i-crafter Meets Sassy & Crafty

I am so excited to show off my card for the i-crafter and Sassy and Crafty blog hop.  I used the Sassy and Crafty stamp set "Sassy Girls - Sweet" and colored them up really brightly inspired by neon colors and comic books using Copic Markers! 

Next, I created a background with Rina K Electro Pop inks. I started with the the i-crafter Cosmic Flare stencil and the red ink, I flipped it after the first coverage and used the orange ink next. I put the Sassy and Crafty Comic Book 2 Stencil down the center and used the yellow ink last. 

Next, I die cut "OMG" out of the top of the background using i-crafter's "Comic Words" dies, I cut the "OMG" out of black glitter paper as well. I covered the back of the background piece with acetate where the letters were cut out to create a window for my shaker card. Next, I took the outline of the black glitter letters and glued them inside the "OMG" of the background to give it a good anchor so you could see the shaker clearly; I also added the center piece of the "O" back in, I used my pieces and built the layers to place the center in the correct location.

In order to build a "box" with the foam tape for my shaker bits, I used a blender pencil to trace my "OMG" after I die cut it, that left a clear imprint of where the "OMG" would land on the card base. This was my guide as I used doubled up foam tape to build my box. I knew that I planned to use fine glitter in my mix, so I tried to make sure there was not any sort of gapping from one piece to the next. 

I filled my box with a mix of fine glitter from Tonic, and a shaker pack mix from Kindred Stamps. I tried to mix them together a bit before I closed my card up so that when I shook it, both showed through. I mayyyy have been a bit heavy handed with my glitter, maybe. I had already added foam tape around the rest of my card base, so I peel the backing off and lined my background up so that the box filled with glitter and bits showed through the "OMG" windows. 

It looked fantastic! I added my girls to the from of my card, then placed a few dome dot things from shaker packs that I got from Kindred Stamps over the from. I wanted to add a few more details to the girls. I touched up both of their lips with Clear Wink of Stella. For the girl on the right, I put Nuvo Crystal Glaze on her glasses, and cherry to add some shine. For the girl on the left, I wanted less dimension and just the shine to be added, so I took a fine paint brush and pained the Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the donuts. The pink donut, I had colored the sprinkles white with a white gel pen. The brown donut, I wanted the drizzled frosting to stand out in some way, I tried to color it with different gel pens and didn't love any of the results. Then I tried white Nuvo drops painted on with a fine paint brush, it wasn't perfect because the brush I had was a bit old and the bristles were spreading, but I was pleased with the results. I added the clear to the chocolate parts as well. 

Thank you for joining us for our fun collaboration between i-crafter and Sassy and Crafty! Each company will be giving away a $10 gift certificate to one lucky hopper. Be sure to visit each blog and comment by June 25th at 11:59 PM PST in order to enter. We hope you'll enjoy the comic inspired projects our teams have come up with. 

i-crafter

Sassy and Crafty

Amanda

Luisana

Rachel (You are here)

Echo

Lisa

Betz

Lynnea

Jennifer

I hope that you've enjoyed my take on these fantastic products from i-crafter and Sassy and Crafty! Be sure to take a look at each store and find some goodies that need to come home with you.

Until next time, thank you!

~R. Winn

Time to Celebrate with Kindred Birthday!

Hi friends! I absolutely love this new set from Kindred Stamps!  We felt like we needed a good birthday set, enter "Kindred Birthday".  This is a 6"x8" set that has something for everyone. 

I decided to throw Audra a birthday party with Molly and Evan for this card.  I stamped these three friends out using my Catherine Pooler Midnight ink. I wanted to create my own background, so I left them on one piece of cardstock rather than cutting them out.  They were colored using Copics and Spica markers, then accented a bit using Wink of Stella.  My background is simple using Copics. 

For my sentiment, I decided to use two from "Kindred Birthday" instead of just one. "Happy birthday" is heat embossed using WOW purple embossing powder.  Next, I used "Not A Day Over Amazing" down below my peeps, this was heat embossed using WOW Opaque Bright White embossing powder.  I added a few Studio Katia Iridescent Crystals throughout the card to accent and give something to catch your eye.

I layered the card front onto a piece of retired Stampin' Up DSP that has a fun candle pattern. Lastly, I put all of this on a white cardbase.

I hope you've enjoyed my take on "Kindred Birthday" make sure you leave a comment that includes your email address to be entered into my drawing for a $10 Kindred Stamps Gift Certificate! I will draw for a winner on September 3rd! Be sure to check out the rest of the team's blogs for more opportunities to win some Kindred spending money!😉

The entire Kindred Stamps August release will be available Friday, August 30th 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!!

See you later gators!

~R. Winn

Making a Splash with Kindred Summer!

 Long time no see! I'm excited to see you again!

Today, I get to share with you, our Kindred Summer stamp set! We have a fun little tradition where Audra has custom images of the team made up to celebrate new seasons, holidays, etc. Our pool party images were such a hit when we shared them that we thought they would be a perfect stamp set for summer!

My first card is featuring Molly, my best friend, and her amazing hair, sliding into the pool. I wanted to create one layer on this card that was full of details and a simple hand drawn background. I see all sort of people making AMAZING backgrounds by hand, that's outside of my comfort zone, so I figured I could start somewhere, by creating a pool scene.

While I knew I wanted to make Molly my star, I also used Audra on her ducky floaty, hanging out in the pool. I placed sunbathing Marcia on the pool deck, catching some rays. After these 3 were stamped, I took a pencil and a straight edge and created the pool/deck separation line. I started by coloring in my people, I tried to create depth in their colors, next, I did the cement, I used several shades of gray Copics to get depth and shadow. I added the water, again, several shades of blue were used. Last, I used a red Copic to add in the depth markers on the pool deck!

Normally, I stamp my sentiment and then die cut it and put it on the card, for this one, stamping directly on the scene just felt right! I used a WOW embossing powder that I picked up from Kraftgali to make "Hope Your Birthday is a Splash" really pop.  Finally, I used a sheet of the new Kindred Stamps Pool Party Paper Pack to back my "masterpiece" and mounted it on a white card base!

Next, I created a fairly simple, and quick card. I LOVE this sun paper from the Pool Party Paper Pack, and the sentiment "Here Comes the Sun" from Kindred Summer together. I added the 

I stamped my sentiment out using Catherine Pooler Something Borrowed ink, then used Ink On 3 Embossing Ink over top of it, and heat embossed with Lindy's Gang powder. It has a slight iridescent shimmer to it. I die cut the sentiment using a Tonic Oval.

My sun paper was amazing, but I felt like the Memeory Box die cut took it to the next level. I layered my die cut sun paper onto a piece of blue paper from Stampin' Up that matched my Catherine Pooler ink well. I loved the card, but felt like a blue SPARKLY ribbon down the center of the card, below the sentiment really finished it off.

My last card was an adventure! My little sister, Addison, feels that she should ALWAYS be made into a stamp. So, I decided to do a mirror image stamp of the Rachel stamp, this allowed me to create a pool scene with the two of us.

I colored myself first, I used lighter hair colors, and then finished myself off with a bit of R20 and created a sunburn look. (I don't tan, I lobster). I chose a colorful, yet clean look for my unicorn, and added sparkle with Wink of Stella. 

For Addison, my mirror image skills... well they don't exist... it took me a few tries to be ok with my stamped image. I went ahead and colored her with a slightly darker skin and hair color, she tans, well. I didn't love the thought of my baby sister in a bikini, so I went ahead and colored the belly area giving her a tankini instead! For her unicorn, I did an obnoxious pink, because she has a BRIGHT personality! My lines were not as crisp as I would have liked, so I went over them with a black marker after I finished coloring... her nose may have been compromised...

Again, this Pool Party Paper Pack... it's amazing. I loved the pool water sheet and felt like a double slider be fun. I used Lawn Fawn Slider dies and pennies to allow us to float back and forth. I used a few purple and white sequins from a Kindred Shaker Pack to add a little pizzazz to the card. 

Last, I stamped "Float On" onto the beach ball paper using Stazon Purple Pigment and then heat embossed using Brutus Monroe's Fairy Dust embossing powder. I placed my beach ball onto a wobbler and it bounces around when you bop it!

Now that you've stuck with me through three cards, please make sure you leave a comment! I get to give away a $10 store credit and I'm hoping it's you. Leave a comment here and make sure you include your email address so I know where to reach you. 

The entire Kindred Stamps June release will be available Friday, June 28th 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, I hope you have a fantastic summer!

~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

Bookmarks Worth Reading For!

Hi again friends! 

Kindred Stamps hosted a make and take table at the Simon Says Create Event that happened March 15th & 16th (it was sold out, woah!) I was able to assist Audra in planning out our table's projects. We decided to use the especially popular, Little Town Life stamp set to make bookmarks.

I started by using the princess and stamping her out with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Next, I stamped her little friends using Gray Flannel Memento ink, I wanted them a little angled rather than stamped straight on. I then stamped the sentiment "choose your own adventure" in Catherine Pooler Tiara ink.

Then it was time to color! For her skin, I used Copic E13, E11, and E00. The dress is Y19, Y13, and Y11, the overlay, I used just Y11 and added a layer of Clear Wink of Stella for some sparkle. Her hair is E79, E57, and E23. I finished her with RV29 for the rose petals and YG67 for the leaf!  

I chose a pink ribbon that matched the rose to finish my bookmark. Now you've got the chance to make your own bookmark! Go grab Little Town Life and have some fun! I am excited to see your take on this project... want a bonus?

I decided to make one more bookmark, this one using the beastly prince from this set! I didn't keep track of the colors because I didn't have to pass them along for the project. For his fur, I varied several shades from the earth tone collection so it didn't all blend together. 

I began by stamping him with black Memento, then chose to use Catherine Pooler inks that fit with the character for the little friends. The feather duster was stamped in the same gray Memento from the first book mark. The sentiment "you're my favorite guy" was stamped in red VersaFine. The bookmark was finished off with a red ribbon with dots on it.

I hope that you've enjoyed my bookmarks, I have a special home for them in mind. I really hope you try to make some for yourself or someone you love.

Thank you,

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

Where I Want to Be

Hello again! I am so excited to share with you my projects for the Beth Duff Designs collaboration with Unity Stamp Company! Two of my FAVORITE companies working together!

I used the set called "Warmth of Home" which is the perfect set for a Christmas themed card! I decided to do one card two ways. My first is with Copic Markers. I went with Cool Gray colors for the couch, Warm Gray for the blanket, then reds and greens for the pillows. I hit the blanket and red pillow with clear Wink of Stella to add a bit of glitter.

My next card, I used Prismacolor Colored Pencils on kraft paper. For this card, I used Warm Gray colors for the couch, for the blanket I used the Silver with the lightest Cool Gray, and again red and green. I again added Wink of Stella, which isn't amazing on colored pencils, but I love glitter, so I had to try!

The paper for the background is Vintage 45, I thought it looked like a wallpaper. The floor is kraft paper cut with a Penny Black die. The rug is the crochet stamp from "Warmth of Home" stamped on the reverse side of the printed paper. The sentiments are so sweet in this set, I have a lot of family that is spread out, so "home is where I want to be" really spoke to my heart. I stamped it onto a stitched rectangle using Catherine Pooler Eucalyptus ink.

Now it's time to hop! We have TWO amazing Unity filled prize packages to give away. Leave a comment on EACH design team member’s blog in the hop for your chance to win. {We will announce the winners on the Unity blog TUESDAY night.}

Angeline 


Camille


Crystal 


Donna


Echo 


Gaylynn 


Karen


Kary


Kris 


Mandi


Maria 


Noelle 


Robyn


Sharon


Shemaine


Beth Duff Designs


Niccole


Lynnea


Annie


Rachel (You found me!)


Unity Stamp Co

Thank  you for visiting me,

R. Winn

Magic Show

 Hi friends! 

I'm so excited to share today's cards! I got to play with Kindred Stamps new "Magic Show" stamp set! My littlest sister, Addison absolutely LOVES watching Penn and Teller's Fool Us, and has taken to wanting to visit the magic shop at Pike Place Market when we spend time in Seattle. Audra and her wife, Dylan, got to see Addison's magic trick on one of our last visits. 

After that, Audra put this amazing set together and that adorable little girl in the set? It's based on my Addie! Naturally, I needed to use Addison's tagline, "Wanna see a magic trick?" on the card using her likeness. I wanted to use Sweet Stamp Shop's Peekaboo Window Die, so I started with a black chalkboard cardstock and sprayed Tonic's Silver Smoke Mica Mist on it and let it dry. The die was super easy to use and I will be making a magic color slider with Addison using it at some point. Next, I colored up my girl, making sure she had lots of sparkles and bright colors.  

I used a Stampin' Up Banner die cut and stamped the sentiment in Catherine Pooler ink, then went over it with Wink of Stella and kinda added a magical effect with the run ink.

Behind the magic curtain, aka Sunny Studio paper, I put the magic trick! I started with some Lawn Fawn paper that looked like a stage curtain to me. Then added "ta-da!" stamped in the same Catherine Pooler ink, and cut out using a Stampin Up Starburst Circle die. 

For her magic trick, the little magician pulled a rabbit out of her hat! I colored all three images using Copic Markers.

The end result is a super cute card that can be used for almost any occasion!

My next card, I wanted to try to created a stage, pieces are a bit rough, but overall, I hope it's cute!

I recently decided to give Rinea Foil Paper a try after seeing my friend Annie's creations (that's her affiliate link). I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with them, but after looking through the ones I ordered, I decided to keep it simple and used a black sheet with embossed stars for the background. 

This little guy has the best cape and his wand shoots magic stars! I colored him, and the table and cards using Copics and used Wink of Stella for glitter accents!

My floor is kraft paper stamped using Stampin Up's Woodgrain background stamp. Behind my little guy, I used some sparkly sticker paper that I picked up at JoAnn's a while back. I HAD to use the curtain that is included in the Magic Show stamp set to finish off his stage. This guy did a card trick, but there are several options included in this set. 

I finished off the card using Catherine Pooler inks and a Lawn Fawn sentiment die for the "Have a magical birthday" sentiment.

We have five new stamp sets, new shaker packs, and a couple new stencils coming out Friday, August 24th at Kindred Stamps, that we think you'll fall in love with as much as we have! Come join us on our team's blog hop for a chance to win a $10 store credit, make sure you leave comments on each blog to be entered. Join our Facebook Fan Club to be kept in the loop about giveaways, share your projects, and see all of our's!

Kindred Stamps

Ashlea

Tanya

Marcia

Rachel (You are here)

Courtney

Amber

Molly

Maria

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

~R. Winn

Magical Friends!

Hello again, are you sick of me yet friends? Too bad! I have more fun things to share and you need to see them all!

Today's fun, is brought to you by Witt and Sass Stamp Company! When Amy showed me her Magical Friends set, I was SO excited. These cuties started off as digis and are now full blown clear stamps! I've got THREE projects to share with you today!

I started out by no-line coloring the friends with Ink On 3's Fade Out ink, the little smartypants bird almost killed me... but I did it! Next, I fussy cut them out, and then they just sat for a little while. I was so excited that I had zero ideas. Opps!

Then, I started looking at the other supplies that Witt and Sass has launched... and that Layered Dot stencil in the right colors, looked to me pretty magical! Then, I looked through the dies I have, because I do a ton of die cutting... and I realized I have this amazing box card by Pink and Main that I got from Kraftgali months ago but haven't used yet. Suddenly, I knew what I was doing!

I started with a navy base, I love dark bases for box cards, I find they are forgiving and when I'm messy on accident (constantly) it doesn't screw over my project since the dark paper is more forgiving. Next, I knew I wanted to use the flying keys, I decided to heat emboss them in gold on vellum. I hit the inside of the keys with a gold Wink of Stella pen, and the wings, I used the white Wink of Stella, and topped it with clear Wink of Stella once it was dry. I used some small silver star sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to cover the glue dots I used to hold the vellum to the card base. This became the card background.

I chose the brave and patient friends to be on this card, I feel like they are a good pair of companions, and well, they look good together! After I built the card base, and placed the friends, I started working on building the extra elements to polish the look of the card. My stencil came out to play, I started with purple Distress Oxide and brushed it over the white card stock, then I took the Dots Background Builder Stencil and a iridescent silver ink with a blender tool to the top of the purple. I added a few large silver stars from Pretty Pink Posh to the side panels. After I die cut and affixed them to the card, it was time to pick the sentiment. On box cards, I like to use a sentiment on the exterior and interior of the card. For the inside, I picked "You are magical!".

Finally, I need to finish the outside of the card. I brought the flying keys back out and used my lightest grey ink cube from my Altenew set to create a light, simple background for the front. The front sentiment is perfect for these two friends "I'm glad we're friends" which I heat embossed onto the same navy card stock and used a silver powder. To finish the card completely, I cut down a piece of white card stock to fit on the back, to give me a writing space, I added a single flying key in the light grey to tie it all together!

My next project, I decided to break out a few new stamps I picked up at 7 Kids Craft Store to build a spooky forest scene. I started by blending the greyscale Altenew inks, I worked lightest to darkest and finished the bottom with black MementoLuxe ink. Next, I took the Lavinia Scared Tree stamp from 7 Kids and stamped it using brown Distress Oxide Ink 3 times.

I wanted to create a magical protection spell, with my spirit animal, a unicorn, and the Lavinia Unicorn 2 was perfect for that since it's a silhouette stamp. I heat embossed him using a mixture of Brutus Monroe's Mermaid and Rainbow embossing powders.  He looks iridescent and slightly sparkly, like a spell!

I added my witty friend to the card and finished the card off with the "Happy birthday to my favorite muggle" sentiment from Magical Creatures. For the sentiment, I stamped it then spritzed with a shimmer spray, which ended up causing the ink to bleed, but it looked magic spell like to me, so I went with it. I used a tattered edge die cut for it.

My last card, I was running out of steam and decided to keep it simpler,. I still had the clever friend from Magical Friends to showcase, and well, I wanted to make a shaker card using the Kindred Stamps Little Green Men Shaker Pack that I had just gotten.

I started by picking a neutral colored DSP from a retired Stampin' Up pad and cutting it down to size for the background. Next, I used two sizes from the Stampin' Up's star die cuts to create a "hallow" star for my shaker portion. I used the center star that was cut and outlined it in dimensional line strips to bump star up and then added the Little Green Men shaker pack and a few Pretty Pink Posh small silver stars (I'm almost out of these and really need to order more!) to create a pretty, magical looking star.

Then, I used the center star and another small, white die cut star and stamped "For you're outstanding achievement..." and " I award you 100 points! Well done!" in black ink. I added my clever friend next to the large star, and then hand placed a few sequins by the smaller stars to finish the card!

I know that was a lot, so thank you for baring with me! I hope you don't forget to swing by Witt & Sass and pick up a set of Magical Friends of your own, I can't wait to see what you make!

~R. Winn

Chubby Unicorn!

Guys... GUYS! 

The day I've been waiting months for is here. I've some how been blessed with amazingly talented friends. I stumbled across this insanely talent gal, Amy, a few months back and stalked her a little bit until we became friends. She told me about her plans to launch her designs from digital stamps to clear, I was on board immediately. I loved the designs that I had purchased from her Etsy store, and well, I love clear stamps. So, when she invited me to join her design team, I was floored.

I am pleased to bring you my first blog as part of the Witt & Sass Stamp Company Design Team! Today, I feature Chubby Unicorn... he's my favorite! My first card, I worked with a design sketch I found from Google (I really can't remember who designed it and I'm sorry for that!) Normally, I build my cards as I go, planning is actually a little outside of my comfort zone.

I had picked some really beautiful pastel papers but they ended up working against this awesome pink dude that I colored up using Copic markers. So... I tried again! I worked with richer, darker colors, the result is beautiful! (Well, at least I think it is!) I wanted him to become the focal point of the card, to make him really pop, I made sure to keep his coloring bright and the background I did in shades of Warm Grey. I finished him with a clear Wink of Stella to add sparkle.

The sentiment, I heat embossed using WOW powder in Earthtone Grape and layered using Stampin' Up's Layering Oval die cuts. The beautiful star strip is from this set too, it reminds me of a bar of music! I used Chameleon Pens to color it, and finish it off with Wink of Stella on the stars. 

Finally, I finished the card off with red and black DoubleClick Skittles and Silver Star Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

My next card, I chose the original, full body Chubby Unicorn! I used the Blue Green family, and just colored the shaded parts of him, more of a reflection than color. This was followed by using the colorless blender marker to pull some of the brightness of the color out. My best friend, Molly, and her purple hair were the inspiration for the hair color!

So, I had this adorable unicorn all colored up, with no where to go. I reached into the box of goodies that Witt & Sass Stamp Company is launching with, and pulled out this AMAZING, Background Builder Hill Stencil. I love using stencils in a variety of ways, ink is always fun to play with, but really, we have some truly skilled ink blenders on the team that have been playing with these stencils too. Glitter paste is always fun, but I didn't want to overwhelm the unicorn, then I saw it... my Tonic Embellishment Mousse! I recently have been picking up additional colors here and there. I had the Citrus Green, which was perfect for this grassy hill so I started there. I off-centered the hill a little so you can really see how well it rounds, on a 5.5" x 5.5" card, it covers from edge to edge. On my A2 size, I got to pick my placement!  

You all know I love my clouds, stencils, die cuts... stamps. Well, you've never seen something this fantastic! Amy came up with this brilliant Background Builder Cloud Stencil and my life was completed! I used my powder blue mousse for the base of these clouds (yes, I know clouds are white, but in unicorn world the sky is inverted.) and did the cloud shadows in black ash mousse. After that was all done, I placed my little guy on the hill, and added a few bunches of grass to the top of the hill with the stencil!

The sentiments with this set are just fun, I love how encouraging this card would be to get. I stamped the sentiment out on some scratch pink paper using Versafine and used one end of a Lawn Fawn sentiment banner die cut to give it shape. I layered both my card front and the sentiment strip on purple glitter paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby! To finish the sentiment, I used a Luna Wink of Stella pen to fill in the word "cool"!

I hope you all enjoyed my cards, and if you haven't already, come check out Witt & Sass Stamp Company! We'd love for you to join us on Facebook and to see what you end up making too!

Thank you all for joining me, and thank you to Amy for believing in me!

~R. Winn

Beach, Please...

I'm backkkkkk! HAHA, you guys can't get rid of me. I am super excited to announce that my friend Beth is launching her own line of stamps, Beth Duff Designs!  She has asked me to join her as her Creative Team Lead, and I couldn't be more excited about it.  Our first release is going to be mid-April, and will feature eight adorable sets that I cannot wait to play with...

In the meantime, she has shared a few digis with those of us that answered her Creative Team Call, and Jr Design Team Call. The one that called to me? Obviously, the mermaid! I loved coloring the individual scales on her tail, and her hair... OH MAN, it was fun! I colored her using my Copic Markers.  I couldn't decide on a color for her top so I tried paper piercing for the first time, a technique where you use patterned paper for part of image, I hadn't done it before and wanted to start small. The paper I chose is retired DSP from Stampin' Up that had adorable little flowers on it. Her tail, I finished with a clear Wink of Stella.

The brilliant background that Beth included for us was a little too much for my hands to color, especially since I used colored pencils (SO MUCH WORK!)  I wanted a water feel to it and used multiple shades of blue and then cut down a panel to accent the card with. I layered it on top of some retired shimmer white cardstock from Stampin' Up. I used a second strip of the shimmer cs and used a bit of dark blue Firework spray (ok... maybe more than a bit) to change it into a color close to the darkest colored pencil.  I framed the sentiment with the blue strip.  I finished the card off by using a pretty shimmery gold card stock for the background.

The picture doesn't do the shimmer and glitter justice, and I loved trying new things with this card.  I am beyond excited about this new team, and can't wait to share more with all of you!

The Jr Design Team is something I haven't seen before, and I am excited to announce that my little sister, Addison is on it! She loves Beth, and was SO excited to have a "job" that she worked on projects with the digis all weekend. I think my favorite project she completed was using the Dinos that Beth is offering for her Challenge this month! The challenge is about Snarky Sentiments, but Addison likes to write out her own sentiments and what she wrote about always having a friend really touched my heart.

Addison has a stockpile of primary colored card bases (she knows how to make her own, but sometimes measurements are a little difficult for a 10 year old... ok, sometimes they're difficult for a 30 year old! Precut card bases make both of our lives easier.) 

She used Crayola Twistables to color the dinos, she said the big guy looked sad so she added a few tears.  The little guy's words were a bit too big for his speech bubble which made me love it even more.  She knows how to use several types of adhesive, and typically prefers a snail runner, but we were having issues with her's and for this card she used Tombow clear liquid glue.  She makes me so proud and even set up and took her own picture, using her pencil box as a background!

You will see more creations from Addison, and myself using Beth Duff Designs soon.  Thank you all for stopping by.

~R. Winn

Dragon Along!

Hi again friends! It's been a trying month for me, I won't lie! Battling through depression over my job loss, and climbing over hurdle after hurdle that seem to come my way have been tough. BUT, I'm Dragon Along (ha!) and am excited to start my new job this month!  For this month's release we have SO many amazing sets, but one of my absolute favorites is "Dragons" It's not a huge set, but it's a very versatile set in my opinion!

My first project using it is a kid's color me in type of card.  I've seen this done many different ways, but they all come back to using an adorable image for a card to give to a kid in your life.  This flying dragon made me thing of my "baby" sister who can be a bit of a dragon herself lol! So, I made her a Valentine using him, a few pieces of Kindred Stamps's Sweet Love Shaker Pack, a set of Brutus Monroe's Clickable Alphabets (affiliate link), Stampin' Up's Starburst Circles Die Cuts, and the "So Fly" sentiment from "Dragons". 

The result is an adorable dragon card for a 10 year old to color in, since coloring is one of her favorite things to do at my house! She will be able to use crayons, colored pencils, or even Copic markers if she wants to since I used blending paper to make sure any medium that my little dragon wanted to use would work. (Yes, she uses my Copics, and she does an excellent job with them too!)

Next up, I wanted to use both dragons in the set, and I adore this "I heard you're dragon" sentiment. Like I said, the last month hasn't been easy on me so it really spoke to my heart. Both dragons are colored using Copics, I chose blue for the little guy sitting, and for the flyer I went with a more traditional dragon color of red (maybe I should've done green but I like my dragons colorful!). It's hard to see, but both dragons are COVERED in Wink of Stella clear glitter and shimmer and shine in good lighting! 

I knew I wanted the little guy sitting to be lower, and I had wanted to put the sentiment behind him, but I couldn't make that work without covering him or putting him too far right to look up at his friend.  So then it occurred to me that he would fit perfectly ON the sentiment. I glue him flat to the card base and gave the flyer with a little pop with dimensionals from Stampin' Up.

Last, the card looked a little naked to me so I grabbed some blue DoubleClick Skittles (check out Kindred Stamps's selection here) and used 3 on the two blank corners. I feel like I ended up with a perfectly balanced card ready to brighten someone's day.

My last project was a bit of a brainchild... I thought what could be better than a dragon in the clouds? Too bad I killed my Snow Marker (yes, that's a thing, here's an Amazon link) to make it, but... I think it's worth it!  I got a set of Arteza Real Brush Markers for Christmas, and was dying to try them. The bad news is that I have no idea what I'm doing with them. The good news is, he still turned out pretty cute!  

After I colored him in, I used a blue scrap for the background and glued him where I wanted him, then set to work on the clouds! Each fluffy cloud was added in layers of drawing with the marker and using my heat gun. The effect is a nice fluffy bunch of clouds, including the one little flyer is popping out of!  Last, for the sentiment, I used a Fiskar's small cloud punch and build another cloud, slightly more flat than the others. Using a Distress Oxide in Raspberry, I stamped "So Fly" into the clouds.

There you have it, my three cards using "Dragons" for the January 2018 Kindred Stamps Release!

Thank you for joining us in celebrating this month's release! We know a lot of you have been hoping for sets inspired from times when dragons wandered the earth freely and dire wolves once again moved amongst this land. We brought that to you, and then some. We brought spooky things from the deepest depths of the oceans, and we captured the night sky for you. All you need to do now is to let your inspiration reign! Where will these stories take your crafting?

Before your craft table takes you to the many planets of our solar system, let us take you to the blogs for our Creative Team Members and that of our Guest Designer. Everyone is excited to provide you with a sample of their work and to talk about some of the products they used as well as their thought process.

On your journey, if you comment on each person's blog post, you will be eligible to win store credit for a future purchase! You must comment on each person's blog, as well as the blog post for Kindred Stamps. The winner will be chosen Friday night, 1-12-18, around 9 pm EST.

We thank you so much for your enthusiasm! We can't wait to see what you're inspired by, but remember, if you are inspired by something pop culture related, please refer to our stamp set names on social media and avoid using the actual show or character names. It is very important that we do not step on copyright toes! Thank you ever so much!

Now, for the hop! Follow these links!

Kindred Stamps

Marie Nicole Designs

R.Winn Creates (You are Here!)

Dagg Designs Blog

Fanciful Spaces

The Frolicking Fairy

Thank you for dropping in!

~R. Winn