Full Moon Tonight

At least it's a full moon on my card.  I used a Queen Kat Designs image from artist Nora Blansett called "Jessamine."  I can picture her walking the hallways and corridors of her lonely castle, waiting for--what?--she doesn't know.  So she walks, waiting for something, that special something, to come to her.

I made a Z-fold card and used some patterned paper from 7 Gypsies "Off the Wall" collection.  After coloring Jessamine with Copics, I die-cut her out along with a frame.  I embellished with a pebble sticker, a cardstock key, a string of pearls and part of a wheel cog or gear.

You can find Jessamine and all the lovely new September releases from Queen Kat Designs at their Shoppe.  And for more inspiration this month, check out the QKD Facebook page!!

Pretty in Pink

April is quickly winding down, and before you know it, Mother's Day will be here!  So I made a Mom's Day card for my own mom, who turned 80 at the end of March.

I colored a QKD April release called "Just Breathe"  by artist   Nora Blansett.  I used my trusty Copics and a Sakura twinkle gel pen.  I then framed it in dark gray, popped it onto some leftover patterned paper, then framed that in grey again.

I had some leftover patterned paper with the word mom printed out in several variations, which worked perfectly with my image.  Do you color an image and then search for coordinating papers and embellishments?  Or do you find some paper and embellies and then color the image to coordinate with them?  I used to color a bunch of images, then hunt for an hour to match them up with papers, etc.  Now it's much easier to find my paper and then color the images.

I used a lovely handmade flower I received from my crafting friend, Shannon.  Other embellies include the lace, sequins, ribbon rose and jewel.  To finish off my card, I inked the edges.  I hope you like this look!

And if you like Nora's image, you can find it and many others in the SHOPPE.  Need some inspiration?  Check out the QKD Facebook page!!

Just Breathe!

Queen Kat Designs has expanded their line to include digital images!  I am so happy because a crafter has a lot more options with digi's than with rubber (although rubber can never be replaced in my mind).

In order to show you one of the benefits from working with digi's, I made a stair step card using an April new release called "Just Breathe by artist Nora Blansett.  It is perfect for showcasing digital images!!

I printed the image several times in three different sizes.  After I made my step card base, I colored all the flowers with my trusty Copics.  On the back face of my card, I used one 3x5 sized image.  The middle "step"   uses two wallet sized prints, and the front of the card uses four of the smallest prints I can get using Microsoft Windows Picture Manager.

Once the flower images were in place, I embellished the dark blue background, first with inked edges in white, and then adhering some flourish diecuts and pearls for a fantastical "night sky in the garden" look.  I had a leftover metal charm from Tim Holtz Ideology which reads, "Reality has limits. Imagination is boundless."  It was the perfect sentiment to go with my use of Nora's flowers!  Using her digi's, in fact any digi's, erases any boundaries you might have with a stamped image, as you can see above!

A couple silk ribbon roses and a few more pearls and my card is complete.  It can be folded flat for mailing, and then stood up for presentation.  I love the look of this, and plan to give it to my neighbor, who is a Shakespeare fan and loves the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  I like to think that my garden of flowers would fit right in with the fairies and flowers that Shakespeare dreamed up.

Go check out Nor'as newest release, Just Breathe, in the SHOPPE.  While you're there, look at all the wonderful stamps and digi's and tear down those crafting boundaries with some inspiration from Queen Kat Designs.  Once you do, show it to us on the QKD Facebook Page.  Happy crafting!!

Anything Goes at Forever Night Creepy Challenges

What a great way to end the year--a great challenge and the news that I will be a 2012 DT member for Forever Night Creepy Challenge Blog!!  So please hop on over to the blog and check them out--you can celebrate your dark side of crafting, where it's Halloween all year round!!  Tell them Pat sent you!!

The Anything Goes Challenge runs through January 3, and her's my entry.  I used two of my fave images from Queen Kat Designs, Holly Fairy from artist Catherine Swinford, and Vampire Bat Eye by artist Nora Blansett.  First, I used patterned papers from DCWV stacks.  The I colored my images with a mix of Copics and Spectrum Noir.  I fussy-cut both images, using only a part of each.  The sentiment was printed in Word and punched with an scallop oval punch, and distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I drew the "cracks" in the sentiment freehand.
I had the most fun with the embellishments.  I used some gross grain black ribbon along the side, and part of a feather and jingle bell wreath embellishment that was 70% discounted at Joann's!  A black flower covers the end of the feather embellie.
Do you like my card?  I love the sentiment: "Be careful what you wish for..."  I think this fairy asked for a pet, but didn't specify what kind.  I think Santa's evil twin (look for the book by Dean Koontz-I have it out for overnight guests to read before going to bed-guaranteed nightmares) has a morbid sense of humor, don't you?
I hope you were very specific when you made your wish list this year!!  Happy crafting, y'all!!

Going Batty on Day 2 of QKD's 13 Days of Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to Queen Kat Design's Thirteen Days of Halloween Blog Hop!  If you've come here from the QKD Main Blog, you are on the right track.  From October 1st through the 13th,  you'll see cards and projects using stamped images from the Queen's royal court of talented artists.  Today the theme of the Hop is BATS!
You can't miss the bat on my card, can you?!  This

weirdly cute Queen Kat Designs stamped image is a favorite of mine.  It's called "Vampire Bat Eye" by artist Nora Blansett.
I colored my bats with Copics, using Liquid Glass to put a little twinkle in their eyes.  Then I popped them onto an orange cardstock base, adding some black flourish rubons, the sentiment and a few jewels in the corner and on the bottom.  Simple design, as EYE wanted to let the images do the talking!

To show you how much fun this image has been to color and create with, I made a second card showcasing Vampire Bat Eye by Nora.  Here I used a piece of Neenah patterned paper with the quote, "One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
Keeping it simple again, I framed my Copic-colored image, added a couple lines of small jewels, and placed a diecut border along the side.  I embellished my border with a handmade flower.

This is such a fun image, I hope you'll take another look at it in the SHOPPE.  As a special enticement, during the Blog Hop, customers can snag a special discount.  Just click on the picture in my sidebar for your QKD Halloween treat!!

Next on the Blog Hop is BETH, but be sure to leave a little love before you hop along!!

October 2: Bats
QKD Blog
Miranda
Pat  That's Me!
Beth
Vikki
Jamie 
Janie
Stephanie L
Emily
QKD STORE

EYE Love Halloween!!

Every time EYE stamp and color this faboo QKD image by Nora Blansett, EYE come up with more and more EYE-deas to make cards with them!!

Today EYE used some Neenah paper for the background.  It had a pre-printed sentiment that EYE love from Oliver Wendell Holmes: "One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."  Just a little Halloween inspiration for all you crafters out there!
For the card, EYE colored my Vampire Bat Eye image with my Copics and fussy-cut it out. EYE adhered it on an orange circle to make it pop.  A strip of K & Co. Border embellishment and a handmade flower finish off my card (oh, EYE forgot the strips of adhesive-backed red pearls.
That's it for today, just a simply made card with a lot of EYE-appeal!! LOL
Nora has a lot of sweet images in the Queen Kat Designs Shoppe--go check them out!!

Batty For You

Queen Kat Designs is releasing a fun bunch of Halloween stamps this month so you can get a head start on your spooky cards.  This one is called "Vampire Bat Eye" by artist Nora Blansett.  Bats are definitely part of the spooky fun of Halloween.

Why do so many people like to be scared?  Scary movies, Stephen King books, practical jokes, haunted houses, campfire stories?  I'm getting to the point where I won't even watch a new horror movie anymore.  Getting old?  Sure, but more than that, my imagination has grown in leaps and bounds and my imagination can take any movie or book far beyond where Hollywood and authors stop.

Here, in the safety of my craft room, I stamped my Vampire Bat Eyes images with colored ink, green, purple and orange ink be exact, and filled in with black Copic ink.  I added a bit of white gel ink and some Liquid Glass to each bat eye.  Then I used another set of the same stamps in the same colors to give them a 3D feel, adhering just the eyeball to the card base.

I used Halloween patterned paper from a DCWV paper stack that included the sentiment.  After that, it was just a matter of embellishing with black rub-on swirls, a few jewels and some inked edges.

So, have you started your Halloween cards yet?  When you do, be sure to check out the SHOPPE for the newest and cutest, the funkiest and furriest, the spookiest and sexiest Halloween rubber stamps this year!