Crabby Card

Hello again friends,

I am so excited to show you my card for today! I played with Sassy and Crafty's Sassy but Sweet Stamp set. This set features an adorable mermaid and fantastic "king" crab along with some amazing sentiments.

I decided to stamp the crab from Sassy but Sweet for my card today. I stamped him using Ink On 3's Fade Out Ink and colored him with Copics. To add a bit of extra fun, for the gems on his crown, I used clear rhinestones colored red using a Copic. I also stamped each of the shells from Sassy but Sweet a few times to color in different fun bright shades, again using Copic markers.

Once I had finished coloring, I focused on the background next. I used black cardstock and the Mermaid Tails Stencil for this. I used my i-Brush Blender Brushes and Distress Oxide inks in various shades of blue and one purple to create a watery feel. I added a few spritzes of watered down Ink on 3 Liquid Pixie Dust to add some shimmer to the background.

Next, I cut out Kindred Stamps "Sorry" word die. For the bottom layer I used a purple scrap with a kind of watercolor or bubbled look to it, and for the top layer I used a blue glitter cardstock scrap. The sentiment I stamped on to a silver cardstock scrap and heat embossed it with a metallic light purple WOW embossing powder. I trimmed this down.

When it came time to build my card, I layered my dark watery sheet over a light purple card base. TIP: I like to buy card bases and envelopes in bulk from box stores when I find them on sale, this saves my energy so I'm not constantly cutting and scoring card bases. Once the card front was adhered to the card base, I glued the "sorry" layers toward the top center of the card. I added a strip of Thin Double Thick Foam Tape to the back of my "I've been crabby" sentiment strip and positioned it under but crossing into the "sorry" layers.

I added my king crab to a mini wobbler to give him a fun little interactive element and positioned him towards the center(ish) of the card. To finish the card, I added the shells that I had previously colored up and a few clear sequins.

Here is a short video of the crab in action!

Well, I hope that I've inspired you to check out Sassy and Crafty for yourself and look forward to seeing what you create next! 

Until next time,

R. Winn

We are Brave

 Today I am showing off a card that I created using Sassy & Crafty's Free & Brave Stamp Set.  I love these girl power images and the girl with the flag is absolutely amazing. I wanted to alter the flag to represent the Overcoming Disabilities flag since that's something that is really important to me.

I began by stamping onto watercolor paper with Ink On 3's Fade-Out ink. Next, I pulled out my watercolors and used Gansai Tambi Starry Colors paints for the gold on top and bronze on the bottom, the silver in the center is a combination of Spectrum Noir Sparkle Glitter Ink and a white watercolor from my stash. 

Next, I used Nuvo's Hair & Skin Tones Watercolor Pencils for her skin and hair. I struggled with her face and was not able to get the details of her features with the no-line technique so I tried to stamp just her face... unfortunately I did not have the paper lined up correctly and messed up her face and hair. So I restamped the face and hair with Fade Out ink then used a dauber to put VersaFine on just her facial features. In order to save the rest of my work, I just cut the new face out and glued it on to the already completed body. I used watercolor pencils for her shirt and the flag pole as well.

For the card front, I used black cardstock and Cosmic Shimmer Citrus Green Gilding Polish over the Sassy and Crafty Comic Book 2 Stencil. It took several layers of the Gilding Polish but the way it pops off the black was so worth it!

Next up, I used the buildable sentiments from Sassy Girls - Free & Brave to put together the sentiment "We are brave". I stamped it in my MISTI 2.0 using Hero Arts Unicorn White ink topped with a layer of green Opalite Ink to give it a green tint. Had I been more patient, I probably would have chosen to heat emboss the sentiment instead. I finished the card off with some little purple hearts from Queen & Co.

The colors purple and green, that I used on this card, are symbolic of the disabilities that I work hard to overcome each day. Purple represents Fibromyalgia, green represents mental health. There are so many people struggling with invisible disabilities and working to overcome them every day.

I hope that you enjoyed my card and be sure to check out Sassy and Crafty for all sorts of amazing stamps and stencils!

Until next time,

R. Winn

Nuts About You

Hello again friends! I'm back with the newest Kindred Stamps release! Today, I have 3 cards using "Nuts About You" which will be available on Friday, July 26th at 8am PST/11am EST.  This 3"x4" set features two adorable chipmunks, and some punny sentiments that make me happy!

I used Ink On 3's Fade-Out ink with my MISTI to stamp out two pairs of these little dudes. Then I colored them with Prismacolor Colored Pencils. I am absolutely smitten with how they turned out.

My first card features the sentiment "I'm nuts about you". I picked one of my little guys and built the card around him. First, I went ahead and heat embossed a strip of acorns on pink cardstock using Brutus Monroe Sand Castle powder. This was cut down to a thin strip and layered it onto a piece of Stampin Up Crumb Cake cardstock for my card base. On the base, I heat embossed a little "Aww" using a Lindy's Gang pink powder, below where I wanted to put my chipmunk.

 I used the new Kindred Stamps Sunshine Glitter Gloss on white cardstock over the Kindred Stamps Hearts and Dots Stencil to create a textured patterned paper. I cut out pieces of this using a set of The Stamps of Life heart dies after it had dried. I layered these around the card using foam tape and Therm O Web Ultra Bond glue. 

To finish this card up, I layered the base onto a bright yellow cardstock that matches that Sunshine Glitter Gloss to form my card, I really like using colored cardstock for cards, I feel like it's a nice change from the typical white. For my sentiment, I heat embossed "I'm nuts about you" in the same Sand Castle embossing powder on the same pink cardstock as I had done the acorns. I layered that onto a piece of the yellow cardstock after die cutting them both to create a little layered banner. Finally, I placed the chipmunk in the midst of it all for him to shine.

My next card didn't turn out exactly how I had hoped. I wanted to create an alcohol ink background and use Ink Lift to pull up acorns in the background. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert with alcohol inks and ended up layering it too thick for this to work well! So, instead, I cut my background down into three smaller squares. I layered these onto a piece of Echo Park's Fall paper pad. I arranged the squares over a strip of gold glitter cardstock so it just barely peeks through with a bit of shine. 

Next, I used Alcohol Lift-Ink to pull up acorns and then stamped them onto white cardstock. I created a little stack of them creating a background. These look faint in the photo, but in person, they look great! I put all of this onto another piece of the same Echo Park paper, I just flipped it over so the other side's pattern showed instead of the cool blue.

 I love the buildable sentiments in this set, they are fun, and a bit punny, which is completely my sense of humor! "Sorry for driving you nuts" was my pick for this card, I stamped it onto a banner from an old card kit. Last, I put my little guy on a piece of brown scrap and trimmed around him to create a border, I placed him off to the side a bit so you could still see the acorn stack. 

My last card, is my favorite! I wanted to work in the Christmas in July concept. I used both chipmunks for this card. I started by stamping a tree from an old Stampin' Up set in Catherine Pooler Sage ink on to a piece of patterned paper from Echo Park. I added a few rhinestones to the tree for decorations, some I left clear, some I colored using a blue Sharpie, I feel like they look like little crystal ornaments. I used a Uchida Snow Marker to create a thin layer of snow on the ground below the tree.

I placed a chipmunk on either side of the tree, added some adorable Santa hat stickers from Michael's, and then the Candy Cane die set from The Stamp Doctor to place a candy cane in each of their hands.

Next, I stamped the family sentiment onto a tag from an old card kit using Catherine Pooler Samba ink. I strung the tag onto a sliver ribbon, and added a few large glue dots to the back of the tag to hold it in place. I wanted to add "Merry Christmas" to the card so I used The Stamp Doctor's new Tiny Alphabet dies to cut the letters from a piece of glitter cardstock that I ink blended Samba onto and arranged them on the other side of the tree.

My final touch was a layer of Wink of Stella clear onto the snow to add a bit of sparkle to the card! The card turned out better than I had originally imagined it, which doesn't happen often for me.

Now, be sure to leave a comment including your email address, I'd love to know which card is your favorite! I will be drawing a name from everyone who comments, the winner will get a $10 Kindred Stamps store credit. Make sure you check our entire team's blogs because they each are going to give away $10 store credits too!

The entire Kindred Stamps July release will be available Friday, July 26th at 8am PST/11am EST. Be sure to subscribe to the Kindred Stamps blog to see a daily line up of sneak peeks from our amazing Design Team and see the full product release on Friday! Come join the Fan Club and release event to be part of the release fun, and you may just win some Kindred Stamps credit!!

Thank you so much for visiting me today, I will see you again soon!

~R. Winn

About That Drag Life

It's my favorite time of the month, Kindred Stamps release week! Our newest sets will be available on Friday, November 9th at 8AM Pacific Time. I got to work with the set "Drag Life" which I am SO excited about. I have 3 cards to share, one no-line colored and two with lines. 

We will start with this sassy lady! I colored her in creams and gold. I recently got this frame die from a resale group, it's covered in white Wink of Stella. The background is a piece of gold cardstock, the "Not today Satan" sentiment from "Drag Life" that was stamped repeatedly with VersaFine Claire Nocturne ink.  It's simple, but I seriously love it!

Next, I get to show off my no-line colored card! I selected bright colors for these ladies hair... and I'm obsessed! I went with the Kindred Stamps Star Stencil foiled with Therm O Web Gina K Designs orange foil on black cardstock for the back of my "stage". I mounted this on Lawn Fawn Really Rainbow Paper. I then used a brown cardstock and my Penny Black floor die to finish my stage. I placed my ladies, then finished it off with another piece of my rainbow paper and two of the sentiments from "Drag Life."

My last card, I started with Kindred Stamps Comic Dots Stencil turned on it's side. I used Catherine Pooler Pixie Dust and All That Jazz inks blended on white paper. I heat embossed two of the sentiments, in the bottom corner then finished it off with a few sequins from the Kindred Stamps Tutti Frutti Shaker Pack.

The entire Kindred Stamps November release will be available Friday, November 9th at 8am PST/11am EST. Be sure to check out the Kindred Stamps blog on Friday for the full product release as well as the complete line up of all the Kindred Stamps Design Team projects from release week! If you visit and comment on all of the designers' blogs this week, you could win $15 in Kindred Stamps shop credit! So join the Fan Club and release event, show the design team some love, and get ready to empty those wallets this Friday!

Thank you for visiting me!

~R. Winn

Designer Cupcake #WSCARDCHALLENGE

I told you I would be back!

I'm sharing the Witt & Sass Designer Cupcake stamp set again! This is one of my favorite sets, because who doesn't like a cupcake??

 

Today's card works for the #WSCARDCHALLENGE of Pink & Orange, Squares, and Buttons! Again, I started with coloring the cupcake using Ink On 3's Fade Out ink, and then did the pretty shell using Catherine Pooler's Ink. 

I wanted to used lots of layers and patterned papers, the papers here are from Doodlebug and Sunny Studios paper packs with a touch of glitter paper from American Crafts. I used several stitched dies to create these layers. The sentiment in a square felt perfect to me and I stamped the seashell below it in Catherine Pooler ink, then used VersaFine to ink the Sentiment. 

For the final touch, I needed to add the buttons, I don't have a ton of buttons, because they're just not something I reach for but they fit so perfectly on this card. My friend Kelli taught me to never leave a button naked so I used orange and white twine to thread them!

I hope you've enjoyed this card, and don't forget to share YOUR Witt and Sass creations and take a stab at our Card Challenges!

~R. Winn

The Next Space Explorers!

Guys... guys... GUYS! I am SO excited to share these projects! Kindred Stamps released their new set The Next Space Explorers stamps on May 25th, and to say that I geeked out a lot!

I had so much fun coloring these guys using the no-line technique and Ink On 3's Fade-Out ink, and Copic markers. 

I started by making my first foiled card! I was so nervous that I was going to screw things up. I used Altenew's Warp Speed Stencil that I picked up at Crafty Doodle Chick, DecoFoil's glue pen, and red foil. 

I also tried out my Tonic Studio's Silver Mica spray to create the middle layer of paper for my card, and the sentiment is stamped on a piece too!

My android and blind dude are totally best friends and there for each other through everything!

Next, the Captain is a fan of Earl Grey tea and to me it felt perfect for a gift card holder (some lucky nerd is going to get a Starbucks gift card with it!)

I got him colored up and mounted him on piece of patterned paper from the Sunny Studios Rainbow Bright pack, again from Craft Doodle Chick!

I finished him off by giving him a little shadow with a grey watercolor marker. 

My last card is the chief security officer... He was a little more difficult for me to color, and it shows. But I tried my best, and used the colors I had! I will say, I am pleased with the silvery look of his weapon and sash!

To keep him the hero of the card but not have him too dull, I used the new paper stack that one of the gals in the Kindred Stamps Fan Club shared, and I clearly needed, Echo Park's Space Academy! I grabbed my previously unused Stampin' Up Starbust die (seriously, I've had it for like two years guys...) and cut my patterned paper with it and backed it with dimensionals. I mounted it on a piece of black cardstock.

My last touch was grabbing a random banner I had in my hoarding stash... I may need actual help guys... to use for the sentiment. I love the buildable sentiments that Kindred Stamps does and this one may be one of my favorites! I finished it off with a nice DoublClick Skittle that pulls out the red planets on the paper.

I hope that you enjoyed these projects as much as I enjoyed making them! If you haven't been lucky enough to buy Kindred Stamps, you can set up your account using my referral link and get 10% off http://i.refs.cc/9VcMQuB9?u=1527128718946!

~R. Winn Creates

Roll With Me!

Ok, so Beth Duff Designs released some absolutely fantastic sets last month, including this cute sushi set, Roll With Me. I absolutely love it.  The images (who doesn't thing a shrimp roll is adorable when it's smiling at you?), the fun sentiments, the cute fonts... it's all fantastic!

After the hustle and bustle of the release, I wanted to make some simple, cute cards with the No-Line Technique (yeah, I'm obsessed). These images are perfect for a beginner in this technique since they are nice and big and clean.

I broke out the Copic and Chameleon markers again for the no-line coloring with my InkOn3 Fade-Out ink. I was worried about being able to color the seaweed wrap and the eggs for the sushi but overall I am pretty pleased with it! I think my biggest suggestion for starting this technique is go slowly. The chopsticks were colored in skin tone colors.

For the background, I broke out some origami paper that I bought at Dasio a few months ago, because it was too pretty to leave behind. HA!

My next card was the same concept, cute images, origami paper, fun sentiment. I decided to make the soy sauce bottle have room in the bottle. In order to make them have the faces, I used my MISTI, lined up the stamp with my colored in image and used a black marker to get the faces stamped. 

I really wanted the shrimp to have the lines so I layered the colors on and then used my blender marker to blend them all together and have the clear/white portion of the shrimp exist.  I really wanted the sentiment to POP, so I chose a yellow from my Altenew quad to stamp onto a precut strip. 

I hope you all enjoyed my quick, simple cards and I can't wait to see what YOU make with these adorable stamps!

~R. Winn

Quick Fun Makes With Manatee Love!

So, one of the adorable sets that Beth Duff Designs released this Spring, is our Get Kids Crafty Exclusive, Manatee Love.  I NEEDED it, the second I saw it!


As you know, I've been obsessed with No-Line Coloring lately. I used my InkOn3 Fade-Out Ink and stamped out the manatees to color. I used a combination of Copic Markers and Brutus Monroe StyleFile Markers to color the cuties. I wasn't sure what I was going to with them, but they begged to be colored.

For this little heart hugging guy, I decided on a bookmark. My sister sent me a link to some bookmarks on Amazon, and I decided to give them a go!  This project probably took me 10-15 minutes total, INCLUDING the No Line Coloring.

I used my new Altenew Ink Cubes that I got from Crafty Doodle Chick (that link will get you 5% off your first purchase, and I will get points too!). I used various green and pink shades and stamped out the seaweed and clam shells. For the "Hi there", I stuck with my favorite sentiment ink, Versafine in black.

Next, I put my fussycut manatee on a piece of navy cardstock, and added some Nuvo drops around the outside to make it glossy, like water!

To finish it off, I took this fun rainbow ribbon from Fun Stamper's Journey (that's my friend Alex's link, she's pretty amazing and SO SO helpful. I bought it to use with all of my unicorn stamps, but I love the burst of color from the top of the bookmark. My family is full of readers, so I'm sure one of them will get to enjoy this cutie!


Next, I had to used this hilarious sentiment. I just love it. Well, it doesn't really fit on a bookmark does it?  I have a TON of pre-made card bases, so I snagged this aqua striped base from my stack.  I love the idea of this happy little guy brightening someone's rough day.

I used Kat Scrappiness's (my referral link!) Double Stitched Rectangle Die with Stampin' Up Brown Sugar Cardstock for the sentiment, which was stamped in Versafine.  Underneath, I layered a piece of gold cardstock that was pre-embossed with scales.

The left side of the card felt really empty to me, so I took my Kindred Stamps (you get 10% off your first purchase, and I get points!) Mermaid Princess Shaker Pack and some Tombow glue and built a shiny little something in the top left corner. I added a blue shell to the bottom right of the sentiment too. To finish the card off, I used my Kat Scrappiness Clear Droplet Sampler Pack for some air bubbles!

This card probably took me about 20 minutes, that may have been in part because I had too much fun building my shiny something. HEHE!

I hope you enjoyed my projects, and that they have inspired you too look around and find those quick projects that you can sneak between the duties of life! And that you aren't TOO annoyed by all my links, after all, a referral is the biggest complement you can give, and I only shop from the best. Good customer service, a friendly attitude, and a willingness to go the extra mile in the craft industry is SO important. I LOVE shopping from these small business and getting to know the people behind my craft addiction!

Until next time,

~R. Winn

No-Line Coloring!

So, about a month, maybe a month and a half ago, cardmaking goddes/enabler to the max, Lydia Fieldler, posted that InkOn3's FadeOut Ink for No-Line Coloring was back in stock. Well... I had just gotten paid and I was feeling rich and decided this was the brilliant new thing I was willing to try! All of my friends are doing amazing things with alcohol inks, and foiling... both which feel expensive to start and scary to try to me. This no-line thing, maybe I can handle that, I already color every chance I get anyways!

It came in about the same time my stamps for the April Kindred Stamps release did, I decided to dive right in! The first images I colored were these little cuties from We're In a Club. I have been using a combination of markers from Copic, Chameleon, and Brutus Monroe StyleFile. There were definitely errors, and I learned quickly, there are no lines to hold your color in place... Something I apparently depend on! They turned out cute though, and I fell in love with the technique!

I had my images colored but I honestly was unsure of what I wanted to do for a project, the inspiration was a little off with the amount of stress I've been dealing with lately! So, instead of panicking and throwing together a basic card, I started to look through my dies. My amazing friend Kelli Hull, recently destashed and I was the lucky recipient of several AMAZING dies, stamps, and other goodies. In that destash, was a Lawn Fawn Portrait Leafy Tree Background die, it lit an idea for me and this was one of the easiest to put together cards I have ever made.

I used a nice dark brown cardstock for the tree and card outline, then a scrap piece of mossy meadow from Stampin' Up. For the leaves, I chose 3 bright Fall colored papers for leaves and used the leaves 3 time per color.  My leaves got layered and overlapped, top to bottom to give it a real tree look. I had just a few left over, so it was really the perfect amount.

In order to create some depth, I used dimensional strips from Stampin' Up to back the tree scene. Next, I snagged a pretty blue that was a bigger piece in my scrap bin (the two drawers I use are overflowing and need to be used more!) I wanted to keep my sentiment simple with no fancy background or labor intensive techniques on this card (other than the coloring). I lined everything up and then placed it all in my MISTI (unmounted, of course) to get my sentiment lined up where I'd like it to be. After removing my top layers from the MISTI, I stamped using the Classic Memento Tuxedo Black ink. After that I simply built the card!

My next card, I REALLY, wanted the character to be the hero of. I used the no-line technique to color up this baby deer and WOW, was I happy. The kiddos were my first images using it and he is my third. The amount of colors I used to get this look is a bit insane, I filled a post it note writing them down, and again, I used a combination of Copics and Chameleon markers. 

I used Kat Scrapiness Double Stitched Rectangle Dies to create a frame out of Stampin' Up Crumb Cake cardstock.  I used a bright green lightweight cardstock to line the back, then layered a pretty patterned vellum that has ferns and leaves all over it. Again, I used the dimensional strip to pop the frame up. I used a random banner die (I didn't always understand the importance of keeping track of what came from where!) for the sentiment, which to me is ADORABLE! 

I finished the card by placing my baby deer and mounting it on a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock! This is one of my cards using Kindred Stamps new release, Forest Friends!

We have some of the most adorable stamps I have seen yet coming out this month and I think you'll all be SO excited too! We've changed a few things up this month, and we've introduced a Design Team to our group! These ladies are INCREDIBLY talented and will be with us for the next several months! We couldn't be more excited to be working with them! We also have Guest Designer, Lois with us AGAIN, because we love her so much.

Please visit their blogs, and ours, and comment on all the blog posts. Doing so will make you eligible for winning shop credit! The winner will be chosen Friday evening, the night of the 20th, and will be announced in our Fan Club!

Kindred Stamps

R Winn Creates

My Clever Creations

The Frolicking Fairy

Mad Crafter's Tea Party

Fanciful Spaces

Wunder's Crafty World

Crafting Love

Clownmom Creations

DaggDesigns Blog

Thank you for visiting me and I will see you soon!

~R. Winn