Tuesday, March 31, 2015

You Warm My Heart

Today's card was made for the Inspiration Journal where I and my super talened Inspiration Emporium teamies share  inspiration. If you haven't been already make sure to visit right away  - lots of amazing and inspiring projects !





 

Supplies;
Most of the supplies I used for this card can be found at my favorite craft supply store ;  Inspiration Emporium.
Follow the links below and use my code peppermint to save 10% .


Paper:  Lawn Fawn  
Dies:   Lawn Fawn  
Stamps: Lawn  Fawn
Ink; Archival Jet Black
Embellies;    Lawn Fawn pins/wood veneer
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

I'm entering this for the "Anything goes" Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sunday Watercolors; Trying Scraping for Texture

It is Sunday and I am here  to share a new watercolor! This time I watched a video tutorial by Graham Booth in which he talked a lot about the scraping technique and I was inspired to try and ended up painting the scene from that tutorial: It was a great video so if you are interested in painting I think you'll enjoy it. It can be viewed for free HERE.







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 - the paintings there are not only by me, though I wish because I've collected some favorites!
If I've used a reference photo it can most often be found in my "For paintings" folder on Pinterest.
Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Friday, March 27, 2015

PI Spring/Easter greeting!


 
Hi!
 
Today I have a new MFT card. I used the newest Pure Inocence stamp called Feline better. I paperpieced her dress and colored the rest of her with copics. I haven't stamped my sentiment yet but think this card will be great for Easter.
 
Wishing you a wonderful week-end!
 
MFT Supplies:
 
 
 

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

GIVEAWAY - Copics Coloring class from Annie's


Hi Everyone!

Today I’m reviewing a video on coloring people with alchohol ink markers from Annie’s that I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from. In this video, which is almost 3 hours long, super talented and certified coloring artist  (and the newest member of the Copics design team) Jennifer Dove  shares lots of tips and tricks for coloring with perfect blending, everything from great skin tones, lips and eyes to different kinds of hair. She also has great info on how to create your own facial features if they are “missing” in the image and the part that I found most helpful was the one on coloring clothes with different kinds of texture and dimension.

Jennifer speaks slowly and very clearly so it is super easy, even for me as a non-native speaker of English to follow along.  It even has subtitles if you should need that. What she does more is that repeats everything she does twice which not only gives you extra time for your own coloring, but also means you don’t have to go through the trouble of pausing or rewinding a lot which I found great.

Even if this is the sequel to her first video; Coloring with copics, beginners guide, I think that this is a great video for beginners too – especially if you color a lot of people images. I say that because I wish I’d watched this video before I started collecting markers. She shares great tips on which colors work well for different things like skin tones, hair, eyes and even the best ones to use for denim etc. and it would have been both easier and cheaper to have had that knowledge from the start.

What is so great about this product too is that you will get lots of printable material to use for your own practice and for your own reference for later. There are both worksheets but also five great images to color for real projects like cards or albums.


All Annie’s videos are downloadable which means you can get them exactly when you want to, but I got this video on DVD and watched it on our TV set which meant I could sit at our dinner table with plenty of room for all my supplies – and in the end – room for Ted (my 6-year-old son)  and his coloring book, pens and markers too.

If you haven’t discovered their huge selection on crafting videos yet, be sure to go here – so many new and fun crafting techniques to learn. Everything from paper crafting to crocheting and knitting.


I learnt a lot of new tricks from watching  Coloring Fun With Alchohol Ink Markers: People  and would love if Jennifer was to make another one soon. In the meantime I have one copy of this awesome class to give away to someone who would love to improve their coloring skills – thank You so much Annie’s.
Want to win your own copy of this class/video?
Just make a comment below and if you want an extra chance in the drawing you can share about this on your blog or on facebook and then come back here and add another comment saying you have!

I will draw the winner on the 9th of April.


Have a great day, hugs, Karin

March Ingenious Inking Challenge – Mixed Media Madness



Hi!
Today I and my super talented MFT teamies have some fun Projects to share and hopefully inspire you! Mixed media sure is a little intimidating- at least to me, but once you begin piling up different textures, patterns, and colors though, you quickly realize how forgiving, and exciting, it can be. Mixed media projects are the perfect opportunity to experiment with the capabilities of your supplies and explore your creativity so this month, we’re using Hybrid Inks – the perfect choice for mixed media applications with it’s quick-dry, no-smudge formulation – in mixed media applications.






For my first Project I stamped the small brich bg on orange cardstock and then watercolored it. Before it was dry I splattered some darker colors. After it had dried I added gesso to the corners and inked the edges.
I then stamped one of the dogs from   on a text page from and old, yellowed book, ripped the edges and stapled it to the bg together with a Happy diecut and a Little rectangle I had stamped the Word BE to.
For my next cardI stamped the bg using polka-dot-background, and then watercolored it - the hybrid inks are perfect for this! When it was dry I covered all of the panel with glue from a gluestick and then adhered a wrinkled solo sheet from a white paper napkin. I then die cut some black velvet dots that I glued to the bg. At this stage I wasn't as happy with the bg as I'd hoped to be so I decided to make a shaker card of it  - and then saw the resemblance of a leopard and then made a leopard from one of the super adorable I kned You cats.







The dymo sentiments are printed on cardstock using the free font DYMO from 1001fonts.

MFT_IngeniousInking_SideBar


die-namics-scribbles
die-namics-happy-trio
hybrid-ink-pad-black-licorice
Be sure to pop over to the MFT blog for fantastic inspiration from the rest Design Team!

Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Inspiration Emporium #3

Hi! I'm here with a card for the Inspiration Journal where I and my super talened Inspiration Emporium teamies share  inspiration.


This time I played with some Lawn Fawn and Hero Arts favorites + lots of distress ink!!!

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% .


Paper:  Bazzill Cardshoppe
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities   Lawn Fawn    
Stamps:   Hero Arts Cling Lawn  Fawn
Ink; Distress Ink and Archival Jet Black
Tools; Rangers Inkblenders
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, March 22, 2015

Happy Spring - Inspiration Emporium Challenge

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

This month’s challenge is called     Spring Blooms!  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, 2014.
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.

Here's my sample;




SSS Pinterest challenge
And I'm entering this for the challenge at Simon Says Stamp because I used their current mood board challenge as inspiration (top left picture)

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

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   
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities  Hero Arts
Stamps: My Favorite things  Lawn  Fawn  
Ink; Distress Ink and Archival Jet Black 
Paints or markers; Winsor Newton water colors    Gelly Roll Glitter 
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

It is Sunday and I am here  to share a new watercolor! This time I've tried to both speed up and loose up my painting a bit. To enhance the feeling of "I don't care how these paintings come out" I sat in our sofa in the living room when painting these (-:  I chose two pictures from the internet that I worked on parallelly. It was fun, but I'm not sure if I like them. They are more of sketches for a possible future "serious" painting.







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

If I've used a reference photo it can most often be found in my "For paintings" folder on Pinterest.

Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Friday, March 20, 2015

Hero Arts Nature Challenge

Hi!

Today I'm here to share a last minute card for the Nature Challenge at Hero Arts. The Snow Dot flower bg is one of my absolute favorite bg stamps. Here I embossed it in white and then inked it with green. The butterfly is from another favorite ; Antique engravings!!!








Have a great day and a very nice week-end, hugs, Karin
ps. if you want to see more of my Hero Arts cards you can visit my Hero Arts Pinterest file; https://www.pinterest.com/peppermint42/hero-arts/


Thursday, March 19, 2015

Happy Birthday Tag with Hero Arts

 



Today I'm here to share a tag I've mede for the Nature Challenge at Hero Arts. They have so many Amazing stamps to from for this theme it was hard to choose, but I decided I wanted to create something with a Swedish touch to it and made this tag with the adorable moose/elk (it's the Icon of Sweden) from one of my favorite sets; Owh Missing You






Mjukis "Älg" Pin: Älg - Varningsskylt/Sweden, Metall
 
Have a great day!
Hugs, Karin
 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

MFT Creative Challenge; Stencils

Hi!

It's time for MFT Creative Challenge! This time we focus on stencils and how you can use them in different ways. Here are my projects;





 
For this card I inked the graded dots Three times in a row using different colors. The first time i used embossing ink and brushed on some perfect Pearl. I outlined them with a pen Before adding the next layer of dots.

 
Here I used the stripes stencil both horizontal and vertical to create a gingham bg for the adorable PI dog.





My teamies are supertalented and so inspiring so make sure you visit them if you haven't already. You'll find links to the rest of the MFT team on the MFT blog


Besides the stencils I used some other wonderful products from MFT's two latest releases;

die-namics-scribbles
die-namics-happy-trio
lld-stay-tuned
ljd-circle-scribble-flowers
Have a great day, hugs, Karin

Monday, March 16, 2015

Lawnscaping Challenge #102; Distress

Hi Everyone!
I'm here to introduce a new challenge at Lawnscaping. This time it a Distress Challenge!!!




For my card I used stamps from these wonderful Lawn Fawn sets: Flutter By a
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, March 15, 2015

Sunday Watercolors; Learning from Bill Vrscak



Hi!
It is Sunday and I am here  to share a new watercolor! Being a mom to a 6-year-old and working full-time as a teacher I can't always afford to wait for inspiration to paint to come - I have to make use of the time when I'm given some (-: - like when Mikael takes Ted skating on a Sunday afternoon for example. But what if I don't have any inspiration at all -this is what I do - I find a painting - usually one I've saved on Pinterest because I liked it- and try to copy it. I try to figure out what the artist has done to create the look and feeling in the painting that I like. This time I worked from a painting by Bill Vrscak.



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

Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Lawn Fawn - Happy 5th Birthday Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!

Today I and some bloggie friends are doing something really fun - we are celebraiting Lawn Fawn's 5th birthday with a blog hop! BIG CONGRATS Kelly Marie and Mike - I LOVE your products!
We decided to use their Year stamps and this one is called; Year 4 - It's super adorable, don't you think? Dies and papers are also from Lawn Fawn





If you are doing the hop you should have come here from Ivy's blog ishouldbesleepingbut and to continue it you should hop on to my dear Lawnscaping friend Tamara 

If you want more details and see all the participants (lots of supertalented designers that will definately inspire you to spend the rest of the day crafting (-: ) you can pop over to Jenn Shurkus;  http://shurk.us/lawnfawn-5thbday

And since this card is for a very special Lady ; Kelly Marie Alvarez - I'm entering it for Simon Says stamp Wednesday challenge!

Have a great day and a fun hop, hugs, Karin

Blueprints










Friday, March 13, 2015

Inspiration Emporium #2

Hi Everyone!
I'm here to share a card I've made for the Inspiration Journal where I and my super talened Inspiration Emporium teamies share  inspiration. If you haven't been already make sure to visit right away  - lots of amazing and inspiring projects !



This time I played with some Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant stamps and dies.

Supplies;
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% .


Paper:   Echo Park  
Dies:   Lawn Fawn    Mama Elephant
Stamps: Lawn  Fawn    Mama Elephant
Ink; Archival Jet Black
Paints or markers; Copics
Adhesive; Plus Glue tape  Glue Dots   Foam adhesive; EK tools
Cardstock; Cardshoppe Black Liqorice

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

I'm entering this card for the "Things that Fly" at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Sunday Watercolors; Gothenburg and Lofoten


Hi!
It is Sunday and I am here  to share two new watercolors! The first one is of something I see every day - a Gothenburg tram while the second one is a scene from Lofoten. I've never been there but used a reference photo that I had collected in my "for paintings " folder on Pinterest. 




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 - the paintings there are not only by me, though I wish because I've collected some favorites!
If I've used a reference photo it can most often be found in my "For paintings" folder on Pinterest.
Have a great Sunday, hugs, Karin

Thursday, March 5, 2015

My Favorite Things Release Rewind Day

Welcome to day 1 of MFT's Release Rewind! Today is all about giving  you more inspiring projects featuring the newly released MFT products. This time I've played with;  the super cool television die-namics and Stay Tuned stampset;


 
The Paw print bg (again!) and one of the adorable I knead You cats:



 
And last but not least, the super fun and Beautiful scribble flower dies:








 

Supplies:




If you haven't stopped by the MFT's Blog make sure that it is your next stop! There are links to more DT blogs  sharing more inspiration for you to take in using the new release. Enjoy, and have a really good day!

Hugs, Karin