Paper Crafts Magazine May/June issue

Well it’s a week of sharing some of my latest publications. I am terrible about remembering to share here, so be prepared, more are coming. :)


Paper Crafts May/June 2012 issue is now on newsstands. Its got the usual moms, dads, and grads inspiration, but includes a super fun section that I am pretty excited about being a part of!

The challenge was for two designers to use the same patterned papers but create a masculine and feminine card. Julie Campbell took the girly side and I grabbed the manly side. We used papers from Crate Paper. I also added some Real Wood paper from Creative Imaginations. By keeping things simple and earthy, the card would be easy to give that special guy.

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

favorite cards of 2011

Happy New Year! I hope that your year is off to a wonderful start! It seemed like it would be fun to share some of my favorite projects from the past year. Today cards, then altered items, and scrap pages. Its fun to look back and remember all the projects and ideas and work! If the link is worth visiting, I added it underneath the card. Some of the projects have video tutorials, so there are links for those as well. Enjoy!

CardMaker Magazine blog post: Faux Letterpress, Spellbinders, Hero Arts, my very first blog post on the blog team

Faux Letterpress: Spellbinders, with video tutorial
Video tutorial: Faux Letterpress

Sorry, this project has been removed for publication. :)
friends: a favorite publication reject

just saying hello: another reject, and its ok :)

another hello: resist embossing technique

Sorry, this project has been removed for publication. :)
those you hold well: Moxie Fab World challenge card

my favorite pattern-chevron: Spellbinders, Mint Motif

SORRY! This project had to be removed for publication. :)
Look for it in the June 2012 issue of CARDS magazine.

thank you: die cutting felt, Spellbinders, Technique Tuesday, Kaiser Craft


pair of socks: Avocado Arts

the little things: Hero Arts, with video tutorial
Video tutorial: Acrylic block stamping
Its great to be back home after visiting both sets of families in MN last week. We had a great time celebrating Christmas and eating way too much good food! Snow tubing and ice fishing, board game playing, and movie watching also rounded out our time together. Its tough to get back into the groove of things! CHA is approaching quickly, which means tons of artwork to complete. The Spellbinders Abilities and Beyond Blog Frenzy is also on its way…oooh fun stuff to share! It means that the old blog here will be a bit neglected again, but I am learning to say no, even to posting. :)
thanks for stopping by and for all of your comments, encouragement, and emails!!!
~kimberly

joy

The grand re-decoration of the “department store” tree has begun! (The name my husband has given the upper level Christmas tree.) The burlap ribbon is wonderful looking, especially for the cat who thinks it’s a treat. Yikes. :) Jingle bells have been added to the snowflakes already hanging on the tree. It still needs more, but I am enjoying the hunt. This past weekend, I knew I wanted to make some ornaments for the tree. I was inspired by last year’s Pottery Barn catalog. (You can see the projects for table décor and the original ornament I made last year on this post HERE.)

These only took a couple of hours and I made 20 of them. Here are the instructions.

1. Die cut cardstock with Spellbinders S4-172 Pinking Circles. Add Stickles to the edges. Set aside to dry.
2. Die cut cardstock with Spellbinders S4-114 Standard Circles LG.
3. Stamp Holly Leaves with black ink onto the cardstock circle.
4. Stamp Music Background with Frayed Burlap distressing Ink over the top.
5. Add Scattered Straw distressing ink to the center of the ornament, avoiding the leaves. No worries on perfection, though.:)
6. Apply Peeled Paint and Fired Brick distressing inks onto a craft mat.
7. Spritz lightly with water.
8. Using a paintbrush, paint the leaves and berries. Again, not worrying about perfection. And to add more depth, add another layer of ink, or use less water when spritzing.
9. Stamp Joy with black ink.
10. Ink edges with Frayed Burlap ink.
11. Assemble.

Sickness is still in our house. Hoping this week will mark the end for the poor little man. We have important Christmas activities to participate in! Hope you and yours are well. thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies: Stamps-Hero Arts (Music Background Cling, Get Merry, Classic Holly Cling),  Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Ranger Distressing Inks (Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap, Stickles-Ranger (StarDust), Twine-May Arts, Spellbinders-S4-172 Pinking Circles SM, S4-114 Standard Circles LG

acrylic block stamping video tutorial

Can you believe it, another post?!? :) AND another video! This card features stamping with your acrylic block (which I learned from Jennifer McGuire). Along with some great new Hero Arts stamps and My Mind’s Eye papers.

The direct link to the video, for those that need it: ACRYLIC BLOCK STAMPING

Feel free to giggle at the video a little bit. it gives you a real and honest look at the trial and error that can occur with this technique. :) I do these videos in one take, no editing, so it happens! :) thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Hero Arts (Joy Ride, Thank You For Being my Friend), Patterned paper-My Mind’s Eye (Stella and Rose-Hattie), Ink-Memento (Tuxedo Black), Ranger Distressing (Peeled Paint, Broken China), Twine-May Arts

hydrangea video tutorial

Yes, I am back! Sorry for the absence. We went away for a long weekend. And I have been buried under projects, that of course, I can’t share or tell you about yet. :) It always seems to be that way!! :)

Today I have a video tutorial for you. Remember this project from a few weeks ago? Well, I got so many emails about it, I figured I should get a video tutorial together about how to color with the Fantastix from Tsukineko. Enjoy and I hope it inspires you to give it a try! :)

Here’s a direct link for those that need it: HYDRANGEA COLORING

thanks for always stopping by!!

Supplies: Stamp-Stampendous (Jumbo Hydrangea Cling), Inks-Ranger Distressing (Tumbled Glass, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint), Memento (Tuxedo Black), Fantastix

***AND did you see I am giving away a $60 gift certificate to CSN stores? You can buy anything your little heart desires, no obligation, just follow the rules on this post HERE. What are you waiting for?!?! Its $60!!!

hydrangea frame

I am SO excited to share this project with you!! Creating home decor pieces is something that gets my mojo going, and the way this frame turned out, is exactly the reason why I get so pumped!

A close up look at the sentiment (Garden Beauty). This frame measures 12x12 and holds a 5x7 photo. To be honest, I don’t remember where I picked this up. But its a basic MDF frame from a crafting store.

A view of the flowers on the left hand side. I did mask the bottom flower off before I stamped the upper flower.

And here is the reason for my excitement…JUMBO cling stamps from Stampendous!! Oh, you should see these (click HERE, seriously)!!! Jumbo Hydrangea Cling measures over 7” tall and over 5” at its widest. The butterfly is 2 1/4” by 2 3/4”.

I actually didn’t color the flowers in for a few days. I wanted the color to be soft and very subtle, almost a water color look. After pondering for a bit, I remembered Fantastix! They are ink blending stumps from Tsukineko. The package comes with bullet (rounded) and point (like a pencil) tips.

Wanting to give the hydrangeas a realistic look, I started using a blue ink. Tumbled Glass to be more specific.

Here is a look at the petals with the blue ink.

Then I moved onto purple, but a lighter purple. I grabbed Milled Lavendar ink.

The Fantastix are easy to use. Rub the end into your ink pad and pick up some color. The rub it onto the surface you want colored. I used a circular motion because it seemed to spread the ink out evenly. You can see on a couple of petals in the above photo, where I didn’t, and the strokes stand out.

For the centers, I grabbed a deeper purple ink, Dusty Concord.

I applied the ink the exact same way, but kept the deeper purple to the centers and the shadows.

For the leaves, I used Peeled Paint.

This Fantastix is the point tip. This tip makes it easier to get into small spaces. When coloring with the green, I applied more ink to places that I wanted to have an appearance of shadows.

Here is a look at the final image, all colored. It took about 24 hours to dry. I would spray this with a matte finishing spray, to help the ink stay put, permanently.

And for those of you thinking, great technique, but I would never make a frame, I tried the same thing out on cardstock. It worked fabulously!!!

Hope this inspires you to try this technique! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps-Stampendous (Jumbo Hydrangea Cling, Garden Beauty, Sincere Sentiments), Ink-Ranger Distressing (Peeled Paint, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass), Stewart Superior Palette (Noir), Fantastix-Tsukineko