Home Is...

TGIF!! This Friday is extra exciting for me... tomorrow I'll be joining my family in upstate New York and I can't waaaaaait. There will be a lot of photo posts coming up in the next couple weeks. So enjoy them :)

I have another Unity card to share with the 'Friends With Flair' at the Unity Stamp blog. This time I used my favorite favorite faaaavorite Unity stamp called "In This House".

The drawing on this stamp looks perfectly 'messy' to me, so I wanted to do a little 'messy' coloring. I didn't want to stay in the lines, so it kept the imperfect vibe to the whole card.

That amazing sentiment is from Unity Stamps "Love at Home" itty bitty. I colored the images with that super easy Q-Tip and Distress Ink technique I shared last week.

I thought this card was fitting, since I will be spending the upcoming days with my lovely family. Fur babies and all!

Unity Stamps: "Love at Home" and "In This House"
Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass

<3 Rachel w k

Play Date Cafe #188

Welcome back to another beautiful Thursday with The Play Date Cafe! The pretty pastel palette (alliteration, anyone?) this week is sure to get your creative juices flowing... or at least go enjoy a long sit in your garden.

Say hello to Raspberry, Pastel Pink, and Lilac

This is definitely a 'Love at First Sight' kind of color story, isn't it?

We are also welcoming back our sponsor Elizabeth Mindemann from Close to my Heart! She is offering up a beautiful stamp set to the winner this week!

I couldn't decide which stamp sets I wanted to use, so I mixed and matched. My card uses Avery Elle "Handwriten Notes", Papertrey Ink "Background Basics: Medallions", and Lawn Fawn "Blue Skies." The Distress Inks "Seedless Preserves", "Spun Sugar", and "Picked Raspberry" also matched the color story so there was no need to mix and match the ink.

The Play Date Cafe gallery has been filled with beautiful inspiration and we look forward to seeing what you share with us!

<3 Rachel w k

Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop Challenge

I am really excited to have finally gotten my Papertrey Ink project finished in time for the monthly blog hop! The challenge for June was to add a touch of gold to your card. The photo inspiration was filled with teal and gold, so I jumped off of that color combo for my card.

All of the excitement is happening over at Nichole Heady's blog!! My card uses stamps from Papertrey Ink "Tweet Talk" set :)

<3 Rachel w k

July/August Publication

I'm just here to toot my own little horn for a quick second. I have a card published in the July/August 2013 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. You can find my "Sun-Sational" card on page 37 of the digital edition.

You can access the digital version for free if you already have a subscription to PC Mag. Otherwise go to the PC Mag website for more information! The digital issue has about DOUBLE the projects as the printed version!

I'll take my hand off the horn now :) Thank you everyone for your endless support!

<3 Rachel w k

materials: Cardstock: white from Michael’s. Stamps: The Craft’s Meow “Baggin’ Some Rays”. Ink: Staz-On “Jet Black”, Memento “Tangelo” “Dandelion”. Accents: Up & Up decorative paper tape, Freckled Fawn “Yellow Chevron” washi tape, Stickles “Orange Peel”

Project Life and Paper Smooches

There's something a little different here today. The Paper Smooches Sparks challenge has a cool color combo to play with

I was also inspired by these colors for my recent Fly Away card. Using a new-to-me Paper Smooches set, I created three Project Life journal/filler cards. The sentiments are fitting for our Father's Day adventure page!

I played with a mix of VersaMagic chalk inks, Memento inks, and Hero Arts inks. HELP! QUESTION-- do you ever struggle with your Hero Arts ink looking 'bubbly' after you stamp with it? You can sort-of see in the upper left card, one of my flowers is quite uneven and bubbly. It really drives me nuts and any tips would be SO VERY MUCH appreciated! Thank you!!!

This page uses the Project Life 'Midnight Edition' cards. The photos are all from our Father's Day in the park with our baby Meeko :)

Hope you're enjoying a nice weekend! happy official summer!

<3 Rachel w k

materials:

stamps: Paper Smooches "Reflections" and "Falling For You"

inks: versafine "onyx black". Versamagic "persimmon", "sea breeze", "aloe vera", "key lime", "sage". Hero Arts "butter bar", "tide pool", "soft pool"

Paper: Project Life "Midnight Edition"

Coloring with a Q-tip

TGIF! This is my first time linking up with Unity Stamps for their weekly 'Friends With Flair' post. I don't usually share the things I make with my Unity Stamps, so this will be a good reason to get these projects out in the world!

This card is totally out of my crafty comfort zone! I got totally inky and my desk turned many different colors, which was a beautiful sight :)

The flowers were definitely the most fun to color. I was too lazy to get out all my water colors and brushes, so I used my trusty Distress Inks and a q-tip to color them in

Just ink directly onto your craft mat, spray with a teeny bit of water, and grab a q-tip! You're never going to use up that box of 500 q-tips anyways. I was shocked at how easily it blended, and it only took one dab of ink to color the whole flower!

Thanks for joining :) There will be more Unity projects next Friday woohoo

Unity Stamps: "Quiet Essence", "Classified Newsprint", and a free tag stamp included with an order :)
Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Wild Honey, Scatted Straw, Frayed Burlap, Seedless Preserves, Aged Mahogany, Worn Lipstick.

<3 Rachel w k

Play Date Cafe #187

Welcome back to the new color story for The Play Date Cafe! Not only do we have a fun and fresh color combo, but we have a sponsor (meaning a PRIZE) that y'all will loooove

Say hello to Orange Zest, Chartreuse, and Jade

Since our lovely sponsor this week is Avery Elle, I used my newest Avery Elle stamp: "Party Animal"

I created little birthday tags to attach to a goodie bag. I filled the bag with 'confetti' (sequins) thinking everrry birthday party needs some confetti. It just makes post-party clean up much more exciting :)

This little balloon animal stamp is perfect with Versamagic chalk inks, and really gives a great 'balloon' look. I used Nestabilities dies to cut the squares and popped up the second square with foam dots. I fussy cut the balloon and adhered it to the tag. The banner stamp is from Simon Say Stamp 'Happy Everyday' set.

We can't wait to have you join us in the Cafe! Link up your project (any type of project!) to the gallery for a chance to win some Avery Elle and our Cup of the Week :)

<3 Rachel w k

Fly Away

Hello hump day! I have a bright and cheery card with some fresh colors and Lawn Fawn stamps :)

The Lawnscaping Challenge this week is to use some dimension in the card. I used Copic markers for all images. The balloons were stamped directly on the card, the banners were fussy cut onto the balloons, and the clouds were fussy cut and added with foam dots.

I am entering this card for Lawnscaping Challenge to use dimension and the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to have a travel or 'things that go' theme.

Have a beautiful day :)

materials: Lawn Fawn "Blue Skies", Copic markers B02, BG02, YG05, YG07, Y38, Versafine "Black Onyx" ink, Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink, foam dots

<3 Rachel w k

TGIF y'all

And for all my teacher friends out there... you made it to summer! Congratulations :)

Today I combined a Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger with a Paper Smooches Sparks sketch challenge

The Tuesday Trigger is definitely outside my comfort zone (which includes bright happy colors) so it was a good challenge

I followed the Sparks sketch pretty closely, which helped pull the card together. I was inspired by the colors and bold stripes in the photo.

materials: 
Stamps: Paper Smooches "Needle Little Love"
Pattern Paper: October Afternoon "Cakewalk"
Ink: Versafine "Black Onyx", Memento "Rich Cocoa"
Misc: black rhinestones, pom pom trim from October Afternoon

And I can't leave without sharing my favorite Flag Day video clip from Reno 911! Small warning: the f-bomb is dropped a few/multiple times. That was a great Flag Day!

Enjoy your Father's Day weekend :)

<3 Rachel w k

Play Date Cafe #186 - COLOR SPLASH!

It's the best challenge this week at Play Date Cafe!! Get ready to get your Color Splash on with this week's super summery splash of Nectarine!

Our color story is Black, White, and Nectarine. We are also welcoming back our amazing sponsor Simon Says Stamp. So the winner this week will win a gift card to spend however they wish!

I ended up creating two cards for this color splash. One is graphic and one is cutesy :)

I've been in a polka dots and circle kick lately with my Papertrey Ink "Basic Backgrounds: Circles" stamps. Random circles are filled in with the nectarine color. The sentiment is from Unity Stamp "Something Wonderful". Some enamel dots in a lovely nectarine tint finish it off!

I really wanted to use this elephant on something ASAP. He's just so cute! I paperpieced the elephant and stamped the sentiment. Stamp set from Unity Stamps "Love you Tons".

Make sure to join Play Date Cafe for this gorgeous color splash! Remember! You can make ANY kind of project you want as long as it follows our color story!

<3 Rachel w k

materials:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Background basics: Circles", Unity Stamp Co "Something Wonderful", "Love you Tons"
Inks: Memento "Tuxedo Black". Versamagic "Persimmon", "Mango", "Pink Grapefruit"
Dies: Nestabilities "Labels 1"
Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye "The Sweetest Thing - Tangerine"
Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye "Unforgettable"

Overlapping Ombre

Don't you just love the sound of pouring rain with the windows open? It has made the past few days pretty pleasant (although the 'lake' seeping into our basement is not nearly as pleasant).

Anyways, this rainy day was perfect for a real good challenge with Make it Monday and Papertrey Ink. The challenge is to overlap a stamp in different inks to make an ombre effect.  My challenge? I don't really have any bold, large PTI stamps. I mostly buy PTI stamps for the detailed sentiments or background possibilities. I overlapped a little circle/polka dot stamp multiple times to get what I needed.

I used "Background Basics: Circles" from Papertrey Ink. The stamp is a row of three dots, so I overlapped on the last row of each color. The inks are Versamagic chalk ink "Mango Madness", "Pink Grapefruit", "Persimmon", and "Pixie Dust". The sentiment is from PTI "Tweet Talk".

This card is being sent to a certain DONNA who happens to be moving :)

The next card uses the same PTI sets, just with smaller circles and a different sentiment...

I stamped the same as the first card, overlapping the top row of dots for each ink color. Inks used are Versamagic "Key Lime", "Aloe Vera", "Sea Breeze", and "Aegean Blue."

<3 Rachel w k

June Stack-a-holic Challenge

The only one of my crafty goals for 2012 that I did not accomplish was "Keep Scrapbook up to Date". That was also the only crafty goal that was 100% in my control. There are no excuses for that one! And so the goal continues for 2013. Thanks to my favorite scrapbook sketch challenge, I am all caught up (to February 2013)!!!!

My entry for the DCWV June stack-a-holic challenge uses only paper from DCWV "My Sunshine" stack

the challenge sketch

I already had these funky sized photos printed, so I combined them together to be in place where a single 4x6 is supposed to be. This was a very very easy sketch to put together and I loved adding all the circle and stitching details.

The photos are from my February 2013 trip back home. My parents and I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson and the best (hands down!) sandwich at Beyond Bread in Tucson (always order a Bart's Bag! It's heaven in your mouth).

The alphabet stamps are from Oriental Trading Co. I cut individual squares and stamped each letter with StazOn ink.

Oh, Tucson. I miss you so much! My other Tucson scrapbook page uses the same DCWV "My Sunshine" stack, so the pages look really good together side by side.

Slowly but surely, I will conquer this scrapbook...

<3 Rachel w k