Concord & 9th Aloha Fill-In Patterned Paper

Hello everyone!  I am here today to feature a new product from Concord & 9th called the Aloha Fill-In Patterned Paper.  This is a rather unique product in the stamping market although Concord & 9th previously released this style of a product one other time.  It was a Fill-In Floral Paper and is used the same way as this set. The dual sided paper comes with two stencils and all you need to do is line them up with the blank openings on the paper and color them in with your preferred method of inking something up.  For the card I created here, I used a Stencil Brush but you could also use a Mini Ink Blending Tool from Ranger.  The papers come in the grey scale patterns plus a little or a lot of green,  and you can add whatever color you like. Because these particular greys are neutral, you can use any color you want.  You also have a choice of using just one of the stencils or both depending on how much detail you wish to have on you blooms.  These papers are so nice and with a design on each side, you can use them with or without the stencils which is a nice option.   I really love the grey stripes and the big bold leaf pattern on the backs of two of these papers.



I used both stencils on my card.  The first layer was done using Hawaiian Shores and the second layer was done using Enchanted Evening which gives the detail to the outer edges of the petals.



I love the pop of black so I wanted to use a black card base.  Anytime I do this, I also cut a white stitched rectangle for the inside.  I used the Aloha Friend Stamp Set to add the greeting using Versafine Onyx Black Ink (With my MISTI so I could double stamp) and finished it off with a few Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black (Gloss).  Be sure to check out all of the Concord & 9th Products in the Kraftgali Store!  Thanks for stopping by today.

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Heartfelt Creations - Classic Wedding Card Kit

Hannah, here! Today I come to you with three cards made from the Classic Wedding Card Kit from Heartfelt Creations!

I was asked, by Princy, to create the 3 cards that this kit makes. I was immediately excited and nervous. I was excited because of the flowers! This was an opportunity to learn something new! I was nervous because these cards intimidated the heck out of me! I was nervous that they would be complicated and require skills that maybe I didn't have.

When I opened the package I was delighted by how it was prepared. There were three enclosed clear envelopes, each one contained the bulk of what its specific card would make. Additionally, there were extra papers supplied, as well as glitter and such. The only things I needed to supply were ink, adhesive, tools, patience, and love!



It turns out that the first card I created was also the most complicated. The "Congratulations" card contained more design elements to deal with than the following two, but it was surprisingly easy! I discovered while working on this card that there was quite a bit of room for my own artistic influence. For example, the instructions suggest using ink to color the rose wreath. Instead, I chose to color it with Prismacolor pencils. This was a step that wasn't completely necessary as much of the wreath was hidden by other design elements, but it was delightfully fun to complete. In the end, I was happier with the colored pencil elements than I was with similar elements which I had colored with ink and my ink dauber.

I also discovered that I could find inks in a collection that matched similarly with the paper provided. Heartfelt Creations DOES make ink suggestions, however, I did not have the colors in stock. Fortunately, I had purchased the Altenew ink collection from Kraftgali, I found the best ink choices there! I also found similarly matching colors with the 72 Prismacolor pencil set. Fortunately, for you, I made a chart of the colors I used!

[caption id="attachment_442" align="alignnone" width="1364"] Please excuse my chicken-scratch writing![/caption]

For the following two cards, "Happy Anniversary" and " Bride and Groom" flew by! They were so completely easy to put together. I found the instructions were incredibly easy to follow!

"Congratulations"




"Happy Anniversary"


"Bride and Groom"


The flowers were so incredibly fun to make, I even accidentally tore a petal off and was able to glue it back on with Ranger Multi Medium Matte and no one will ever notice! I actually don't even remember which flower it happened too. I did buy the 5 piece tool set that Heartfelt Creations sells. If you do a bit of work in the craft store, you might find substitute tools that would be quite sufficient, preventing some amount of extra expense, however, I wanted the quick and easy fix. There are multiple YouTube videos, showing you how to mold the flowers, which I found incredibly easy to follow. I am so smitten with these that I went ahead and bought a flower stamp and die set for a future card that I intend to do soon. I am IN LOVE with these flowers! Heartfelt Creations will be visiting my local scrapbooking expo and I will FOR SURE be attending one of their classes!

I have to express a HUGE thank you to Princy, of Kraftgali, for requesting me to make this kit. I learned so much and I had such a brilliant amount of fun!

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Concord & 9th - Many Mandalas

It's Tuesday so that means I am up on the Kraftgali Blog today! I'm featuring the Many Mandalas Stamp Set from Concord & 9th and I also used the coordinating dies. The newest Concord & 9th Release is also available in the Kraftgali Store.

My husband and I have a very special wedding coming up next month for our niece, so I've been playing with lots of ideas for their wedding card to go with their gift. This card is a distinct possibility with its shimmery mandalas although I would create one using her wedding colors.

To begin with I stamped each of the Mandalas onto Heavy White Cardstock in Versamark and heat embossed with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I used my MISTI tool for this so that if I missed any parts of the mandala I could stamp it again in the same position. Next I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool (with Clean Foam) to apply Brilliance Pearlescent Pigment Ink in Jade and Purple to the mandalas. Since I didn't want there to be a white edge, when I die cut them, I went past the outline for each of these and then die cut them with the coordinating dies.  You could also die cut the shapes first and then stamp. Either way is okay so do whichever you are comfortable with.  I didn't want to mess with using the negative as a place holder since I was only making one card but if you wanted to create multiple cards, you sure could.

After I had them ink blended, I misted them all over with Iridescent Gold Shimmer Mist and let them dry.  I die cut a Stitched Rectangle from the MFT Blueprints 15 Die and misted that with the same shimmer spritz. I adhered the panel to an A2 top folding white card base.  After giving the mandalas a few minutes to dry I die cut them and then adhered them in order using Thin 3D Foam Squares for the first three layers and then a circle of fun foam for the bottom layer to give it a little bit of space between the card base and the layer.

It's hard to get tape runner to stick to the fun foam so I cut two pieces of 1-inch wide Scor-Tape to adhere the foam to the bottom of the largest mandala and then again to the fun foam so I could place it on my card base. Using Thin 3D Foam Squares allows for that bit of dimension without adding too much bulk to the card. It's not as big a concern since we'll be delivering the card and gift in person but if you are planning to mail a card you want to be sure and put extra postage on it or just use glue to adhere all the layers of the mandalas.



I cut two of the banners, one in the same white cardstock and one from gold foiled cardstock.  For the final touch of sparkle on this wedding card, I added a few Swarovski Crystals to the front of the card in two different sizes using Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I've sent several cards with pearls or gems on them through the mail. My Sister-In-Law, Brenda, tells me that although the "postman" (or his automated machines in this case) tries to steal them, they come still attached. Padded Mailers work great for something like this if you need to mail it.  I buy a few packs each time I'm in my local Dollar Tree Store.

Be sure to stop back in on Friday when Hannah is here with a new project for you and don't forget to look around the store as new inventory is being added all the time.

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Paper Smooches Cross Stitch Die

Greetings, Friends! I am Hannah Rubenstahl from Fanciful Spaces and it is my pleasure to be on the Design Team for Kraftgali. Having once owned a small business I do my best to try and support such businesses whenever possible, and being on Kraftgali's design team is an amazing opportunity to support such a business! Princy, who owns Kraftgali is simply amazing and I LOVE being on her team!

Princy and I were very excited to have me work on the Cross Stitch die from Paper Smooches. I had been wanting to incorporate a cross stitch element in some of my cards for several months now. Until recently I was unaware of a die that would help make this easy, I had intended to utilize my paper piercing tool. The magnitude of that project is one reason why I hadn't tried to do so yet. This die from Paper Smooches made this project incredibly easy!



If you had a childhood even remotely like mine, you have many memories of an Aunt or Grandma teaching you how to cross stitch. Hours of my life were spent on one project or another, however, I don't recall ever finishing any of my works. The nostalgia I felt while working on this project was palpable. Memories of the time I spent with these women filled every moment I worked on this project. I wanted to create a card that could be used for an anniversary celebration, maybe something I would give to an Aunt who taught me how to stitch, that was my goal in making this card.

To create this card I used Gina K black cardstock, for all layers. I also used both silver and gold embroidery thread, as well as black embroidery thread. Thanks to some tests on the die I knew that I needed to shim my project as I ran it through my die cutting machine. A piece of 80lb cardstock under the black cardstock did the trick. A Tool 'n One by Spellbinders might have made this project go faster, however, I was able to pop out all of the holes with my paper piercer. Next, I flipped my paper around and sanded the back with a medium grit sand paper. This smoothed the back down, allowing for my stitches to look smoother on the front side.

If you are unaccustomed to cross stitching one of the tips you need to know, in order to create a more flawless final piece, is to have all of your stitches angle the same way. For example, you can see below, all of my lower stitches go from the bottom left to the upper right, all of my top stitches go from the bottom right to the upper left.



When my pattern was complete I mounted it onto more Gina K black cardstock using Ranger's Multi-Matte Medium. This layer was mounted onto black fun foam and then mounted onto my card base which was, again, Gina K black cardstock. To adhere the fun foam to both sides of paper I used Scor-Tape, however, the double sided tape found in Kraftgali's shop would also probably work!

To finish off the card I ran my gold Uni-Ball pen along the edges of the top two layers, skipping the card base layer. I feel as if this was the much-needed finish the card needed. You can see how it originally looked below.



If you are wondering where I got my pattern from, I searched "love" patterns for cross stitching, beadwork, and Perler bead projects. In the end, I found something that could be doubled in size to fit the template using a pattern I found in my Perler Bead search.

I do want to note one final step. Once the stitching was complete there wasn't enough contrast between the silver and gold. The letters were almost indistinguishable from each other. However, I saved my project by using some yellow and orange Copic markers over the gold lettering.

I have SO MANY ideas for this die set. In the future, I hope to showcase several more projects using it on my personal blog. There are many patterns I wish to make! I can't express how flexible this die is!


If you want something that will provide a similar look, but take less time, I suggest the other stitch die by Paper Smooches, which Kraftgali also carries!




It was such a joy to work on this card, it brought back so many memories! I hope I have entertained and inspired you, if you make a card using this die please share!

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Altenew's Enchanted Iris

Hello everyone!  I'm Vicki Finger from Twinkling Paper Studio and I am here today sharing my first post as a Design Team Member for Kraftgali.com.  Kraftgali.com is a small start-up company based in the Metropolitan Seattle area. Kraftgali is just getting started but already carries one of my favorite brands, Altenew!  Today, I am using the Enchanted Iris Stamp Set.

For today's card, I arranged the images on a piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper and then slipped it into my MISTI with the stamps still in place, then closed the door to picked them up. I use the Canson Bristol 99% of the time because it has a smooth surface and is easy to stamp on even if you don't have the MISTI tool.  The color also easily glides across the surface because of the smoothness. For the type of watercoloring I am doing, this paper is perfect.  If I was doing more traditional watercolor, I would use a heavier watercolor paper.

Next, I stamped the images in Versamark and heat set them with Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  I used Distress Markers in Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, and Mowed Lawn with a water brush.  I use the Zig Watercolor Long Brush that Kraftagli.com carries in the store.  If you don't have Distress Markers, you could use any water based, dye inks by putting the color on an acrylic block or your craft mat and using it with a water brush or even a regular paint brush. I have both options but most of the time I use my Water Brush.  I love to use Distress Markers and Distress Inks for this technique because they are formulated to react with water, so they are easy to work with and they are also pretty forgiving if you make a mistake.  You can even watercolor using the newer Distress Oxide Inks in the same way.  I love the translucence of the regular Distress Inks so I haven't tried that yet, but I probably will in a future post so I can let you all see how that works.

In case you haven't heard, there are 12 new Distress Oxide Inks that started shipping this week. Princy has them available in the store as a pre-order so you might want to reserve yours today. I happen to know that her first shipment is already sold out and this 2nd release has many of the most popular colors in the Distress line up; Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Candied Apple, Wild Honey, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, and Black Soot.  I'm so excited to add these new colors to my collection of the original 12. Ranger has committed to doing all 60 colors, 12 at a time, so there are still 36 more colors to come.  No one knows how fast they will be released though - no schedule has been given at this time.



Once I finished watercoloring my embossed image and had let it dry, I gave it a spritz of shimmer mist all over.  Then I used my Wink of Stella on the blooms to give them a bit more sparkle and shine. Once that part was dry, I cut it with a stitched rectangle die.  I also cut a larger stitched rectangle from Rich Razzleberry Paper (SU!) for a mat and then mounted it all to a top folding card base made from 110# White Card Stock.  I added a few Sugarplum colored sequins using Ranger Multi Medium Matte to finish off my card.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Be sure to stop over and check out the Kraftgali Store where there is a 15% off  Sale through July 5th at 11:59 PM PST.

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Introducing New Design Team Members

Hello, Everyone!

Today we have an EXCITING news to share with you! We have added two new designers to our growing Design Team! Please join us in welcoming the amazingly talented designers:

I’m Vicki Finger — a wife, mom and Mimi to 12 grandkids. I am also Puppy Mom to Holly Noelle and Reese Mackenna, my two little Yorkies.  My hubby and I have been married for 33 years. I started out as a scrapbooker and Creative Memories Consultant in 1997. I dabbled in card making very occasionally until May of 2015. Once I started my blog, Twinkling Paper Studio, on August 1st of 2015, I was “All In”. I give a lot of “how to” information on my blog so that you can try to recreate a similar project if you like. My style is Classic and Elegant and usually pretty clean as well.  I hope I can inspire you in some way when you are creating.

 

Hannah Rubenstahl, crafter at Fanciful Spaces, is mother to a lovely 5-year-old girl and wife to an amazingly supportive husband. She is a life-long crafter who has recently begun to focus on and hone her talents in the world of card crafting. Using the skills she learned as a scenic artist and in her formal education in technical theater, she comes to the world of paper crafting with unique experience and perspective. When not crafting or playing Paw Patrol with her daughter, she can frequently be found playing board games and watching Star Trek. Captain James Tiberius Kirk is her future husband. 😉

Welcome! We are simply thrilled to have you on the team!

Please come back tomorrow to take a look at what Vicki has created for us!

Make sure to visit their blog to see more and don’t forget to leave them some love. We can not wait to see their work with products we carry!

Note: We are looking for more design team members, send us an email if interested. More details here - Kraftgali Design Team Call (US Only)

See you then!

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Guest Post By Ricky (Bromero Cards)

Hi, everyone!

This week I am making a card that you would send to your best friend! We all have that one person we have an inside joke with and this card would be perfect for that.  Make sure you head over to Kraftgali.com to see some amazing offers they have.



Please head over to my BromeroCards YouTube page to see how I made it!

Ricky!

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