Tranquil Moments

I love the look of monochromatic cards - I’m not sure what it is about them that draw in my eye. Today’s card is in my favorite monochromatic color - Brown and I used the Faux Dry Embossing technique.

Tranquil Moments:

Close Up:

The Canvas Background and Tranquil (birds) are new releases from Innovative Stamp Creations. This is also my first time using my new Nestabilities - Labels One.

Take time to enjoy the moments of the season!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Tranquil, Canvas Background, Be Thankful
Paper - (SU) Kraft, Choc Chip
Ink - (all SU) Whisper White Craft Ink, Close to Cocoa, Choc Chip
Other - Labels One Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Buttons, Linen Thread (SU), Stamp-a-ma-jig

Winter Birds

Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas is over for 2008 - sighhhhh… I loved looking at these tags each day and thinking - WOW! I didn’t know you could do that!

Today’s card uses several of those WOW moments for me specifically:
Distressed Metallic Crackle Paint and Alcohol Inks (Tag 8)
Ink, Spray, Brayer background (Tag 11)
Frosty Edges with Acrylic Paints (Tag 9)

Winter Birds (these were stamped on plain grungeboard):

Close up of the crackle:

Run, don’t walk, and get yourself some of this Distress Metallic Crackle Paint - it’s just soooo yummy!!! It’s thinner than the other distress crackle paints and it takes longer to dry but the results are so worth it!

Detail of the Snowflake:

The images used on this card are a new stamp release from Innovative Stamp Creations on Dec 15th.

Hope you are ready for the holidays and are spending some time creating memories!
KAT

The stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Tranquil, Photo Negatives
Ink - VersaMark; Weathered Wood, Broken China, Old Paper, Walnut Stain (Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger)
Paper - (all SU) Very Vanilla, Choc Chip, Cool Caribbean
Other - Plain Grungeboard (Tim Holtz Idea-ology); Antique Bronze, Brushed Pewter, Tarnished Brass (Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint); Stonewashed, Raison, Lettuce (Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks - Ranger), Punches, Snow Glitter (Martha Stewart); Snowflake (cuttlebug), iridescent Ice (SU) Seafoam White EP (Ranger)

Where Have I Been and a Challenge

Where have I been? It’s that time of year ladies and I, as I am sure a lot of you, have been busy with Thanksgiving and then Christmas preparation. I do think I will bore all of you with decoration pics later in the week because… I love Christmas!!!

Today card is for Innovative Stamp Creations Challenge 21 (ISCC21) - use Tim Holtz fragments as your focal image. If you don’t have fragments substitute with acetate and remember to use ISC images. For more info on the challenge visit the ISC blog - we can’t wait to see what you create!

Here’s Mine - Tranquility:


This is a Sneak Peak of a new image sheet from ISC being released on 12/15 - don’t you just love birds and silhouettes!!!

The idea for this card is from Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas. I used the same basic technique and changed it into a card - here’s a link to Tim’s.

I hope you are taking time to enjoy the season!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Tranquil, Photo Negative, Canvas Background
Paper - (all SU) White, Ruby Red, Choc Chip
Ink - (all SU) Ruby Red, Choc Chip, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Baja Breeze
Other - Fragments (Tim Holtz, idea-ology)

Enabler Alert

Two posts in one day! Please scroll down to see the ISC challenge.

I wanted to share a sale with you at Innovative Stamp Creations - use KAT (yes my initials) in the comment field when you place your order and you will receive 10% off your entire order. This discount code is good until Nov 27th.

Isn’t now the time to shop for you - oh, ummmm, really - your family and friends. There are many of my favorite stamp sheets, Grungeboard (plain, yes get the plain), Tim’s idea-ology hardware - go check out the website and be inspired!

Happy Creating!
KAT

Family Memories

It’s that time of week again - Time for another challenge from Innovative Stamp Creations. This week get make a holiday gift before the December rush - make a Micro Holiday Album and use some type of clear pockets similar to these in the inside of your album (think picture pockets cut up, clear envelopes….).

I made mine to feature family members including Grandmother, Mom, Aunt and Sister.

Family Memories - Cover:

Inside pages:
The cover is made from plain Grungeboard (okay - I could not help myself) and the inside pages are these great vinyl mini pockets that I put tags and a clear tag into (I could not get a great picture of the clear tag - my camera did not want to focus on it - sorry).

Challenge Details:
Make a Micro Album using only ISC images and some type of clear pocket as your inside pages. You will be entered to win a free ISC Christmas sheet of your choice and 2 packages of the clear sleeves. Get creative - you have until Sunday Dec 7th to complete and upload. See additional details at the ISC blog.

Happy Creating and Thanks for the Visit!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps (all from Innovative Stamp Creations) Christmas Trinkets, Christmas Elements, Minibook Series - Be Thankful, Flair of Summer
Paper - FaLaLa (Making Memories)
Ink - Stazon; Black, Distress and Alcohol Inks (Ranger)
Other - Philosophy Tags, Plain Grungeboard (Tim Holtz - Idea-ology)

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Here in NE Ohio all the leaves have pretty much spent their color and fallen to the ground - we look like winter. But I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the beauty of fall…

Celebrate Thanksgiving:

I created a Thanksgiving card and coordinating napkin ring for this weeks Innovative Stamp Creations Crackle Challenge. My original plan was to create the card, but as I was making the bow I thought this would be a beautiful napkin ring - so off I went.

I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on the background leaves - love the way it adds texture to the project. The background leaves were created by stamping the leave images on the back of thin chipboard (you could actually use an old cereal box). I only have two colors of crackle paint (sniff, sniff - I know it’s sad) so I made do with what I have. The leaves were painted in Antique Linen paint and after they dried I sponged on Peeled Paint, Dried Marigold and Brick Red Distress Inks.

The focal leave was created by marker water coloring and then I added three layers of UTEE. The background color was created using the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique.

More about the challenge - Get out your Crackle paint and create something using only ISC images and you will be entered to win an ISC stamp sheet of your choice and a Tim Holtz Crackle paint. Don’t have any Crackle paint - don’t worry - create a project using the crackled glass technique. You have until November 23rd to join us. For more information visit the ISC blog.

Thanks for visiting!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Autumn Leaves, Collage of Leaves
Paper - (all SU) White, Choc Chip, Old Olive
Ink - More Mustard, Choc Chip (SU); Dried Marigold, Fired Brick, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint (Distress Ink Ranger), Timber Brown Stazon
Other -Antique Linen Crackle Paint (Tim Holtz - Ranger), Thin Chipboard, button, organdy ribbon, copper brads, thread, UTEE (Ranger), SU markers, watercolor pen

What's a Bird TO DO

Grungeboard - I LOVE IT!!! It is so versatile you can mold it, cut it, paint it, ink it, emboss it, sand it, stamp it, punch it, sew it, Cuttlebug it (both cutting and embossing) - Oh the possibilities!!!

Since I am a Grunge junkie I was ecstatic that the Innovative Stamp Creations challenge this week is to make a Grungeboard minibook! And since I am fresh from my Tim Holtz classes I wanted to put some of my new knowledge and supplies to work (maybe I overdid it but a girl has to play)!

What’s a Bird TO DO:

This is the front cover of my To Do book. I am a list person - probably from when I was a career person - with a 1,000 things happening a day you had to keep an organized To Do list. Now I can keep a pretty list!

Back of the Book:

Let’s see… what to tell you about? The book cover/back were made from plain Grungeboard - I traced around another album that I liked the shape of and just cut it out (cut it - check). The bird was stamped on the reverse side, cut and covered with Crackle paint (paint it - check). The hinge and bracket were painted with Copper dabber, sanded, then antiqued with Black Soot (sand it - check). The closure was created with another hinge (see additional photos below) with a hole punched from Crop-A-Dyl and closed over a Hitch Fastener (mold it, punch it - check). The butterfly on the back was covered with Distress Stickles - yes they really look like glass when they dry - fabulous!!!

The book closure was a neat trick that I picked up at Tim’s classes. Below are some additional photos for you. Primarily you punch a hole in the hinge with you crop-a-dyl and then cut a little slit.

So if you stuck with me this far it’s pretty obvious that Grungeboard is one of my favorite products! I started with a love of the Elements sets and ended up with my favorite being the Plain Grunge Sheets. As Tim would say - Think of the Possibilities!

Now on to the Challenge from Innovative Stamp Creations:
Create a minibook using only ISC images (you don’t need to create the entire book from Grunge like I did - you can decorate a book with your Grunge) and you will be entered to win the Photo Negative Stamp Sheet/1 Pkg Grungeboard Basic Sheets of our choice… This is an excellent prize!!! Enter by Sunday November 16th! Visit the ISC Blog for more info. We can’t wait to see what you create!!!

As always - Thanks for the Visit!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Mini Book - Photo Negative, Art 4 Frames (bird)
Paper - NONE
Ink - Jet Black Archival (Ranger); Black Soot, Broken China, Tea Dye, Dried Marigold, Shabby Shutters (Tim Holtz Distress Ink Ranger)
Other - Plain Grungeboard, Harlequin Elements, Mini Elements, Game Spinners, Sprocket Gears, Hitch Fasteners, Long Fasteners (idea-ology Tim Holtz); Copper Dabber, Distress Crackle Paint (Tim Holtz Ranger); Peeled Paint, Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles

Happy Halloween!

Today is the day that things go bump in the night!

For me, it’s a fun holiday that marks the beginning of my favorite holiday - Christmas. As soon as Halloween is over I think it’s fair game to make holiday gifts, shop, bake and decorate for Christmas.

I play a card game called Rage once a month with a group of women that I’ve know forever. The winner gets a prize and then has to bring the prize for the next month. I created a basket that was Frightfully sweet. The basked had a cool artificial pumpkin that lit up, fall salt and pepper shaker and some Halloween candy. I made a tag, altered a candy container and a pin.

Halloween Tag (background is Wrinkle Free Distress Technique, tree colored via watercolor markers):

Dimension of the Grungeboard bats:

Altered Candy bottle:

Pin - inspired by the Shrink Mosaics Tim Holtz class (more on this in another post):

Tag on the package:

Overall package (I love to make pretty gifts!)

I hope you have a spook-tacular day! (or at least eat some two week old Halloween peeps - they are my favorite - once they get nice and chewy)
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Eclectic Collage (Tim Holtz), Tree, Bat (Stamps by Judith); Happy Halloween (Inkadinkado)
Paper - office tag, scrap of white
Ink - Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Dried Marigold (Distress Ink Ranger); Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger); Silver (Brillance), black stazon
Other - Close to Cocoa, Choc Chip Markers (SU); water brush, water mister, distressor (Heidi Swapp), plain grungeboard (Tim Holtz - idea-ology)

Winter Comfort

I originally planned to upload something Halloween related today -but - since I woke up to snow on the ground I thought I would share this card:

Winter Comfort:

I really like the blue and brown colors together - I’m not so sure about the layout. You picture something else in your mind and then what you are creating takes on a mind of it’s own. The felt snowflakes were white - I sponged on some Close to Cocoa ink and added some stickles so that my dirty snowflakes would have some sparkle.

Thanks for the visit!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Christmas Trinkets (Innovative Stamp Creations)
Paper - Fruitcake (Basic Grey), Close to Cocoa (SU)
Ink - Close to Cocoa (wow - a card with only one ink - this has to be a first for me)
Other - Build a Brad (SU), Felt Snowflake (unknown), Crystal and Cinnamon Stickles (Ranger)

Christmas Poinsettia

Yes, can you believe it, it’s less than two months until Christmas? Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love to decorate my house - I’ll share my trees as they go up. I plan on putting up my first two trees by the middle of November - yes, I know, it’s a sickness!

So I thought I would share two Christmas projects with you today - a card and an ornament.

Christmas Poinsettia:



I think the Poinsettia image is great and looks nice as both a card and an ornament. Techniques used are paper tole, embossing and wrinkle free distressing.

I have a Tim Holtz inspired technique to share with you tomorrow!

Happy Creating!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Christmas Trinkets (Innovative Stamp Creations)
Paper - FaLaLa (Making Memories); White, Kiwi, Cranberry Crisp (SU)
Ink - VersaMark; Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain (Distress - Ranger); Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, Mellow Moss (SU)
Other - Memory Frames (Ranger - available at ISC), Long Rectangle Megabilities (Spellbinders), Clear EP, Cinnamon Stickles (Ranger)