Merry And Bright

All Merry and Bright today and with the results of last week's experimenting in the Kim Labs with texture stamping using the ZIG Art and Graphic Twin Pens from Kuretake, also available at Make The Day Special.

The stamp is the Unity Itty Bitty Merry And Bright Set and I've doodled over it with some ZIG Memory System Millenium pens.

Hope you have a Merry and Bright day!

Kim

Last Christmas Card?

Not quite the last Christmas card I have made this year but almost there! I've done my Christmas card commissions but I still have one more Christmas card to make before I can put the Christmas things away for another year! I have plenty more Christmas makes to show you though - so you don't get off that easily!

This one uses paper from Prima Marketing and is called Alla Prima, you can get it over at Quixotic Paperie.

I really like the Prima papers they are GREAT value for money, you get 48 sheets with 12 designs and 4 of each designs. Which means that if you really like a design you don't use it all up in making one card, or get all conflicted if it is a double-sided sheet and you like the other pattern too!

I know you have been there too!

I stamped out the sentiment in gold but I wasn't happy with it - it wasn't gold enough. So I went over it with the gold ZIG Metallic Writer from Kuretake which made a huge difference!

Hope you are all having a good Saturday.

Kim

Experimenting With...Paper Texture Stamping

What to do when your mojo has hit rock bottom? Experiment of course! Yep, I am having one of those days again and I need a bit of a creative breather, where I am still working but not having to come up with a finished make.

So I thought I would try out some different stamping textures by stamping with the ZIG Art and Graphic Twin Pens, from Kuretake and also available from Make The Day Special, on different papers in my stash.

The stamp I'm using is the Merry and Bright Unity Itty Bitty stamps also available from Make The Day Special.

I've also been experimenting with my photos again in Photoshop. Bit like the Hipstamatic pictures that were all the rage a year or so ago when everyone started downloading the iPhone app don't you think?

Well that's it from Kim Labs for today.

Hope you are having a good creative Tuesday.

Kim

All The Joy Of Christmas

Thought I would play with some alcohol inkiness for today's Make The Day Special DT project.

The stamp is the Unity Itty Bitty Silhouette song bird. I love the Itty Bittys, they are such a good price and as they are foam mounted rubber they are so very versatile too.

I used a combination of ZIG Kurecolor Twin Blood Red colour from the 'Dull' kit and the May Green ZIG Kuracolor Ink and layered it on card covered with the Painty Twin Gold.

Have a fabulously creative Tuesday.

Kim

Kuretake Shop Opening For Business

Keep your eyes open - the new Kuretake shop is due to open today! Wahoo!

Not only will you be able to get all your Kuretake and ZIG products from the Kuretake shop but Kuretake are also distributing the fabulous Basically Bare!

So now you will be able to get all the alterables and colouring mediums you need to let your creativity go wild!

I recently got a chance to play with some Basically Bare products and they are the perfect substrate for all the  Kuretake ZIG range.

Here are a couple of projects, I'll be showing some more and some tutorials as well in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.

Also have you checked out the Kuretake blog recently? Not only have there been some amazing projects from the DT but you might be interested in this 'Be A Kuretake Follower...Be A Winner' post!

Have fun nosing around the new Kuretake shop when it is open!

Kim

Your Ticket To Glitter

Last Tuesday I showed you 'Your Ticket To Jingle' for today's make I've been making more Christmas notelet cards with the Itty Bitty ticket to jingle stamp from Unity available form Make The Day Special.

This time I've broken out the glitter.

I've used ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens, from Kuretake which are also available from Make The Day Special, to stamp with and added a border of glitter with the ZIG 2 Way Glue pen on the ticket.

Right, I've got to go and clean up all the glitter!

Have a glittery day.

Kim

Some Odd Girl Opulent Christmas Tag Tutorial

Hi everyone, here is a step by step I recently put together as part of the month long celebrations for Kristy's Birthday over at her blog The Odd Girl.

It is a special Christmas Tag using the Some Odd Girl Angel Kaylee.

You will need:

Stamps - Angel Kaylee, Alphabet stamps, Music stamp

Papers - Prima Printery

Colouring - Prismacolor pencils

Inks - Versamark, Black

Usual Suspects - Scissors, Silicone glue

Equipment - Heat Gun, Crop-A-Dile, Paper distressor

Other - Ribbon, ZIG Embossing powder (Black Sparkle), Acrylic Paint (Gold), Sponge, ZIG Wink Of Stella Pen, Eyelet

Prepare your tag by cutting out several tag shapes to the size you want and make each tag slightly smaller than the one before. I used one of the '2011' labels in the Prima Printery paper pad but you could easily use a sentiment stamp or other cut-out. Also cut a small strip the width of the tag.

Stamp out the music in Versamark ink on your top tag layer, the smallest tag, and add the embossing powder, shake off excess and heat to melt the powder.

Distress the edges of all of the tag layers, sentiment and paper strip, I use a seam ripper for
this job.

Now all your layers are distressed start building up the tag by glueing each of the tag
layers in place. Add the gold acrylic paint to the distressed edges of all the papers using a sponge. I used some Cut n' Dry but you can easily use a make-up sponge for example.

Add the acrylic paint in lumpy blobs and smooth some of the blobs out to lightly add sparkle to the paper. Leave some of the blobs to dry to give a more bumpy opulent gold look to the tag. When the paint is dry tie the ribbon into a bow and the ribbon to the paper strip and stick it to the tag. 

Stamp and cut out the 'Christmas' to stick to the '2011' cut-out and add a light touch of acrylic paint to the edges. Stick the sentiment to the tag.

Colour Angel Kaylee and add sparkle to her wings, hair and shoes with the ZIG Wink Of Stella pen and stick her to the tag to finish.

Hope you enjoyed this opulent little sparkly tag. 

Don't forget to go take a look at all of Kristy's birthday celebrations!

Kim

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A Little Teddy With A Big Punch!

My title is a bit of a play on words today. It isn't a teddy that punches, its a teddy punch! One of the Kuratake Kurepunch range to be precise!

Ok so I'm not so good with the word play!

But how about this for a congratulations card or a new baby card?

He is the Kurepunch Small - Baby Bear and he is ever so cute, even has a little bow tie!

Dinky!

So this is how grey mad I am at the moment (see yesterday's post for more grey madness) - the faux border stitching was done with a ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pen in none other than grey of course! You can get the pens over at Make The Day Special.

Catch you later amphibious reptiles (Alligator...! Catch you later Alligator - in a while Crocodile! What? You don't say that? Common phrase in our household)

Kimx

Playing With Grey

A bunch of flowers for you all today and this is my DT make for Make The Day Special. The flowers are from the Flourishes range of beautiful stamps these ones are the Zinnia Kit. 

I've fallen in love with colouring with greys, you can get all sorts of effects with greys, they are so useful. I used a bit of watercolouring with the ZIG Art and Graphic Twin Pens to colour
this make.

The pop of yellow really jumps at you doesn't it?

The lovely sentiment is also from the Flourishes Zinnia kit.

Hope you have a day touched with kindness.

Kim

Fun With Fabric And Octopode Factory

Ahh Saturday, which means it is my day on the Quixotic Paperie blog and I thought that for my DT piece this week I would get all a bit fabric-y with the fabulous Ocotopode Factory stamps, new into Quixotic Paperie, and some yummy Prima papers.

I've used Octopode Factory Alice from the Alice in Wonderland range and made her a little quilted.

I've used the Octopode Factory Small Button Flower and the papers I've transferred onto the fabric are from Prima.

I've also used EZ Mount and Ranger Archival Jet Black which are both available in the  Quixotic Paperie shop. 

The paperclip was from Paperchase, or perhaps WHSmith, you know I don't remember! I'm just a stationery hoarder. 

I've also used a bit of black ZIG Fabricolor Twin pen on the make too.

This one just kinda made itself, I started with the idea of transferring the Prima papers onto fabric and wanting to make something with the Octopode Factory stamps and the rest just developed in front of my eyes LOL!

It was great fun to do!

Hope you all have a very creative Saturday.

Catch you later

 Kim 

How To Make Acrylic Paint And ZIG Alcohol Blender Ink Backgrounds.

I promised you all a tutorial for my La-La Land Crafts DT make for this week's Inspiration Monday. Well here as promised is how I made the spooky background for the little Skeleton Luka Tag.

I adapted the technique from Nancy Reyner's book Acrylic Revolution and is really easy to do if you have a little bit of time and want to play with some acrylic paint and alcohol blender ink. I just love the texture it adds to a make!

[There are some affiliate links in this blog post, so if you buy through them I do get a small amount of money at no extra cost to yourself. Thanks for your support!]

You will need:

Corrugated Card

Old Book Page

A Liquid Glue (like PVA or Elmer's)

Acrylic Paint

Alcohol Blending Ink (like ZIG Kurecolor Blender refill/alcohol ink; Adirondack Alcohol Blending solution or Rubbing Alcohol solution)

Golden Polymer Medium (Gloss)

Non-Absorbent surface (like an Acrylic block)

Non-Absorbent dip stick (like a palette knife)

Plus - Your favourite La-La Land Crafts Halloween Image (mine was Skeleton Luka and you can get him as rubber stamp or as a digi-stamp), colouring materials, button, needle, sewing machine, thread, eyelet and eyelet puncher, button, black ink pad, Alpha stamps.

Step One - Prepare The Background

Cut a piece of corrugated card to bigger than you want your final tag to be and if you need to, take the top layer of paper off to expose the corrugations.

Tear out a page from an old (unwanted!) book and use the glue to stick the page to the corrugated card and let it dry fully.

Once dry tear off the book page to reveal the corrugated card again, you can leave on or take off as much as you want!

Step Two - Seal The Surface

You need to coat the support with a layer of medium to seal it, so try a gloss medium like the Golden Polymer Medium. Before you coat the book page/corrugated card it is quite absorbent and will just soak up the acrylic paint and alcohol blender solution and you wont get the
same effect.

Allow this layer to dry before moving on to the next step.

Step Three - Paint The Tag

Cut out the tag shape from the prepared corrugated card. Make up an acrylic paint solution with your chosen colour and some water, I used approximately 1:1 water to paint for my glaze but it really is down to personal preference and the acrylic paint you are using.

Now you will have to start working a bit quickly at this point as you do not want the paint to dry before you add the alcohol blender ink.

Paint the tag and move directly onto the next step.

Step Four - Add The Blender And Watch The Magic!

Add a couple of drops of the alcohol blender ink to a non-porous surface (I used an acrylic block) and dip your non-porous dip stick (e.g. a palette knife) into the drops and then touch it to the still wet acrylic paint on the tag.

The alcohol blender ink spreads in a circle pushing the acrylic paint away from the area leaving a really interesting look. The more alcohol blender ink you add the bigger the circle will be so try adding different amounts to get different looks, but be careful not to use too much as it will wash the paint away completely.

Repeat this process as many times as you want to get the look you want. When you have finished let the tag dry.

Step Five - Add A Bit Of Stitchery

Free-stitch, machine stitch or hand stitch (whichever you are most comfortable with) a spider's web at the top of your tag.

Step Six - And Finish!

Sew on a little spider button and stitch it some legs - creepy! Edge the tag with the black ink pad and add the eyelet. Colour your La-La Land Crafts image and stick to the tag. Finish with the little sentiment. 

Have fun with this one! As always if you use this one I would love to see what you make and if you leave a comment with a link I'll be sure to pop by.

Catch you later alligator.

Kim

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Buzz Buzz Buzz

Buzzy Buzzy Buzz, the last sounds of Summer buzzing on by, well actually there are no sounds of Summer as the wind and rain pelts against my window! Well let us just pretend that it is still Summer shall we?

I have my Summery DT make for Make The Day Special this week. I've used one of the new stamp sets from Paper Smooches, have you seen them yet? Very cute, this set is called 'Giddy Bugs'.

I stamped the sentiment, also from the kit, and coloured the image with ZIG Art and Graphic Twin pens from Kuretake which you can get from Make The Day Special. There is a little touch of glitter on the wings. 

Right well I need to buzz off now. 

Hope you all have a good Tuesday.

Kim