Happy 250th America!

Hey guys I'm up on the Blogger with my very first card as a Guest Designer for July.  Since it's July 3rd and tomorrow is America's 250th Birthday I really wanted to make a card to celebrate that!  I remember being a kid in 1976 when we celebrated America's 200th Bicentennial Birthday and there was such a buzz in the air leading up to the big day!  I just remember being in awe of so much that was going on; the parades, the fireworks, the cookouts, all the neighbors out in the streets shaking hands and really celebrating our 200th birthday!  It was AWESOME.  So I am dedicating this card to America and her 250th birthday!

I started out with a patterned base card that picks up that blue in my color scheme.  It's filled with colorful stars that was perfect for this card! I layered that with a white card stock and then layered red foiled card stock on top. That red really makes everything pop!  For the "HAPPY" I used a Karen Burniston "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" DIE SET.  I die cut in a heavy white card stock and inked it in red, and leaving some white of the card stock and then blue.  I adhered it to the top and moved on to my focal point.

I'm not going to lie, for those flags, I cut up a 4th of July store bought card my sister sent to me years ago. It was in a bunch of unused store bought cards she no longer wanted.  I mean who doesn't like to recycle...so I fussy cut them and adhered to the card base.

The coffee cup is from one of our Super Sponsors and a fav of mine, Crackerbox Stamps.  This is from their Coffee 1 collection.  I stamped the cup out and used a couple of Vickie Boutin color wheels (blue/greens and the red orange set) to bring the RED, WHITE and BLUE colors our flag is known for.

After stamping out and inking the cup, I stamped another one on that star pattern paper...it was the packaging from HOMETOWN SUMMER by Renne Lonney, again, recycling at it's best😋😊😊  I fussy cut the lid and the sleeve and adhered both to the cup, popping up the lid with some foam tape for some added dimension.  I die cut the 250th, which are both from Karen Burniston, and added it to the sleeve and then adhered the cup to the card.

I reached into my American Crafts Thickers FLAGS & FRILLS and found the word AMERICAN so I cut the "N" off so I could use it as the word AMERICA.  

Lastly I added some glitter stars from my stash and called it done.

Are you sending out any 250th USA Birthday cards this year?  Are you as excited as I am to celebrate our 250th?  I can only hope it is as FABULOUS as the Bicentennial 200th birthday celebration I remember as a kid!

Thanks for hanging out with me today and I hope I inspired you to get into your crafty space and make a handmade card for someone and put a smile on their face.

Stay crafty my friends,

Kimberly

 

KCS Designs - Ethereal Fairies Dream

Hey guys I'm up on the Blogger  as a Design Team member with KCS Designs by Kim.  You can find all of her amazing designs over on Etsy.  Her downloads are so easy to print and fussy cut and add as a focal point to any art journal, card, tag or whatever you are making.  Here is a direct link to her shop and one to the fairies.

Today I'm using one of her Fairies from her Ethereal Fairy collection and isn't she beautiful!  These colors just called out to me, they are so soft and gorgeous I just had to use something from this collection.

I started off with a page out of my art journal.  This paper is super thick at 140lb and can take any medium I've thrown at it.  I got it off of Amazon, here is a link (no affiliation) but it's awesome to work with!

I pulled some CTMH inks in Journey and Shortbread and softly inked up the background.  I didn't want to do a heavy cover for this because the image is so soft.

After inking the background I printed the image and cut it twice with my Joy2 Cricut...oh that thing cuts so precise!  I then cut the wings off the second image so I could give the image a bit of dimension with some foam tape on the second pair of wings.  

I decided that I wanted to use some fine gold embossing powder on parts of her wing and while I was at it I wanted to cover the holes with a circle of gold embossing powder just to pull that gold over and balance the page.  I set the image aside so I could finish up the background.

I went into my stencils and grabbed my Tim Holtz HOCUS POCUS stencil, that is my favorite star stencil I have and works beautifully!  I used some CTMH ink in ALMOND to stencil the background.  I then reached for my DECOART word stencil and used the words INSPIRE and DREAM and stenciled them with glitter paste in TOPAZ from DIAMOND PRESS.  

I let that dry and then reached into my 49 and Market rub ons from the SUMMER PORCH ESSENTIALS, I loved that saying from and the colors were spot on.   I used a couple of more rub ons from that collection and then pulled some bits and pieces from the MOONLIT GARDEN cluster kit.  I love when 2 collections work so well together!

I placed her at the top right corner and adhered her down and added those second pair of wings for that added dimension.  I added all the bits and pieces from the MOONLIT GARDEN kit making sure to balance the page and then added some word strips from a very old sticker book called SIMPLE VINTAGE COTTAGE FIELDS from Simple Stories.

I am not mad at it, I absolutely love the colors Kim chose to use for her and the other fairies...so soft and gorgeous!

I hope I inspired you to get into your crafty space and do some art journaling or card making or what ever your crafty outlet is.  Don't forget to head over to her shop and take a peak at all the amazing images she has created!  

Stay crafty!

Kimberly

Art Journaling - A broken heart still beats in silence

Hey guys, I'm up on the Blogger with a brand new PNG from KCS Designs!  I was just brought on to be on her Design Team and I am super excited about it.  Her designs are so good and are so easy to download and use.  Here is a link to her Etsy shop, head over and check out her stuff. 

This Goth girl is from the HER HAUNTED DREAMS collection and I absolutely love her!  I will say this is my very fist Goth journal page and I am not mad at it!

I started out with sending the image over to my cricut Joy 2 so that I didn't have to fussy cut her.  I love the Joy 2 just for that reason alone!  It cut very detailed and even got the strands of her hair.  After letting the Joy do all that work I set her aside and started on the background.

I rolled the background with some HICKORY SMOKE and BLACK SOOT Distressed oxides with a brayer.  

I grabbed some of my favorite background stamps from:

• STUDIO LIGHT (Grunge collection, clock background - it is one of my FAVORITE stamps right now) 
• PAPERARTSY (EM108)
• BACK PORCH MEMORIES (retired)
• GRUNGE TEXTURES - Amazon

I then added some Shimmeringz in BRONZED BOMBSHELL and some RUSTY HINGE from Ranger and let it dry.

I hopped into my 49 and Market, MOON LIT GARDEN (the paper lace, the greenery, the swirls and the number tags).  I also downloaded some Ephemera bits and pieces from another shop on Etsy by My White Cat Journal, they paired perfectly with my focal image!

I am not mad at it and I can't wait to use more of KCS Designs images on my art journaling pages!

I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me today on my new art journal journey.  I hope I inspired you to get in your craft room and get messy!

Stay Crafty,

Kimberly

Cheers! - Simon Says Blog Challenge

Hey guys I'm up on the Blogger with a St. Patty's card doing a challenge for Simon Says Stamp Blog.  This weeks Challenge is all about Spritz and Splatters!  To join in on the fun or just to get some inspiration Clink on the link and head on over.

I started out with an A2  size white card stock trimmed down an 1/8th of an inch. I went into all of my spritzes and sprays and grabbed a bunch.  I had mowed lawn, wild honey, rusty hinge, and even a color I made up!  I spritzed a color and then heat set it and moved on to each of the other colors doing the same.  After it was completely dried I added some white acrylic paint splatters along with some white acrylic paint mixed with a  little mowed lawn and splattered that.

I printed out an image I purchased off of Etsy. I got 20 of the cutest St. Patty images that are perfect for doing quick cards!  Here is a link to her shop if you want to head over and check them out. I printed this image out on a 3x3 watercolor paper and I loved the look.  I die cut it with one of my stitched dies (I really don't even know what to call that shape).

I die cut the CHEERS! from an alpha die from Recollections. I used the same color card stock that I used for the sentiment to back the card and adhered it altogether. My final step was to add glossy accents to the top of the beer and to the letters in the sentiment.  It really was a fun card to make.  I love playing with inks.  Do you use sprays and splatters on your cards?

I so appreciate you hanging out with me today and I hope I inspired you to make a card and put a smile on someones face today.

Make it a crafty day!

Kimberly