Shaking Things Up

Happy hump day bloggers, have I got a treat for you! I've been having a bit of a creative block lately and I finally figured out why, I've been wanting to make a shaker card for forever and didn't have the supplies I needed so I'd been forcing myself to make other stuff. As you crafty folks probably know, creativity can't be forced so I've been bummed out and hating just about everything I make. I finally got a chance to make a shaker though, and a baby themed card using the baby fox from the new Cuddly Thanks clear set from The Greeting Farm seemed perfect, especially delicately waterecolored.

Cuddly Thanks

For my first shaker in years, it turned out pretty well, I may have gone overboard with the sequins so next time I'll just stick to two colors at most. I may even watercolor the baby fox in a cute color like  a soft pink or blue next time to match even more. Because the paper had all those different colors, I figured at least most of those colors should go into the shaker window...I was wrong lol! I plan to keep practicing my shaker cards cause this one gave me a really hard time putting it together as well as trying to get a good picture (the lighting in my craft room kinda sucks!) If I stand it up, all the shakies fall to the bottom, if I lay it down the colors aren't as true and you can't see the sparkle of the glitter as well either. Once again I heat embossed the image onto watercolor paper in white embossing powder and watercolored using my TH distress markers. I love this technique because I'm not the best at watercolor but the raised edges of the embossed image helps the water and ink stay in its own section without much work on my part. I highly recommend this technique for those just starting out with this medium. Well that's all for now my crafty friends, see you next time! Don't forget, there's still a little more time to join in on this week's Embossing challenge over at The Greeting Farm!

lots-o-love,
-Krys

Pretty as a Princess

Happy Monday, hope you guys had an awesome weekend! If you're anything like me, it ended all too soon. I wish hubby could take a day or two off mid week but then I would never get any crafting done. Alas, he's off on another week long training and I'm here with our youngest daughter *sigh* what's a poor gal to do? I'll tell you what, WATERCOLOR! And that is precisely what I've been up to. I was so in love with the way my princess journal turned out, that I decided to make a card in the same fashion but with different colors, tell me what you guys think

The Greeting Farm 

SSSC no3 Slumber

See what did I tell ya, gorgeous in any color scheme! Once again I started by heat embossed little Slumber onto some Canson 140# cold pressed watercolor paper using white embossing powder. Of course I used my TH distress markers to watercolor the image, finishing it off with a little clear wink of stella. The dies I used are corner hearts and stitched circles from la la land crafts (used for the banner as well), and Spellbinders lacy circles. I finally caved in and bought some sequins, I really do love them, they are a fab addition to any type of card for just the right amount of sparkle without being over the top, or filling for a super fun shaker. I admit I was hesitant for a while about buying sequins because they seem to be the latest trend in paper crafting and who knows how long those will last right? How often do you still see enamel dots? EXACTLY! I refused adamantly to hop on board the sequin express because when I finally hopped on board with enamel dots, they were history :'( The good news is I never wasted money buying them because I found a tutorial online for DIY ones but that's another story! I decided if I was gonna give sequins a shot I'd be smart about it, enter Doodlebug Designs Rainbow assortment pack! This little set is awesome, it comes with a great variety of 12 different color families, each individually bottled, can you say genius?! The bottles included are smaller than the tubes of sequins sold individually by the same company I believe. Since I just got the package I plan to order the larger tubes as I run low on the smaller one of that color, IF I use them that often. My local stores don't sell these so I found mine on Amazon. I did go out and buy some acetate so be looking out for a shaker card or two soon also! WARNING acetate is a bit on the pricey side, roughly about $1 per 8x10 sheet, I did NOT know that! So any time you can salvage the clear plastic from packaging and set it to the side trust me, DO IT! That way you'll always have a cost efficient option should you ever choose to make your own shaker! Well that's all today, hope I've inspired you to pull out your watercolors and embossing powder and get crafty! Don't forget, there's a new FFF challenge over at The Greeting Farm along with some inspiration from the DT if you haven't already checked that out head over!

lots-o-love,
Krys

Farm Fresh Friday: Embossing

Happy Farm Fresh Friday peoples! We've had quite a week over at The Greeting Farm and we've had a few winners so if you haven't already done so, stop by and make sure you weren't one of the lucky winners, you don't wanna miss your prize right? Now lets get down to business, this week's FFF challenge where the name of the game is Embossing (wet or dry). To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what 'wet' embossing is :D so I stuck with what I know and heat embossed the heck outta some watercolor paper and a few dies, check it out

SSSC no.3 Slumber

This is seriously one of those projects I wish I had bothered to take a before picture for. What started off as an atrocious lime green monstrosity is now a journal fit for a princess...or me! Now, I certainly don't have anything against the color lime green, it's just not for everyone, me myself, I'm more of a pink gal. The first thing I had to do was change the color of the outside, and since this was a hard cover fabric type material, that wasn't hard. A few coats of pink acrylic paint did the trick. Once that dried I picked a sheet of pink zebra striped patterned paper (secured with a thin layer of diamond glaze) and wrapped a portion of the cover, tucking the edges on the inside and gluing them down with more diamond glaze. I then added lots of different girly-licious dies cut out of shimmery and sparkly pink and pearl papers. I also heat embossed a sentiment from my stash onto my banner (created using la la land stitched circles) that I thought matched my pretty princess perfectly. As this journal came together I knew exactly which TGF princess would take center stage, so while the glue was drying on my cute little sequins, I put my journal to the side and heat embossed SSSC no.3, Slumber, onto my watercolor paper, pulled out my TH distress markers and painted her to match. I also went in and added a bit of shimmer to her crown of flowers and parts of her outfit. I love using my TGF stamps for projects other than cards, they can be used for many different projects! I've had a bit of a creative block lately so I decided to give the cards a break and try something I haven't done in a while. It helped a lot and I can't wait to show you guys what else I've been up to! Enough of my rambling for now, don't forget to stop by The Greeting Farm and see what the gals have for inspiration!
lots-o-love
-Krys

Bleach and Batman

Hi guys! Ok so technically this isn't a post about a card (although I do have a treat for you guys this friday!) but it IS something crafty! Over the weekend, hubby and I were getting rid of old clothes when he found an old black T-shirt with bleach spots and tossed it onto the pile. Immediately I snatched it up and dashed to the laundry room with an empty spray bottle and an idea. For the last few weeks the weather here has been getting progressively warmer so I figure its that time again! What time you ask? The time when I begin to cut up shirts and jeans to make tank tops and shorts only to wonder where the heck all my clothes went when winter comes around again! It really is a vicious cycle but I'm getting sidetracked. I'd found a tutorial on Pinterest on turning oversized Tees into cute racer back tops and another one showing how to "artfully" bleach clothing, BINGO! An idea became a plan and out of that plan was born this awesome little number:

I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the back but I love the way it came out! To get the batman logo in the center, I found one that I liked online and printed it out on heavy cardstock (#110 lb) and cut it out using an X-acto knife. I kept the negative for a later project and used double sided tape to hold the bat in place. I then proceeded to spray, mist, and stream bleach all over the shirt from above to make sure the bat in the center would come out nice and crisp. I got a little carried away and the bleach started to pool on the cardstock and run onto the shirt, which you can see at the corner of the wing but you can hardly tell. At that point to prevent further unintentional drips, I dabbed the cut out with a dry paper towel until the extra moisture could no longer run and I lifted it away from the shirt. Next I sat the shirt out in the sun to speed up the bleaching. When I felt it was bleached as well as it could get without destroying the fabric, I tossed it into the washing machine for a cold rinse and then a full wash also in cold water. I avoided putting any other items in the washer in case the bleach was still strong enough to ruin any clothing I didn't want bleached. I seriously love the way it came out, I've gotten many compliments and DH actually asked me if that was something he bought and didn't know he'd bought it for me :D! I see a lot more bleaching in my future, what about you guys? Any bleaching in your future?

lots-o-love
-Krys

Final Release Day Preview and a Hop!

Happy Friday everyone! The Greeting Farm has been showcasing their new May Release of some adorable clear stamps sets on the TGF Blog for the last 2 days. These new clear stamps are NOW available in The Greeting Farm Store. Today they are back showcasing the last 2 sets of clear stamps along with an amazing BLOG HOP!! They also have some guest designers joining in!! The last 2 clear stamps sets being featured on the TGF Blog are BEARY CUTE and WOOD FRIENDS. And, because it’s release day The Greeting Farm is having a BLOG HOP. This time around they are going to pick two winners and each person will receive 3 clear stamp sets from this new release! Be sure to leave a comment on each designer’s blog listed below and head back to the TGF Blog to let us know you completed the hop.

Ok since today is the last day of previews, NOW you can have a cuteness overload! Seriously, how stinkin cute are these two sets and can't you just see the little bears on a Mother's day card and the deer on a baby shower card? The ideas are only as endless as your imagination! For both my cards I wanted to keep the design simple, so as not to take away from the watercolor effect. I had a scrap of weathered wood looking paper from a while back and I just knew it would be a perfect fit for my little deer, especially with some enamel dots and a bit of matching twine. The sentiment that came with the set was too perfect to pass up so I stamped it in Rich cocoa memento ink right at the top. Just as with the previous releases, I heat embossed the images with white embossing powder and watercolored them up with my TH distress markers. Don't you just love the way the watercolors flow smoothly and create such a sharp contrast to the white outline? I went in with my E49 copic marker and added some color to the nose and eye of the deer, which to me made a huge difference. For the bears, I deliberately colored them completely different colors, to me it says love has no color...or at least that was my point :D. I won't hold you up too long, you've still got quite a ways to go on the hop so keep moving and leaving comments for your chance to win!

Here is the Blog Hop List

Guest Designers:

JESS MARIN

KRISTINA WERNER

SANDY ALLNOCK

TGF Design Team:

ALYCE

ANITA

CLAUDETTE

HOLLY

JONI

KELLI

KRYSTAL (ME)

ROSIE

STEPHANIE

THE GREETING FARM BLOG

But that's not all! In addition to the Hop, there are 6 EXTRA WAYS TO ENTER! Curious? Hop on over to TGF to find out how!

You have until Monday, May 11th, 12pm CST to leave your comments on the TGF BLOG. They will announce the 2 winners on Tuesday, May 12th.

lots-o-love,
-Krys

The Greeting Farm May Release: Day 2

So hopefully you guys have had a chance to look at the new release previews from day one right? Good! Then lets get on with it, are you ready for more cute??? Day two is sure to make you hop with delight! Introducing the next two sets, "Hoppy Hello" and "Cuddly Thanks"!

See super adorable right?! I could barely stand it when I first saw them and definitely could not wait to show you guys! For the cute little bunny I pulled out my copics. He was the perfect size to practice coloring fur and I had a ball. I paper pieced his scarf from a bit of chevron paper to match the strip I used on the top of my card to stamp the accompanying sentiment onto . I also used the butterfly and patch of grass that came with the set to make a simple little background. For the little fox, once again I heat embossed him in white onto a piece of water color paper along with the tree stump from the set and watercolored him with my TH distress markers. When he was all dry I ran him through my big shot machine using the coordinating dies to cut both images out. I used a small piece of foam tape to adhere the sleepy little cutie to the tree stump and give it a little dimension . I also stamped the hearts and accompanying sentiment onto a watercolored background I prepared just as I did for yesterday's cards. I think that little fox is my absolute favorite. Coincidentally he's also the first image I tried the watercoloring with white embossing powder as well as the first set of this release I inked up! Don't forget to stop by the TGF blog and overload on cuteness when you see what the gals have come up with! See you tomorrow for our last preview for May's release aaaaand blog hop!
lots-o-love,
-Krys

The Greeting Farm May Release: Day 1

Happy Hump day farmers! Coming at you today is a little hump day treat in the form of a release preview!!! And what’s better than one treat? TWO! So what do you say, are you ready for today’s awesomely adorable and oh so sweet previews? Well the wait is over, let’s get this party started shall we?

Our first clear set of the preview is called “Tweety Pie” and it’s just as tweet as can be (see what I did there?) The second is a treat to satisfy any sweet tooth, the beyond cute clear set, “Happiest Bday”! There will be 6 new clear sets coming out this FRIDAY and all 6 have a coordinating DIE SET so you won’t have to fussy cut your stamps if you don’t want to!! And since I've been on a watercoloring kick lately, you bet your tweet frosting I watercolored the heck outta these sets, check it out!

Don't you love the way watercoloring looks paired up with white embossing powder? Its such a fun and unique look, I fell in love the first time I saw it and couldn't wait to give it a try! The backgrounds were created by using a technique I found here. It's super simple and comes out gorgeous every time. I honestly can't get enough of these sets and the fact that I didn't have to cut anything out by hand was a huge bonus! I was excited and sad when TGF came out with their coordinating cut files because my die cut machine doesn't have the ability to use them, so I was still stuck fussy cutting everything.With these adorable clear sets, All I had to do was emboss, watercolor, and run it through my big shot machine and voila! Adorable images just waiting to be mounted to a card front! Have you had a chance to stop by TGF's blog today and check out what else the DT gals have to wow you? If not, head on over there and check it out! See you later!

lots-o-love

-Krys

Singing the Blues

Happy Monday! The sun is shining and the temperature is finally up so my friends and I are going to take the kids for ice cream and a walk to burn off all that sugar. It may seem like my post title is misleading, but I mean blues as in the color. My mood is anything but blue today! Before I head out though, I wanted to share my latest card using another TGF cutie and my awesome TH distress markers

Roll Call Kit: Summer

How adorable right? I love this little cutie she reminds me so much of my youngest daughter, hair and all! My husband and I were expecting/ hoping for a boy but got a second, healthy happy 8.9 lb baby girl. Fast forward 5 years later and she's such a tomboy, hubby always jokes that he did get the boy he wanted lol! Her favorite color is blue, and since little Summer reminded me so much of my daughter, it seemed only right to color her outfit and background blue too. I wanted to give this stamp a darker skin tone than my usual distress watercolored images but couldn't find a tut anywhere for darker skin and distress markers so I had to experiment and play around with my colors until I got what I was looking for. I think it turned out great and I really love the background! And since I'm always looking for a good excuse to pull out my DIY enamel dots, they were the perfect embellishment to this simple CAS card. I absolutely love watercoloring, there are so many fun and simple techniques when it comes to watercoloring, it's become my go to medium of choice when I just want to relax or color for fun. I actually do this so much, I have a stash of watercolored backgrounds just waiting to be used on a card front! If you haven't joined in already, there's still plenty of time for this week's special 2 week challenge, May Flowers, over at The Greeting Farm. Don't forget to stop by later this week for this month's previews and a fun blog hop!
Lots-O-Love

-Krys

Farm Fresh Friday: May Flowers!

Happy Friday bloggers! Today we have a new challenge over at The Greeting Farm  and this week's theme is May flowers! Great compliment to last month's first challenge, April showers, right? I couldn't wait to share this card with you guys because as soon as I heard the challenge I knew exactly which stamp I wanted to use, curious? Here she is!

Roll Call Kit; Nahla

Isn't she super cute? I loved this little cutie pie since I first saw her and couldn't wait to color up and give her the cutest curly hair and big brown eyes! She is actually one of the main reasons I purchased the roll call kit in the first place, I mean I REALLY wanted to color that hair lol! The paper had been in my stash for about a year in a DCWV paper pad I'd gotten for just $4. It has some of the most gorgeous patterns and color combos that just sing spring, so I just knew this paper would be the perfect compliment to little Nahla. I colored her up on cryogen white cardstock using my copic markers as usual with a little orange stickles here and there for some sparkle. The flowers and ribbon are from my stash and for the centers, I colored a few rhinestones with my copics to match my paper and image. I thought the sentiment from The Greeting Farm's Flutter Heart clear set was perfect and adorable with Nahla. I added a bit of stickles to the sentiment as well and a die cut heart corner from La La Land Crafts and this cutie was ready to be mailed to my mommy! I have a few more special ladies I need to make cards for so I'll get back to that and hopefully do a lot more sharing in the coming week. My hubby is getting ready for a long deployment, so in addition to not feeling well and having to prepare for him not being around, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day! Thank you guys for sticking around, I'll get better about blogging again soon. I have a few cards I've been working on and haven't had the chance to share so I'll be working on that too! In the mean time, swing by The Farm, as usual those DT gals have some dazzling cards that are sure to knock your socks off! Remember, this challenge will run two full weeks, so you guys have more time to participate and also keep an eye out, we have a great release coming up as well as a fun blog hop as well so be sure to stay tuned! See ya 'round!

-Krys

Edit: Wow So sorry guys, I've been running around so much my days are starting to blur together! I'm not sure where Wednesday went but I was so sure that Friday was really Thursday and my post didn't get done till Friday morning...which I later discovered is actually Saturday! :D