Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Colorado Craft Company - A Rainbow of Paint Brushes Just Released!

Hi Folks! Colorado Craft Company has released several new sets in three of their series: Big & Bold, Savvy Sentiments, and Lovely Legs. One of my favorites is this set of artist brushes in the Big & Bold Color My World Set. 

You may have come from Jennifer Kotas, but if not feel free to start this blog hop at the beginning with Adrienne Kennedy CCC.


This sentiment which comes with this set is in a nice script font, and is embossed in gold on vellum. I only adhered it on the back of the panel and left it loose on the front.


It was fun to stamp and watercolor all the paintbrushes. I staggered how much of each brush to stamp along the left margin and then stamped the rest of the handle on the right.


I wanted to make these seem like used paint brushes, so I added some paint color at the end of the bristles. This is a great stamp set to use for sending cards to your favorite crafty friends!

Prizes:
We will give away each individual stamp set from this release to 8 winners. Leave a comment on each blog in this hop by July 2nd at midnight mountain daylight time to be entered. We will announce the winners on the Colorado Craft Company blog and email blast on Monday July 5th.

I am pleased to send you to the next stop on this hop, Daniel West, who will delight you for sure with his creations. 

Here's the full hop list for your reference:

 

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

 

Supplies used (affiliate links, thanks for your support!)

 

Big & Bold: Color My World

at 57 comments:

Monday, June 21, 2021

Pinkfresh Studio June Washi, Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

Hello Friends! What an exciting new release from Pinkfresh Studio this month ... I've been dying to share many of the new goodies, including the best butterfly stamp/die/stencil set ever (imho)!

You may have arrived from Keia, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Pinkfresh Studio. 



Oh these butterflies! You will NOT BELIEVE how quickly and easily they are to make! Let me show you ...


The key to this collection of Small Butterflies is that there is just one giant stamp, one giant die, and a coordinated set of giant stencils. Once you stamp the butterflies, you put a stencil over them and now you're coloring all the yellow parts of the nine butterflies at the same time. Then you grab the next stencil and color all the orange parts of the butterflies, etc.

After the butterflies are colored, line the die up over them, and you instantly get 9 beautiful creatures ready to add to any and all of your projects.

You can add a butterfly as an accessory to a floral wreath, like this gorgeous arrangement. You might recognize it as the Daisy Wreath stencil set from a few releases ago, which we're featuring because now there's a Hot Foil Plate available for it!



Oh the shine on this hot foil! 

TIP: To give the wreath a little more dimension, I die cut an additional wreath from white cardstock, flipped it over, and layered it underneath the colored wreath. You can do this with any coordinating floral die. It will have the same general feeling as the top layer (i.e., all curvy edges, all sharp edges). And you don't have to buy another die!


You will also see this Sweet Die and Sweet Hot Foil Plate on several cards because it's so cute. And sweet : ) I love how closely the die cuts to the hot foil, and how thin and delicate it is.


Here's where you get to reap the benefits of diecutting so many butterflies at once - you are free to load them up on your cards! No need to save these for a rainy day, you can always make more in a few minutes. I've made another mini-slim and added a trail of butterflies up the card.


I should note that it's always fun to bend the wings of the butterflies and just glue them to your card down the middle of their body. 

Here's another used of the Sweet die!


Also, on the bottom of the Diagonal Stitched Slimline Card panel is another new hot foil plate ... the Thankful for Friends Hot Foil Plate. I'm guessing you may have also seen some new gold goodies ... those glorious gold domes?! Welcome Metallic Pearls Gold to the Pinkfresh shop!
 

The other set I played with for this hop is the Lemons and Blueberries stamp, die and washi tape set. No coloring here, I just put the washi tape on cardstock and then used the die to cut out all seven pieces. 


This sentiment is part of the set, along with several other citrus-y sayings. Gotta love that blanket stitch on the oval and rectangular panels. And the leafy branch die leaves in gold and white work well to layer behind the lemon.


But I only used two of the Lemon and Blueberry pieces on the card, so what to do with the other five? Save them for a rainy day? NO! Let's use all of those beauties and make this into a custom coordinated set!

First use for our extras is inside the card! Tuck a few dies and some extra leaves behind a die cut oval (or any fun shape) and write your message on the die. 


Clockwise from top left:
- Put a strip of the washi tape across the front of the envelope, with an oval on top for the address;
- Use a die cut for the envelope flap;
- Use a strip of washi as an envelope liner; and
- Add a die cut to the back of your card where the hallmark would be. I always like to add my name and date here as well. 

You may just want to use one or two of these ideas. But when it's so easy to get all these die cuts, it's quite a luxury to be able to use then all!
 
GIVEAWAYS:

-We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel!

-We will be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop! Winners will be chosen and posted on June 29 , 2021 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. You must check that page & claim your prize within 2 weeks. 

 


SHOPPING PROMO:

We are offering free US shipping on all orders $50+ from June 21th to June 28th. Please use the codes shown in the graphic above if you're interested.

Here's  the hop order:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
 
at 74 comments:

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Altenew Summer Adventure Stand-alone Dies Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi Friends!  Welcome to Altenew's new Summer Adventure release! I hope you have some fun summer adventures planned. We have lots of baseball games in our near future, but will be sneaking in some college visits for my oldest when we can!

You may have come from Terri Koszler, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Altenew Blog.


First up, this must-have word die set in a fun and loose script font, called All About You Word Dies. Seven different words, with coordinating shadow dies.


I've used three of them cut in gold metallic with a white shadow on this card.



The background of this card is from the last big release, the Polk-a-Dot Buds Layering Stencils. There are only two stencils in this set, but if you use an ombre ink blending method, you get a much richer result. I used dark to light for the flowers, and light to dark for the leaves.

The Peeking Leaves Cover Die is meant to be a border on the bottom of your card, but that doesn't have to be how you use it!

Peeking Leaves Cover Die
 
If you cut two of these die cuts, remove the rectangular borders, and flip one of the dies over, you can make a nice border for any long sentiment you have. And fill your card!



Because I really liked the colors from the ink smooshing, I decided to leave most of the pieces in the leaves. I took out a few of the pieces to make the design a little more interesting. Another benefit of leaving all those pieces in the die ... all that luscious texture!


You can trim these leaves down however much you like to get different results. I took one of the taller leaves off the top die, and added a smaller leaf to fill in the hole on the very left on top of the sentiment. 

It was fun not knowing exactly what you're going to get. And it was a relatively quick card once I settled on how to arrange it. This would be a great candidate for making multiples.

Free Gifts

Here are THREE ways to get a FREEBIE to kickstart your creativity! Free gift will be added to your cart automatically. 

  • Get a FREE brand new Summer Adventure Release Inspiration Guide (worth $5.99) with every order of high-value Summer Adventure release bundles. Shop HERE! *Exclusions apply.

  • Get a FREE brand new Summer Adventure Release Mini Inspiration Guide with every order from 06/17/2021 through 06/19/2021. Shop HERE!

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop by 06/23/2021 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 06/25/2021.

I'm now pleased to send you to the super-talented Mindy Eggen, who has some gorgeous projects to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by!
-Kelly

 

 

 Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks for your support!)

 

Peeking Leaves Cover Die

All About You Word Dies

Polk-a-Dot Buds Layering Stencils


at 35 comments:

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

More New Anita Jeram Stamps + FREE SHIPPING!

Hello Friends! I have another Anita Jeram watercolor card to share with you from this month's Colorado Craft Company release, and this one is fully customizable ... it's an easel with a literal blank canvas!

Art Is Stamp Set

There are some animals provided who can be the focus of your next masterpiece, like the squirrel, bunny and owl, but after I stamped the squirrel, it occurred to me that I could have used any smaller-sized image here. One of the older sets has an adorable mouse holding up a flower which would have worked well. Next time!


It was fun painting Mr. Bunny's "masterpiece in the making," a sentiment from an older set called Love Art. Also from that older set is the sentiment embossed in gold, "Thank you for sharing your love of art with me!" Love this sentiment for our fellow card maker extraordinaires!

 

I like that the image nicely fills up the space of an A2 card. This set also comes with coordinating dies, but I chose to make this a one-layer card. 

Good news is that today, June 16th, you get FREE SHIPPING on all orders at Colorado Craft Company, including the brand new stamp and die sets that were just released! 

Just use the code: FREESHIPPINGKG when you check out.

Also, you have the rest of today to get your comments in to be eligible for 8 entire sets of the whole release! Just go to the blog hop and start hopping!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!!
-Kelly

 

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks for your support!)

Art Is Stamp Set

Art Is Die Set

 

 

 

 

 

at 1 comment:

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Colorado Craft Company - New Anita Jeram!! 3 Ways to Use the Wedding Mice!

 


Hi Friends! I'm excited to share three different ways to use one of the new Anita Jeram sets in the latest Colorado Craft Company release

You may have come from the blog of Jennifer Kotas, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Colorado Craft Company & Adrienne Kennedy.


Happily Ever After Stamp Set

How cute are all the mice in this giant Happily Ever After set, for all things wedding, anniversary, and love?! And check out that large image on the bottom of the set. What a celebration they are all having! With a scene as detailed as this, if you're not a coloring expert, you might be a little intimidated and unsure on how best to use it.

I've got three different ideas on how to use this set!

1) Go for the Gold - Color it All!

Perhaps the most obvious, yet most scary (to me anyway), way to use this set is to stamp the large party image across your card panel and start coloring away.
 
If this seems overwhelming to you, I have a few tips to share.

Limiting your color palette really helps not only your decision-making process, but also gives your finished piece a more cohesive look. For this card, I stuck with the same gray for all the mice body parts, black for the suits, pink for the dresses/cake, blue for the presents, and various greens for the banners.   

Also, don't think too much about what colors to use where. As long as you stick to a few colors, they will all go together.

I wanted the bride's white dress to be the focal point in this crazy, festive scene, so I made sure to put color all around the dress for contrast.

Alternatively, I made the sketchy mice in the background all dark gray so they didn't stand out and attract attention.

2) Don't Color Anything - Use Ink Blending and Dies


The complete opposite of coloring the whole scene individually, is this card. Here I stamped a portion of the scene across a vertical/portrait card, and then instead of coloring in the images, I blended ink across the entire scene. I have pink as the middle color, where all the partying is happening, since I think pink is a festive color

This is where the top half of the stamp set comes in handy! There are several images that have been pulled from the larger scene and turned into their own stamps. Along with the dies, this allows you to easily stamp and die the bride & groom, and the all-important cake table, and put that OVER your blended color.

Now your party can go on in the background, while your focal point image is front and center. 

3) Just Use the Small Images 

As awesome as that party scene is, don't feel you need to always use it. This card just features the married couple and a nice, large sentiment (also included in the set).
 
Check out all that chunky glitter behind the bride!


This give a much cleaner, simple look, than the cards that use the giant party scene.

 
Gotta love all the different options with this Happily Ever After set! Aside from these three different ides, there are many other ways to use this set too!

Prizes:
We will be giving away 8 entire sets of all the new stamps from this release!! Wow! In order to enter, please leave comments on each blog in this blog hop, thru midnight EST on June 16th. Winners will be announced on the 17th on the Colorado Craft Company blog. Good luck!

I am now pleased to send you to the super-talented Angelica Conrad who has some beautiful projects to share! Here is the full list:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

 

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!)

Happily Ever After Stamp Set

Happily Ever After Die Set

Anniversary Mini Stamp Set

Anniversary Mini Die Set

 

at 79 comments: