Monthly Challenge 1 – All in the Family

Happy Friday Everyone!!

I’d like to introduce you to my very first Monthly Challenge. Each month I will challenge you to make something based on the criteria I provide. When you finish the challenge, I would love for you to share your creation with others.

If you have a Facebook account, share your image on my wall.

If you have a Pinterest account, follow me on Pinterest.

Then let me know in the comments below that you’ve pinned your creation to your own board. I’ll repin it to my account on the appropriate monthly challenge board. Just put ArtsyCraftyKaty Monthly Challenge (whatever the number is) in your description. Here’s the link to this month’s board.

Little tip: If you’re posting an image online, it’s always a good idea to add your own identifying watermark on the image. This way no one can claim it’s his or her own creation. To learn more about watermarks and how to add them click here.

Ok, on to this month’s Challenge!

Like the title implies we’re keeping it in the family, a color family!

I’d like you to make a Mother’s Day card using one color family. For example, you could use papers that have varying shades of reds.

To help you understand what I mean by color families, I think this link to Sherwin-Williams provides a good visual representation.

I also created an inspiration board on my Pinterest account that you can check out here.

Some people think that limitations are just that, a limit on your creativity. I disagree. I think it challenges you to this outside the box and stretch your creative muscles.

Feel free to incorporate this month’s Technique Spotlight too!

You have until Sunday, May 12 (Mother’s Day) to share your creations.

Have fun everyone and happy crafting!

Technique Spotlight – Heat Embossing

I’m very excited to introduce our very first Technique Spotlight!

Heat Embossing!

I personally love heat embossing. I think it gives a more polished look to projects if that’s the look you’re going for. It’s so versatile too! You can stamp in color and use clear embossing powder.  You can stamp with a clear, sticky ink.  like Versamark as an example, and then use a pigmented embossing powder. I’ve found if a stamp I’m working with is giving me trouble when I try to emboss over it and I have gaps in the embossing, if I first stamp in a color and use the same color embossing powder on top,  it can hide imperfections. If I want a subtle look, I stamp with the clear, sticky ink to give a watermark effect, and then use clear embossing powder over it.

See! So many options

I found the following tutorial for heat embossing on YouTube by CraftALotAustralia. It has over 125,000 views! CraftALotAustralia doesn’t appear to be posting videos anymore but this tut clearly explains the steps and is easy to follow.

 

Here’s a list of products you’ll need on top of the basics (basics being paper, stamps and standard ink pads.) I’ll provide you options for products you can order through Stampin’ Up, other online retailers or that you may find at local hobby stores where links are available.

Disclaimer: I am not a Stampin’ Up representative although I was one in the past. I am not being paid by any manufacturers of the products I mention. I cannot vouch for the quality of the products I mention. I am simply providing you options. You in turn can then do research and come to your own informed decisions and opinions. However, please feel free to share opinions in the comments that may help other readers.

Heat Embossing Gun

Through Stampin Up

On Google Shopping

Clear, Embossing Inkpad

On Google Shopping

Versamark through Stampin’ Up

Versamark on Google Shopping

Embossing Powder

Through Stampin’ Up

On Google Shopping

Have fun experimenting with this technique. If you have questions, leave them in the comments section. I encourage everyone to feel free to help each other out through the comments section. Remember we’re all here to learn and have fun.

Happy Crafting!

More Inspiration and Exciting News!

Happy Hump Day!

It’s Wednesday and I wanted to give you all a little taste of things to come and get you excited for the weekend. (As if you needed a reason to be excited.) I’m going to be starting some fun new concepts here on Artsy Crafty Katy that I hope you’ll enjoy!

To kick things off, I’m going to continue with the theme I started in my last post – Mother’s Day. We’ll run with this theme for a few weeks and then we’ll change it up. As part of the monthly theme I’ll be doing two features. The first is the Technique Spotlight where I’ll provide you information on a technique that I think is fun and will be something you can incorporate into your projects right away. The second will be a Monthly Challenge. I’ll provide you certain criteria that you’ll use to create a project. I’d love for you all to share your monthly challenges with me on Pinterest too! I’ll explain this further when I introduce the challenge for this month.

Ok, enough chatter! It’s time to share some inspiring ideas by some very talented crafters. Let me know if you can figure out what the common thread is that ties all these great examples together.  This commonality is going to be the feature of our first Technique Spotlight!

This design is so sweet. I think the water color effect behind the flowers is perfect for a Mother’s Day card.

http://inkitupwithjessica.com/category/techniques/

I love the use of mixed media on this card. There are pearls, paper, brads, flowers and hearts. Stunning!

http://lynn-mccorry-2.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-mothers-day-cards.html
This next inspiration uses several different textures and layers to create lots of visual interest.

http://www.snail-loves.com/1/category/mother/1.html

This might be my favorite out this batch. You’ll notice that it uses the same flower stamp from the first example, but that’s not the common thread. I think it’s the mix of textures and angles broken up with the single flower that grabbed my attention.

http://stampwithbrian.com/2013/03/10/happy-mothers-day-pp136-color-challenge/

If you’re an advanced papercrafter or feeling ambitious, this one is for you! Three dimensional cards are so much fun!

http://blog.paper-source.com/how-to/how-to-mothers-day-pop-up-card/

And this last card should give you the biggest hint about what our Technique Spotlight will be about.

http://www.susiewittwer.com/2011/10/guest-designer-at-lily-pad-cards.html

I’ll give you a couple of days to look over these beautiful inspirations and get your own wheels turning. Stay tuned because this weekend I’ll introduce our very first Technique Spotlight! I’m so excited!

Happy Crafting!