Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps - Krafty Komeback "Alice in Wonderland"

Hello friends! Happy Friday!

Wow another month has just about flown right on by.

It's been a crazy month for me and my crafty MOJO

seemed to have flown off too ;o(.  

Are you familiar with the Kraft Komebacks

at KRAFTIN' KIMMIE STAMPS?

These are some very popular rubber stamps that have 

been retired previously but were so requested that 

the artists re-work them a little and Kimmie

releases them in a new (and awesome) clear 

stamp version.  This month's Krafty Komeback set is 

ALICE in Wonderland by artist Annie Rodrigue!

Such a gorgeous design with lots of pleats to colour! And look at that HAIR!
 A perfect image for lots of different card sending occasions!
I was so disappointed that I missed out on her

previously and super excited that I have the opportunity

to design with her this month!  That's a great way

to get my crafty MOJO jump-started again!

Take a look at what I made :o)

I'd like to enter ,my card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges - Anything Goes

My Time to Craft Challenge #344 Sequins or Buttons

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges #326 Anything Goes and DT Call

Crafty Creations Challenges #340 Anything Goes

Be sure to check out the Frugal Friday specials this weekend!

PLUS if you'd like to get your hands on some older, retired stamp sets
be sure to join us this weekend for a LIVE Facebook Party
in the Krafty Friends page for our RUBBER PARTY!

Get all the details on how YOU can scoop up some of the
hard to find rubber stamp sets in the group and join us
 at 2pm EST on Sunday afternoon for all the FUN!

The Krafty Krew design team members and guests listed below
have created some fabulous creations to inspire you so be sure to hop
around and check it out in action! Then hop on over to the Krafty
Shop because ALICE in WONDERLAND is NOW AVAILABLE!!!

Thanks for stopping in to visit me!  Hugs D

Kraftin' Kimmie NEW Release Peeks DAY FOUR

Hello friends and followers! 

Have you been enjoying the sneak peeks  for
KRAFTIN' KIMMIE STAMPS so far 

this week?  We are making sure you will be ready

for winter and Christmas this month!

Today's peek is called HEAVENLY HOLIDAY

by artist Emilie Goulet.  It features two joyful angel images
plus five coordinating sentiments!

Be sure to join us at the LIVE Online Release Party 
on Saturday night at 2pm EST! We'll be checking out ALL
the NINE new clear stamp sets, sharing fabulous creations,
giving away prizes and having tons of merry fun!

Here's my card to share with you today.  I had fun
creating a vintage card with some distressing and flowers.

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Merry Monday Challenges #217 {Retro/Vintage}

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges #299 Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting me today!  Please check out the list

of Krafty Girls and Guests below who also have some

awesome creations to share with you with today's set.

I'll be back tomorrow!!! Hugs D

Kraftin' Kimmie Krafty Peek - Words of Inspiration and Anything Goes Challenge

Hello krafty friends and followers!

Today is Day FOUR of the Kraftin' Kimmie January Peeks.
I hope you've been having as much fun as I have
with the new release peeks so far.

It's also an Anything Goes Challenge from our challenge hostess JENNY!  

You can create a card, scrapbook page or altered item with any stamp
but if you use a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp you'll double your chances to WIN!!
Use any sketch, any design, any embellishments because Anything Goes!
We hope you can play along for your chance to WIN
a $10 Gift Certificate to use on ANYTHING you want in the shop!!

So let's get to showing you this INSPIRING new set by artist Becky Pearce.

I just know it's going to inspire you in soooo many ways.
This set includes NINE lovely sentiments - take a look!

AMAZING right????!!!

I have two cards to share with you using 

one of the sentiments from this fabulous NEW Release.

and here is the second

I found this great paper and wooden accents at

my local craft store and knew instantly that this 

was perfect for what I had in mind for that sentiment.

I went vintage with both of these cards.

I feel like one of these has a more masculine look

and the other (first) has a more feminine appeal. 

Although vintage is not usually my go-to style, I love 

to occasionally pull out my distressing tool and 

ink up the edges for a change of pace. 

I've been challenging myself to make more cards 

in styles I don't use very often - such as vintage and CAS

and techniques such as special folds and mixed media

 (working up my courage on this one still).

I am entering my cards in the following challenges:
Fusion  - my inspiration is the wooden aspect

Papertake Weekly - It's All New
Sister Act Card Challenges #89 - Anything Goes

Are you planning to join us for our LIVE ONLINE RELEASE PARTY!!! 

The FUN and EXCITEMENT and PRIZES start TONIGHT beginning at 6pm EST!! 

Hope you can come hang out with us!

Below is a listing of all the Krafty Girls and Guests creations using this set.

Leave some love (comment) while you're hopping around because 

Kimmie is giving away a gift card and YOU could WIN 

some Krafty $$$ to spend at the shop!!!! 

{This winner will be announced at the party tomorrow!}

Happy hoppin'!

Thanks so much for visiting me today! Hugs D

ATSM Challenge #81 - Anything Goes

Hello friends, hope this post finds each and every one of you healthy,  happy and in a good crafty space :o)  I am so excited to see that I have two new followers - yahoo! Welcome and thanks for adding my little blog.  Since this is my anniversary month (3 years) I'm planning to offer some blog candy for the first time.  So stay tuned as it will be announced soon (I'm so excited to share it with you!).

Our challenge for you this week at Addicted to Stamps and More! ATSM#81 is the ever popular ANYTHING GOES.  Dawn from LilyPink Scraps is our very special guest designer this week  - Welcome Dawn!  Please go visit her and say "hi".

Our wonderful sponsor for this week is....

My DT card this week uses one of our sponsors images called Little Bear Spring Bonnet  and it is just too cute for words - take a look please:

I haven't made a shabby chic/vintage style card in a while so I thought it would be fun to do so with this image.  I paper pieced her dress and hat.  Important lesson to remember when you are coloring with alcohol markers - color first then paper piece.  The DP I used is much more porous than the cardstock and I got a few areas of bleed over ink that I wasn't expecting.  Mistakes are sometimes part of the crafty process - right?  So I thought I'd pass that little tidbit of info on to you (I'll bet most of you knew that already didn't ya?).   The finished card is 5 1/2" square and will still fit nicely into a 6" envelope even with the lace peeping over the edge. I had a lot of fun with the distressing process on this card - I think that's why I like this style. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit me today, I hope you enjoyed this card! I'd encourage you to pop on over to the challenge blog and see what the rest of the DT ladies have made for your inspiration (just click here to get there). While you're at it, leave them a little love too - we LOVE to hear from you. :o)  Hope you will decide to play along this week with us - remember Anything Goes!

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Divas by Design - Vintage with Lace

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #179 (4CCC179) - Anything Goes

Sentimental Sundays #192 - Birthday cards for a Special Woman, Using Pastel colors   

Til next time dear friends and followers...hugs and happy crafting! D

52CCT - January Stash Challenge {Double Embossing}, MOJO Monday 329 {sketch}, Merry Monday #92 {Colors w/Ribbon}, The Card Concept 2, Festive Fridays {Photo Inspiration} & Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes

Hello friends - happy weekend!! Time for another challenge at 52CCT. This week our challenge is to use two types of embossing - heat and dry.  I'm a huge fan of texture on cards and use dry embossing quite a lot.  I don't as often do the heat embossing though as I'm usually crafting at night when everyone else is in bed.  They don't much like to be woken up to the sound of my heat gun :o)  What a silly family I have!

So I made my DT card earlier in the evening to oblige them - lol.  Take a look:

All supplies from Stampin' Up!

Ink and paper colors: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla (sounds like a dessert doesn't it?)

First I embossed the star with Early Espresso and heat set it.  Then I stamped the JOY over that with Cherry Cobbler ink and embossing powder and heat set again. Heat embossing gives things such a nice subtle sheen.  I sponged some crumb cake ink around the edges of everything to add a bit of distressing.  My dry embossing is from a retired snowflake embossing folder (one of my favorites).

For additional inspiration, I used the sketch from MOJO Monday 329

the Colors w/Ribbon challenge at Merry Monday #92.

The Card Concept Challenge #2 Use Texture (my first time here thanks to Sue for the link).

Style = Vintage

Festive Friday FFC23 (also my first time thanks to Sue) with this photo inspiration

and

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - January "Anything Goes"

 I'm really happy with how this turned out.  Lately I've been making a lot of "cute" cards so it was a nice change of pace to make a vintage card.   

I hope that you will decide to play along with us this week at 52CCT.  The rest of the DT have made some gorgeous cards to inspire you as well.  Please go visit them and leave a little love.  Thanks so much for stopping by to visit me today. Til next time...hugs and happy crafting! D

  

'ABC' Challenges - "Christmas in July", the Paper Players - "Christmas in July", ABC Christmas Challenge - M is for Men or Mice, and Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge #23 - Seeing Stars

Hello dear friends and followers - and a very special hello to my two newest followers, Donna and Mau.  When I first started blogging and sharing my work I was hopeful that people would even look at it. To have reached 50 followers now is just amazing.  I thank each and every one of you for supporting me.

July brings one of my favorite challenges at 'ABC' Challenges called "Christmas in July".  We want to help you get a jump start on your Christmas cards - isn't that nice of us :o) ?  I like to make Christmas cards year-round and find that when Christmas rolls around I have a very nice stash of handmade cards just waiting for the Christmas photo and a note to each of our loved family and friends.  Since I make so many Christmas cards - and most of them are "cutesy" or "whimsical", I decided to challenge myself and try a vintage card this time.  Take a look:



I used soft colors and scuffed up the edges of my layers.  I also sponged around the scuffed edges ever so slightly to give it a bit more of an aged look.  I wasn't too worried if my letters all came through exactly as dark or evenly as the others.  I thought about adding a few spritzes of color with my spritzer tool but was concerned that it would really take away from the words.  I used two colors on this card: Bravo Burgundy and Baked Brown Sugar.  The burgundy looks decidedly darker than the layer, and almost brown when stamped on top of the baked brown sugar.  The saying is a stamp by Stampendous and the three wise men are a stamp from Stampin Up!.  After I finished gluing everything together, I felt that the card looked too "flat" so I added a few adhesive rhinestones at the top and on the star to add a bit more interest.  So what do you know - I made a card that didn't use one bit of patterned paper - lol, very unusual for me.

I do hope that you enjoyed this card and that it sparked some interest for  you to make a Christmas card in July and join our challenge at ABC Challenges - "Christmas in July".  My other lovely teamies have made some beautiful cards to share with you as well.  Each week we give you a variety of different styles to inspire you.  Please pop in and give them a visit too.

Some other fun challenge I've decided to also participate in this week are:

The Paper Players #153 - "Christmas in July"

ABC Christmas Challenge - M is for Men or Mice (I have wisemen)

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - #23 "Seeing Stars"( I have the star of Bethlehem)

ATS&M - Addicted to {Vintage} and MOJO Monday 281

Hello dear blog friends and followers - I was so excited to see that I have a few new followers in the past couple of weeks!  Welcome and I'm so glad that you've decided to join along.  I hope that you like what you see and that I can inspire you in some way with the cards that I make :o)

This week the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! is to make a Vintage card or other crafty creation.  Vintage is definitely one of those types that is outside my comfort zone and yet I'm thrilled when I have the chance to give it some more practice.  My card is based off the MOJO Monday #281 sketch (see below). 

I've made this card for my husband's niece who found out a couple of weeks ago that she has Hodgkins Lymphoma. She has started her first round of treatments but is waiting to find out if the cancer has gotten into her bone marrow.  We are all praying for her like crazy that the answer is "no" and that she will only have 3 more treatments to go. We are told that this is a highly curable disease, especially when caught early.  This little gal - who is a mom to three very young kiddos, has the most positive attitude and strong faith of anyone I've seen in a long time.  She keeps us updated on Facebook quite often thankfully.  I wanted her to know that we are continuing to pray for her and to stay strong. 

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit me today. It would be great if you decided to join us this week at ATS&M and share your vintage creations with us.  This week the ATS&M challenge has another fabulous sponsor and prize that you could win.  Pop on in and visit the rest of the DT here won't you? They don't seem to struggle what-so-ever with the vintage theme as their creations are amazingly beautiful.   Til next time... hugs and happy crafting! D

 

PPA139, Paper Play Challenges and Simply Stampin Challenge

Happy Saturday friends!  Thanks so much for stopping in to visit me - I'm sure glad that you did!  Hope that you are having a fine weekend! 

This card is based on the great sketch this week from Pals Paper Arts #139.  I just loved all the different strips to use my patterned paper with and the fun circles at the corners (I immediately thought buttons for some reason).  Here's the sketch:

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges for the first time:  Paper Play Challenges Week 29 - Christmas in July, and Simply Stampin Challenge #69 - Vintage.  I love to make Christmas cards and Vintage and Shabby Chic is a style that I want to practice more as I really admire it.  I really like how this one turned out - it does seem that the more you practice something the more comfortable you become with it (of course a great sketch and stamp help a lot too - lol).  Here's a couple more views of this card:

I'm delighted to share with you that this card is that second one I've made with a stamp set that I had previously never used. You might remember that I had made a card a few days ago with one of the other stamps from this set that I've had for ages but had not been able to envision how to use it. Seems that once I got over that "block" I can now see other uses for this set :o).

I found these new challenges by following the blogs of a couple talented ladies. I saw their cards for these challenges and was so inspired that I had to give it a go too. This is all part of the fun of sharing our creations on our blogs and entering challenges. It would just tickle me pink if I inspired some of you sometime to try a new challenge or technique or product :o).  So let's get on to the details in case you are wondering what I used for this card.  Til next time - Hugs to all of you!

Supplies (all from Stampin Up!): Cardstock - Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla and Early Espresso.  Stamp - Bells and Boughs, colored with my SU markers in Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler and Summer Sun.  DSP - Deck the Halls (retired).  Buttons from a retired stash and natural hemp twine. 

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - Theme challenge #7

Hello friends!  Here it is the 3rd week of July and that means that the Design Team at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown has a Theme challenge for you.  Can you guess by my card what that theme is?  Yep ... you guessed it - wreaths! Here is the inspiration photo for the challenge:

I decided to try something a little different from my usual style and do some distressing.  I love this when I see it from other people but this is not usually my first technique of choice as it seems that when I try it, it comes out looking "dirty" instead of distressed - LOL.  But, the style of the DSP seemed to be leading me in that direction so I decided to give it a go and see how it ended up.

I first added pearls around the edges of the main DSP area.  Then I rubbed some Cherry Cobbler ink around the pearls and paper to "age" both a bit. This photo doesn't do it justice at all - I had a dickens of a time getting this to photograph well - argh! Here is a closer view of the details - hope this is a bit better.

I ran the card base through my Big Shot with the poinsettia textured folder and then distressed the card base with Always Artichoke ink.  I also sanded it a bit after the ink dried to give it some more "distressing".  The felt wreath also got a shot with the Always Artichoke ink to tone down its brightness just a tad (but I still wanted it to stay the focus of the card).  After stamping and centering the sentiment behind the inside of the wreath I sponged some Always Artichoke around the word.  Here's another close up:

And then it was complete -  and I stared at it forever trying to decide if I liked it - hmmmm... Yep, I like it.   Not sure that I'll do it lots, but I think with practice I'll be more comfortable with it.  Thanks for letting me share with you.  Hope you like it!

Please  visit the 52CCT challenge blog and see the wonderful creations the rest of the design team has created for your inspiration this week.  I hope that you will share your amazing creations with us as well! It's a delight to see what you come up with each week - I always find new inspiration from you too.  If you want, leave us a note and make sure you link your post back to the 52CCT blog so that others can share in the fun!  Hugs!

Supplies (all from Stampin UP!): Cardstock - Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla.  Textured Embossing Folder - Petals-A-Plenty. DSP - Deck the Halls (retired). Felt wreath (retired). Sentiment - I colored just the word Merry from a sentiment that says "Merry Christmas" in the More Merry Messages set (NEW).  Basic pearls - lots of them :o)

Create 4 Fun Color Challenge 58 (CR84FN58)

Hello friends - happy Tuesday!  I am participating for the first time in the CR84FN Color Challenge which calls for Yellow, Red and a Neutral.  My yellows are So Safron (card base) and Daffodil Delight (sunflower) and my Red is Cherry Cobbler.  My neutral is Early Espresso.  Here is the inspiration photo from CR84FN 58:

I took inspiration from the big flowers in the photos to make my card.  I wanted to try a distressed look for a friend who loves that style, so I roughed up the edges and curled a few corners with my paper piercer.  I also added some ink on top of the embossing and a little around the main image as well as some "splots" of color (maybe a bit too many??) using my color spritzer tool and an Early Espresso marker.   This is not my usual style but it was fun to make.  My husband came up to my craft room as I was roughing up the edges and said "you look like you're having fun." (I really did Create 4 Fun!).  I think my friend will like it. Hope you do too!  Thanks for stopping in to visit me today - I'm sure glad that you did! Hugs!

Supplies (all from Stampin Up!): Cardstock - So Safron, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso.  Stamp - Sunflower and Petite Pairs (sentiment).  Ink colors - Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso.  Circle punches - 1" and 1 1/4".  Textured Embossing Folder - Argyle (new).  Buttons - Naturals designer buttons (new).