Sparkling Clear with Tag, You're It!

This time of year is busy for all of us with the holidays, but both of our daughters have their birthdays in November, so that makes life extra crazy around here.  It's so nice to take a little time out for some crafting therapy, and today is the start of another wonderful Tag, You're It Challenge!

When I first saw Donna's tag, it just took my breath away!  It is so elegant!  I was excited and determined to make my tag out of acetate.  Here it is:

And here is Susan's amazing tag:

I have to confess, this was a difficult tag to photograph.  That little tag received an all-afternoon photo shoot!  I wish you could see its sparkly appearance IRL.  Here are a few of my photo attempts; feel free to click on a photo to see it enlarged. 

The acetate is recycled packaging.  I put some water in a plastic cup and added several drops of pearlized white nail polish.  Then I swirled it around and dipped in the end of the tag.  I tried with glittery gold and turquoise too, but they just dropped to the bottom of the cup, so I painted them on the edge.  The PTI "sparkle" die cut was cut from Recollections glitter paper and then painted again with the glittery gold and turquoise nail polish.  I adhered that to the tag with Glossy Accents.  The word banners are from the same paper, heat embossed in Ranger Princess Gold, adhered on the front with a Xyron sticker maker, and then adhered to the back of the tag.  The ribbon and gold elastic were in my scraps.  The sequins are from PTI Shakers + Sprinkles, and Hobby Lobby brand.  The nail polishes are: MK Signature Cloud Nine, Nina Ultra Pro Metal Flakes, and Maybelline Color Show Emerald City.

I hope you will play along with Tag, You're It by CASEing Donna's tag.  I'd love to see what you make!

This tag is also going over to play in Virginia's View Challenge #21 where the theme is, All About Glitter!  Did you know this is Virginia's last challenge?!  At least for a while.  I can't imagine how she and her family did this all on their own, but hopefully it will return some day.  She extended the deadline to December 24th, so there is still time to play along!

As always, thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Kara Lynne

A Latte Thanks

I'm quickly popping in here to share a gift card holder design I made for the coffee lovers in my life, and to play along with the Holiday Coffee Lover's Bloghop!

These were a lot of fun to make!  I used acetate for the entire cup from MFT's LLD Cool Cup, and attached a second "cup" that was distressed with DI Vintage Photo and then flicked with Vintage Photo and water from a paintbrush.  I attached it and the whipped cream to the acetate by running them through the Xyron so that the sticky side was on the front.  The tag and the circle are both from MFT Tag Builder Blueprints 4, the heat embossed sentiment is from MFT's LLD Stay Cool, and the Thanks die cut is from PTI's Wet Paint Cuts.  The sequins are beech wood from Serendipity Stamps, and the twine is from Michaels.  All of the papers were from my scraps.  I tri-folded the base paper to make a flap inside and adhered those sides to create a pocket for the gift card. 

 I hope you are playing along and enjoying the Holiday Coffee Lover's Boghop!

Thanks for coming over to visit.  Have a great day!

Kara Lynne

Playing with Brusho!

It seems like forever since I've been able to enjoy our papercrafting community.  I just wanted to quick share a card so you know I'm still alive:

I had a chance to play with my new Brusho Crystal Colours.  They are so much fun!  This is a combination of purple and turquoise on Strathmore cold press watercolor paper.  I heat embossed the sentiment from Mama Elephant's Believe In Magic, and the ornament is a cut file from Silhouette Studio called Nativity Ornament.  I slipped in a little white ribbon and popped the whole thing up on foam and then a white card base. 

 

I'm going to pop this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Christmas.



Thanks for coming over to visit, I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Kara Lynne

Tag, You're It! #35

Have you been following Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags?  It is just amazing to see so many crafters coming together with Tracey to focus on tags for Christmas!  There is something there to inspire everyone.  Today our team at Tag, You're It, has the pleasure of CASEing Tracey's tag, and so do you!  Here's my spinner tag based on Tracey's:

And here is Tracey's tag:

I was inspired by so much on this bright and fun tag!  I followed Tracey's polka dots onto my background, created a focal image, carried over her script "Joy" sentiment, and embellished with silver elements and jingle bells.

I made the polka dots by stamping a small dot stamp from Mama Elephant's Cup of Wishes stamp set in the following PTI ink colors: New Leaf, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy, and Hibiscus Burst.  Two mirrored image reindeer, from Mama Elephant's Reindeer Games were colored with Copics (sorry, I don't remember which one, I'm trying to get better at writing those down).  I fussy cut them, ran them through a Xyron sticker maker, and sandwiched a piece of Madeira Jewel Holographic thread between them.  The tag, from MFT Tag Builder Blueprints 4 was cut and stamped twice and the thread is glued between them.  I also cut the circle (PTI Limeade Ice cs) and smaller tag (PTI Pure Poppy cs) from the same MFT Blueprints dies.  The sentiment is from MFT's Gift Tag Greetings, and was heat embossed in white.  The jingle bells are brads from Hobby Lobby and are sandwiched between two tags back to back.  The ribbon is holographic curling ribbon from my Christmas wrapping supplies.

I hope you will join us over at Tag, You're It! for this super fun challenge, and don't forget to link up your project on Tracey's Blog for her 25 Days of Christmas Tags!

Thanks so much for coming over to visit, I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Kara Lynne

Puppy Post Tag for 25DOCT

Back again with another tag for Tracey's 25DOCT!  There have been so many "cute" tags on Tracey's blog in the last few days, and I love to color cute images, so that's exactly what I was inspired to do:

This little guy is from LOTV and it's called Puppy Post.  I colored him with Copics, a combination of R20s, Cs, and E10s.  After he was colored, I masked the image with Elmer's rubber cement, and ink blended the background with DI Broken China.  I went back in with a white Gelly Roll pen and colored the snow flakes.  There is WOS on the snowy top and on the ground.  I thought it needed a little more "Christmas" so I cut out some little holly leaves from a larger Memory Box die cut, inked them with DI Shabby Shutters, and used Ruby Red Liquid Pearls for berries.  I made a tag from PTI Pure Poppy cs, punched corners at the bottom, and added baker's twine from Michaels.

Check out all the wonderful tags on Tracey's Blog each day during the:

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Kara Lynne

Christmas Sled for 25DOCT

Okay, I'm not sure if anyone is using the acronym, 25DOCT, but it's my friend Tracey McNeely's fabulous 25 Days of Christmas Tags!  She has an amazing line-up of guest artists each day, plus her own wonderful creations to share.  It's all so inspiring!  Yesterday I saw my friend Jill Norwood's tag and my idea sprung from there:

Here's Jill's tag:

I loved that Jill made a shaped tag, and that's how I decided to go with the sled.  I think the kraft color also helped point me in that direction.  I embellished with holly, like Jill, but put the white into my swirl.

I cut the sled out with my Silhouette on both regular white cs and partially from some SSS woodgrain paper.  I colored the bottom sled with Copic R29 for the rails, and used DI Gathered Twigs for the wood parts.  I ink blended the woodgrain with DI Gathered Twigs and adhered it on top of the base sled.  The flourish and holly leaves were also cut from the Silhouette.  The leaves were ink blended with DI.  The berries are pearls colored in Copic R29.  The plaid paper is from Southfield Tartan Craft Papers, and the white embossed sentiment is from LOTV (retired).  Twine from Michaels.   The back side has the words To: on one panel, and From: on another.

Thanks, Tracey and Jill for the inspiration!  I think I'm hooked! 

 

Tracey's 25DOCT

 

Thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Kara Lynne

 

 

CASEing Genius Challenge : Kara Vrabel!

Today I am playing along with Kelly's CASEing Genius Anniversary Challenge by CASEing Kara Vrabel of K and R Designs!  Kara is such a talented card artist!  One thing I love about her style is that she has so much versatility and creativeness in her designs.  I'm going to focus today on her "cute" style:

I love how she framed out her bunnies here

Who doesn't love critters in balloons!  I love the patterned paper background too.  Check it out here.

Look at these soft colors, and the border is a shaker!  See it here.

And here is my CASE of Kara:

 I love how Kara bordered each of her cards.  I used her idea of patterned paper in the background of her second card and, of course, critters in balloons!  I chose softer colors as Kara did in her third card.

I used the Going Places stamp set from W+9.  I colored the animals with Copics.  The balloons were stamped on the background and stamped again and paper pieced with MME Stella and Rose.  The border is from W+9's Sunshine Layers Dies, and those papers are also MME.  The balloons and animals are popped up with foam tape.

Thank you, Kara, for your inspiration!  I blame many of my crafty purchases on you!
I am nominating the very talented Kay Miller of My Joyful Moments as a CASEing Genius.  Thank you, Kelly, for this fantastic challenge!

Thank you, everyone, for coming over to visit!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Kara Lynne

CASEING GENIUS: Kelly Latevola

 

Hello Crafters!

(That's how Kelly starts out her posts).

What a super exciting hop we have for you today, and all to honor our wonderful blog friend, Kelly!  Kelly goes out of her way to feature card artists and CASE them on her blog.  I met Kelly when I first began blogging, and she's been inspiring me ever since!  You should have reached my blog from the wonderful and talented Kara Vrabel!

So let's get to three of the many many inspiring cards from Kelly:

Just look at those amazing colors together!  Kelly's watercoloring was super inspiring to me, I just had to try it!  You can see her post and video HERE.

Keeping with the watercolor theme, I love Kelly's cutout of that gorgeous leaf, and the side detail is amazing!  You can find this card HERE.

Something about CASEing Kelly from when she CASEd me just seemed like a fun thing to do!  It may have been a CASE, but the card is all her own.  Kelly has MAD coloring skills, and often makes cards that say, "hello".

The CASE:

 

I decided to give Kelly's water color technique a try and painted these blooms from Verve, Be Blessed.  The pink ones use the same colors as Kelly used on the first card.  Many times Kelly uses white pen to add highlights to her coloring, so I did that here too.  I followed the second card with the design edging the side, and die cut an opening to highlight one flower.  The "hello" sentiment, of course, is similar to the third card, and ends with "dearest friend" because Kelly has to be one of the dearest friends in Blogland!

 

Here's a close-up of the cutout detail:

Stamps:  Verve Be Blessed, PTI Scripted
Inks: DI Picked Raspberry, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Mermaid Lagoon, Dusty Concord
Dies:  Verve Be Blessed, Mamma Elephant Hello
CS: PTI Royal Velvet, Watercolor paper
Other:  Zing Purple embossing powder, White Gelly Roll pen

What is a blog hop without some fun prizes?! Leave a comment by 11:59 pm EDT on Thursday, October 29th along each stop in the hop to increase your chances of winning a prize from one of our sponsors: a2z Scrapbooking, Altenew, Create a Smile Stamps, Dee's Artsy Impressions, djkardkreations, Hero Arts, Ink Road, Lia Stampz and Simon Says Stamp,! Winners will be notified by email after October 29th.

 

 

a2z Scrapbooking
Amy Tsuruta
Ardyth Percy Robb
Brandi Hall
Char Kochensparger
Cindy Chiu
Darnell Knauss
Dawn Turley
Debra James
Deepti Malik
Donna Idlet
Elizabeth Campau
Ellen Haxelmans
Heather Ruwe
Jennifer Loftfield
Joan Bardee
Kara Vrabel
Kara-Lynne (You Are Here!)
Kathy Wade
Katie Gehring
Kristie Goulet
Kristina Beagle
Kymona Tracey
Laura Jane
Leigh Penner
Lin Brandyberry
Linda Trace
Lindsay Amrhein
Lydia Evans
Maria Sabina Raita
Marika Rahtu
Martha Lucia Gomez
Michele Cunningham
Michele Ferguson
Michelle Lupton
Michelle Williams
Monica Maier
Niki G.
Nina-Marie Trapani
Rubeena Naz
Shelly Kurth
Taunya Butler
Thordis Dogg
Vera Yates

Thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you're having a great day!  Enjoy the hop!
Kara Lynne

Tag, You're It! #33 and a Winner!

Candy corn, you either love it or you hate it, but you have to admit that at this time of year, it's as cute as can be!  Today starts a new challenge over at Tag, You're It! and I have the privilege of presenting the inspiration piece:

I created a 5 1/2"x2" long tag out of GP white cardstock.  I cut a half circle at the 1 1/4" mark by partial die cutting a (size) circle die, and scored a line from the curve to the ends.  Next I scored a line another 1 1/4" from the first score line.  I stamped the images and sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink using Paper Smooches' Sugar Rush stamp set and colored them with Copic markers.  The end of the tag was cut with pinking sheers and backed with PTI Orange Zest cs.  Another strip of Orange Zest cs was adhered to the top of the tag, and stamped with circles from Paper Smooches Alphadot stamp set.  Some dots were colored in with a white Gelly Roll pen.  Two thin strips of PTI (name) cs bordered the top and bottom of the tag.  A bit of yellow grosgrain ribbon finished off the top.

I hope you get the chance to play along with us at Tag, You're It!  I would love to see how you are inspired!

 

And now, the winner of the stamp set is... Vinita Jain!  Congratulations, Vinita, please email me your address and I will get that stamp set out to you ASAP!

 

Thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you have a great day!

Kara Lynne

Tripping over Pumpkins



These little mice must be siblings on my card today, because each of their personalities are textbook classic birth order.  There's the first mouse, he's the oldest.  He's doing what he's supposed to, and irritated with his brother, the youngest, who's clowning around on those pumpkins!  Doesn't he know this is their food for the winter!!  Life's going to get a lot more stressful for that first born when he walks right off the tag!  The last guy there is the middle child.  It's never about him, is it?  He's just watching the show. 

I had these mice colored since I made my last card with MFT''s BB Harvest Mouse, but I couldn't come up with a good background for them.  Yay! MFT sketch #251 got my brain moving!  The little circle on the sketch enlarged and fell down to the corner to hold the sentiment (and probably the mouse that's not paying attention).  The ribbon acts as the flourish.  I kept the background VERY simple since there is so much going on in the scene.  The circles were made with the inside of the largest Die-Namics pierced circle frames.  The tag was cut with the new Die-Namics Tag Builder Blueprints 4.  The two patterned papers are the front and back of the same piece (sorry, there was no name on it).  The mice and their bounty were colored with Copics, and the sentiment was heat embossed with Zing, Apricot embossing powder.  The cs is PTI's Terracotta Tile and Summer Sunrise, and the ribbon was in my stash.

These mice siblings are going to go play at the following challenges:

 MFT Sketch Challenge #251                                              Marker Pop Challenge #80:  Thanksgiving

 

 

Thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you are having a wonderful day, no matter where you sit in the birth order!

 

Kara Lynne