Autumn Blessings - stencilling, coloured pencil

Blessings can be found in the little things. Hopeful this Autumn brings you many. My card features stamps, ink, and stencil from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Distress Oxide sprays, and Prismacolor pencil colouring on kraft.

Handmade with Glitter Stencilling

A sparkly gift tag for homemade goodies! My tag features a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps set and stencil with Copic colouring and glittering with the stencil. 
 

Tea 4 2 - shaped easel, alcohol marker, embossing

 "Tea for two and two for tea, just you and me and me and you..." I created this tea-riffic shaped easel card using a die set from Hero Arts, patterned paper from Prima Marketing, and the adorable You're a Squeak-heart stamp set from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps with Copic colouring.

Sunny - masking, watercolour

 

As we are deep in Autumn moving into the chill of winter, I decided to make a sunny card. I used two Kraftin' Kimmie stamp sets with masking to create a watercolour scene for a mock-photo. Sending sunny wishes!

Snowflakes - alcohol ink, stencilling, die cutting

My wintery card of love combines alcohol ink on Yupo, stencilling with Kraftin' Kimmie stencil and Stickles gel, Impression Obsession dies with glitzy cardstock, and stamps and ink from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

You and Me - Sheepski Designs, alcohol marker

 

October's theme for the Sheepski Designs challenge blog is Autumn or Halloween! I used the adorable gnome couple on a Giant Mushroom for my inspiration project. Instead of a card, I made a framed picture filled with autumn colours. 

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Sparkle - coloured pencil with gamsol, embossing

 

A mousie fairy with her teapot house in the woods want to wish you a magical birthday. My card features stamps from Kraftin' Kimmie coloured with Prismacolor pencil and an embossing folder from Stampin' Up with Cosmic Shimmer Opal Blaze. 

BugLove - glitter stencilling, alcohol marker, coloured pencil

 

I love you, even when you bug me :) My card features Krafty Kimmie inks, stamps set, and stencil with glitter applied with transfer gel, Copic colouring, and pencil colouring. 

Boo! - flocking and glitter with stencil

 

Ghosties with the mosties coming to spooooook you! Boo! My slimline card features flocking and glitter through a stencil on an ink blended background.

Goth Girl - Sheepski Designs, watercolour pencil

 

Steampunk goth! Goth Girl is standing proud on a slimline card with layers for this month's inspiration for the blog challenge at Sheepski Designs blog. The challenge for September is layers!

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Flower Friend - stencilling with foil and glitter, pigment markers

 

My card today features a lovely peony coloured with Windsor Newton pigment markers on a background of stencilled foil and glitter. 

Magical Snowflake - hybrid ink on mineral paper

Wishing you a Magical Holiday Season with a snowflake ornament and an inky background using Kraftin' Kimmie hybrid ink on mineral paper. 

Proud - layered stamp, embossing, double z-fold

Proud as a peacock, my card features Stampin' Up stamp and die bundle, embossing folder, ink, and papers (that ll happen to be retired) with an accent of Perfect Pearls. 

Orchid - silhouette, pigment powder

For August, the theme for the Sheepski Designs challenge blog is Anything Goes! For my inspiration project, I made a slim-line card using the Mini Orchid cut with Cricut Maker on a background made with Color Bursts.

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Peace - CAS, embossing 2 ways

Another Christmas card for July. I've been able to get several done this year even only crafting one or two things a week right now. This one features stencil and stamps from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps. 

Mer-mazing - watercolour marker, embossing, opal blaze

Hello from a mermaid and her pals coming by to tell you that " You are mer-mazing!" My card features a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp set with Arteza colouring, and embossed background with Stampin' Up embossing folder and Cosmic Shimmer Opal Blaze and Opal polishes. 

Creatively - stenciling, pigment powder

"Any day spent creatively is a good day!" Letting the kraftiness wash over me and wipe away stress. My card features stamps, stencil, and ink from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps with Ken Oliver Color Bursts. 

Long In the Tooth - gouache, stencilling

My card today features one of the new stamp sets and stencil from the July Kraftin' Kimmie release which is available today! I used gouache to paint the images and added a bit of Nuvo glitter drops to the stencilling. 

Rainbow Fairy - alcohol marker, coloured pencil, stencilling, opal blaze

The magic of a rainbow and fairy to wish you a happy birthday, my card features Kraftin' Kimmie stamp sets, stencil, and ink with Copic colouring, coloured pencil colouring, and Cosmic Shimmer Opal Blaze.

Rejoice - alcohol marker, ATC

My Artist Trading Card features a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp set with alcohol marker colouring (Copic and Nuvo) and a die from Stampin' Up. 

Poolside - watercolour marker, stencilling, shaped card

Chillin' in a pool with ice cream sounds absolutely divine right now. My summertime card features a stamp set, stencils, and ink from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps along with Arteza watercolour markers, Cosmic Shimmer opal blaze for a gorgeous shimmer, and Nuvo jewel drops. 

Winter Deer - Sheepski Designs, digital cutter, paper piecing

Aurora Borealis lighting a snowy scene with deer and trees, my card features the Sheepski Designs image, Winter Deer, cut with a Cricut Maker and a colourful sky with Cosmic Shimmer Opal Blaze polish. This is my inspiration piece for July's Sheepski Designs blog challenge. The theme this month is Christmas! 

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Elephant High - watercolour marker, masking, stencilling

Up, up, and away with a birthday wish in the clouds. My skinny card features a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp set, stencils, and ink, Nuvo Aqua Flow colouring, and Stickles Glitter Gel. 

Turtle Kisses - watercolour marker, ATC

What's more summery than a juicy piece of red delicious watermelon? How about a piece being eaten by a little turtle? This image of awesome cuteness is part of a new stamp set from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, part of the June release that's available starting today! I coloured the turtle with Nuvo AquaFlow markers with accents of Nuvo drops. 

Fisher - stencilling, coloured pencil, masking

Walkin' on sunshine, heading for a lovely day fishing, this lad is from a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp set released last month. I used a Kraftin' Kimmie stencil with Kraftin' Kimmie inks to make his sunny background and coloured him and his pal with PrismaColor pencils with the fishy background from Hackney & Co.

Red Strappy Sandal - Sheepski Designs, foil on vellum

Can't wait for the warmer weather of summer, sandals and skirts. The Sheepski Designs blog challenge for June is "favourite colour" so I took the chance to imagine a lovely strappy sandal is shiny red foil. 

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Little Red n Wilf - Sheepki Designs, coloured pencil, gel plate, stencil

May's challenge for the Sheepki Designs blog is For The Girlz! My inspiration this month features Little Red and Wilf coloured with Prismacolor pencils on kraft MiTientes.

"breaking" news - pandemic activity

Late in the afternoon on 27 Mar 2020, I broke my arm. We were at the end of the second week of self-isolation in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

No Peeking - paper piecing, coloured pencil

A Christmas card featuring an adorable stamp set from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps with paper piecing, Prismacolor pencil colouring, and lots of plaids.

Smarty Pants - coloured pencil, mica sprays

My card today features a cutie from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps coloured with Tombow pencils on a background with Nuvo Mica Mists.

Christmas Deer - embossing, Distress marker spritz

My card today is a Spellbinders reindeer on a background of Distress marker spritzed over embossed sentiments from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

Rainbow Mandala - SVG cut

A rainbow of pride created with a mandala cut on a Cricut Maker.

Spaceman - perfect pearls, watercolour pencils, birthday, child to adult story

A little story in a card starting with a child playing at being an astronaut with his toys and a string of stars. Let your dreams take flight!

Inside, a grown-up astronaut planting a flag on a newly explored location with a birthday wish.

My story card features stamps, inks, and a stencil from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps along with Nuvo watercolour pencils and a die from Sizzix.

You - oxides on photo paper

My card today features Simon Says Stamp inks, die, and stamps with a background stamp done with Versamark and Distress Oxide sprays on photo paper.

Winter Tag - watercolour marker, stencilling

My project today is a winter tag with a wish for the fun of the season featuring Kraftin' Kimmie stamp set, ink, and stencil with Nuvo watercolour marker and a Sizzix die.

Warm Thoughts - stencilling, flocking

Fuzzy flocking with a stencil called Sweater Weather makes a great background for a sentiment expressing warm thoughts. Stencils and stamp set are from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

Birthday Eclipse - coloured pencil, stencilling, masking

Woodland critters along for a party, my long skinny birthday card features stamps from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps coloured with Koh-i-Noor pencils and letter dies from Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Purr-thday - watercolour marker, stencilling

This polka-dotty party going kitty features a Newton's Nook stamp set coloured with Nuvo AquaFlow markers and a holographic polka-dotty die-cut frame. Happy Purr-thday!

Adventure - tag, die cuts, embossing, coloured pencil

Adventure calls! Genevieve is on a mission with her kitty to unlock a distant magical place. She has a map and will travel by airship. My steampunk-inspired tag features several die cuts, embossing, and a stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie stamps coloured with Prismacolour pencils.

Strawberry Season - basket, colour pencil

March is already here! We're marching to Spring and I can't wait for the wonderful fresh fruits to come! I paired the Sheepski Designs digital stamp, Strawberry Season, with Beautiful Basket dies from Tonic Studios and coloured with Tombow pencils on kraft. This basket is my inspiration project for the March Sheepski Designs blog challenge with the theme of die cuts and/or punches.

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Using Cricut Design Space with Cricut Maker and Foil Quill

Each of the digital cutters has it's own application for importing and manipulating images, creating projects, and starting the processes on the machine. The Cricut Maker uses Design Space. The applications for Sillhouette and Brother likely have similar features but have their own way of doing them.

In Design Space, you need to upload the PNG file from your computer. Be sure to use the PNG with a transparent background and not the original JPG with white background. Once the image is uploaded, it can be inserted into the project canvas. Select the image and Insert.

In the canvas, it can be resized or turned or combined with other images and/or shapes. For the Foil Quill (or marker) you want to select Draw as the Linetype before clicking the Make It button.

The first step of Make It is prepare. You can reposition the image on the mat. Sadly, this repositioning is not saved with a project. Cricut Design Space assumes you will want to have your materials in the upper left corner. Just move the image where you want the draw or cut to occur. You can also resize and re-orient the image on the mat step. If you want to flip it horizontally, select Mirror.

When you have the image where you want it on the mat and click Continue. In the next step, you'll need to select the material. I'm not sure (yet) how much the material selection here affects the draw, but it definitely affects a cut. For the Arches paper, I used 140 GSM Watercolour Paper. For the vinyl faux leather, I chose Faux Leather. There are a lot of material types available for the Maker. On the next step, it will tell you what items you need in the blade holders for your material especially when you're cutting.

Before continuing, I needed to prepare the actual mat. I made sure my material was no bigger than the mat (I currently only have the two 12x12" mats that came with it with a 12x24" on order now) and pressed it down. I then cut a piece of foil to cover the area that would have the draw and used washi tape to hold it down on all four sides. Oh and I plugged in the Foil Quill back up there before I started working on the image in Inkscape to make sure it had time to warm up :) The Foil Quill goes into the pen spot. Foil Quill works with each of the digital cutters with a different cowling to fit the pen spot.

Put the mat in place, click Continue on the Design Space, click the mat load button on the machine, click the Cricut go button on the machine, and wait.... Either get mesmerised by the way the image is being drawn on the foil or go do something else. The more complicated the image, the longer it will take. (I suggest doing a test run of the foil on a scrap of the material if you're not 100% sure it will work on it.) As a side note, I keep the USB cable of the Foil Quill out of the way by draping it over the open lid of the Maker. The Quill can move freely and no risk of the cable getting in the way.

After the drawing is done, you can see where the Quill did its work.

And then the reveal... I love peeling off the foil for the magic surprise.

I use a soft brush to brush away any loose foil bits 'cause I completely forgot to move the 'star rings' to the side before starting to foil. Any of the foil that didn't get heat won't stick. The foil that was heated won't rub off.