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