My Favorite Things - Countdown Day 4

Hello and welcome to Day 4 of Release Countdown Week with MFT. I am so excited about today's featured Products; As always, complete product details, videos and links to all designers playing along with today's featured products can be found at the MFT Blog. 

Supplies:

die-namics-stitched-jumbo-fishtail-banner-stax
die-namics-headphones
bb-somebunny
keep-on-rockin
die-namics-somebunny

Have a wonderful day,  Hope you'll be back tomorrow for the final day of Release Countdown with My Favorite Things!

Karin

My Favorite Things: Release Countdown Day Five

Hi Everyone,

It's Day 5 of MFT Release Countdown Week, and I've had lots of fun with a beautiful new set by Lisa Johnson; ljd-spring-tulips and the coordinating dies. For my bg I used a beautiful, and very useful bg stamp; bg-houndstooth-background

And for my second card - one of my absolute favorites from this release - the beautiful die-namics-stitched-rectangle-frames They come in three different sizes and I know I will use them over and over again - absolutely LOVE them!

Complete product details, videos and links to all designers playing along with today's featured products can be found at the MFT Blog.

I hope you're enjoying all of the sneak peeks at these great new products that will be available on the 3rd of February. Welcome back tomorrow when I'm sharing more MFT cards!

Supplies;

die-namics-blueprints-22

die-namics-stitched-rectangle-frames

die-namics-ljd-spring-tulips

ljd-spring-tulips

bg-houndstooth-background

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Simple Watercolor card tutorial - Inspiration Journal

Hi!

Today is my turn to share some inspiration at the Inspiration Journal and since I've had some questions about watercoloring lately I thought I could do a little tutorial:

A lot of people think watercolor is a difficult media and even though I paint quite a lot I totally agree (-: – but it doesn’t have to be difficult. I’ll show how easy it is to create a landscape scene that I think will be appreciated by the reciever no matter what age or gender.

I start out by wetting my watercolor paper – if you use a 140 lb paper there is no need to stretch it, but if your paper is thinner than that you might want to tape it to a cardboard before you start to prevent it from bulging while you’re painting.

Pic 2

When the paper is still wet I  add the sky/cloud colors so they spred on the wet paper and create realistic looking cloudes; I like Ultramarine mixed with a little bit of paynes grey or burt sienna for this. I let that dry completely  before I go on with the next step.

Then I simply paint stripes of different colors to create mountains, hills, fields and grass, making sure I use cool colors for the mountains and hills and warmer colors for the grass and fields that are closer. This is an easy way to create distance in a painting and especially important in a simple scene like this where there isn’t much else to guide the eye.

I used mixes of ultamarine and viridian for the distat hillsa and then raw sienna, burnt sienna and burnt umber for the fields and grass. For the very darks I mix ultramarine with burnt umber. You can of course choose any colors you like but try to stick to a limited number of colors – that way it is easier to create harmony in your painting.

Pic 3

I then spatter some darker colors (ultramarine mixed with burnt umber)  to the bottom to create a bit of texture.  Make sure you protect the rest of the painting with a piece of scrap paper before doing this!

Pic 4

You can of course also use stamps to create leaves or plants. In this example I’ve used Paper Smooches Botanicals 2.

Pic 5

When I’m happy with my painting it is time to “frame” it. I used Lawn Fawn’s wonderful  stitched rectangles for this. I put a smaller die inside a larger one and use washi tape to keep them in place like that when I diecut them.

Pic 6

I then adhere my little painting to a cardbase, stamp a sentiment underneath and then adhere the frame using foam adhesive.

Pic 7

Supplies I used to create this card: Winsor Newton’s watercolor paints, Paper Smooches Botanicals 2, Lawn Fawn Dies; Stiched Rectangles, Lawn Fawn Stamps; # Awesome,Watercolor paper (daler rowney)

The supplies I used for this card can be found at   Inspiration Emporium.

Follow the links below and use my code peppermint to save 10% .

Dies:  Lawn Fawn    

Stamps: Lawn  Fawn   Paper Smooches 
Ink;  Archival Jet Black
Paints or markers; Winsor Newton water colors
Adhesive; Plus Glue tape  Glue Dots   Foam adhesive; EK tools

I also want to point out that US shipping is always just $5 and international shipping is ONLY $10! I just LOVE that!!!!

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Guest Designing for MFT - and VERY exciting News!!!!

Hi Everyone! 

Today I am sharing my last card as guestdesigner for My Favorite Things - it would have been a very sad day but instead it is probably the best day since I started blogging (-: - I was asked to stay and am now officially on the MFT Design Team - YIPPIEEEE!!!! I still can't believe it - I am so happy and so SUPER excited.

Welcome to my Party ! 

My son Ted turns 6 next week and on Saturday it's time for his birthday party. This is what his invitations looked like! Ted and I had so much fun playing around with the elements from Die-namics Photo Booth Props  and made each invitation look different. Inside each card there's an envelope (you've got mail) filled with props for his friends to play with themselves. I used self-adhesive on the back of my card stock so that they can easily add them to their own photos. 

This could of course also have been a  fun activity to do at the party or nice treat to hand out at the end along with a picture taken at the party.

I LOVE those speech bubble dies that comes with the props set too - so easy to use the computer to customize the sentiment for any occasion !

Thanks so much for visiting today and hope to see you back on the 30th when we start the release countdown -it is such a wonderful release - I know you'll love it!

Hugs, Karin

Supplies I used:

Die-namics Photo Booth Props
Die-namics-you-ve-got-mail
Adhesive Sheets

Challenge Inspiration Journal - Something New - Welcome Baby!

Hi Everyone!
I am here today to invite you to come and play along in another fun challenge at the Inspiration Journal! You find all the details HERE

This month’s challenge is called A FRESH STAR - It is a time to get your mojo going by just creating and the sky is the limit with no restrictions !  Before you start making something awesome be sure to pop over to the Inspiration Journal blog to check out what my super talented teamies have created to inspire you! There are always lots of fun, beautiful and amazingly inspiring projects.

When you are done, link up your Project at the Inspiration Journal blog. The contest will run until midnight, Januari 31st 2015.
From all the submissions a random winner will be chosen and awarded $50 Emporium Dollars.  Woohoo!!! Remember, you may enter as many times as you wish to improve your chances so share, share, share! We can’t wait to see what you are creating.

Most of the supplies I used for this card can be found at ;  Inspiration Emporium.

Follow the links below and use my code peppermint to save 10% if you go shopping.

For this card I used:
Paper:   Echo Park      
Stamps: Mama Elephant
Ink;  Archival Jet Black
Cuttlebug diecutting machine
Paints or markers; Winsor Newton water colors  
Embellies;    Lawn Fawn Twine Doodlebug design enamel dots
Adhesive; Plus Glue tape  Glue Dots   Foam adhesive; EK tools

I also want to point out that US shipping is always just $5 and international shipping is ONLY $10! I just LOVE that!!!!

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Sunday Watercolors : Plums

Today's watercolor: A basket of Plums

If you want to see more of my watercolors you can either click the "My Watercolors" button in the top list or in my Watercolors file on Pinterest; http://www.pinterest.com/peppermint42/watercolors


 (OBS - the paintings there are not only by me, though I wish because I've collected some favorites)

Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Happy Birthday - Purple Onion sale - 48% off !!!

Hi 

Today is Michele's 48th Birthday and she celebrates by having a fantastic SALE

Lots of wonderful stamps are 48% off!!!

Check it out here:

http://stores.purpleoniondesigns.com/48-birthday-sale

Have a great day everyone, hugs, Karin

Lawnscaping Challenge #98 Make your own background

Hi Everyone!
I'm here to introduce a new challenge at Lawnscaping. This time we challenge you to make your own background !!!

For my card I used stamps from these wonderful Lawn Fawn sets:  Critters Dow Under, Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum, Cookies and Milk, A little birdie told me, Critters in the park , Hello Baby and Into the woods  and dies called : HERE
And our fabulous sponsor; Lawn Fawn!!! You can win a set of your choice YEAH!!!

Pop over to Lawnscaping for all the info you need and to join the challenge!

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Sunday Watercolors : Inspired by Lars Lerin #2

One of my favorite Swedish watercolor artists is called Lars Lerin and I recently borrowed one of his many wonderful books; Mellan Husen (Between the houses) - paintings from Lofoten, Norway.
I was immediately inspired to try to paint like he does. He often paints houses and manages so sucessfully to make them melt into the scene and look weathered and beautiful.I am far, far away from his amazing paintings, but still wanted to share my try, and perhaps inspire you to practice painting by looking at the masters:

If you want to see more of my watercolors you can either click the "My Watercolors" button in the top list or in my Watercolors file on Pinterest; http://www.pinterest.com/peppermint42/watercolors


 (OBS - the paintings there are not only by me, though I wish because I've collected some favorites)

Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Guest Designing for My Favorite Things

Hi !

I'm back again to share some more MFT cards that I made as their Guest Designer for January! I just LOVE the Die-namics Photo Booth Props die set - it is so fun and so versatile. For this card I used the handle/stick for the stripes and the heart is from the inside of the heart shaped glasses.
The birthday sentiment is from MSTN Wild things.





For my second card I used the super cool Friend Die-namics die. I dicut the Word and then inked the letters before adding glitter and glossy accents to get some nice dimensions to them. I backed it with turquoise colored vellum that I adhered with some foam adhesive.

 

I stamped the great Birthday sentiment from MSTN Wild things Before I added some enamel dots.

 

Hope you'll come backnext week when I have some more MFT cards for you.

 

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

WMS tag and a sad goodbye!

It is with sadness that I'm sharing my last tag as member of the wonderful Tag You're It team. I've loved evey minute and have had so much fun creating for the challenges, but finally I had to realize I don't have enough hours in my day to do everything crafty I want.

 

This is my take on Heather's adorable tag; I used two of my favorite WMS sets; Half Pint Heroes and Stitched tag die set - I just LOVE coloring Claire's cute images. The Little star tag-stopper is from another wonderful WMS die set called Folding Tag die set. It is my son's 6th birthday in two weeks and I think this will be perfect on one of his presents.

 

 

For lots of great inspiration from my teamies, and all the info you need to play along, visit ; www.tagyoureitchallenge.blogspot.com

 

 

Have a great day everyone, hugs, Karin

Guest Designing for My Favorite things

Hi !

Today I'm here to share some new MFT cards I made as their Guest Designer for January!

 

For this first card I stamped, colored and cut out the adorable lion from MSTN Wild things

before creating a distressed sky for him. The Die-namics Stitched Scallop Edges was used to cut some grass and the balloon is from heartshaped glasses in the Die-namics Photo Booth Props set and the sentiment is from Friends like us

 

Another wonderful MFT set is the Desert Bouquet - so many different floweres and leaves! I stamed one of them in red Before trimming it and adding some glossy accent and an enamel dot. With stamped leaves behind it (from the same set) and framed like this with Die-namics LJD Peek-a-Boo Circle Windows it becomes a real centerpiece.

Sentiment from MSTN Wild things.

 

Hope you'll come back tomorrow when I have some more MFT cards for you.

 

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Inspiration Emporium - Warm thoughts

Hi!

Today I'm playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks' - Picture Perfect Challenge. This is the inspiration photo:

Most of the supplies I used for this card can be found at ;  Inspiration Emporium.

Follow the links below and use my code peppermint to save 10% .

Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities  Paper Smooches 
Stamps:   Hero Arts Woodblock   Paper Smooches  Chubby Chums, Sentiment Sampler
Ink; Distress Ink and Archival Jet Black  Hero Arts
Tools; Rangers Inkblenders
Paints or markers; Winsor Newton water colors 
Adhesive; Plus Glue tape  Glue Dots   Foam adhesive; EK tools

I also want to point out that US shipping is always just $5 and international shipping is ONLY $10! I just LOVE that!!!!

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Guest Designing for My Favorite Things

Hi Everyone!

I am so excited and super happy to announce that I will be Guest Designing for My Favorite Things this month!

For my fist card I used stamps from the December Release: MSTN Wild things and Pure Innocence Wild for You  which I masked and colored using watercolor pencils from Derwents and then framed in a filmstrip.

  For the second card I used the fabulous Die-namics LJD Peek-a-Boo Circle Windows  
and layered them to create a fun window for this little jungle scene. The adorable girl is of course;  Pure Innocence Wild for You. Here I colored her using watercolors from Winsor Newton.

Hope to see you back here on Friday when I'll be here to share some more My Favorite Things projects!

Have a Wonderful Day,

Hugs, Karin