Colorful Gems

Hi everyone!

Kassi here today to share a colorful little gem with you...

Ever since I was a kid, I loved diamonds... Not because of their value (I couldn't tell a real one from a glass one), but simply because they are sparkly and pretty. It made me feel sophisticated to have jewels in my necklace... Well as sophisticated as a 8 year old can feel....

As I got older, I learned that sparkly jewels come in ALL colors of the rainbow! 

Supplies:

Paper: Strathmore Bristol Smooth; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Yupo

Stamps: InkOn3 Bad & Boujee

Ink: InkOn3 Juicy Clear Embossing, Blackout

Coloring: Zig Clean Color Real Brush, Arteza Real Brush, Copic Various Ink

Red- 037, 080, 038, 030, 044

Pink- A192, A129, A187, A190, A183, A151

Orange- A128, A135, A112, A140

Yellow- 050, 051, 061, 023, 036

Light Green- A159, A111, A152, A151

Dark Green- A185, A132, A147, A159

Light Blue- 031, 032, 086, 045

Dark Blue- 037, 080, 038, 030, 044

Purple- A109, A125, A186, A165, A136, A162

Background- YR23, BG15, V05, YG05, RV14, V04, B01

Dies: InkOn3 Bad & Boujee

Other: InkOn3 Arctic White embossing powder; Minc silver foil
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Ready to make a colorful gem card with me? Let's get started! 

Step 1: Stamp a bunch of jewels using Juicy Clear Embossing ink, then heat emboss using Arctic White embossing powder. I ended up using 9 gems for my card, but I embossed a few extra just to be on the safe side. 

Step 2: Add color! I love the fire scintillation in gems (the flashes of different colors you see when light hits it), so I tried to incorporate more than one color into each gem...

(no, I'm no diamond expert... I had to look up the technical term for the pretty rainbow sparkles... LOL!)

Step 3: When you gems are finished, use the coordinating die to cut them out.

Step 4: On Yupo paper, create an alcohol ink background using your favorite techniques and inks.. Make your piece big enough to cover your card front plus die cut our sentiment...

For mine, I created a basic alcohol ink background using Copic Various ink (the marker refills). While the ink was still a bit tacky, I pressed some Minc Foil onto it, and let it dry, then removed the foil sheet.. this leaves veins of silver wherever the alcohol ink was tacky..

Step 5: Die cut the word 'Boujee' from the colored Yupo. To help make the word pop from the background, run the edge of a black alcohol marker along the edge.. this will give it a very subtle black outline.

Step 6: Trim the remaining yupo background to about 1/4 inch smaller than your card base.

Step 7: Adhere the yupo background to your card base. Stamp "You're so" using Blackout ink and carefully heat set (don't overheat your yupo, or it will warp). Adhere 'Boujee' to the card base. 

Step 8: Adhere your gems using foam tape.

This card is so bright and colorful! Having the gems popped up gives it great dimension, and the veins of silver really pull it together! 

I'm still partial to diamonds, but it is so fun looking at all the different colors and learning about the different types of gems! 

What is your favorite gem stone?

See you soon!
~Kassi

My Little Catfish - Smaller Image use by Guest Lynnea Hollendonner

Hi there! Jeannie here again, popping in to share another amazing card by Lynnea Hollendonner. Please check out her instagram or blog and say hello! 

Hey, everyone! I'm back with my second guest design post for InkOn3! I'm using the smaller images from the My Little Catfish stamp set to stamp up a background and create a cute shaker card!

I used my MISTI to line up both the large and small seahorses, the two shells, and the tiny little catfish. I stamped them repeatedly across my card using InkOn3 Blackout Hybrid Detail Ink. I colored them in with my dye inks and my Dove Blender pen by simply picking up color with my blender pen and coloring the images - starting with the areas of darkest color first and blending out to the lighter areas. I kept my colors "traditional" nautical and on the masculine side. I get requests for masculine cards all the time and honestly - they're my nemesis! Once all my images were colored I added some Liquid Pixie Dust to each image - it's difficult to see from behind the shaker, but in real life it's pretty awesome! I find it's easiest to use Liquid Pixie Dust when I add it to a Small Fine Tip Water Brush Pen and just brush it over my images. I build my sentiment from the My Little Catfish stamp set and stamped it below my colored images with InkOn3 Blackout Hybrid Detail Ink.

I created my shaker by die cutting a scalloped frame and ink blended some navy ink onto it to keep with my nautical theme. I added acetate, a bunch of gems and sequins, and two layers of foam tape and added it onto my card.

I am so honored to have guest designed for InkOn3 this month! They are amazing people and an amazing company with seriously fabulous products! I hope I've inspired you with these projects! See you soon!

Pansy Shadowbox Card

Hello everyone! Kassi here!

If you have been following me over on Instagram, you may have noticed that I've been doing a lot of no-line watercolor painting lately...

I've really enjoyed painting Pansies. Pansies come in SO many different varieties, which makes them fun to color! And let's face it, this stamp set is BEAUTIFUL!

Do you to create with pansies too?  

Let me walk you through this elegant pansy shadowbox card... 

Supplies

Paper: Strathmore Bristol Smooth; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; DCWV Metallics

Stamps: InkOn3 Pansies

Ink: InkOn3 Fadeout, Juicy Clear Embossing

Coloring: Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers

Blue/yellow- 302, 030, 038, 083, 051, 061, 050, 010

Pink- 230, 028, 082, 051, 052, 050

Peach- 071, 051, 028, 230

Light Purple bud- 030, 302, 083, 080

Dark Purple bud- 030, 038, 082, 080

Green- 046, 043

Dies: La-La Land Crafts Nested Frames Large

Other: InkOn3 Chrome Embossing Powder

Now you have your supplies, let's jump in!

 Step 1: Stamp you pansies on cardstock using Fadeout Ink. Use whichever paper you prefer for the coloring medium you want to use. I knew I would be using Zig Clean Color markers, so I stamped on Bristol Smooth cardstock. I didn't know exactly which pansies I would end up using, so I just stamped them all!

Tip: I suggest using a MISTI for this.. Fadeout ink is a very light ink.. with some images (and depending on how good your eyes are), you may find that double, or even triple stamping is needed to make sure you can see all the lines clearly enough.. I like having that option even if I don't end up needing to double stamp for a darker line. 

Step 2: Color away! 

I used this as a time to experiment.. If you do a quick image search for 'pansies', you'll find they come in SO MANY different colors and patterns! I chose some reference photos that I liked, and tried to recreate with my painting.

Step 3: When you have finished coloring, cut them out... You can fussy cut like I did, or use the coordinating dies 

Step 4: Cut 2 cardstock panels to fit your card size (I'm using A2). Using a set of nesting dies (must have at least 3 nested dies), die cut the smallest from the center of one panel, and the middle size from the center of the other panel.

Step 5: Use the largest die and the middle die to create a frame from metallic cardstock.

Step 6: Stamp your sentiment on your card base using Juicy Clear Embossing ink, and emboss with Chrome embossing powder. Use the panel with the smallest window as your placement guide.

Step 7: Adhere your small window panel to the card base using foam tape. Adhere the metallic frame to the larger window panel, then adhere that panel on top of the smaller one using foam tape. 

Step 8: Adhere the bunch of pansies across the bottom of your frame using foam tape. If the flowers overhang different layers (like mine do), you'll need to add 2-3 layers of foam tape in places to ensure it is supported and won't get crushed in the mail. 

Step 9:  Finish it off by tucking extra buds and leaves in the lower frame areas to help fill it out and make it look like the flowers are growing through all the layers of the card.

I don't know about you, but I think I'm addicted... If you need me I'll be in my studio paining pansies....

LOL!

See you soon!
Kassi

My Little Catfish with Guest Designer Lynnea

Hi all! It's Jeannie again and I'm here to introduce one of our amazing guest designers today! Lynnea joined us for the Gina K & Inkon3 Collab blog hop and her cards were so awesome. If you haven't seen her work, you should definitely check her out on Instagram and YouTube. P.S. She also has a video of this card for you if you're a more visual person. Here is her card and the details!

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Hello everyone! I just can't believe that I'm a guest designer for InkOn3 this month! I am so honored and excited! This is my first project, but I'll have another later this month! Yay!

The My Little Catfish stamp set from InkOn3 is too adorable for words! The largest catfish image has three separate faces so you can give your catfish different expressions! What a FABULOUS idea! I created two cards with one basic layout and idea.

I used a pale pink ink to stamp the tiny and medium catfish images from the My Little Catfish stamp set all over my background. I stamped the large catfish image and her little face with the FABULOUS Blackout Hybrid Detail Ink. This ink is SO amazing! It's so dark and crisp and dries instantly! I colored her in with alcohol markers.

I cut out a scallop oval frame and added some light inking to make the frame pop, stamped a coordinating sentiment with the Blackout Hybrid Detail Ink, and finished off the card by adding some Liquid Pixie Dust over the catfish and oval die cuts. I'm so OBSESSED with Liquid Pixie Dust! So shimmery! And I added it into a Small Fine Tip Waterbrush Pen to make it super easy to add to my project!

I wasn't sure how I would like the soft pink stamped background, so I created a second background with a slightly darker pink ink. Even though I liked the first background I decided to create a second card since I had the supplies on my desk!

You can really see the Liquid Pixie Dust in action in the above photo! Here's my process video for these cards! Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/H-kcCBjtCes

Hello from Guest Designer Vicki

Hi everyone! Today, I'm sharing with you guest designer Vicki Finger's blog post and card. Her card is so simple and elegant! Don't you just love it! If you love her work, please head over and follow her on her blog and instagram. 

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Hello there! Today I have a guest post for Ink On 3! I recently participated as a guest for Ink On 3 & Gina K Designs Collaboration Blog Hop. They asked if I would also do another Guest post for them later in the month, so here it is.

Some of you might know or remember that I love "The Legend of the Dogwood". I particularly love Pink Dogwoods and they are fairly plentiful in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. We loved seeing all of them during our Southeast Swing Vacation in April and May of 2015.  If you are not familiar with the story, I'll share it with you here. The Pink Dogwood is a photo I took in Richmond, Virginia while on that 2015 trip. We were visiting one of my oldest and dearest friends and her husband there.

The Legend of the Dogwood

"At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross.  To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said, "Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.

"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember."

Jesus was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. Three days later, he rose from the dead. At the same time, the dogwoods in the forest burst into bloom, and they continue to do so right around Easter in what is believed to be a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.

While the dogwood tree never again took part in an execution, it’s still said to carry the marks of Jesus’ crucifixion. Its four large petals represent the cross he died upon, and each petal displays four red-tinged notches that are said to represent four nail holes. And in the center of each flower is a green cluster that is symbolic of Jesus’ crown of thorns.

Alas, the legend of the dogwood most likely originated in the United States in the 20th century. They are not native to the Middle East, nor would they have been found growing there in Jesus’ time. Nevertheless, the legend persists, and many Christians revere the beloved dogwood as it continues to remind them of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for mankind.

I used the Ink On 3 Dogwood Flower Stamps and Coordinating Dies to create today's card.  I didn't exactly get the effect I was going for, but I am just getting a little practice in with my 36 Pan Watercolor Set from Altenew. 

I started by Stamping the floral images in embossing ink and heat embossed them with Antique Gold Embossing Powder on Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I spent quite a bit of time watercoloring the images as I'm still not very good at that. I am improving with practice, so don't give up and keep practicing if you aren't getting the results you want! 

I used some of the Liquid Pixie Dust with a water brush to go over the blooms to enhance some of the lighter areas.  I'm not sure this was successful, but I like how it turned out anyway. Once that was done I set it aside to dry while I worked on my background panel, also Bristol Smooth.  I did some very loose watercolor in Pink Diamond toward the center of the panel. Once that was dry, I went around the outer portion of the panel with a very diluted solution of Evergreen watercolor.  I used my Altenew 36 Pan Set of Watercolors.

While that was drying, I die cut the two floral clusters and die cut my greeting from Gold Foiled Cardstock. Switching back to my background panel and added Gold Spatter with my Finetec Gold Mica Watercolors.  Since each watercolored item has to completely dry between layers, I go back and forth with each part of my card that was watercolored. Finally, once everything was dry, I die cut a gold foiled panel for the outer background and die cut the watercolored inner panel slightly smaller than the gold foiled background.  Then I assembled my card onto a top folding horizontal card base.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I appreciate you spending time with me today!