Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Sending Wishes

The colour combination at the Fab Friday Challenge really grabbed me this week.


They're very autumnal colours but here in Australia it's spring, so I didn't want to do an autumn card. I did think they might look good together brayered, so I sat down and had a go and sure enough, they blended together beautifully. Dramatic but evocative, in my opinion.

Once I'd done the brayering I then had to decide what to stamp over it! Lol. I went with a very simple design and layout for an almost-any-occasion type card. Here tis:


Materials used:

  • stamps - World of Dreams, Butterfly Basics
  • card - blackberry bliss, hello honey, whisper white
  • inks - blackberry bliss, hello honey, cajun craze, Versamark
  • other - crushed curry embossing powder, heat tool, embossing buddy, brayer, Dimensionals

There are plenty of birds around our place at this time of year and it's lovely to hear their singing and twittering - unless it's early in the morning of course! Then I'm not so happy!

I hope you're hearing plenty of birdsong at your place too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Monday, November 9, 2015

I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage

More Christmas fun today with some vintage-look tags. I wanted to use the Christmas Greetings thinlit dies in an antique style while still keeping a simple design that is not too busy, so here is what I came up with.


For this one I stamped the music notes on very vanilla using tip top taupe ink; all the edges are also sponged with taupe. The lace and ribbon were added next and then it was all adhered to a taupe tag. The poinsettia was cut in vanilla also, with pearls for the centre and real red accents. Vanilla thick bakers twine was used for the tie.


Here I've used some gorgeous holly papers (non SU) and added a piece of vellum over the top for my die cut to sit on. The holly leaves are actually the poinsettia die again (in always artichoke) and the berry is a 1/2" circle punch, shaped and curled with a dimensional underneath.




Vellum layer over paper again for this one, and I've used an extra layer of gold glitter card on the bauble.

Each tag has a plain co-ordinating colour on the reverse side for the To, From part to be written. I know a few of my ladies are going to adore these, so it will be lots of fun making them in class. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, November 8, 2015

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Christmas is certainly in the air at my place lately; I've been making Christmas cards, tags and boxes. My primary school teacher daughter put the idea in my head for a Santa box and once I'd made that, I couldn't resist making more!

Here they are:





Are they adorable or what?

Materials used:
Santa - curvy keepsake box die; Big Shot; card in real red, basic black, whisper white and gold glitter; gold ribbon; black rhinestones, retired petite curvy label punch; Good Greetings stamp set
Elf - curvy keepsake box die; Big Shot; card in garden green, basic black, and white glitter; red rhinestones, retired 5 point flower punch, retired petite curvy label punch
Rudolph - curvy keepsake box die; Big Shot; card in chocolate chip, whisper white, basic black and red glitter; bird punch (wing for ears); non SU tree branch die; Dimensionals


Very simple to put together but so cute and effective - what more could you possibly want?

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez 

Saturday, November 7, 2015

The Sponges Have It

I was in Sponging Heaven yesterday making some Christmas cards for my ladies to do in class. Rather than our usual stamp-a-stack making ten cards, these are one-off cards for those special folks  who deserve that extra time and attention - you know who I mean.

For the first two cards I borrowed from the creative genius of others but did give the cards a little tweak of my own. The third card is my own design.

Here's the first, CASEd from the genius that is Michelle Zindorf - surprisingly, not a brayered card!




I began with a piece of very vanilla and stamped the world stamp using early espresso ink. Then I stamped the swirl from Everything Eleanor using Versamark ink and embossed with a non SU embossing powder called Aged Ivory (it has little flecks of gold in it, just gorgeous). Next I sponged using crumb cake and then early espresso inks, rubbing the excess ink off the embossing with a tissue; that was then mounted on to a mat of crumb cake. Santa was stamped using Timber Brown StazOn ink onto watercolour paper and coloured, cut and adhered using snail, then everything attached to the cherry cobbler base using Dimensionals. Simple but effective! For the inside I stamped the world map with crumb cake ink and placed my card over it, pressing only in a few spots to get the partial image effect, then stamped the sentiment with cherry cobbler ink.

Materials used:

  • stamps - Santa's List, Everything Eleanor, World Map, 
  • card - cherry cobbler, crumb cake, very vanilla, watercolour
  • inks - early espresso, crumb cake, cherry cobbler
  • other - heat tool, aged ivory (non SU) embossing powder, sponges, aqua painter, Dimensionals, markers


Next is a gorgeous sparkly card CASEd from Cynthia Millan (she has a video tutorial HERE) that is incredibly easy to make; the pine is stamped on very vanilla, sponged and covered entirely with iridescent ice embossing powder. I mounted mine on another piece of vanilla, then on to the mossy meadow card base. The pine and sponging are followed through to the inside.



Materials used:

  • stamps - Ornamental Pine
  • card - mossy meadow, very vanilla
  • inks - mossy meadow, early espresso, Versamark
  • other - irridescent ice embossing powder, heat tool, sponges, Dimensionals


And lastly my new favourite trees (I don't know about you, but I am sooooooo over Lovely as a Tree after all these years!). I stamped them with Versamark on to a piece of whisper white and embossed again using irdescent ice, then sponged using marina mist and night of navy inks. The die cut sentiment was cut from silver glitter card and a few rhinestones added to look like stars. The sentiment on the inside echoes that on the front.



Materials used:

  • stamps - Wonderland
  • card - night of navy, whisper white, silver glimmer
  • inks - marina mist, night of navy
  • other - Christmas Sayings dies, Big Shot, iridescent ice embossing powder, heat tool, sponges, rhinestones, Dimensionals

We're also making some Christmas tags, so I'll come back with those another time.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez