Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Color It Up




It's Wednesday, and that's Technique and Tutorial Day again at QKR Stampede and Eureka Stamps. Deb with you today and I'll be focusing on another technique for your paper flower stash - changing their color. I'll be working with flowers available with these links at both Eureka and QKR. If you're used to seeing my post pop up on the two blogs earlier in the day, sorry about that - chest cold had me totally forgetting what day it was yesterday. If you see any errors in this post, I hope you'll be forgiving - lol.

So, I'm working today with the same purple selection of flowers today as I used in my post two weeks ago. As I mentioned then, you get a generous amount of flowers in each selection, so you can do a lot of experimenting. I've used four basic methods of coloring here: Copics, Distress Re-Inkers, Distress Pads and Smooch Spritz. Let's look at the results with each method.

I applied the Copic marker directly to the flower. Colors used here are: YR 20, 21, 23, 24.


A really easy way to add saturated color is to spritz the inside of a small baggie and add a drop or two of Distress Re-Inker. Spritz each flower with a bit of water, add them to the bag and massage till the flower is well colored. Remove the flower carefully as it will be very delicate when wet. The following photos show the results of this technique.




With this next flower, watch how the dark tips stay dark:


And with this flower, using Squeezed Lemonade, the centre goes to a perfect brown.

Fingers are getting more and more inky as I do small flowers for the centres...


For this one, I applied the Distress Ink Pad directly to the flower, then spritzed the flower with water.


And finally, I tried Smooch spray. I didn't think of this until my card was completed, so this flower is not in the bouquet.


After the flowers were completely dry, I added dots of Liquid Pearls and some glitter. Here's a close up of the results. By the way, the vase was cut with a Spellbinder Christmas ornament, run through an embossing folder, sponged with a VersaMark pad and heat embossed with clear powder. The leaves were all cut with various Spellbinders.


I hope you take the time to do more exploring here on the QKR Blog and, when you're done, pop on over to my personal blog for more projects.


Friday, February 22, 2013

Challenge #27- Birthday with a Number

Hello Crafty Friends, Happy Friday!

Welcome to QKR Stampede's 27th Challenge! Thank you so much to all of you who joined us last week for our Anything Goes Challenge! What Stunning Creations!

Our Winner Via Random.org is:

Congratulations! Please Email Tina with the words "QKR Stampede Challenge Winner" in the Subject Line! *Also, Don't forget to Grab the Winner Badge from our Side Bar for for your Blog!!

 
Our Top 5 Entries For this Week Are:
in no specific Order
 
Congratulations! Please Grab The Top 5 Badge From our Side Bar to Display on your Blog!

**OUR PRIZE FOR BEING THE RANDOM WINNER IS 2 DIGITAL IMAGES OF YOUR CHOICE FROM OUR QKR STAMPEDE STORE! HOWEVER, IF YOU ENTER & WIN USING A QKR STAMPEDE IMAGE, YOU WILL WIN 5 DIGITAL IMAGES OF YOUR CHOICE!!*** 
__________________________________________________

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE IS:
Birthday with a Number

Please Welcome our February Guest Designer

Hi everyone! My name is Lisa and I'm from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I got started into card making about a year ago and decided I wanted to enter some challenges. So out of that desire, my blog was born at the end of October. However, what started out as a place to post cards has developed into something so much more. I showcase other artists' work, spotlight comments that have made a difference to me, offer up thoughts and graphics that are motivational in nature and explore the concept of gratitude. Mixed in among these specific themes I share my creative endeavours--card making, drawing & digital design, nail art, etc.--with the world. My goal is for my blog to become a place of inspiration on many different levels and to celebrate other like minded people from our community. I am very excited to be dipping my toes into the design team world and am excited to be a guest designer for QKR Stampede.

Lisa's wonderful card featuring Image:


Now onto some more creative inspiration from the Design Team!  









Reminder:

For full details on the designers' cards you can click on their name which is linked to their blogs! We love to hear from you, so you are always welcome to visit, we would love to receive your comments!

To play along with us, please post a direct link to the card/project on your blog using inlinkz and link back to our challenge from your blog.

You can join in as many other challenges with ours as you like! You can only enter our challenge a  MAXIMUM of 3 times per challenge. Please do NOT backlink to other cards you have previously Posted.

If you are interested in Joining us for a month long Guest Designer Spot, Please put GDT next to your name on your entry! If you do not advertise your email address on your blog, please send an email to Jackie with QKR GDT in subject line!


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Caught in Candlelight


Deb with you today. Candlelight evokes romance, at least in my mind. And I'm told that every woman looks more beautiful by candlelight. So I definitely want candles more candles around me! If you love candles, too, consider this project. The results give you a soft dreamy look - very romantic. This project illustrates this week's technique - adding images to candles. At this point, I must confess I didn't make up this technique. I read about it on the internet, but I don't know where so (sadly) I can't give proper credit. You won't believe how easy this is!

To begin, smooth a piece of tissue paper over a piece of cardstock. Fold the tissue to the back of the paper and tape it down securely.

Front




Back



If you are using a digi image, adjust the color so you print in grey scale rather than in solid black. Size the image so it will fit the size of your candle. I've used Eureka Stamps Gladiola and Hummer sized at 5 inches high for a candle that measured 5 1/2 inches high and 9 1/2 inches around. Run the package through your printer.


If you are using a rubber stamp, just ink up your stamp with grey ink and stamp onto the tissue.

Color your image with alcohol-based markers. Below, I've used Copics:
Bird: C5, YR61/65, RV 63, 66
Flower:YG 23/25/45, YR23 and V01/04/05/06/09


Remove the tissue from the cardstock and trim. You can see that I trimmed the solid line at the bottom left corner.



Drape the issue over the candle.



Cut a piece of household wax paper larger than the size of your image. Place it over the image on the candle and wrap it tightly. Continue to hold the paper as you use your crafting heat gun to warm the wax paper and the candle surface. Heat only until the surface gets shiny and you can see the tissue being incorporated into the wax. If you heat too long, your candle will start to run, and you really don't want that. Peel the wax paper off the image. 
Hold wax paper tightly

Voila!

Decorate your candle any way you wish. I've added ribbon and some pearls from my jewellery making stash.




And, finally, The Boss offers to help with today's clean-up.


Friday, February 15, 2013

Challenge #26- Anything Goes

Hello Crafty Friends, Happy Friday!

Welcome to QKR Stampede's 26th Challenge! Thank you so much to all of you who joined us last week for our Someone Special Challenge! What Gorgeous Creations!

Our Winner Via Random.org is:
 32. Jackie Wallace

Congratulations! Please Email Tina with the words "QKR Stampede Challenge Winner" in the Subject Line! *Also, Don't forget to Grab the Winner Badge from our Side Bar for for your Blog!!

 
Our Top 5 Entries For this Week Are:
in no specific Order
Congratulations! Please Grab The Top 5 Badge From our Side Bar to Display on your Blog!

**OUR PRIZE FOR BEING THE RANDOM WINNER IS 2 DIGITAL IMAGES OF YOUR CHOICE FROM OUR QKR STAMPEDE STORE! HOWEVER, IF YOU ENTER & WIN USING A QKR STAMPEDE IMAGE, YOU WILL WIN 5 DIGITAL IMAGES OF YOUR CHOICE!!*** 
__________________________________________________

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE IS:
ANYTHING GOES 

Please Welcome our February Guest Designer

Hi everyone! My name is Lisa and I'm from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. I got started into card making about a year ago and decided I wanted to enter some challenges. So out of that desire, my blog was born at the end of October. However, what started out as a place to post cards has developed into something so much more. I showcase other artists' work, spotlight comments that have made a difference to me, offer up thoughts and graphics that are motivational in nature and explore the concept of gratitude. Mixed in among these specific themes I share my creative endeavours--card making, drawing & digital design, nail art, etc.--with the world. My goal is for my blog to become a place of inspiration on many different levels and to celebrate other like minded people from our community. I am very excited to be dipping my toes into the design team world and am excited to be a guest designer for QKR Stampede.

Lisa's wonderful card featuring Image:


Now onto some more creative inspiration from the Design Team!  








 

  
Reminder:

To play along with us, please post a direct link to the card/project on your blog using inlinkz and link back to our challenge from your blog.

You can join in as many other challenges with ours as you like! You can only enter our challenge a  MAXIMUM of 3 times per challenge. Please do NOT backlink to other cards you have previously Posted.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR MONTH LONG GUEST DESIGNERS, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE PUT GDT NEXT TO YOUR NAME WHEN YOU LINK UP TO PLAY ALONG!! THANKS!! 



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means - Technique and Tutorial Day here at QKR Stampede and also at Eureka Stamps. Deb here today, to take a look at how flowers add detail and interest to our creations.

I've always been intrigued by the meanings we associate with flowers - with different flower varieties and different flower colors. According to Wikipedia, "Sending flowers was a Victorian-era means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken. The nuances of the language are now mostly forgotten, but red roses still imply passionate, romantic love and pink roses a lesser affection; white roses suggest virtue and chastity and yellow roses still stand for friendship or devotion." Wikipedia offers an entire chart for the meanings of various flowers. It's fun to have a look. Besides the color of our eyes or the width of our hips, I guess we can thank our grandmother's grandmother for our continuing fascination with flowers.

Here's a thank you card done in American Crafts cardstock.



It's cut at 5 1/2 inches square. I've run a line all around the face of the card with the Scor Pal tool.

Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares was used to cut and emboss two layers. The centre is stamped with QKR's Werdz set  Best Wishes in Distress Ink and heat embossed.

I thought it looked a little plain, so I embossed two lines close to the greeting with Spellbinders Classic Edges 2. Liquid Pearls dot the squares.

I'd be proud to send this card, but...look at how much interest is added when flowers come into the design.



These are the  Purple Flower Assortment available from QKR.

I've also cut two sets of leaves with the Spellbinders Foliage dies.

The pearls in the centres of the flowers were white self-adhesive pearls, but I tinted them to a matching shade with Copics.

These two photos were taken on the same day, but at different times. Isn't it amazing how the natural light coming into the room makes a difference in the color we see in the photo?

Here's a look at all the flower types, sizes and colors you'll find in the purple assortment. You get five of each flower, so that's pretty good selection and should carry you through any design.



Two week from now, I'll share some ideas about how to color your flowers if what you have on hand isn't exactly the color you need.

I'll see you next week with a technique for adding a Eureka design to a candle.

Please remember to visit Eureka Stamps Blog to see more from the other members of the T&T team. And, as always, you are welcome to visit my personal blog .