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

Villainous Kids!

 Hi again!

I had such a blast making these cards using the new Kindred Stamps set, "Villainous Kids"! My little sister is 12 and she flipped when she saw this set. It's a 4"x6" set, that features some bad kids who are learning to unleash their good side.

I started by watercoloring the kids on Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper, stamping them with Catherine Pooler Midnight ink. I have a few different watercolors and just kinda mixed and matched until I was happy with them.

I chose the four BFFs for the first card. I found these super adorable long and skinny envelopes at Dasio so I cut a base down in Vanilla Card stock from Stampin' Up for them. For the background, I used the Kindred Stamps Distressed Brick Stencil to create a street and brick wall. To give a different texture for the street vs. the wall, I rotated the stencil. I added a few "oil" and "grime" spots to the street with a black marker. Next, I graffiti-ed the wall with the black marker and used a blender pen to kinda blur the graffiti.



I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white paper then tore the edges to create rough edges. Then I layered the friends and finished the card off.


Next, I had the daughter of a sea witch. I wanted to create a background that looked like water and octopus ink. I created the background with alcohol inks, then die cut it with The Stamp Doctor's new Slanted Blinds Dies. I loved the idea of stamping the sentiment on one of the slanted blinds, so I grabbed a similar color family in solid card stock and die cut the same set of blinds.

I used Catherine Pooler midnight ink again and used the build-able sentiments to create a birthday sentiment. I cut down solid black card stock for a base and layered the alcohol ink background blinds and the solid dies. I popped the blinds up using foam adhesive.



To separate the sea princess from the background, I used some adhesive backed vellum and The Stamp Doctor Circle Dies to give her a spotlight to sit on.  For the finishing touches, I used Tonic Nuvo Cloud Dream Drops to add a few pearls all over the front of the card.

The entire Kindred Stamps January release will be available Friday, January 24th 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!!

I hope you've enjoyed, and can't wait to see how YOU use "Villainous Kids"!

~R. Winn

Full of Pride

Hello again friends!

I'm so excited to share my cards using Kindred Stamps new "Full Of Pride" stamp set! This set is all about love and Gay Pride, it makes me happy. I honestly could keep playing with it, and if I had more time, I probably would have.

My first card that I just had to make, used the "Love is Love is Love" sentiment, which was inspired by my friend Kelli's ideas. I began by picking a paper to use, I chose a sheet from Sunny Studio's Rainbow Bright paper. The hearts felt ideal for this card. I used The Stamp Doctor Nested Oval Dies and Stitched Oval Dies to create a space for my sentiment and then stamped using Stazon's Purple Pigment Ink.

I finished it off by using Nuvo Dream drops on a few of the hearts, which don't show up well on the picture but give a little shimmer in person.

Next, I made a card for a "Mr. & Mr." wedding! I wanted it to make it super classy so I went with a white and silver color scheme. I started by using Gina K Designs Foil Mates in Elegant Damask and Silver Therm O Web Foil. 

I added a strip of solid white ribbon on the lower part of the card. Then I layered that onto a silver cardstock and then a white card base.

I heat embossed using WOW Bright White powder and Ink on 3's Embossing Ink onto more silver cardstock that I die cut using a stitched rectangle, that I layered onto a white piece of cardstock.

Clearly, I also needed a Mrs. & Mrs. wedding card too! I used the other pattern from the Elegant Damask Foil Mates and gold Therm O Web foil this time. 

I had a card base from a Michael's pack that had a foiled edge that I layered my foiled damask onto. I used some Love From Lizi black Peel Offs and added a few on two opposing corners to give a bit of a framed feel.

I have a bunch of random pieces from different kits over the years and that includes some foiled gold envelope liners, I cut one down and stamped my "Mrs. & Mrs." onto it and used Recollections Detail Black Embossing powder and Ink On 3's Embossing Ink to heat emboss with. Finally, I backed that with some black cardstock and popped it onto my card.

I hope you've enjoyed my cards, I have loved making them. There are two others that I didn't blog about but you can find them in the Kindred Stamps Release event! Make sure you drop a comment here to be entered into my $10 Kindred Stamps Gift Certificate drawing, in order to enter, make sure you include your email address!

The entire Kindred Stamps October release will be available Friday, October 25th 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!!

~R. Winn

Once Upon A Nap

Hi daydreamers! I've got a few fantastic cards using Kindred Stamps new "Once Upon A Nap" stamp set. I absolutely adore this set and had tons of ideas right away.

I started with the princess and her fairy godmothers. I colored them with Copics, for the princess I colored her twice so I could have her dress change colors. I used a Stampin' Up Flip Card die for the base and back cardstock. Then I layered the left panel with paper from Echo Park's Princess paper pad. I put the green fairy on the blue panel and added a few sequins around her. 

My princess in pink went on the flip, with Wink of Stella to add some glittery magic behind her. I then moved to the right panel and put the pink and blue fairies with sequins around them. My sentiment was stamped in Catherine Pooler "Lime Rickey" ink.  I had a boo-boo to cover up, so I added a few flowers that I punched out of adhesive backed paper. 

Next, I opened the card and added the blue princess backed with blue Wink of Stella for magic. 

I added more paper from the Echo Park Princess paper pad to the back, and white to the other panel for a space to write in.

Next, I used the villain for make a simple, but kinda fantastic card. I colored her in Copics, and added some Nuvo Glossy Drops to the ball and her collar. 

I used a frame die and Gold Mirror Paper from The Stamp Doctor to create a mirror frame. I used Silver Mirror Paper for the mirror surface. I just got the new Stazon Pigment inks and used the purple to stamp on the shiny surface. In order to protect the mirror surface I added a layer of acetate behind the frame. I also used a light grey distress oxide brushed onto the frame to distress and age it a bit.

I finished the card by adding the villain to the bottom right. Simple but awesome right? 

My last card, I used the prince! This guy is dapper and super fun to color. I used the Navy Metallic Paper from The Stamp Doctor for the background. I wanted to create a cloud background so I used the Memory Box Mini Cloud stencil that I picked up from Kraftgali. I used Nuvo Embellishing Mousse in Mother of Pearl and my Stencil Pal from Therm O Web to put the clouds on the cardstock. 

I added a die cut cloud edge to the bottom of the card and stamped my sentiment in the red Stazon Pigment. I finished the card by adding my prince.

I get to give one lucky fan who comments on my blog a $10 store credit to Kindred Stamps! In order to enter, tell me what your favorite ways to use a stencil. I will draw a winner on May 28th after 8AM, make sure your email address is either in the comments, or attached to your comment (if you are logged into your Google account that works!)

The entire Kindred Stamps May release will be available Friday, May 24th 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 for visiting me today!

~R. Winn

THE HORROR!

Hello again,

I have FOUR cards to share with you today using the new Kindred Stamps set "The Horror"! Now I normally don't get "into" the darker side of Halloween, but this set man... it brought my imagination to life.

I started with the murderous clown, it's hard to see with the lighting, but his outfit is colored in light shades of grey and blue. I added accents of red on his hair, shoes, and balloon. I finished him off with some Tonic Glossy drops. 

I added the orange chevron ribbon from American Crafts and mounted the card face onto an orange piece of cardstock. To finish it off, the "You're a scream" sentiment was stamped with Delicata Black ink.

Next, I played with the mummy! This guy is colored in about 12 shades of off-white/tan Copics. I used the Spiderweb stencil from Echo Park with Red VersaFine ink and Black Delicata ink to make my background.

If you know me, you know that I'm not a big fan of tags... they're hard for me to work with! But this one was perfect for this card. I topped it with an Echo Park enamel dot and stamped two of the sentiments in VersaFine Red ink, then I inked up my finger and smudged it around the outside of the tag. 

I backed both the tag and the card face with black card stock. Last, I took Studio Katia Clear Round Drops and colored a few with my black Copic, then placed the black and a few clear drops on the card.

My next card, I featured the pieced together man, AND the new Brick Stencil from Kindred Stamps! I used Distress Oxides in Candied Apple, Vintage Photo, Black Soot, and then softened the blend with Antique Linen to create my background on Kraft paper. 

My monster is colored in shades of green and gray Copics, with a touch of black. I mounted my brick paper onto a piece of Echo Park's Autumn paper stack. 

Again, I went for two sentiment, the built birthday sentiment I stamped in Delicata Black ink, and the "I love you to pieces" is stamped in a dark green VersaFine ink. Both are on banners from an old Stampin' Up kit. I finished the card off in off-white and black Echo Park enamel dots.

My last card, well, it's a labor of the mind! I recently found this house from Stampin' Up and it is kinda the perfect size for my Kindred Stamps people! It is colored with Copics, I then stamped the little walkway, using the rocks from SU set multiple times. My lawn is different shades of green, the sky is black and dark gray Copics. My murder is colored with Copics, and then I added Nuvo Glossy drops on the blood on the knife to make it glisten. 

My sentiment, I got super excited to use a round die for, don't ask me why, I just feel like no sentiments fit on them and got excited this did! Well the big white circle looked weird... so clearly I needed to "murder" it up. I took Catherine Pooler ink in a dark red and smeared my fingerprint across it a few times, then stamped the "Stab you're it" sentiment on it using VersaFine Claire in black. 

Apparently I have a sick mind... who knew!? I hope you enjoyed my take on "The Horror". 

The entire Kindred Stamps September release will be available Friday, September 28 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!

~R. Winn

Fall is Here!

Happy Fall ya'll!

I'm a big fan of Fall, the weather, the clothes, the Pumpkin Spice lattes... The September Release at Witt and Sass Stamp Co is full of cute, spooky, and just plain wonderful Fall themed sets and new embellishments too!

My card today features the new Falling for Scarecrow set. I created a background using Yupo Paper and Alcohol inks from Kraftgali. Then used the Alcohol Lift-Ink and the leaf included with the scarecrow to create a background, which I layered onto DCWV cardstock. 

The adorable little crow I colored up using a dark blue and different gray Copics multiple times, then I sat them on a little twine, like a power line!

My scarecrow was colored using Copics, then placed using Stampin Up dimensionals. I colored up a few pumpkins with Copics, added a little white detail, then covered with Nuvo clear glaze. 

Finally, I added the sentiment "Want to hang out?" from Falling for Scarecrow on the same DCWV cardstock and cut it out with a Lawn Fawn sentiment die cut.

I hope you've all enjoyed my take on this set and want to invite you to join us in our Facebook group to share your own Witt and Sass creations.

Until next time,

~R. Winn

Adventures Abroad - Australia

It's time for something cute friends! This week is release week for Beth Duff Designs and the stamps are just adorable. You won't want to miss out!

I got to play with Adventures Abroad - Australia, and I think these little animals and the other images in the set are a great tribute to this beautiful land! I normally color with alcohol markers, but decided to try to flex my colored pencil muscles for these furry friends.

I got 4 of them colored up with my Prismacolor pencils, because I knew I wanted to use them, they are smaller images, so I was able to use more on one card! I used a lightly patterned pink paper for the background to keep it simple.

Next, I framed the emu, kookaburra, and kangaroo with white paper and some Vintage 45 paper, cut using Stampin' Up's Layering Circle dies. I pulled out a fancy frame die from Stampin' Up and used Catherine Pooler's Eucalyptus ink for the sentiment. I topped it off the hat from the set!

I had one little guy left over, and decided the koala with the "cheers" sentiment would make for a cheery note card. I started with the a yellow patterned paper from Sunny Studios and stamped the sentiment directly on it at an angle using Catherine Pooler Manderine Spice ink.

I tucked my koala into the opposite corner and finished the card off with some dark green Nuvo drops from Tonic.

I can't wait for you to see all the other great sets the Beth Duff Designs team is showcasing! I know which are my favorites, but I am excited to hear what your's is!

We are so happy you joined us for Beth Duff Designs's Summer release blog hop! These sets are so fun and we can't wait to see what is on your must have list. Please join us and visit each page in the hop. By leaving a comment on each of the blog posts you will automatically entered to win a coupon for 15 % your purchase on our site! This contest is open to both US and Int'l fans. Thank you so much for joining us, and make sure you join us on Facebook to share your own projects and see what else our team comes up with!

Beth Duff Designs

Nic and Viv - Niccole

R. Winn Creates - Rachel - You are here!

Little Wings Creates - Annie 

Scraps & photoGRAFFS - Kel 

The Frolicking Fairy - Marcia 

Paper and Me - Tania

BreAnn Loveland Cards - BreAnn

Sparkliie Creations - Lynnea

Pearblossom Press - Amanda 

Faith.Dream.Create - Annalisa 

Alison's Random Thoughts - Alison

Thanks for dropping by,

R. Winn

May the Fourth Be With You

 Rejoice Geeks and Nerds alike! May the Fourth is with us!

Ok, so maybe that was a little over the top... maybe. But, I have to say, as the date loomed closer, I got more and more excited. I made sure that my fluffy bear warrior shirt was clean, my friends all knew what was coming, and of course, made cards! 

 I have had a few droids and a young, upcoming mind warrior, from Kindred Stamps Galactic Adventures: The Sequel, colored for a few months and just couldn't decide what to do with them.  Well, my inspiration came at last!  I decided on a desert theme for my first card. I used a piece of gold shimmer cardstock and hand cut a dune shape out. I wanted lots of layers and used two different blues to sandwich a layer of white. Finally, I took Brilliance Copper ink and stamped the sentiment from Kindred Stamps Galactic Adventures.

My next card, I wanted to do some light swords for the background. I stamped out a patterned background and colored the handles with a grey Copic. Next, I used Nuvo's red jewel toned drops and I filled in the long parts, then I filled in the rest of the paper with Copic R89 to give a dark red color.

I colored in the villain in varying shades of grey and black and fussy cut him out. I felt like he needed to stand out from the background a bit so I trimmed down a piece of paper and used silver Nuvo drops and kinda swirled it around and filled the paper. I mounted it all on a dark grey glimmer card base.

I hope you all enjoy some nerdy fun in a galaxy far, far away today! If you need some of these stamps for your own collection, come grab them here, if it's your first order at Kindred Stamps, you'll get 10% off.

Thank you for visiting!

~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

EEEEP! Who doesn't love a unicorn? And a chubby unicorn? Dreams come true right?! 

I  found Amy Doodle Stamp Co. when I saw the owner post a card using this adorable little guy!  I colored him using Copics, and then colored his horn, the stars, and the sentiment using Spica Glitter Pens.

I kept the design fairly basic, using a pad of glitter paper from Hobby Lobby for the background. I cut out a square behind him and used dimensionals to pop him up off the glitter. 

For the sentiment, I added a black backing and colored all but "sparkle" and "not" in black to make sure they really stood out! I also used dimensionals to pop the sentiment out.

Finally, I added a couple of black hearts using Nuvo Drops to round the card out and have it not feel so unembellished!

I hope you enjoy this beauty and would like to invite you to visit Amy's shop here!

Thank you for visiting,

R. Winn