Time's a Dragon Without You

 
I'm squeaking in at the last minute with a mini card for the latest Lawnscaping Challenge to Sparkle It Up.  I don't know how I missed it before, because I love any excuse to add sparkle to my creations!  I colored this adorable dragon from Critters Ever After by Lawn Fawn over a month ago and it's been sitting on my desk ever since.
 

For the challenge, I added silver Wink of Stella to the dragon's horns and clear Wink of Stella to the wings.  I cut a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock using the Stitched Hillside Borders dies by Lawn Fawn and covered it with Brushed Corduroy Distress Stickles.  It simulates the texture of dirt with some extra sparkle, grounding the dragon perfectly.  Love it!

 

As you can see, I was rapidly running out of daylight while taking these pictures.  (Stickles can take a while to dry.)  I snapped a couple of photos inside trying to capture the sparkle.  Hopefully you can see it in the close-up shot.

 

My son and daughter got a kick out of the sentiment!  It's from Dexter the Dragon by Kraftin' Kimmie.  I may slip this little card into my husband's suitcase the next time he takes a business trip.  I'm glad I finally got this cute dragon off my desk and onto a card.   He makes me smile!

Stamps:  Critters Ever After (Lawn Fawn); Dexter the Dragon (Kraftin' Kimmie)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  White, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Regals Collection Pattern Stack dsp (Stampin' Up)
Copic:  G28, G40, G43, G46, E42, E44, N0, N2, N4
Misc:  Envie die (Avery Elle); Stitched Hillside Border die (Lawn Fawn); clear and silver Wink of Stella pens; Brushed Corduroy Distress Stickles

You are Faboolous

I'm excited to be part of the first ever Krafty Friends Blog Hop featuring Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps' Krafty Friends!  The blog hop is filled with creations by customers, design team members, and friends of KKS.  I'm a big fan of their Moonlight Whispers line that is designed by Annie Rodrigue and have quite a few of those images.  I chose Horace, a deliciously ghosty character, for my blog hop card.

In keeping with his ghostly ambience, I colored Horace in shades of gray with Copic markers.  I only have a few gray markers, so I used three different gray color families:  neutrals for the body, toners for the vest and hat, and warms for the pocket watch, belt, and hat band.  It was quite fun to stick to such a monochromatic color scheme.   I used a cool gray to lightly shade around the entire image.  (difficult to see in the photo)  Once I finished the coloring, I added clear Wink of Stella over his body for a delightfully spooky shimmer. (also difficult to see)

It was overcast outside when I took pictures of my card, so I tried to get a shot under a lamp so you can see the sparkle.  Click on the closeup picture to see it better.  It's subtle, but it looks really cool in person!  Almost otherworldly.   :)

I used an old Sweet Sunday sketch, #227, for my layout.  I really liked the three diagonal strips.  The patterned papers are from the Neutrals Collection Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack by Stampin' Up, along with Basic Gray cardstock for mats.  I popped up the main panel, added three neutral Candy Dots in the corner, and mounted everything on a white card base.

I don't make monochromatic cards often, but I love how this one turned out!  The sentiment is from the Ghoulfriends stamp set by Paper Smooches.  Absolutely perfect!  Horace has just the dashing (and ghostly) personality to say it.  I look forward to the right occasion to send out this card.

Feel free to start the hop from the beginning at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog, then hop around and check out all the fabulous designs. Be sure to leave a comment at each stop because there will be prizes and giveaways to some random commenters!

Not only can you comment to win, we'd love to have you JOIN the blog hop by posting your own design.  Just post a new creation featuring a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp and link it up to the main blog post.  You'll not only be a part of this fun hop, but you'll be entered to WIN more goodies! You have until February 28th.

Stamps:  Horace (Kraftin' Kimmie); Ghoulfriends (Paper Smooches)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  White (Papertrey Ink); Basic Gray, Neutrals Collection DSP Patterns Stack (Stampin' Up)
Copic:  0, C1, N0, N2, N4, T1, T4, T6, W1, W3, W5
Misc:  Neutrals Candy Dots (Stampn' Up); clear Wink of Stella pen; foam tape

Unfrogettable

I made another card for the challenges at the Kraftin' Kimmie Krafty Friends group, this time using sketch #5 and the extra option to decorate the inside.

I adore this sassy girl with the frog on her head.  I colored her with Copic markers and then carefully cut her out.  In the close-up pic below, you can see the tiny white polka dots I added to her yellow dress with a white gel pen.  I used Wink of Stella on the barrettes in her hair.  The frog was also colored and cut out.  I used a colorless blender to create a mottled effect on his body.

I cut my hillside from a fun polka dot patterned paper using a Stitched Borders 1 die by Pretty Pink Posh.  I did the same thing for the inside, but cut it on a different angle.  The grass tufts were cut using the Grassy Edges dies by My Favorite Things.  I just cut it into smaller pieces.

The Soft Sky background was embossed using the Swirls folder by Tim Holtz.  I selectively stamped just one word of the sentiment from Unfrogettable by Stampin' Up on a skinny white strip of cardstock and then flagged the end using a square punch.  Inside the card, I stamped the whole sentiment just above the hillside.

I colored and cut out the frog from the top of the girl's head to use inside the card.  His expression is very mischievous, don't you think?  I really love how this card turned out.  I stayed pretty close to the sketch, just adapting a couple of things to fit my vision.  This girl has some spunk and is completely unfrogettable!  lol

Stamps:  Lilith (Kraftin' Kimmie); Unfrogettable (Stampin' Up)

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  White (Papertrey Ink); Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Regals Collection DSP Patterns Stack (Stampin' Up)

Copic:  0, C1, E00, E30, E42, E55, E57, E59, R20, B91, B95, B97, B99, Y00, Y02, Y06, YG93, YG95, YG97

Misc:  Grassy Edges die (My Favorite Things); Stitched Borders 1 die (Pretty Pink Posh), white gel pen, 1/2" square punch (EK Success); Swirls embossing folder (Tim Holtz); clear Wink of Stella pen

Miss You

The Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Krafty Friends group over on Facebook is celebrating its 2000 member milestone with six sketch challenges.  This is my card for the first sketch.  Distressing was an optional element, but of course I forgot to do it before gluing everything together.  Oops!  I was not about to tear it apart or start over.  :)

I started by choosing this pretty floral paper from the Sweet Sorbet pack by Stampin' Up.  When glancing through my inventory book, I decided that this Sakura stamp by Kraftin' Kimmie was a perfect match.  From there, I picked my colors of white, black, and Pool Party cardstock.  I used a couple of Blueprints 1 dies for my layers.

I colored the girl with Copic markers, choosing colors to coordinate with my decorative paper.  I tried to give the effect of gold accessories by adding some shimmery Wink of Stella over the golden-yellow color.  I also used a small die from Blueprints 7 with Sun Shimmer paper for the little tab.  (note to self...get some gold metallic paper!)  There's also a bit of shimmer on her eyelids.  You can see it all better in this close-up shot.

So yet again, I have used some untouched stuff for this card.  Yay me!  I have all the oriental girls from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp's Moonlight Whispers line, but this is the first time one has seen ink.  I also used a tiny sentiment from Pretty Poppies by My Favorite Things.

I had an interesting conversation with my teenage son last night.  He asked if it was hard to cut into patterned papers since once they were gone, there wouldn't be any more.  I simply pointed out my shelf of hoarded paper packs.  Need I say more?  lol  But I also added that they don't do me any good sitting there and gathering dust, and I was trying to use the stuff I have.  I'm getting better at it!  So I finally cut into my pretty shimmer cardstock.  (gulp)  Of course, in the process of making this card, I added several things to my wishlist - a few additional Copic marker colors and a gold Wink of Stella pen.  It never ends!  :)

Stamps:  Sakura (Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps); Pretty Poppies (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper:  White, True Black, Sun Shimmer (Papertrey Ink); Pool Party, Sweet Sorbet dsp (Stampin' Up) 
Copic:  0, C1, T1, T4, T6, E00, E30, E42, R20, Y02, Y06, BG11, BG13, BG15
Misc:  Blueprints 1 dies, Blueprints 7 die (My Favorite Things); clear Wink of Stella pen 

I'm Mad About You

I was looking at Seize the Sketch #11 (found here) and thinking over what Kraftin' Kimmie stamp to use since they are the sponsor this time.  I didn't really want to color, because my colorless blender marker is dry, when all of a sudden, this crazy idea flashed in my head.  I chose a black and white color scheme with just a few splashes of red, plus a rather tongue-in-cheek sentiment.

My daughter laughed when she saw it.  It makes me smile too.  :)  "We're all mad here," to quote the infamous Cheshire Cat.  I love the Alice in Wonderland series of stamps at Kraftin' Kimmie!  I didn't have anything close to this sentiment in my stamps, so I printed one off using the computer.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to carefully stamp the Cheshire Cat so it would look as if he was sitting on the flag banner.  I cut/embossed several hearts using Pure Poppy cardstock and my Fashionable Hearts Embosslits.  I love the cute patterns it gives the hearts.

Inside the card, I adhered a white panel for writing a message (black is a little dark for that) and added two more hearts. 

Because the card is so understated, the red really pops, which was my intent.  It's very different than the other love cards I've been making and I love its quirky madness.   :)

Stamps:  The Cheshire Cat (Kraftin' Kimmie)
Paper:  White, True Black, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Misc:  Fishtail Flags STAX, Fishtail Flags Layers STAX dies (My Favorite Things); Fashionable Hearts Embosslits (Stampin' Up); corner chomper (Crop-a-Dile)

Happy Birthday

Here's a card for the September SFYTT sketch challenge.  (photo linked below)  This month's sponsor is Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps and I really love their Moonlight Whispers line.  Since my youngest daughter's birthday was this past Sunday, I used this cute Francesca image holding a stack of cupcakes to make a card for her.

Pink.  Lots of pink.  Her favorite color, of course.   :)   She loves the card and that's really all that matters.  The colors match much better than the picture shows.  It's pretty cute in person!

I raided my paper scraps and found the scalloped vellum piece, strip of lighter pink, and the two pieces of Razzleberry Lemonade paper.  Very convenient!  I kept it simple with very little layering.  Francesca was colored with Copic markers, cut out, and then mounted on an embossed white Labels Eight die cut using pop-dots.  It's difficult to see, but I filled in the cupcake sprinkles with a glitter gel pen for some sparkle.  I stamped the background with a cupcake using a VersaMark inkpad to fill in the empty space.  Then I just stamped the sentiment over top.

Stamps:  Francesca (Kraftin' Kimmie); Eat Cake (Stampin' Up)
Paper:  White, Hibiscus Burst, Vellum (Papertrey Ink); Melon Mambo, Razzleberry Lemonade (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Copic:  0, C1, T1, E000, E00, E30, E42, E55, E57, E59, R20, RV13, RV17, Y15, YG25, B41, B91, B95, B97
Misc:  Polka Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Labels Eight die (Spellbinders); Scallop border punch (Stampin' Up); glitter gel pen, pop-dots

December SFYTT sketch challenge

Woohoo! I achieved my goal of participating in the SFYTT sketch challenge every month this year. It certainly helped to get me stamping more regularly, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do it. This month there is no set sponsor, so I chose to use one of my Kraftin' Kimmie girls again. Posy and Piper were the first ones I purchased, and since I already used Posy in an earlier post, I pulled out Piper for this card. Isn't she adorable?

I stuck pretty close to the sketch, other than replacing the circle with a snowflake. I glittered the edges which turned out much thicker than I intended. The shape looks a little distorted. If I do it again, I'll use a glue pen instead to get a thinner line. Either that or cover the whole snowflake with glitter. I also wish I had used the more circular snowflake in the Damask Snowflake die set for better balance. Other than those small things, I think the card still turned out cute!

Here are my posts for the previous month's sketches:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

I will post this year's Christmas card soon. I'm still searching for some elusive addresses!

Stamps: Piper (Kraftin' Kimmie); Winter Mittens (Verve); The Snowflake Spot (Stampin' Up)
Paper: White, Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink); VersaMark
Copic: 0 Colorless Blender, T1, T4, E000, E00, E30, R20, E55, E57, E59, B91, B95, B97, B99
Misc: white embossing powder (Filigree); Blue Topaz glitter (Martha Stewart)

Posy girl

I whipped up a sweet little card with this month's SFYTT sketch using one of my Kraftin' Kimmie girls. I wasn't sure what to do the the angled block at first! I adapted the narrow strip into a second layer of green that was punched with a grass border to add a little dimension. The cloud paper is from a digital kit. I don't have time to hunt it down right now, but I'll add the info later. I also don't know the cardstock colors offhand, since I grabbed from my stash of scraps.


Stamps: Posy (Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Archaic (Basic Grey); White (Papertrey Ink); other colors unknown
Copic: E000, E00, E30, E42, E55, E57, E59, R20, B91, B95, B97, R22, R24, R29, YG11, YG13, YG1, 0 Colorless Blender
Misc: Grass punch (Martha Stewart); Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)