An "Out Of My Comfort Zone" Trio

Hi folks, I'm back to share another 3 cards made with the gorgeous Sketched Flowers stamp set from the Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit. The kit has sold out and the stamp set is currently out of stock but if you click on the "Notify Me When Back In Stock" button HERE, Simon Says will be in touch when it is available.
I decided to step right out of my comfort zone (colouring expert I am not) and have a little playtime. The challenge I set myself was to make 3 cards using the same section of the stamp, inked with 3 different inks, stamped on to 3 different surfaces and coloured with different mediums using a limited palette of 3 colours. So here's how it went...

I trimmed from L to R Strathmore Bristol Smooth Card, Neenah Desert Storm and Distress Watercolor Card to 4.1/4" x 5.1/2" and stamped the image with Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark heat embossed with Ranger Superfine White Detail Powder and Antique Linen Distress Ink. I stamped the sentiment on all three with Versafine Onyx Black.

I coloured the image on the Strathmore Bristol Smooth card using 3 shades of Brown Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, scribbled the darkest marker on to my glass mat and added water to create splatters.

 I added dots and highlights with Sakura White and Black Gelly Roll Pens

I used 3 shades of Brown Arteza Color Pencils and the White pencil to create highlights on the Neenah Desert Storm card

 and added white dots with a Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen

 I used Watercolor paints on the Distress Watercolor card, my attempt at no line watercoloring 

which I have to admit did not turn out as well as I hoped but hey you know me, I'm a warts and all kind of person, so I'm sharing my mega fail with you all. Life is a journey, a constant learning curve so if at first you don't succeed, don't give up. The lesson I've learned from this particular adventure is...I need to keep on practising, I also need to invest in some good quality proper watercolor paint brushes and at the end of the day, one small piece of Distress Watercolor card and 30 minutes of my time isn't a big deal and two out of three ain't bad.

I die-cut the panels with Simon Says Stamp Wonky Rectangles Die and matted them on to A2 White Card Blanks.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend and I'll see you all tomorrow with my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. You still have time to join in this week's Monochrome Challenge with the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Neat And Tangled Guest Designer - Week 3

Hi folks, it's Friday and that means it's the final week of my Guest Designer Spot over at the Neat And Tangled Blog. I would like to say a huge thank you to Danielle and Miriam from Neat And Tangled for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to play with their fabulous products and all of you for your lovely comments on my projects.
For my last project, I made a Shaker card using the Neat and Tangled Triangle Pattern Builder stamp set and matching set of Nice and Neat dies.

I'm sharing a step-by step tutorial over on the Neat And Tangled Blog and thanks to the generosity of the lovely Danielle and Miriam at Neat And Tangled, a discount code below that you can use to get 10% off your purchase.

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll see you on Monday with my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Don't forget that you still have time to join in with this week's  Challenge with a chance to win a $50 shopping voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp.

Hugs Kath xxx

Simon Says October Card Kit Trio...

Hi folks...yesterday was one of those happy mail days when the postie came-a-knocking with lots of new goodies to play with and ta..da...the Tim Holtz Christmas stamps and stencils are in the house, along with a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp next release on 19th October, a huge bundle of stamps and stencils for an exciting new fun adventure and last but not least, woohoo...Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit.

With only an hour to go before preparing supper, it was time to get cracking and have a play with the gorgeous Sketched Flowers stamp set, Alcohol Inks and Lift Ink that came in this amazing kit. Woohoo, before you know, I have 3 backgrounds ready to be made into cards.

No surprise that this amazing kit and the Sketched Flowers stamp set have both sold out but if you want the stamp set, click on the Notify Me When Back In Stock button HERE and Simon Says will get in touch when it is available.

I trimmed the Yupo paper from the kit to measure 4" x 5.1/4" and stamped the large Sketched Flowers image with SSS Intense Black ink, sprinkled with Ranger Superfine Clear Embossing Powder and heat set. I got my heat tool good and hot and kept it moving to prevent the Yupo Paper warping. I added drops of Alcohol Ink along with a few drops of blending solution on to my glass mat, painted the image with a small paint brush and flicked the ink left on the glass mat on to the background. I sprayed some rubbing alcohol on to my glass mat and flicked it on to the image, the rubbing alcohol will remove the alcohol ink, leaving a spotted effect.

I stamped the sentiment with SSS Intense Black Ink and heat embossed as before. I matted the panel on to SSS black card and fixed to an A2 white card blank

For the second card I fixed a felt pad to a mini round blending tool, added drops of Stream and Sunshine Yellow Alcohol Inks and a few drops of blending solution. I swiped the ink across the Yupo Paper until I was happy with the background.

I stamped the large Sketched Flowers image inked with Alcohol Lift Ink, dabbed the image repeatedly with a paper towel, using a clean section of the towel each time until all the ink had been removed and buffed with a soft cloth. I added drops of rubbing alcohol to the background with the tip of a small paintbrush, dabbing it quickly with a paper towel before the drops got too big, added dots using a Sakura Black Gelly Roll Pen. 

I stamped the sentiment with SSS Intense Black ink and heat embossed as before with Ranger Superfine Clear Embossing Powder. I matted the panel on to an A2 side folding card, trimmed and scored from the SSS Peacock card that came in the kit.

Card No 3 which I think is my favourite

I added drops of Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution to my glass mat, dragged the Yupo Paper through the ink and then tapped the paper on the inks, to pick up the remaining drops, similiar to the technique we use with Distress Oxides

 I stamped the image with Alcohol Lift Ink, removing the ink the image as before and stamped the sentiment with SSS Intense Black, heat embossed as before and added SSS Summer Gold Sequins. I matted the panel on to an A2 card blank created from the SSS Burnt Orange card included in the kit.

I'll be back later with my last Guest Designer project for the Neat And Tangled Blog.

Toodle-oo-for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Trick or Treating With The Ghouls

Hi folks, September seems to have flown by and suddenly October beckons. The month when the clocks change, the days get shorter and it's pitch dark by late afternoon. The month when we celebrate Halloween, the ghosts and ghouls come out to play and the kids go trick or treating. The month when I enjoy making spooky cards for the younger members of the family starting off with Mr and Mrs Ghoul and their scary black cat on a brave trick or treat adventure to the scary Haunted House where the wicked witch lives.

I trimmed Distress Watercolor card to measure 5" x 7" and stamped the owl image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Mr Bones and the house from Haunted House with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink, sprinkled with Ranger Superfine Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

I applied Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks using mini round blending tools

I stamped the Ornate background from Tim Holt/Stampers Anonymous Ornate and Lace randomly on the background with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink.

I cut a circle mask to cover the owl image and stamped the branch from Mr Bones with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink

but I wasn't happy with the owl image, so I stamped it again with Black Soot Distress Oxide on to Distress Watercolour card, coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide, heat set with clear embossing powder, fussy cut and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte.

I added Idea-ology Mummy Cloth and Halloween fringe to the bottom of the card and the skeletons from Tim Holtz/Sizzix Ghoulish and the cat from Witchcraft die cut from white card and Classic Kraft Stock.

I added machine stitching

and stars die cut using Witchcraft Thinlits from scrap card coloured with Spiced Marmalde Distress Oxide.

I stamped a balloon, bow tie and pumpkins from Tim Holt/Stampers Anonymous Crazy Things on to card coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide and die cut using the matching Framelits.

I used a Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen to add highlights to the house, pumpkins and cat's eye, added Idea-ology Halloween Clippings Stickers and matted the panel on to a 5.1/2" x 7/1.2" panel of Black Classic Kraft Stock, sanded to reveal the core which I then fixed to a white card blank.

I'll be back tomorrow to share my last Guest Designer project for Neat and Tangled, in the meantime, have fun whatever you have planned for today.

Toodle-oo for now
Hugs Kath xxx

R.I.P. Mr Undertaker

Hi folks, today I'm sharing my fun adventure decorating an Etcetera Tombstone Tag. Not only did I end up with hands that were every bit as textured as the tombstone requiring a hose down, a hot shower and a major session with the scrubbie, it turned out to be one of those "fools rush in" kind of projects. I'm a great believer that any task is made easier with a little bit of forward thinking and planning which on this occasion I chose to ignore, so there were quite a few hiccups and hurdles to overcome along the way but I got there in the end.

I started off by applying Distress Grit Paste to the top and bottom overlay sections and while they were still wet, I pressed a Tim Holtz/Sizzix 3D Impresslits Medallion into the top section

and letters and numbers die cut using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Alphanumeric Thinlits into the bottom section. Any random old date was my thought at this stage but you will see later on that I should have given it more thought because the gentleman in question (Edgar Allan Poe I believe) certainly isn't dressed in 14th Century attire.

I attached the overlays to the tag with Distress Collage Medium Matte and applied Grit Paste to the middle section. Then the marathon began to transform this ghostly tombstone into something that wouldn't look out of place in an ancient graveyard. I mixed Black and White Gesso to create a dark shade of grey and applied all over the tag scrubbing the paint down into the detail and oh boy was there a lot of detail.

Then I applied layer after layer of drybrushing, lightening the gesso with more white each time and lastly drybrushing randomly and very lightly with Peeled Paint

I fixed a Baseboard Frame which I had coated lightly with Grit Paste, painted with gesso, sanded and drybrushed to a crunched up and distressed "perfect Undertaker" photo from Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera.

At this point I had another "should have planned this out" moment and decided that I wanted to use the bottom overlay section as a shelf, so throwing caution to the wind I managed to prise it off without too much damage and fitted it back on the tag with 4 layers of Tim Holtz/Sizzix Black Mini Foam Adhesive.

I stamped the image from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Inventor 4 on to Distress Watercolor card twice with Black Soot Archival ink and fussy cut. I layered them to create a bit more stability, applied a coat of  Distress Vintage Collage Medium and fixed to the panel with Tim|Holtz/Sizzix Mini Foam Adhesive. 

I added Idea-ology Mummy Cloth fixed in place with Vintage Distress Collage Medium and coloured lightly with Black Soot Distress Paint, Idea-ology Halloween Quote Chips, Halloween Remnant Rubs, Clippings Stickers and a Halloween Story Stick

Idea-ology Skulls and Heirloom Roses

an Idea-ology Tombstone and Boneyard Findings

I covered an Idea-ology Apocethary Vial with Grit Paste, coloured with Black Soot and Picket Fence Distress Paint to create a stone effect. I fussy cut a flower image from Idea-ology Halloween Worn Wallpaper and added Heirloom Roses highlighted with Picket Fence Distress Paint.

an Idea-ology Zombie Hand distressed with Black Soot Distress Paint and added an Idea-ology Halloween Remnant Rub on a strip of Halloween Worn Wallpaper.

and that date was bugging me, so I switched the 8 and the 3 around, put my feet up and enjoyed a well deserved cuppa before tackling the task of removing the grit paste from my hands and most of the cubbyhole surfaces.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx