Saturday, March 26, 2011

What's Enough Coffee?

This is my second post today and my second entry for the Just Add Ink challenge - just add stamps. Only stamps and cardstock allowed - no embellishments of any kind!

Regular visitors will know that I don't drink tea or coffee, but I do love making cards about them! Especially for my girls, who are both totally addicted.

I found this great quote and was dying to make a card with it. I've used my Take A Sip wheel together with the new Sew Suite set from the upcoming Autumn/Winter mini. My sentiment had to be computer generated - I hope that's allowed in the challenge! Here tis:



He he! That quote cracks me up! In my case it would be 'you haven't eaten enough chocolate until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running', LOL! Hmmmm, maybe there's another card there ...!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sepia Roses

The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to just add stamps - ie to use nothing but stamps and cardstock. No ribbon, no punches, no buttons, no DSP, no die cuts. NO RIBBON? What were they thinking? LOL.

Well, I decided I just had to take a stab at this challenge! I was inspired by a lovely scrapbook layout that I remembered seeing somewhere which had sepia toned roses in the background, so I got out my stamps and went to work.

Here is my first entry for the challenge. I am not completely happy with it ... my fingers are just itching to add things! Lace! Pearls!


Materials used:
  • stamps - Baby Blossoms, A Rose Is A Rose (retired), Afterthoughts, En Francais, Polka Dot (retired)
  • card - crumb cake, soft suede, very vanilla
  • ink - crumb cake, soft suede
I think I just might be back with a second entry for this one - something more clean and simple so I can live without ribbon!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Just a Dash

Just a quick dash in to thank Andrea and Liam for awarding me with a Stylish Blogger's Award earlier this week.


Thanks so much ladies, I am honoured to receive this. Pop over to Andrea's blog here and Liam's blog here take a look at their lovely creations.

I'm supposed to tell you 8 things about myself, but seriously am having trouble thinking up things you don't already know or that might be even vaguely interesting! I'll give it a try:
  1. the first record I bought myself (that's a stone age CD, for those of you under 30!) was ABBA
  2. I once flatted in Wembley (London), quite near to Wembley Stadium, so got to hear a few rock concerts for free!
  3. I didn't believe in single sex education until I got my first teaching job at an all girls school 
  4. From a quick count on my shelves, I own about 120 SU stamp sets! (OMG!!!)
  5. One of the nicest compliments I've received was from someone who "liked the twinkle in my eye"
  6. I won my husband in a card game
  7. I am completely hopeless at geography and science
  8. I can co-ordinate two hands to type at 70 wam but can't get them to play a piano! (go figure!)
I was also very honoured to receive another award from Cynthia and Liam (again!) - thanks so much! You can visit Cynthia's blog here to see her gorgeous work.
This blog award is for blogs that have less than 300 followers and is to be passed along to 3-5 blogs.


I'd like to pass these awards on to three ladies from my SU team who I find inspiring:

Many thanks again to Andrea, Cynthia and Liam.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Monday, March 21, 2011

The DH Seal of Approval

It's not often I make a card that pleases my very particular DH, so when I bought the a la carte stamp Sail Away from the upcoming mini, I had him in mind. As a sailing man, I had hopes that this image might appeal to him and that I might - just might - be able to make a card that met with his approval.

And I did!

As soon as he saw it (before he even put his glasses on, LOL!) he said "Oooh, that's nice!" and on closer inspection pronounced I had "painted it very nicely" - so what more could I possibly ask for? I have the DH Seal of Approval!

I used my trusty brayer (neglected for far too long) and followed the KISS rule - Keep It Simple, Stamper! Here's the card:


I stamped the boat first on whisper white card using black StazOn ink. Then I coloured the sails with my Versamarker pen and clear embossed them. The sky was brayered with marina mist and the sea with not quite navy, with a mask for the horizon line. I added touches of white gel pen on the spray lines.

Hope you have fun with your crafting today. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Edited to add: the StazOn ink did run a little when the Versamark pen was used, so to solve this you could stamp the boat in Versamark ink and emboss it with black embossing powder first, then use the Versamark pen for the sails and clear emboss them. Thanks to Kristine for enquiring about this. Happy stamping!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Now it's getting obsessive!

OK, you had to be expecting it.

It was inevitable, really, let's face it.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to many of you.

After all, what else could possibly happen, based on past performance?

Yes, you're right. I've gone and done it.

Again.

Made another owl.

Not just any old owl. Ohhhhh no.

An Easter owl.

Having trouble thinking how owls and Easter can match up? Well, you see, here's how it happened ...

... so, I was in the shops and saw those cute little hairbands that always pop up around Easter. You know the ones, they are white and fluffy and have cute bunny ears attached. And little kids wear them and look adorable. Well, my girls did anyways ... looked adorable in them, that is. I'm sure yours do/did too!

So then I got to thinking ... would a little owl wear bunny ears too? And go around looking for eggs hidden in the garden? Of course they would! No owl parent would deprive their child of that kind of fun, now would they? Which raises the side issue of whether or not chocolate is good for owls .... but I digress!

And so my Easter owl was created, dressed in a bunny ear headband and bunny costume and carrying a basket filled with eggs found in the grass.

Ta da!


Damn stinkin' cute is what it is! (YILM!)

Punches used:
  • bunny ears - 5 petal flower
  • headband - 1" circle, 1 1/4" circle
  • bunny tummy - small oval
  • owl wings - scallop oval
  • basket - owl
  • basket handle - small oval, large oval
  • eggs - balloon (non SU)
  • grass - grass (Martha Stewart)
  • branches - 2 step bird
Hope it brings a smile to your dial. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Friends By The Sea

Today's card combines two challenges: Just Add Ink's colour challenge and SUO to use a favourite retired set. The colours are
One of the very first SU sets I bought as a customer was Seaside Sketches. I loved the simple lines and opportunity for watercolouring and it is still a set that brings me peace when I look at it, so it was simple to choose this for the challenge.

Here's my entry:

It was such fun to drag out an old favourite set; I think I'll have to do that again soon. Have you used an old fav lately?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, March 18, 2011

Strawberry Delight


DD12 has a birthday party to attend at the weekend and asked for a card. I was told the birthday girl is "fun and bubbly, likes mid-tone pinks and bright colours". Then she picked a paper from my stash and that gave me colours, stamp set and sentiment right away! After that, it all came together very quickly and easily - I wish all my cards did that, LOL!

It's non SU paper but it goes so well with SU colours that you'd think it was theirs.



Of course I stamped a strawberry on the inside and on the envelope too.

Materials used:
  • stamps - Tart and Tangy, Something Sweet
  • card - pink pirouette, regal rose, wild wasabi, whisper white, non SU paper (stash)
  • punches - 32 mm circle, 35 mm circle, scallop circle, decorative label
  • other - regal rose ribbon, dimensionals, markers, dazzling diamonds, two way glue pen
Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St Paddy's

Happy St Patrick's Day to all the Irish out there!

DD18 is rather fond of a Guinness and has a fav Irish pub near to uni, so as it's her first year where she's officially allowed to celebrate with a drink, I thought I'd make her a special little St Paddy's something.

So anyways, I made a milk carton treat - one of the big ones from Becky Roberts' tutorial - with my first Irish owl. He's a cute little chappie in his tall hat! Inside the milk carton are lollies - green ones, of course.





Thanks for stopping by and "Top o' the Morning To You"!

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Baby Dino

While net surfing over the weekend I found a video tutorial by WonsuponaTime for making a cute little baby dinosaur with SU punches and couldn't resist playing along. Having made that, of course I had to turn it into a card and decided to go with a birthday card for a young boy.


Because I'd used wild wasabi for my dino, I wanted to use the wonderful Celebrations papers but they were a little overpowering. Solution? I put a piece of vellum over the paper to "tone it down" a bit so that my baby dino wasn't lost in the crowd! I'm quite happy with how it turned out - what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Monday, March 14, 2011

Dagnabbit!

I have an evil elf living at my place. His name is Dagnabbit.


This elf sits quietly while I measure and cut my layers of card, he does nothing at all while I sit each layer on top of the next to make sure they're even and fit nicely, then just when I think all will be well and everything will go on straight, he makes sure that when I get to the all-important sticking down stage, things go crooked! I don't know how he does it, but it frustrates the heck out of me and I call his name out quite loudly (and sometimes other words too!).


I think he may have some brothers out there living with some of you.


I wanted to make a Thinking of You card for one of my customers whose son is ill and I saw a lovely card by Adriel Hong that inspired me. She used the hostess set 'Because I Care' which I have had for some time but have to admit to not even having mounted, let alone used. (And NO, that is definitely NOT a sign that I have too many stamps!)

It's quite a different style for me and I'm not completely sure about it, so if I don't get any encouraging comments I'll know to not bother trying that again, LOL!!! Here it is in all it's Dagnabbit glory:


I've used cherry cobbler, very vanilla and early espresso with crumb cake for sponging. Sounds like a menu - maybe if I feed it to Dagnabbit he'll let me get something straight next time ...

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

More Summery Goodness

With this continued lovely weather I was inspired to use the Sweet Summer set again, this time in cherry cobbler and so saffron. What a pretty colour combo! The saffron looks very buttery and creamy against the cherry and has a really warm, homey feel.

I haven't bothered with a sentiment; I like to have a few all-purpose cards that can be adapted for any occasion.


My image was stamped on watercolour paper using StazOn ink and coloured using inkpads and aquapainter pen. If you don't have this cute versatile set, keep in mind that time is running out!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Which Came First?

It was a very full-on week at work this past week, so Friday was the first chance I had to sit down and create something. Trouble was, my mind was so full of ideas that it really was a case of 'Aargh! What do I do first?'!!! LOL

I prepared a couple of cards for my class next week (they're non SU, so they're on my other blog), then decided that even though I had well and truly missed the deadline, I wanted to have a go at last week's Just Add Ink challenge. It was to case either Danielle or Amanda, and there was a simple but effective card of Danielle's I wanted to give an Easter twist to, so here it is:


It doesn't look as good as it did in my head! Ah well. And then, because I had the gorgeous Sweet and Sour papers out, I made another card. This time I used Sweet Summer and So Happy For You, two of the SAB sets.


I just love the cheerfulness of these papers. Well, back to earth now - laundry to do!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Thanks So Much

Here is the thank you card I made for the lovely ladies who are coming to make Mothers Day cards for the Troops today.


Materials used:
  • stamps - En Francais, Medallion, Sincere Salutations
  • card - very vanilla, crumb cake, cherry cobbler
  • ink - crumb cake, soft suede, cherry cobbler
  • punches - 2 step bird punch, scallop trim border punch
  • other - sponge daubers, dimensionals, rhinestone (non SU)

The name tags have some stamping too.


I'm sure the canny among you have spotted the cherry cobbler used in both!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, March 4, 2011

Candy Winners

Thanks to all my followers. The names drawn for the blog candy are:

Monica and AGohl

Congratulations folks! Please email me here to give me snail mail details and which Sale-a-Bration stamp set you would like.

Cheers
Kez

Rollercoasters and Diggers

I have been riding such a rollercoaster of emotions since the earthquake in Christchurch last week. Some days life is normal; other days I feel so depressed and tears are never far beneath the surface. I can't read a newspaper article or see photos of Chch without crying. I found an article recently describing life post-quake in a suburban street - and was amazed to discover it was the street where we lived. It's here if you're interested in reading it. I simply can't imagine how the people who are living through this are coping emotionally and as for those who have lost loved ones ... well, I just don't know the words to adequately express my sorrow.

One thing that does help is the support and fellowship of friends, and I sincerely thank all of you who have left kind messages. Keeping busy is another help of course, and this week I have been finalising preparations for another Special Event for Australian troops serving in combat zones such as Afganistan, etc. You may remember that my wonderful customers and friends made over 350 Christmas cards for the troops last year; on Sunday we will be making Mother's Day cards to send so our Diggers can send them home.

Here are the cards I've prepared. They have been kept simple as we are making them like a Stamp-a-Stack and I'm hoping we'll get 200 completed. Most of the materials were generously donated by Stampin' Up!





I'm looking forward to a fun day for a very worthy cause.

I'll be back later today with the winners of the blog candy. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, March 3, 2011

An Award from Carla

I was honoured recently to receive the following award from Carla, a new blogging buddy:
Liebster Award
The Liebster Blog Award is given to bring newer blogs to light and originated in Germany. It's a great way to share blogs that might not otherwise be seen or ones you want to share with others. They should have less than 150 followers.

As a recipient of this award I must share the love and pay it forward by:
1 Creating a post where I blog about the Liebster award and reveal my 3 blog picks
2 Let the honorees know that I selected them
3 Copy and paste the blog award on my blog



Thank you so much Carla, I am deeply touched. You can check out Carla's lovely creations here and make sure you look at her beautiful embedded embossing cards and punch art hydrangea and lilac cards, they are GOR-JUS! 


I would like to pass this award on to the following talented crafters and encourage you to visit them:
  1. Jodene - I love Jodene's clean style and wonderful sense of colour and balance
  2. Barbara - Barbara is a new demo and new to blogging but her cards show she has tons of talent and I always look forward to seeing what she has created
  3. Heather - an Aussie living in Canada, Heather makes the most beautiful one layer and clean and simple cards. Her artistic abilities are used to great effect on many of her gorgeous creations.
My thanks again to Carla and I'll be back later in the week with my new perpetual calendar and Mother's Day cards.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Wow! When Did That Happen?

In January of last year I was really excited when my blog visitor counter hit 10,000. Now, somehow, in the past couple of days, it has slipped over the 40,000 mark! That is such a buzz and I can't express how grateful I am to all those who come to visit and take a peek at what I have to share. I hope you all enjoy your visits and gain inspiration, as I do from the many blogs that I visit regularly.

Many thanks also to those of you who are kind enough to leave comments - whether it's about a paper craft project or my somewhat zany sense of humour! LOL! - comments are always much appreciated and bring a small but significant glow of pleasure (and sometimes a chuckle!).

So I would like to give something back and have some blog candy to give away to my loyal followers. I have two Sale-a-bration sets to give away and will pick the winners on Friday 4th March. Be sure to come back then to see if it's you!

Cheers
Kez