749

It's time for a choose two challenge with Just Add Ink and I just love our options this week!

I ended up with all three on my card.

I began with a piece of watercolour card which I sprayed with oxides, then stamped the coffee beans and stencilled splodges and coffee cup rings before adding some ink splatter. Next was more stencilling on opposite corners, this time with volume paste, and once that was dry I added my focal feature. The mini coffee 'posters' were distressed and inked around the edges. A few white splatters and sentiment were the finishing touches. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Coffee Cafe (Stampin' Up)
• stencil, cup, cake, posters - Coffee & Chocolate collection (Stamperia)
• distress products - oxide sprays in antique linen and saltwater taffy, distress ink gathered twigs, mini stencil splatters, picket fence paint
• other - blending brush, Dimensionals, craft foam, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, volume paste (Stamperia), heat tool, distressing tool, sponge dauber, paint brush
• layout inspired by a Vicky Papaioannou art journal page

I do hope you'll be inspired to create and join us in our gallery. Thanks for dropping by. 

Cheers

Kerry

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Every year I'm surprised at which of my creations catch other people's interest and attention. The old adage of 'different strokes for different folks' certainly rings true in the creative world. Here are the nine cards of mine that garnered top votes on Instagram for 2024:

This prompted me to scroll back through my blog over the past year and choose my own personal top nine - though mine aren't in any particular order. 

I had to laugh at there being only two on both grids! How many (if any) of your favourites are here, I wonder? I'd love you to tell me in the comments!

Meanwhile, as this will definitely be my last post for the year, I would like to thank you all sincerely for taking this creative journey with me. Thanks for calling in, for commenting, and for coming back, lol. I hope 2025 brings you much crafty joy.

Cheers

Kerry

Embrace Beautiful Chaos

I was in the mood for some mixed media play this morning and had a lovely time getting inky! With the sun out (albeit along with a cold wind), I was inspired to use bright, cheerful colours.

I began with smooshing on my background using distress spray stains then once they were dry, stencilled with texture paste. The hexagons were stamped and edged before I added the same colour inks, though in a slightly diluted form. I added the same stamps in random places on the background too, then die cut and coloured the dragonfly. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Notes (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Funky Insects, Stacked Hexagons (Tim Holtz)
• distress spray stains - salvaged patina, twisted citron
• distress inks - dried marigold, ripe persimmon, frayed burlap
• other - Books stencil (Stamperia), volume paste (Stamperia), palette knife, Big Shot, paint brush, Dimensionals, craft foam, Small Talk sticker (Tim Holtz), heat tool, water spritzer

I hope you have the opportunity in your day to get inky as well. Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Monochrome - Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge

Welcome! It's a brand new Monday, which means a brand new challenge from the Simon Says Stamp peeps, where I'm guest designer for the month of September. 

This week our theme is MONOCHROME. I picked green as my colour of choice and had a lot of fun making this mixed media card.

I used papers, laser-cut elements and rub-ons from the 49andMarket Color Swatch Willow collection, Tim Holtz Exquisite stamp set, together with Specimen thinlit dies, also from Tim Holtz, and Simon Says Stamp Layered Hummingbird wafer die. 

Do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog to see what the design team have come up with to inspire you.

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a fabulous $25 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store - all you have to do is take out your crafting supplies, make something following this week's prompt, and link up at the bottom of the Challenge Blog post. You can join up to 5 times, giving you 5 chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance.

Feel free to leave me some comment love and thanks for stopping by!

Cheers

Kerry

Not a Card - Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge

Welcome! Once again I'm joining in with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge team for some creative fun.

This week we are being challenged to make something that is NOT A CARD. 

For my project I made tags (inspired by Alison Bomber) using Tim Holtz Moon Mask Stencils and distress inks together with Tiny Text and Winter Watercolor 2 stamp sets. 

Do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog to see what the design team have come up with to inspire you.

Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a $25 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store - all you have to do is take out your crafting supplies, make something following this week's prompt, and link up at the bottom of the Challenge Blog post. You can join up to 5 times, giving you 5 chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance.

Feel free to leave me some comment love and thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you back next Monday.

Cheers

Kerry

Thinking of You - Just Add Ink challenge #718

It's Friday, which means a brand new Just Add Ink challenge, and this week we've our choose two combo:

As happens often with a choose two, I ended up using all three, lol. I love the many ways you can add texture (both physical and visual) and this is most definitely a favourite with me. 

Working on watercolour card (texture) I blended a mix of green inks. After die cutting the 'shrooms (more texture from the embossed bits) and foliage, they were coloured and everything splattered with both brown paint and white ink (more lovely texture). I love layering dies that have an embossed aspect to them, making them more realistic - what's not to love? Once they were all placed I wrapped linen thread around and lastly added a sentiment strip. 

 

Materials used:

• distress oxide inks - bundled sage, forest moss, antique linen, gathered twigs
• distress inks - barn door, lumberjack plaid, aged mahogany, scorched timber, rustic wilderness
• distress paint - scorched timber
• other - watercolour card, mushroom dies, Big Shot, blending brushes, water spritzer, linen thread, All Occasions sentiment strips (Paper Rose), Dimensionals, craft foam, Kuratake white ink, fan brush, Country Road Garden Builder die (Spellbinders)

There are more samples to see over on the Just Add Ink blog. I do hope you'll be inspired to play along.

Entering in challenge #255 at Tic Tac Toe, choosing the left vertical row of leaves, ink blending and multiples. 

And also Time Out Challenges #271 where the theme is friendship/encouragement/support. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Recycle - Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

This month I'm delighted to be a Guest Stamptember Designer over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  I'll be sharing a project each Monday in September alongside the regular members of the Design Team and hope you'll pop back each week to join me. 

This week's theme is RECYCLE and as it's the first Monday of the month, Simon Says Stamp are showcasing a brand/company and the design team are all using products from Brutus Monroe. (You don't have to use them to join in with the challenge, but if you have them they'd love to see them used.)

So, without further ado, let's dive into my project! 

I recycled a die-cut Spellbinders dancin' birthday dragon from an earlier card (this one). For the background I used distress oxide sprays and inks then stamped polka dots from Tim Holtz's Mr Rabbit set and splattered with Dina Wakely white gesso. I then sprayed with worn lipstick and picked raspberry Distress Spritz through the Brutus Monroe vortex stencil. I finished with a Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Birthday sentiment and some clear sequins. The whole panel was mounted on recycled corrugated cardboard to give depth and dimension. 

Do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog to see what the design team have come up with to inspire you.

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a fabulous $25 voucher to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Store - all you have to do is take out your crafting supplies, make something following this week's prompt, and link up at the bottom of the Challenge Blog post. You can join up to 5 times, giving you 5 chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance.

Feel free to leave me some comment love and thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you back next Monday.

Cheers

Kerry

Vista View - Just Add Ink #716

It's inspiration week at Just Add Ink and here's the picture to draw that inspiration from:

The main two elements which inspired me are the gorgeous blue tiles on the step risers and the terracotta pots, which on my card became blue bricks and a terracotta planter. 

The brick wall was created using a stencil, Versamark ink and embossing glaze. I used the same shade of blue to colour my window frame, the top layer of which was cut from woodgrain card. I used acetate for the glass and vellum to give the impression of sheer curtains inside the house. For all the flora, I cut two of everything and coloured with distress inks then placed them in the planter, greenery towards the back and flowers up front, along with a few ferns and a butterfly. 

Materials used:

• dies - Vista View Window and The Botanical Solarium (both Spellbinders) 
• other - Versamark ink, uncharted mariner distress oxide ink and embossing glaze (Tim Holtz), blending brushes, Big Shot, Dimensionals, distress inks, acetate, vellum, woodgrain card

I haven't put a sentiment on it but think it would be useful for a number of occasions, especially to give to a keen gardener or someone who has just moved house.

Check out how my fellow team mates were inspired and of course we'd love to see your own creations in our gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Hello Friend

Today I'm playing along with this week's Tic Tac Toe Challenge. Here's the grid:

I picked the left hand vertical column - friendship, die cuts, ink blending.

My background piece was in my stash, stamped in Versamark and clear embossed, then some white ink blended lightly over it - this mutes the background colour a little while also bringing out the stamped/embossed portion. I die cut the bird and branch/leaves, then coloured with oxide inks, used bought paper flowers but changed the centres to match my card base, and went (maybe a little too) crazy with white gesso splatters lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Vintage Flora (Honey Bee Stamps), Tiny Text (Tim Holtz)
• dies - layered chickadee (Simon Says Stamp), branch, stitched rectangle (Paper Rose), friend (stash)
• distress inks - squeezed lemonade, stormy sky, twisted citron, mowed lawn, brushed corduroy, picket fence
• other - Dimensionals, Big Shot, MISTI, blending brushes, black gem, paper flowers and stamens, white gesso, fan brush

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Edited to add: The team at Tic Tac Toe chose my card as the Designer Pick for this week. Many thanks! 

Nature's Bounty

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to TIE IT UP (ie use twine/ribbon/etc) inspired me to create this morning and as I was in a mixed media mood, I made a layered collage-style card with a nature theme.

I used papers and elements from 49andMarket's Curator's Meadow collection for my background, sponging edges with oxide ink. I replaced the white string on the tags with a twine that fit better and layered them up. The 'stamps' are washi tape from the collection, adhered to white, while the leafy branch is die-cut and coloured with more oxides. My nest is a cheap craft one cut down as it was too large and I painted some tiny eggs, hot gluing them all to my card. The last step, as always - cos this is me and mixed media, after all (lol) - was paint splatters.

Materials used:

• papers, tags, washi tape, ephemera - Curator's Meadow collection (49andMarket)
• card - crumb cake, basic white (Stampin' Up), watercolour
• distress oxide inks - walnut stain, peeled paint, forest moss
• distress paint - antique linen, walnut stain
• other - Dimensionals, blending brushes, sponge dauber, craft foam, tiny eggs (Tim Holtz Idea-ology), Easter mini nest (Anko), hot glue gun, Big Shot, twine, splat box, fanbrush, magnolia leaf branch die (Memory Box)

Hope you're getting some creative time too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Just Add Ink #685 - Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2024 Just Add Ink Blog Hop! We always begin our crafting year with a blog hop to inspire you and this year the chosen theme is FLOWERS. Here's my offering:

I wanted vibrant summer flowers for my card, so watercoloured using markers then attached them to a black background to really make them pop. The background was distressed and embossed, then I ran my finger over random areas with a light touch of gold wax to highlight the pattern and accentuate the distressed effect. A heat-embossed sentiment and some clear sequins were my finishing touches.

Materials used:

• stamps - Celebrate Sunflowers (Stampin' Up)
• card - watercolour, black
• dies - Into the Blooms: Iris (Papertrey Ink) 
• other - Dimensionals, Big Shot, water brush, Zig Clean Color brush markers, distressed tile embossing folder (SU), gold embossing powder, heat tool, MISTI, vintage gold metallique wax (Art Alchemy), craft foam, clear sequins

Happy flower gathering! Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

The link below will take you to the next blog on our hop, which is Kim. Be sure to leave everyone some comment love as you browse through the hop - there are 13 stops altogether. If you get stuck at any point, the list and links of all participants is on the Just Add Ink blog here.

Splattery Goodness Rose

Yesterday I was playing with a layering flower die but once finished I couldn't decide on a card design for it to go on. This morning I woke in the mood for some mixed media, splattery goodness - you all know how much I love getting inky! Here's how it ended up.

My background is a very, very old retired paper from Stampin' Up which has a script writing pattern. I inked over with old paper distress oxide. Over that I stencilled with grit paste and also stamped some splatters with more of the same ink. Once everything was dry, the rose and background received a liberal splattering of watered down white gesso. The last steps were mounting everything and adhering two layers of a sentiment die. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up)
• card - Sahara sand, basic black, retired SU designer paper (no idea what it's called, sorry)
• dies - Lovely Layers Rose Honey Cuts (Honey Bee Stamps), love (stash)
• Altenew inks - Green valley minis, Rose Petal minis
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, fan brush, white gesso, distress grit paste opaque, grime mini stencil (Tim Holtz), spatula, craft foam, old paper distress oxide ink

I hope you've managed some creative endeavour today. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry