For the Love of Paper: Distress Markers

Showing posts with label Distress Markers. Show all posts

Monday, October 3, 2016

My Monthly Hero Kit October 2016

I am so honored to be hopping along with some crazy talented card makers today sharing the latest kit from Hero Arts! My Monthly Hero is a kit packed with goodies to make amazing cards and this month, its packed with shaker card awesomeness! This is a limited edition kit, so when its gone, its gone! You can purchase the kit by clicking here: My Monthly Hero October 2016.

The kit contains:

► A 4"x6" clear stamp set
► Dies for creating a snowglobe, snowdrifts and other background elements
► Seven coordinating Frame Cuts dies to match the stamp set
► Three pigment ink cubes in White, Silver and Baby Blue
► Eight White Cards and Envelopes
► Polar White Flower Soft
► Buttons Galore Shaker Mix
► Acetate Sheets in 4"x4.5" (7) and 4"x6" (1) for creating a shaker card
► Light Blue Gemstones

The kit includes dies to create snow globes. How perfect for Christmas cards! I began by cutting my light blue card stock with the globe top. To create the starry background, I used an add-on die to create a stencil by die cutting card stock with Star Confetti Fancy Die. Once the paper was cut, I was able to ink through it with a mini ink blending tool. Its a great way to stretch the use of your dies!

Behind the globe, on my card base, I inked a dark blue background, to create a night sky. The snow falling was created by stamping white pigment ink with the snow image from the My Monthly Hero stamp set.

I backed the entire panel with acetate then added foam adhesive around the opening and along the sides, knowing that I would be making a shaker card. (The foam adhesive around the opening is to create a well for the shaker items to move freely, and to stay inside the card. Its also added to the sides of the panel, to keep the top layer of card stock propped up without bending.)

To create the landscape, I used Snowdrifts Fancy Dies. This set of three dies is another add-on that can be purchased to coordinate with the kit. I love the layers of trees, trees and a house, and trees, a house and a little snowman! (Look very closely to find him.) I cut each of the die images from a piece of card stock. Keep in mind that these dies are unique in that they only cut the top of the image. Reason being that they allow you to control the length of the image. You could use these as the top of a card stock panel on your card, without the globe! So clever. (and wait, off to make a card with just that...)

I colored the tops of the scenery with Distress Markers and staggered the layers. Once I was happy with the placement, I adhered those layers to the card base. I poured some of the sequin seed bead mix onto my scenery. The top layer of the card was fastened over the top. To finish off the card, I added the base of the snow globe, colored with Copics and stamped with a sentiment. A bow was added also. And my absolute favorite part of the card is the Santa and his reindeer image! What is more magical than that?!

For this card, I went much simpler. This card would be easy to mass produce for your Christmas cards this season! To start off, I embossed a panel of white card stock with Circle Confetti Fancy Die. Yep, you read that correctly, I embossed with a die! I placed my card stock onto the die (cut edges up), topped that with an embossing pad, then passed it through my manual die cutting machine. How cool is that?! Then I die cut the same globe circle from the panel. Acetate and foam were added to the back of this panel, to make another shaker card.

For the inside layers, I used the scenery dies from the My Monthly Hero kit. They work the same as the add-on dies, but simpler in look. I cut the trees from a green card stock and a snowbank from light blue card stock. Those layers were trimmed to size and adhered to the dark blue card base. A sentiment was heat embossed in white on the card base. The sequin and bead mix were poured over the scene and finally, the top layer was adhered.

Using the third snowbank in the set of dies from the kit, piece of card stock that had double-sided adhesive on it was die cut. Once I cut it, I removed the backing, exposed the adhesive, and then poured glitter over the entire surface. It makes for a beautiful, snowy, and sparkly addition! It was adhered in front of the globe opening, along with a few more sequins.

Check out what these amazing ladies did with the kit:

The Hero Arts Blog

What is a blog hop without a chance to win?! Here is your chance to win the My Monthly Hero Kit for October 2016! Leave a comment on my blog and all the others. One lucky commenter will win! Good luck!

thanks for stopping by!

kimberly

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Texture for Cards

Texture for Cards is my latest class at Big Picture Classes!

Take your cards from drab to fab! Kimberly Crawford is here to show you some simple ways to add texture and style to your cards and other paper-crafting projects. She shares fun techniques using different materials—like vellum, felt, stencils, and more—to add interest to an otherwise “flat” design. You’ll learn just how quick and easy it is to transform an ordinary project into an extraordinary one!

What you will learn:

Add unique texture to a background with various stamps techniques
Use embossing folders and stencils to emboss on various types of paper
Create a faux letterpress look
Heat emboss on vellum
Create a stained-glass effect on vellum
Die cut acetate, felt, cork, and wood veneer sheets
Add color to acetate and wood veneer pieces

That list is just a sampling of all the techniques and ideas I share with you in this new class! I had an absolute blast creating projects for this class! I cannot wait for you to join me at Big Picture Classes!

thanks for stopping by!

kimberly

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Hero Arts Summer 2016 Release Hop + Giveaway

Welcome to the Hero Arts Summer 2016 Release Hop! Now is your chance to order all these beautiful new products from the Hero Arts Online Store!

Hero Arts never disappoints with its releases! Since I began stamping back in 2000, they have always been one of my favorite companies! I was thrilled to be able to join in this hop and share some of the great new stamps being released!

The first stamp I am sharing today is Destination Washington, D.C. It is a wood-mounted, red-rubber image that I had waaaaay too much fun stamping and coloring! We have made two trips to D.C. and we love it there! I know it won't be long until we are back again. This image was perfect for me to create cards for a mini album.

On each of the cards the image was stamped with a grey ink and heat embossed with clear powder. Knowing I wanted to watercolor the images, the heat embossing made things much easier. The raised lines created from the heat embossing keeps the water and color from running all over the project.

I love how I was able to fussy cut out these images and foam mount them to my card for added dimension. It will also be fun to able to use the small cut-out images along side photos of the historic landmarks. Don't forget that you can also cut away the words, or any part of this image! So fun!

I love all the water and reflecting pools in D.C. What a better way to use this stamp than to create the look! Masking off the words at the bottom of the stamp, I stamped and heat embossed the image. Then I stamped the image onto a piece of plastic (from my stamp-a-ma-jig) and pressed it into the paper. The straight line on the bottom of the buildings made it easy to line up. When you stamp this way, the image will be unclear and sparse, which is exactly the look you want to achieve!

I colored the top image the same as before. The bottom, I colored loosely, with a lot of water. Once that dried, I added several blue layers over the top, starting with the darkest blue at the base of the buildings. I love the effect!!!!

Spending the evening, while the sun sets, at The Mall is one of my favorite activities! In fact, I make my family go down there almost every night! :D Using one of my photos as color inspiration, I created a sunset look.

Starting with red, moving to orange, and then two different blues, I was able to create a sunset sky. These are going to be great in my mini album!

The second image I am using today is US Map Background. This image ties in perfectly with all the travel-themed images releasing today! I have a geography nerd. He is the school champion. In fact, he qualified for the state National Geographic Bee. Which is amazing because its 4th-8th grade students. He scored in the top 100 of all those students in the state. One of only three 4th graders! Anyways, geography is a big deal in this house!

So, it seemed fitting to create a notepad of the United States, perfect for the License Plate Game! We play the game often. Basically you keep track of the license plates you see while on a road trip. Having a map to keep track notches the nerdiness up quite a few levels. Educational and fun. This teacher-momma approves!

I stamped the US Map Background image onto trimmed standard printer paper, a lot. A piece of cardboard was trimmed to size and placed behind the stack of stamped papers. Clipping the layers together, I added a special glue, called padding compound, to the top edge. Once dry, you have a custom notepad!

I thought it would be fun to color the states in with pencils. My son thought it would be more fun to check them off, or write the postal abbreviation. However it works, this is a great way to keep track of the plates you see on a road trip!

Be sure and visit the blogs of these truly talented card makers!! Seriously, can you believe all the talent listed there? How did I get here?!

Hop List:

Amy Tsuruta

Joan Bardee

Lori Craig

Lucy Abrams

Wanda Guess

Giveaway: Leave a comment on the blog posts for a chance to win one of 3 - $25 shopping sprees! Winners will be drawn from comments across all the blogs! You have until Sunday, May 15, 2016 at 11:59 PT. Winners will be announced on the Hero Arts Blog.

thanks for stopping by!

kimberly

Supplies: stamps are available at Hero Arts Online Store

InLinkz.com

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Essentials by Ellen Winter 2016 Release Hop + giveaway

Hello, and welcome to the Essentials by Ellen Winter 2016 Hop! I’ll be showcasing several of the new stamp sets and dies on my post today!

Welcome, welcome! I think my first card says it all! Totally Fabulous describes the beautiful products being released from Ellen Hutson!

Totally Fabulous is a set of two dies. One die in the set is the scripted word fabulous. I cut the word from wood paper. Then I added adhesive to the bottom of the word. Gold foil was pushed into the adhesive with the help of a bone folder. Gold dipped letters! Gorgeous!

The other word in the set is the word totally. Totally is a pop-up word. You can see by looking at this close up, how the word can be bent forward on the card. Such a cool idea and wonderful dimension to be added to a project! I trimmed a piece of gold card stock and added a notched end. Then I cut the word totally from it, keeping the die in place with a piece of low-tack tape.

The words were placed on a background created with another new die from the release, Bed of Roses. I cut the image from vellum, to allow it to be more see-through and soft. Bed of Roses cuts a panel of detailed flowers the size of an A2 card. The white card stock base has been inked around the edges with Abandoned Coral Distress Ink. To adhere my vellum to my inked card base, I used a glue that I knew would dry clear.

The finishing touch was a few clear and gold sequins. Sequins are always the perfect finishing touch!

I am pretty sure that the two circle and heart images making up the background of my card are intended to be separate images. But when I saw them laid out on the packaging of Oh, Frappe!, I just HAD to use them as-is to create my own patterned paper!

I stamped the images with brown first. Then using Distress Markers, I water colored the images. I stayed with all browns to keep the look of coffee. I love the neutral, monotone look of this card!

The sentiment from Oh, Frappe! was stamped and heat embossed with white powder. The white was too much of a contrast, so I colored over the white lightly with a Distress Marker. The coffee cup was stamped and then die cut. It too is water colored. Yes! There are coordinating dies to the images! Oh, Frappe has stamps AND dies!

Again, sequins add the final touch of brown for this coffee-themed card! Anyone want to come over for a cup of coffee now?!

You should have arrived here from the completely amazing Kittie Caracciolo and her blog. She knows how to make a show stopping card!

Then, after visiting me, head to see Julie Ebersole and the creative mind behindthis stunning release! How did I get so lucky as to be placed between these fabulous women?!

And, yay!!! I also get to give away an Essentials by Ellen stamp set! The winner may chose ANY Essentials by Ellen brand stamp set (maximum value $15) currently in stock at Ellen Hutson.com To enter my giveaway, please leave a comment on this post by February 16th!

There is also a crazy awesome Grand Giveaway in the CLASSroom! To enter, be sure to leave a comment THERE, also by February 16th; ALL winners will posted at the CLASSroom on Friday, February 19th!

If you get lost, please visit the CLASSroom blog for a complete list of all the designers.Happy hoppin’!

thanks for stopping by!

kimberly