Noel

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas!  I am now looking forward to a new year and many new adventures to be had.  I will also admit that I *might* not have gotten all of my holiday cards out in a timely fashion.  However, that gives me the chance to share another one with all of you!

Waddles the penguin is back for another visit!  Do you remember my post from two weeks ago?  That project was with the same digi stamp but an entirely different color scheme.  It makes them look like totally different stamps!  Anywho, I colored Waddles up using my Zig Clean Color markers.  Isn't he so gosh darn cute?!  I just want to pinch his sweet little cheeks!

The red scalloped circle is the largest die from the Stitched in Circles set.  I brushed my Versamark ink pad along the edges and then embossed it with copper embossing powder.  The Green circle is the next size down die from the same set.  The green paper and the patterned papers are both from the Here Comes Santa Claus paper pad.  The patterned paper was cut out also using a die from the Stitched in Circles set.  Again, I went around the edges with the Versamark pad and added copper embossing powder.

I attached all three layers to the dark gray card base.  The little white tag was cut out using the tag from the Pocket Pieces Hello die set.  I went around the edges with a red copic marker just to make it stand out a little bit more.  The Noel sentiment is embossed with the copper embossing powder and it comes from the Simply Christmas stamp set.

I sprinkled a few sequins from the Berry Christmas sequin mix and used foam tape to pop Waddles up for added dimension.  He really is a versatile image!  I can see using him for winter birthday cards just by using a different color scheme.

Don't forget that you have a few more days to participate in the CDD Monthly challenge!  All of the DT members have been hard at work sharing lots and lots of inspiration.  Just don't forget to use #cddmonthly!

Stockings galore!

I blame Craftin Desert Divas for having SO many adorable digital (and clear!) stamps.  Yep, that's my excuse.  I couldn't help myself so I had to make *3* projects to share with you.  I may have a CDD problem.  LOL!

Here they are!

My first attempt at a spinner card using the Santa Stocking digi.  I need to practice my photography skills for spinner cards!

A tag featuring the Reindeer Stocking digi.

And another tag but this one features the Christmas Stocking digi.

And the two tags together.

All of the images were colored using Copic markers.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

A Cuppa Thanks

Christmas is fast approaching and I sure hope to finish wrapping my presents soon!  While I absolutely love spending time with my family, giving gifts that light up someone's face and the general happiness of the season...I admit I get a bit stressed out.  So I'm taking a few deep breaths and spending a little extra time in my craft room to help me relax.

My project today features an adorable bear holding his cup of joe.  I could use a cup right about now!

I printed Ice Bear out on Bristol paper.  I have  been spending a lot of time lately with my copics and wanted to spread the love with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  I love the fact that with just a few colors I can get some really awesome shading.  Not to mention that it doesn't take a lot of time or extra work!  I'll admit that when I first got these markers I had a bit of a struggle but I now find that I reach for them frequently.  

For this card I picked the tree paper from the Here Comes Santa Claus paper pad.  I then used that to guide my coloring and coordinating papers.  I first cut the tree paper using the 2nd largest die from the Inside Scalloped Squares dies.  I didn't have a green piece of paper the right shade to match so I dug around until I found a copic that matched nicely.  I colored a piece of white paper and then used the same die to cut it out.  Then I used the largest Insided Scalloped Squares die to cut out the red mini dot paper and the pink Gingham.  The red came from Here Comes Santa Claus paper pad and the pink gingham is from Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Prints paper pad.

I cut a piece of vellum using a die from the Flag Banners set.  The sentiment is from the Got Coffee stamp set.  I embossed it using a red glitter embossing powder.  And of course I had to add just a bit of sparkle on the coffee cup and the ball of his hat with my wink of stella marker.  As a final step, I popped the bear up using some foam tape.  Whew!  It sounds like a lot but it really went together pretty quickly and I love the results.  It certainly isn't your typical Christmas colors!

Have you had a chance to enter the December Craftin Desert Divas social media challenge yet?  It is so easy and there are prizes to be won!  There is tons of inspiration to be found at the Craftin Desert Divas Gallery Facebook group page too!  Just remember to share your project using #cddmonthly.

Have a Merry Christmas!

~Kristina

Warmest Wishes

Hello everyone!  I don't know about you but we are experiencing yet another polar vortex.  I'm thinking the winter this year is going to be a doozie.  At least for some of us here in the midwest. While I don't particularly enjoy being cold, this little penguin I'm using for my project today doesn't seem to mind the cold one bit!

Isn't he just the cutest???  I started by picking the plaid piece of paper from the Doodlebug Polar Pals paper pad.  I let that be my guide for choosing all of my colors.  I really do love this color scheme!  I colored him in with Copic markers and added some sparkle with my wink of stella marker.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the background so I picked some blues that coordinated and just started coloring it in.  I love the subtle graduated color.  I also put a touch of very pale blue to make the snow blend it nicely.

Some of my blue background bled into the snowflakes so I just brought out some bling dots!  They were just the perfect size!  I cut the penguin layer out using the largest die from the Fancy Frames die set.  The little oval is popped up with foam tape and it was cut out using a die from the Pocket Pieces Hello dies set.  I decided white looked too stark and used the same pale blue as the snow.  The warmest wishes sentiment comes from the Chilly stamp set.

I sure hope you enjoyed my project for today!

~Kristina

Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop!

Hi there everyone!

Have you had a chance to participate yet in the Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop?  I had my gallbladder removed last week so I haven't been feeling the best.  I was able to do a little coloring while I rested and felt well enough today to make some of my items into cards.

Craftin Desert Divas is one of the sponsors (so many fantastic sponsors) and during the bloghop they are offering Java Fox for free with a code!  Just check out the Craftin Desert Divas Gallery group on Facebook.  Limited time only!!!

This fox is so gosh darn adorable.  I know I say that about a lot of their stamps but only because it is true!  I love the flexibility of changing the size of digital stamp to fit whatever size/shape card I need. Plus I can print it out on a variety of papers!

Without further ado...here's my take on Java Fox!

I am just SO very thrilled with how it turned out!  The card base is white and I stamped the snowflakes in green from the Chilly stamp set.  The green print and the stripe print are both from the Doodlebug Here Comes Santa Claus paper pad.  The red layer I heat embossed the same snowflakes from the Chilly set in white on watercolor paper.  I then sponged on two different shades of red distress inks.  

The sentiment comes from Got Coffee.  I used sparke red and sparkle green embossing powders on vellum which I just cut to size.  I wrapped it around and adhered it on the back.  I glued on a few lovely sequins from the Berry Christmas mix.  Added some details with a white gel pen, stardust gelly pen and wink of stella.  Yep, I have a lot going on here but it's perfect.  Oh, almost forgot to mentions that all the layers were cut out using the Fancy Frames dies!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

Supplies:

Java Fox

Got Coffee

Here Comes Santa Claus

Berry Christmas mix

Chilly

Fancy Frames

Sparkle and Thanks!

Hey gang!  Hope you all got enough turkey to eat or whatever your food of choice for Thanksgiving is!  Mmm, I can still taste the pie!  I'm just stopping in with a quick post to share this little card. Hope you like it.

I colored the bear using my Zig Clean Color real brush markers.  I added sparkle details with my Sakura stardust pen.  If you look really closely, the background has a bunch of the berry baskets printed on it in a very pale gray.  I figured out how to play around with the color of the digi stamps.  Yay me!  The thanks die I cut out of four different layers to give it some height.  The final layer was cut out of glitter paper.

Don't forget about the awesome sale today at Craftin Desert Divas!

~Kristina

Supplies:

Berry Pickin

Crazy Stitched Frames

Greeting Word dies

Gobble until you wobble!

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I am looking forward to spending time with family and eating lots of yummy food!  Of course that means that Christmas is coming soon and that tends to put me in a bit of a panic mode.  Eek!!  Anywho, I'm bringing you this cute little Turkey that you can still get for free from Craftin Desert Diva's.  You can find more details on the Craftin Desert Divas Gallery Facebook page here.  This little turkey is just perfect to use for participating in the Social Media Challenge.  Don't forget to use the tag #cddmonthly!

Without further ado...

I printed him out onto Bristol paper and used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  Ahhh, how I love the way they move on Bristol.  I swear it is the key to getting a good blend!

The dies I tucked behind him are from Winter Wonderland dies.  I know, they say "Winter" but I can see them being used for so many different things!  They are so very pretty.  I stenciled the leaves on a kraft piece of cardstock and the yellow layer is from the Happy Camper Doodlebug paper pad.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

Supplies used:

Lil Gobbler

Winter Wonderland dies

Crazy Stitched Frames

Fall Harvest sequins

Happy Camper

Starry Owliver

Hi all!  I'm back with another Digi DT project to share with you.  This card has been floating around in my head for a bit.  I actually colored the Owliver digi quite awhile ago and shared him on Instagram.  Since then he's been on my image board waiting for me to decide what to do with him. Inspiration finally paid a visit this past weekend!

I actually printed Owliver out on kraft colored cardstock to start.  I love the way that Copic markers look on kraft.  I even have a separate color chart so I can know what the color will look like once it has dried.  It comes in so handy!

There poor Owliver sat.  There was just too much open space.  I picked up some blue copics and started making a sky.  Then I worked from the bottom up with the greens to create grass and ground.  I am always scared to color the entire card front but I am very please with how it turned out!

I thought it looked like an evening sky so I used my Sakura Stardust gelly roll pen to add a few dots and stars.  I searched through my dies to find just the right one and the Crazy Stitched Frame dies called to me.

Just one more thing needed...a sentiment.  I think Owliver looks like he might be waving hello and I searched through until I found one in my CDD collection.  This lovely hello is from Say it big.  I embossed it using Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

Have you had a chance to enter the November Craftin Desert Divas social media challenge yet?  It is so easy and there are prizes to be won!  Just remember to share your project using #cddmonthly.

As always, I appreciate you stopping by!

~Kristina

Supplies used:

Owliver

Crazy Stitched Frame dies

Say it Big

Grateful!

Wow!  I don't know about you, but we've been having some really warm weather for November!  We have been enjoying the sunshine and beautiful colors.  I have wanted to make a a shaker card for a long time.  I've watched many videos on YouTube.  I've collected lots of gorgeous sequins and I have a huge roll of foam tape.  So, I finally sat down and made one!

The acorn from the Fall Hall set seemed like just the right image to work with.  I enlarged it quite a bit and printed it out on several pieces of patterned paper.  I carefully trimmed the brown pattern for the stem and the brown leaf pattern to add to the acorn cap.

For the background behind the shaker I used the little leaves from Autumn Wishes.  The orange banner was cut out using the small curved die from Flag Banner dies.  The sentiment was combined from two different sets Simply Said and Tiny Sentiments.  I sponged around the banner piece with a brown ink to make it pop out a little more.  I wanted to add lots of pretty sparkles to the shaker so I used FOUR different sequin mixes.  Green stars, Emerald Isle, Pumpkin Spice and Fall Harvest.  And to add just a bit more sparke, I went over the enter acorn cap with my wink of stella.  I wish you could see it in the picture.

Don't forget to play along with Craftin Desert Diva's November Social Media Challenge!  Tara has added several great fall Digi stamps and there are lots to choose from in the store.  There are three different prizes to be won!  Just remember to share your projects using #cddmonthly.  

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

Supplies used:

Fall Hall

Flag banner dies

Simply Said

Tiny Sentiments

Doodlebug Flea Market

Green stars

Emerald Isle

Pumpkin Spice

Fall Harvest

Autumn Wishes

You can do it!

I'm back again with another DT project for Craftin Desert Divas.  Can I just tell you how much fun I'm having playing with all their digi stamps?  They have so many to choose from and they are constantly adding more!!

The little guy I'm going to share with you today looks like he has a can do attitude!

For my background, I scribbled some of my Zig Real Brush markers on watercolor paper and just used a wet brush to smooth out the color.  I dried it with my heat gun and went back for a second layer until I got the blend that I liked.  I watered down a little bit of black distress ink mixed with Pearl Ex and splattered it all over my background.  I love splatters!  Then I carefully glued some of the blue and green stars randomly.  Then I cut it out with the second largest die in Fancy Frames.  The black I cut out using the largest die in Fancy Frames.

The bear itself I colored with Polychromos pencils.  I was able to match my background colors pretty well!  The banner is from the Flag Banners die set.  As I didn't have any appropriate sentiments on hand, I just hand wrote it!  EEP!!!  I thought it needed a little something so I rubbed the edges on my Versamark ink pad and used black embossing powder.  Both the bear and the banner are popped up with foam tape.  Oh, and the lovely background paper is from the Doodlebug Back to School pad!

~Kristina

Supplies used:

Fitness Bear

Fancy Frames dies

Flag Banner dies

Back to School paper pad

Star Sequins-green

Star Sequins-blue