Color Burst Christmas Cards

Creative Team member Jeanne Streiff has combined the Hometown Christmas Collection with Color Burst to create two very striking Christmas cards that would be joy to display on any mantle this Christmas.

Jeanne says:

Hi! I'm happy to be here today to share a couple quick and easy cards using Color Burst (Alizarin Crimson, Merlot and Lemon Yellow) and Hometown Christmas Collection Set 2 clear stamps.

I sprinkled Color Burst (Alizarin Crimson, Merlot and Lemon Yellow) onto a stencil on watercolor paper and then misted lightly with water. I carefully removed my first paper and then put another piece of watercolor directly onto the stencil. Two different looks with a single Color Burst application. How fun!

Click here for a direct link to my blog post:

Thanks Jeanne for sharing.

DIY Color Burst Leaf Bowl

With online and social media sites full of great DIY inspiration Creative Team Coordinator Krista Riley used an image of a DIY natural leaf bowl and taking paper and Color Burst she created this amazing one of a kind bowl that is truly unique.

LEAF BOWL

Check out Krista's blog here for instructions on how you too can make your very own.  The possibilities are endless.

Thanks Krista for sharing.

Color Burst Wood Pallet Sign

Creative Team member Tracy Pounds has shared an amazing 'off the page' Color Burst project with us today.  It's genius!!

WOOD PALLET SIGN

Tracy says:

" I used this amazing Sunflower stencil from The Crafters Workshop. I would love to share the process with you.

Here are the items that you will need: Color Burst (colors shown below), Wood Pallet Sign (available at the LBH), stencil of your choice, water bottle with mister, clear spray sealer

Miss Tracy's How To:

First lay the stencil on the pallet sign wherever you desire.

 Next begin sprinkling on the powders - carefully sprinkle desired colors in desired areas. It's okay to use more than one color....in one area. It will look something like this as you add the pigment powders....

     

   

Next, simply spray over the powders with your water mister....If you happen to be vertically challenged like me ( I'm a shorty), stand up for this step. Move your hand in a forward motion while spraying and be sure to "Spray like you mean it" ...no dribbling water....you want a strong, fine mist. Once you have sprayed, immediately lift off the stencil....and LOOK at the RESULT!!! It's like MAGIC!!!

I used my heat tool to dry and then to protect my beautiful Sunflower (after the wood was completely dry), I sprayed it with a clear sealer to protect my Color Burst Creation. Sealing it will also protect it from the elements if I decide to display outside. 

 I'm in love with the way it looks on the wood....I think it's incredible and I can't wait to create more Color Burst Creations on reclaimed wood surfaces! ...among other surfaces...my brain is churning around lots of idea...LoL!"

Thank you Tracy for sharing this inspiring tutorial. if you want to see more of Tracy's tutorial you can visit her blog at:

www.misstracycreates.com

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you from Ken and the Creative Team. We are so very grateful for your continued friendship and support.  

Today Giovana Smith has create a set of cards using the Color Burst Powders.  

Giovana Says:

"Hello everyone, Giovana Smith here sharing a set of cards I made in no time! The other day I was getting ready to go to bed and had a great idea, so I decided to craft instead of going to bed. When I get and idea and I say I will do it tomorrow, things change and they don't become as my original idea. Anyway, first started cutting all the papers I needed it, took some of my Color Bursts Powders and let the magic begin. I put 4 colors of Color Burst on my watercolor paper and spritzed water, let the colors mixed, ten I die-cut the leaves. I created background with Ultramarine Blue, to experiment, I added some pink crystal salt, at the end it look like water spots, I was very pleased with the wonderful look!! "

You can see more about this project on Giovana's Blog here.

Thank You Giovana

Color Burst Indigo Moon Accordion Book

Creative Team Member Kimberly Jones has created a truly stunning Accordion Book with Color Burst and we are over the moon !

Color Burst Indigo Moon Accordion Book

Kimberly says:

"Hello everyone! My name is Kimberly Jones and I am over the moon to be a part of Ken Oliver's new Creative Team! To celebrate this new venture, I decided to create an accordion mini book using Color Burst. These amazing powdered watercolors are so fun to use because they literally burst into vivid, surprising colors with just a spritz of water!

This fun project includes Color Burst, Khadi paper, plaster cloth, glitter, and more! For a step by step tutorial please visit my blog Serendipity Vintage Studio. Hope to see you there!"

Serendipity Vintage Studio: Colorburst Indigo Moon Accordion Book 

Thank you Kimberly for sharing with us today.

Color Burst Card Inspiration

Today we are sharing an inspirational creation from Creative Team Member Yvonne Blair, 

Yvonne says:

"So excited to be here and share with you my first 'official' project for Ken Oliver! I am totally honored and giddy to be a part of Ken's Media Team.  

Today I am sharing a card that I made for someone who needs a little inspiration and pick me up in here life.  We all have friends that go through tough times and we want to help, or try and give them something to smile about right! That is the inspiration behind this card.  Butterflies are kind of my trademark...most of my projects have butterflies included..I find them to be a great representation of change, growth, metamorphosis and beauty. 

I spritzed my watercolor paper with water and then added some spritzes of Color Burst.  I LOVE the effect you get, it is NEVER the same thing twice! I added more water and more Color Burst until I had the look I was going for...kind of a Nebula type look.  

I did a second watercolor paper using the Ultramarine Blue with the Lemon Yellow mixed in...this is where I stamped my butterflies to 'fussy' cut out. 

Then it was just a matter of putting the card together! 

I hope you enjoyed and found some inspiration! 

Until next time! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

Yvonne"

You can find out more on Yvonne's blog at

www.yvonneblair.com

Thank you Yvonne for sharing.

Color Burst Christmas Ornaments

Today we want to share with you some amazing Color Burst Christmas Ornaments created by our Creative Team member Tracy Pounds.

Tracy is the proud Owner and Creative Director of The Little Blue House located in Keller, TX…just north of Ft. Worth. It is a fabulous Paper Arts Store & Studio.

On the Little Blue House blog they are celebrating a 12 Days of Ornaments Blog Feature… and Tracy has created these wonderful Color Burst Ornaments designed with pretty stencils from The Crafters Workshop and using the amazing Color Burst pigment powders!

If you would like to see the full tutorial on how Tracy created these fabulous Color Burst Ornaments, please hop on over to the LBH blog at

www.thelittlebluehouseblog.blogspot.com

Thanks Tracy for sharing these wonderful ornaments with us.

'A Cardinal in Fall'

Creative Team Member Buffy St John has shared a truly inspirational video tutorial on YouTube . Watch Buffy here as she takes you through the steps and techniques to create 'A Cardinal in Fall' using the Ken Oliver Color Burst.

Buffy says:

"When you see a red bird in winter, you will prosper in spring. When you hear a Cardinal sing, your sadness will soon be lifted. When a red bird shows up, help is on the way."

Cardinals are a constant garden companion to me here in North Carolina. I love to watch the male and female pairs come to the feeders and water features.

One of my favorite subjects to paint in winter scenes, I was inspired to paint these beautiful birds in a Fall palette using the wonderful Color Burst pigments.

These pigments are vibrant, intense and most important to me; transparent.

As a traditional watercolor artist I have found a new love...obsession if you will; Color Burst!

Thank you Buffy for sharing this awesome tutorial.

Family Business and Gratitude

“I sew a little prayer and a little good wish into every card I make," is what my mom said when I picked up a bunch of watercolor cards yesterday that she’d just sewn for me. And, that, just kind of blew me away, because I know it's true.

   

 As a "solo-preneur" I never know how things are gonna get done and I am really grateful that I can rely on my family for some of the day-to-day tasks that I need to accomplish. No kidding, I've actually asked my dad to help me kit and sort scrapbook paper. 

Lately, my mom has been helping with sewing watercolor card fronts together. And I could not be more grateful to her for help. I just love this image of her hands sewing (can you see the love?)...she's been a seamstress all her life, her work is amazing.  She's sewn window treatments, draperies, and accessories for homes all over the United States and been included in publications and house tours for over 40 years. And even to this day, designers and folks who worked with my mom in the past, tell me they always loved working with her, loved her designs, and often tried to figure out how she created some of her wonderful projects. 

So, I would have never imagined while I was in college, or busy working at my corporate jobs, that at some time in the future, I'd have the opportunity to work directly with my parents, in a business, almost every day. I am grateful for their time, talent and for their years of experience in running their own businesses. Most people don't get this opportunity and I am blessed daily for it, and it never would have happened had I not left the corporate world and ventured out on my own.  

The fact that these watercolor cards are even a class is also somewhat of an accident, it seems a few store owners had seen some of my Color Burst demos and suggested that a watercolor card class would be great...and it is, in this class I get to teach a number of Color Burst stamping and painting techniques, and I'm starting to get enough requests for the class that we're going to have to find a source for the cards...it's not like I can ask my mom to sew thousands of cards every week.  

 

 So until I find the source, we'll keep making the cards by hand, and each one will have a little prayer and a little wish sewn into it, and I am so happy to be able to share these cards with my students, because they really are handmade with love.  And I am so grateful that my journey has brought me home and given me the opportunity to work with my family in ways I never imagined and I could not be happier! 

Til next time, 

Ken

  

New Creative Team Announced Ken Oliver Crafts

I am more than a little excited today to announce a new creative team!  It's been a really challenging proposition and I am about a month overdue in naming the team!  Why?  Over 500 crafters, artists and bloggers from around the world sent in submissions.  

I was overwhelmed at the task...and had to call in some support to help with the decision making process.  

You know, if it was up to me, I'd choose EVERYONE! If you submitted art, and weren't selected for the team this time, thank you so much for your submissions, I loved looking at every single one.  And, keep in touch as we're going to feature guest contributors regularly.

I am so very proud of the team we've assembled...CONGRATULATIONS to all!  We have a very talented, well-rounded, world class team.  We have members from Germany, Italy, Canada, Ireland and the USA.  And, the new team features mixed media artists, stampers, card makers scrapbookers, lifestyle crafters and painters!  We wanted to offer a wide variety of arts and crafts "disciplines" to make it really interesting every day!

The new team members are:

Sharon Callis, Ireland

Krista Riley, USA

Nikki Davis, USA

DAKRI Sinclair, USA

Buffy St. John, USA

Zoey Emanuella Scarpelli, Italy

Diana Hetherington, Canada

Tracy Pounds (Miss Tracy), USA

Dunja Dücker, Germany

Kimberly Jones, USA

Laurel Beard, USA

Jeanne Streiff, USA

Jessica Frost-Ballas, USA

Yvonne Blair, USA

Giovana Smith, USA

I have extremely high hopes for the team...each one is so talented and I am so grateful that they've chosen to work with my products.  And I know that you're going to love the works of art they create.  

I started to do a bio for each one of them on this post, but I decided that we should "spotlight" each one of them separately to introduce them and let you know a little more about each team member.  I'll start the "spotlight" blog posts next week, so make sure to check back.  I'll send out Facebook reminders too, so you'll make sure to catch every post.  

In the meantime, follow them on Facebook...follow them on Instagram and Pinterest!  You are gonna love what you see!

Please join me in wishing everyone CONGRATULATIONS!  

I am telling you...this team is gonna rock the house! 

til next time,

Ken