May your Holidays be Filled with Laughter, Love & Joy!

Hello, creative friends! Julie here today. I love it when I have an excuse to play with my artsy supplies!  This time, I did some die cutting, stamping, and of course, painting.

I started out cutting out a bunch of poinsettia-like looking flowers with my Big Shot, using watercolor paper.  Here's what they looked like:

Some of them had a stamp set to match, so I stamped them before I die cut them.  It's easier to line everything up that way. Then, I started painting them, using colors that would make them look like a poinsettia.  Here's what they looked like painted:

I used Garnet (one of December's sale colors!), Evergreen (also on sale at 33% off!), and Green Olive.

Then, it was time to put it all together.  Here's what I created with these flowers:

This 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inch card was made for the friend who gave me those two beautiful stick pins.  She made me a whole bunch of beautiful beaded stick pins just like these two.  I thought the least I could do was return the favor with a card.

When assembling this card, I used the rule of threes, using 3 poinsettias clusters, 3 leaves, and even 3 red rhinestones.

Here's a close up of the poinsettias and beaded stick pins...

For more details about the supplies used on this card, please visit my blog.

Thanks for visiting today! May your holidays truly be filled with laughter, love & joy!



Let It Snow! -- CIP Style

Happy Tuesday, CIP friends.  Julie posting today from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers.  I have a small home décor piece to share with you.

It started as a piece of 2x4 wood.  I had a friend cut a bunch of 2x4 scraps for me.  This particular piece of wood measures 2x4x4. With a little paint, a couple stamps, and some fibers, this is what you can make:

 

 

I used acrylic paint on the base, mixing turquoise with a little black so it wasn't quite so stark.  Then, I stamped the snowman and sentiment onto the wood. I painted the snowman with Creative Inspiration Paint, using Winter Frost (one of the sale colors for December), Garnet (on sale in December at 33% off), Royal Purple and Orange. 

 

 

I wrapped some white fibers around the top of the wood, removed the legs of a snowflake brad, attached it to the fibers with a glue dot, and my home décor project is done!

 

I hope you like today's re-do of a wood block. For details on the project, please visit my blog. These paints are so versatile, you can make almost anything you can imagine.

A Barrow of Blessings

Hi everyone, Julie here today from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers hoping you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday (American friends). We have much to be thankful for, don't we?

We spent yesterday noon having Thanksgiving dinner with my father at the assisted living facility where he lives. My father was a carpenter by trade and spent many hours taking care of his yard when he wasn't working.  His yard became even more important to him after he retired.  I wanted to make him a little something to have on the table that he could share with his table mates and friends. With that in mind, I found what I thought would be the perfect Thanksgiving table décor:

 

 

I had this idea for a wheelbarrow, and looked around until I found what I wanted.  This is a wheelbarrow treat box.  You can see it's been embellished with leaves painted with Creative Inspirations Paint. Here's a view of the other side.

 

 

  The leaves started out white. I painted the die cut leaves with Creative Inspirations Paint to give them those beautiful Fall colors and shine. I used a variety of different Creative Inspirations Paints on the leaves -- Burnt Clay (on sale), Autumn Wheat, Sunshine, and Pumpkin (on sale).

 

Here's a little peek into the box...

 

And, one more view, showing you how big the box is:

 

 

My father and his friends had plenty of candy to munch on all Thanksgiving afternoon!

I hope you enjoyed one more Thanksgiving project before we rush headlong into Christmas.  Hang on tight, it'll be a whirlwind month!



Autumn Birthday Cards

Hello, CIP friends.  Julie here today from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers. Today, I have two birthday cards I made using Creative Inspirations Paint to share with you. They both use the same technique:

 

 

I started with a white cardstock base.  I used some mists to add some color splatters to the stark white.  Then, I stamped the  leaf stamps randomly on the paper.  I used some ink colors that would match the paints I wanted to use and stamped with those, including the sentiment. I then went to work with my paint colors, and painted the leaves, using it more like a wash, just to get the shimmer.  I used Creative Inspirations Paint in Rustic Red (on sale!), Green Olive, Pumpkin (on sale!), and Burnt Clay (on sale!).

 

 

Here's another angle of the first card to better show the shimmer...

 

 

I placed a few sparkles from my stash on the card, too, to add a little bling.  This card was one of my husband's birthday cards last month.  He loved it!

His sisters' birthday is a couple weeks after his, and we got together to celebrate them both. Here's the card I gave to her:

 

 

I used the exact same technique on this card, only stamping the random leaves a little differently, and using pearls instead of rhinestones. Don't you love the leaves in the background?  That was our backyard about a month ago.  All the leaves are gone now. :(   Winter's coming.

Here's a view of the shimmer...

 

 

I LOVE this paint! If you haven't tried it yet, you need to treat yourself.  With the sale colors, now's the perfect time!

For more details about this card, and to see what else I've been creating, please visit my blog.



Signs of Fall

Hello, my creative friends! Julie here today from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers. The signs of Fall are everywhere -- cooler temperatures, falling leaves, geese flying over.  The inspiration for this card happened on the last motorcycle ride of the season (always a sad affair, putting the Harley away for the winter).  A male pheasant strutted across the road, forcing us to slow almost to a stop.  At the time, I was trying to think of an idea for my husband's birthday card.  Aha! I thought to myself, "he LOVES pheasants!"  I was also inspired by the beauty of the turning leaves on that ride.  So, I combined the two themes into one card:

The hardest part of the card was finding a pheasant stamp. I found this one -- it's a digi.  I colored the stamped image with Copic Markers, then fussy cut it.  The leaves are also stamped.  After stamping them, I colored the images with various Creative Inspirations Paints, then fussy cut them.  The green leaf was stamped with Olive ink, then painted with Green Olive CIP.  The red leaf was stamped with Barn Red ink, then painted with CIP Rustic Red (on sale!!!). The orange leaf was stamped with Terracotta ink, then painted with CIP Raw Sienna (on sale!!).

I just love the shimmer and shine in this paint!
You've spent enough time admiring my pheasant, go get some of that Creative Inspirations Paint that's on sale! There's 4 colors of the month, all at a whopping 33% off.  If you haven't tried these paints, there's no better time.  I PROMISE you won't be disappointed!

Make sure to visit the blog again tomorrow (and everyday) for more inspiration.  And, don't forget to enter our current challenge, "Inspired by: Thanksgiving".



 



Best Witches!

Happy Halloween, crafty friends!  Julie here from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers. I'm picking up an extra post today. It is pure pleasure to have an opportunity to work with these paints a little more.  And what day could be more fun to post than Halloween?

Those of you who frequent my blog and know my style know that I often make 2 similar cards using the same card base.  That's what I did today.  I cut one 8 1/2x11 piece of gray cardstock in half, made two card bases out of it, and built from there.  So, I have two similar in design, yet quite different in appearance cards to share.

Here's the first one:

 

 

I stamped my witch hat image, then painted it with the following Creative Inspirations Paints: Pumpkin, Orange, Light Purple, Royal Purple, Evergreen, and Green Olive.  I love how well the paints blend together!

In real life, the witch's hat is incredibly shimmery! I tried to get a photograph of the shimmer.  Photos just don't do these paints justice, but here's my attempt at it:

 

 

Can you see the shimmer on that hat? It's so pretty it spooks me!

Now, on to the second, similar card...

 

 

I used the same stamp for my image, the same colors of Creative Inspirations Paint (Pumpkin, Orange, Light Purple, Royal Purple, Evergreen, Green Olive), but mixed it up some, changing the look of the witch's hat.  Both hats are fussy cut, then attached with foam tape for a little 3D effect.

And, here's another view of the second card, again trying to photograph the incredible shimmer of Creative Inspirations Paint.

 

 

I love, love, love that shimmer!

Which card is your favorite?  Or is that, witch card?

Here are all the paints I used. So pretty.

 

Thanks for visiting today. For more details about these cards, and to see what other spooky projects I've been working on, please visit my blog, Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers.  Have a safe, candy filled Halloween!

 



Wishing You A Beautiful Day

Hello friends, Julie here from Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers and I'm super excited to be here! I discovered Creative Inspirations Paint last Spring and instantly loved them for their shimmer.  I can't tell you how excited I am to now be on the design team for these wonderful products!  Let the fun begin!!

Even though it's October, I'm still seeing butterflies.  They were the inspiration behind today's project.  I wanted to make something with fall colors, but using butterflies. 

I made a fun card to share today, and used Creative Inspirations Paint on the embellishments:

 

I cut this easel card out on my Silhouette.

Here's a close up of the embellishments:

 

 

The flower looked similar to this one before I painted it:

 

 

I painted the crocheted flower with fuchsia, Turquoise, and Sage Creative Inspirations Paint.  The button was white when I started, but I coated it with Mocha Latte Creative Inspirations Paint. I love how it brought out the texture in the button!

 

 

 

  

I'll leave you with another angle of the easel card, so you can see how the wings of the butterfly appear to be flying.

 

Did you hear about the Creative Inspirations Paint giveaway? Here's the details from yesterday's blog post:

"Have you heard we have a few new DT members that will be sharing
their projects here on the blog soon?! To celebrate and waiting to see the new DT members reveals lets have a fun giveaway!! 
All you have to do is share on the facebook and here on the blog your favorite CIP color! Every Sunday for the next 2 weeks we will be drawing names for 2 people to win their favorite CIP color!
Each day you leave a comment on the blog or facebook one a day per person on facebook, blog or both your name will be entered into the drawing for each day!
That means you have a chance for your name to be added 14 times for a chance to win, if you leave a comment each day on the blog and facebook!
The 2-winners will be announced Sunday night 10pm CST!
What's your #1 favorite Creative Inspirations Paint color?!
Go!!"
 

For more details about this card, and to see what else I've been working on, please visit my blog, Muddy Paws & Inky Fingers.

I hope you enjoyed my first Creative Inspirations Paint project. I had so much fun creating it!