Dies and Distress Oxide

Hello one and all!  I recently signed up for the Spellbinders die club of the month.  I have seen lots of beautiful examples from past months online and this was the month I finally signed up!  I have had the dies laying on my desk just waiting for me to play with them.  We won't talk about how large my new supply stack is...or the fact that I should be getting my Lawn Fawn pre-ordered goodies any day.  Sigh.  Not enough time for my crafting.  Back to it.

I had absolutely no plan in mind when I started this card.  I had a purple Distress Oxide ink combo I wanted to use and the die.  I cut the die out of Bristol paper so I could make the oxide inks blend like butter.  I literally just kept playing around and building a card as I went!  I'll show you the picture and then give a few details.

And a closer card shot.

I cut the die from Bristol paper.  Then I blended Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet and Dusty Concord oxide inks on until I was happy with the blend.  I sprinkled it lightly with water and blotted dry.  Then I sprayed with a shimmer mist and blotted again.  I set the die cut piece aside to dry.

For the backrgound I used a Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous mini stencil.  I don't have the name for this one but I think it came in a multi pack from last winter's release.  I used Pumice Stone in regular distress ink to sponge on the design.  I cut the edge of the panel with a die from MFT Stamps.  I adhered this panel with foam tape to a Sahara Sand (Stampin up!) card base.

I adhered the die cut piece directly to the stenciled piece.  I used the oval die that came with the large die to cut out a white piece.  I used the Thanks sentiment from an Altenew set called Enchanted Iris.  The ink is Sahara Sand.  I did sponge the edges of the oval a bit before using foam tape to adhere it to the die cut piece.

I then added sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  For the final extra detail, I added a little dot of Mercury Glass Stickles to every other scallop.  Done!

I love how this came together even though I didn't have a plan.

Hope you have a great day!

~Kristina

Brusho tips and a video!

As the weekend draws to a close, I wanted to share with you my latest storage adventure.  Plus my very first YouTube video!!

I love Brusho pigment powders but I was unhappy with the containers themselves.  I had simply used a push pin in the middle of the lid to make a hole.  When I wanted to sprinkle some out, I removed the pin and then put it back.  The bottles aren't very pretty and they don't seem to store really well due to the odd shape of the lid and the push pins.

I recently purchased some of the lovely Nuvo Shimmer powders and it got me thinking.  They have a super cute bottle that dispenses cleanly.  Off I went to search for something similar I could transfer the Brusho powders into...and I found it!

I found these bottles on Amazon.  You can find them HERE.  I read through a lot of reviews and decided these were the ones I wanted to try and at less than $15 for 25 of them I felt it was worth it!

Here are what all the individual pieces look like.

There is a tab on the Brusho powder that you peel off in order to pop the top off.  

The top comes off nice and easy after that.  I used the little funnel that came with the bottles and slowly tapped the powder into the funnel.  When it started to clog up, I just gave the funnel a few taps with a dry brush (or whatever is handy) and it fell right through.  It doesn't take very long at all.

It fills the bottle a little over half way.

I wrote the colors on the bottle side and bottom with a sharpie.  I may go back and add a white address label but I haven't decided yet.  I also wanted to swatch the colors as I was working my way through transferring the powders.

Sandy Allnock has a wonderful and FREE pdf on her blog.  Which you can find right HERE. It is the BW Swatch Charts PDF.  It's awesome.  You ROCK Sandy!!

So I used the dies I had on hand which aren't the same shape as the chart but I don't mind.  I sprinkled powders on my octagon which is cut from watercolor paper.  Then I gently spritzed it with water and let it dry.  I made a small pile of the powder, added water and used a brush to paint it on to a scrap piece of watercolor paper.  Once dry, I used a regular hole punch.  I found that it is the perfect size for the top of the cap and all you need to adhere it is a glue dot!

Here is a picture of the caps with their dots attached.

Here is a picture of my swatches.

And that's it!  I am pleased with my results and think they will be much easier to store and use.

Now, I did mention a video.  I posted my very first video on YouTube so take a look if you are interested.  I have much to learn about making videos but it was fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

Hooray for Friday!

Right now I'm doing the happy dance.  It's Friday.  At last!  I can't wait for a little family time, a little crafting time and a little down time.  Hope you get to do something fun this weekend.  My idea of a good Friday night is playing in my craft room.  Yep.  Total introvert here.

Moving on!  I recently purchased some new to me products from Shimmerz Paints.  Today I am using one of the original product lines they released...Shimmerz!  Guys, these are GORGEOUS!  They are a liquid paint with a TON of shimmer.  Like, seriously!  I snagged one of their newest colors, Wisteria Lane, because I just love all things purple.  Here is the description of the color from their website.

"Wisteria Lane is a part of Shimmerz Paints new Fall 2018 color release. Wisteria Lane is a dusty cool lilac hue with silver shimmer added in. Wisteria Lane is available in a 1 oz jar and all our products are hand crafted by order."

I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to make but I wanted to give it a test drive.

I'm not sure I caputured the beautiful shimmer of this product but I am totally in love.  I *need* more colors.

This is how I created this cute square card:

I started with a piece of Canson watercolor paper.  I stamped one of the flower images from the Altenew Floral Shadow stamp set with Inkon3 embossing ink.  I sprinkled on clear embossing powder and melted it.  After it cooled, I stirred up the Shimmerz paint and started applying it to the watercolor paper.  I did add a little bit of water to get slight variations in the color but you could totally do it straight out of the jar.  So, SO pretty!  I let it dry for a bit.  I went back with a damp paper towel and carefully wiped off the excess paint from the embossed areas.

I cut out the watercolor paper with a square die called Inside Scalloped Squares from Craftin Desert Divas.  I glued the center piece in place.  I added foam tape to the scalloped border and adhered it to the base as well.  The sentiment is from the same Altenew set and is heat embossed in black on gray cardstock.  I went over it with a Wink of Stella glitter marker.  I popped it up with foam tape as well.  For the final touch, I added a few Sparkling Clear confetti sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Excuse me while I drool over the shimmer!!

See you soon...

~Kristina

Color Throwdown Challenge 505

Hi gang!  Nothing like creating a card with what you thought was this week's color scheme only to realize you have the wrong colors when you start typing up a blog post.  Yep.  That's me.  Back to creating I went!

All the details of how to play along in the Color Throwdown Challenge can be found HERE.  And here is the beautiful colors of the week! #ctd505

I'm just happy I caught it BEFORE I finished my post.  That's okay.  I really did want to play more in my craft room.

Here's my completed card.

Nothing overly complicated here at all.  I printed this lovely digital stamp from Gerda Steiner Designs.  It is called "Have a Beary Sweet Day" and can be found HERE.  I have loved her images for a long time.  I own several of her digital stamps and a few of her photopolymer sets.  If you haven't seen her work before you definitely need to check her out! #GSDDTCALL

Like I was saying, I printed the stamp out onto Bristol paper.   I picked out three Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers that matched closest to the challenge colors.  I would put on a little of the straight color and then spread it out with a water brush.  For the bear I used Dark Gray and pale pink for the snout area.  The sign is Pale Rose and the background is Persian Green.  Once it was dry, I went over the sign with a Nuvo glitter gloss marker.  I used a black marker and a ruler to trace around the background color to make it look more complete.  That's it.  Fairly quick and super simple.  Hope you like it!

~Kristina

Color Throwdown 504

Happy Sunday one and all!  I'm sorry I have been quiet lately.  I have been busy working on some quilting projects.  If I ever get around to taking some nice pictures, I will share them here.

Today I really, really wanted to make a card.  I have purchased a lot of great products lately and I NEED to use them.  I happened to get an email reminder today that the Color Throwdown challenge #ctd 504 would be ending tomorrow.  I checked out the colors and decided to go with it.  I took a look around my very messy desk and grabbed a few items that I had out.

Here is this weeks inspiration:

You can find all the details on how to participate and link up HERE.  The middle color is copper and I knew I had a gorgeous copper embossing powder from Hero Arts in my stash.

Oh that splendid copper!!  Swoon!!  I stamped the Love of Coffee background stamp from Picket Fence Studios on to a piece of Neenah Solar white with the Ink on 3 embossing ink pad.  I sprinkled the embossing powder liberally over the entire card front.  I let my heat gun warm up and watched the magic happen.  Gets me every time.  I set it aside.

Next I grabbed a scrap piece of black cardstock and stamped the Candy Stripe background stamp from Hero Arts and used the same copper embossing powder.  I stamped the coffee cup from the Coffee with a Splash set from Altenew using black Versafine ink.  I sprinked it with clear embossing powder and hit it with the heat tool.

I cut the coffee cup out with a circle die from MFT Stamps.  I used the Ink on 3 embossing powder and gently swiped it all around the circle edges.  Copper embossing powder and melt.  I layered all of the pieces onto the black card base.  The circle was adhered with foam tape.  For the last bit of detail I added dots of black Pico Embellisher.  All done.  I am quite pleased with the final product!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with more cards to share!

~Kristina