NSU French Country Thanks

Today I was having a play with some gorgeous Graphic 45 papers called French Country. Blacks, creams and rich earthy tones - sounds right up my alley, don't you think?!

I decided to try a book card as I haven't done one since stamp camp a couple of years ago. I got it mostly right, lol! I used card sizes from a tutorial by Diane Zechman here.

Here's my card:

 

There's plenty of layering as the stickers are made to come apart for just this purpose!

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely Little Labels (SU retired)
• card - basic black, hello honey, very vanilla (all SU)
• papers - Graphic 45 French Country 6"x 6" patterns & solids
• other - Graphic 45 French Country cardstock stickers, neutrals candy dots (SU), Dimensionals, black StazOn ink, sanding block

It was nice to make a more complicated card for a change - makes you appreciate all the simple ones! Ha!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Celebrate

One of the cards we are making in class this week is a cheerful birthday greeting which is a case of a February PCS card by fellow design team member, Cindy Brumbaugh.

Materials used:

• stamps - Celebrate Today
• card - basic black, melon mambo, daffodil delight, whisper white
• inks - daffodil delight, melon mambo, Versamark
• other - balloon dies, Big Shot, melon mambo embossing powder, heat tool, white gel pen, finishing touches edgelits, large scallop edgelits, white bakers twine, Dimensionals, ruler

I love how the daffodil and melon really pop on the black background. Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Essence of Love

I had such fun making today's card!

Inspired by the gorgeous work of Cilou from France, I made four layers for the main image, each one slightly different.

I stamped and coloured the image on my base layer of very vanilla, then stamped and coloured another three layers. This is how they were cut:

Materials used:

• stamps - Love is Kindness
• card - calypso coral, basic black, wild wasabi, very vanilla, Typeset dsp
• inks - crisp cantaloupe, calypso coral, Sahara sand, wild wasabi
• other - blender pen, Dimensionals, woodgrain embossing folder, Big Shot, sponge dauber, distressing tool, pearls, Sahara sand lace trim, crisp cantaloupe thick bakers twine

I think my ladies might quite like to make this one in class next month. They loooooove colouring and fussy cutting! 

This card is being entered into the Fusion Card Challenge. I've taken three aspects from the inspiration photo - the flowers, the woodgrain floor and the colour orange (which I switched to it's close cousin, coral).

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Painted Petals Tea Light

My third tea light card is an all-SU version using Painted Petals stamp set and co-ordinating papers. I kept this one very simple and streamlined.

Here's the cover:

And opening it up to the inside:

Daffodil delight and blackberry bliss are the colours used, with a touch of old olive.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

#truelove

I rather surprised myself yesterday morning, on two counts.

One, I made a Valentines card.

Two, it is a CAS (Clean and Simple) card.

Both of those things I don't do often! But when I saw the inspiration photo over at Just Add Ink, an image of my card popped into my head and wouldn't go away until I had made it. Here's the inspiration photo:

And here's my card:

Materials used:

• stamps - @SoSocial
• card - cherry cobbler, pink pirouette, whisper white, retired dsp
• other - full heart punch, banner punch, happy heart embossing folder, Big Shot, dimensionals, crystal effects, rhinestones

DH must have been feeling guilty for all the long hours he's been working lately because I got a card, roses AND Belgian chocolates for Valentines Day. And then he went back to work - well, you can't win them all!

Thanks for stopping by

Cheers

Kez

Paper Crafters Sampler Chalk It Up

Chalkboard art is a hot ticket at the moment and that's exactly what the February issue of the Paper Crafters Sampler is all about! My fellow design team members and I have created a wide range of projects with clever ideas for using faux chalkboard in your artwork. 

Here are some sneak peeks at the projects:

To purchase the February issue, simply click on the Chalk It Up icon on my right side bar to be taken to the PCS site.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Butterfly

This week I had another go at the tea light card, changing the design up a little so it's more straightforward to make.

For my butterfly I cut the base in crisp cantaloupe and the thinlit in early espresso, and then used crisp cantaloupe and calypso coral markers to add some shading to portions of the wings.

Pocket size was decreased on this version to better suit my tag, cut with the cute scalloped tag topper punch. Notice the gorgeous lace on the pocket too? Sahara sand lace to match my card base!

The box could also be used to contain other gifts, of course, rather than tea lights. Chocolates come to mind!

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Basics
• card - Sahara sand, wild wasabi, crisp cantaloupe, early espresso, very vanilla
• punches and dies - butterfly thinlits, oval framelits, scalloped tag topper, corner rounder, deco labels framelits 
• other - rhinestones, dimensionals, Big Shot, Sahara sand lace, sponge dauber, wild wasabi ribbon
• non SU - Graphic 45 papers, acetate

I've used the butterfly die again for my second project, this time soft and ethereal in vellum and teamed with new stamp set Painted Petals. Sooooooo pretty! Design cased and adapted from a card by Mercedes Weber.

Materials used:

• Painted Petals, retired sentiment stamp
• card - white linen (non SU), vellum 
• inks - wisteria wonder, pear pizzazz, Versamark
• other - Apothecary Accents die, Big Shot, dimensionals, silver embossing powder, heat tool, butterfly thinlits die, rhinestones, silver paint pen (non SU)

I know my ladies are going to love making these in class this week!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Bows For You

A fun little number for you today, the idea sparked by a card I saw on ..... yep, you guessed it ...... Pinterest! What a fund of inspiration that site is!

Anyways, here's my card. Why do the photos never look as good as the real thing?

Materials used:

• stamps - Tag Talk
• card - basic black, island indigo. tangerine tango, pool party
• punches - bow builder, label bracket
• other - satin ribbons (old SAB), white embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, polka dot embossing folder, dimensionals, calypso coral blend abilities

For the sentiment I stamped with Versamark and embossed with white, then coloured over a portion of the image with a Blendabilities pen. Love how easy it is to do that!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Tea Light Card

While browsing around the internet I came across a gorgeous little project by Marianne Skjelstad that I just couldn't wait to try. It's a card, gift and tag all in one and is quite easy to make.

Here's the front of my tea light card:

And the inside:

(Apart from the patterned papers I've used for this project, everything else is SU. Much as I love SU stuff (and I truly do) when it comes to pretty, feminine floral papers, they just don't do it for me. Sigh! I wish they would, I really, really do! Anyways, I've used some papers I had sitting around and you'll probably notice that I do tend to buy papers that match well with SU colours!)

On the original project, Marianne had tied some ribbon around the box on the inside (presumably to hold the tea lights in), but I attached a piece of acetate inside instead. I put the open flap of my box towards the spine of the card rather than the outside, as I find my flap is a bit loose and prone to come open and I didn't want all the candles falling out!

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Basics
• card - crumb cake, whisper white, rose red, non SU patterned papers
• other - deco labels framelits, Big Shot, sticky strip, butterfly thinlits die, pearls, dimensionals, acetate, scallop trim border punch, sponge dauber, white organza ribbon, bone folder

My thanks to Marianne for sharing her project and the wonderful tutorial for making it. If you'd like to make one for yourself, follow the link HERE.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

PCS Blog Hop - Eiffel Tower of Love

Welcome!

Some of the Design Team members of Paper Crafters Sampler are holding a blog hop featuring the Eiffel Tower of Love, the featured template from the January 2015 Paper Crafters Sampler, 'Lovable You'.

The iconic structure of the Eiffel Tower has been chosen for this romantic themed sampler, just in time for Valentines Day. Paris is the epitome of love and romance, so join us in exploring just some of the ways the template can be interpreted for your romantic projects.

 Simple and sweet are the watchwords for my project!

The first thing I made was my card. I printed a larger than usual version of the Eiffel Tower from MDS on to whisper white, using a laser printer so the ink would be fixed. My heart shaped moon was made with a mask, then I brayered my romantic sunset and sponged a little at top and bottom also.

To the intricate detailing of the template I have simply added banners, hearts and rhinestones to glamourise the tower centrepiece for the occasion. The colours and shapes of my card are reflected in the embellishments on my tower.

Materials used:

• stamps - Artistic Etchings (MDS version)
• card - crisp cantaloupe, basic grey, whisper white, patterned paper - crisp cantaloupe and wisteria wonder, white glitter
• inks - crisp cantaloupe, wisteria wonder, basic grey
• other - Eiffel Tower template, rhinestones, pennant punch, whisper white bakers twine, dimensionals, triple heart punch, brayer, sponge dauber, full heart punch (MDS version), two-way glue pen
• non SU - computer and printer, e-Cutter

Now it's time to move on and see what Pam Dotts has in store for you. I'm sure you will love her creative ideas!

And if you've just joined here and would like to go back to the beginning of the hop, click HERE to pop back to Melanie's blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Love Is In The Air

Happy Australia Day!

I don't have a card to show you this year - but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy crafting! Last week I was down in Melbourne, helping DD22 make some teaching resources for her new classroom (crafty mums come in very handy!) and now that I am back home, I am gearing up for my first Blog Hop as part of the Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team.

So come back later in the week to join us on the blog hop with the theme Eiffel Tower of Love. Not only have I been creating a 3D item, but I've been brayering as well - one of my favourite things!

Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek at my project for the January PCS project:

Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again later in the week!

Cheers
Kez

Totes Adorbs

One of the cutest items to arrive in the new Occasions catalogue is the bow builder punch - as the kids would say, it's "totes adorbs"! So when it arrived on my doorstep, I just had to have a play.

My first card is pretty much the same layout as the sample in the catty, but I've done a baby boy theme instead of birthday.

Materials used:

• stamps - Petite Pairs
• card - soft sky, wild wasabi, whisper white, subtles patterned paper
• inks - wild wasabi
• other - bow builder punch, dimensionals, subtles candy dots, stamp-a-ma-jig, large polka dot embossing folder, Big Shot

That then set me thinking about another use for a masculine card with a bow, and this one was born:

Materials used:

• card - basic black, whisper white
• other -  bow builder punch, dimensionals, neutrals candy dots, embossing stylus, sticky strip
• non SU - Kaiser jewels

There's just something about a man in a tux, isn't there? Even a card in a tux looks good! I read a meme once that said a tux is to a woman what lingerie is to a man - and I personally agree wholeheartedly!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Triple Layer Butterfly

A nice big brown box arrived on my doorstep yesterday so this morning I was excited to sit and play. I was dying to try out the beautifully ethereal Butterfly Basics stamp set and matching dies from the Occasions catalogue and this is what I ended up with for my first effort.

My three layers of butterfly are in gradient shades; I used pool party, coastal cabana and Bermuda bay. As with all delicate dies, you need to use some wax paper between the card and the die and I also ran it back and forth a couple of times in my Big Shot to make sure I got a good cut. That made it super-easy to remove all the little bits.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Basics
• card - blackberry bliss, Sahara sand, pool party, coastal cabana, Bermuda bay
• ink - Sahara sand, blackberry bliss
• other - butterfly thinlits, Big Shot, rhinestones, dimensionals, wax paper, embossing stylus

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Love Letter

Being in the mood for colouring yesterday, I dug out my Magnolia stamps and came across this gorgeous image. My card is rather an indulgence of girly-girly pink, ribbon and flowers - but I have to admit it is fun to do every now and then!

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais (SU), Tilda with love letter (Magnolia)
• card - pink pirouette, basic grey, whisper white
• inks - smoky slate, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Blendabilities - pink pirouette, skin tones, smoky slate, soft sky
• Copics - Y11, Y21, Y32, E50, E33, E55, R85
• other - Spritzer tool; markers - so saffron, pink pirouette, soft sky, Sahara sand; Big Shot; ovals framelits; distressing tool; sponge dauber; dimensionals; 1 3/8" square punch, owl punch, bird punch, pretty in pink satin ribbon
• non SU - paper flowers, hot glue gun

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Whetting Your Appetite

Here are some previous samples of projects from Paper Crafters Sampler to show you the wonderful range of items they come up with:

Don't forget, your membership gives you a range of projects with full instructions - some cards, some 3D projects - and each month there is also a template for a project such as those shown in the photos above.

Early bird pricing ends soon!