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Distinctively Diana

Creating hand-designed touches for everyday life & festive occasions

Stay calm and eat a cupcake!!

Day 3 of the challenge!!

It’s Day 3 of the Colour It Up Challenge at Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps and I have stuck with it and created another card. I’m loving this little push to get into my creative studio and get crafty!

Today I used another stamp that I had been wanting to play with, but just hadn’t gotten around to it. So often I end up in my studio creating something that is needed for a special occasion rather than just creating for the sake of being creative and playing. I have a long list of ideas that I want to bring to life and this challenge is going to let me do that.

Sticking with the Colour It Up Challenge!
When all else falls, DistinctivelyDiana.com says keep calm & eat a cupcake!

I edged my white card base with Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Antique Linen and Spun Sugar. I then layered papers from the DCWV Confetti collection.

Next I stamped my image on Spectrum Noir paper with Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black and then cut out the image with my Your Next Die stitched rectangular die.

I coloured in my Let Them Eat Cupcakes stamped image from Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps with my Spectrum Noir markers.

Hair: EB1, EB2, GB9

Skin: FS2, FS3, FS4, FS6, E04 (Copic)

Pants: TB3, TB4

Vest: GT2, GT3

Shirt: GT1, GT2

Cupcake: EB1, PP1, DR1

Shoes: EB3

I stamped a sentiment on green vellum, added some cupcake brads and paper clip and tied green baker’s twine to finish the card.

Day 3 complete!  I think I need a cupcake now!

 

 

Playing with New Kraftin’ Kimmie Inks

Yesterday was an exciting day for Kraftin’ Kimmie — she added a whole new product to her line.

Kimmie and her design team had been working on something top secret for the last few months and it was FINALLY time that they could share it with everyone!!!  Welcome to…..

Krafty Kolours Inks by Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps!

New ink pads from KKS
Kraftin’ Kimmie’s New Inks!

These new inks are a Hybrid ink that combines the best of both dye ink and pigment ink!

– These beauties are acid free, archival and non-fading!
– This ink dries almost instantly on paper and non-porous surfaces and requires a heat set on glossy surfaces and fabric!
– They have a raised felt pad that let you stamp any size stamp!
– They give a crisp, bright, non-bleeding impression!
– They come in full sized pads, mini cubes and ink refills!

With these inks you can ink directly, sponge, stencil, watercolour, you can do all sorts of techniques with them AND most exciting….the Krafty Kolours Inks are safe to use with pencils AND alcohol based markers!!

Yesterday was the big Launch Party over on the Krafty Friends Facebook page with the Krafty Girls and Special Krafty Guests  — I was one — sharing information about the new products, sharing tons of new projects, live videos, YouTube videos, giveaways, challenges and lots more!! You can still check out the Facebook page and view all the videos for great tips and see how the new inks work.

You’ll be able to purchase all the large ink pads, mini cubes and refills individually OR in sets at a small discount. PLUS there are TWO brand NEW stamp sets that are from the May release and will ONLY be released as part of the special kits!
Kimmie also chose some amazing coordinating Bazzill Bling cardstocks to match the coloured inks and you’ll be able to scoop those up as well!! SO exciting!

Once again, I was part of the advanced fun and got my hands on the inks beforehand. Kimmie had included two of the May release stamps in the kits and they were wonderful stamps to play with the inks.

First up for me, was the new Magical Friends stamp, the cutest little set of fairies and their patient little dog and a sweet kitten! I created two fun cards.

Sweet new fairy stamp from KKS!
Inking up the cutest little fairy and her patient little dog from Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps!

I used the new Wicked Black ink pad and my Spectrum Noirs and there was no bleeding or smearing and a crisp clear image. The ink is quite juicy when stamping a sentiment well, but dried quickly. I was able to edge the sentiment tag with Ranger ink Picked Raspberry and no smudging.

My kit from KKS had a number of fabulous papers from the Echo Park Imagine That collection that matched the new stamp set so well that I had a hard time choosing which one to use. I decided to use the wands one and then enhanced the little fairy’s wand with crushed glass glitter. I added flowers (sorry no name!), Recollections Ribbon and some bling gemstones from Forever in Time. And ta da! A sweet little card!

 

 

 

Next up, was another cute little fairy and her kitty companion for a another happy little card.

Getting inky on a happy little fairy
A happy little fairy and her sweet kitty!

I used the Wicked Black ink again — crisp clean lines. I used the Mermaid Melody ink pad for the sentiment this time. I cut out a vellum tag, used various Recollections papers, some doilies and layered them. I added some Nuvo glitter drops in Blue Lagoon and two cute little dragonfly embellishments. What a fun little happy card!

For my final card, I decided to try and play a little bit. I wanted to almost give the stamps and the inks a mixed media workout and see how they would perform. I wasn’t sure if I was creating a mess as I played, but then I thought, no that’s kind of pretty!

 

Trying out the New KKS inks on Beautiful Blooms
A mixed media approach with the new Kraftin’ Kimmie inks

Using Canson watercolour stock,  Top Boss embossing ink and the new Beautiful Blooms stamps, I randomly stamped. I then watercoloured the images with the new KKS hybrid inks in Raspberry Rose, Purple Pansy, Lovely Lagoon and Mermaid Melody. Next, I embossed the images again and used diamond embossing glitter. Then I stamped on top of that to add some additional depth to the design. I added the sentiment stamp in last. Finally, I took the Mermaid Melody and washed the background area lightly. I also washed the diecut heart. The inks dried quickly and there was no smudging or transferring of colour.

I then put the whole thing through my Big Kick diecutting machine with my Lawn Fawn die to get the stitched rectangle. I used the Spellbinders Floral 1 embossing folder and the same American Craft paper as the background, but placed it on an angle to add more depth and dimension. Some blingy embellishments from Forever in Time, and Recollections ribbon and I was done. Maybe a bit of hot mess, but a pretty one! I liked the muted wallpaper effect actually.

For more information on the new KKS stamps and inks, check out http://www.kraftinkimmiestamps.com/product-category/new-goodies/ and her Facebook page has tons of ideas.

 

Getting Krafty & Playing Bingo!!

Tangii Crain and the Design Team over at Kraftin’ Kimmie threw us devotees a major challenge over the weekend with their “The Boss is Away Bingo”. Seems Kraftin’ Kimmie Reid herself was headed away for a couple of days of well deserved rest so the girls decided to let us all have some fun playing with our stamps and sharing some thoughts and wishes. They posted a bingo card card with 16 squares and we had until Monday at 11:59pm to complete one row to enter and have a chance at winning some great prizes.

Well, as usual, I snuck in there under the wire with my entry.

But I will have you know that I completed not one row, not two rows, but the ENTIRE CARD!!! Yes, yes I did. I’m quite proud of myself. Hee hee!

The challenge included:1) making a one layer card; 2) creating a card that used more than one Kraftin’ Kimmie stamp set; 3) using a stencil in a creative manner and; 4) creating with something outside of your usual stash, from around your home.

So my one layer card was created by stamping the little monsters and saying from the new Mini Monsters! set and colouring them in with my Spectrum Noirs. I  then used my Distress Inks in Tea Dye, Antique Linen, Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves blended with water to create the background. Once the card was dry I used my Copic Multi Liner 0.1 Black Pen to draw the lines and I sprayed the whole card with Art Glitter Mist in Gold. I finished it off with some black and orange twine and Halloween candy embellishments. Good enough to eat!

The next challenge was to create a card using more than one KKS stamp set. I chose to use the newly released Evangeline Angel and paired her with a sentiment from The Magic of Christmas stamp set. I used a special “snow pen” to get the snow highlights on the tree.

Another challenge called for us to use a stamp with a stencil so I used a snowflake stencil I had to create a backdrop for my Holly Jolly stamp set and added a little cardinal from the brand new October release Merry & Bright Birdies. I used the snow pen again to add snowfall on the wreath. I added red and green twine and green button embellishments. I then realized this card also used more than one stamp set.

The final challenge called for us to use something outside of our usual stash as a layer or an embellishment. As I pondered my choices…and the ticking clock…I saw my secret stash of green coloured plastic wrap. I bought it more than 20 years ago on a business trip to the U.S. and I hoard it, using it for special Christmas projects. I thought it would be great wrapped around a tag like a gift. And I could make a shaker tag! And that’s what I did, using another little bird from the new Merry  & Bright  Birdies set. I stuck on some glitter stars I punched out of glitter paper, added some glue dots and sprinkled glitter on them, placed some sequins and then carefully gift wrapped the whole tag adding ribbon on the back and the top.

BINGO!!! My card was full…and my cards were created and done.