Crabby Card

Hello again friends,

I am so excited to show you my card for today! I played with Sassy and Crafty's Sassy but Sweet Stamp set. This set features an adorable mermaid and fantastic "king" crab along with some amazing sentiments.

I decided to stamp the crab from Sassy but Sweet for my card today. I stamped him using Ink On 3's Fade Out Ink and colored him with Copics. To add a bit of extra fun, for the gems on his crown, I used clear rhinestones colored red using a Copic. I also stamped each of the shells from Sassy but Sweet a few times to color in different fun bright shades, again using Copic markers.

Once I had finished coloring, I focused on the background next. I used black cardstock and the Mermaid Tails Stencil for this. I used my i-Brush Blender Brushes and Distress Oxide inks in various shades of blue and one purple to create a watery feel. I added a few spritzes of watered down Ink on 3 Liquid Pixie Dust to add some shimmer to the background.

Next, I cut out Kindred Stamps "Sorry" word die. For the bottom layer I used a purple scrap with a kind of watercolor or bubbled look to it, and for the top layer I used a blue glitter cardstock scrap. The sentiment I stamped on to a silver cardstock scrap and heat embossed it with a metallic light purple WOW embossing powder. I trimmed this down.

When it came time to build my card, I layered my dark watery sheet over a light purple card base. TIP: I like to buy card bases and envelopes in bulk from box stores when I find them on sale, this saves my energy so I'm not constantly cutting and scoring card bases. Once the card front was adhered to the card base, I glued the "sorry" layers toward the top center of the card. I added a strip of Thin Double Thick Foam Tape to the back of my "I've been crabby" sentiment strip and positioned it under but crossing into the "sorry" layers.

I added my king crab to a mini wobbler to give him a fun little interactive element and positioned him towards the center(ish) of the card. To finish the card, I added the shells that I had previously colored up and a few clear sequins.

Here is a short video of the crab in action!

Well, I hope that I've inspired you to check out Sassy and Crafty for yourself and look forward to seeing what you create next! 

Until next time,

R. Winn

Scrap buster with i-crafter Hummingbird Happiness

Hello friends!

I have a card up on the i-crafter blog for the first time today! 

This card was a bit of a labor of love for me, using the new Hummingbird Happiness dies. I typically am more of a colorist, and don't use many intricate dies, but as soon as I saw the Hummingbird Happiness die I knew what I wanted to do with it... use up some scraps! I have these 8.5"x11" clear pockets FULL of scraps, organized by color of course.

I started by pulling down the Patterned Paper scraps that I have, because I find ways to use the solid colors constantly, but Patterned Paper is harder for to use in general. I pulled out several pieces to decide which I liked together.  I labelled them with how I thought I wanted it all to go with sticky notes.

After I was happy, I started to die cut. This set takes a lot of cutting. I ended up pulling my mini die cutter out after a bit so I didn't have to keep getting up and down. HA! I inevitably still ended up needing to do more cutting to have all the pieces necessary. 

I followed the picture tutorial for Hummingbird Happiness because complex dies are NOT my forte. Starting with a wing, and building from there. I am not one for worrying about does this side match that side, because in nature, the same color may not be in the same place.  

Next, I die cut a million (ok, that's an exaggeration) little trumpet flowers and leaves out of more scrap paper. For the flowers, I focused on pinks and reds, using both patterned and glitter papers. For the leaves, I used more solid or stubble patterns. 

Then I built. I cut down a large piece of purple scrap paper that started as a scrapbook paper for the background, took my hummingbird and one of the flowers that I had used foam tape to have the front petal lifted and stuck his little nose INTO the flower. I layered the leaves and flowers to created kind of a garden or bush look with the flowers. 

I kept my background handy and made sure that as I layered, the flowers stayed on the card base.  At the end, I trimmed just a few flowers and leaves on the bottom and right side that flowed over. I was ok with that since I didn't want it to look like the flowers just ended.

I stamped "Thinking of You" from the Scattered Thoughts Sentiment Stamps in Skysail Blue Hybrid ink using my Mini MISTI and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. This was glued in the bottom left corner, then I added a few orange and blue sequins.  

I hope that this has given you some inspiration and that you will grab the Hummingbird Happiness dies, Scattered Thoughts Sentiment Stamps, and the Skysail Blue Hybrid Ink.  I can't wait to see what you make with them, come join our i-crafter Facebook Fan Club to show off your own scrap hummingbirds!

If you want to see more from me, my instagram is HERE, and my Facebook page is HERE!

You will get to see another project from me here on the i-crafter blog later this month!

~R. Winn 

Science Geeks

Hi friends! It's been a while, and for that, I'm sorry! I am SUPER excited about the set that I get to share today. "Science Geeks" is full of cute characters, unique sentiments, and so much fun! I managed four cards with this set for you today.

My first features a cutie in a floral dress. I used some Lawn Fawn Sparkle Cardstock with our Kindred Stamps Sprinkles Stencil and created a sparkly background using Catherine Pooler inks. 

I colored my cutie with Copics, then paper pierced her dress using a floral paper from Simple Stories. I finished her off with a little Nuvo Glaze on her glasses. I layered the card with turquoise and pale yellow cardstock, and added a few enamel drops. I thought this was the perfect birthday card, so I added this awesome sentiment to finish it off.

My next card features two cute lovebirds. I used some retired Stampin' Up DSP, then layered on top of it with some grey card stock that I patterned myself by off-setting the Kindred Stamps Comic Dots stencil with two Catherine Pooler inks. 

My lovebirds are again, colored with Copic markers, and the mister is finished with Nuvo Glaze on his glasses. My sentiment, I decided on the "you matter" stamp, because I freaking love it. I put the sentiment on the Lawn Fawn "say what? gift tags die, it fit perfectly... so why not! 

My next card has the awkward couple... who personally, I think rock! I started with the Catherine Pooler Peppermint Stick background stamp, I wanted to show how "Christmas" items can be used throughout the year. I used the Be Mine ink, to make it perfect for a Valentine's Day card. 

I used a retired Unity stamp set with a couch to create a spot to give. I kept the theme of soft colors with the patterned paper and added the sentiment to a banner on Kraft paper on top of them. My couple is colored with Copic markers, and again, Nuvo Glaze for the finishing touches on her glasses. My card was finished using the Kindred Stamps Sweet Love Shaker Pack.

My last card it one cool dude. I colored him with Copics, and wanted to keep the card fairly simple. I used the Kindred Stamps Spaceship Paneling Stencil with blue and black Catherine Pooler inks. I wanted it to look like an atom... I'm probably totally off though haha.

I added the cool dude to the center of my "atom" after coloring him with Copics. I finished it off with a red square and this super fun sentiment which I popped up foam tape to add some dimension. I hope that you enjoyed my take on Kindred Stamps Science Geeks.

The entire Kindred Stamps January release will be available Friday, January 25th at 8am PST/11am EST. Be sure to check out the Kindred Stamps blog on Friday for the full product release as well as the complete line up of all the Kindred Stamps Design Team projects from release week! If you visit and comment on all of the designers' blogs this week, you could win $15 in Kindred Stamps shop credit! So join the Fan Club and release event, show the design team some love, and get ready to empty those wallets this Friday!

Until next time,

~R. Winn

Chubby Unicorn!

Guys... GUYS! 

The day I've been waiting months for is here. I've some how been blessed with amazingly talented friends. I stumbled across this insanely talent gal, Amy, a few months back and stalked her a little bit until we became friends. She told me about her plans to launch her designs from digital stamps to clear, I was on board immediately. I loved the designs that I had purchased from her Etsy store, and well, I love clear stamps. So, when she invited me to join her design team, I was floored.

I am pleased to bring you my first blog as part of the Witt & Sass Stamp Company Design Team! Today, I feature Chubby Unicorn... he's my favorite! My first card, I worked with a design sketch I found from Google (I really can't remember who designed it and I'm sorry for that!) Normally, I build my cards as I go, planning is actually a little outside of my comfort zone.

I had picked some really beautiful pastel papers but they ended up working against this awesome pink dude that I colored up using Copic markers. So... I tried again! I worked with richer, darker colors, the result is beautiful! (Well, at least I think it is!) I wanted him to become the focal point of the card, to make him really pop, I made sure to keep his coloring bright and the background I did in shades of Warm Grey. I finished him with a clear Wink of Stella to add sparkle.

The sentiment, I heat embossed using WOW powder in Earthtone Grape and layered using Stampin' Up's Layering Oval die cuts. The beautiful star strip is from this set too, it reminds me of a bar of music! I used Chameleon Pens to color it, and finish it off with Wink of Stella on the stars. 

Finally, I finished the card off with red and black DoubleClick Skittles and Silver Star Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

My next card, I chose the original, full body Chubby Unicorn! I used the Blue Green family, and just colored the shaded parts of him, more of a reflection than color. This was followed by using the colorless blender marker to pull some of the brightness of the color out. My best friend, Molly, and her purple hair were the inspiration for the hair color!

So, I had this adorable unicorn all colored up, with no where to go. I reached into the box of goodies that Witt & Sass Stamp Company is launching with, and pulled out this AMAZING, Background Builder Hill Stencil. I love using stencils in a variety of ways, ink is always fun to play with, but really, we have some truly skilled ink blenders on the team that have been playing with these stencils too. Glitter paste is always fun, but I didn't want to overwhelm the unicorn, then I saw it... my Tonic Embellishment Mousse! I recently have been picking up additional colors here and there. I had the Citrus Green, which was perfect for this grassy hill so I started there. I off-centered the hill a little so you can really see how well it rounds, on a 5.5" x 5.5" card, it covers from edge to edge. On my A2 size, I got to pick my placement!  

You all know I love my clouds, stencils, die cuts... stamps. Well, you've never seen something this fantastic! Amy came up with this brilliant Background Builder Cloud Stencil and my life was completed! I used my powder blue mousse for the base of these clouds (yes, I know clouds are white, but in unicorn world the sky is inverted.) and did the cloud shadows in black ash mousse. After that was all done, I placed my little guy on the hill, and added a few bunches of grass to the top of the hill with the stencil!

The sentiments with this set are just fun, I love how encouraging this card would be to get. I stamped the sentiment out on some scratch pink paper using Versafine and used one end of a Lawn Fawn sentiment banner die cut to give it shape. I layered both my card front and the sentiment strip on purple glitter paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby! To finish the sentiment, I used a Luna Wink of Stella pen to fill in the word "cool"!

I hope you all enjoyed my cards, and if you haven't already, come check out Witt & Sass Stamp Company! We'd love for you to join us on Facebook and to see what you end up making too!

Thank you all for joining me, and thank you to Amy for believing in me!

~R. Winn