Monday, November 30, 2009

QKD New Release Monday!!!

Hello! I trust that everyone had a nice holiday for those who celebrate!! I'm SO excited to be here with you today to show off QKD's newest stamps!!! Maigan's mermaids are nothing short of stunning...per usual! =)

If you're here 'just because'...THANKS!! But you MUST start at the beginning of the hop in order to see all of the FABULOUS new QKD releases!!

My first creation is with the serene and pensive Evangeline. I recently received her in the mail along with a prize that I'd won for a Design Team challenge. Vicki had packed a bag full of goodies and I challenged myself to use as many of them as possible as they were all so fun!! I used Ivory as my cardstock base at 6 x 5 1/2. I then used 2 patterned papers that were in the kit and stitched them together because I couldn't decide which one I liked more!!!
I then stamped Evangeline on another piece of the designer paper in brown pigment ink, heat embossed it and instantly LOVED how the cracking, foundation of blocks behind her came out when I colored the already brownish paper with my Copic YR24 - Pale Sepia. Then it started to have a 'bit' of a vintage touch about it.

Her chaise lounge chair is tufted with Turquoise velvet flock and the chair's feet are sparkled up with Chocolate brown glitter.

She is colored with my ever growing stash of Copic markers!! (I'm totally addicted!)
The added touches are the ribbon (which also came in the kit!) tied with some pale aqua ribbon to hold on one of my vintage buttons. The 3 subtle grey brads (from my kit!) at the bottom were from the kit and the paperclip embelli says "imagine" on it is from JoAnn's Fabrics.

I love when I go on vacation and come back renewed with a surge of creativity. It's very gratifying!!
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My next creation is with Hookah! Oh do I LOVE her!!!!
She's super funky and sassy!!! You must head over to the shoppe and pick these lovely ladies up!! They are SO fun to work with!!!

I inked Hookah up in SU! Basic Grey ink. I then colored her with my Copics and gold paint pen. I added crackle glaze to her tail and set her aside to dry.
Hookah's card is 5 x 7 1/2 base made out of PTI's Smokey Shadow. The first layer of DP is a cool pink and black leopard print. The next layer I've been dying to work with for a while now is a circus themed paper. I stitched the two together with purple thread.

I then added a stripe of blue polka dotted ribbon and backed Hookah with PTI's New Leaf green cardstock.
My last touch (as the card with image is already very busy) is a carousel ride ticket that I had leftover from the last time we went to the local mall carousel! It fit the theme perfectly! I backed it with SU! Purely Pom paper and a slice of PTI New Leaf distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap. The ticket itself is popped up on a 3-d dot for some added dimension.

Thanks for reading and visiting!! Off you go now to Linda to see what gorgeousness she's created for you today!!!

And don't forget to hit the shoppe when you're done!! The sales are fabu!!

Cyber Days Shipping Sale
Save on shipping rates!
Spend $20 get $2 shipping...
Spend $50 get FREE Shipping...
Spend $100 get FREE shipping & a FREE stamp set!
(Good today through12/1/09)

If you get off track you can always come back here to a full list of hop participants!!!

QKD Blog
Alex's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Kelly's Blog
Helene's Blog
Penny's Blog
Meredith's Blog --- THAT'S ME!! =)
Linda's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sara's Blog
Ashley's Blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

XOXO-

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Robyn's Fetish Technique Challenge - Penny Slider

Hey All!!! Welcome to another awesome Robyn's Fetish Challenge!! I will tell you that our Fabulous Donna has been keeping us on our TOES!! Especially with this one!!

It isn't a hard tutorial but one that does take a bit of time and planning and working on the scale of your project as well. I really wanted to use the Santa's Workshop image from Robyn's store.
I pulled out a stash of last year's SU! holiday paper and set that aside as my muse. I then set to coloring the workshop with a mix of my Copics, sparkly Sakura gel pens, metallic paint pens, fine tipped glue pens and a mixture of white fun flock combined with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.
I set it aside to dry.

I then worked on my penny sliding piece. I knew I wanted it to look like a snowball rolling around in front of Santa's Workshop. I used a piece of acetate sheeting and using my SU! scallop punch punched the shape out. I then covered it 3 times over with the mixture of the white, velvet flock and Dazzling diamonds. That took a bit to dry. I then took my 2 pennies and in lieu of a round foam dot (of which I had none) I used a small button figuring the smooth sides would work well. I adhered the button between the 2 pennies using Super Glue. I then created the holder for the penny apparatus. I adhered my DP to cardboard for stability and cut based on the correct measurements. By now my snowball was mostly dry so I glued it to the penny/button slider and put it into the holder. It rolled back and forth beautifully.

I then created my card base based on the proportions of the house and slider. I used Kraft paper as my base, SU! stripes as my next, and 2 opposing pieces of clear acetate paper as see through accents!! I then added the jumbo, red ribbon around the top portion of the card along with a truly vintage bow from my Great-Grandmother's sewing basket. It's tied to the red ribbon with a piece of white chiffon ribbon.

Santa's house was now dry so I trimmed it up and backed it with another piece of DP from SU!. I then added it to the center and top of the card balancing out the giant ribbon/button with a piece of green ric rac. Lastly, I added the slider to the bottom popping it up on adhesive dots so the snowball would roll easily back and forth.

This was a super challenging project and one that I simply LOVED!!

Thank you so much for visiting!! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!!

Here is a GREAT tutorial for this technique.

XOXO






Friday, November 27, 2009

Warriors In Pink...

I'm not a HUGE cause fan....just a personal preference. I do what I do when I can etc...etc...blah...blah...blah...

BUT...I could not pass on this opportunity to purchase something so near and dear to my own heart while contributing towards one of THE best research causes.

I'll be keeping the link on the top of my profile for a while so PLEASE PLEASE check it out and send it to anyone you know who is into stamping!!!

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend.

XOXO
Meredith

QKD Sale!!

BLACK FRIDAY Specials
20% off QKD Stamps
20% off the Supplies Category
(Stamp exclusions: Custom stamps &
separate stamp category)
It's FREE stamp month!!
November 8th through November 30th
Buy 2 stamp sets get 1 separates stamp free
Buy 3 separates stamps and get 1 free
($3.99 value or less)

For every 2 stamp sets you order
you get 1 separate stamp for free! The more you
order the more free stamps you'll receive.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

QKD - HOP HOP HOP!!


Hey Y'all!!

Check out our QKD team that's hoppin' around today!! It is a day early because of the holiday week but you'll definitely want to check out all of the team's gorgeous creations!

QKD blog
Shannon's blog
Jules' blog
WIS blog
Bev (SG's) blog
Andrea's blog
Lara's blog
Anessa's blog
Nina's blog
Nancy's blog
Stephanie's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Monday, November 23, 2009

RF Wacky Wednesday Preview!!!


Hi Everyone!!!

I've been relatively quiet this week due to being on a FANTASTIC, quiet and relaxing family vacation here in Maine.

I'm working on an inspiration journal while I'm here rather than my normal crafting stuff. It helps to move from one medium to another for a while to jump start the next months of creations!!!

That said...now that you know what I'm up to...here's what Robyn and Donna are up to at the shoppe!!! Here is this week's Wacky Wednesday Image!! Please head on over to Robyn's blog to pick it up!!!

Have a wonderful holiday and a great weekend!!

XOXO

QKD - Royal Inspiration Monday!!!

Hi Everyone!! Welcome to another fantastic Royal Kat Monday Hop!!! If you've hopped here from Penny's blog then you are on the right track my friend!! If you happened upon here by accident OR on purpose (thank you!) but you DEFINITELY want to start at the beginning of the hop so you don't miss one stunning creation!!!

Here is the image we were given by the fabulous Maria to work with as our inspiration piece. (Oh how I wish my living room looked like this!!!)

I've been kind of hemming and hawing over this one for a WHILE now. I try to get my DT assignments done so that I can do some 'extras' that pop up every now and again. But this one has had me stumped. Finally...I just sat down and started working. My norm is busy, glittery, layerey, stitchy, etc!! But that isn't what this image was saying to me.
I was very drawn to the pleated tablecloth, the chandelier, and the built in bookshelves/display case on the right hand side of the photo. So I ran with that. I wanted to recreate the pleats...so I grabbed some super wide navy blue grosgrain ribbon as well as some not as wide ivory grosgrain ribbon. I ran them through my sewing machine using a zig zag stitch and alternating colors for the thread. I didn't pin the ribbon in pleats as the pins leave bad holes in the grosgrain so I just pleated as I went along slowly. I LOVE how they came out. So I set those aside.
I wanted to run with the navy blue theme as I've definitely gotten back into the color navy in the last year or so. For a decade I'd cast it out of my wardrobe forever. But I've slowly let some pieces back in. Unfortunately they still don't really get any love because all I ever wear is black. But I digress. I pulled out a sheet of SU!'s Night of Navy and created a 5x7 card. I measured 6 squares at 1 1/2" squared and I laid them out on the front of the card. I traced around them lightly with a white pencil and then cut them out with my Exacto knife. I then added a sheet of acetate behind the newly cut window panels. It looked SO cool!!! But super plain. I then set to doodling around the edges just for some basic detail.
I then added my pleated ribbons. Navy on the inside, ivory on the outside. Bound together with SU's! French Blue (I think retired) grosgrain ribbon tied in a Buttony Bow. I stamped the word 'enjoy' from the Mini Sweets set (LOVE THAT SET!) in Brown Staz-on ink, traced over it with Copper Stickles and then sprinkled chocolate brown glitter on top! I love how it came out! The birdie was just a little add on. It's a chipboard piece from a SU! set that I covered in Basic Grey paper, blinged out her eye and rubbed over her with a SU! Buckaroo Blue ink pad.

Now the inside part is my FAVORITE!! This is one of my FAVORITE ALL TIME QKD stamps EVER!!

I stamped the chandelier in Brilliance Pigment Ink in Gold and heat set it. I then scanned it in and enlarged it on my computer. I printed it out on ivory cardstock and VOILA! It fit perfectly inside the card!!! And I LOVE how it looks when you see it peeking through the windows of the front of the card!! The only thing I did to the chandelier is run over it doodly with my sparkly Sakura gold pen and I colored the lights with my gold paint pen. That's all it needed!!

I'm SO thrilled with how this came out!!!

Thanks for visiting!! Now off you go to Linda's blog to see her interpretation!!!

QKD Blog
Alex's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Kelly's Blog
Helene's Blog
Penny's Blog
Meredith's Blog --- THAT'S ME!! =)
Linda's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sara's Blog
Ashley's Blog
Queen Kat Designs Store


XOXO

Saturday, November 21, 2009

RF Weekly!!! Style Challenge!!

Hello Hello!! Welcome to another week of Robyn and Donna's FABULOUS challenges!!! This week's challenge is as follows:

  • Your challenge for this week is to create a card/paper craft project that has a vintage or shabby chic feel to it.
  • You can use any RF image.
After receiving our DT challenges for the months of Oct and Nov, I read through them and THIS one jumped out at me and practically knocked me over. In a flash I knew exactly what Robyn's Fetish Image I wanted to use. Although I wasn't entirely sure WHAT I was going to do with this it ever so slowly formulated itself over about 4 days.

I've created a Vintage Purse Garland! I wanted simple, clean, not my standard blingidy bling. Quiet, somewhat serene, peaceful. Something that you just look at and love.

I started by enlarging the purse image in MS Paint...super easy. I then printed it out on 3 different pieces of Designer Paper. I adhered the three respective purses to a lightweight chipboard. I then trimmed them out and filed the edges to smooth the cutting out a bit as well as to begin the distressing process.

Each bag started out with my gold paint pen to color in the purse hardware. Since they were all going to be so different, I wanted to create some continuity among them. And they all have the same purse feet. Yes...they are really called feet. You know a bag is a good bag when it has feet on it. But I digress...I cut 6- 3/4" circles and hot glued them to the bottom back of each purse. Roughly half way through the circle so that only a semi-circle would show for the feet. I then used regular white glue to stick my silver, vintage, real glass glitter to the feet. Once the feet were dry I went over them again with the glue and the glitter with a final touch up of Silver Stickles. I really wanted them to shine!

For all the purses my procedures were the same. I scuffed them up with my sanding block, and a variety of ink pads and then a nail file. Each purse has it's own little touch.

The green one has a small, distressed embellishment with a minty green brad in the center.The ivory and rust colored flowered one has vintage reproduction stickers so I trimmed one out that I thought matched nicely along with the AIX LES BAINS sticker. But after I added them on I really beat them up with my nail file. It looks SO cool!! Lastly, the pink purse received a felt flower that I sort of made. I have these flat felt flowers but I wanted something 'corsage' like. So I gathered the bottom and zipped it through my sewing machine. I then rubbed a grey ink pad over it to "dirty it up" a bit. And hot glued it to the purse. I then created the hanging structure which is nothing more than picture hanging wire and 2 three ring binder rings. I used bulldog clips to hold the purses on and attach them to the wire.

I carefully chose ribbon that would compliment each purse and completely distressed the ribbons...basically to shreds!! =)

Thanks SO much for visiting!!! I hope you enjoyed my creation!!


XOXO-






Thursday, November 19, 2009

QKD Special Release!!! Happy Anniversary!!!


HOP HOP HOP!!!

Before I even get started, if you are here simply visiting then WELCOME!! But you'll want to start at the beginning of this amazing journey with the AMAZING ALEX to see everyone's newest and most fabulous creations from the very start!!!

This is a VERY fantastic and important hop indeed!!! I feel so excited to be here with QKD during this very special day!! It's QUEEN KAT DESIGNS STAMP COMPANY'S 3RD ANNIVERSARY!!! Queen Kat aka Vicki Douglas has LITERALLY poured her heart and soul into this company and it shows with her quality and care for each and every product, customer, and design team member.

AND AND AND!!! We have another NEW stamp designer to introduce you to!!! Her name is Kelly Kost and her designs are new and fabulous!!! Nothing like I've ever had access too before.

I have 2 creations to show you today!!!

My first creation is an accordion photo album with coordinating display box that I will use to put some of my favorite fall and Halloween pictures in when they arrive from Shutterfly.

I've ALWAYS been a HUGE fan of The Wizard Of Oz. I have vivid memories of the days when it used to be on once a year...I think it was in February or March. My Mom would pop Jiffy Pop and I'd stay up WAY past my bed time, be PETRIFIED of the witch and flying monkeys and not sleep a wink because of them but it was ALWAYS a magical night!!!

So when the Kelly's new stamps were released to us I KNEW exactly which stamp to request!! And believe me...I had a BALL with this one!!!
I started with the stamped image. I stamped the image in SU! Grey Ink. I then set to VERY carefully coloring with a combination of my Copics and metallic paint pens. I paid fine attention to the details on each character. Lion has sparkly ears, Dorothy has sparkly socks and of COURSE the Ruby Slippers, Toto is colored and heat embossed, The Tin "Girl" has beautiful streaks of silver in her hair and Scarecrow has pretty sparkly bloomers and belt along with gold toed slippers!! I left a 'tab' of sorts to stamp the "Friends Always" sentiment that comes with the set. They need each other as friends with The Wicked Witch coming after them!! =)
Next I matted the image onto some creepy comic book paper from a book that my Brother In Law gave me knowing that I could use in my creations. It's a book about Grimm's "Fairy Tales" but done in comic book fashion and done VERY SCARILY!! But it makes great background paper!!! I then matted that onto a slice of SU! black cardstock and stitched it down with red thread.

The next image I worked on was the Wicked Witch!!! It's a journal that I have that I scanned in and scaled down to work with my project. I used my fine tipped glue pen to glue up The Ruby Slippers and sparkle the heck out of them!! I matted this onto another piece of black cardstock and did the same stitching.
The background paper for the top of the box is PTI Pure Poppy. I distressed the edges and then super inked it up with my Versamark Dazzle Pad and then heat embossed it. After I added my 2 panels I then added a photo corner using my SU! photo corner punch (using the comic book paper) and a piece of a French Provincial mirror that I have that broke off years ago. It was just the right 'piece' to add a bit of...old fashioned touch. Considering the movie is 70 years old!!
I trimmed the outside edge of the box top in blue and whit gingham print ribbon - a la Dorothy's dress. The outside of the bottom box is in a blue and cream psuedo-Baroque paper that accents the gingham ribbon. Inside I covered and decorated the front and back of each accordion panel with first the comic book paper and then accents on each page awaiting their designated photos.
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My second creation is a tag or could be used as an oversized card as the back is completely blank! I used my Cricut and cut a 7" circle with matching insert out of bright yellow paper and white for the insert. For the outside layer I rubbed an emeraldish green pigment ink pad around the edges and heat embossed it. I then used Aleene's Tacky Glue and rolled the edges through the glue and then through my vintage real glass emerald glitter. (you see the theme I'm rolling with ;)I set that aside to dry and set to work on the insert. I free hand drew the Yellow Brick Road, used a sharpie so it wouldn't bleed and colored the inside yellow with one of my Pantone markers. I then went over the lines of the brick road with my Versamark pen, sprinkled with embossing powder and heat set.I wasn't sure what to do with the extra white space because between the road and the copious amounts of glitter there was already a lot going on. So I used some of my acetate paper and trimmed it up to fit the space and adhered it down. I then couldn't decide how to add the fabulous foursome to the image. I wanted something different than just coloring them like I did in the photo box so I decided to go with clear acetate and my black Staz-on ink. I corner rounded the edges and place them on the yellow brick road so they would show up nicely.
I added a bright red ribbon to hang it by and the last touch was the witches feet with the ruby slippers and all sticking out from underneath the creation!

I hope you've enjoyed my creations!!

Next on this amazing hop list is our very magnificent Penny!!

I've included the entire hop list in case you get lost along the way!!

Alex
Meredith----THAT'S ME!
Penny
Jules
Kelly B
Sara
Anessa
Lara
Linda
Anita
Nancy
Steph
Helene
Vicki
QKD Store

Thanks so much for visiting and hopping with us on this very special occasion!!

XOXO

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Robyn's Fetish Wacky Wednesday!!!


Hi Everyone!! Welcome to another fabulous Wacky Wednesday here at Robyn's Fetish!!! Today we were given this ADORABLE Santa image!! I love it because he looks like he's in 'casual wear' as opposed to his standard formal Santa suit!! =)

I printed him out and colored him in with my Copics and silver paint pen. I was going to do a card but decided that it's getting CLOSE to the time when we will start decorating for both Christmas and Hannukah in this house so I want to have some homemade touches. So I grabbed some cardboard and made this adorable door hanger!!

I used a few pieces of assorted scrap I had lying around to create a simple and clean background. I rounded the corners of the background as well as Santa's panel. I've been loving this rounded corner look lately.
I used 2 SU! Jumbo Rivets as the medium to hang the sheer, turquoise polkadot ribbon from. And lastly I added 3 small green self-adhesive rhinestones to the top right corner for some balance with the G-clef down on the bottom left.

I LOVE how he turned out!!

Don't forget to go get your Santa freebie!! He's only available for one week over on Robyn's Blog!!

Thanks for visiting!!

XOXO


Monday, November 16, 2009

Royal Kat Monday Color Challenge!

Hey Y'all!! Welcome to another Monday QKD Royal Blog Hop!!

If you arrived here from Penny's blog then you're on the right track!! If not, you'll definitely want to start at the beginning of the hop so as not to miss one gorgeous creation!!!

Today's instructions were the following: Pink, Purple, White, Grey.

Not my normal set of 'go-tos' which is why this was a GREAT challenge for me!!! My first grab was to my PTI purple designer paper. Then I found my Grey Martha Stewart flowery paper and lastly the awesome cupcake paper!

I was set...I grabbed some SU! and PTI cardstock and my pre-selected stamps and started.I layered and centered my panels in increments of 1/4". And the center panel in 1/2". My adorable Puffy Bug nestled all snuggly in the middle. They are ridiculously cute. If I'd made my card bigger I would have done 3 panels with one each of the images.

I stamped Puffy in Purple Colorbox ink an heat set her. I colored her and her fluffy little one in with my Copics. She's matted and stitched to a double layer of Martha Stewart papers.
I worked on my sentiment panel with the Hello from the Sweet Memories Mini set (so versatile..it's awesome!) and the heart from the Happy Skullz Stamp Set.
I then used the Buttony Bow technique but with double ribbon in lieu of twine. The button is SO cool. It was in a container of buttons from my Great-Grandmother's sewing basket. I've been waiting to use it and this seemed like the occasion to do so! And I LOVE how it came out!
Ok now! Off you go to Linda's blog!!

Full list:

QKD Blog
Alex's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Kelly's Blog
Helene's Blog
Penny's Blog
Meredith's Blog --- THAT'S ME!! =)
Linda's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sara's Blog
Ashley's Blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Thanks for visiting and leavin' some love!! ;)

XOXO