October Challenge with Visible Image

Another month has started and thus we have a new challenge over at Visible Image. The theme this month is, not surprisingly, 'GET SPOOKY!'

Well, it didn't take me long to get things going with an atmospheric scene using the castle from the Once Upon a Time set and the Large Winter Tree.

I started by stamping the castle, then masking and stamping it twice more to make the castle look much bigger. Then using a big circle cut from a sticky note (the sticky bit being used to hold the mask down) I set about creating the sky. I also kept the castles masked during this process.

Taking a piece of torn paper I used Tim Holtz Weathered wood distress ink on a stencil brush to smudge in the clouds. I kept moving the paper, sometimes brushing down from the top, sometimes brushing up from the base. The overall effect is quite dramatic and above all SPOOKY! I removed the masks and very carefully shaded the moon a little with barely a touch of Tim Holtz Scattered Straw, and I mean barely a touch! If you have remembered to keep the piece you cut the circle from you have an exactly the right size stencil to use!

I then used Peeled Paint for the grass in much the same way as for the clouds. I finished the grassy area off with some more black pen lines. I used a black fine liner pen and continued the lines from the stamp to give an horizon and to makes mounds in the grass paying attention to the darker areas.

Because the stamps are clear it was really easy to make sure I was 'planting' my trees in the right place. I didn't want the trees to look like they were floating! I wanted to have a little bit over the castle and a twig or two over the moon. Finished it all off with a few birds from the Free your Imagination set. I don't have the Edward set sadly, there are bats on there and they would have looked even better!

Sky close-up

    

Now, this second piece is a bit of a mystery to me! But then that is how my creative mind works sometimes! I have no idea what it is meant to be. The idea was more about dreams and nightmares I think, more FREAKY and SCARY than spooky with bending walls and floating skulls 

I sometimes get the urge to do something over and over again and this is how this piece started. Helen had supplied me with the Max Rocks stamp set and I used all the little companion images. I stamped onto a piece of paper I had coloured using Brushos and then bleached out certain areas. 

I won't dwell on it, I will let you decide how you feel about it. PLEASE leave a comment, either about the Wall & Skull project or the blog in general, below. I love reading your comments.

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Click HERE to find out how to enter the challenge

Click HERE to go to the Facebook group. Ask to join if you haven't already. 

Click HERE to subscribe to the Newsletter

Click HERE to go to the blog to see the other DT inspiration projects for this month. 

Click HERE to go to my KimzKrafts Facebook page

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Have a great week, hope you have been inspired to GET SPOOKY!

Kim

Monday Make with Creative Expressions

Hello Followers! This is going to be a quick blog today. If you have been following me you will know that I am on the move! Well, the time has come to pack away my craft room. Most of it has been done already but I have kept out my essential Creative Expressions stash so that I could keep blogging, but to be honest the temptation to craft is distracting me and I really do need to focus on the move now. I have one more project for Creative Expressions up my sleeve for next week but that will be it until I get to the other side and can set up my new craft space.

My project today features 2 lovely stamps from the Singles range. They are ready cut, foam mounted and good to go! One is from the Daisy Spray set, 2 lovely daisy images, and the other is part of the Best Wishes stamp. Click on the images to link to the CE details.

   

My first task was to create a background. I wanted something that looked like a distant landscape and so I inked up an acrylic block with 3 Tim Holtz distress inks. Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint. I put the yellow ink on first across the middle then the other 2 colours at either end. I gave this a quick mist with water and then stamped the block directly onto some white water colour card. This was left to dry.

I then stamped the daisy stamp with black embossing powder onto white card and then cut it out. It was a little bit fiddly but the raised embossing helped. A good tip is to colour the cut edges with an appropriate colour, avoid any pens that tend to bleed as it will spoil the image. It hides the raw uncoloured edges. A little yellow ink taken from the distress pad was used to colour the flower centre. 

The Best Wishes sentiment was stamped and embossed in black onto a piece of card coloured in the same way as before. I had a few 'not quite right' experimental pieces and you may well have a couple yourself! 

The image was mounted onto a piece of black card and that then went onto a green mount before going onto a black card base. I did stamp the green card with the leaves from the FRAME stamp plate in Peeled Paint ink but the colour was so similar to the card it only just shows. In the flesh it is more obvious, honest!

Right, sorry that is about it for today. I hope you like the project and that you give it a go yourself. I will be back next week, fingers crossed, with that last project before the move gets underway.

Kim 

Using NEW Sue Wilson Dies

Something of surprise for you today. I was asked a few weeks ago to do some projects using the NEW Sue Wilson dies and sworn to secrecy until the lady herself approved of the work. I had the 'all clear' the other day to blog about them so here it is! As it was a few weeks ago when I made them and I no longer have the projects in my possession, I am going to have to reply on memory and the photos I took to guide me through the writing! 

The projects feature the Cordoba die set from Creative Expressions, designed by Sue Wilson herself, and a stamp that works well with the die. It fits inside the die cut, and there are other stamps and dies that will work well together in this way.

   

The first project is a blue and white card where I have used the die, parts of the die and the stamp to create a multi-layered focal point. 

I started by experimenting to be honest! I made several pieces with and without embossing, with and without stamping and brought them all together with some dark blue card. Let me show you some close up shots to help you (and me!) see in more detail what I did.

  

The main whole piece was first stamped then cut and embossed. The edges were distressed and it was mounted on a piece of plain navy blue card. Using the experimental pieces, one just cut and embossed and another done the same way as the main piece, I cut them into quarters and placed them in such a way so as to give the impression that they are much bigger. This is a great way of making the dies work for you. The pieces of the die that are in the middle along the edges cover up the gaps left by the pieces placed at the corners. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Chipped Sapphire.

The centre panel with the sentiment was stamped onto the oval that pops out of the middle of the die. I used the Thank You from the A5 Frame stamp plate.

The Purple Iris card was made in much the same way, experimentation and selective cutting! I used the polka dots embossing folder to give the background a link to the dots around the border of the die. These embossed areas were highlighted with distress ink, brushing gently over the paper directly with the ink pad.  I used the Iris stamp from the same A5 Frame plate, mainly because it fitted perfectly on the oval but also because it was on my workspace! Looking closely at the picture I think I can see that the stamp was used on the piece of card which is under the die cut. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Dusty Concord.

Hope you have enjoyed this additional blog? I enjoyed making the pieces and am thrilled that Sue approved them!

Kim x

Monday Make with Creative Expressions - Scent Bottles

Good morning to you all. Welcome to my new followers and readers. Just a quick gripe before we go any further about blogger behaving badly. It seems that there is a general issue with trying to follow/join any blogs. It is not just my blog. It seems that lots of people are having this problem. We need a solution - FAST! It is ruining everyone's experience in blogland!!

AND BREATHE!

Today for my Creative Expressions® project I have used two of the very lovely scent bottle stamps along with a couple of embossing folders to create a soft, subtle card perfect for Mother's Day.

I started by stamping the bottles with white embossing powder onto some brown Kraftcard. They were cut out and then shaded with some distress ink to give them a bit of dimension.

Next I took some of the lovely Milk coloured Foundation card and ran it through my embosser with the Spellbinders M-Bossabilities folder Flora. While I was there I embossed a piece of Sand coloured Foundation card with the Dainty dots embossing folder. I cut the embossed pieces to give me 3 different sizes for layering. I took a Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy distress ink and added highlights to the embossed side of the 2 outer pieces and to the de-bossed side to the other, middle, piece as well as a brief swipe over the polka dot embossed card. 

Next step was to measure each of these embossed pieces and then cut a piece of the brown Kraftcard  just slightly larger. Using a sharp blade or the cutting edge of a pair of scissors, drag carefully along the edge so as to roughen up the edges of the Kraftcard. The trick is to make the ragged edge only just bigger than the embossed piece, it should fit fairly snugly like a frame. 

Just to add a little more interest I wrapped some cord around the panels before layering it all up! Of course it needed a sentiment to round it all off and what better than the message Pamper yourself?

So here is the 'shopping list'. Just click on the link to find out more about the product and stockists.

• Creative Expressions Singles stamp - Engraved elegance
• Creative Expressions Singles stamp - Art Deco Delight
• Spellbinders M-Bossabilities Flora embossing folder
• Spellbinders M-Bossabilities Dainty Dots embossing folder
• Foundation card in Milk and Sand
• Foundation Kraftcard
• Tim Holtz Distress ink Brushed Corduroy
• Cosmic Shimmer True White Embossing powder 
• Embossing ink
• Twine. cord or thick thread

Just need to remind you of the BIG STAMP & SCRAPBOOKING SHOW event.

Click on the link at the top of the page

 to book your tickets in advance to get a discount on the box office prices. 

OR 

you can also call on 01536 481778

Thanks for dropping by, hope it was fun for you reading about my project? It was fun for me making it and writing about it. Leaving a comment before you go would be nice and it means so much to me knowing what you think.

Happy Monday! Kim 

Something Clean and Simple with Creative Expressions

Oh Hello! Nice to see you again! And welcome to all my new followers!! Here we are with my second project for Creative Expressions. This week I have created a couple of cards using 2 of the Singles stamps, Thank You and Get Well Soon. I used the Thank You stamp last week on the Treasure Chest to make a chunky black cartouche but this week I have used it, and the 'partner' stamp in a classic way .. .. .. .. .. .. as a stamp!

I am not know for my use of pure white card. I am quite a messy crafter and so my grubby mitts and white card are not the best of friends! With these 2 cards I wanted to emphasize the clean, crisp design of the stamps. The deep cut rubber gives a great impression time after time, but I didn't want to use black ink. The style of the stamps suggested sophistication to me so I was drawn to the regal colours of navy and purple. I used Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire.

With both images I used a moist brush to draw the ink from the stamped lines to colour parts of the image. For the Thank You card I drew the colour into the petals to emphasize the flowers but with the Get Well Soon card I kept the design white and coloured the background area. The blue Thank You card has a look of Delft about it don't you think? 

Sometimes clean and simple is enough. There is a certain elegance about crisp white with a dark colour stamped image. One thing is for sure, I have created a project that is quick, elegant and easy to make. Quite a contrast from the Treasure Chest of last week. You see what I mean when I say I shoot off in a different direction!! 

I hope you have enjoyed this project? The stamps I used are here, (click to link)

                 

Don't forget it is The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show in a few weeks time, get your advance tickets by following the link 'up there', top right on the side bar.

It would be great to hear what you think by leaving a comment below. See you next week!

Kim xxx

Sneaky Peek #4 - Sheena Douglass - New Stamps

First thing I had to do was decide which of my samples I was going to show you today, that took longer than I expected because I want to show you so many but as it is only 24 hours away from 'Show Time' you wont have to wait long to see all the wonderful samples me and my fellow Inkoids have made for this launch. Details of the show times are 10am and 4pm on Create and Craft TV, which is channel 671 on SKY. Check HERE for other providers.

The sample for today is quite a contrast to the previous two I have shown you. I think this colour scheme is perfect for that sun bleached, salt washed, weathered look. Might have said that before in my first Sneaky Peek, but it is true!!

I was initially worried that the images were going to be too different in size for this to work in the layout I had planned but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the angelfish, starfish and the seahorse were pretty identical in height and that the starfish and seahorse were good width wise also. It made the layout so easy and I think the final card has a pleasing look to it with just the right amount of 'white space' on the 3 images.

I mentioned in a previous blog that while waiting for the stamps to arrive I had created some backgrounds in the hope of getting ahead. This is another one of those backgrounds. I wanted to go for the ditsy-print background, and so I used the little shell stamps from the previous launch. I stamped then swept over the whole thing with water to try and get a soft, water colour, run ever so slightly look to the background. It worked just enough to fuzz the edges of the images up a little and I used this same technique on the main images. Once the outlines had dried on the main images I added more colour by taking ink direct from the ink pad with a brush. 

My Ingredients are

• Tim Holtz Distress ink - Weathered Wood
• Cream water colour card
• Navy card
• Strip of corrugated paper
• Sentiment from Ancient Arches - available HERE
• And my mystery ingredient, that stringy, woven material. If you can guess EXACTLY what it is then I will award you a gold star!!

Have a great day, and don't forget to settle down with your cuppa and, yes, go on, put your feet on that coffee table, relax and watch Sheena weave her magic.

Kim xx