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  • Inspired by…

    Inspired by……

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    Good Morning! 

    A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend and fabulously talented paper crafting artist, Kittie Caracciolo honored me on her blog as an artist she is inspired by!  I was so thrilled and honored by her post!
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    Kittie is well known in crafting circles and on Splitcoast Stampers. She joined Splitcoast in 2004 and was inducted into the Dirty Dozen in 2007. We first became friends through the challenges on Splitcoast shortly after I joined in 2007 and I’ve always been inspired by her fabulous style and genuinely sweet personality. Kittie is a wonderful water colorist and ultra talented dimensional paper artist. She serves on the Impression Obsession design team and is a new member of the Splitcoast Featured Stamper Challenge hostesses. If you’ve never visited her blog, KittieKraft, pull up a chair and prepare to be amazed.

    Along with this honor, Kittie asked that I answer a few questions and share a couple other artists who inspire me.

    Here are the questions!

    1. What am I working on?

    Even when I’m not working on a release or a challenge (I love the challenges!), I’m always working things out in my head. Right now, I’m preparing for the Our Daily Bread designs release tomorrow and also a new release for DRS Designs. That means new Thanksgiving & Christmas images/dies! I also serve on the design teams for Serendipity Stamps, North Coast Creations and as one of the Hostesses for the Splitcoast Featured Stamper Challenge on Sundays.

    2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

    That’s a really tough question…I’m not sure it does. Friends tell me they recognize my cards before they even see the closeup but at the same time, they’re never sure what to expect… that’s it’s different every time. I love working with a lot of styles of images & I love to make my own backgrounds. My three biggies when designing are color, composition and construction. The main one being color. I adore color and especially contrasts. Most of the time I rely on my coloring skills to carry the card. And I love to try different techniques.

    Here are some of my favorites from over the years (click on any picture to make it larger or go to original post info):

     NCC Birthday Poppies 03726Blakes 8183   Anchor 04218 Beautiful Clover 01549 Hang On 9248
     Julie Warner -justwritedesigns - The Write StuffJulie Warner -https://thewritestuff.justwritedesigns.com Learning to Sail 9695
     Lighthouse 03873Watercolor Pottery 02020NCC Poppies 02605 Julie Warner -justwritedesigns - The Write Stuff LSC249 Peace 4024
     Crayon Bday 04010Get Well Teddy 02539 
     Summer Seascape comboAutumn Leaf Pears 6415Flowers on a Grid 3352a1 Delft Tile Card Deco Faces 8204Classic Red 7639Best Fishes 2929a1  Winter Eve 4161Bluebonnet Sky 9867Beautiful Geraniums 04234 FS290 Moonlit Lake 022
     Holiday Season 04088Aloha 2820a1 Cherry Blossom Umbrella  01137Hooked on You 01197Julie Warner -justwritedesigns - The Write Stuffic149-reindeer-1009aRed Checlle 03968fs84-zig-or-zag797aRuby Slippers 03030Party Candles dk 9009 Sweet Stamps Flower Frame 02911 DDIC13 Fall is in the Air 3533a2
    3. Why do I create what I do?

    I feel driven to create and since I’m just a bit impatient, I love the almost instant gratification of creating cards..my mini artworks. I started out in water color but that grew to include a lot of other mediums. As long as I’m able to color, the method or medium doesn’t really matter. Creating for me is fulfilling, frustrating (when it doesn’t work as planned), and always gives me a sense of accomplishment when the project is finished.

    4. How does your creative process work?

    Usually with something I see. It could be a magazine picture or one on the internet..or a card that has a technique that I want to try. A lot of times I look at an image I want to work with and an idea or finished design will appear in my head. Sometimes it works out just as I envisioned, but most of the time it morphs and evolves as I work on it. If I get stuck, I work on backgrounds. I find they usually get me going and sooner or later, I’ll pull one out and it will be perfect for what I need at that time. I never throw things out, lol. Even if I’m not crazy about it as a whole, parts or pieces of it will usually end up in another project.

    And now I get to nominate a couple of lovely ladies who are not only friends, but always so inspiring to me!

    Karen Dunbrook – Snippets

    photoI first met Karen when we were on the Innovative Stamp Creations design team in 2009 and our friendship continues through Splitcoast. Karen is always a favorite in the Splitcoast Challenges…her remarkable CAS (clean & simple) style is easily recognized. Karen currently does design work for Penny Black and is a regular in the SCS Challenges. From conversations/emails I know Karen has a super busy life as a caregiver for a group of little ones which doesn’t leave her a lot of extra time. If you haven’t, check out her blog Snippets and her SCS Gallery. You’ll be floored by her beautiful creations!

     

    Jenny Gropp – One Krafty Kat

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    Jenny & I first met around 2010 or 2011 (in real life, yay!). There are a group of us in the Atlanta area and we usually get together a couple of times during the year. Recently, we all went to the CHA Hobby Show in July. Jenny and I are on the Serendipity Stamps design team and we were also on the Outlines Rubber Stamps design team. Jenny is a super talented Copic colorist and super sweet lady. She also serves on the design teams for Impression Obsession, Perfect Paper Crafting and Impressive Ideas (a stamp store where she teaches classes and handles the purchasing). If you haven’t, check out her blog One Krafty Kat and you will be amazed at her creativity! 


    Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and you’ll be inspired to check out the blogs of Kittie, Karen & Jenny!

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  • Vintage Lady

    Julie Warner – https://thewritestuff.justwritedesigns.com
    Congrats to Jenn, the newest Featured Stamper (FS369) on Splitcoast! After much browsing, I chose THIS card of Jenn’s to case. I kept the layout and used a girl for the main image, but I used different image, different colors and turned my bow sideways. This is also for the Sweet Stamps Challenge…Favorite Color! My fave color is green and I love it paired w/ these peachy/pink colors.

    After coloring Margery with Copics, I die cut her with a mega oval then embossed her with the oval from the Radiant Rectangles set then added her to the green die cut from the same set. The designer paper is from Prima and I used it because the vintage style seemed to go with my vintage lady. But…the paper didn’t have quite enough of the peachy pink colors so I used a Copic to add more of these colors to the paper. I also used the bisque & sardonyx Copics to color the seam binding I used for the wrinkled bow. The finished card is 4.25 x 5.50 and these are the Copics I used. And in case you’re wondering, the blue violet was used for the shadows on Margery’s skin.

    Julie Warner – https://thewritestuff.justwritedesigns.com

     

    Congrats again, Jenn! Thanks so much for stopping by!
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    Stamps: Sweet Stamps Margery
    Paper: X-Press It, green dp (Basic Grey-Wander ), printed (Prima – Almanac)
    Ink: Memento tuxedo black
    Accessories:  Copic markers, pearls, Spellbinders mega oval & radiant rectangle dies, seam binding, mini bowdabra

  • Framed Flowers

    Julie Warner – https://thewritestuff.justwritedesigns.com
    Congrats again to Dawn, the newest Featured Stamper (FS368)! I actually started this one before my first one, but it took a bit longer to complete. While cruising Dawn’s beautiful, gallery, I noticed she uses THIS layout quite a bit…flowers framed and with a wide border around them. So I took that theme & layout but I loved the colors of THIS card so I combined them w/ the layout of the other.

    This is also for the Sweet Stamps #157 Anything Goes Challenge and the SCS LOVEFEST2014J. I think this is in the Classy & Elegant category for that challenge.

    This is one of those cards that the idea starts out simply enough, but as it develops, it gets more and more complicated. I’m sure that never happens to you! After stamping the image on a large white panel and coloring with Copics, I decided I really wanted to die cut it. First problem, none of my rectangle dies are big enough. Ok, so I used a larger square and resized it…not a problem, except I combined it with the out of the box techniquee, too. So it’s a little more complicated. But it worked and I liked the way the corner flowers pop against the navy blue paper. I used the same paper to back the greeting oval. I decided to repeat the daisy corners on the background and colored the lines and shaded the vines but the daisies themselves were fussy cut and added on top. Two extra daisies were added where the frames stopped on the sides, just to finish the line. The finished card is 5.50 x 4.25 and these are the Copics I used.

    Julie Warner – https://thewritestuff.justwritedesigns.com
    Thanks so much for stopping by!
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    Supplies:

    Stamps: Sweet Stamps  Framed Daisies 3019, Special Day 9114
    Paper: X-Press It, designer paper (Teresa Collins – Moments collection)
    Ink: Memento tuxedo black
    Accessories:  Copic markers, Spellbinders squares & ribbon tags & labels 33 dies