Cardinal Rule

The month has gotten away from me and although I've had my Feb Christmas card planned in my head for some time, I didn't get it made before today, so I'm just squeaking in under the wire! My design was very much influenced by a gorgeous creation by the talented Emma Williams. 

Anyway, on to my card, which was so much fun to create I'm surprised it's not illegal, lol. Smooshing, inking and colouring - I mean, come on! In all honesty, for me there is no better way to pass the time - and it's cheaper and more fun than therapy!

Materials used:

• card - whisper white, watercolour, early espresso, vellum
• distress oxide inks - speckled egg, vintage photo, candied apple, black soot, rustic wilderness
• distress inks - speckled egg
• TH dies - cardinal, mini holiday greens
• other - Big Shot, Sidekick, starry night stencil (TH), glimmer paste (Nuvo), peace dies, red tiny pearls, craft foam, tiny  Dimensionals, distress crayon, sponge dauber, collage medium (TH), branch die (retired SU), stitched rectangle die

Phew! Glad I made the deadline! Don't want to be breaking my new year's resolution already! Now to start planning March's card!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Take Risks

If there is an age where you no longer have fun getting inky fingers, then I haven't yet reached it, lol. Today's card was a veritable feast of colour all over my hands, as you can see:

But it was worth it, I think. This card is for the Just Add Ink sketch challenge this week. 

It had me rather intrigued for a while, then I decided to see how it would look in a mixed media format and, well, here's the result.

This poor butterfly, tattered and torn, is still out there taking risks for the duration of its short life - kind of a metaphor for our own lives, don't you think?

Materials used:

• stamps - Attic Treasures, Remnants (Tim Holtz)
• card - crumb cake, early espresso, watercolour
• distress oxide inks - peacock feathers, evergreen bough, vintage photo, mustard seed, kitsch flamingo
• other - vintage photo, antique linen and walnut stain distress crayons (TH), Tattered Butterfly Bigz die (TH), Big Shot, blending brushes, water spritzer, heat tool, hexagon die, word chips (TH), fossilized amber distress archival ink, clear rock candy distress crackle paint (TH), sponge dauber, Dimensionals, distressing tool

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Edited to add: I'm thrilled to say this card was picked as the winner for this challenge. Many thanks to the folks at JAI. 

Double Up

For the past few days I've found myself in that state where an idea for a card design was rattling around inside my brain and wouldn't let me rest until I gosh darn just sat down and made the thing! LOL. 

In actual fact, the idea incorporates two clean and simple challenges:

And here's the card I came up with. I sponged distress oxide inks through the flower stencil first, then stamped the background stamp using Versamark while the stencil was still in place. After removing the stencil I added white embossing powder and melted that, then overstamped the main greeting - thank goodness for stamp platforms is all I can say!

Materials used:

• stamps - You Matter, You Matter Background (both Simon Says Stamp)
• card - whisper white
• distress oxide inks - festive berries, candied apple
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, flower stencil, Stamparatus

You can click on the challenge blog icons to see what fab creations their design teams and other challenge participants came up with.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Bold and Beautiful Butterfly - CAS on Friday Challenge #199

Hi everyone and welcome!

It's time for another clean and simple challenge with CAS on Friday and this time around I got to pick our theme. Inspired by summer here in Australia, I decided on a colour challenge of turquoise/teal, orange and white. 

Such bright, cheerful colours that look stunning together - I hope they'll inspire you as much as they did me.

For my card I couldn't resist the opportunity to use this gorgeous butterfly from Tim Holtz's Specimen set, adding a little ink blending and stencilling for my background. The pattern in the centre of the inspiration picture gave me a Middle Eastern/Morroccan vibe, so I picked a trellis design along those lines for my stencil.

And there's plenty of shine and shimmer when it catches the light.

Materials used:

• stamps - Specimen (TH), Fancy Sayings (Clearly Besotted)
• card - whisper white
• distress oxide ink - ripe persimmon
• other - trellis stencil, distress embossing dabber (TH), crackling campfire embossing glaze (TH), heat tool, blending brush, craft foam, Stamparatus, alcohol markers, clear Wink of Stella, clear sequins

My fellow DT members have some beautiful samples to get your creative juices flowing over on the CASOF blog, so pop over to take a look. And, of course, we'd love you to join us in the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Welcome, Kitsch Flamingo

With a new distress colour released this past week, it was inevitable that I would be having a play with it. I chose to watercolour some flowers using this gorgeous new pink.

Materials used:

• stamps - Flower Garden, Attic Treasures, Tiny Text (all Tim Holtz)
• card - Sahara sand, soft suede, watercolour
• distress ink - kitsch flamingo
• distress oxide inks - kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry, fossilized amber, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness, speckled egg, weathered wood, frayed burlap
• other - Harlequin stencil (TH), speckled egg distress embossing glaze (TH), linen thread, word window punch, Dimensionals, shaping mat and tools, sponge dauber, crumb cake marker, vintage photo archival ink (TH), embossing dabber

I shaped the flowers a little to curl the edges and 'bowl' the heads for some interest and dimension. I love the way they spread out over the edges of the background piece. 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Dancing Chooks

Hi all! I'm sure by now you've seen the Hey Chick promotion on offer from Stampin' Up. Personally I couldn't resist the Hey, Birthday Chick stamp set from the Jan-June mini catalogue - these gals are just tooooo cute! 

For my card I've used the masking and hinge stamping techniques to create a card that's deceptively simple as well as happy and cheerful - I mean, who could resist dancing chooks? Not me! (Whenever I look at this card, I start singing the Macarena in my head, lol!)

Materials used:

• stamps - Hey, Birthday Chick
• card - crushed curry, cherry cobbler, watercolour
• SU inks - crushed curry, Cajun craze, cherry cobbler, Sahara sand
• other - Stamparatus, post-it note, cherry cobbler embossing powder, heat tool, aqua painter, SU markers, craft foam

We'll be making this one in class next week and as some of my ladies have already purchased this adorable set, I know they'll love putting ink to these classy ladies.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Love You - CAS on Friday Challenge #198

Welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge. With Valentines Day just around the corner, naturally our thoughts turn our theme for challenge #198, which is LOVE.

Here's my card:

Materials used:

• card - whisper white, melon mambo, Daffodil Joy designer papers (Nitwit Collections)
• other - triple heart punch, Love You More Than dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle die, craft foam

Check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire you by following the link above, and we'd certainly LOVE to have you join in our challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry