Frosty The Snowman

Today I have a fun Frosty the Snowman card to share with you. This card features a wintry background created with Color burst powders and Inka Gold.

Supplies and Tools used on this card:

Ultramarine Blue Color Burst (Ken Oliver)

Beaded Snowflake Die (Memory Box/Poppystamps)

Platinum Inka Gold

Sentiment from Martha Stewart set

Holiday Words Stamp Set (Inkadinkado)

Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink (Ranger)

Scotch Foam Mounting Tape

I'd love to see what you've been creating, so stop by the current link party and showoff any creation that includes a product or two from one of the companies carried in the Cropstop store. 

Guest Designer - Kim Klinkovsky

We're back for week number two with our talented guest designer Kim Klinkovsky of My Kraft Kloset. This week Kim created another fabulous card using an embossing folder I've owned for quite a while, but never quite knew what to do with it! She totally rocked the color burst on this card, and created yet another unique and lovely card to share with us today. Awesome work, Kim!

Here's what Kim says about creating this awesome card:

"Hi everybody! Kim here from My Kraft Kloset  and I'm honored to be back as your guest designer this month! Today I'm sharing a couple of techniques to get more out of your embossing folders and how to make amazing backgrounds with products from the Crop Stop Store.

I started with a 12x12 green cardstock, cut 8.5x11" and folded in half to create a card base. Cut a piece of patterned paper and adhere to card base. This next part is very messy, so make sure you put an old cloth or newspaper under you to protect your table, use a craft mat, wear an apron to protect your clothes, and gloves, because it can stain.

Placed a pastel pink piece of cardstock on a craft mat, sprinkled a few drops of powder from 3-4 color burst colors onto the cardstock, mist with water and watch the magic begin. It's a powder, so it will blow a little, so protect whats around you. With a little water it's bright and vibrant and gets lighter as you add more water. Feel free to tip/move your paper and move the color around or dab with a sponge or paper towel. Or add more drops if you think you need too. I let it dry over night, but you could use a heat tool for faster drying.

Tip: Use water color paper to avoid any rippling of the paper, but I wanted some of the pink of the cardstock to show through. If your paper does ripple, you can iron it lightly or press with a big book.

Once dry place the background image in an emossing folder and run through a die cut machine. And take the sanding tool and in a circular motion sand off some of the cardstock to reveal the white core of the cardstock. Which brightens your embossed images and make it stand out more. That's the fun part about any Cordinations cardstock, they are made for sanding. Trim your embossed image to fit card. Cut a piece of black cardstock to mat behind, adhere them together, and adhere panel to card base.

Then add a drop of metallic liquid pearls to the birds eye for dimention and a sticker sentiment to complete. And there you have another way to use your embossing folders and make several unique cards for many occasions. The finished bird card is 5" x 6 1/4" (cut 12x12" green cardstock down to 10" x 6 1/4" and fold) Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and link up any project that includes a product or two that Cropstop carries in the store. Hope to see you there!"

Crop Stop Supplies:

• CraftSheet - Inkssentials
• Brights -Color Burst by Ken Oliver - 6 pack
• Core'dinations- Pastels - (4.25 x 5.5 )-Pink
• Core'dinations- Neutrals - (4.25 x 5.5 )-Black
• Bazzill Basics Paper - Blossom - 12 x 12 Cardstock-Green
• 723258 Royal, Fine Designs Collection (A2) LIMITED EDITION!
• Cuttlebug Machine (FREE SHIPPING USA ONLY)
• Core'dinations- Sand It Gadget Tool
• Ranger Liquid Pearls, Metallic
• Watercolor Paper - 8.5 x 11 inch - 10 sheets
• Other Supplies: water mister/spray bottle, metallic stickers, Reverse Confetti patterned paper, Scor-tape 1/4"

Guest Designer - Kim Klinkovsky

Time for another guest design spot here on the Cropstop blog. Today we're sharing the talents of Kim Klinkovsky of My Kraft Kloset. Kim not only created two awesome cards for us, but she also included a fun tutorial with pictures!! I absolutely LOVE the super fun background she created with her embossing folder from Cropstop, color burst, and some gold metallic embossing powder! What a creative gal! 

Here's what Kim says about putting these wonderful cards together: "Hi everybody! Kim here from My Kraft Kloset  and I'm honored to be your guest designer this month! Today I'm sharing a couple of unique and amazing backgrounds created with products from the Crop Stop Store.

I started with an 5.5x11" yellow cardstock, cut in half to create two A2 (5.5x4.25") card bases. This next part is very messy, so make sure you put an old cloth or newspaper under you to protect your table, use a craft mat, wear an apron to protect your clothes, and gloves, because it can stain.

Placed a pastel pink piece of cardstock on a craft mat, sprinkled a few drops of powder from 3-4 color burst colors onto the cardstock, mist with water and watch the magic begin. It's a powder, so it will blow a little, so protect whats around you. With a little water it's bright and vibrant and gets lighter as you add more water. Feel free to tip/move your paper and move the color around or dab with a sponge or paper towel. Or add more drops if you think you need too. I let it dry over night, but you could use a heat tool for faster drying.

Tip: Use water color paper to avoid any rippling of the paper, but I wanted some of the pink of the cardstock to show through. If your paper does ripple, you can iron it lightly or press with a big book.

Once dry place the background image in an embossing folder and run through a die cut machine. Which looks stunning just like that too.

But I took it another step further and ran a brayer over a clear embossing ink pad and made it good and inky, then lightly ran the brayer over the raised images from the embossing folder. You will get some ink in between the images and thats ok or you can brush some off with a thin paint brush. Sprinkle with gold metallic embossing powder, tap off the excess, and set with a heat tool. Trim to fit and adhere to card base.

Tip: If you don't have a brayer, you can run the pad dirctly over the raised image, but you may get more ink on your panel and cover up too much of the background colors.

Cut a strip of black cardstock, cut and tie a double ribbon around one end, cut a banner tail on the other end and adhere to card with foam tape. Add a few scattered metallic liquid pearls for dimention to complete.

And there you have another way to use your embossing folders and make several unique cards with beautiful backgrounds for many occasions. Now it's your turn....stop by our Current Link Party and link up any project that includes a product or two that Cropstop carries in the store. Hope to see you there!"

Crop Stop Supplies:

• CraftSheet - Inkssentials
• Brights -Color Burst by Ken Oliver - 6 pack
• Core'dinations- Pastels - (4.25 x 5.5 )-Pink
• Core'dinations- Neutrals - (4.25 x 5.5 )-Black
• 723156Chiaro, Serenity Collection (5x7) LIMITED EDITION!
• Cuttlebug Machine (FREE SHIPPING USA ONLY)
• Ranger embossing ink: Clear for Embossing - Distress PAD
• Ranger Liquid Pearls, Metallic
• Pink on Pink Organdy Swirls Ribbon
• Mustard on Mustard Organdy Swirls Ribbon
• Scotch Foam Mounting Tape
• WatercolorPaper - 8.5 x 11 inch - 10 sheet
• Other Supplies: brayer, water mister/spray bottle, heat tool, metallic stickers, yellow 8.5x11" cardstock for card base, Ranger Gold Metallic Embossing Powder, Scor-tape 1/4"

Wonderful Day

Today's card is a clean-and-simple card. This isn't a style that comes naturally to me, and I find it hard to resist adding more layers and embellishments. I learned a long time ago that "not every card has to be a masterpiece" -- and "sometimes less really is more!"

To create this card I:

• Stamped the Zentangle Butterfly in Versamark Watermark ink on white card stock
• Added Brilliant Sparkle Gold Embossing Powder (Creative Expressions) and heat set and fussy cut
• Painted Lime Green and Ultramarine Blue Color Burst (Ken Oliver) on my background panel and added some white paint spatters
• I added three little Candi Dots (Gold Wedding) to the card front and a strip of tiny pearls down the center of my butterfly
• I also distressed the edges of my front panel for just a bit more texture and interest

I'd love to see your take on CAS cards so.....stop by our current link party and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store. Hope to see you there! 

Bird Crazy

Hello blog readers - it's time for another inspiration post here on the Cropstop blog. Today I'm sharing some mini shape cards I created using the Bird Crazy stamp set from Tim Holtz.  Aren't those crazy bird images fun?! I decided to do them up in some bright colors with a color burst wash background. Super easy and lots of fun!

All of my birds are stamped in Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko) and colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils.  My backgrounds were created using Ken Oliver Color Bursts, diluted with water and painted on white card stock. (Card #1 uses Ultramarine Blue Card #2 uses Fuchsia/Tangerine Card #3 uses Ultramarine Blue/Lime Green) Using a small paintbrush I also added a few black paint spatters.

  The cards were die cut using the Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities from Spellbinders.  I also added a few tiny gemstones to the front, and some faux stitching around the edges.

Do you own a set of these funky bird stamps? If so, why not break them out create something fun then...Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store.

Happy 4th

Since Independence Day is just over a week away, I decided to create a fun  patriotic card to share with you today. When I received the Poppystamps balloon dies in the mail, I knew I wanted to do something "different" with them. So instead of using them to create a birthday themed card, I used them on this bold and bright July 4th card!

To create my card I:

• tapped out some Ken Oliver color bursts (Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson) on two separate sheets of watercolor paper
• spritzed my colors with water and heat set 
• cut a complete set of blue and red Happy Balloons (Poppystamps - Memory Box)
• added the red letters to the blue balloons and the blue letters to the red balloons
• embossed the top part of a piece of card stock with the Stars embossing folder from Darice
• scored a line under the stars and stamped a patriotic sentiment from America Collection (Amy Design) in Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink
• popped up my balloons with mounting tape, added a few tiny punched stars, and matted it on coordinating blue card stock

Since you have to cut two sets of balloons to get the letters to coordinate, you may as well make two cards! Now it's your turn to share what you've been creating! Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project that includes a product or two from one of the companies Cropstop carries in the store. Happy Crafting!

Guest Designer - Laurie Unger

Time to share the work of another talented guest designer and today we have a bright and cheery card from my friend, Laurie Unger of Laurie's Stampin Place. Laurie is sharing a sweet butterfly card that features one of my favorite products - Ken Oliver Color Bursts.

Here's Lori's instructions for creating this card:

1. Using Ken Oliver color bursts in lemon yellow and burnt orange. Start with watercolor paper and spritz with water.

2. I dropped a lot of the lemon yellow onto the paper and swirled it around.

3. Next, I spritzed with water again and dropped a few drops of burnt orange and let the water do the work.

4. Let dry and then layered it with black cardstock and added it onto a white card base.

5. Cut a butterfly out of white cardstock using the memory box solid butterfly die.

6. Sponge on some Oxide inks in squeezed lemonade and spiced marmalade.

7. Next stamp some polka dots onto it for some added interest - then layered a solid black one behind it so that it would stand out from the watercolor background that I created.

8. Die cut the word hello out of black and then used Nuvo crystal glaze to put some shine on it. 

9. Adhere the butterfly using a foam square and bend the wings on it so that it appears to by flying.

10. Add a sentiment

Now it's YOUR turn! Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project you've recently created that uses a product or two from the companies Cropstop carries in the store.