KittieKraft

Rubber, Ribbon and Paper

Could you hear the squeals of excitement from the Rubbernecker DT yesterday?  There was a Texas size pile of new rubber and paper put in front of each of us along with yards and yards of May Arts ribbon. 

Can you see the delight in Sherry’s eyes looking over that pile of rubber?  You guys are going to enjoy all the new Rubbernecker trend setting releases coming over the next couple of months. We can hardly contain our excitement.

Prism? Rubbernecker is now carrying individual sheets of Prism paper on the site.  I have never seen such a huge selection of colors in my life and I am very excited about the brand new line of  “Simply Smooth” white and ivory paper. You will be, too. The Copic queens on our team gave it two thumbs up and I think it works well with my brush and reinkers.  S.E.I. designer paper will be available on the store site soon.

Sherry and Shelly were measuring out yards and yards of May Arts ribbon for each of us to take home.  Rubbernecker will  have a wonderful assortment of gorgeous ribbon for purchase on the site Monday, April 6th. Woo Hoo!!!!

There was no way to hold the team members back from trying out all of the new rubber and product. Keep an eye out on the Rubbernecker blog and store site for upcoming filmed tutorials by all of the talented women on this team. I am in such awe.

 

Joan always stamps standing up.  I don’t know how she does it as I have to sit. She is a tiny little thing, though.

Juliana concentrates on her project with tons of commotion around her.

 

Broni and Linda trying to figure out what to play with.

Pat was enjoying all the commotion.

Yes…..those are Stampin’ Up! markers in front of Linda, but only for a little while.  She pulled out Bev’s Copic markers to film her tutorial.

Several of our gang is leaving today and Sherry and I will fly out  tomorrow. I know poor Bev and Ron will be thrilled to have a quiet house again.

More Texas Fun

Day two in Texas was lots of fun.  Mr. Rubbernecker, the chef, has kept the great meals coming.  We are all  envious of Pat having a guy at home that loves to cook.  Dave swore to us that he cooks every night at home but Pat’s rolling eyes told the “real” story.

 

We had a fun trip to Hobby Lobby. What a wonderful store.  All we have in Orlando is Jo-Ann’s and Michael’s and there is no comparison.

                                            Broni, Pat, Sherry, Joan, Shelly

                                                          Bev, Joan, Shelly

                                           Broni, Juliana, Shelly, Pat

I took this shot as we were waiting in line to pay.  I just love the adorable and angelic expression on Juliana’s face.

I’ll be back with more tomorrow.  We are going to video tutorials today and I’m sure it is going to be a hoot.

Rubbernecker Design Team Gathering

 

I am in Texas!  Yee Haw!  The Rubbernecker Design Team has gathered in Dallas, Texas.  Bev Gerard is hosting this our crazy gang and what fun we are having.  Bev and Rubbernecker Dave ran a shuttle service to and from the airport all day Thursday and the squealing began and hasn’t stopped yet.  To top it all off, Jenn Balcer, Sharon Harnist and Lori Craig popped in to surprise all of us.  What a thrill it was to see everyone.  Broni was the last one to get here last night and she isn’t in the photo below.  Our beloved Candy and Tami were not able to come and we really miss having them.

L to R:  Sherry, Bev, Kittie, Julaina, Joan, Jenn, Sharon, Linda,Jessica, Lori and Shelly. 

We were all gushing over how adorable Jenn, Sharon and Lori’s little girls are.  They had on their brand new Splitcoaststamper’s “The Pixie Generation” shirts and were as cute as can be.

Rubbernecker Dave, alias Mr. Chef, piled in a truckload of groceries (literally) and luckily Bev has two refrigerators. Even at that we could barely get all the perishables put away. Dave cooked a huge pot of chili for us and had a huge pan of hot brownies to snack on. I’m sitting here in the kitchen this morning and he is cooking bacon and veggies to make quiche and omelets for breakfast.  Yum!  He also brought a coffee pot that will make sixty cups at a time.

            Bad Sherry is showing her badness.

      Rubbernecker Dave showing all of our goodies.

More coming tomorrow!!!  I’m sure I’ll have more fun photos.

Wacky Wednesday #4

Broni is hosting the Rubbernecker Wacky Wednesday challenge this week. Her challenge for us is to make an Easter card for a child.  I hope you will click on the link and see how you can win a 25% off coupon to use on your next Rubbernecker purchase. 

 

I got a little side tracked on this challenge and thought it would be fun for my project to create a cute basket for a child. We all know that kids love candy, especially at Easter time.  I stopped on my way home last night and got a bag of the pastel M&M peanuts that look like little eggs. I knew they would be the perfect size for the mini basket.

This little basket is very easy to make. I printed out the base template on pink cardstock and the liner template on regular white printer paper.  I cut and scored both pieces and put together. I left all four edges on the liner about a ½ inch larger than the template pattern so there would be a large enough room to punch the eyelet border and still have plenty of liner showing over the side of the basket. I stamped and painted my little Hopping Chick from the Rubbernecker Spring Pals collection and cut out with snips to attach to the side of the basket. I didn’t think a ribbon or any other embellishment was necessary with this project with the grass and eggs. Claire Brennan shared this template on SCS and you can find it here.

Don’t forget to check out what the other DT members have created for this challenge.

 

Bev  - Savor the Journey

Broni - Splashes of Watercolor

Candy - Candys Land 

Joan - Stamping with a Passion!

Jules -  Stampin with Inky Fingers

Linda -  Linda’s Works of Heart

Shelly -  Stamp with Shelly

Tami - A Walk on the Mild Side

   Sherry - Walkin' on the BAD Side!

 

 

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Spring Pals Collection- Hopping Chick

Paper:  Pink, White

Ink:  Brilliance Black, Peeled Paint, Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana

Accessories:  Basket Template, Cuttlebug, Snips, Grass, M&M’s, MS Eyelet Border Punch

 

Catching Up!

I love taking part in the daily challenges on Splitcoaststampers.  Here are a few of the projects from last night and over the weekend.  I have felt a little uncreative for the last little while so none of these projects are anything to write home about but I did have lots of fun.

The template for this mini Easter basket was given in Monday's challenge and I thought it was so sweet.  Since my husband and I are trying to watch our weight I decided to make my basket themed for a little healthier choice than chocolate. Stamps:  Rubbernecker Easter Collection- Everything's Coming Up Carrots. Link to challenge and basket template

Our Beloved Beate was the featured artist for Sunday's challenge and I had fun checking out her gorgeous gallery and picking a card for inspiration. Beate used a wonderful color combination of Olive and Soft Sky so I used it as well and used the cat from the SU set Pun Fun to replace Beate's whale.  The scene was stamped and painted on watercolor paper.




 

The Limited Supply challenge on Friday was to use spring colors and florals.  I loved this basket of flowers in Rubbernecker Brush Floral collection. It was perfect for the challenge.  Too bad my coloring was not so hot.  I did love the little eyelet and scalloped borders and layout of the card.

March Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge.

It’s Friday!!!!!!!!!!! I am looking forward to the weekend.  How about you? I haven’t stamped in several days and I have really missed it.  I was inspired to get busy by our monthly Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge.  Holly is hosting the challenge and has taken us down memory lane to a time when we were all new stampers and first started uploading to our Splitcoaststampers galleries.  Her challenge was for each of us to go back to one of our very first gallery uploads and recreate or "case" it.  We were to change at least three elements of the project like color, technique or stamped image but still be able to recognize the original theme. There were lots of groans among all of us as we sadly went way back into our galleries and saw how pitiful our beginning projects were.  The fun is that we had the chance to redeem ourselves a little.

Here is my third gallery project uploaded in July 2005.  It is no surprise to me that it was with my beloved little Loads of Love truck.  I loved the set when I first got it and I still love it today.  I couldn’t resist using the exact same truck image for my challenge card but all the other images are a total change.

 

I hand sketched the three little surfboards and cut them out. I wanted to use them in place of the Christmas trees.  I sure hope you can that darling little palm tree on the board in the back of the truck.  I stamped the truck, painted it and cut it out.  If you look closely you can see that I added a little rust to the truck. I watercolored the blue sky and added yellow for a sunny feel.  I used a white Sharpie to add the white foam to the water. I watercolored the sand area and stamped with Itty Bitty Background for the sandy texture. I tore all the edges of the water and sand layers to represent the torn layers on my original card. I assembled the card with the three torn layers, attached the truck and surfboards and finished it off with a little hand written sign that says “No Surfing”.

 

If you would like to see all the  DD/DDA projects click here.

 

Stamps:  Loads of Love

Paper:  Soft Sky, Watercolor

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Soft Sky, More Mustard, Adirondack Lettuce, Lemonade, Latte, Distress Vintage Photo

Accessories:  Brushes, Artist Pen, Dimensionals, Sharpie

Wacky Wednesday #3

Tami is hosting this week's Rubbernecker Wacky Wednesday Challenge. She has a great sketch for us to play with.  I hope you will click on the link and see how you can win a 25% off coupon to use on your next Rubbernecker purchase. 

I've had a busy week and didn't get to try out Tami's sketch yet. I will be uploading my project later on today. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with so be sure and link your post to the Wacky Wednesday blog post.

Tami's Sketch 

Don't forget to see what the other DT members created from it as well.

Bev  - Savor the Journey

Broni - Splashes of Watercolor

Candy - Candys Land 

Joan - Stamping with a Passion!

Jules -  Stampin with Inky Fingers

Linda -  Linda’s Works of Heart

Shelly -  Stamp with Shelly

Tami - A Walk on the Mild Side

   Sherry - Walkin' on the BAD Side!

 

Wacky Wednesday Challenge #2

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I am hosting Rubbernecker’s Wacky Wednesday weekly challenge today.  My challenge is to create a card using any kind of fold other than the traditional middle fold. I decided to create a Stair Step Fold card and to use these adorable bunnies from the Easter Collection.

To create my card base I followed the directions that were provided by Lynne on the Technique Lover’s Challenge a while back. I cut a piece of cardstock for my base that is 10.5”X 5”.  I scored the lines at 1.25”, 2.5”, 4.25”, 6” and at 8.25”. I folded with hills and valleys, like an accordion, making sure that the smallest fold (1.25”) was folded down for my card front.

I stamped my bunny images on scrap watercolor paper, colored with a brush and reinkers and then cut out.  I used my Kittie Kits Outdoor Master and created a little tree scene for the back ground layer and two ground layers for both the front and middle layer. I cut the grassy edges and the tree tops with deckle scissors to give a natural look. I used my ¼” circle hole punch to cut out several colored circles and trimmed the edges with my snips to create all the little eggs for the scene.  I attached the girl bunny right on the tree layer and popped her ears and bow up with rolled up glue dots for a little for dimension.  I attached the bunny with the wheelbarrow on the second layer and attached the bow and sentiment to the front.  I thought this created the sweetest little dimensional card scene.

Stamps: Rubbernecker Easter Collection-Bunny With Hat and Basket SKU:59-05, Bunny With Wheelbarrow SKU:59-09,Kittie Kits Cause a Scene Outdoor Master SKU:KKCS M001

Paper:  Olive, Watercolor

Ink:  Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, SU Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Brilliance Black Graphite

Accessories:  Glue Dots, Deckle Scissors, Brushes, Mod Podge, Stylus and Foam Tip, Ink Blending Tool, Grosgrain, Snips, ¼” Hole Punch

I got to play in the SCS Color Challenge last night and tried my hand at the Crimped Envelope Pocket card.  It is very simple to do but creates a very sweet and different card design. I used an image from Rubbernecker  KK Originals Floral Collection.  I left my little insert blank to use for a note to send to my mother-in-law. 

I sure hope you hop J on over to the Rubbernecker Blog and check out how you can win great discount certificates. There are three chances to win.  I also hope you will hippity-hop on over to our other Design Team blogs and see what they came up with for this challenge.

 

Bev  - Savor the Journey

Broni - Splashes of Watercolor

Candy - Candys Land 

Joan - Stamping with a Passion!

Jules -  Stampin with Inky Fingers

Kittie -  Kittie Kraft

Linda -  Linda’s Works of Heart

Shelly -  Stamp with Shelly

Tami - A Walk on the Mild Side

   Sherry - Walkin' on the BAD Side!

Bunny, Basket and Fabriano Artistico

Is the bunny supposed to be carrying a basket of Easter eggs? I thought he was just supposed to be magically hiding them everywhere for us to find.  This darling Bunny with Basket is one of many darling images in the Rubbernecker’s Spring Time Pals collection.  I thought it was just perfect to fit the layout for the SCS Sketch Challenge.  I paired the image up with Papertrey’s darling Polka Dot Basics and Aqua Mist paper and I used my brand new Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.

I painted the bunny image with reinkers, cut out and popped up on the required layer for this sketch.  I added the little popped up layer of grass over and under his feet to give the feel that he was standing in the grass.  I love how the few bright colors used on the eggs seem to pop with the brown bunny and the white background. The little knot of twill seemed to be just the perfect touch to finish the project.

I have to take a side step here and tell you of my experience with the Fabriano

artistico paper line. A few weeks ago I posted a few projects using pieces of paper that I had been given as a gift and had fallen in love with but was not sure who the maker of the paper was. I promised I would let everyone know when I found out and in my final post was able to finally announce that it was Fabriano Artistico. I also gave several links with great descriptions of the different types of watercolor paper on the market. That week I happily ordered a block of Fabriano Artistico hot pressed paper and couldn’t wait to get it. When my paper came I excitedly opened and took my first piece out to use. It didn’t take long for me to realize that while this was lovely paper it was not the same quality of the paper I had received from my friend Michelle. She had sent me 3 small pieces of paper that had a deckled edge on one side.  The block of paper didn’t have that.  At first I thought there was no deckling since it had been pressed into a block.  But after researching for more information online I realized that Michellehad sent me pieces that had been cut off of larger sheets of loose watercolor paper. I then ordered two Traditional and two Extra White (not really pure white), 140 lbs. (300 g/m) weight, hot pressed paper 22”x 30” sheets.  I had seen these on Dick Blick when I ordered the block but didn’t think they would be nearly as convenient to store since they were so large. I got my paper this week and can I just say “Ahhhhhhhhh”.  It is gorgeous and just as beautiful to use as the pieces I had received from Michelle. Now with all this said I want you to know that the block paper is lovely as well and I will certainly use it.  But when I really want to create a special scene project with lots of color and landscape I will turn to my special stash. If you are watercolorist and are looking for a treat you need to purchase one sheet to try.

 

Check out the Rubbernecker blog Wacky Wednesday and how you can win a chance to win 25% off your next Rubbernecker order.

 

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Spring Time Pals, Kittie Kits

Paper:  Papertrey, Watercolor

Ink:  Barely Banana, Soft Sky, Pixie Pink, Distress Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Adirondack

Latte

Accessories:  Stylus and Foam Tip, Brushes, Twill, Crimper, Snips

 

Wacky Wednesday, Artist Trading Cards and Stamper's Quest Magazine

 I sure have missed stamping and posting on my blog. Life certainly seems to get in the way of the fun stuff.  Work has been busy and I have been lacking stamping mojo for the last several days.  My friend, Sherry (BadSherry) came up with a challenge that inspired me.  She put out a challenge to our whole Rubbernecker Design Team to host and participate in Rubbernecker’s Wacky Wednesday.  Every Wednesday one of our team members will host a challenge and she can choose whatever technique or requirement she wants.  I don’t know how well you know our  team but we are all pretty wacky.  It will be fun to see what everyone has in store for us.  Sherry is hosting our first challenge and it is to make an Artist Trading Card (ATC).  This is a mini creative wonder that is as detailed as a full size card but packed into a much smaller size- 3.5” x 2.5”.  

It is no surprise that I love to create scenes.  For my project I decided to do a mini beach scene.  I used my Kittie Kits “Cause a Scene” Beach Master and  the smaller images.  I don’t know if you have noticed that my two master sets have several sizes of many of the images to allow you to use on any size project.  The smaller and middle sized sea oats were just the perfect size to use on this small canvas.  I stamped the sea oats on my main image layer and on another piece to use to pop up for a layered sand dune.  I stamped the sand dune image over and over to create the sandy appearance on both pieces of paper and then sponged lightly with brown. I used a fine line green marker to redefine the color on the oats that were sponged over with the brown. I masked off the sky area just above the sand line and sponged on blue to create the water line.  I sponged in the sky with light blue and then added a little yellow to add the soft appearance of a rising or setting sun.  I used the Sand Castle Fun die to create the three little shells and sea horse popped up on the scene. I popped up the front dune layer with dimensionals, adhered my shells to complete my project.

Check out all the details of our weekly challenge at Rubbernecker Stamps.  You are not going to want to miss what Rubbernecker Dave has to offer to those who participate in our challenge.

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Kittie Kits “Cause a Scene” Beach Master

Paper:  Papertrey Aqua Mist, Fabriano Artistico Watercolor

Ink:  Distress Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint,

Adirondack

Latte, Lemonade, SU Soft Sky, Baja Breeze

Accessories:  Deckle Scissors, Spellbinders Sand Castle Fun Die set, Dimensionals, *Stylus and Foam Sponge (I love this tool) , Brushes, Handmade Cloud Template, Olive Marker, Glue Dots, Black Marker

 

*My new favorite tool

 

Stamper’s Quest Magazine

The March issue of Stamper’s Quest Magazine has been released and I have several projects you can check out.  My favorite is a complete tutorial on how to create a project with faux leather, faux snake skin and faux gold.  Pop over and check it out all of the March projects which had a major focus on texture.