7 Kids Crafts: Make Waves

Hello Everyone! I hope you're having a fantastic day.

Today I worked on a card featuring this pretty mermaid by Maria Medel who has done these stamps exclusively for 7 Kids Crafts Store. This set is called Making Waves. I colored her with Karin Brushmarker Pro and a little bit of Polychromos. The Slim Card Basics die is by Mama Elephant. There are also some fun slimline dies by Whimsy Stamps in the store.

When I think about Slim Line cards I always think about money envelopes so I think

they would be a fun way to give a cash or check as a gift. 

For fun monthly games, prizes and sales check out:

7 Kids Customers Create! Facebook page

Thank you for stopping by.

Katya Bess

7 Kids Crafts: Dreamerland Windy Days Together

Hello Crafty Friends!



I hope you're all having a wonderful day. I wanted to work with a combination of watercolors and color pencils. For this card I used a rubber stamp from Dreamerland Crafts called Windy Days Together. I wanted to show you a card with this stamp because Dreamerland Crafts and Washi Tape are both items included in the Vendor of the Month Sale over at 7 Kids Crafts just make sure to enter code: DREAM for 20% off discount.

I started with Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolors (first time using this one) on Canson Mixed Media 138 lbs paper. It's not very a heavy paper so I made sure not to over saturate it with water. After watercoloring and drying the image, I went in on certain areas with Polychromos just to outline certain areas and to give her a plaid look on her dress and hat. For the purple flowers on the bush

I used a Caran D'Ache Supracolor Watercolor pencil. The Dreamerland Crafts stamp did not come with a sentiment but I have another really cute set from The Greeting Farm called Hey Pretty Kitty and I use one from there. When I was all done I used a Picket Fence Studios - Life Changing Brush with Distress Oxide Vintage Photo to well make it look like a vintage photo. To give it a 

finished look I used a rectangle die from Our Daily Bread Designs. 

Winsor & Newton (Cotman) Watercolors:

Ultramarine, Chinese White, Alizarin Crimson Hue,

Viridian Hue, Yellow Ochre and Burn Umber

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Katya Bess

7 Kids Crafts: You're All Sorts of Wonderful

Hello and Happy Sunday Everyone!


I hope you area all having a wonderful day. First I like to mention that the Vendor of the Month over at 7KidsCrafts.com is Mama Elephant and Nuvo Drops (Does NOT include new arrivals.) To make sure you get the 20% discount make sure to enter the code: MAMA

For my card I used two sets of Mama Elephant sets, one is called Mama Elephant: Big News and the other one is called Mama Elephant: Stackable Cuties.

I first colored the little unicorn with Copic markers on the Catherine Pooler - Premium White Cardstock.  I drew a rainbow and sky for the background with watercolor pencils from Caran D'Ache which are so pretty especially when you add the water on top. I feel that I can control the color a little more with watercolor pencils.  I had drawn some clouds and I did not like how they came out but remembered that I had some small cloud dies from Stamp AnnieThing so I used those
and distressed them a little on the edges.

I'm a little uncomfortable making CAS cards but I think this one came out alright... just the planning took me a little longer than I had hoped for.

Mama Elephant

Mama Elephant: Big News and Mama Elephant: Stackable Cuties

 I dimmed the lights so you can see

the shimmer on the wings and on the unicorn

and I even added a few little sparkling stars

around the unicorn and sky

Here is how the colors look with the light. 

 I added a little bit of embossing powder to the 

sentiment just to give it a little sparkle.

Here is how I started, lightly colored 

then added water in a controlled fashion 

with a small watercolor brush. 

Copic markers:

RV000, Y00, G00, BG10, BV0000, C3 and C1

Caran D'Ache Supracolor II Soft:

080, 060, 010, 210, 140, 120, 110, 005 and 171

Don't forget today is the last day if

you want to get the Sweet November MERMAY Bundle

of course you can buy them individually and I believe

they are here until Friday 5/24

Mermay Vault Release bundle

Shimmer Redkelp and Otto

Bubbles Lostlagoon and Palu

Tidepool and Seamoor

Thank you for so much for visiting.

Katya Bess

7 Kids Crafts: Mermaid Kisses in watercolor

Hello Everyone!

For today's card I decided to work with watercolors. Some of my favorite watercolors to work with are Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus - I love to use these because they come in these small glass bottles with droppers and they are already liquified.

The Greeting Farm Stamps at 7 Kids Crafts

I tried to keep a small color palette to tie everything together. 

Dr. Ph. Matin's Hydrus colors used are:

Phthalo Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, Quinacridone, Phthalo Green and Venetian Brown

Normally I set my water color to the side and work on something else

but this time I had my heat gun ready so I can lay down the next color/s. 

I wanted to created like a mermaid lagoon and a waterfall in the background.

To define their cute faces, I went to trace over the faint stamped lines with a color

that matched or was somewhat darker than the watercolor paint. 

I hope you liked my watercolored card using these cute little mermaids.

Also, don't forget that there are 3 total Sweet November 

"Vault Images" this month but only until 3/22:

Sweet November: Baby Bunny
Sweet November: Baby Bunny Butterfly
Sweet November: Baby Bunny Egg

and if you join the 

7 KIDS Customers Create! Facebook Page

you can find a 4th Baby Bunny for free!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Katya Bess

7 Kids Crafts: My heart belongs to only you

Hello Everyone! 

Today I was featured in the 7kidscrafts.com Newsletter for the Walk-Thru Wednesday. To be able to get these Walk-Thru-Wednesday tips and step-by-step tutorials from the 7kidscrafts.com Design Team, all you have to do is join the mailing list. 

This month there is a special flower section that is featured as Vendor of the Month sale and when you use code FLOWERS those items will be 20% off. For this Walk-Thru-Wednesday I decided to paint with Distress Oxides and Distress Inks in a Watercolor fashion. I used a stamp set that is actually on clearance and it’s called Witt & Sass - You Are Beautiful. This set has somewhat small stamps but that is okay because I plan on filling the card layer with lots of color. 

Witt & Sass - You Are Beautiful.

Materials:

Watercolor paper, Archival ink Shadow Grey, small watercolor brush,

heatgun, plastic sheet or glass mat for mixing colors,

anti-static pad, white fine embossing powder,

Water sprayer, Distress Oxide: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry,

Distress Ink: Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed.

Polychromos Pencils: Middle Purple Pink, Blue Violet, 

Dark Naples Ochre and Chrome Oxide Green

I hope you liked this card. 

Also, to catch some live tutorials, games, 

giveaways, special offers and 

a whole lot more fun check out the

7 Kids Customers Create Facebook page

Thank you for stopping by,

Katya Bess

7 Kids Crafts: You are Brave & Beautiful

Hello Everyone, I hope you are having a lovely day.

This month at https://www.7kidscrafts.com/ the Vendor of the Month special are flowers. Everything in the specific flower category is on sale 20% off, just remember to use the code: FLOWERS

For my card I used Witt & Sass Stamp Company - You are Beautiful  clear stamp set. I used watercolors for the background, oil color pencils, watercolor pencils and distress oxide. I had fun creating this mini multimedia project.

When I first saw this stamp set I was immediately reminded of a photograph I had seen of Frida Kahlo.

Witt & Sass Stamp Company - You are Beautiful 

I tried to emulate some of the colors on the background

as well as the intricate flower headdress she's known to wear

throughout her adult life.

I think next time I work on a card using this stamp set I will definitely use

different colors but I will also use an inspirational quote from Frida Kahlo.

(photograph of Frida Kahlo, not mine)

"I paint flowers so they will not die." 
-Frida Kahlo

Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Watercolor ink:
Phthalo Green and Hansa Yellow Light 

Polychromos:

Fuchsia, Dark Flesh, Dark Cadmium Orange and White

Caran D'Ache Supracolor II soft Watersoluble pencils
(I love using these... I need to play with them more)
Color: 010

Distress Oxide:
Black Soot


This was a pretty simple card image but I like the results and who I was inspired by.

Thank you so much for visiting. 
For more inspiration check out the super talented Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/7kidscreate/
We have fun games, chances to win digital stamps
and amazing coloring tutorials by Amy Young.

Thank you,

Katya Bess

KKS: Do you love me now?

Hi Everyone!

I worked on an image for the 30 Day Coloring challenge. I haven't colored every single day but I have colored more that I usually do which made me quite happy. For this one I did challenge myself to use my Dr PH Martin's Hydrus watercolors. My watercolors have been in the box for a really long time.  I opened it months ago but didn't actually use them. Watercolors are more challenging to me because I don't have much control with them, I need better paper and of course I need lots and lots of practice. This time I colored two stamped images using the same colors but two different days with the same pallet- that's one thing I like I can just re-wet the pallet and boom! I reactivate the pigments.
Another thing I did this time is I blindly grabbed one of the rubber stamps I have in a section drawer just for Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps one section is all Clear stamps and one section is all Rubber Stamps. Most of I still haven't colored (sad to say) but I grabbed a random rubber stamp and it just so happens to be Drucilla. This stamp is kind of fun and sort of spooky to me. LOL I stamped it with StazOn (solvent ink pad) called Saddle Brown. This type of ink is perfect for watercoloring and I chose the color because I was trying to do an almost no-line color effect but it was darker than I wanted. I will have to find a lighter color but this time the color worked well with the colors I chose.

I couldn't find a sentiment that I wanted in my stash nor I could find something online 

and I didn't want it to be mean in any kind of way... so I created the sentiment myself on the computer. It was pretty simple as long as my program didn't crash on me. This usually

happens when my Mac needs to install new updates. LOL 

Drucilla - Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp (retired gray rubber stamp)

As soon as I grabbed this stamp I thought about a Crafty Friend on the other 

side of the country that loves spooky and twisted books, movies and tv shows.

She also doesn't like Valentine's Day haha she's 

Anti-Valentine haha which is funny cause I love Valentine's Day.

Here is a close-up of the image. 

Very carefully I added Glossy Accents to the heads of the pins

to give them dimension and shine.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I tried to keep a 

minimum palette and it was actually the leftover 

paints from stamped image (same stamp actually) I colored the day before.

The Dr. PH. Martin's Hydrus Watercolors I used are:

10H Venitian Brown, 2H Gamboge, 6H Pthalo Green,

5H Quinacridone Magenta, and 11H Carbon Black

After a bunch of mixing here and there from a day old watercolors...

this is how it looked without added shading with Prismacolor Pencils

plus the lighting is a little weird.

As you can see I only needed a tiny bit of watercolor paint

because the colors are super intense- very little goes a heck of a long way.

When the image was dry I went over certain sections with 

Prismacolor Pencils just to give the coloring some accent and definition, 

for example shading around the face, the hair, dress and the voodoo doll.

The hardest part was trying to find paper that sort of matched the colored image.

Good thing I didn't use too many colors this time. heehee

The dies are from Craftin' Desert Divas, CC Design,

The Greeting Farm and My Creative Time.

I hope you like my card

with slight twisted humor.

Thank you for stopping by,

Katya Bess

Slinky Tart DT: Valentina has gotcha!

Hey Everyone!

Posting my very first blog for the brand spanking new Slinky Tart. This digi brand was created by Tamara van Wijk, she is the owner of the former The Stamping Chef but unfortunately had to close that shop... she now is only doing Smexy art and Pin-Up style but I love it! If you have any questions regarding the new shop http://slinkytart.com/Store/  even for the old store TSC, please don't hesitate to contact Tamara @ info@slinkytart.com.

Now to show you my creation with Valentina, just click on the link and you'll find her there if you want to buy her. If you love these Smexy/Pin-Up Styled digis then you would love to join in at https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlinkyTart/ there are sometimes prizes, get info from store, even inspiration from everyone else who loves Slinky Tart and sometimes who knows... a discount code.

 I loved coloring Valentina with my Copic markers.

The clouds I created with my Caran D'ache Supracolor II Soft water color pencils

then of course brushed a little water over the drawing for soft puffy clouds.

The Gotcha, arrow and small heart cuts were from the Silhouette store.

The awesome red and blue Bazzill Basic Paper were gifted in a big stack from

my one of my Crafty BFF's BreAnn. :) Thank you so much. 

The super sexy image was provided by Tamara. Thank you very much as well.  

Here is a close up of the face.

I hope you love this image and style, they're so fun to work with.

I leave you with the link to the store and the Facebook page

http://slinkytart.com/Store/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlinkyTart/

Thank you for visiting. 

Katya Bess

I will be entering this card at:

http://memascrafts.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-2015-challenge.html

Anything Goes

Mermaid in a Jar

Hello Everyone!

Hope all is well. Just got my internet back about an hour or so ago LOL.

I created this card with an image ( Mermaid in a Jar ) from A DAY FOR DAISIES http://adayfordaisies.com/ which is a new sponsor for us at Jackson's Digital Expressions. 

My take on "Mermaid in a Jar"

I found the quote online: "Empty your jar of WISHES and FlLL your jar of HOPES." 

I use a tiny tag die from Emma's My Creative Time
I followed this week's Color Inspiration over at JDE

poped up in the middle and glued the sides down so it looks rounded instead of flat.

I used a card sketch from Card Positioning Systems http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/2012/07/cps-273-part-1.html

 I used pearlscent acrylic paint. The entire image is actually very shimmery like

using glimmer mist but I couldn't capture that on camera. 

I printed out my digi image on watercolor 120 lb paper and heat set the image. I only heat set

for a few second and didn't find ink smearing. The only issue was with the little fish but that's because I added a lot of water to paint the "water" lol but the 

thick paint covered the fishies pretty well; the thicker paint actually gave them a 3D effect. 

 I outlined the entire image with my Sakura pens when it was dry since the pearl paints sort of

covered the "black ink"

These are the materials I used. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit. Make sure to check out JDE weekly for chances some fabulous winning digis.

Crafty Hugs,

Katya Bess