Hello our sweet crafty friends - welcome to Kennedy Grace's Blog today. We are so excited to have our guest designer Erica today on the blog. Hope you enjoy! Don't forget to show her some crafty love!
Hugs,
Hello everyone!
Erica here with my first blog post for Kennedy Grace Creations, I am so happy to be part of the
team and share some of my creations with you all. As a big flower lover, not just when it comes to
crafting but I'm also a trained florist, KGC stamps are perfect for me. So yay! Here is a funny
little story for you all: When Michelle asked me if I wanted to do some design work for her, I
nearly fell of my chair with excitement and joy. A happy dance that probably resembled a drunk
emu ensued. My husband thought I had a bee in my top or something the way I bounced around!
To avoid telling more embarrassing stories, I'm going to dive right in with my first two cards I
made using the stunning Splendid Rose stamp set.
When I have a new stamp set I usually like playing around with it a little bit and see what kind of
medium I like best before actually making a card. This is why I have a huge pile of PhD's laying
around. LOL, not the super smart kind, no. So, what's a PhD then I hear you ask? Well, it stands
for Projects half Done (yep, I came up with that and I feel super smart about it, lol) and is just
what it says on the can: An image I have coloured but not used on a card yet, a die cut I've cut
out but not added yet, etc etc. I have hundreds of them... And that's even after setting myself a
challenge of using nothing but bits and pieces from my PhD boxes to create 10 cards. Once the
10 were made, I had barely made a dent in the stash so now I'm up to 20+ cards!
Oops, went off track there for a minute. Right, back to the cards. I decided to start with water
colouring as I have borrowed a friends Gansai Tambi 36 pack to see if I like them enough to add
them to my stash of crafty supplies (I'm leaning towards yes but would prefer the Zig's I think.
Decisions, decisions) My idea was to make two panels with the same layout and colour them
different colours. I find this is a great way to not only save time but also get two cards out of one
effort. Unless it ends up in the PhD pile.... Eh, you win some, you loose some.
I cut out a couple of panels using the scalloped frame in the MFT Blueprints 27 set. For these I
used Ranger Ink white water colouring card stock, I like that it is really white and it's textured
but not too textured if you know what I mean and I'm sure most of you do. Then I stamped up
the roses on masking paper and cut that out, because I knew I would want to do some masking.
For the actual cards, I stamped the panels with VersaMark ink and heat embossed the image with
Ranger Ink super fine white embossing powder. I started in the corner and wanted to cover the
bottom of the panel so it would look like a rose hedge. My idea to make two the same ended up
being scrapped as I didn't line up the panels at the same spot before stamping. Fail. Oh well, it
happens. I finished stamping up the rose hedge on my first panel and decided to go in a different
direction for the second card. As well as having the roses in almost the same place as on the first
panel, I placed the stamp to look like the roses were trailing down from the top right corner.
Now it was time for the fun part! Colouring!! I decided to go yellow-ish for the first card because
I wanted to use the sentiment 'Thanks for adding sunshine to my day!' which feels very yellow
and bright to me. To get that natural look, I mixed three different yellows and added a little bit of
orange and rust colour for definition and contrast. For the leaves I mixed a couple of greens and
just swished the colours around. I love doing this, it's so soothing and relaxing.
Whilst the first panel was drying, I started working on the second one. For this I decided to go
completely out of my comfort zone and do some extremely (for me anyway) loose colouring. I love
the look of this however I have only tried it once or twice before but no time like the present,
right? There are only three colours on this, if you count the gold. I started with the crimson and
just went to town! Splattering this way and that, it was great fun as well as slightly nerve
wracking. The same happened with the green and then it was time to let it dry and see what came
out of it.
When it comes to sentiments, I like heat embossing them. I can't lie, I'm a bit of a one-trick pony
when it comes to that part. However, I am totally ok with that as I think it makes them stand out
so much more plus I have found myself stroking a sentiment because it has touched me and
smudged the ink before (meh!) so to avoid that happening to someone I send the card to, I heat
emboss them usually. Which I did for my yellow panel, the embossing powder is Gold Pearl from
WOW and I like it a lot because it's very fine and catch even the tiniest of detail.
For finishing touches I used some clear sequins in different sizes on my yellow card which I
adhered to a black card base for contrast and to frame the panel. Black can be too harsh but
when it just peeks out enough to make a frame like this, I think it looks stunning. It makes the
colours on the card pop so much more than if the card base was white too.
To show that I can be versatile when I choose to be, I stamped two of the sentiments together to
make it say 'Thinking of you my friend' with black Memento ink on my second card. Stretching
stamps to make them go further is one of my favourite things to do, it makes me feel like I'm
more than getting my money's worth for the stamp sets. Plus you can mix and match the ones
you have to make up a sentiment that suits your card or occasion. Of course it doesn't work with
every set you get, but with these it works perfectly as the font is the same on most of them. Smart
move, KGC!! Thumbs up for that!
Whilst I knew I wanted to add some of the gorgeous sequins on my first card, I thought I'd try
something different for my other one and went with gold splatters instead. Those don't tend to
show up very well in photos but looks stunning in real life. This panel was adhered to a white
base to keep it simple. Ta-Da!
I had such a great time making these cards and I hope I have inspired you to either try a little
something new or to get this stamp set. It really is so versatile and gorgeous.
All the best and happy crafting!
Erica
Hugs,
Hello everyone!
Erica here with my first blog post for Kennedy Grace Creations, I am so happy to be part of the
team and share some of my creations with you all. As a big flower lover, not just when it comes to
crafting but I'm also a trained florist, KGC stamps are perfect for me. So yay! Here is a funny
little story for you all: When Michelle asked me if I wanted to do some design work for her, I
nearly fell of my chair with excitement and joy. A happy dance that probably resembled a drunk
emu ensued. My husband thought I had a bee in my top or something the way I bounced around!
To avoid telling more embarrassing stories, I'm going to dive right in with my first two cards I
made using the stunning Splendid Rose stamp set.
When I have a new stamp set I usually like playing around with it a little bit and see what kind of
medium I like best before actually making a card. This is why I have a huge pile of PhD's laying
around. LOL, not the super smart kind, no. So, what's a PhD then I hear you ask? Well, it stands
for Projects half Done (yep, I came up with that and I feel super smart about it, lol) and is just
what it says on the can: An image I have coloured but not used on a card yet, a die cut I've cut
out but not added yet, etc etc. I have hundreds of them... And that's even after setting myself a
challenge of using nothing but bits and pieces from my PhD boxes to create 10 cards. Once the
10 were made, I had barely made a dent in the stash so now I'm up to 20+ cards!
Oops, went off track there for a minute. Right, back to the cards. I decided to start with water
colouring as I have borrowed a friends Gansai Tambi 36 pack to see if I like them enough to add
them to my stash of crafty supplies (I'm leaning towards yes but would prefer the Zig's I think.
Decisions, decisions) My idea was to make two panels with the same layout and colour them
different colours. I find this is a great way to not only save time but also get two cards out of one
effort. Unless it ends up in the PhD pile.... Eh, you win some, you loose some.
I cut out a couple of panels using the scalloped frame in the MFT Blueprints 27 set. For these I
used Ranger Ink white water colouring card stock, I like that it is really white and it's textured
but not too textured if you know what I mean and I'm sure most of you do. Then I stamped up
the roses on masking paper and cut that out, because I knew I would want to do some masking.
For the actual cards, I stamped the panels with VersaMark ink and heat embossed the image with
Ranger Ink super fine white embossing powder. I started in the corner and wanted to cover the
bottom of the panel so it would look like a rose hedge. My idea to make two the same ended up
being scrapped as I didn't line up the panels at the same spot before stamping. Fail. Oh well, it
happens. I finished stamping up the rose hedge on my first panel and decided to go in a different
direction for the second card. As well as having the roses in almost the same place as on the first
panel, I placed the stamp to look like the roses were trailing down from the top right corner.
Now it was time for the fun part! Colouring!! I decided to go yellow-ish for the first card because
I wanted to use the sentiment 'Thanks for adding sunshine to my day!' which feels very yellow
and bright to me. To get that natural look, I mixed three different yellows and added a little bit of
orange and rust colour for definition and contrast. For the leaves I mixed a couple of greens and
just swished the colours around. I love doing this, it's so soothing and relaxing.
Whilst the first panel was drying, I started working on the second one. For this I decided to go
completely out of my comfort zone and do some extremely (for me anyway) loose colouring. I love
the look of this however I have only tried it once or twice before but no time like the present,
right? There are only three colours on this, if you count the gold. I started with the crimson and
just went to town! Splattering this way and that, it was great fun as well as slightly nerve
wracking. The same happened with the green and then it was time to let it dry and see what came
out of it.
When it comes to sentiments, I like heat embossing them. I can't lie, I'm a bit of a one-trick pony
when it comes to that part. However, I am totally ok with that as I think it makes them stand out
so much more plus I have found myself stroking a sentiment because it has touched me and
smudged the ink before (meh!) so to avoid that happening to someone I send the card to, I heat
emboss them usually. Which I did for my yellow panel, the embossing powder is Gold Pearl from
WOW and I like it a lot because it's very fine and catch even the tiniest of detail.
For finishing touches I used some clear sequins in different sizes on my yellow card which I
adhered to a black card base for contrast and to frame the panel. Black can be too harsh but
when it just peeks out enough to make a frame like this, I think it looks stunning. It makes the
colours on the card pop so much more than if the card base was white too.
To show that I can be versatile when I choose to be, I stamped two of the sentiments together to
make it say 'Thinking of you my friend' with black Memento ink on my second card. Stretching
stamps to make them go further is one of my favourite things to do, it makes me feel like I'm
more than getting my money's worth for the stamp sets. Plus you can mix and match the ones
you have to make up a sentiment that suits your card or occasion. Of course it doesn't work with
every set you get, but with these it works perfectly as the font is the same on most of them. Smart
move, KGC!! Thumbs up for that!
Whilst I knew I wanted to add some of the gorgeous sequins on my first card, I thought I'd try
something different for my other one and went with gold splatters instead. Those don't tend to
show up very well in photos but looks stunning in real life. This panel was adhered to a white
base to keep it simple. Ta-Da!
something new or to get this stamp set. It really is so versatile and gorgeous.
All the best and happy crafting!
Erica
Beautiful cards by Erica!
ReplyDeleteJust remember I knew you and your talents before you were famous ❤
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on this post for KGC, dear Erica!! I really LOVE your cards, especially the loose watercolor one!! I struggle with doing this style myself, too! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, excellent cards and super post!!
ReplyDeleteThese are so beautiful!! Welcome as guest designer and you knocked it out of the park!! Two gorgeous cards!!
ReplyDelete