Setting Sail

I was fortunate last night to attend a workshop given by local Dutch demonstrator Danielle Bennenk and spent a most enjoyable three hours in crafting companionship. Our project was a mini album using the Come Sail Away suite of products - how fortuitous was that? Full instructions and plenty of materials were provided to make and decorate the album, which I finished off at 'home' today.

Here's how my front cover turned out:

And on the inside are three parts for adding photos, ephemera and journalling. On the left a semi-pocket that opens up; in the middle three 'waterfall' flaps; and on the right, a small twist-and-pop surprise that I thought was brilliant.

Embellishments on the inside pages need to be kept reasonably flat, of course, to ensure nothing is damaged by bulky bits and bobs.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - whisper white, soft suede, Sahara sand, night of navy, balmy blue, Come Sail Away DSP
• inks - night of navy, soft suede, Sahara sand
• other - Big Shot, circle punches, bakers twine, metallic gold pearl, corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, fine tip glue, Tombow glue, Smooth Sailing dies

I love it and can't wait to furnish it with memories from our holiday here. Thanks so much to Danielle for a great evening - you can visit her blog HERE.

Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

Simple Monochromatic Sailing

Sitting out on the aft deck and admiring the myriad of boat styles around us, it's significant to note that the most common colour for sails and hulls by far is...white. Often with a touch of blue, admittedly, and even the occasional smidge of burgundy, but above all else is white. Which is why I've been bemused when colouring stamped images on recent cards.

Of course, the reason why I've been colouring them is that they've usually been stamped on a white background and naturally white on white doesn't show up very well. Still, it's something that has had me pondering. Today I put action to those ponders and came up with a way for white sails and white hull to look more impactful, and here's the outcome.

Love the co-ordinates behind the yacht.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - basic grey, whisper white, Kaisercraft designer paper
• other - stitched rectangle framelit, Big Shot, mounting tape, fine tip glue, white gel pen, Sahara sand marker

To quote Kath and Kim, "it's nice, it's different, it's unusual", lol. Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers

Kez

Huzzah!

I have been sorely missing watercolouring since discovering I'd been silly enough to leave StazOn ink and my aqua painter behind in Australia. The ink was easy to replace from a SU demo here in the Netherlands and that arrived late last week, but the aqua painter not so much - because let me tell you, not all water brushes are created equal. Now, much as I love SU products, I have to be honest and say (and I don't know which manufacturer they get them from) that their water brushes (aqua painter) are not very good. Every single one of my ladies who bought them had trouble with water flooding from the reservoir to the brush tip and ended up very frustrated. Eventually I had to recommend they purchase the brand that I had been using successfully for many years, since even before I became a demonstrator.

For this reason, plus what I consider to be a horrendous price (21 euros for a pair), I didn't buy the SU ones and today finally managed to get to a craft shop in the nearby town of Hellevoetsluis and found they had my favourite brand. Huzzah! I bought two (fine and medium tips - just over 8 euros for both) and couldn't wait to get back to the boat to try them out.

So without further ado, here's my first watercoloured card in a month!

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home (SU), Ocean Wisdom (Stampendous)
• card - seaside spray, watercolour
• inks - seaside spray, night of navy, Sahara sand, rococo rose, terracotta tile
• other - stitched rectangle framelit, Big Shot, retired embossing folder, water brush, mini MISTI, white gel pen, soft suede marker

You can bet there will be more watercolouring cropping up here in the future. Until then, thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

Life's At Ease

Life certainly is at ease for me at the moment, living on board our floating home. I wake to the creaking of mooring ropes, the gentle bump of fenders against the pontoon and the flap-flap-flap of rigging and flags as the breeze whips them. It's addictive, I assure you.

Here's the card I made which gave me my post title today:

Materials used:

• stamps - Ocean Wisdom (Stampendous)
• card - night of navy, whisper white, real red, crumb cake, Come Sail Away DSP
• other - marina sailboats dies (Poppycrafts), Big Shot, Dimensionals, stitched circle die, fine tip glue

I hope your life gives you some ease today. Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

Come Sail Away

My offerings today both use elements from the Come Sail Away suite of products. I resisted getting the Memories & More card pack for a while until I began seeing samples on blogs that I really liked. First up a very simple card that uses no stamps whatsoever, instead designer series paper and a trimmed-down card from the M&M pack.

Materials used:

• card - crumb cake, seaside spray, Come Sail Away DSP
• other - Come Sail Away Memories & More card pack, Dimensionals, night of navy marker

Another card from the M&M pack stands as the background on my second card and I have to say that the whisper white/balmy blue combo is stealing my heart. So gorgeous. Anyway, the 'rope' element is also from the pack, while I've added some DSP plus stamps and dies from the suite as well. This is still a very straightforward card to put together though, easily suitable for beginner stampers.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - balmy blue, whisper white, Come Sail Away DSP
• other - Come Sail Away Memories & More card pack, Dimensionals, Smooth Sailing Dies, Big Shot

Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

Best Laid Plans...

With a thunderstorm raining down on us this morning it was an excellent excuse opportunity to do some more crafting, so I scoured my Pinterest boards, took out my meagre supplies and got to work.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home (SU), Ocean Wisdom (Stampendous)
• card - whisper white, crushed curry, cherry cobbler, retired DSP
• other - stitched circle framelit, Big Shot, Marina Sailboats die (Poppystamps), Flying Gulls dies (Frantic Stamper), Dimensionals, mini MISTI, Sahara sand marker

Now that it's finished I've remembered thinking I should use a neutral coloured base so the sails and gulls stand out more. Hmmm, maybe I need to make another one...

Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

You Spin My Wheel

Ahoy! I feel perhaps I should warn you that all the cards you'll see from me over the next few months will have a sailing/marine/nautical theme, as those are the only stamps and dies etc I brought with me. My last post showed the first card I made onboard our yacht, SV Aurora Leigh, where I am ensconced with limited craft supplies until the end of August, so if those themes don't float your boat (hehe) then I'm sorry but that's what'll be happening.

As I wait for my order of StazOn ink and aqua brush to arrive so I can watercolour (see previous post for an explanation of that disaster), I've coloured again using pencils and blender pen. You may recognise the designer series papers I've used from - oh gosh, maybe a couple of years ago? Can't remember, but I do recall that I bought up a few packs before they retired because I loved them for masculine cards. Well, they feature Kerry cherry cobbler, after all, so what's not to love?

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - whisper white, night of navy, retired DSP
• other - stitched rectangle framelits, Big Shot, watercolour pencils, blender pen, soft sky marker, Sail Away trinkets, Dimensionals

Don't you love how a new product (the trinket) matches perfectly with an old product (the paper)? Me too.

Whelp, thanks for sailing by.

cheers
Kez

Like A Pirate

Ahoy there! Greetings from on board SV Aurora Leigh nestled snugly in the Netherlands. I've been on the boat for two weeks now and am settling in nicely. We've had our very first ever visitors - DD27 and her partner - and just after they left my craft goodies arrived. That is to say, the limited supply of crafting gear I sent over in a shipping container. Here they are in a nook in the saloon:

So, having gotten a few important tasks out of the way, I decided to do some creating. Unfortunately I discovered I had left two very essential items at home in Australia - my aqua brush/pen and my StazOn ink. Darn it! I can order more from SU over here, of course, but that's more waiting around for things to be delivered, ho hum. Serves me right. Luckily I'm reasonably good at adapting (nothing to do with a lifetime of making errors, why would you think that? Puh-lease; it's like you don't know me at all).

This week's challenge over at the CAS on Sunday blog is People and the only people stamps I have with me are mermaids and pirates, so aaaaaarrrrggghhh matey, pirates it is. Here's my clean and simple card (excuse the quality of the photo; I'll have to get used to the light on board for snapping shots):

Materials used:

• stamps - MFT Party Like a Pirate
• card - whisper white, granny apple green
• other - stitched rectangle framelits (Scrap Dragon), Big Shot, blender pen, ocean sequins (Clear Scraps), watercolour pencils, markers - Sahara sand, soft sky

I coloured with SU's watercolour pencils then used a blender pen rather than aqua painter. It gives a slightly different look but I don't mind it at all. I tried to give his face a sort of grubby/sunburnt effect which I'm not sure quite worked. And as I had to use Memento ink (because of the whole forgetting my StazOn fiasco), the solvent in the blender pen doesn't make the ink run like water would. Then, naturally - and just to add a cherry to the top of my forget pile - I found I'd also forgotten to bring glue with which to adhere the sequins. I think I should maybe walk the plank.

Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers
Kez

Happy 21st Lozzy!

Our younger daughter turns 21 today, so of course deserves a special card. She gave me the challenge of making it eco-friendly - ie using only offcuts and scraps of card, papers etc and nothing new. Here's the result:

I thought a black and white base, with bright colours to liven it, was a sure-fire way to go as I had tons of scraps of those. Luckily I also had on hand some glitter card colours that are a close enough match to SU's melon mambo and tempting turquoise. Watercolour card had been cut recently for some backgrounds I'm making, likewise I had an A5 piece of black cut already that made the box base, the stamp I used had been used before - the only thing I had to compromise on and use from new was some acetate to hold the balloons, as I had run out of stock. She said that's ok though, so I'm happy my card is as eco-friendly as I could make it.

Thanks for calling in.

cheers
Kez

Same Design, Different Day

Today's card is the same design as yesterday's. In fact, it's even the same piece of DSP, just flipped over to the other side. I am LOVING this colour combo of pool party with petal pink and whisper white - and yes, a touch of black and mossy meadow thrown in there for good measure. Some fussy cutting took place as you can see, but they were pretty simple.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird, Climbing Roses
• card - pool party, petal pink, whisper white, mossy meadow, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched framelits (non SU), Dimensionals, Big Shot, pool party Stampin' Blends, blender pen, pearls

These Bird Ballad papers are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous - you are most definitely going to want to get your hands on them next week when the new catalogue goes live.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Hybrids For The Win

Another simple but effective card for you today which once more combines the Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit with the Free as a Bird bundle. The DSP and sentiment are from the bundle, while the swallow and splotch stamps are from the PP kit. Aren't they gorgeous together? And in pool party, one of my all-time fav SU colours.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, basic black, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched rectangle framelit, Big Shot, mounting strips, Stampin' Blends - smoky slate, pool party

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Stepping Up Hugs from Shelli

I've always liked the style of stamps designed specifically by SU's co-founder, Shelli Gardner, so when her special Paper Pumpkin kit became available I couldn't resist.

For my first play I took the image that was shown to everyone and upscaled it a little - here's the basic card folks made at the SU events held in April:

As these notecards are the perfect size for layering on our A5 card, I "upsized" and added in a touch more pink along with some rose gold foil.

You may also notice the eggs in the nest stand out a little more - I coloured them with a white watercolour pencil. The die-cut flowers were super easy to pop out and attach and I also added one of the delightful bird charms (is that a swallow?) from the embellishments in the kit. I used more rose gold foil around my sentiment panel and added Dimensionals to everything for extra depth.

Given that I originally thought this brown card was the least attractive of the four designs in the pack, I rather like my finished product!

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - petal pink, early espresso, rose gold foil
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, watercolour pencils, aqua painter

For my second design I again took one of the notecards and made it a layer on a larger card.

The background pool party piece was spritzed with white shimmer mist before running it through the Big Shot with the subtle embossing folder, giving it a beautiful sheen as well as that lovely texture. The frame is new in-colour pretty peacock - isn't it gorgeous? This time I teamed the Paper Pumpkin elements with an image from complimentary stamp set Free as a Bird.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, pretty peacock, whisper white, vellum
• other - stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, subtle embossing folder, white shimmer mist, Stamparatus, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends - pool party, Bermuda bay, pineapple punch, pumpkin pie, soft sea foam

Again, in my third card, I've added some layers to dress up the kit contents, but it's still a simple and straightforward card. The sentiment is from Free as a Bird once more and don't you love the pink chenille cord? So soft and lovely.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - very vanilla, mossy meadow
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, Lots of Labels framelits, sponge dauber

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Whale Hello There

Two nautical posts in one day! Can you tell I'm gearing up to be on the boat? Lol.

I've made another project to decorate our boat - and replace the *cough* 'artwork' that was left behind by the previous owners. I really wanted to (a) use a distress oxide background, and (b) try out a new stamp set bought a few weeks ago. The biggest stamp in the set is rather large (it's 15cm long and 8cm high), so I began with an A4 sized sheet of heavyweight watercolour paper then cut it down a little. The open edges of my Stamparatus came in very handy to fit this mammoth piece in!

There's still a frame to find for it, but here it is so far:

Materials used:

• stamps - Whale Nautical Series (Pink Ink Designs)
• card - basic black, 425gsm watercolour paper
• distress oxide inks - peacock feathers, mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch, wilted violet (for the sea); tumbled glass, stormy sky, faded jeans, antique linen, tea dye (for the whales)
• other - blender tools, water spritzer, glitter epoxy dots, Stamparatus, sticky strip, clear embossing powder, heat tool

I stamped the whale images on the background piece and again on a separate sheet of watercolour paper using black craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. They're hand cut and attached using strong adhesive after I coloured them, again using DO inks. Using the thicker watercolour paper gives more strength to the background but also dimension to the stamped whales - they almost look like they're popping off the paper! I used more images from the set - the bubbles and swirls - on my background, added some glitter epoxy dots and sponged around the outside edges with night of navy ink.

I must admit I'm in two minds about the swirls - I think they make it a little more whimsical than I would have liked - but the space looked bare and unfinished without them, so...what are you gonna do?

Can't wait to see this hanging up in situ. Only 15 more sleeps until I leave!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Setting Sail

This week for class we're doing a Shoebox Swap, something my ladies enjoy - as long as I don't ask them to do it too often, lol! In case you're not familiar with the concept, each person designs and makes a card, then cuts the materials for everyone else to make it and puts all the resources - stamps, inks, card, embellishments, punches, etc - into a box. Then at class we sit and work our way through all the boxes and end up with a host of cards to take home.

It's our last class before I head away and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a marine themed card and introduce them to some new product from the 2019-2020 annual catalogue at the same time. Here's my offering:

I've used a new stamp set, new in-colour inks and new designer series paper. Some background stamping and simple watercoloring make this a quick and easy card to put together.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - seaside spray, night of navy, watercolour, Come Sail Away DSP
• inks - seaside spray, night of navy, terracotta tile, soft suede, black StazOn
• other - jute twine, Dimensionals, mini glue dot, aqua painter, Stamparatus, stitched framelits, Big Shot

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Faux Retirement

It's the 14th, which means it's time for another Stampers Anonymous team blog hop!

This month we're featuring retiring products and I decided to showcase a set that's a bit of an 'unsung hero' - ie the stamps we often use on our backgrounds but aren't the focal point of our cards. Such a one is Timeless Textures. This is a set that will be staying on my shelves despite passing its 'use by date'; it is just too versatile and one I reach for often to add texture and interest to my backgrounds.

For my first card I've paired it with another retiring favourite, Dragonfly Dreams, as well as retiring in colours.

Here you can see how glittery the dragonfly is

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures, Dragonfly Dreams
• inks - lemon lime twist, grey granite, berry burst, tranquil tide
• card - lemon lime twist, whisper white
• other - sponge daubers, Big Shot, clear Wink of Stella, mini dimensionals, distress tool, Detailed Dragonfly tints dies

Keeping with the retiring in colours, my second card uses some sponging and the faux tile technique to create a gorgeously rich tapestry for my focal point. 

For this technique I like to use an ultra thick embossing enamel as it gives a deep, glossy texture that looks stunning in real life. In this second photo you get a hint of its shine and depth.

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures
• card - thick whisper white, powder pink, fresh fig
• inks - powder pink, berry burst, fresh fig, Versamark
• other - 1 3/8" circle punch, post-it notes, sponges, heat tool, UTEE, white gel pen

That's all from me! Click on the links to take you forward or back and have fun checking out what others on the team have to show you. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez