Neat & Tangled May Release Week: Day Two G.O.A.T.

Hello everyone.

Welcome to Day Two of Neat & Tangled's May Release Week. I hope you enjoyed Day One. (CLICK HERE!) if you somehow missed day one.  Today, we are showcasing the NEW Neat & Tangled G.O.A.T. stamp set and coordinating dies. This stamp set features an adorable image of a farmer with a pitch fork and of course a goat. The G.O.A.T. sentiment cracks me up. The acronym means The Greatest of All Time.

Make sure you (CLICK HERE!) to visit the Neat & Tangled blog and check out what the rest of the design team has created. If you comment on the design team members' blog posts you will be entered into a Giveaway. You can find all of the information regarding that giveaway on the Neat & Tangled Blog.

My card today somewhat matches yesterday's card. I had thought about making one long card, but I liked them better separate. Plus, I got a little carried away with the striped ink blending backgrounds and decided both needed to be used.

To make this background, I grabbed a piece of Neenah 110 lb cardstock and my MFT Drifts and Hills stencil. I used the stencil as both a stencil and a mask for this card. I masked the sky first to keep it from any green exposure. I used Distress Oxide Ink in Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron to create the cascading light green hills. After the light green hills were created, I used 1/4 inch art tape to mask off the light green in order to add some Pine Needles Distress Oxide Ink and create some darker stripes. For the hill in the foreground I used double the art tape to make 1/2 inch stripes.

Once the green hills were created, I used the same Drifts and Hills stencil to keep the green safe from any yellow contamination. I used Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink to blend a little light in the sky. I used Nuvo Blender Brushes to do all of the Ink blending for this background.

I stamped my images with a We R Memory Keepers Precision Press. I stamped them onto another piece of Neenah 110 lb Solar White cardstock. I used Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink to be able to color them with my Copic Markers. 

I have created a Copic Color Map for you to see all of the markers that I used to color these images. I also used my Gold Faber colored pencil #273 to add some shadows to my images. 

Once my images were colored I used the G.O.A.T. coordinating dies to cut them out. I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to adhere the farmer flat to the background and the other images were popped up with Scotch 3M Foam Tape. 

I did replace the patch in the farmers jeans by paper piecing a piece of Fancy Pants Oh Happy Day patterned paper. It is a medium gray with white dots. 

The sentiments are also from the G.O.A.T. stamp set and they were both stamped with Nuvo Clear Mark embossing ink. The "happy birthday" was stamped onto unknown off white paper that I have in my stash (sorry guys) and adhered flat to the background with liquid adhesive.  The "you old goat" was stamped onto Papertrey Ink's Blueberry Sky cardstock and both were heat embossed using Ranger White embossing powder. I cut the sentiments strips down with my Fiskars Wire Guide paper trimmer. I used my Tonic micro snips to cut a fish tail banner end into one of the ends of the blue strip. Then,  I popped it up with foam tape. 

The entire panel was added to a piece of white craft foam using scotch double sided adhesive and then placed onto a Simon Says Stamp Fog Card Base. 

I hope you enjoyed my project for today. There will be more inspiration tomorrow for Day Three. Make sure you check out the Neat & Tangled Blog for more inspiration and a chance to win a Giveaway. (CLICK HERE!) 

Thank you for visiting my blog. 

Koren 

Neat & Tangled May Release Week: Day One Barnyard Buddies

Hello everyone.

Today is exciting because it is day one of Neat & Tangled's May Release Week! Today we are showcasing the NEW Neat & Tangled Barnyard Buddies stamp set with coordinating dies. This stamp set features a few farm animals, plus an adorable tractor image and a barn too! To visit Neat & Tangled and check out the blog to see the rest of the design team's inspirational projects (CLICK HERE!).

Remember to comment on each of the design team's blogs this week each day for your chance to win prizes featuring this weeks release. The NEW May Release will go LIVE Friday, May 17th at 8:00 AM EST. (CLICK HERE!)

Today, my project is super simple but also really fun to create. I was inspired by all of those beautiful fields (and even lawns for that matter that are so impeccably manicured that they are simply works of art). Although the real farms are far more beautiful than the stripes I ink blended on this background- I tried to capture their essence.

I started with a piece of Neenah 110 lb. cardstock, cut to 3 1/2 by 4 3/4.  I applied some Snot Tape (more on this in a minute), to my card panel leaving the sky exposed to my inking first. I used Distress Oxide Ink in Antique Linen and a Nuvo Blender Brush to create a light sunny background, leaving the very edges to fade to white.

So- back to the Snot Tape, (it will be linked below, by the way). This tape is unique in design. It's marketed purpose is for painters to mask walls but it is absolutely awesome for masking your paper for ink blending. This is the best stuff I've found for this purpose. It is not waterproof, but for inking such as this, it's awesome. It has a gel like adhesive that allows you to stick it to your paper without worry of it ripping when you peel it back off. Also, because of it's gel like nature, it leaves behind this beautifully blended edge and not a harsh line, and I haven't experienced any tape residue whatsoever. I probably sound crazy, but if you ink blend, you know what I'm saying.

Then I peeled the Snot Tape off of my paper and turned it around to leave the ground available to be inked. With this Snot Tape, I am able to trust the my freshly inked sky won't be damaged. 

For the ground. I started by inking the ground with Distress Oxide in Twisted Citron. I used my Nuvo Blender Brush to do this, adding small amounts of Mowed Lawn in the Oxide as well. For the most part I want to leave the base layer as light as possible but still give it a little life and dimension. 

I then applied art tape in 1/4 in width. I have had these skinny rolls of art tape for years and years. I think Tim brought it home for me to use before Dexter (our five year old) was even born. I used these in double width. Adhering them to the light green background that I had just inked. Doing my best to line them up. I did not use a ruler, I just eyeballed it. I figured if they can do it with a tractor, I can use my eyes. 

After the tape was applied I used Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles Distress Oxide inks to blend on the darker stripes of lawn. Fading all of it to the bottom left of the card panel. 

As for the images they are all from the NEW Neat & Tanged Barnyard Buddies stamp set. I stamped them with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink and colored them with my Copic Markers. I also used the coordinating dies to cut them out with my Spellbinders Platinum Die Cutting Machine. Everything was stuck on using Scotch 3M foam tape, except for the barn. I used Nuvo Deluxe adhesive to stick it flat to the card panel. That way the other images looked more interesting as they were popped up. 

While I had my die cutting machine out, I also cut a piece of Stampin' Up!'s Granny Apple Green with the Poppy Stamps Stitched Cloudline Die set. I have seen other crafters use their cloud dies as tops of trees and I figured it would also act as a bush for me today, and I channeled a little Bob Ross as I nestled in this happy little bush with my little horse as his friend hanging out in the foreground. 

This bush will also be a home for my sentiment which was also from the Barnyard Buddies stamp set. I stamped it using my We R Memory Keepers Precision Press. It was stamped in Nuvo Clear Mark embossing ink onto Lawn Fawn's Black Licorice cardstock. I heat embossed it using Ranger White embossing powder. I also trimmed it down to size with a Fiskars Wire Guide Paper trimmer. 

I want to thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you enjoyed my card. A full list of supplies should be linked below. Don't forget to visit the Neat & Tangled Blog for more inspiration from the rest of the design team. (CLICK HERE!)

Koren 

Heffy Doodle Dumbo Inspired Card Video

Hello everyone.

Today I have another great video featuring Heffy Doodle. In this video I create a handmade greeting card using Heffy Doodle's Elephant of Surprise and Hello Squeakheart Stamp sets. This card was inspired by Dumbo, the Disney Classic Animated Movie. I have not seen the first one, but I probably will watch it some time soon.

I wanted to use the Heffy Doodle Rays the Roof stencil to create a Circus themed card and Dumbo was perfect for the attempt. Fun Fact: I do not like clowns. They scare me, so, I don't go to the circus.

This card isn't scary at all though. It's fun and so is the video I made while creating it. I hope you will check it out. I have also made  a Copic color map listing all of the alcohol markers I used to color my images for this project.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Koren