Hot Mess Success #5 ~ Magic of the season!

Hi friends and YES!
It's Monday!

But only 8 more days until Christmas!

I'm super excited this year for many reasons,

including having a 1 year old granddaughter, Alice, who is loving it all!

And I love that every time I go into my formal living room,

it is transformed into a Christmas cabin and it makes my heart smile ♥

 

Today I'm sharing with you the 5th card in the Hot Mess Success card group ~

usually posted on the 12th of every month.

This is a challenge where we make MESSY cards ~

any technique that requires a messier product like watercolors,

paint splatters, alcohol inks, etc!

This month, I'm the hostess and in the spirit of the holidays,

I chose a theme of use some sparkle, silver or gold, or glitter.

I chose gold. 

I used gold foil DCWV background cardstock

and Gina K. Designs gold foil in my alcohol inks Christmas trees.

Now .... my card.

I have to say, I do love it - it came out just as I hoped,

but ....

how on earth do you photograph gold foil?!

I tried and tried and tried and tried 

to get a great picture of it but it's a process! :)

I started with a base of Yupo paper and used a variety of Tim Holtz Ranger Ink

alcohol inks and let them do their magic!

Right before it was completely dry, I added the gold foil and pulled it up

for a random look.
Once it was dry, I ran the tree die through my Gemini Jr and
glued it to the gold cardstock - painstakingly slow but worth it!
The I stamped out the sentiment and popped it onto the card front.

It's funny (now) - I threw a few of these away 

before I realized I had the gold foil UPSIDE DOWN 

*grin!*

You can see Barb's card here,

Jeanette's card here,

and Terry's card here!

 It's interesting how this Hot Mess Success challenge group

is really showing me what techniques I like,

and the ones that I don't :)

This was a success, I'd say ~

and I'd definitely use this technique again.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Introducing - a Hot Mess!

Hi friends!

Today I'm making a mess!

As in a Hot Mess :)

My friends Barb, Jeanette and Terry had a crazy idea.

They said 'Let's create a card group! And make messes!

 And call it a Hot Mess ~ Success!

crafting?

getting messy?

oh yes ... what time?!! :)

For this first card, I went with something messy yet familiar :)

I used my Ranger alcohol inks and Yupo and blending solution.

And that was it for the background ~

easy peasy and yes, messy!

 The idea is to create a card using any of the 'messier' techniques to cardmaking ... water colors, paints, inks, shaving cream, etc.

Once a month, we'll create a card that requires us to make a mess 

- and be successful!

 Back to my card base ......... I let the alcohol inks basically do their magic!

I made several background pieces and

after the colors blended together, I noticed that one piece 

looked like an underwater scene with a cave.

Not really sure where I got that from ~

we did recently watch The Goonies! :)

 

So underwater cave it is!

I went through my huge container of colored images from The Daily Marker

and remembered the Lawn Fawn sublime stamps and die cuts.

They were already colored and ready to go ~

all I did was move them around on the paper until I was happy with their placement and pop them up on foam for dimension.

I've lived in Florida for most of my adult life and this scene,

although just ink and paper, stands out from a trip to Peacock Springs

where adventure trails, camping and cave diving are the highlights!

Barb, Terry and Jeanette have also made messy cards today

and if you want to see their cards, each name is their blog.

We plan to make cards once a month, every 2nd Monday,

and I'm sure it will be quite a mess success! 

Before you go, if you made it this far - thank you!

I have some pretty important tests today with a specialist.

I pray I'm able to find answers to my painful journey of the past few months.

I haven't been able to walk right and hobble around on a cane most days :(

If you could think some good thoughts or say a prayer, I'd be so grateful ♥

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

One Plus Twelve: Foxy's August Adventures!

Hi friends!

Today's card is one I made with a little bit of alcohol :)

 As in ... 

alcohol inks!

This technique is one of my VERY favorites to do ~

Ranger alcohol inks and yupo paper!

You never quite know what going to create

and each time is a unique color and new surprise!

This is my card for the One Plus Twelve ~

a card idea I had to use ONE stamp 

- just one stamp -

 and create a card once a month to stretch the use of the stamp

and find creative ways to use it :)

The stamp I'm using all year is Warm Wishes from Honey Bee Stamps. 

I asked Barb and Jeanette to play along and you can see their cards, too.

For this card, the background medium I've used Ranger alcohol inks

 in Valencia, Citrus and Patima

and added them directly to the yupo paper.

As it was moving around, I used alcohol blending solution

to give it the bubble splatter shape.

Once it was dry, I used my MFT stitched wonky die-namics.

I use them often on many of my cards because I really love them ♥

Foxy, as I've lovingly called him this year, is colored with prismacolor markers

and I paper-pieced his shirt with a sheet of Lawn Fawn dsp.

I left the inside of this one blank as I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet :)

I do know that I have a lot of fun backgrounds still to use,

so I'll think of fun cards to make.

I have to get my thinking cap on for the catch up cards I have to make, too!

 If you would like to see my previous cards, they are:

here

here

here  and here! ♥

 Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Card entered into:  Less is more/color challenge
Cut it up/critter

 

Kaleidoscope of birthday colors!

Good Morning, friends!

 I'm getting a late start to my crafting/blogging today

 but I'm here! :)

 

I love color ♥

The brighter, more vibrant and bold, the better! 

To me, bright colors are cheerful and happy

 and really make for a wonderful surprise in crafting

 ~ those POPS of color!

I've committed to making a birthday card every Monday in March

 with a stamp from The Project Bin!

Today, I have 2 cards to share 

and I've used the stamp set Born Yesterday.

  It's always fun to find new ways to get creative with card making.

For today's set of cards, I went on a treasure hunt through my supplies

and spotted my alcohol inks and yupo paper.

Perfect!

I created a variety of backgrounds in various colors

 and just let the inks do as they wished.

I am IN LOVE with how these came out!

It's a fun technique and with this creative process, 

you probably won't get the same look twice!

 

Here are the two completed cards using the stamped sentiments

in a creative way to showcase both the paper and the stamp. 

This is how they came out:

 

   

Card #1 

And card #2! 

 Once the background pieces are dry (I always leave mine overnight),

it's time to assemble.

I picked two backgrounds at random 

and added them to the stamped sentiments from Born Yesterday.

These are stamped with Momento Tuxedo black ink. 

These colors just make me smile!

 March is bursting with birthdays in our family - and extended family - 

so it's nice to have some on hand ...

ready to go!

You can find this stamp set that I've used in the shop

We also have an inspiration blog that you can see each week day ...

and there's a brand new stamp set about to be released that is just DARLING!

Keep watching! ♥

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

It's *FALLIDAY Fest!* ~ Day 1

Happy Sunday!

Today's the first day of *Falliday Fest* over on Splitcoaststampers!

Yay!

What is Falliday Fest?

   I'm so glad you asked! :)

This is a two week period with daily challenges, 

TEN holiday craft tutorials, and four card drive destinations.

If you sign up at SCS for the master challenge list,

every day you can wake up to the new fun challenge.

 

 It's a great way to get your feet wet on trying something new,

like my card today.  It was great fun!

For as much time as I'm on the road all day,

this will indeed be a challenge but I'm looking forward to it!

My incredibly talented friend Shona introduced me to Yupo paper

back in March 2016.  I ran to the store and bought some and then ........

 never used it, until now!

One of the challenges for the Falliday Fest is to create a card

 using an alcohol ink card base ~

and I was crazy excited to use this darling new Christmas otters

stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn!

 i was soooo very lucky to win this set from

 the talented Kari Webster  in her giveaway.

Thank you, Kari! 

Are you playing along in the Falliday, too?

Let me know - I'll stop by and visit!

Yay for Fall!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly