Friday, September 30, 2011

Matches

I don't often have a call for wedding cards, although I'm sure that will change as my girls get older! However, it is always handy to have a couple ready for when such occasions arise and I'm sure my customers feel the same.

I always think that when you can't tailor-make the card to suit the happy couple, you're best sticking with classic colours and sentiments, so that's what I've done for my two samples today. The first uses some of the gorgeous new Mocha Morning speciality DSP teamed with matching stamp set Elements of Style.


And for classic you can't look past a black/white or black/cream combo - and you know how much I looooooove black and cream! - so on my second card I've used new set Forever Young. The first time I saw this set, this style of card came to mind, so I've finally gotten around to making it. This could also be used as an engagement or anniversary card.



Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

PS I've used nestabilities dies for both shapes.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Hatches

The theme for classes next month is Hatches, Matches and Dispatches - ie baby, wedding and sympathy cards.

The Baby Bundle stamp set is perfect for "hatches" and here I've had fun playing with some of the new in colours:



Materials used:

  • stamps - Baby Bundle, Short and Sweet
  • card - wisteria wonder, very vanilla, so saffron, pool party, whisper white, watercolour, wisteria wonder patterns stack
  • other - ornament label punch, pool party brads, dimensionals, blender pen, aquapainter, rhinestones (non SU), oval and scallop oval dies (non SU)


Coming soon - Matches! Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Table Goodies

On the night we arrived at our craft weekend there were goodies on the table for each of us and then again each morning the stamp fairy had been with gifts! Here are some pics:


Tissues in a pretty box


Candles


Placecards with our names


Cute notepad cut in the shape of a flower with matching pen


This adorable butterfly made from a peg!

We also received a cup decorated with rub ons and filled with sweet treats, but I forgot to get a photo of those! We were very spoiled by the stamp fairy and it was such fun to come out in the morning and see what was waiting for us.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Daffodil Delight For Sue

While we were away on our craft weekend there were a couple of challenges, one of which was a colour challenge using daffodil delight, early espresso and whisper white. I thought the colours look fantastic together but my friend Sue found them an incredible challenge as she hates daffodil delight!

Here's the card I came up with, a Christmas card in these very non-traditional colours. I borrowed the new Merry and Bright set:


What do you think? Are you a traditional-colours-for-Xmas-only kind of person or do you welcome the challenge of non-Xmas-related colours? I know my DD19's answer to that one already, LOL! She's a red-and-green-for-Xmas gal all the way!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Weekend Wonderfuls

I'm sure you want to see more of the wonderful things we made away at our craft weekend, don't you? I just have to show you this gorgeous little box we made - I have already got a demand from DD13 that I make one for her, so I can see I might possibly be churning out a few of these! It was pretty straightforward to make - when I managed to stick it together the right way! - there were just lots of little bits and pieces, but we were under great tutelage.

Here it is all closed up:


And when you open it up, there's a "shelf" for goodies plus two little drawers.


It only measures 11 x 7.5 cm, so it's a real little cutie!

Another gorgeous project we made was a faux brick wall card. I hadn't tried this technique before and there are various methods of doing it, but I must say that it was nowhere near as difficult as I feared it might be. Once you got your first row of bricks down, it all fell into place quite easily. This is a really beautiful card, take a lookie:


Yes, each brick was individually cut and sponged! Not as bad as it sounds, and doesn't the embossing look stunning? The colours are river rock, pretty in pink and whisper white.

And lastly I'll leave you with a couple of cards I made using Field Flowers, a beautiful new set from the catalogue.


Here I've used First Edition DSP, new in colour Wisteria Wonder (teamed with Concord Crush) and the new Very Vanilla seam binding. I sprayed the seam binding with shimmer mist and scrunched it up to give a vintage look, then tied it in a double bow.


This one is in daffodil delight, basic black and whisper white. The DSP on the left is from Big Top Birthday and on the right is card embossed using the new stripes embossing folder. The sentiment is from Happiness Shared.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Monday, September 19, 2011

Spotlight on Inspiration

I made this card yesterday and a friend suggested it would be perfect for this week's Less is More challenge. I don't often do a card as minimalist as this one, but it just seemed right at the time.

So, in a thorough departure from my usual style, here is my card:



I've used one of the new Designer Frames textured impressions embossing folders and if you are having trouble with this one, here's the Big Shot "sandwich" that worked for me: multipurpose platform with both flaps open, premium crease pad, embossing folder with card in, second premium crease pad on top. That's right, no cutting mats at all.

My colour combo was inspired by a display of bathroom towels I saw recently at my local Spotlight store - I thought they looked stunning together, so that's what I've used! Just goes to show you can find inspiration anywhere!

Materials used:

  • stamps - Creative Elements
  • card - island indigo, cherry cobbler, whisper white
  • other - designer frames embossing folder, dimensionals

Hope you find some inspiration around you today.Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Mere Male

I made a bunch of male cards - always useful to have on hand - using some new stamps and colours as well as some old favs. Very sad that the motorcycle didn't make it into our new catalogue, but love the tie one.


Cased this one from someone at SCS I think but can't find who. Many thanks for the inspiration and great colour combo, whoever it was.



Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Antiquing Technique

Today's craft weekend project card is a bit of a misfit really. It's a combination of a number of techniques - I've used faux mother-of-pearl, sponging, distressing and vintage style - so I've decided to call it the antiquing technique! I was inspired by Sage Kimble's glorious distressed wallpaper technique. A couple of stamp sets have been amalgamated too - I've got French Foliage in there with Creative Elements and a non-SU crackle background. I also wanted to use light colours so picked perfect plum, Baja breeze and whisper white.


Here's a close up of the shimmer from the faux mother-of-pearl:


Thanks for dropping by and going antiquing with me! (LOL)

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, September 17, 2011

What a Hoot!

Another craft weekend project for you today and this one features owls! Well, one owl to be precise.

I was inspired by a great framed project done by Kim Badelt and then I saw some bendy fold cards, so I blended the two together and came up with this:




This is standard card size and all you do is undo the two tabs that hold the "arms" in place and fold the card flat. Brilliant!

All materials SU except googly eyes and picket fence and grass punches, both by Martha Stewart.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, September 16, 2011

NSU - A Crafting We Will Go

I can't believe today has finally arrived and I am at this moment off crafting with a small group of friends for the WHOLE WEEKEND! Oh joy, oh bliss! Sort of a stamp camp, I guess, but it's not SU based or anything. But boy, I have been looking forward to it for months and we are going to have capital F, capital U, capital N!!!!!

Here is the first project that we're making tonight. It's a cupcake gift set - a wrap-around box for a cupcake mix together with a matching apron-shaped card. This was inspired by a few I've seen around blogland but I don't know whose the original idea was.



C-U-T-E!

Materials used:
  • stamps - La La Land and SU
  • card - peach parfait, melon mambo, watercolour paper (all SU)
  • patterned papers - Kaiser
  • ribbon - SU (retired and current)
  • other - crop-o-dile

Hope you all manage to fit some crafting into your weekend too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Ongoing Sadness

A friend in Christchurch sent me these photos. Here is Cashel Street, which was the main shopping mall, looking down towards the Bridge of Rememberance.

Before the earthquake:


Now:

My heart is so full for all those who lost livelihoods, homes and loved ones. I know the living conditions for many are still horrendous. Please send them a wish or prayer that life can return to normal as soon as possible.

Thanks.
Kez

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Triple Layer Punch Tutorial

One of my lovely ladies has ordered a triple layer punch - and I had no idea how to use it! So here's a link to SU's video on how to use the new triple layer punch:

http://youtu.be/KShKpd7O9EQ

Hope that's useful for you Maureen - and anyone else who wondered how these things work!

Cheers
Kez

Monday, September 12, 2011

Coral Love

I promise to show you photos of my presentation at Sydney Regionals soon - there's just a slight hiccup as I left one of my cards with SU and afterwards realised I hadn't taken any photos of it! All I have is a terrible scan, so I'll see if I can get photos from someone else or I'll have to recreate the card.

Meanwhile, here's a card I made from one of the practice pieces I didn't end up using:


I wasn't sure about the colour combo on this one at first but it is growing on me and I'm liking it more and more.

Materials used:
  • stamps - Forever Young, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
  • card - blush blossom (retired), basic black, whisper white, Baja breeze patterned stack
  • inks - basic black, calypso coral, tangerine tango
  • other - brayer, post it note, Baja breeze seam binding, jewellery tag punch, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Regionals Swaps

Today I'm in "the big smoke" of Sydney at our Regional Training day and this year I was honoured to be asked to present a Workshop Wow to my fellow SU demonstrators. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be rather nervous so please feel free to send some positive thoughts my way! LOL. I can't show you my samples for my presentation just yet, but I can show you the swaps I made.

As I had very little time to come up with these, I'm afraid I resorted to borrowing from the genius of others - but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all. I cased this card from mamamostamps over at Splitcoast with a couple of minor changes and I love how it makes a bold statement in spite of its simplicity. Less is more, as they say. And I got to do some watercolouring!


Materials used:
  • stamps - Growing Green, short and sweet
  • card - crumb cake, very vanilla, old olive, watercolour paper
  • other - square lattice embossing folder, old olive satin ribbon, dimensionals, Big Shot, corner rounder punch

Back soon with my Wow! presentation. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, September 9, 2011

For Jasmine

The little girl that DD13 babysits for is having a birthday and DD requested this card, which I have cased from Monica Gale. Monica embossed the skirt panels with the vintage wallpaper folder but DD requested NOT that one, so I've used a Cuttlebug one with tiny roses instead and am very pleased with how it turned out.


Such a pretty card - it's so fun to do a "little girl" project again! LOL. Unfortunately it's a cold, wet and miserable day here today so the light's not the best for the photo but you get the idea!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A Feast of "Kerry Cobbler" and Embossing

For my Christmas stamp-a-stack cards this month I went crazy with embossing - both wet and dry - and couldn't resist putting my all-time favourite red in there too!


The main image for this first card was stamped with black craft ink and clear embossed and the crumb cake panel behind it was embossed with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder. Some gorgeous faux kerry cobbler satin ribbon and bow top it off just nicely, don't you think? Unfortunately the light has caught the embossing powder and it looks like there's gaps in my black, but trust me there isn't!!


The image on my second card was stamped with Versamark and embossed with new product cherry cobbler embossing powder (mana from heaven! lol). The flowers on the stamp go perfectly with the petals aplenty embossing folder in the background - well, you know what a matchy-matchy girl I am!

Materials used:
  • stamps - Welcome Christmas, Gifts of Christmas
  • card - crumb cake, very vanilla, cherry cobbler, soft suede
  • embossing folders - vintage wallpaper, petals aplenty
  • other - dimensionals, Big Shot, heat tool, clear embossing powder, cherry cobbler embossing powder, nestabilities die (non SU), satin ribbon (non SU)
I hope you're not all kerry cobbler-ed out cos I have a suspicion there might be more on my Christmas card horizon!!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez


Sunday, September 4, 2011

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! We're celebrating with a family brunch this morning and I think DH is hoping to go see Cowboys and Aliens at the movies. Nothing Hollywood comes up with will surprise me after a movie with that combination, lol!!!!!

Here's the card I made for DD13 to give her dear old dad. They are both planning to build a boat in our backyard, so DD picked a nautical theme:



Materials used:
  • stamps - The Open Sea, Best Dad Ever
  • card - crumb cake, night of navy, very vanilla, Nautical Expedition DSP
  • other - dimensionals, early espresso baker's twine, circle dies

I'm sure we'll get a Skype call from DD19 too, so DH will enjoy seeing both his girls today.

Have a great day and thanks for all your kind anniversary wishes.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Happy Anniversary Bunting

Today is my 22nd wedding anniversary ... goodness me, where on earth did all those years go? Oh yeah ... kids, mortgages, jobs, emigrating ... LOL!

I thought it was high time for an owl card and I also wanted to try out my new Petite Pennants punch and make some bunting. Love that pun! So I whipped out some brightly coloured papers (retired ones, haven't got the new ones yet but DH does love bright colours) and here's my "happy anniversary, Bunting" card:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Family Phrases
  • punches - petite pennants, owl, word window, modern label
  • card - pacific point, real red, wild wasabi, whisper white, basic black, celebrations dsp
  • other - dimensionals, black rhinestones, little leaves die, Big Shot, string

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, September 2, 2011

Happy New SU Year!

Well, we've finally reached that magical time of year when a brand spanking new Idea Book and Catalogue goes live - great excitement! I placed my order first thing yesterday morning and by the end of the day it had SHIPPED, so SU are doing a fantastic job to get our new goodies out to us asap!

Once I get a chance to play with all the new deliciousness I'll post some projects, but meanwhile here are some links to the new IBandC for you so you can browse to your heart's content. If you need a real live one in your hot little hands and don't have a demonstrator already, just give me a holler (see contact me over on the sidebar) and I'll get one to you.


To view the catalogue on line, click here.

To download the catalogue as a pdf file, click here.

Back soon with goodies!

Cheers
Kez