#MancraftMonday — Kevin Bray

Instagram is a fantastic thing. It's where I post most of my creations because it is so quick and easy. Another great thing about Instagram is the "discover" feature. I use that when I am looking for inspiration or to find new talent to follow. I have made friends through the service and I want to introduce you to one of them today. Kevin Bray is a young man with a lot of talent. I'll let him take it from here. 

My name is Kevin Bray and I am from Plummer, MN. I currently go to Minnesota State University, Moorhead, majoring in Exercise Science and Coaching. 

Die and stamps are from Wplus9.

Card making is a great creative outlet that lets me focus on something other than school. I started about 2 years ago after seeing all the wonderful videos on YouTube. My style has evolved a little bit since I started, mainly since I have invested in some actual card making supplies. 

Honeybee Stamps

I try to keep things fairly clean and simple but once in a while, I venture to other styles for fun. 

Wplus9

Copics are my new favorite coloring medium, but I do enjoy watercolor as well. 

Lawn Fawn

As you can see from my favorite creations, Christmas is my favorite holiday!

Lawn Fawn

I am currently on the Kat Scrappiness, Stamp AnnieThing, Crafter's Companion, and CanYouCaseIt? design teams. 

My Favorite Things

I never ever thought that making cards could turn out to be such a big part of my life, but here I am! 

Finding Kevin

Visit the Kevin Bray Blog to see how his creative mind works and which challenges he's entered and which products he's used. 

Follow KevinBray10 on Instagram to see more of his work.

Happy Crafting,

Wash Wednesday - More Spring Cleaning

Traditionally laundry is a Monday thing.  When I worked at a neighborhood historical society 20 years ago there were all kinds of references in letters, books, and photographs that laundry was a Monday chore. It took all day before washing machines became common in the 1950s. My grandmother used to wash clothes on Monday even after she got a washer and dryer.

Even the folks living in that little house on the prairie washed their clothes on Monday.

Ma used to say, "Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday,  Mend on Wednesday,  Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday,  Rest on Sunday."               — Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Now that women are working outside the home the days chores are completed has changed. We do stuff when we can, or when we absolutely have to get it done. A child's lack of clean underwear (because he hasn't been putting stuff in the hamper like he should) can totally change the order of chores to be done.

So today is wash day. 

I made this card using Lawn Fawn's "Little Bundle" and "Loads of Fun" to create this card. The baby clothes are so sweet. Everything here is colored with Copic Markers. The strips at the bottom of the card are from my green drawer where I keep scraps precut to 5.5" so I can quickly add them to cards. The T-shirt, undies and boy's onesie are all paper pieced, those papers came from my patterned paper scrap drawer. The onesie is actually a bit of packaging - I love free paper.

Happy Crafting,

Copic SKETCH 72 PC SET A Markers AAAS72A

RESERVE Lawn Fawn LITTLE BUNDLE Clear Stamps LF1127

RESERVE Lawn Fawn LOADS OF FUN Clear Stamps LF1048

InLinkz.com

Use Every Stamp Challenge

Hello. My name is Katie, and I am a stampaholic. I love buying cute stamps and sometimes I don't use them before buying new stamps. It is especially true during the holidays. You know all those Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

I have a non-crafty friend who doesn't understand my need for new stamps. She issued a challenge that I use "Every single stamp in your collection" before you buy a new set. I have already failed. I just received "Map Love" and "Tree Hugs" from Concord & 9th, and I am looking forward to playing with these new stamps.

But my friend has a point. I have A LOT of stamps. I should make use of them, or let them go to someone who will. So in the words of Barney Stinson, "Challenge accepted!"

Each week I will feature one stamp company, or illustrator, or theme. I will post all cards on Instagram tagged with #UseEveryStampChallenge and the feature of the week, along with any other tags that seem appropriate.

As I go through the stamp sets, I will find sets that no longer fit my style or needs. I will list these stamps for sale in my Etsy shop. I know I also have a few oops stamps. You know, those items you accidently hit two instead of 1 when purchasing. These will be given away as prizes when I feature the stamp manufacturer.

I know using every stamp will be different for each of you — So want to play?  You can do this challenge along with “The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge”. The 30-day coloring challenge encourages you to color at least 5 minutes a day from February 1 - March 1. I am going to accept that challenge plus I am going to Use Every Stamp I can during that time. I will need to stamp a lot longer than 30 days. Like I said before — I have a lot of sets to go through.

In honor of the Coloring Challenge, this weeks theme is #coloring.

Lawn Fawn, Washi Tape, Copic Markers

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Happy Crafting,

Copic SKETCH 72 PC SET A Markers AAAS72A

Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900

Lawn Fawn COLOR MY WORLD Clear Stamps LF793

*Crafter's Companion ACRYLIC BLOCK STARTER SET 5 Pack AH05

InLinkz.com

Makeover Week Day 2 - Hold It

Yesterday I showed you how to change the hairstyle of a stamped image. Today's cards feature the same tape technique to remove a chalk board. This image called Making the Grade is from the Pure Innocence by My Favorite Things. It's the perfect image for saying congratulations to a student but I saw other things in this girl's future.

In the first card she is missing her jump rope partner on the playground. The textured background was spritzed with red ink to make it look more like bricks. The chalk in her right hand was used as a handle for a jump rope made of embroidery floss. The floss was adhered with matte medium so I know it's not going anywhere unless the recipient wants it to.




The second card features this same little girl walking her Schnauzer. The dog is from Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Dog Park set. It was drawn as a Scottie but as we have a Schnauzer it's tail was cropped further and it was colored as a Schnauzer. The chalk has now become the handle to a leash made of twine.



Both images were colored with Copics and a White Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen.

Makeover Week Day 3 - Boy Howdy

Happy Crafting,

I made my own washi tape

There are several kinds of trends in paper crafting.   

• Images -  bikes, silhouettes, owls, pennants, or hot air balloons.  
• Shapes - chevrons and hexagons. 
• Tools - Distress inks, stains and markers, misting inks, templates, vinyl, die cutting machines (electric and otherwise).
• Materials - shipping tags, twine, crocheted flowers, wooden die cuts and washi tape.

Back when the trendy material was ribbon I purchased a lot of ribbon. A LOT of ribbon. But I was never great at tying pretty bows so I didn't use it much. I have boxes of ribbon that just sit on the shelf waiting for a design that requires their assistance.

The trend I am currently loving is washi tape. I don't have much but it is so easy to use, no tying required. But washi can be expensive for a cheapskate. Because I am always looking for ways to create crafts for less I have turned to other types of  tape to see if I could make my own washi.







This card was made with washi from K & Company (EK Success) for use with their Smash books. The rest of the materials on this card are from my scrap drawer. The paper is also K& Company. The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Micheal's it originally read "cutie pie" with an image of a slice of pie. The doily is from the dollar store. The ducky has been in my collection for nine years.  I purchased it for my son's first birthday party invitations, but that's a different story for a different time.

The image on this card is from the Recollections set Zoo-licious. I was just playing with this image. I colored the spots with a white crayon and made a mask for the head, tail and legs and spritzed. Then I masked the shell as well and spritzed again. Then I scrapped off the crayon and shaded the legs, head and tail with Copics.

The card sat for a couple of days before I decided to add the tapes. It just looked undone, too plain. Now it looks done.

The same washi I used on the first card was laid down first. I then laid down a tape I created with cloth medical tape and stamped with the flower from the Papertrey Ink Up, Up and Away stamp set. The cloth tape takes dye and alcohol  inks well. The leaves were made but just touching a Copic marker to the tape, it automatically bleeds just enough to look like a leaf. 

.

 The next card uses the same tape with a different stamp. This time it's Lawn Fawn's Critters on the Farm set. I stamped the fence on the tape that was stuck on my craft mat. I wish I had stamped it on the card itself because when I stuck it down the fence kind of took a western slant.

The images are colored with Copic markers. The white coloring comes from a paint marker on the cow and a gel pen on the barn. The cow bell is colored with a silver pen.

Given the success of using cloth medical tape I decided to give the paper version a try. I didn't stamp on this one I kind of like the tonal difference. This card was also made with stuff from my scrap drawer. Next time I'll be stamping on the paper tape to see how that looks.

This weekend I purchased a few more rolls of washi at Archivers. They had designs that will work well on Christmas cards.

Happy Crafting,

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Lawn Fawn Delivers Added Value

I love freebies, don't you? Sometimes getting something for nothing makes us feel smart because we "beat the system". I rarely get these kind of freebies. I am not good with the discount day + coupon + rebate way of getting stuff for free. 

Sometimes getting something for free makes us feel good. Someone gives you something just because they are nice. In my Etsy shop I always add something to someone's order. Buy a stamp set get an inspiration pack of papers or tags or even die cuts that go with the set. Buy a card set get a couple of tags. 

I call it being generous, my former employer called it added value. I was part of the advertising creative department. I set ads for small companies that didn't have an ad agency or a creative person on staff. Companies were not charged for my services but they were always happy when they saw what I had created for them. I had added value to their ad space purchase.

I recently purchased my first set of Lawn Fawn stamps, Quinn's ABCs. I love outlined letters. I've wanted an outline font for years, ever since I saw a card by Kristina Werner where she overlapped the edges and colored just the overlapped areas. It was beautiful, like all her work, and I wanted to try it myself so I when I saw this set by Lawn Fawn and saw the price I ordered them.

When I opened the package I was pleasantly surprised at the added value, niceness, generosity of these lovely people. I got an extra stamp and a HANDWRITTEN note, that included my name. That impressed the HECK out of me (yes I am now heck-less).  

The particulars

Paper: Stampin' Up! (SU) blush blossom, Perfect Plum, patterned paper DCWV Rock Star Stack

Stamps: My Favorite things, Lawn Fawn

Embellishments: Buttons by SU, Small flower punch SU, Large flower cut with Silhouette.

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Happy Crafting,

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