Birthday Roses - Summer Fling Week 2

Welcome to the second week of the Cornish Heritage Farms 12 Weeks of Summer Fling! We're focusing on Thomas Kinkade this week so the girls on the hop will have some detailed stamping to share with you today! Full details of the Summer Fling are available here if you haven't seen them already.

I chose the stamp that is perhaps least typical of the Kinkade images in the line when I made my sample for today's blog hop - most of them focus on buildings or landscapes but this one goes up close in the rose garden and is such a good size that you really don't need much else on the card! I used a linen cardstock to give a nice touch of texture. You do need to be careful with textured cardstocks and the Kinkades as they are so detailed that something with too much texture means that you can end up with bits of your image missing as the stamp can't make enough contact with the bumpy bits! I like the CHF Simply Linen as the "weave" is fine enough that you still get plenty of detail from the stamp.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
A Perfect Yellow Rose (Thomas Kinkade line)
Thomas Kinkade Birthday Expressions (this sentiment is also available as a single wood mounted stamp if you prefer your sentiments that way)

Paper:
Simply Linen Natural
Herbal Garden Medium (Prism/Bazzill)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic Markers
Cream Prismacolor Pencil
Silk ribbon
Stick pin
Corner Chomper

Leave a comment here for your chance to go into the draw for one of the gift certificate prizes this week and if you have a Kinkade stamp in your collection then why not create with it this week to be in with a chance of winning the Design Team's Favorite prize? Just upload to the special gallery for the week. Comments and gallery submissions need to be in before midnight EST on Thursday 17th June to be eligible.

Next on today's hop is Tracy with more Kinkade to share! If you didn't begin at the beginning and would like to then jump back to the Be Creative blog and leave a comment there for an extra entry to the prize draw!

Thanks for hopping by!

Kinkade Windows

It's my turn to do the weekly tutorial over on the CHF Be Creative blog and today's technique focuses on selective colouring. Find out how to bring a homely glow to a Kinkade window and leave a comment over there if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning the Foxglove Cottage stamp (still my favourite Kinkade stamp, I think!)

Kinkade Windows Tutorial

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Foxglove Cottage East or West, Home is Best

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Kraft

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Prismacolor Pencils/OMS/Stump
Sewing machine and thread
Brad
Labels One Nestabilities by Spellbinder

Thanks for stopping by!

A quick gift (maybe for you, too!)

Gift cards are a popular choice for those "hard to buy for" people we all have in our lives. It's nice to dress it up and make it just a bit more personal though and these "pop up" gift card holders are one of my favourite ways to do it. Using the Thomas Kinkade papers means you get a really dressy result without spending a lot of time on it - perfect for the busy Christmas season!

I first saw this little gift card holder as part of a Splitcoaststampers challenge which pointed to the video instructions on the Hero Arts blog.

I warmed up the base with a fine houndstooth pattern (I find it easier to do this before sticking anything together) and then cut a section of one of the Kinkade quad papers with a Nestie to make a panel for the front. I wanted a narrow mat so I ran a blade around the outside of the same Nestie I used to die cut the image. A gold gel pen adds a little definition between the two and a gold embossed stamped sentiment finishes it off.

I punched a slot with a Making Memories slit punch to thread my ribbon through under the image panel.

Inside the holder, I used one of the background papers from the paper pack to make a nice finish. Just cut strips of 4" x 6" and stick them in place. I stitched a punched strip to one section before sticking it down to make a fancy edging to overlap the gift card. I've left it with no stamping or other images so there's plenty of space to write a personal message.

I didn't have a gift card for the photograph so that's my National Trust membership card posing as a "body double"!

If you watch the Hero Arts video, you might notice that my gift card is portrait orientation and theirs is landscape - either will work just fine as long as you cut the slit to the appropriate size, I just happen to like the proportions this way round.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Fine Houndstooth Scrapblock
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Winter Wonderland paper pack (Thomas Kinkade line at CHF - see below for a chance to get one for yourself!)
Stormy Light and Medium (Prism Papers)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Slate)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Detail gold embossing powder
Silk ribbon
Labels One Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Gold gel pen
Slot punch (Making Memories)
Border punch by Fiskars (Threading Water/Scalloped Lace)
Sewing machine and thread

Want the papers?

As well as this being a quick gift you could make, I have a quick gift for somebody today. I have a pack each of Winter Wonderland and Victorian Christmas papers from the Thomas Kinkade line to give away. Each pack has four different Kinkade pictures on a full size (8" x 8") piece, four quad sheets (parts of the picture scaled down onto quarters of the sheet) and two sheets each of four different coordinating background designs for a total of 16 sheets in each pack.

Just leave me a comment if you would like to go into the virtual hat - I'll close commenting at midnight Wednesday 30th September and pick out a name to receive the two packs. I'm happy to ship anywhere.

Thanks for stopping by on the continuing WCMD blog tour, I appreciate you taking the time!

Effortless Kinkade

It's not everyone who would appreciate the effort you go to when you colour a Kinkade stamp. The easy solution to that is to skip the colouring! The detail makes these stamps a great choice to just stamp and go - you end up with a project that looks very involved but takes very little time.

Intense blue and pristine white may not be traditional Christmas choices but I think they suit this stamp very well. Makes a change from the more vintage style of the last couple of projects, too! I choose Versafine ink when I'm doing a project like this as you get a beautifully detailed impression every time - you can click through for a better view.

It's not always easy to get matching cardstock so to make a perfectly matching matting layer, I just rub the ink pad around the edge of a piece of white cardstock. any slight imperfections in coverage won't show when you have such a narrow margin on display.

Stamps (Thomas Kinkade line at Cornish Heritage Farms):
Christmas Moonlight
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Paper:
Simply Smooth (CHF)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Majestic Blue)

Other:
Snowflake Wonder dies by Spellbinder
Deko Ice glitter (Efco)
Crystal Brads (Making Memories)

There's something new on the CHF Be Creative blog today - Kristine has done the first of our new weekly tutorials and she's giving away a Sara England stamp that just might help with your Christmas cards, too! Check out the tutorial and the detail of how you might win the stamp here.

If you're dropping in on the World Card Making Day blog tour and would like the discount code for the PaperCrafts/CK scrapbooking store, it's 7YHZ-BMHR-NPTF. The coupon will be valid from midnight (MDT) on September 21 2009 through 23:59:59 (MDT) on 12 October 2009, and is good for 25% off your cart subtotal in the scrapbooking store.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Christmas with Elvis

Kinkade and Presley - does it get much more American than that, I wonder? The USA's biggest selling living artist painting the home of her greatest selling recording artist!

I kept the focus on Elvis and Priscilla unloading gifts from the car and the homey glow of the windows by concentrating the colouring in those areas, the rest of the scene is just given a little shading over and above the intricate detail provided by the stamp with three shades of cool grey Copic (C1, C3 and C5) plus Pale Blue Gray (B60). As ever, you can click through for a better view as it looks a little washed out on the thumbnail version here!

I resisted the tempation to add Elvis-style studs or bling but gave in to a touch of opulence with a silk bow. This is a larger format card (5" x 7") to give space for the wider matting to give a more elegant feel. A sentiment on a strip curved to give a little more dimension finishes things off.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Graceland Christmas (Elvis line releasing Septermber 25th)
We Wish you a Merry Christmas sentiment (Elvis line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Silk ribbon
Corner Chomper (1/4" side used to round ends of sentiment strip)

Thanks for visiting after a short break from me - I had a couple of weeks vacation and then came home to the most enormous pile of work so crafting and blogging have take a bit of a back seat. I'll have more things to share this week though so please stop by again if you have the time, I really appreciate your visits!

Kinkade Blitz

There's a new Thomas Kinkade stamp coming tomorrow at CHF and there's a Kinkade Blitz happening by way of celebration. If you've Blitzed before, you know they're a lot of fun! More of that in a moment...

Here's the new stamp. It's called Sunrise and immediately reminded me of the "Gipfel Kreutz" you find in Austria. If you do a serious hill climb there, you'll almost always find a cross at the top, overlooking the valley and mountain tops beyond. There's usually a little wooden box there too that contains a book for you to sign and record any thoughts about the journey you just made. Of course, this stamp could represent a spiritual journey for many people, too.

I had fun airbrushing the sky on this one. I found that you can use the colourless blender pen to remove colour and put those radiating white lines in, too.

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Sunrise (Thomas Kinkade line)
Everyday Petites (Mona Lisa Moment line)
Leaves #3 backgrounder

Paper:
Simply smooth and Stormy light (Prism papers)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Weathered Wood)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic airbrush system
Antique copper mini brads
Foam tape

So, about this Blitz - kick off is tonight at 7pm EST (so a little late for us Brits) but Julia has pre-announced the challenges for anyone who would like to join in. There will be prizes throughout the Blitz, drawn randomly from gallery submissions. So if you have Kinkade stamps and would like the chance to win more, why not check out the details on the CHF forum {here}.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits are much appreciated!

Simple Brilliance

No, I haven't come over all ego-inflated - today's challenge over at Cornish Heritage Farms focuses on Brilliance inks and I decided to go simple with the card so it's Simple Brilliance!

Brilliance is pigment ink made by Tsukineko and has a lovely sheen to it. One of the things I like best about it is that it stamps well on vellum and unlike some other inks, it dries perfectly and quickly on there.


I was aiming for 'handsome' with this one! The image is stamped with Coffee Bean Brilliance ink on vellum and simply backed with ivory cardstock. This gives a slightly softer look and more depth than just stamping straight on to a layer of card. I used the same ink to stamp the sentiment and then brushed Copper Perfect Pearls over there. An aperture cut with a Nestability die and a line of machine stitching and you're done - a fast card!

Thanks for stopping by today, lots of other Design Team girls are playing along today, why not take a peek for more "Brilliance" ideas?

Carole ~ Dawn ~ Julia ~ Julie ~ Kim ~ Sherrie ~ Val

Stamps:
Clocktower Cottage (Thomas Kinkade line at Cornish Heritage Farms)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line at Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean)

Paper:
Vellum
Epic Black Laid (Prism Papers)

Other:
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Copper from the Metallics kit)
Sewing machine and thread

A cute cottage and some very exciting news!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about my Thomas Kinkade fisherman. I have another Kinkade to share with you today and some exciting news alongside it.

I think this image, Foxglove Cottage, has a lovely warm feeling to it and it would make a great card for someone special returning home from a trip or someone moving into a new place of their own. I blended the first layer of colour on this one with Sansodor to provide a soft base layer and then added shading and texture over the top with the same pencils. A little bit of Glossy Accents gives the windows and lamp a glassy sheen and a white pen adds highlights. I used a fine paint brush to transfer the white ink in places where I wanted very fine detail.

I made the sentiment panel by cutting a frame with two Nestability dies and colouring it with a Krylon pen. Once the Krylon had dried, I sponged black pigment ink over the top to 'antique' it a bit and I filled the centre of the plaque with Glossy Accents so that it looks a bit like a ceramic name plate.

So... the exciting news is that I submitted this card to the recent Design Team call at Cornish Heritage Farms and I heard earlier this week that I was one of three people picked to join the team *big grin*. I am absolutely thrilled to be joining a really talented bunch of stampers and I'm sure I'll be learning loads!

Stamps:
- Foxglove Cottage (Thomas Kinkade series at Cornish Heritage Farms)
- sentiment stamp (my own design)

Ink:
- Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
- Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia and Onyx Black)
- Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Cardstock:
- Birchtone light and Birchtone medium by Prism Papers
- smooth white

Tools:
- Prismacolor and Lyra pencils (plus OMS and blending stumps)
- sewing machine & thread
- Classic oval Nestabilities
- fine paint brush

Accessories:
- brads
- Glossy Accents by Ranger
- Inkssentials white pen by Ranger
- Krylon leafing pen (copper)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the card!

Gone fishin'?

Something a bit different from me today! Cornish Heritage Farms do several more detailed art lines including images by Thomas Kinkade (America's biggest selling living artist, apparently!). I got some images to play with and had great fun colouring! This one really makes you think about water and the fact that what you usually see when you look at it is not water itself, it's a version of everything above it! As ever, you can click on the pic for a closer view.



Sentiment is computer generated (Palace Script and New Century Schoolbook fonts) with a shadow added with a marker.

The little fly lure hanging from the hardware started life as an earring! Many, many years ago my aunt bought me a pair from a guy who'd obviously decided there was a lucrative jewellery sideline to his fly tying business! Sadly, I lost its partner a long time ago and my ear piercings healed so I can't wear earrings either. I decided to give this little fly a new purpose in life and add it to this card as it seemed perfect with this image!

Supplies: It Doesn't Get Much Better (Cornish Heritage Farms), Prism paper (Olive dark and medium), Adirondack ink (Espresso), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Antique Linen, Vintage photo), computer and printer, Prisma and Lyra pencils, OMS/blending stumps, Inkssentials white pen, antique copper hardware, Copic marker, sponge, old earring!

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoy your day!