Let's Stick Together!

Hello again friends!

I'm absolutely in love with this month's Kindred Stamps new release line up. I got to play with "Stick Together", which features two adorable hedgehogs! The sentiments on this set cover all sorts of occasions too.

I made two cards, my first card is fairly simple, I used Kraft paper on top of a white base. On the craft paper, I used the heart from "Stick Together" and stamped it randomly about halfway up the card using a red Distress Oxide ink.

I used the hedgehog on his back and colored him using Copic Earth tones. I also colored up a heart using light pinks then cut them both out and had the little guy hold the heart. 

I picked the "I love you even when you're prickly" sentiment and stamped it on a white banner. To finish the card off, I added a few Queen & Co pokey embellishments. Like I said, simple, but I think whomever ends up receiving this card will smile!

My next card is a little... more! I love this little sitting hedgehog, and the butterfly is just so cute. I colored this hedgehog up a little lighter. I colored the butterfly orange and had him land on the hedgehog's nose. I bent the butterfly in the middle so one wing was up. 

To create the background, I used the Witt & Sass Hill Builder Stencil (no longer in business 😞). For the grass, I blended Catherine Pooler Mardi Gras and Eucalyptus. The sky is a blend of Catherine Pooler Baby Boy and Skylight.

I took Memory Box Stitched Cloud dies and covered them in Ink On 3's Liquid Pixie Dust using a paint brush (I covered 4 clouds with only 2 drops, and while the picture doesn't show it well, they are heavily covered in sparkles). Next, I took my Tag #1 die from The Stamp Doctor, and die cut my sentiment, which I stamped in Catherine Pooler Mandarin Spice ink. I mounted my card onto a gold foiled base from Michaels.

I hope that you've enjoyed my take on "Stick Together" and cannot wait to see what you dream up with this set! The entire Kindred Stamps March release will be available Friday, March 22nd 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!

~R. Winn

Magical Friendship Week

Good to see you again! I'm so excited you're joining us for the Kindred Stamps & Witt and Sass Stamp Company "Magical Friendship Week" Collaboration! Our teams have put together some absolutely magical cards for you and today, I get to share mine!

I used the lion from Witt and Sass's Magical Creature stamp set and colored him up with Copics. He is paired with a boy and owl from the Kindred Stamps Student's of Magic stamp set which are also colored with Copics. For the owl, I used very little color, but did chose to dot the wing and a few other small sections to imitate a Snowy Owl. 

Next, I used a retired stencil from Clarity Stamps of a gnarly tree with a square from to create a background. I used Catherine Pooler inks for the grass and sky, from bottom to top, the colors are Eucalyptus, Skyline, Juniper Mist, Black Jack, and finally, Midnight. After lifting the stencil, I did go back and blend some color into the square frame of the stencil to diffuse the bright white that was left behind.

I didn't love the tree being white either, so I took two shades of brown Distress Crayons and colored it in, after coloring it in, I used a dry paint brush to kinda blend the colors together and soften the look. I placed my owl on a tree branch, and the lion and boy in the grass below. To add depth to the card, I glued to owl down with Tombow Mono Glue, but used dimensionals to pop the boy and lion up a touch.

I absolutely love this sentiment from Students of Magic, so I had to use it. I found an off white paper in a Graphic 45 stack to heat emboss the sentiment on to. I used a Lindy's Gang embossing powder (seriously fantastic powder!!) Looking through my die cuts I wasn't finding a shape or style that I loved so I opted to just fussy cut around the sentiment. 

I mounted my card face onto a sheet of patterned vellum that looked like stars, then mounted them both to a purple card base. To finish the card off, I added a few sequins from the Kindred Stamps Galaxy Shaker Pack. 

Hopefully, you've enjoyed my project, and hopefully you go pick up a few magical stamp sets of your own. I feel so lucky to have become friends with Audra of Kindred Stamps, and Amy of Witt and Sass Stamp Company. These are kind, genuine women who work their hind ends off to deliver exceptional products to their customers. I'm proud to have the chance to work with each of them, and truly value having both of them in my life.

I want to invite you to become part of our communities, you can join the Kindred Stamps Fan Club and become a Sassy in the Witt & Sass Stamp Company Facebook group. Make sure you check out all of the products that both Witt and Sass and Kindred Stamps have to offer as well! We can't wait to see what you make!

Thanks for stopping by,

~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

Ode to England

What a fun day to share not one, but two stamp sets! 

I'm excited to share a project for the Beth Duff Designs and Witt and Sass collaboration blog hop. Both companies have new England themed stamp set coming out, and we thought why not tag team for a joint blog hop. The Beth Duff Designs set is Adventure Abroad - England. For Witt & Sass, we have a wonderful British sentiment set, Fabulously Gobsmacked.

First, I colored my London Bridge from the Adventure Abroad Set, using multiple shades of Copic Gray, and finished it off with some light blues for the lighted sections. I wanted to build a scene where it appeared my bus was about to head over the bridge (once it comes back down of course!) 

To do so, I chose a light gray cardstock to build my scene on to, depicting a grey skied London. With my Layered Clouds Stencil from Witt and Sass, I used some Altenew grey mini cube inks, and added bases of white. 

To create my river, I used different alcohol inks from Kraftgali and cut my Yupo paper down to fit. For my buildings, I used two colors of tan cardstock and the Sweet Stamp Shop City Border die cut, which I cut bits from to create a unique city that was layered. 

Next, it was time to pick my sentiments from Fabulously Godsmacked! This set has SO many good words and phrases that it was hard to pick. I landed on two, "I'm gutted" because my sweet Scottish friend, Connie, says it to me often, and "I miss you" because it is true, I miss her! (She's totally getting this card... eventually!)

I placed them on some mini banners from an old Stampin' Up kit (hoarder here!) and stamped them with VersaFine Clair black ink! I placed them on dimensionals to really make them pop, and staggered them in the sky. 

I used some DCWV burgundy card stock to layer the card face on and then grabbed one of the tan sheets I used for the buildings for the base.

We are happy to have you hopping along with us! Our team and guest designers have created some amazing projects to share with you. Hop along to get some great inspiration from both Beth Duff Designs and Witt & Sass.

Mindy

Marcia

Annabel

Amy

Emma

Fawn

Annie

Rachel (You found me!)

Niccole

BDD

I hope you've enjoyed my card featuring these awesome sets, and hope we've inspired you to go snag sets for yourself! 

~R. Winn

Background Builders

Hello again friends,

I get to share with you Witt and Sass's Stencils and Background builder stamps! These are amazing products that can help you create a supporting scene for a card, or like I will show you today, make a stunning card all on their own.

I started by using a sheet of white cardstock and the Mountain Background Builder stencil, I placed it towards the left of the card and used Stampin' Up Crumb Cake ink to make my first mountain. Next, placed another mountain to the right and left of the original one. I used Catherine Pooler's  Eucalyptus ink for the accent, I wanted to have it look like our beautiful mountains here in Washington full of trees, but it could also depict shadows, water, snow, etc! Speaking of snow, I took an ink dauber and Stampin' Up White Craft ink and lightly created a layer of snow to top my mountains off.

Next, I took the Grassy Hill Background Builder Stamps, and stamped it a few times along the bottom edge of the mountains in Catherine Pooler's Lime Rickey ink. I used about 5 different Copic Green markers and dotted to create a grassy field below the mountains. I fussy cut the mountains out and started the sky.  

I picked a bright blue piece of paper, and placed the Layered Stencil Clouds on it. I used Stampin' Up White Craft ink and did several layers of it using an ink dauber to create a full coverage on the clouds. For the layer, I created some shadow using Catherine Pooler's Juniper Mist ink. 

To finish the card off, I chose a sentiment from the "You are Beautiful" stamp sets because I love the  powerful, kind sentiments this set has. I used the Catherine Pooler ink Something Borrowed since it matched my sky blue, and used Lawn Fawn's sentiment banner die cuts to put the sentiments on.

I hope you've enjoyed my card today, it was fun to make and I am so excited to use these stencils and stamps to build backgrounds for future cards. 

~R. Winn

You are Beautiful

Miss me?

I am back to show off my card using Witt and Sass's You are Beautiful set! Ok, so this set is gorgeous, and has a TON of pieces and amazing sentiments... basically, you need it.

Amy created this set to uplift those that we love, tell them they are enough, and encourage them that they are going make it through whatever rough roads they are traveling... and it is perfect.

I started with coloring these stunning flowers using Copics, then used a CC Designs Stitched Oval die cut to cut it out. I wanted to take another stab at the #WSCARDCHALLENGE of Black & White, POP of Color, and Ribbon. So these flowers are really it!

I suck to a basic white ribbon, crossed a little more than halfway down, then put the flowers on top, popped up with some Stampin Up Dimensionals. The sentiment, I forgot to use my emboss buddy so the heat embossing is a little mucky, but it says "Whatever you managed to do today is enough". I love the way the Brutus Monroe Alabaster powder melts, it's great for sentiments. I layered the sentiment on white then another piece of black.

To finish the card off, I grabbed the bubble outlines included in the You are Beautiful set and used Memento Luxe's white ink and stamped it out multiple times in the bottom right corner of the card, and then again in the top left of the sentiment.

Make sure you join us on the Witt & Sass Stamp Company Facebook group to see our team's makes all month, and to share your own with us!

Thank you for visiting me today.

~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

Designer Cupcakes - SWEET!

Hi again friends!

I'm back to show off Witt and Sass Stamp Company's new Designer Cupcake stamp set! This set has a little something for everyone, it allows you to pick your toppings, has a nice large sentiment, and some really neat little ones too!

I decided to make a gamer cupcake that would work for one of the guys in my life. I started by no-line coloring the cupcake using Ink On 3's Fade Out Ink. The controller was a bit small for me to no-line so I went ahead and stamped it with black ink and colored it in dark shades of grey. 

Next, I used Catherine Pooler inks and the Layered Stencil Dots to create a card background. I used different Pretty Pink Posh sequins to fill up the card and used the part I had cut out for the back of the card too, it was a little tricky so it's not perfectly lined up.

Last, I couldn't decide on how to stamp the "happy birthday", a friend suggested I heat emboss in white, which was just perfect! (I always suggest showing a friend when you're stuck, fresh eyes are the solution 99% of the time for me!)

I added a the "dude you rock in the corner and my card was complete!

I hope you enjoy my take on this set, stop back by on Wednesday for a different twist from me!

~R. Winn

Friendship Cards - Tropical Party

Ready for some bright colors? I got to play with all sorts of fun things this week! This week I'm sharing the Witt & Sass Stamp Co's Tropical Party stamp set!

I started by creating a card for the #wscardchallenge "Black & White, POP of color, and ribbon". I picked a few patterned papers that were black and white but complemented each other and layered them. I colored up the pineapple with Copics for my POP of color and put it on a white square. I wrapped two corners with black glitter ribbon.

I love the sentiments on this set, they're super fun and are all about celebrating yourself. I chose "Celebrate Your Weirdness" and heat embossed it using Brutus Monroe's Raven Embossing Powder. I added a few black DoubleClick Skittles and a few clear droplets from Pretty Pink Posh to finish off the 3" x 3" card!

My next card is the main feature! I freaking LOVE this flamingo. It's tall, and fills a card well, and is SO cute. I knew I wanted a one layer card. I find that they are hard for me, I flounder when I don't get to add lots of die cuts or embellishments because that means getting things right the first time, no mistakes!

I started by stamping out the flamingo and coloring him up using my Copics (I had to go get more pinks because what I had wasn't cutting it!) After he was done, I masked him off and then used the Wave Background Builder stencil to put him on a golden sandy beach.  I used Catherine Pooler blues and a blending tool for the water, then added the sand in using Delicata gold.

I topped the waves off with the darkest blue using the Background Builders Sand & White Caps stamps. Then added a few sandy details in the same Delicata gold to complete the scene.

Again with these sentiments, they rock! "In a world of pigeons you are a flamingo!" went directly next to the flamingos lower legs and I embossed it in Brutus Monroe's Mermaid Tail powder. In order to finish the card off, I went ahead and put it on top of a bright tropical patterned paper!

I hope you've enjoyed my makes, and want to invite you to join us on Facebook to see the rest of the team's projects, and share your own too!

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