Friday, January 26, 2018

No Place Like Gnome

Every year, as part of the Australia Day celebrations, the Australian Gnome Convention is held just a few kilometres away from us. Now, admittedly, I've never been, but I do love gnomes and so I thought it might be fun to use a gnome on my Australia Day card this year.

This little guy sure looks like he's ready to have some fun, doesn't he, with his jazz hands? LOL. The 'celebrate' die from SU's SAB catalogue was absolutely perfect for my card.





Materials used:
  • stamps - MFT You Gnome Me
  • card - whisper white, real red
  • other - Big Shot, MFT You Gnome Me dies, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends, Copic markers, Celebrate You thinlits, clip art, computer and printer

Happy Australia Day, everyone. Hopeyouhaveagoodone!

Cheers
Kez


Friday, January 19, 2018

Mish-Mash

The last few cards from my crafting frenzy are completely unrelated to each other, but do have some things in common: they all use new products and they all feature bold colours. Other than that? Not so much, but I hope you'll enjoy them anyway.

Here's a very straightforward birthday card using a new stamp set called Birthday Wit. This card is actually kind of perfect for my younger daughter, who is diabetic (sugar free), gluten intolerant (gluten free), vegetarian tending-towards-vegan (dairy free) and watching her weight (fat free). She's definitely not caffeine free though!


Materials used:
  • stamps - Birthday Wit
  • card - daffodil delight, island indigo, dsp (old and retired, no idea what it's called), whisper white
  • inks - old olive, daffodil delight, rose red, basic black
  • other - Dimensionals, MISTI

And I made another from the same set as well.


Materials used:
  • stamps - Birthday Wit
  • card - lemon lime twist, calypso coral, whisper white, Bermuda bay, Bubbles & Fizz DSP
  • other - balloon punch, white gel pen, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Dimensionals

You've seen a card not long ago with an adorable party panda - here's a bunch of 'em getting ready to party hard. The photo really doesn't do the card justice, I really messed up with this one *sigh*


Materials used:
  • stamps - Party Pandas
  • card - real red, daffodil delight, whisper white, basic black
  • other - Stampin' Blend alcohol markers, large oval and scallop oval punches, Balloon Pop-Up dies, Big Shot, balloon honeycomb embellishments, Dimensionals, Sahara sand marker

And lastly a bridge-fold card that's a mix of old and new. 


Materials used:
  • stamps - Lift Me Up
  • card - soft sky, whisper white
  • inks - soft sky, crushed curry, Bermuda bay, berry burst
  • other - sponge dauber, Up & Away dies, rhinestones, Dimensionals, rainbow builder framelits, fast fuse, banner punch

How perfect are those cloud dies for the 'bridge'? 

Hey, thanks for calling in. 

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Bird Banter

If there's one thing we get plenty of here in the Blue Mountains (and believe me, I mean PLENTY), it's birds. On any given morning I can be woken by the cheeky laughter of kookaburras or the strident sqwarking of cockatoos. I have bower birds stealing all my blue clothes pegs to make a nest and fantails and other small birds dive-bombing the pool for water or the insect life to be found just above the surface.

So it'll come as no surprise that I was immediately drawn to a new stamp set in the Occasions catty called Bird Banter. There are a number of bird varieties together with a few different sentiments to pair them with, and they're just so much fun to colour and use on your cards!



Materials used:
  • stamps - Bird Banter
  • card - soft sky, real red, whisper white, old olive, soft sky dsp
  • dies - thoughtful branches, stitched ovals, lacy ovals (non SU)
  • other - Stampin' Blend alcohol markers, Dimensionals, Big Shot, corner rounder punch


Materials used:
  • stamps - Bird Banter
  • card - lemon lime twist, chocolate chip, whisper white, watercolour
  • other - aqua painter, ink pads, circle die, layered leaves embossing folder, branch die from Colourful Seasons set

So cute! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Getting Inky

I just adore getting inky!

Sponging and brayering are my favourite methods of ending up with ink all over my fingers and hands, and the card I have for you today is a sponged one. In fact, it's an example of the Bokeh technique (pronounced just like bouquet, I read somewhere). I'm really proud of this card - I'm very, very happy with how it turned out and the colours draw my eyes every time I catch sight of it.



Materials used:
  • stamps - Amazing You
  • card - berry burst, basic black, shimmer white
  • inks - berry burst, daffodil delight, pumpkin pie, whisper white, basic black, crushed curry
  • other - Celebrate You thinlits, fine-tip glue, stamp-a-ma-jig, bokeh template, sponges

What do you think? Is that colour combination a hit for you too?

Although the stamp set contains 'amazing' in the same font as the die, I wanted the extra dimension the die gives, so that's why I've used it. You could just as easily simply stamp the word instead. This stamp set/die combo are both in the SAB catalogue.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

We Mustn't Forget the Blokes

If birthday cards are the most asked for in my classes, masculine cards would definitely have to come in second place, so I was very pleased when I saw a great suite of products tailored to the men in our lives. (Did you see what I did there? That's a great pun. Don't get it? You will in a minute - read on!) There's a stamp set, punch, papers, ribbon, buttons and embossing folder - what more could we need?

So here's some cards made using the Truly Tailored/True Gentleman range from the Occasions catalogue.




Materials used:
  • stamps - Truly Tailored
  • card - night of navy, tranquil tide, very vanilla, crumb cake, True Gentleman DSP
  • other - tailored tag punch, true gentleman buttons, night of navy corduroy ribbon, bow builder punch, mini glue dots, stitched rectangle framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals, embroidery thread, natural twine, simple stripes embossing folder, neutrals candy dots, moustache die, moustache embossing folder (non SU)

On the second card, I substituted the comb that appears on the sentiment stamp with a moustache. I covered the comb carefully with washi tape before inking up the stamp (if you cover part of the lines as well, just fix it with your matching marker afterwards), removed the washi tape then stamped on to very vanilla (this leaves a gap where the comb was). I also stamped the 'wishing you a dapper day' stamp that features the moustache and simply cut the mou out and added it to the 'classy kind of guy' one instead.

The corduroy ribbon is very soft and lovely to work with - and doesn't make that terrible 'swish, swish' sound that corduroy pants used to, lol! Boy, does that thought take me back.....!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez


Monday, January 15, 2018

Out of the Blue

Well hello! It's nice to see you! How have you been?

Yeah, it's me, back from the depths of 'no blog land', lol. I lost my blog mojo for a while there (almost a year, by the looks!) and had all sorts of issues with cameras etc - but you don't really want or need to hear all of that, you just came to look at some cards!

And I have plenty to show, as I've been carding up a storm to show my ladies some examples of what they can do with all the luscious new goodies in the Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogues. There are some items that caught my attention as soon as I got a sneak peek at them, so it's been tons of fun making cards both simple and more complex. I won't show them to you all at once, but will add a few at a time to whet your appetite and (hopefully!) have you coming back for more.

First up, I've got to say that I really enjoy packs of multi-coloured birthday-themed papers. Last year it was the 'It's My Party' paper pack, this year the Occasions catty has the Picture Perfect Birthday/Party suite with papers, stamps and accessories. The photo-realistic papers make excellent backgrounds for easy card making, great for beginners or those wanting a lovely card without much effort. Here's some samples:




You can't get much simpler than this one. Soft sky and berry burst make a great colour combo, don't they? I'm loving berry burst more and more each time I use it. I cut a double 'celebrate' die and then added glossy accents for some real shine.

Materials used:
  • stamps - none
  • card - soft sky, berry burst, Picture Perfect Party dsp
  • other - Celebrate You thinlits, Big Shot, fine-tip glue, Glossy Accents

The same die has been used on the next card, this time sparkled up and with the added cuteness of a panda, another freebie in the SAB catty.



Materials used:
  • stamps - Party Pandas
  • card - Bermuda bay, basic black, Picture Perfect Party dsp
  • other - balloon punch, black baker's twine, clear Wink of Stella, fine-tip glue, Dimensionals, white gel pen

And my third sample has plenty of my second-favourite 2017-2019 in-colour, Lemon Lime Twist (which I almost always think of as lemon lime splice - for those of you not in Australia, this is the name of a fruity ice block).



Materials used:
  • stamps - Picture Perfect Birthday
  • card - lemon lime twist, basic black, whisper white, Picture Perfect Party dsp
  • other - stitched square framelits, Big Shot, lots of labels framelits, Dimensionals, mini gift bows, black marker

Aren't those papers gorgeous? Birthday cards are the most requested type of card in my classes, so I'm always pleased to get new products that mix and match with existing stuff too - makes my craft dollars stretch further.

My photo-taking skills have deteriorised over the break, so excuse the photos - hopefully I'll get better soon. 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez