Winter bear

Hi guys!  I've got my next design team post up over on the Dies R Us blog.  Come check out all of the details HERE!

See you soon!

~Kristina

Winter Cardinal

Hey there fellow 2 Cute Ink fans!  I'm here with a winter themed project to share with you today.

Isn't this Winter Cardinal just the cutest darn thing ever?  I know, I say that about all of Heidi's stamps but I just can't help myself.    First off, you can get your hands on this digital stamp right HERE.

I decided to use my colored pencils to color up this little cutie.  I also picked my colors based on the patterned papers I had picked out.  All of the colored pencils I used are Prismacolors.

Red PC122, PC926, PC195, PC930

Green PC908, PC911, PC912

Brown PC1082, PC941, PC140

Blue PC901

Snow PC1059

I used Gamsol and a blending stub to smooth out the pencils.  I forgot how lovely the colors look when blended with Gamsol.  All of the layers were cut out using circle dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  The patterned paper is from Echo Park's Deck the Hall paper pad.  For the cardbase layer I used a brown from Stampin Up.

I cut all of the layers out and glued everything together.  For the final touches, I added Star Dust Stickles to the snowflakes and Frosted Lace Stickles to the snow.  All done!  Now grab this digital stamp for yourself and get to crafting!

~Kristina

For the Guys

Howdy one and all!  I'm here today with my latest submission for the Altenew Educator Certification program.  The class I just finished was called For The Guys.  Yep, cards for the boys/men in your life!  This is an area that I definitely struggle with so I was thrilled to see it on the list of classes to complete!

There were lots of great suggestions in the class that I am filing away in my brain.  I decided to run with the idea of using a geometric pattern.  It sounded so easy when I came up with the idea!  Here it is...

I inked up another stamp set that has been sitting around waiting for me to give it some love, Trigonometry.  I thought this would be just the perfect set to use for a guy card.

I started by picking the spot on my cardstock where I wanted the bottom of the triangle to be.  Basically I just moved around one of the stamps until I felt it looked right.  Then I used a T ruler to draw a top and bottom line.  I needed these as a reference point to keep me going straight.  This is when I dug out my mini Misti.  I'm not sure I could have completed this card without it!

I used two different Altenew inks for the triangles, Desert Night and Dusk.  I placed my cardstock in the Misti, lined up my first stamp, inked it up and stamped.  Whew.  So far so good!  Then I cleaned off my stamp and turned it upside down, lined it up, and stamped the Dusk triangle.  I repeated the process until I had a strip all the way across.  

Let me interrupt with a little secret, I actually had to stamp this card out four times.  Yep.  It was a little tricker than I thought to get the spacing between the triangles just right.  Not to mention keeping them straight!  I persevered though!!  Once it was done (and dry!) I went back and erased my pencil lines.  

Next I came in with a copic safe black marker and a T ruler.  I wanted to add that extra bit of detail the black lines would add.  Then I used some gray copic markers to create the appearance of a shadow.  I used N3, N1, N0 and colorless blender.  I like how it makes it appear as if I have multiple layers but it is only one!

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same Trigonometry set with the Desert Night ink.  I also rubbed some of the Desert Ink onto a piece of white cardstock.  I wanted to have a dark blue layer to go between the sentiment and the cardstock.  Once that was done, I cut the pieces down to size and glued them onto the cardstock.

For the final touch, I cut off about a 1/4" from the bottom of the cardstock and mounted it to a dark blue card base.  This lets just a little bit of the blue base show at the top and bottom of the card.  I think it makes the blues pop!

Now it's time to move on to my next class.  See you soon!

~Kristina

Frosted Garden

Hello there!  I hope your aren't getting tired of seeing new posts from me lately.  I have been on a bit of a roll.  I completed my fourth class for the Altenew Educator Certification program.  This class was entitled Easy Ink Blending Techniques.  The title definitely speaks for itself.  We jump into the world ink blending.  It's full of lots of great techniques and tips.

Although I am not using it in my card today, I was really taken with how they added extra details to ink blended pieces.  It was very cool!  I went with my favorite technique from the class, emboss resist.

I started by cutting a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock down to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  Bristol is highly recommended for ink blending.  The surface is extra smooth allowing for the inks to blend almost effortlessly.  I broke out one of my newest Altenew sets, Frosted Garden.  I am quite enamored with this set!  I stamped one of the floral images with Versamark ink and stamped it in several places on the cardstock.  I then sprinkled a white pearl embossing powder over the stamped flowers and melted it with my heat tool.  There were a few areas that I felt were too open so I went back with a very small leaf stamp.  I repeated the stamping and heat embossing.

Now, what colors to use for ink blending?  Always so hard to choose!  I tried to stay away from my favorites (blue and purple) and go outside of my box.  After a little internet surfing I settled upon a green range.  They are so pretty together!  The colors are Pine Needles, Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough and Iced Spruce.  The last decision I need to make was whether to use regular Distress Inks or Distress Oxides.  I settled on the oxides so that I would have a softer overall look.

I worked my from darkest to lightest.  I did use a foam blending tool to apply my inks.  I applied all of the colors and then worked my way back to the beginning.  This helps to smooth and blend the colors even further.  The key is to work slowly.  Don't be afraid to start light and keep building up your layers.  You can't go lighter but you can always go darker!  When I was happy with the blending I spritzed the entire piece lightly with water.  I let it sit for about 10 seconds and blotted it up with a clean paper towel.  I heat set it for just a bit to make sure it was fully dried.

Now that I had this gorgeous blended panel I didn't want to cover up hardly any of it!  I cut a strip of dark gray card stock and put it towards the bottom of the card.  Then I cut a slightly wider piece of heavy vellum.  After I treated it with anti-static powder, I stamped the sentiment using black Versafine ink.  I sprinkled on the same white pearl embossing powder and used the heat tool.  I really wanted the sentiment to have the same shimmer as the rest of the card.  Plus I felt the black would be too harsh.  It turned out as a dark silver.  Very pretty!  I did want to mention that the sentiments are from the same Frosted Garden stamp set.

In order to attach the vellum I just wrapped the pieces of the strip around to the back of the card and used an adhesive tape to glue it in place.  For a little bit extra I used some sparkling confetti sequins.  I cut an 1/8" of an inch off of the top and one of the sides.  I mounted it onto a white, A2 sized, top fold card base.  I felt it would give the blended piece just a little bit of a pop.

Thanks so very much for stopping by!

~Kristina

Coffee for You - Dies R Us

I am up on the Dies R Us blog today to share an autumn, coffee themed card.  You can find all of the details on the Dies R Us blog right HERE.

I am also linking this card up to the current Coffee Lovers fall/winter blog hop!

Be sure to link up your coffee/cocoa/tea themed creations before the blog hop ends.  That link up can be found HERE.

#fallwinter2018clh

Have an awesome day!

~Kristina

Holiday Anya

Look at that!  I'm back again almost lickety-split with another coffee themed card to link up for the Coffee Lovers blog hop!  Did I mention how much fun I have making these coffee themed cards??

This card was also a labor of love.  During the recent 30 day coloring challenge hosted by Kathy Racoosin, I colored up this sweet Holiday Anya 6 from The Greeting Farm.  I did two versions.  One stamped with black and the other with Inkon3 fadeout ink.  I really wanted to do some no line coloring.  I'm not going lie, it's hard for me!  I am however pleased as punch with how she turned out!

Here are the Copic colors I used:

Hair-B02,23,24 & 28

Collar/Shirt tails-T1, 3, 5

Sweater-V04,06,09

Skirt-V01, 04

Mug-BG32, 34, 23

Marshmallow-E42 & colorless blender

Skin-E00, 11, 13, 21

Cheeks-R20

Dots on mug-white gel pen

After I was done coloring, I added Nuvo aqua shimmer in glitter gloss (love this stuff!).  As soon as it was dry I went ahead and cut her out with scissors.  I decided to leave a small white border all the way around.  For the little section between her feet I used a craft knife.  

I pulled out three patterned papers from the Doodlebug Frosty Friends paper pad.  I have been trying to actually use my patterned papers instead of hoarding them.  It's SO hard!!  I just want to admire the paper all day long.  LOL!  I cut the dotted aqua/green paper with an oval die from MFT Stamps.  The striped paper I cut out using a rectangle die from Mama Elephant.  The white paper is cut out with another rectangle die from the same Mama Elephant die set.

I dug through my colored cardstock collection and found a pretty purple that matched so I cut an A2 sized cardbase.  I glued each piece in place and added Holiday Anya on top.  I didn't use any foam tape for any of the layers.  Then I stamped the Mugs & Kisses sentiment that comes with Holiday Anya in a gray ink onto white paper.  I didn't have quite the right shade of blue so I took my B28 copic to a piece of white paper to make my own!  I layered it with the sentiment and this was popped up with foam tape.

I though some sequins would add some extra sparkle but I ran across these assorted snowflakes that I got as a freebie gift from Lawn Fawn.  I glued them around wherever I thought they looked right.  There you have it.  I am quite enamored with this card.  Hope you like it too!

Don't forget to make some fall/winter coffee/tea/cocoa themed cards and link it up right HERE! Be sure to use #fallwinter2018clh!

I'll be seeing you soon!
~Kristina

Penelope cat gets her coffee

Another one of my favorite times of year has arrived at last.  The Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop!!!  The chance for me to ink up some of the coffee themed stamp sets I have been shamelessly collecting.  It totally justifies their purchase, right??  Anywho, I'm hoping to complete several cards for this round so wish me luck.

Here is my first card to share!

I used this adorable digital stamp from 2 Cute Ink called Penelope Cat.  You can purchase her right HERE.  I printed her out onto Cryogen White Copic safe cardstock.  I had already pre-picked the main piece of patterned paper I wanted to use so I went through my Copics looking for colors that would match.  Here is the list of colors used.

Cat T1, T3, T5

Cheeks & inner ears R00

Table E71, E74, E77, E79

Coffee E23, E27

Mug & Flowers YG61, YG63, YG67

Scarf RV63, RV66, RV69

Once she was all done I moved on to the rest of the pieces.  I cut her out with a Wonky Rectangle die from MFT Stamps.  I handcut a thin green layer out of a coordinating solid green cardstock from Stampin' Up.  Now, can we talk about this background??  The base aqua coffee patterned paper is from an older paper pad.  It is called Winter Wonderland from Pebbles.  I also pulled the pinkish patterned paper from the same paper pad.  Now came some more fun.  I cut it with a plaid die!  My crafty heart goes a little mushy when I get to use this die.  It is the Diagonal Plaid die from Lil' Inker Designs.  It's awesome.

I glued the coffee print paper to a pink cardbase.  Next came the plaid pinkish paper, the green layer and the cat layer.  For the final touch I added some different sizes of sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  And that's it.  It's a pretty simple card even with the Copic coloring.  I encourage you to check out the 2 Cute Ink Esty store here.  I also want to encourage you to play along with the Coffee Lovers blog hop.

You can link up your creations HERE.  Be sure to use #fallwinter2018clh!

 Happy Crafting!
~Kristina