Mixing it up

Hi guys! Sorry my last post was so short, I put myself in an unrealistic time crunch but still made it in time! Today I decided to try something different and give making a mixed media canvas a shot. My local Joann's was having a sale on canvases of all sizes so to start off, I grabbed a few 5x7 ones. When I got home I broke out my stamps, stencils, paints, and papers and went to work on my latest project trying to keep to the color scheme TGF's DT Member, Marcy, used for her release preview card so I could play along with this week's FFF, 'CASE' the DT here's what I came up with

As you can see, she's already made her way onto my wall! I'm very proud of this even though I've seen much better, I tried, got wrapped up in it and gave it my all. I used TGF's  shimmer bean, now available as part of the Magical kit in the Shop. I used an acrylic paint technique called a wash to create the background and used my honeycomb stencil with some antique gold paint to add texture. I stamped randomly with different flower stamps  and water color painted them with crayola washable markers. The sentiment is also from the Magical kit. All in all not bad for my first attempt, maybe the next one will be even better, maybe mixed media just isn't my forte, who knows! It's always fun to try new things and you won't always be good at everything but you never know if you don't try, right? Have a great day,

-Krys

Pretty in Pink

Wooooooo TGIF! Since it's Friday I'll keep this post short and oh so sweet with another pop up card, this time featuring Some Odd Girl's Sunny Mae for the June Linky party looking pretty as a picture in pink!

SOG Sunny Mae

I really ADORE these pop up. Cards and every time I make one I get so excited by the outcome! I colored Mae with my copic markers and all the DP was from my stash. The stamps used for the other elements were from the Bo Bunny Smooches stamp set and TGF's Flutter Hearts clear stamp set. Remember, if you haven't linked up there's still time to join the June Linky party over at Some Odd Girl! Hope this inspires you, have a great weekend!

-Krys

Liberty Belle of the Ball

Ok so I know you've seen them by now they're popping up everywhere. They exploded onto the crafting scene and they're taking over! So of course I had to try them for myself. Come on, you know what I'm talking about guys, pop up box cards! Keeping with my Independence Day theme here's my take on and first attempt at these exciting explosions that somehow still fit neatly into a standard A2 card envelope

Twinkle Bean

The pint sized patriot I used is called Twinkle Bean and though she was released original as a clear photopolymer, she can be found as part of an adorable set called the Magical Kit available now at The Greeting Farm. I colored her up with copic markers and added some stickles here and there to make her sparkle. The paper in her background is a strip embossed and inked by me for a custom DIY background for this week's FFF Make Your Own Background , wile the other DP is Bo Bunny Anthem. The other elements popping up from the box are from a few random stamps I've had forever, also colored with copics and the little banners are from SOG Celebration Mae I believe, all attached with strips of clear acetate to make them appear to be floating. Seriously I don't know who came up with this card fold but they are pure genius! It's a bit time consuming for me with all the measuring but well worth it, the finished product looks amazing, I'm actually working on another today. I found the tutorial on YouTube but I'm sure you could google pop up box cards and find a tutorial that ways as well, go on give it a try!

Star Spangled Shaker

Hello!
As you guys know, I'm really in the 4th of July spirit and I'm feeling really inspired so coming at you today is another Independence Day themed cutie:

Double Cupcake Anya

Since I haven't done a shaker card in a while I thought the little stars would be fun along with some micro beads to go along with this adorable star spangled sweetie! Keeping with TGF's FFF theme Make Your Own Background, I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Darice fireworks embossing folder and used a memory box stencil to ink stars over the raised texture in the paper. I colored up Double Cupcake Anya with my copics also using a wink of stella brush pen to add some shimmer. The stars are a die called precious stars by memory box and the DP is Bo Bunny Anthem. I also played along in the Retro Sketches Challenge this week. Any new Independence Day projects shakin' for you guys?

-Krys

Pretty Patriotic

Hi guys! It's been a long time since I've had a reason to be excited about Independence Day, it's always seemed like a holiday more for the kids but this year I'm super excited! I think it may have something to do with being station on an army base where you can feel the excitement crackling in the air as stores stock their shelves with red white and blue decor and cupcakes. Well I guess I caught the bug or something cause I've had an explosion of ideas ( not to mention a box of red white and blue bomb pops in the freezer ^.^) one of which is this adorable paper rosette door wreath featuring a SOG Digi for their June Linky party:

SOG  Pink Ribbon Mae

Mae was printed out on x press it blending cardstock and colored with my copic markers. Being a proud army spouse I decided to color her 'pink ribbon' in the 'support our troops' style to match my patriotic theme, love how it turned out by the way! For the base, I started off building the first layer of the rosette out of bazzill cardstock and layered a second smaller rosette made from the Bo Bunny 'Anthem' collection DP. I used the lacy circles and standard circles nestabilities dies embossed with a fireworks embossing folder and inked with Red and blue on the raised areas for a customized background for Ms Mae. The stars I used are both memory box precious stars as well as paper smooche stars dies embellished with stickles and small rhinestones. I've never made a rosette before but it was fun and I think I'll be trying another project with them again soon, give it a try and be on the lookout, I've created a monster! See you guys again soon 

-Krys

Siren Song

Hey! Sorry I've been MIA lately, my hubby had some dental work done last week so I've had a busy week taking care of him! Also, as much as I LOVE stamping, nothing beats a day out with the family, so we enjoyed a day out at Riverfest in Alexandria Bay. Got some great pictures, the weather was amazing and the girls really enjoyed it. I didn't get a chance to take the boat tour because we don't carry cash on us but I was promised a boat ride another day by a certain husband and I plan to hold him to it ^.~ I got home early enough to get a little crafting in and my newest stamp from farmer's market seemed like the perfect end to an awesome day

C.C. Siren

Along with my newest stamp I decided to try a new technique with a waves stencil from memory box, one of my favorite die companies that arrived the same day as C.C. Siren. To create the ombre wave I made a glimmer mist type spray out of rubbing alcohol and a few drops of metallic acrylic paint sprayed over the waves die. I then stamped a few bubbles in a light blue pigment ink. A few pearls and a scrap of ribbon and I had myself one sassy siren! The gals over at TGF gave us the fun FFF challenge, Make Your Own Background and I can't wait to submit this cutie! Well it's bath time for my little munchkins so I will see you guys around again soon!

-Krys

Happy Birthday

Just thought I'd do a quick post and share this card for my little sister's birthday

Up Up Bean

25 years may not be little but she will always be the baby of the family. We may not always get along, but she's never far from my thoughts and she's always in my heart so I just wanted to tell her have a Happy Birthday and I love her. I made this card using TGF's Up Up Bean, colored with prisma colored pencils and OMS to blend the colors, per The Greeting Farm's FFF challenge, Use Pencils to Color. The DP is from Bo Bunny Enchanted Garden and the ribbon and flower are from my stash. The layout of the card was for the Retro Sketches Challenge #119

Getting Krafty

Ha! You like the title? Gives a little too much away? Kinda vague? Good! At least I know it caught your attention even if it wasn't the most clever ^.~  As I mentioned yesterday, TGF's Farm Fresh Challenge this week is Use Pencils to Color, so today I have another cutie from their super secret stamp club collection colored up on kraft for you guys

SSSC Fairest

Today's prisma on craft card is another simple and clean layout with a border drawn by yours truly, impressive huh? I kid, in the past I've had a problem doodling on my cards because well to be honest I'm just not that great at it. I'm also not the best at the whole clean and simple card layout so this week has been a major out-of-my-comfort-zone week for me. While I'm at it I'll also admit that prismas are not my favorite medium to work with unless its adding fine detail on images I already colored with copics, there I said it! Whew, do I feel better ^.^  In keeping with the princesses and prismas, I decided to ink up Fairest, who was the first stamp released in the super secret stamp club. I actually did not take part and so I had to buy this exclusive stamp later at the exclusive release price of $12, holy cow right? Problem was, I'm very particular about my stamps and I don't often like surprises on something I already paid for, I like to know what I'm getting before I spend money. I thought I was a smart cookie till I saw the cuties being released and fell in love! I ended up buying 3 of them anyway, several months later and at a much higher cost. Better believe I signed up this time around! Now I can't wait to get my first SSSC stamp from this subscription, I'm so excited and since I already paid for them, I don't have to worry about not having the money to spare to buy them later! What have you stepped out of your comfort zone for lately?

Princesses, Pencils, and Kraft, Oh My!

Hi guys! Hope you had an awesome father's day weekend and all got a chance to do something special for the men-folk in your lives, be they Father, Son, Brother, Grandfather, Uncle, or just a good friend! My hubby defanitly got more than a little appreciation shown. In fact it was downright good ol' fashioned spoilery! Our living room now hosts a 60" flatscreen tv which he is quite proud to say, may be too heavy for the floating shelf it sits on... Men. I just hope it doesn't fall. I won't complain though, a complete surprise to me, he was kind enough to replenish my cardstock supply out of the kindness of his heart, lucky me, don't I have a sweetie?! Anyway I digress, what better activity is there than bonding with the kiddos on Father's Day right? Well he thought so and I didn't argue so off to the park they went and up to the craft room I went, where I came up with my card for this week's FFF Challenge over at The Greeting Farm, Use Pencils to Color.

SSSC Tress

I colored up the lovely Tress from TGF's Super Secret Stamp Club with my Prisma Color pencils on kraft cardstock. Whenever I use Prismas, I usually opt for kraft over white cardstock because there's no need to use an OMS (odorless mineral spirit) to blend the colors. With kraft its all about layering and patience. After all the hard work it took to get this image just the way I wanted, I decided to go with a CAS layout and let the image shine without any embellishments (which was incredibly tough for me!) I doodled a border around the edge and used a few of my small stamps to add a little umph but other than that I left Ms Tress as the focal point. I was so pleased with my restraint that I'm considering making another one using another one of the SSSC exclusives tomorrow! How do you guys prefer to use your pencils? What type of paper works best?

-Krys

Tropical Twinsies

Try and say that 5 times fast, and record it, and send it to me, I love a good laugh :D I kid, but today's post is definitely a double take on a tropical treat. I loved coloring the two toned dress worn by SOG's Tropical Mae, that I thought I'd print her out and color her up again using a different pallet.

I loved figuring out what shades would fade green into soft blue seamlessly. It took a little thought but I absolutely love the results. Another thing I love about the SOG stamps is that, like TGF stamps that I love so much, these don't have anything limiting them to a particular race or nationality. The stamps are very versatile because of this ambiguity I'm free to color them any way I choose without it looking like something is "off".

I thought this would be the perfect stamp to use since her 'twin' just won a spotlight this week in the June linky party over on the Some Odd Girl Blog so maybe she's luck ^.^ I used my copics to color Ms Mae and added stickles to her dress to make it sparkle. I wanted to keep the layout the same and just swap colors so I used the same DP pads from Bo Bunny and Echo park and finished it off with jute twine, a matching button from my stash and my new favorite embellishment next to glitter, enamel dots! This linky party isn't over, you still have a chance to link up and make your projects shine, get craftin', I know I'm about to!
-Krys

A Tropical Treat

Hello again! I'm back today to share another creation with you guys for the June Linky party using one of the Some Odd Girl Digis that I purchased recently. The weather up here is getting nicer and nicer and to celebrate the amazing weather I thought I'd give this card a vacation-y feel and what better stamp to make you think of paradise than SOG's Tropical Mae

I had so much fun playing with the colors of her dress that I forgot to write them down! The DP is from Bo Bunny Key lime and Echo Park Paradise Beach and the twine and button are from michaels. The enamel dots are homemade. This tropical Mae makes me think of warm sun and sand, cool breezes, and no worries. And isn't her dress too perfect for a barefoot stroll on the beach? Love this gal so much I colored her up again in different colors so be looking for another project featuring this beachy beauty soon! Thanks for stopping by and if you haven't joined in stop by the Some Odd Girl Blog and link up your projects!

-Krys

Alluring Accents

Am I the only one who thinks of the Twilight series when I see black and white images with a splash of red? I know they were not the first by far to use this technique but Twilight has been everywhere you look for the last few years so it's all that comes to mind now lol! That being said I promise you my rambling has a point, which leads me to the FFF Challenge this week over at The Greeting Farm, Black and white with a pop of color and here's my entry

C.C. Dante

So naturally my pop of color was red. Oldie but goodie, classic, or overdone, you decide. But you gotta admit, it looks so gooooood together ^.^ I paired C.C. Dante up with a piece of black cardstock that had been stamped with versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder and attached it to some DCWV DP from an old stack called glitter. I then stamped a damask pattern on red cardstock and cut out a circle using my spellbinders dies. Of course since I can't always add bling to a masculine card, these enamel dots were perfect embellishment, besides, my hunny isn't into bling and too much sparkle so much and this is actually his Father's Day card! Both the sentiment and the damask stamp were from the CTMH acrylix set "Friendship". I thought the sentiment was perfect because what better word describes a good marriage? He truly is my best friend and I'm thankful for him. Well that's all for today guys, Father's Day is right around the corner so get crafting for those men in your lives!

-Krys

Something Odd

Hello all! I've had a pretty busy week so I haven't had much time to sit down and blog but i do have some news to share! It's nothing big, just something that I'm a bit excited about and I thought I would share with you guys. I love TGF stamps and I frequently enter them in challenges and literally stalk their Facebook and blog page for anything new but I recently got into another group of stamps that I've known about forever but I'm not a big fan of clear polymer stamps (which is why I missed out on all TGF's bean collections until they released them in red rubber) so I never got into them... until now that is. I was browsing their blog and from there went to their shop and saw some of the cutest digi stamps ever and decided I had to have a few. One of their newly released digis came right on time, Graduation Mae. since I always know at least one friend or family member graduating each year I've been searching for a nice image and she was just perfect for the job and I hope you agree

I even thought I'd try out a new card fold to make it look like a little graduation cap and add a tassel I made from black twine attached with a large black brad. I printed Graduation Mae out on X Press It blending card and colored her up using my copic markers. I added a few graduation cap stickers from my stash and made some banners from scraps of orange paper, since her school colors were orange and black (coincidentally she's graduating from my old high school). A few number stickers for her class year finished off this simple but hopefully still elegant card. I love Some Odd Girl and will be using more of their stamps so be looking out for more projects/ cards with these cuties, enjoy your evening!

-Krys

Cupcakes and Comfort Zones

Hi guys just a quick post from me since I feel like this card is nothing to write home about :( I know it seems strange to post a card that I don't feel is my best work but I thought I'd take it in stride share it with you guys and explain why. I love card challenges, especially at The Greeting Farm so I do my best to create at least one project especially for their challenges, even if I don't enter any other challenges TGF is my mandatory every week. This week's FFF Challenge was a sketch...I'll be honest, sketches scare the crap outta me for the most part, which is pretty odd considering I usually have trouble coming up with a layout for my cards (ironic huh?). Well for whatever reason, sketches give me the blues and the one for FFF looked especially complicated so I wasn't even gonna try. It ate away at me all week long so I finally decided to step out of my comfort zone and came up with an entry.

Double Cupcake Anya

Hair: E49, E47, E44

Skin: YR00, YR000, E50

Clothes: R83, R81, RV10, RV00, N1, N0, R27, R24, R22

 It came together pretty well and while I don't feel like this was one of my best projects I am still pretty proud of my attempt so yay me! The icecream and sprinkles DP is Carta Bella Cool Summer the blue with white swirls was something I doodled on a scrap of blue cardstock. A few enamel dots with a little baker's twine and I called it a day. This just goes to show that even when we feel like we can't do something, we'll never know for sure till we give it a try. So, step out of your comfort zone and craft your little heart out!

-Krys