Sunday, December 19, 2010

Blog Candy Time!

Hi friends.

It's blog candy time! I have a signed print from Che Gilson paired with a Vampire Boy Stamp from Queen Kat Designs to give away.

Winning is simple! If I can hit 150 followers by Christmas (blogger followers not networked blogs) I will draw a winner from the followers list to receive this set. It's an awesome prize and I'm sure it would make any stamper a happy camper! So.. hit that follow button over ---->> there and tell all your friends too! I will draw a winner if I hit 150 on the day after Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Some Tags...

Greetings! Tonight I just thought I'd pop in and say hello with some gift tags I made. nothing fancy but they are pretty.
This first one is super easy to make. I just cut out a snowflake using a cuttlebug die I have and then using light adhesive in little dots, I stuck it to the tag and used distress ink to "stipple" around it. Then I removed the snowflake and used my adhesive remover (EK Success) to take off any adhesive left. Next I used the corner of a foam pad to rub some Broken China ink onto the snowflake and I added Rock Candy Stickles to it to give the shine. I stamped the ornaments with Red Pepper Adirondak ink and embellished with ribbon and some Cosmo Cricket letter stickers. Oh... I used Peeled paint to stamp the sentiment. :)
On this second tag, I aged the tag with some distress inks I think I used stormy sky and peeled paint (don't quote me).. I stamped the ornaments with peeled paint distress ink, the sentiment with red pepper Adirondak ink.. Then I cut out and embossed an ornamet that I have (Cuttlebug) I distressed it with the same inks and added some glitter glue then pop dotted it to the front of the tag. Added some ribbon and here it is! :)
Lastly, I distressed the tag with distress inks, again I can't remember the colors. I stamped the snowflakes with Faded Jeans Distress ink and the sentiments with crushed olive di ink. Next I heated the tag until I thought it was dry... Well, not all the way but to the point where I throught it was touchable without smudging! Then I sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. Where the tag was wet is where the embossing powder stuck. It's pretty neat! I added some rhinestones with me irock added to and from with a sharpie and viola! :)
That's my post for this cold rainy/snowy Saturday night. I hope you've enjoyed my tags. They are the only 3 I made this year! No fancy Christmas here. We are having a freind over and that's about it. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest new year ever! Be safe and take care.
Vicki

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Royal Court Call

Queen Kat Designs (http://www.katstamps.com/) announces its latest search for loyal, dedicated and excited Royal Court members! You must be a STAMPER and card maker to apply. We are a stamp manufacturer that makes laser etched rubber stamps. We are looking for people who LOVE to stamp and can do so on a deadline with a smile!

Work Description:
*5-6 Hand stamped cards a month (photographs only, you keep your cards)
*1 Blog post a week on your personal blog (using 1 of the cards you made for your monthly quota)
*1 Blog post on one of the 3 Queen Kat Designs Blogs (Whimsical Ink Sorority, Dark Ink Sorority or the QKD Company blog, you will be assigned to 1 of the blogs upon hire)
*Participation on the QKD Facebook Fan page at least once a week
*Check in on the Court’s private message board at least 3 times a week to make sure you’re up to date
*1 of your cards made for your quota will be for the Royal Inklings Magazine so you will need to provide a write up on how to make the card with a supply list.
*Once or twice a month you will participate in Triple Tiara Tuesday. (T3) T3 is a new weekly mini blog hop/challenge that we are starting in January. This takes the place of our weekly blog hops.

(Terms are 6 months in length and we reserve the right to terminate your term at any time due to breach of contract)

Perks of the team:
+Worldwide exposure to your work through our blogs and online idea gallery
+Free rubber stamps each month of your term
+30% off any rubber stamps in our online store for your term
+40% off any rubber stamps in our online store on the 15th of each month for your term
+You will be published each month in our online magazine
+And more…

Please see info below and take your time to prepare a well thought out application.

a. Make 3 cards showcasing your best work and blog about them on your blog with a link to the Queen Kat Designs Royal Court Call. (Cards must be new for this call and can use any stamps and products you want. Of course we are partial to QKD stamps but welcome submissions with any stamps.)

b. Email us the link to your blog post to: royalcall@katstamps.com with the following (all in 1 email please!)

c. Choose 1 of the cards you made for the call and write up a “how to” sheet on it. (Simple instructions and a supply list) To get an idea of what we are looking for, take a look at the latest issue of the Royal Inklings Magazine here: http://www.4shared.com/document/-LMRXnbw/RI_Nov10QKDpdf.html

d. Include the following information in the body of your email: Your full name, mailing address, phone number, blog or website address, email address. Current bloggers only! This call is open to anyone in the world.

e. Provide one paragraph about yourself telling us about you and make sure your personality shines through.

General Questions…

1. Would you say you are primarily a stamper or a scrap booker?

2. How long have you been stamping/ scrapbooking?

3. Have you participated in any other design teams? If so, please explain (guest designer, regular designer, for store, for manufacturer, for kit company), and if currently on other teams, please list those teams and your commitment. Please list the work load and the length of your commitments as well as names of companies.

4. What is your motivation for participating in our design team?

5. Do you currently own any Queen Kat Designs stamps? If not, why not? (Please be candid)

6. Are you able/ willing to make at least one post per week to promote our products? (At least one of these posts will be on a Tuesday per month; the one that is a Tuesday will be your day to host a challenge on your blog)

7. Are you able/ willing to commit to a 6 month term with QKD at this time? Do you have at least 3-4 hours a week to devote to the team?
8. Are you willing / able to help with extra samples each month? We are signing a lot of new stamp artists in 2011 and we will need lots of extra help on samples. Are you willing to help?

Applications are due by January 9th 2011 at 10am MST!
New Royal Court members will be by January 10th 2011 via email.
Send everything in 1 email to: royalcall@katstamps.com

Monday, November 29, 2010

Release Week!

It's release week here at QKD and hopefully you've taken the whole blog hop starting at the QKD blog here. If not please hop back. You dont want to miss out on all the new stamps we have this month. Off hand I can count... 30 and there's more than that!!! All coming on the market tomorrow!!




This is what I made with one of them. This is an image from my great grandmother, Beverly Cowan. This was drawn in the 1920's when she was a kid. Yes! a kid! She had mad talent!! We have several of her drawings out in stamps and we are adding to them!! We have even had a company copy one of our images and try to play it off as their own! I'm sorry but that don't fly with me! I'm proud to have my great grandmother's images in our collection.. Check it out...

I used the new Circa 1930's papers from Cosmo Cricket for this card. They fit so well with the image. :) The image was watercolor painted and embossed with black ink and clear embossing powder.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for the stamp release! Have a happy day. Off to Roni's blog you go!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Crafty Card Gallery Christmas Blog Hop

Hello blogging friends and new friends. Thanks for hopping along to my blog. I'm Vicki.. aka Queen Kat of Queen Kat Designs Stamp Co. I'm here with a fun card I made with some new stamps that are being released today at Queen Kat Designs!
When I heard about the blog hop I had to use this gingerbread man for my card. He's so cute! I used the new K & Co. Patterned paper for this card and some candy cane ribbon I have had for a few years. I colored my "man" with my Tombow markers (I love them!) and added stickles to his buttons and Glossy Accents to this trim, eyes and lolipop.

I hope you've enjoyed my creation. Please hop over to Jamie Fitzgerald's Blog

Happy Holidays!
Vicki

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

It's that time!

Why hello there blog friends! Today I have a pretty large project to share with you for my part of the blog hop. This is an easy way to create a fun mantle piece or book shelf decoration for Christmas. Or any holiday or theme for that matter. This is my big project for the year, we really aren't celebrating Christmas this year at my house but I wanted to make something new for this year.
So.. I went to the $1 store and scored these awesome silver frames!! I brought them home took the glass out and threw it away.. I lined the inside of the frame with red crushed velvet. To do this I just cut a piece of chipboard that fit the frame and wrapped the fabric over all 4 edges and taped it down with scotch tape then put the back of the frame on!
Next, I free hand drew the letters on some cheap chipboard I have laying around and cute them out. I chose some SEI Christmas paper I believe it's from the Alpine Frost collection from last year. *yes I use paper that's from past seasons, don't hate. :) *
Then... I got out all the Christmas stamps from this year from QKD and went to town. I stamped some of the letters, I stamped the deer above.. It's a grungeboard deer that comes in a holiday pack from Timmy. I also stamped the grungeboard "25" below. both the deer and the 25 have been glazed over with clear crystal lacquer.
for the top of the "T" above, I used some fake snow that I found on clearance at a craft store. It's just white styrofoam circles in a white glue/paint paste. I believe it's made by Delta. The white flowers are from Michael's clearance they are paper. :) I have more and I plan to ink those up! I also get my poinsettas from the $1 store! I layer them with primas and other flowers too. This one has a rhinestone brad in the middle.
To finish the frames off, I used some prima stars, flowers, glitter, clear lacquer rhinestones and other fun things. This is a project where you just let your mind go wild. It's really fun to start with something blank like a frame and go from there.

Now I have a winner to announce!! The winner from my blog candy from the Queen Kat Designs 4th birthday is.... Alex. She guessed Kondona as the stamp I used and she's correct!! Congrats Alex, I will pop the prize in the mail as soon as I can dig out of the snow.

Please visit my friend, Roni's blog next for some more inspiration.


Happy stamping!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Dress up your leaves

Holiday Greetings bloggers!! I've got a fun video and technique to share with you. I am running out of prima leaves... The pretty ones that have been glazed with clear, gold and glitter... And of course the lame stores around here don't carry them so I came up with some fun combinations to dress up my plain leaves I have in my stash! So if you're like me and like to bling things up, get down and dirty, then this is for you. Your guarenteed sticky, dirty and glittered fingers by the end of your play time!





This photo is of the last 3 prima leaves I have in my possession!!
This photo is the final product of leaves I got yesterday with my play time. I'm really liking mine better than the Prima's now that they are all 100% dry... Maybe I'm just partial..
This is a card I made with Santa's Helper.. The new Amy Brown stamp from QKD that just came out today!! He's soooo adorable!!!

Go.. Decorate some leaves.... Stamp a card out... and have fun!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Happy Birthday QKD!

I'm so excited!! My baby turned 4 today!! We are having a big party on the blog this week with lots of prizes!! And I have one special one here for you from my friend Che Gilson! Che is a fantastic manga artist and she's the one behind our Gothic Dollies stamp line as well as the Circus Zodiac! Che has graciously donated some signed prints to QKD today for prizes!! A big thank you, Che! I have paired one of her lovely prints with the Virgo stamp from the Zodiac Circus stamp line! This is the prize for this blog contest. :) So... All you have to do to win is identify the stamp on this card. If you correctly identify it by name, you'll be entered into a drawing on Monday and I will announce the winner on my Tuesday blog hop post for QKD right here on my blog!I made this card for my dad's birthday.... He never got to see it so I'm hoping he's with us today to receive his birthday card. :)

Ok my friends, identify that stamp!! Don't cheat by looking at all the answers above you.. that's no fun! Go to the QKD store and look for it. Please visit my good pal Melia next! She's another stamp designer for QKD! You'll love her post I promise!!! (I've seen it and it is cute!)

Whole hop order:
QKD Blog
Vicki- Here!
Melia
Shannon
Chris
Penny
Nina
Lara
Jules
Valerie
Jenn
Jan

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Turning 4!

It's been a long road... But we are making it! Queen Kat Designs turns 4 officially on Friday! I'm so excited. We have started the celebration today with a special stamp release. There are 6 new stamps and sets in the QKD store along with the November Get Inked! kit and the December Whimsical Ink Kit!

Jump over to the QKD blog and join in the fun. We will be posting challenges once a day starting tomorrow and running through Saturday. There's a $50 gift certificate along with lots of other prizes to be won! Don't miss out on the fun. Click here now.
The picture above represents some of the items I made for the challenges that we will be presenting you this week! :)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Happy Turkey Day!

Welcome to this weeks blog hop! I had a lot of fun with today's inspiration piece! Shannon always finds the most amazing photos for us to gain inspiration from!

Now tell me, isn't that just scrumptious?? Well, here's what I took from the inspiration.. I mostly stuck with the colors from the photo and not flowers, lol. I used the new Turkey stamp set from QKD that was designed by Shannon Rene at Lolli Pop Labs. For the flower, I took apart a huge rose I got at the $1 store and layered 2 of the flowers together. I used crystal lacquer to add polka dots to it and then I went around the egdes with rock candy stickles. It looks just like frost. I also added a dot of crystal lacquer to the eyes of mr. turkey. they pop right off the card.

Thanks for visiting! I'll be back next week with another fun hop project! this one's a real doozy!! Don't miss it. now off to the store for some shoppin!!

Take care and stay warm!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Amy Brown Stamp Release

Welcome to this stop on the blog hop!! I'm excited to share the new Butterfly Elf stamp with you today.

I made this birthday card using some pretty "nature" themed papers from Flair Designs. This was a fun "Elf" to color. I just had to give her purple hair, I think she screamed for it. :) On the spots on her wings, I used some black puff paint I had. They are really shiny in person. I colored the image with prisma pencils and blended them with gamsol.

I can't wait to work with all of the other fairies in this release! Please visit my good friend Wynneth as your next stop on our mini hop today. She's got something very special to show you!!

Until next time.. Happy creating!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Moosey Christmas to you

I'm Baaaaaack! Greetings to you bloggers. It's been an eventful week. The QKD laser machine went down a few times and I'm about ready to smash it in gazillion pieces. Anywhooo.... I went to a baby shower for one of my very best friends. Good times!! I'm here for the QKD blog hop! Did you know we only have 7 more QKD blog hops left? Yep that's right. You're hearing it here first! In January we will no longer have these weekly hops. We are switching to weekly/monthly contests! Oh it's going to be so much fun. The whole Royal Court is on board and excited about the change.

So.. Here we are with the 8th to last blog hop... and it's a Sketch challenge presented by Shannon.. this is the sketch we were to use:
This is the card I made. I used the new Moosey Christmas stamp set designed by my friend, Shannon Rene Justice at Lolli Pop Lab Studios. I'm having so much fun with her stamps!
It's pretty self explanitory as to how I made it.. but I'll tell you that the big gold "Merry" is some gold rub ons. I have no clue where they came from... oh wait I take that back!! they were in a pack of rub ons I found at DCWV's warehouse sale last spring. And you may notice a little shimmer on the "fur" of the image. I used my puffy fabric paint for it. It's actually pearl, very fun for this little guy. I added some black enamel for his eyes and buttons.

I hope you've enjoyed my stop on the hop this week! Please come back next week. Now you're off to Roni's blog for her stunning piece of art!

Til next time.. Happy Stampin

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Facebook Contest!

Hi again friends!! I hope you're having an awesome day! I just posted a contest on the QKD Facebook Fan page. It's in celebration of the new Amy Brown stamps coming out next Wednesday, Nov 10th! The Royal Court is bursting at the seams to reveal these stamps to you so I figured I'd get a good healthy contest going!!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

It's new stamp day!

Hello again bloggers! Wow 2 days in a ROW? That's got to be a record for me!! lol!

I'm here with some new stamps from QKD today!! They are from our new stamp designer, Valarie Wade. Yeah, you may have seen her at other stores, but we have her now and the designs she's sending me are just as cute as a button!!

Here's a card I made with the Christmas Kitties stamp set. This little kitty makes me wanna snuggle with my zoo of cats. :) She's so cute and fuzzy. I used my tombow markers to color her up and I'm kinda happy with the way she turned out. I'm not a pro at coloring with markers by any means but I think it's cute. :) I used white floc on her hat brim and poof. and then some tan flock on her tail.

I busted out my lil Jamone sewing machine for this card, that thing is soooooo noisey!! If I'd have known it I wouldn't have bought it but it is a little bit more portable than my trusty Singer. I love sewing on cards. I dont know why I dont do it more. I used some nestibility scalloped circes and then pierced some holes in the scallops with my paper piercer. Added some stickles to the "envelope flap" and viola it was done!

Come over and check out the rest of the new stamps!! We have kicked off the holiday crafting at QKD, you can too!

Happy Stamping!
Vicki

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

New Stampies!!

Hi bloggers!!



It's so good to be back in action and I'm happy to announce that I'll be here every week at least this month with a blog post!! I promise!!!! If I'm not I'll have to just delete my blog. lol



Today I'm elated to be on the Queen Kat Designs blog hop! I have a new stamp from Shannon Rene' at Lolli Pop Lab Studios here at QKD! It's called the 3 Kings. And it's super cute! Shannon you are my idol today!! these cutie pies are so fun to stamp with.

First let me share the sketch that I was challenged to use this week by my very good friend, Shannon Hawakins.. who BTW just got married.. Congrats girly!
This is the brightest Christmas card I think I've ever made! I got this pack of paper from Hobby Lobby like 5 years ago and haven't really used it much and I just thought it looked fun with the penguins!
I used my new IRock thingy from... ok so the name of the company escapes me at the moment! I have to say I wasn't sure I'd like it but I'm a total gadget head and have to have the latest in handheld tools. :) The stones are expensive but they are nice to work with and very clean!! no messy glue.

Anywho... what do you think of the penguins??? Let me know and I'll draw for a winner of 1 at the end of the week. The stamp will be available for purchase tomorrow at the QKD store.

Take care and please visit Roni Johnson next on our amazing blog hop!!

Happy Stamping!! And GO VOTE!!! Your vote counts!
Vicki

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Lolli Pop Labs Blog Hop by QKD

Greetings bloggers!! If you've come from Chris' blog you're on the right track for the new stamp release blog hop! If not, please start back at the QKD blog for all the fun creations.




I'm so proud to be on this blog hop today with some of the best stampers out there! The gals on this hop really inspire me and I'm happy to be amongst their talent today. Today I'm here to share a new stamp with you from our new collection called Lolli Pop labs at QKD. This little gal is "Lady in Waiting!

I love this stamp!! I am having a great time coloring her up in different ways. Isn't she a hoot?? For this card, I added a black piece of cardstock to the front of a white card base then embossed a piece of pink cardstock and punched the edges with an EK Success edge punch and adhered it to the front of the card.

Next, I cut a strip of some velvet paper and punched the edge of the paper and layered it to the front of the card. Then I added some ribbon to that. I stamped my image and colored it, matted it on some purple cardstock and pop dotted it to the front of my card. Then for fun I added some glitter glue to the toilet and toilet paper. :)
This is just a close up of the image. :) I laugh each time I see this image!! I hope you'll continue on the hop with us today. Please visit Katrina's blog next.

Have a happy stampy day!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

We have a winner....

and she is...


Congrats! pjritsema is the winner of the Autumn stamp set from Queen Kat Designs from the blog hop this past week.

Congrats. Please send me your mailing address and I'll have it shipped right out! info @ katstamps . com

Thank you to everyone who participated in the blog hop it was a blast to see all your creations!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Public Blog Hop Today!

Hey there bloggers! I'm here with the public blog hop for Queen Kat Designs. If you haven't come for the hop, please stop by the QKD blog and start the hop over. There's lots of fun things to see. the theme for today is Fall. So I made a fun Fall card to share. I used last year's November Get Inked! Kit stamps drawn by Irene Tan for the card.


I'm going to be releasing these stamps today at the QKD store in honor of the Fall Blog hop! Leave a comment here and you'll be entered to win this set for FREE! Tell me what you love about Fall, and if you don't like Fall, what's your favorite season and why.

Thanks for coming!! The next stop on your hop is.. Kat Blue

Happy Hopping!

The entire hop order is:
Queen Kat Designs: http://qkd.blogspot.com/
Shannon Hawkins: http://shannonssentiments.blogspot.com/
Jenny Johnson: http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Whimsical Ink Sorority: http://whimsicalinksorority.blogspot.com/
Jessica Griffin: http://www.canyoupixelthis.com/
Vicki Douglas: http://qksc.blogspot.com/ -- You're here!
Kat Blue: http://www.kateblue.blogspot.com/
Jeanie Dickinson: http://jeaniesdesigns.blogspot.com/
Dark Ink Sorority: http://darkinksorority.blogspot.com/
Charlene Cundy: http://ccundy.blogspot.com/
Loretta Rodger: http://www.msrhetta.blogspot.com/ - Please note that Loretta is out of town and can not ammend her hop order and we had someone drop out at the last minute. Please visit Bonnie after Loretta. Thank you.
Bonnie Rose: http://alifeunrehearsed2.blogspot.com/
Jill: http://thescrapoholic.blogspot.com/
Nina Patena: http://pasigmom.blogspot.com/
Kapree Clark: http://craftyvamp9.blogspot.com/
Ibis Arrastia: http://smilesbyibis.blogspot.com/
Penny Hartley: http://penny-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/
Nancy Yankowski http://thetrinketcollector.blogspot.com/
Shaunery Wharton http://shaunerysblog.blogspot.com/
Terri Sproul: http://terrisproul.blogspot.com/
Lara Bandanas: http://youwantthecookie.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Thank You to my Royal Court

I would like to take a moment to that the Royal Court at Queen Kat Designs for all of their help this past year. It's been a huge struggle for me to keep things floating here while trying to help my family. The Royal Court has taken on a lot of extra work that normally shouldn't be their job but without any groans or grumbles they constantly emailed me and asked if there was something I needed help with.

I can not tell you what an amazing group of women the court is.. I would like to give props to:
Jules Diley.. our fearless leader
Penny Hartley
Shannon Hawkins
Nina Patena
Wynneth Happer
Lara Badanas
Roni Johnson
Alex Lundgren.. who's leaving on Oct 31st
Meredith Winston.. a former member of the team

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and some of you continue to do for me and the company. I'm proud to have you!

Vicki

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I'm alive

hi blog readers.. I'm not sure how many of you are still with me it's been almost 3 months since my last post. As you know my dad has been battling multiple cancers for the last 3 years. on August 5th at 2:39pm we said goodbye for the last time. He was in so much pain at the end. I'm so thankful that hospice came in to help the last 2 weeks. I know you don't personally know my dad but let me tell you a little bit about him.. My dad, Scott Douglas was the most caring loving person I've ever met. He was in the Air Force and later became a machinest owning his own business for almost 20 years. He was a competition shooting champion holding some state records in Utah. We loved to spend time together laughing and doing things like camping, fishing and just plain old hanging out.

My dad was 49 when he passed away. He was only a month and half from his 50th birthday. Next week on the 22nd we will celebrate his birthday.

I'm sorry you guys.. I just can't write anymore. Once I pulled up the picture I started crying and I can't seem to stop. I haven't seen this picture in a couple years. This was taken in October 2007 after we shut down his machine shop because that's what caused his cancer.

I hope to be back to blogging soon. I need an outlet. For now take care and be safe.

Vicki

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Not again!

Wow time has flown by me! I haven't blogged in so long. I'm very sorry to my followers. This past month has brought some real highs and lows... As you know my dad is fighting multiple types of cancer right now... I found him in a confused state and not breathing right in early june. He was taken to the hospital and spent a little over a week there. He has been diagnosed with blood clots in the lungs and in his back. I almost lost him. They say if I hadn't found him when I did he'd be gone. I'm so thankful for the gift I've been given with my dad.
The good news.....
Queen Kat Designs is coming out with a new line... It's a fun and funky collection of all my favorite things... distressed, rock n roll, industrial and graffiti. The collection includes DIY distress stamps that you can use to distress things that aren't distressed already like this flower....

For this pretty blue flower I used the new Tattered Floral die cut from Tim Holtz.. I glued pages from an old book to some chipboard and cut them out. I stamped them with one of the new distress stamps and inked them up with Broken China and Faded Jeans distress inks. I've been making my own paint daubbers lately and used one of them here. It's kind of a brassy red. I think the correct name is Ruby Red Metallic.. (I'll blog them soon)

Then I just free hand cut the stem and leaves and used Crushed Olive distress ink to color them up.

I will have more sneek peeks for the new Studio 77 line soon. The whole collection (the beginning of the collection anyway) will be released on July 7th with the rest of the CHA releases.

Stop by and save up to 60% now at QKD.

Till next time,
Vicki

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Diamond, Diamond- lie to me baby

Welcome!!! I'm so excited to share this card with you today. She's a bling princess if I ever did see one.
This is one of our new releases in the "Sin Bonnet Sue" Collection. I've used some icey colors on this card with lots of bling. The purple background is actually metallic cardstock that's been embossed with the Cuttlebug Diamond Plate embossing folder.

And as I said on Monday's post, I am showcasing the bracket template I made... Well ok... now that I look at it, this is a different bracket than I used on Monday... But hey, it's a bracket. lol. The blue paper is from Pink Paislee I believe. I hand dyed the lace on this card as well. I used the Dusty Concord Distress Ink and my foam applicator for this lace.

The saying on this card just cracks me up: "Diamond, Diamond in my hand... how much money will you command? Like she's a diamond mafia momma. :)

Now hop over to Shannon as she reveals another new release.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

New Stuff...

Hi guys!! long time no blog.. I'm so bad at this blogging thing! I really wish I could find that 25th hour. Anywhoo.. I'm here now. I have a new QKD release to share with you. I surprised everyone, even the Royal Court today with a new release by Che! She's called Seraphim and she's a "paper doll" stamp. The set includes: a parasol, bunny, shirt, skirt, dress, top hat, Seraphim and 2 hair bows! I had a lot of fun making this card. I hand dyed the laces, I sanded some cardstock, got inky, sparkley and topped it all off with some metallic silver cording that used to be in my grandmothers sewing stuff! What more can you ask for in 1 card??? How about a shaped edge??

I made a template a while ago for this "bracket" like edge and I've used it quite a few times now and each time it looks different! You'll see on Friday another way to use this template as well. So make sure you come back here on Friday! We are releasing 10 new stamp sets and having a special court blog hop.

Until then... Happy Stampin'
Vicki

Friday, April 23, 2010

And the SECRET is...

Hi Stampers!
Queen Kat Designs is proud to announce that we are changing our stamps from clear polymer to Grey laser etched rubber! That's right, REAL rubber stamps!! I am so excited, I've been chomping at the bit driving all my Facebook friends nuts with hints it's unreal.

This move comes for a couple of reasons.. #1 I can acheive more deatil in our stamps with a laser machine that I ever could with polymer. and #2 Health risks. Unless I catch myself on fire with the new machine, there's no health risks for me in making the stamps where as submerging my hands 6-9 hours a day in photopolymer and breathing the fumes didn't do me any good.

The Royal Court is so STOKED for this change they can not wait to get to work with the stamps. The machine just arrived yesterday and I'm still setting it up. I plan to have the rubber stamps in the store and starting to ship on May 1st just in time for National Scrapbook Month.

The stamps will be unmounted and will come in sets or sold as singles as we've always done it. No changes there. :) We will sell EZ Mount foam for you to mount your stamps on. It's on order and hopefully will be here sometime next week.

So... right now, ALL QKD stamps left in stock are 50% off! Come and take advantage of the sale and clear us out of clear stamps to help make room for the rubba!

There's still part of the secret that it under wraps that only 1-2 people know about.. I'm still working on the product but it'll be announced soon and will be shipping May 1st as well!

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know!

until next time.. Queen Kat

You're probably wanting to see the difference in the stamps, huh?? Can you guess which is rubba and which is clear polymer?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Busy!

Wow!! I can't believe this month is almost over and I've blogged once! Man I'm bad!! Well.... I've been keeping a HUGE secret that has to do with Queen Kat Designs and I'm just going to blurt it out soon if Friday don't come!! There are only a small handful of people who know and they are bursting to tell too. :) But I've sworn them to secrecy. Please come and join in the fun over at the castle. We've moved and I'm going to spill the news there first on Friday, so be one of the first to know and come join us! Here's some news I just put on the QKD blogs..

Come over to the QKD Contest blog and vote for your favorite card. Each month we have a card contest with a great prize. Since April is our birthday month for the Royal kit we are giving the winner a mini kit made up of things from our great royal kits!Also....

Come over and shop the QKD clearance sale. We are clearing out ALL of our stamps to make room for new ones. Don't be frightened, we are going no where! We are just turning up the greatness!

ALL stamps are 30% off!! Shop now for the best selection.

Have a fantastic stampy day!
Queen Kat

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Enamel Flowers

Hey there! Happy Easter.

I hope you had a wonderful day. Mine was filled with family and nummy food. Last night I ran down to get a Melting Pot from Michael's so I could try some of Suze Weinberg's techniques... She's the guest designer for Queen Kat Designs for the month of April. :) I was watching some you tube vids last night and came across one that made these pretty flowers using Prima's and UTEE in the melting Pot. So today I melted up some UTEE and made me some flowers! Here's my finished product...
I just dipped them into the UTEE face down and swirled them around with a bamboo skewer and used tweezers to take them out then cooled them down on my craft mat. It's very simple to do. These pictures do no justice what so ever! If I have some free time this week, I will make a video of how to do it. They shimmer and shine and are oh so pretty. Here are some more shots...
The teal flower was used on my Dad's Easter card. I want to try the technique using other colors to make them more vintage looking. I am waiting for the new Petaloo Color me silly white flowers to come out in stores so I can ink them up with the new Timmy inks. Oh I can see so many possibilities with them and my melting pot.. :)
Until next time...

Thursday, April 1, 2010

It's Blog Candy Time!

Thanks to everyone who chose to enter my blog candy here. It's now closed. Although I only reached my 150 follower goal on Facebook's Networked Blog thingy, I'm going to still hand out 2 candies!! I'm going to pick randomly from the followers of my blog. If you're the lucky winner, please email me at info@katstamps.com with your address and I'll get it sent out ASAP. Drum Roll please meistro.....

Networked Blog Winner: Jodi Burkhart Neal

Blogger Winner: Jessica Buike

How were the winners chosen? Point n click. I pulled up lists of my followers and closed my eyes, pointed and who I clicked on first won. :)

I woulda used the random.org but each time I pull up the list the followers end up in a different order so that didn't work out.

Thank you all for entering. I hope you'll keep following me and enjoy all of the crafts n things I have to share.

Take Care!
Vicki

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Lets Get Inky!

As promised.. Here's my tutorial on how to make your own custom dyed ribbon...
Supplies:
Hug Snug Seam Binding
ReInker (any kind will do)
Mini mister
Water
Non Stick Craft Sheet
Plastic Baggie
Paper Towel and extra water for clean up

Step 1: Put about 10 drops of reinker into your mini mister (If using a Distress Ink Reinker use 1 full eye dropper of ink) fill the rest of the mister up with plain water just to the bottom of the threads on the bottle to allow enough room for the mister tube to displace the water when cap is on. Screw cap on and shake it baby! you now have your own dye.

Step 2: take your seam binding (I work with pieces that are 2 yards long) and lay it on your craft sheet. And spray away...
In this tutorial I used the new Crushed Olive Reinker from Tim Holtz. As you can see the color comes out kinda light so you'll want to spritz away until your color appeals to you..... Step 3: Keep turning the ribbon making sure you get all of it sprayed so you leave no white spots unless you like that sort of thing. Some do.. but I don't it bugs me to look 1/2 finished.I take ribbon and rub it all over my craft mat to pick up the excess spray so I don't end up wasting 1/2 a bottle on my mat that will be cleaned up and tossed in the garbage.

Step 4: When your color is achieved, ball your ribbon up and stuff it into the very corner of a plastic baggie... This will help ad crinkles and creases to the dried ribbon.
Step 5: Using a paper piercer or needle, poke holes in the baggie to ventilate so in case you forget to take the ribbon out of the baggie for a couple days, you're less likely to have musty or moldy ribbon. (BIG thing!!! Don't forget!)Step 6: Cut the very tip of the baggie off for even more air flow. The ribbon will NOT dry overnight in a closed plastic baggie no matter what anyone tells you. Wet + no air flow = wet and musty= YUCK!
Step 7: Set aside and take the ribbon out the next day. Note.. The ribbon will not be totally dry when you take it out of the baggie. I just take mine out and kind of loosely undo the "wad o ribbon" and let it air dry another night. You can heat set it with a heat tool but this may relax the ribbon and not leave you with the crinkles.. SO.. if you like crinkles.. don't heat it.. If you want it flat, heat away. And you can even iron it at that point if you want it flat.

So I'm sure some of you are asking.. What colors have I tried? Well.. Here's a picture of some I made yesterday.. Note these are not 100% dry but they are done up through step 7.

Blue: Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass with some Adirondak in Stone Wash
Purple: Close To My Heart Hydrangea
Orange: Orange Brilliance (has a pearl shine)
Pink: Distress Ink in Spun Sugar
Red: Cherry Red by Memories
Brown: CTMH Chocolate
Yellow: Wild Honey Distress Ink (this is my new favorite color!)
I hope you'll try out my tutorial. I'd love to see what you make!
Now go get inky! :)