Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here!  Yikes.  I can hardly believe it.  That means Christmas is going to sneak up on me so fast!  Deep breath.  I wanted to squeeze in one more fall card before it becomes all Christmas all the time.  Seeing how tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I figured a Thanksgiving themed card was in order.

I started by printing out this little guy onto natural white Neenah cardstock.  I had already picked out the plaid paper to use so I grabbed my copic color chart and started picking markers.  Here are the colors I used:

Mouse: E81, 84 & 87
Ears, Nose & Cheeks: R00.  The ears also have a little bit of E81 to tone down the pink.
Pumpkin: YR12, 15, 18, 27
Stem, swirl & feet pads: BG96, YG63, 67
Yellow flower: Y11, 13, 18 Center: E87, 89
Rust flower: E15, 17, 18 Center: Y13, 15

Once I was all done with coloring I used my Scan n Cut to cut him out with a little border.  I went back to the plaid paper.  This is from Carta Bella's Fall Blessings paper pad.  I pulled out two other patterns that went well with the plaid.  An orange and a green.  I really wanted a non standard die shape for my layers so I went digging through my stash.  I found these beautiful Label 55 dies from Spellbinders.  I cut the green and the orange papers with different sizes of the same die set.  Then I cut the plaid paper with a scalloped rectangle die from Mama Elephant. 

I sponged the edges of the plaid paper with a mossy green.  I decided to cut my label dies so that they would be flat on the bottom and line up with the stitched edge of the plaid paper.  I sponged the edges of the orange paper but left the green one alone. I glued the mouse directly onto the green paper and glued the rest of the layers together.  These were then glued onto a Neenah natural white card base.

I stamped the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment onto another piece of the Neenah paper with the same mossy green ink I used to sponge the plaid paper edges.  I cut it down to a small rectangle and sponged those edges with the orange ink.  I used a piece of foam tape on the back to pop it up from the card.

I thought it needed just a little something more.  I didn't quite like the look of sequins but I did find these gorgeous gold gems from Pretty Pink Posh in my stash.  Just perfect.  And that's it!  I hope you like my little mouse card and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

You can pick up the Pumpkin Mouse digital stamp right HERE in the 2 Cute Ink Etsy store.  Be sure to check out all of the great digital stamps Heidi has in her shop!  Come on over and check out her Facebook group too!  2 Cute Ink Digital Stamp Fans


I'll be back soon!
~Kristina

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

Tiddly Inks blog hop

I got an email the other day from Tiddly Inks announcing that they would be having a blog hop that anyone could participate in.  I have several of their digital stamps in my collection so I figured why not play along??

The image I am using is called Mama's Fuchsias.  Christy has a TON of gorgeous digital and clear stamps in her store.  If you aren't familiar with Tiddly Inks, I suggest you check out the store!

I printed the stamp out onto Bristol smooth paper.  I grabbed several colors of Zig Clean Color real brush markers, a waterbrush and got to coloring.  No extra fancy coloring here.  I layed down a little color and spread it out with the waterbrush.  If I felt I had too much color I would wipe my brush on a paper towel.  After the first layer was dry I did go back and add a little more color for a bit of shading.  Once the main image was dry, I went around all of the edges with the English Lavender Zig marker and spread out the color as far as I could.  I think it helps to pop the image off the page!

I set it aside and got to working on my background.  I have been slowly building up my collection of  Alcohol inks.  I just love to sit down and play around to see what I can get!  I chose three colors that coordinated with my colored flowers.  Raspberry, Amethyst and Botanical.  I just kept adding color and blending solution.  Used a straw to blow the colors around a bit.  Stared at it some more.  Added more color.  And so on until I was happy with the results.  Once it was pretty dry I laid a piece of gold foil on top and rubbed over it.  Pull it back slowly to see the little veins of gold!  

Isn't it gorgeous??!!    I almost hated to cut into it but it was too big for an A2 card.  I cut it with a die from Pretty Pink Posh and attached it to the card base.    The flowers I cut out with a die from Spellbinders and mounted it to the background with a layer of craft foam.  For the final bit, I heat embossed the sentiment in gold onto a scrap of black cardstock and glued it in place.  I did go over the sentiment with Wink of Stella to give it a little bit of sparkle!  Here is the finished card!

I can't wait to see what everyone creates!

~Kristina