Demo And A Reminder...

I'm going to be demoing products from Kuretake today in the Greenford Hobbycraft from 10am - 4pm, so come and say 'Hi' if you are around.

If not then you have plenty of blog hopping to do - the Kuretake challenge is live and you can win some yummy goodies.

Also Clair Rigby is starting her Month long Stitching On Paper class today so keep your eye on her blog today.

Have a great Saturday.

Kim

Mixed Media Tag With ZIG Cartoonist Inks

I have some inky tips to share with you today, this post has been on the Kuretake Blog recently but I wanted to share it here as well.

But before I do don't forget to check out the new Kuretake Challenge - there is £50 of Kuretake and Basically Bare products up for grabs.

Back to my tutorial today, I've been playing with lots of inky bits and bobs recently and one of the new ranges I've been able to try out is the ZIG Cartoonist range from Kuretake which have been designed specifically with Manga and Cartoon artists in mind. But they have lots of other applications too and I wanted to show you how they can be applied to a mixed media project, so I've used the ZIG Cartoonist Sumi Ink and the ZIG Cartoonist White Ink for this Butterfly Tag.

As you can see I've also done a little bit of recycling too with old book pages and packaging.

I've covered the tag background with a coat of Gesso then used the ZIG Cartoonist Sumi Ink and nib to add the border. But that is all I've done to the background. The focal point on this tag is an ink blot butterfly and I wanted to share with you how I made it.

You Will Need:

ZIG Cartoonist Sumi Ink 

 ZIG Cartoonist White Ink 

ZIG Nibs and Nib Holder

ZIG Cartoonist Brushes

(Pipette - optional)

Old book page

Spare paper

White Card

Tag

To start you might want to practise making your ink blot Butterflies on spare paper before committing your old book page.

Fold the spare paper in half and use the dip pen and nib to draw a line with the ZIG Cartoonist Sumi Ink to act as a guide to drawing out the rest of the butterfly. You want to work relatively quickly so that the ink remains wet and a bit of trial and error will give you an idea of how much ink you need to get the kind of blot pattern you want. You can also experiment with the pipette to draw the butterfly too if you want a bolder ink blot.

Fold the paper at the pre-made fold and use your fingers to smooth and spread the ink out. Open the paper again to reveal your ink blot butterfly.

Now you can do the same on the old book page, just remember that each ink blot butterfly is unique!

I have another tip to share today and that is the making of the sentiment.

Spread the ZIG Cartoonist Sumi Ink with the back of the nib onto some white card and let it dry.

Write out the sentiment in the ink using a brush. Once the sentiment is dry tear the sentiment out letting the white card show and it is ready to stick to the tag.

Hope you enjoyed that bit of inkyness and will have fun with your ink blots. If you want to see another butterfly ink blot checkout my grungy boy card from May.

If you happen to be near the Greenford Hobbycraft I shall be there on Saturday 4th August 10am-4pm Demoing for Kuretake - see you there!

Have fun.

Kim

Time For...

A couple of shout outs!

It is article time again but only a tiny one, I have a couple of cards in this month's Simply Cards and Papercrafts and get this, it is Simply Cards and Papercrafts 100th issue!

Happy Birthday Simply Cards and Papercrafts! (The '100' card in the circle is one of mine).

The second shout out is yet another bit of shameless self-promotion, I've got an interview on the Fiskarettes website if you are interested.

I've also got a project and tutorial on the Kuretake blog using ink and nib work on a mixed media project, which I will be posting here at some point, but if you can not wait for it to get here then pop on over to the Kuretake blog to see what I've made.

Zoom and I'm gone again, a very quick post from me, giving you plenty of time to do some more blog hopping, well time to check out my interview of course! (I am actually blushing with embarrassment as I write this!)

Have fun.

Kim

A New Project - Scrapbooking Me

Project number 6 trillion and 22 - Scrapbooking Me.

So I've started a new project, this one is a retrospective. I'm hunting out old pictures of myself to scrapbook, journal or memory file, kind of watching how I've changed over the years. So here is my first make in the project, an 8"x8" scrapbook page with a picture from way back in 2007.

Oh so much younger, a full 5 years ago! Ok so probably not that much younger, luckily it wasn't taken with a hi def camera! The photo was taken in March with a mobile phone camera coming back from a lovely day trip to Winchester. I've done some Photoshop jiggery pokery to the photo and added a vintage frame.

And one of my Washi Tape suns, the ZIG Photo signature pens are totally perfect for writing on the slightly non-absorbent Washi Tape by the way. Have I mentioned how much I love these pens? They are definitely in my top five, they are so useful. Anyway I digress The Zig Zag pattern is a Hero Arts stamp. 

I've used Heidi Swapp No Limit papers 'coz they perfectly matched the photo and their style kind of matches me as well. I love the blue prints and technical drawings - very me. The number stickers are the Heidi Swapp Color Magic Letterbox Resist Alphabet Stickers and I've treated them to an acrylic paint make-over. 

So have you started any new projects recently? I would love to see them! Feel free to do a Scrapbooking Me project just remember to drop back and leave me a link to your project if you do.

Enjoy your Olympic Friday!

Kim

Day Trippers To The Transport Museum

Yep we have a blog post! So that is a full week of blogging, told you I had lots to share this week! Today I wanted to share a memory. It's a page from my Smash / Notebook, you know the one I showed you on Monday with the little sketching practice. It's the same notebook but this time with a little memory layout from the long bank holiday weekend in June.

Ok so bear with me, I have a lot of photos, but the page is all interactive and everything!

So David and I went on a little touristy trip to the London Transport Museum in Covent garden. You know how it is, you live somewhere but you rarely do the touristy things. But there was a two for one offer and I couldn't remember if I had been before and David was sure that he hadn't. So perfect opportunity we thought.

If you were worried that we went all the way into town to the Transport Museum just to take pictures of each other then fear not! Lift up the top photos and you will see the Museum! Told you it was an interactive page. I'm not sure that you can spot that I've stylised all the photos on the page with Photoshop.

I've used Heidi Swapp No Limit papers and a cute glittery Heidi Swapp Destination Paper Pennant along with a map page torn out from an old London A-Z. I masked off Covent Garden and gessoed the map then circled the spot with Kuretake ZIG Cartoonist Sumo ink to highlight the museum.

The banner uses the Heidi Swapp Color Magic Letterbox Resist Alphabet Stickers with some spray inks and slightly riffs on a song title from the Beatles (but not the meaning of that song - if you are worried!), don't know why that was in my head when I made this. 

Did you spot the faux London transport sign with the Transport Museum written in Kuretake ZIG Cartoonist white ink? Oh and the ticket we used to get there is on the page too. And under the moving photos is lots of space to journal the day.

It was a fun day! I think we might have had to stop out for some Szechuan dumplings too as we were in town.

Have a fun Friday.

Kim

My Time Journalling

More inky Kim today with a page from my journal. I have a number of journals on the go at the moment all of them slightly different, you have seen this one before in the Spring with a Kuretake make. What I love about this one is that it is all kraft paper which is great fun to work on.

So this page is called 'My Time' and you can see the gorgeous female silhouette from the Susana Loves Stamp Blank Canvas range from SCACD available over at Quixotic Paperie. She is stamped, clear embossed then over stamped with the fab clock also from the Blank Canvas range.

I've used the spray inks I've been playing with recently and stencils, but you will also spot some ink and dip pen lines and sentiment. This ink was the Kuretake Sumo ink and I'll be talking more about this ink in some up-coming posts so keep your eyes out for that.

Just a little tip, I wanted the silhouette to really pop so once I was finished getting inky I ironed off the clear embossing.

So I thought that I would link this up with the Simon Says Show and Tell Challenge this week which is a 'No Rules' theme - My favourite theme!

Thanks for popping by, hope you are having some inky fun yourselves. 

Kim

What To Do On A Saturday

Looking back over this week I can't help but notice that it has been very wet. Well it has rained pretty much every day, but I'm not talking about the weather but about the inky watercolours I've been playing with this week. I've covered everything that I can get my hands on, including my hands, with inky watercolours and you can see some of the makes, so far, if you scroll down.

I think I needed a burst of colour and it certainly helped covering everything with hot pinks, oranges and yellows! I don't know about you but I've been feeling quite Autumnal and I'm trying hard to stay in Summer.

More inky-ness in this month's Papercraft Essentials issue 83 from me.

This month I've got an article all about Ranger Inkssentials Accents - Glossy, Matte, Enamel and Crackle with tips and some new ideas on how to use them. I got inky with alcohol inks and Distress Stains for this one. There is a teaser on the cover for you!

Ooo and if you want a little tutorial on making this metallic look:

then hop on other to the Kuretake Blog where I show you how I did it.

Well I hope you are staying dry but getting inky this Saturday.

Big inky kisses.

Kim

Looking For Some Ideas With Resist Stamping?

Hello all, hope that where ever you are you have some sunshine because there certainly isn't any here in London. But then if you are living here yourself or watching Wimbledon you would know this too. *sigh*

So I am desperately sneaking sunshine, please send some if you have any spare!

Meanwhile an update on my latest article in Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 99

It is a resist stamping article using several different methods to make a resist, not just heat embossing, so if you fancy expanding your resist stamping techniques it is definitely worth checking out the article.

The article has a wedding theme and uses the yummy wedding set from Lawn Fawn - Happily Ever After available from Make The Day Special.  I've also added in some Hero Arts stamps and some swirls from the Creative Expressions Funky Floral stamp set for good measure! There are some more ideas for using your ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens too.

Hope you enjoy it. 

Right, got to go finish a commission and some blog posts.

Catch you later.

Kim

Kuretake Challenge - Going For Gold

There is a new challenge up on the Kuretake blog and I do hope you will come along and have a play! It is all about GOLD!

There is a bundle of goodies from Kuretake and Basically Bare worth £50 up for grabs and anyone can enter - so no excuses!

Here is a little Olympic Gold themed ATC from me..Well more Olympic Grunge!

I've used ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens and the ZIG Painty Twin Gold and Silver pen for this make.

If you keep your eyes peeled I will be showing you how I made this in the next couple of weeks over at the Kuretake Blog.

To go with the Gold theme and Olympic build up there is a 25% Off special offer on some of the metallic pens over at the Kuretake shop - time to stock up!

And don't forget to check out the DT's lovely gold makes and join in the challenge yourself over at the Kuretake blog - you have 'till 16th July.

Kim

All In The Illustration

I love experimenting as you know and I love trying my hand to different things, again this won't be too much of a shock to those of you who regularly pop by my blog. 

Well today I have one of my own illustrations to show. I've been doing a lot of work with watercolours and I just love how watercolour effects look with a clean black line so I thought I would try making a little birthday card using this look.

The watercolours I've used are the ZIG Art and Graphic twin Pens and the illustration and sentiment were drawn with the ZIG Writer pen.

I applied the colour with the ZIG Water Colour system WaterbrusH20 which is a valved waterbrush and I would not be without them!

Hope you like the look.

Catch you later chicks!

Kim

Kuretake Challenge Time

Ok so are you up for a Kuretake challenge?

This time the theme is Red, White and Blue with a touch of bling - perhaps something to do with some jubilee or something going on in Britain last weekend?

You remember? The long weekend I kept going on about?

I thought I would go a bit Punk on the theme, part of this street grunge phase I seem to be going through at the moment. I've made an ATC using ZIG Art and Graphic Twin watercolour markers.

The stamps are the IndigoBlu Pomp and Pageantry stamp set for the flag and the Great Britain stamps.

I reckon old Queenie has probably been whispering this to herself all weekend

'Keep Calm and Royal On'.

Now this month there are no restrictions for entry and the prize up for grabs is a ZIG Memory Systems Starter kit plus a bundle of Basically Bare Products so come and join in - you have a little over a week to get your entry in - plenty of time!

Looking forward to seeing your entry into the challenge!

Kim