KB Papercraft

Enchanting Valentine

2012-02-03T10:51:00.000+11:00

I am totally loving the Everyday Enchantment papers in the SAB catty, aren't you? The muted colours and combos are just gorgeous - not to mention the beautiful matching organza ribbons - so using these on today's project was a bit of a no-brainer really.

I've made a card and gift box set for Valentines Day:

These little hearts are the bits that are cut out when you use the pinking hearts border punch. Yup, damn fiddly to glue on!

Inside the box are these gorgeous sweet treats that my DH brought back from a recent business trip to the US. They are mini pretzels covered in white chocolate and sprinkles. Delicious? You betcha! I was lucky to grab some for my project before they all disappeared!

Materials used:

stamps - Greeting Card Kids, Well Scripted
card - poppy parade, watercolour, lucky limeade, Everyday Enchantment dsp
other - pinking hearts border punch, Everyday Enchantment ribbon pack, Fancy Favour die, Big Shot, dimensionals, aquapainter, ink pads, Sahara sand marker
non SU - nestabilities oval dies

Thanks for dropping by today. Please send sunshine.

Cheers

Kez

Case-ing Kathy

2012-02-01T17:24:00.000+11:00

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to case a card by DT member Kathy Tanner. There were quite a few of Kathy's cards I would be happy to case (and probably will some time!) but many of them had already been picked, so I went with this one:

I love the whimsy of it and the gorgeous colours - the green and turquoise look so stunning against the black and grey. So that's what I used as inspiration for my card. I flipped the sketch but used very similar features on my card. It's ANOTHER wet and gloomy day today so not much natural light and my photo doesn't do the colours justice, but there you go, hope you enjoy it anyway.

Watercolour crayons and ink pads were used to colour my image. I added Kindy Glitz for the rain drops to give them some sparkle and it looks just gor-juss in real life!

If you read yesterday's post you'll appreciate the irony of this card!

Thanks for stopping by. Please send sunshine.

Cheers

Kez

Oh The Irony

2012-01-31T19:21:00.000+11:00

(This post is completely non craft related, just me doing a little rant and relating a completely ironic story which may or may not tickle your funny bone. You have been warned.)

Any of you who live on the east coast of NSW will know that the weather (so far) this summer has been totally crappy. Seriously, worst summer since we moved here 14 years ago.

Not many days of sunshine, just seemingly endless grey, gloomy skies and rain ... rain ... and more rain. So much so in fact that I could seriously start to believe that I am in the UK. (I hope that doesn't offend any visitors from said Kingdom, but you guys have got to admit that your weather sucks. I have spent enough months in England, Scotland and Ireland to know that this is so.)

DD19's boyfriend was in Perth last week. He rang her one day to say he was at the beach and it was 46 degrees Celsius. Did he bring any of that nice warmth and SUNSHINE back with him? No, he jolly well did not. On the night she went to collect him from the airport it was ... well, surprise, surprise - raining.

Today has been another case in point. Gloomy. Raining.

This evening I went to see my doctor and after looking at my last blood test results, she gave me some interesting news ...

I AM LOW IN VITAMIN D. I NEED MORE SUNSHINE.

HA!

Now I am absolutely certain that somewhere in this vast country - not to mention in other parts of the globe - there are people who would dearly love some of our rain, who are crying out for rain in fact, because they are in drought. SOMEBODY has got to organise the weather better and spread this stuff where it is needed and NOT HERE where it damned well isn't!

I AM LOW IN VITAMIN D. I NEED MORE SUNSHINE.

Just saying.

Cheers

Kez

NSU Sisters

2012-01-30T10:07:00.000+11:00

It's been over a week since I posted and I've been getting antsy, but hey I had to have something to show ya, huh? There's been a lot going on around here but I finally got the chance to sit at my craft desk.

In the mood for watercolouring, I got out my Magnolias and created a soft, sweet card dedicated to my two darling daughters. Although there are six years between them they get on really well and enjoy spending time together, even arranging "sisterly bonding" sessions where mother is excluded (usually banned to the craft room, which is certainly not a hardship!). They often share clothes, shoes and makeup - first up, best dressed! - and go out together to such varied events as a Shakespeare play or a rock concert. Both of them love to hear stories about themselves when they were little and we all enjoy a giggle at some of the funny and endearing traits they had then!

Materials used:

stamps - Tildas by Magnolia, sentiment from Papertrey Ink
card - pool party, island indigo, whisper white and watercolour from SU
papers - Grace Taylor by Grant Archival
inks - pretty in pink, blush blossom, so saffron, wisteria wonder, pool party, close to cocoa, sahara sand and island indigo by SU, black StazOn
other - doily lace punch from Martha Stewart, island indigo ruffled ribbon and dimensionals by SU, hat pin and heart charm from LSS, nestabilities dies, white gel pen

On my second card I've used "Tilda needs a hug" and she is sooooooo sweet! The colour combo is my fav black and vanilla with yellow to brighten it up. And just for something different, I added real ribbon knots in her hair!

Materials used:

stamps - Magnolia Tilda, Field Flowers by SU (sentiment)
card - basic black, daffodil delight, watercolour, very vanilla, Love Letters DSP (retired)
other - nestabilities dies, daffodil delight grosgrain and taffeta ribbons, aquapainter, dimensionals, decorative label punch

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

What Was He Thinking?

2012-01-21T11:06:00.000+11:00

A very simple, tongue-in-cheek card for you today! I found a range of stamping-related stamps and this particular one is so perfectly suited to SU's Domestic Goddess papers that I simply HAD to make a card!

Here tis:

(If you can't read the sentiment it says, "God would not have made me this creative if He wanted me to cook and clean") ROFLOL! I love it! It's just perfect for those days when you would MUCH rather be stamping than ironing, washing, cleaning, vacuuming .... in fact, anything remotely connected to housework, lol. Which, come to think of it, is most days!!! Maybe I should turn this into a framed plaque to give to DH!!!!!!

Materials used:

stamps - Craftier Taglines by There She Goes
card - pool party, calypso coral, watercolour, Domestic Goddess DSP
other - nestabilities dies, dimensionals, aquapainter

Thanks for calling in. Hope there's not too much domesticity in your household today!

Cheers

Kez

Cruising

2012-01-18T09:13:00.000+11:00

I love cruise control.

In fact, on our 10 hour journey home from Melbourne yesterday, cruise control was my BFF.

Mind you, I wish I had $1 for every kamikaze insect that gave up its life to attack my windscreen - would cover the cost of petrol for the round trip, I reckon, lol!!!

We had a successful trip and managed to find DD19 a great flat to live in with an excellent location and facilities, so she is all excited about moving in at the end of Feb when uni starts. The apartment complex boasts two swimming pools (one indoor, one outdoor), a tennis court, BBQ area and gymnasium - I think maybe I should move down there too!!!

However it sure is nice to be home and I can't wait to get into my craft stuff, but for now will show you a card I made before we went away.

Over at Splitcoaststampers you can get tons of inspiration for great cards and it is usually my first port of call when I get a new stamp set. Today's card is a case of one by "marmie43gs" - she used bright primary colours but I have changed mine for a more feminine look with pinks and purples.

Up, Up and Away is a set you might overlook but I think it's great for masculine cards of all ages and as you can see here, looks terrific in girly colours too - good for teens, I reckon!

Materials used:

stamps - Up, Up and Away
card - Cheerful Treat DSP (hostess), concord crush, bashful blue, whisper white, melon mambo, wisteria wonder
punches - small tag, large tag, cupcake
other - dimensionals, melon mambo grosgrain ribbon, white bakers twine, stripes EF, Big Shot, sponge dauber

Thanks for stopping by today.

Cheers

Kez

Earnestly

2012-01-12T08:13:00.000+11:00

Here I am in Melbourne with my two DDs, so no chance of any crafting for a while. We did, however, have the pleasure yesterday of seeing MTC's production of The Importance of Being Ernest starring Geoffrey Rush as Lady Bracknell.

The movie (with Colin Firth, Rupert Everett and Judi Dench) has long been a family favorite, so for us it was always going to be a hard act to follow. Thankfully the cast were great and had us in stitches most of the time. The set was brilliant and the production superb - and GR? Amazing as always, such a talented actor. We had a great time and even DD19, who being a theatre major is far more critical of things than the rest of us (lol), thoroughly approved!

On our way to the theatre we had the dubious pleasure of Melbourne's famous "four seasons in one day" weather - it began as sunny, then we got rain, then a sudden freak storm hit, with the wind whipping branches off trees and all over the roads!

Now it's down to work to find DD19 somewhere to live this year and I'll be back home (and back crafting) next week, hopefully. See you then!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Fabulous in Kerry Cobbler

2012-01-04T07:00:00.001+11:00

Inspired by a gorgeous creation by Diane Vander Galien, I sat down with Fabulous Florets and made a card. I had a go at the re-inker spritzer method that Diane used, but it was an abysmal failure! So I adapted and watercoloured using re-inkers instead.

Here's my card:

Materials used:

stamps - Fabulous Florets
card - pink pirouette, cherry cobbler, whisper white
punches - scallop trim border
other - pink pirouette and cherry cobbler re-inkers, cherry cobbler and old olive markers, dimensionals, aquapainter, black StazOn

I LOVE this colour combo and I'm very pleased with how my "disastrous" card turned out in the end - simple but fabulous if I do say so myself! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Welcome

2012-01-03T07:00:00.001+11:00

We have some new neighbours who just moved in and the hostess set Up In The Air from the Summer mini has the perfect stamp for this occasion. I cased my card from the US Occasions mini but added in the shadowing behind the image, which makes it "pop".

Materials used:

stamps - Up in the Air (hostess)
card - wisteria wonder, lucky limeade, soft suede, watercolour
punches - scallop edge
other - mini library clip, white bakers twine, dimensionals, aquapainter, wisteria wonder ruffled ribbon, square lattice embossing folder, Big Shot

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Time For Tea

2012-01-02T08:54:00.002+11:00

Today's card was made with my girls in mind; they love going out together for coffee or a pot of tea. DD13 talked me into buying this die set when I was browsing an online store last month and this is the first time I've used it. I love the shapes, they are so homely and comforting somehow - even for someone who doesn't drink tea!

I loved making the little tea bag, with it's cord hanging out of the cup, lol!

Materials used:

stamps - Morning Cup
card - pool party, calypso coral, Domestic Goddess DSP, whisper white
punches - large oval, scallop oval
other - dimensionals, white bakers twine, sponge daubers, blender pen
non SU - MFT time for tea die set, paper doily

Both girls love it but DD13 complains that looking at it makes her want a cup of tea! Hope you like it too.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Sweet Start

2012-01-01T15:40:00.001+11:00

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping 2012 is a real cracker!

I started the new year off with some sorting and de-cluttering for a few hours and then I decided I deserved a reward for my hard work, so sat down to make a card. I've been playing again with the lovely papers coming up in the SAB catalogue on the 24th of this month.

Only a portion of the stamp was used (with markers) on the main panel. Instead of the butterflies on the stamp I die cut some and then used a marker again to ink the sentiment part of the stamp.

My stamped panel is inside a recessed portion, with the dsp panel being raised up. I made the watercolouring nice and soft in keeping with the muted tones of the papers and I used poppy parade again! LOL!

Materials used:

stamps - Up In The Air (hostess)
card - crumb cake, lucky limeade, watercolour, poppy parade, Everyday Enchantment DSP
punches - large oval, scallop oval, 1 1/4" square
other - lucky limeade ruffled ribbon, dimensionals, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, Big Shot, sponge dauber, aquapainter, markers

If you've achieved something already today, why not give yourself a little reward too? Begin as you mean to go on!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Birthday Browns

2011-12-31T10:00:00.001+11:00

Today my wonderful SIL is celebrating her birthday and naturally I had to make her a special card. I've used the new Spice Cake DSP from the Summer mini as I know the earthy tones and touch of blue will really appeal to her.

Materials used:

stamps - Field Flowers, Tagtastic
card - crumb cake, very vanilla, pool party, spice cake dsp
inks - more mustard, early espresso, soft suede, cajun craze
other - early espresso bakers twine, designer frames embossing folder, dimensionals

Hope you have a lovely NYE day and a wonderful celebration to welcome in 2012.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Second Poppy

2011-12-30T09:50:00.000+11:00

Can you believe this is only the second time I have used 2010-2011 in colour Poppy Parade? I wanted to try out the gorgeous new Everyday Enchantment papers from the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalogue and I must say, this colour is now growing on me.

I love that the papers have a bit of a shabby look to them, so I've torn, distressed and sponged my papers to accentuate that and threaded some of the matching 1/8" organdy ribbon (also in SAB catty) around my border. I love the long tails on the ribbon and can't bear to cut them shorter, so I'm sticking with that length cos I think it adds to the charm!

Here's my card:

The colours in these papers are lucky limeade, pool party, peach parfait, calypso coral, poppy parade, very vanilla and soft suede - so a veritable feast of in colours to play with! I'm sure you're going to love it.

Materials used:

stamps - Field Flowers
card - poppy parade, pool party, very vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP
ink - calypso coral, poppy parade, lucky limeade, crumb cake
other - calypso coral organdy ribbon, dimensionals, distressing tool, sponge dauber
non SU - spellbinders lacey ovals die

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Dramatic Just For You

2011-12-29T12:07:00.002+11:00

A dear friend is celebrating her birthday on Saturday and I wanted to make her a special card. I saw a gorgeous creation by Andrea Ewen that inspired me; the dramatic colours, flower and bling are all just perfect for my friend.

Here tis:

The flocked paper just makes you want to touch it! Here's a close up of the bling:

And something simple to decorate the inside too:

Materials used:

stamps - Tagtastic
card - basic black, whisper white, pumpkin pie, mocha morning DSP
other - little leaves die, black satin ribbon, decorative label punch, dimensionals
non SU - Spellbinders roses dies, Martha Stewart punch, Kaiser rhinestones

I'll have another card for you on Saturday as it's my SIL's birthday too!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

The Full Table

2011-12-28T22:34:00.000+11:00

(Not to be confused with The Full Monty! LOL!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Xmas Day; I know we did. The girls slept in, so we didn't get disturbed until 8 am - a record! After the loot opening it was time to prepare our portions of the menu and then of course the mad rush to gather up everything and out the door to my SIL's house, where the table was all set and ready for us.

Here's a photo of our Christmas table complete with all the decos I made and showed you in an earlier post:

Doesn't it look pretty? Makes it worth all the frantic rush to get everything made on time! I am determined every year to be better organised earlier the next year ... but it never happens. They are right when they say the time passes more quickly the older you get - so next year I'd better start my table decorations in April!!!

Some card making soon, I hope, to show you, as I have a couple of birthdays this week to prepare for. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Season's Greetings

2011-12-24T09:23:00.000+11:00

Well, it's only a matter of hours now until the big day is here, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all the happiest of Christmases. I hope your day is filled with the love and laughter of friends and family and that you enjoy a safe and peaceful festive season.

Merry Christmas!

Kez

Christmas Table Bits

2011-12-22T15:13:00.000+11:00

I've been busy making a few things to decorate our Christmas Dinner table this year using SU's Holly Berry Bouquet papers and fabric (thanks to those rellies overseas).

I made placecards:

Candy wrappers filled with chocs:

Boxes made from the fancy favour die for the table gifts:

The centrepiece, a wooden sleigh filled with baubles:

Cute stocking cutlery holders made from fabric and felt:

And our menu, decorated with a felt rolled rose and poinsettias to match the dsp:

And here they are all placed on the table:

Materials used:

stamps - Creative Elements, Tags Til Christmas, Welcome Christmas
punches - 5 point flower, scallop square, pennant, decorative label, blossom petals builder
dies - stocking, fancy favour, candy wrapper
card - real red, wild wasabi, garden green, whisper white, chocolate chip, red glitter
papers - Holly Berry Bouquet, Cocoa Speciality (retired)
non SU - Kaiser wooden sleigh kit, gold paint, craft glue, red and green felt, calligraphy pen, chipboard poinsettia, computer and printer, sewing machine, star stickers
other - dimensionals, rhinestones, brads

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

NSU Family Christmas

2011-12-18T13:09:00.001+11:00

(This is my second post today - scroll down for Christmas tags)

Some more Christmas cards for you today and these ones are predominantly non SU stamps, though some of the papers are SU.

First up a very simple card featuring a delightful Lili of the Valley stamp that I could not resist as it is just perfect for my husband. I'm sure many of you have partners like mine who always need that little snooze after their Christmas Dinner!

Next up is my card for DD19. The angels stamp is from LOTV and the dsp from my stash - I loved how it incorporated blue (DD19's fav colour) and cherry cobbler (my fav colour and our theme for Xmas this year). The stars are glitter card which add a lovely touch of sparkle.

For DD13 plenty of green (her fav colour) and some delightful gingerbread whimsy! This is gingerbread Tilda and as you can see, I found plenty of gingerbread accents to match!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Tag, You're It

2011-12-18T11:42:00.000+11:00

You ever have one of those days when you're really slow at figuring things out and deciding what goes with what? I had a day making Xmas tags on Friday and I think it took me about 2 hours to make my first one! DD19 - who up until now has not been even the slightest, teeniest-weeniest bit crafty - actually make a bunch of tags too! Whoot!

Anyways, here's what I have to show for my marathon. Some of them I'm happy with and some not-so-much, but I'll show them to you warts and all. I made good use of my two tags die and stocking punch with this first batch. I especially love the elf stockings but they were so fiddly I only made one pair!

Then more two tags die with a variety of other shapes for decoration:

This last one tickled me. It's the first time I've made one of those trees (DD19 loved it so much she made one of her own) and I loved adding it to the peekaboo frame with a message underneath:

But I've only made 11 tags - mmmm, around the same number still to go I think! Guess what I'll be working on today?

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers
Kez

Robins for Robyn

2011-12-16T10:00:00.004+11:00

Today's card is for my good mate Rob, who is coming for a Xmas play day today - we'll be making tags, I think, as I desperately need some for pressies!

The stamp is from LOTV but everything else is SU.

Aren't those little robins soooooo cute!? The inside is decorated too, but I foolishly wrote my message before I took photos!

Coming soon - cards for my "spesh peeps".

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Proud Mum moment

2011-12-14T07:00:00.001+11:00

Last night we attended the Presentation Night at DD13's school as she made us proud by being awarded Top of Year 8 in English. Here's a couple of pics I managed to snap while she was up on stage (she's the one in the yellow shirt):

Earlier in the day she had also received a certificate for an external English competition she took part in and I am proud to say she came in the top 2% of the state in that one!

Just had to share my proud mum moment!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Ornamental

2011-12-13T16:05:00.000+11:00

Blue sky! We actually had some blue sky today! I quickly took some photos before I once again forgot what it looks like ....

I've been having a play with some Christmas decorations after being inspired by fellow demo Deb Speijers. Here are my humble offerings:

This ones uses Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and I've used the 5-Petal Flower punch and some gorgeous red glitter card to make a poinsettia for the centre. Sorry the photos don't look all that great.

Then I tried some retired Xmas DSP and a snowflake nesties shape:

These are very simple to make. Here's a link to a great tutorial - just make sure you use the glue and don't try tape ... I don't really think you need to ask me how I know that, do you? LOL!

I also made a very simple wreath for our front door. I found some GOR-JUSS deep burgundy velvet ribbon at my local $2 shop so couldn't resist a big velvet bow and some sparkle for the decorations:

So the house is slowly getting Christmassed - still a few things to go, though! Eek! Running out of time ...

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Riley Guards the Bauble

2011-12-11T22:29:00.001+11:00

On Saturday we did our yearly Christmas Tree ritual - we drive out to a tree farm at Luddenham, wander around discussing the merits of various trees until we find one that we three girls are happy with (DH is just along for muscle power!), DH cuts it down and then we lug it home and decorate.

This year we had just finished decorating when my cat Riley wandered in and coolly and calmly plonked himself down right under the tree, capturing a stray bauble that had fallen off. You can see that I haven't even had time to clear up the pine needles that fell off as it was carried in! He did, however, provide me with a wonderful photographic opportunity.

Here's my handsome wee man guarding the errant bauble and managing to look soooooooo cool and nonchalant while he did so:

Who do I speak to, to come back as a house cat in my next life?

Meanwhile, I have done some Xmas craft and if only it would STOP RAINING and being so GLOOMY, I could take some photos to show you! Gotta speak to someone about that too!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Vote Elmo for President

2011-12-07T19:06:00.000+11:00

OK, so I know that we don't actually have a President in Australia, but there is talk of becoming a republic and if we do, then by golly we better get Elmo to immigrate and vote him in!

What's with all the Elmo Enthusiasm, you ask? Well, the other day DD19 and I were shopping in Big W and as I was cruising the Xmas decorations aisles, looking for some inspiration, I spied this:

Now I just can't resist a button that says

naturally, I mean who can? - and so I did (press there, that is) and Elmo starts to sing Jingle Bells! His mouth moves and everything! And he gives a gorgeous little Elmo giggle at the end and oh-my-goodness-who-could-possibly-resist-him? So I showed this to DD19, who just stared open-mouthed while the King of Cute did his thing. I honestly couldn't read her facial expression and was thinking that maybe she didn't like it and was thinking I was being silly - but after Elmo finished his song, she just grabbed it and proclaimed "We are buying this!" She loves it as much as me and of course DD13 does too (she used to have a Tickle Me Elmo), so now every now and then we play it and we all sit there with huge smiles on our dials!

So that's why I'll be voting for Elmo for President. DD19 will too. Yup.

And as I thought perhaps you might want to see something craft-related, I'll reshow this adorable card I made a whiles back:

Hope you get some Elmo-cute giggles in your day. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Santa Candy

2011-12-06T07:00:00.001+11:00

Last night I had the pleasure of a Christmas dinner celebration with many of the lovely ladies who have come to my classes all year. We dined in a beautiful heritage listed building with tons of atmosphere and scrumptious food - it doesn't get much better than that!

I had made a small gift for each of them using the new candy wrapper die and plenty of bling:

The square buckle was for one lady who doesn't eat chocolate or sweets, so I could tell which one was hers. These were so fast and easy to make, I think there may be some on our Christmas table this year.

We also do a Secret Santa gift and I bought some gorgeous bath confetti that looks like rosebuds - you break the rose petals apart and sprinkle them in your bath, where they melt to make you smell like roses. How lovely would it be to take a bath in rose petals? Mmmmmmmmmm! But the packaging they came in was pretty basic, so I fancied it up a notch.

Here's the rose petal confetti:

I punched out a lacy border using the lace ribbon border punch, threaded some fine ribbon through and added some pearls for a special touch.

Then on the front I put a gorgeous big satin bow held with a pearl brad.

It was, as always, a fun and enjoyable night and I once again reflected on how lucky I am to have such lovely ladies come to my classes and make it such a pleasure to teach something I love to do. I already can't wait until next year's classes begin!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Gifts of Christmas

2011-12-05T19:00:00.005+11:00

For this year's Christmas cards for all my wonderful customers I used a lovely SU set called Gifts of Christmas. It hasn't made it into our catalogue yet, but I hope it will next year as it is gorgeous and goes perfectly with the petals aplenty embossing folder (as you'll soon see, "wink"!)

Now of course, knowing me so well, my ladies would be most surprised if I didn't use my favourite colour - and a perfect red for Christmas - kerry cobbler, er, cherry cobbler. I teamed it with very vanilla and always artichoke and here is the result:

As luck would have it, this card fits perfectly into two challenges: the SU Only challenge to use your favourite holiday colours and the PPA challenge which is co-incidentally

Kismet!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Free At Last!

2011-12-02T19:49:00.000+11:00

Yay! Although I've got a couple of staff meetings next week, all my TAFE classes have finished for the year and assessment results are in the computer and locked! Card classes are taking a break too so that leaves me free to get stuck into my Christmas cards and decorations. It feels good! Mind you, I've got sooooooo much to do .... might have to find some sweet teenage elves to do the usual pre-Christmas clean up while I craft! What do you think my chances are? Yeah, I'm not holding my breath, LOL!

Anyways, here are some pics of the project I got made today. My friend Rob came over to (a) help me celebrate my freedom and (b) do some crafting with new goodies, so we had a ball playing and laughing and bouncing ideas off each other.

We made Advent Calendars! Rob had pre-made the base boxes with the dividing sections in and had punched out the little boxes using the petal card double punch. We stamped the images (from an SU set called 25 and Counting - not released here) and after a little colouring here and there, punched them out with the 1" square punch, then stuck them on to the petal square bases. Fine gold cord was attached to use for opening them (or you could use a brad) and then they were stuck on.

Here's a closer view of my one:

And here's Rob's:

The best part was shopping for the goodies to put inside the little boxes! Here's a shot of mine with a box open to see the chocolatey yummy inside:

It was a lot of work but so fun and so worth it - and of course, all the more fun to share it with a friend :)

Hope you've had some jolly crafting in your day too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Dear Spammers

2011-11-28T21:27:00.001+11:00

To those who constantly leave spam in my comments: please leave my blog alone.

I most emphatically do NOT want information about sexual organs or aids, pharmaceutical products, online dating services, Columbian web design companies, casinos, long distance telephone calls or Taiwan nanny agencies.

I just want to make cards and share them with other people who also like to make cards.

It is seriously disheartening to find that 50% or more of the comments I receive on this blog are completely unrelated to card making or papercraft in any form. I don't want to have to put word verification on here because I know it puts people off commenting and I love to receive comments - about my cards, that is.

I am pretty sure that somewhere out there in cyberspace there are people who would be genuinely interested in your products (sadly) but I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.

Just go away and leave me alone, I beg you.

Edited to add: I do have comment approval settings on, I just hate getting all this spam in my email inbox and having to delete them, I'd rather not get them in the first place!

Floral Feast

2011-11-27T11:33:00.000+11:00

Today is the last class for the year and my ladies chose a veritable feast of pretty, feminine flower cards to make. Here's the group:

You've seen these two before, which both use Parlour Prints in the background:

Fabulous Florets, coming soon in the Summer mini.

Field Flowers, a gorgeous 2-step set.

And this one is a re-working of this card, made to fit a standard size envelope.

With the sun back out at last after more than a week of grey skies and endless rain, the floral cards are just right to get us back into Spring mode!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

I Know, I Know

2011-11-23T23:32:00.000+11:00

Some of my ladies tell me it's a bit disappointing when they look on my blog and I haven't posted a new card - well, they won't be happy with me at the moment, then, as it's been a whole week since my last one! But I have a number of good excuses:

It's the last two weeks of the semester at work and I've got tons of assessments to plan, mark and record.
We went away last weekend, so I missed three whole days' opportunity to stamp.
DD19 came home from uni on Tuesday, so I've been spending time with her.

So I haven't had much time to craft, but I have got something to share - some photos from our weekend away. We went to the Warbirds Down Under air show at Temora as part of the birthday present I gave DH. For DH and myself it was a touch of nostalgia, but for DD13 it was a whole new experience - and luckily, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hubby's favourite was the Super Constellation named Connie - here she is:

But for me the scene stealers were the Harvards as they took me back to my childhood growing up on air force bases all around New Zealand. I must admit to a lump in my throat as it made me miss my folks, but it was great to see that little plane and its kiwi emblem.

I promise to try and be back real soon with some craft related stuff!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

The Geese Are Getting Fat

2011-11-17T08:41:00.000+11:00

Well, if you hadn't caught up with the news yet (or have been studiously avoiding it in a mild state of panic and denial) - Christmas is getting close! There's no way we can put it off forever on the basis of "it can't be Christmas already" or "didn't we just have Easter?" So there's nothing for it but to embrace that hectic lead up to the Big Day and go all out with Christmas craft!

At home we always have a decorating theme and this year DD19 picked a colour combo of cherry cobbler, gold and white. I modified that slightly (because she was in a whole other state and I thought I was safe!) to make it a vintage Christmas theme with those colours predominating but others allowed too. I am the person making all the decorations, after all, LOL!

To start you off here's a little something made from the petal cone die:

After I had cut out my two petal cones I gold embossed them with the swirl from Creative Elements. Next I attached my striped papers to the flaps and then the pleated lace underneath. The stamped label is coloured with markers and the lovely chipboard poinsettia finishes it off. So far I meet DD19's criteria of plenty of cherry cobbler and gold plus I hope it looks suitably vintage!

Materials used:

stamps - Tags Till Christmas, Creative Elements
card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, paper from Kaiser
other - decorative label punch, markers, dimensionals, Victorian lace, gold embossing powder, Big Shot, petal cone die, heat tool, chipboard poinsettia from Scrapmatts, gold brad, sticky strip, cherry cobbler brads

I hope you find time to make a start on your decorations too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Honey At Last!

2011-11-13T07:00:00.001+11:00

I don't think I've ever had a project that has taken me as long to complete as this one - it has been literally MONTHS in the making, LOL!

The card was actually made in April of last year and I'd never used it, then earlier this year I saw an idea for a matching gift box using the mini milk carton. I began constructing it but didn't have any product I was happy with to give a beehive effect - until last weekend, that is. At the papercraft show in Penrith DD13 spotted the PERFECT embellishment and I finally got to finish my project!

And what gift would I put inside the box? Why, chocolate honeycomb of course! LOL!

Materials used:

stamps - Just Buzzin' By
card - basic black, whisper white, summer sun
other - dazzling diamonds, dimensionals, markers, black taffeta ribbon, mini milk carton die, Big Shot, chicken wire panel by Dusty Attic, 32mm circle punch, cropodile

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

In Which I Actually Make Pretty Flowers

2011-11-12T11:59:00.000+11:00

Yes, that's right! I actually made some pretty flowers using SU dies. No more flat, 2-dimensional, boring flowers for me - now I know how to make them look slightly realistic! No more having to resort to buying paper flowers - now I can make my own!

It happened like this: I was cruising through Splitcoaststampers and saw a project with some gorgeous roses on. I went to the blog to find out what die or punch was used for the roses and when I found that info, did a Google search for the die. One of the things that came up was a YouTube tutorial on how to make these roses - and voila! I applied those techniques to my SU dies and I am soooooooo happy with the result!

You just gotta LOVE the internet!

Here, take a lookie:

These ones are using the Birds and Blooms die set.

These are made from Flower Fusion.

Now, I'm sure many of you have twigged onto these techniques much quicker than I did, but in case you're a bit technique-challenged like me, click HERE for the link to the tutorial.

There may be more flowers on my cards from now on, I'm thinking!

Cheers
Kez

PS Thanks for your feedback on yesterday's card. I can't mail it till Monday, so I'm hoping for a few more opinions to help me decide.

Lost Angel

2011-11-11T18:39:00.000+11:00

When I arrived at work yesterday it was to the sad news that one of my students who was in her 35th-36th week of pregnancy had lost her baby. I can't begin to imagine how devastating that must be for her and her family and, as always in a time of loss, you feel so helpless.

I want to send a card so she will know I am thinking of her and sharing in her grief but I need your help - I am really not sure if the card I have made is appropriate. I'm worried that it looks too much like a baby card and not enough like a sympathy card, so I would REALLY appreciate your feedback on this one. I did use "baby" colours on purpose, but is it too ... too ... I don't even know what word I'm trying to say! Please let me know what you think ... feel free to make any suggestions for improvement ...

Materials used:

stamps - Thoughts & Prayers
card - white linen (non SU), pool party
other - Big Shot, beautiful wings embosslit die, designer frames EF, in stitches (non SU) EF, white organza ribbon, sponge dauber

Thanks for stopping by and for your comments.

Cheers

Kez

Field of Pink and Green

2011-11-09T07:00:00.004+11:00

For my workshop today the ladies want to learn embossing, so that gave me the perfect excuse to use the beautiful Parlour Prints stamp again. I've added in some very simple masking and sponging and the gorgeous Field Flowers set - such a simple 2 step set to use. For colour I've gone with a pink and green combo - I love how fresh and pretty these look together.

Materials used:

stamps - Field Flowers, Parlour Prints, Short and Sweet
card - pretty in pink, certainly celery, whisper white
inks - certainly celery, wild wasabi, basic black, pretty in pink, regal rose, Versamark
other - white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, sponge, Big Shot, non SU oval die

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Thinking of You

2011-11-08T17:31:00.001+11:00

One of my lovely ladies is having a bit of a rough trot in life at the moment so I wanted to make her a card to say my thoughts are with her. I got a germ of an idea and this is what it turned into:

I thoroughly enjoyed the watercolouring and kept the rest of the design very simple so the flowers would take centre stage.

Materials used:

stamps - Curly Cute, Fabulous Florets
card - crumb cake, calypso coral, watercolour paper, very vanilla
inks - calypso coral, tangerine tango, cajun craze, wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant, lucky limeade, black StazOn, crumb cake, soft suede
other - pearls, scallop trim border punch

I stamped a flower on the inside and on the envelope as well.

As the SUO challenge this week is, co-incidentally, a Thinking of You card, I'm entering it into that.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Very Merry

2011-11-06T07:00:00.003+11:00

It's our last Christmas Stamp-a-Stack today and here are the two cards we'll be making:

Materials used:

stamps - Beautiful Season, Best Yet
card - cherry cobbler, basic black, watercolour, very vanilla, crumb cake
other - large oval punch, scallop oval punch, aquapainter, sponge daubers, dimensionals, non SU embossing folder, Big Shot

Materials used:

stamps - Stitched Stockings, Many Merry Messages
card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, old olive, Jolly Holiday DSP (retired)
other - stocking punch, dimensionals, alphabet dies, Big Shot, square lattice EF

Is that cute or what? Idea cased from Kathy at Stamping Still.

Now, much as I love making Christmas cards, it will be nice to have a break from them for a while - until I have to make the special family cards, that is!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Hung With Care

2011-11-04T08:16:00.001+11:00

You simply cannot help but LOVE SU's new Stocking punch and I've been having a play with it - and the matching stamp set, of course! Here's a couple of fun cards:

For this one I embossed the stockings with the petals aplenty EF and coloured the flower centres with a white gel pen. White glitter card has been used for the stocking tops, but the shimmer doesn't show in the photo unfortunately.

Materials used:

stamps - Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Bells and Boughs
card - old olive, real red, retired Xmas DSP, non SU white glitter card
other - petals aplenty EF, stocking punch, white gel pen, Big Shot, gold brads, real red taffeta ribbon

Here I've used the versatile square lattice EF on my backgrounds for a bit of texture.

Materials used:

stamps - Stitched Stockings, Short and Sweet
card - real red, whisper white, garden green, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP
punches - scallop trim border, stocking
other - dimensionals, square lattice EF, Big Shot

If you missed buying these during the promotion last month, you'll want to put them on your Summer mini catalogue wish list, trust me!

We are all slowly catching up on lost sleep around here and with three classes in the next week I'll have lots to show you soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

A Little Boo

2011-10-31T17:05:00.000+11:00

Before the Troops event at the weekend, I'd had the chance to start on my Halloween cards. The first one I made for DD19 and then I started on one for DD13, fully intending to finish it off on Sunday which was supposed to be a free day. Life, however, got in the way and my poor DD13 ended up in hospital on Saturday night and had to have a minor operation on Sunday morning, so naturally there was no card making that day! When I wasn't at the hospital I was doing laundry and catching up on some sleep - boy, I really feel old when lack of sleep knocks me around this much, lol!

Anyways, with her safely home again now I managed to find time to complete her card - so I just made it in time for Halloween. Bright green is her fav colour and she requested some images from SU's Wicked Cool.

Here are my cards:

Materials used:

stamps - Greeting Card Kids, Wicked Cool
card - pumpkin pie, basic black, digital Halloween papers, purple card from stash, watercolour paper
other - black lace and Halloween ribbon from LSS, Cuttlebug Halloween dies and embossing folders, digital greeting, scallop circle punch, Hodgepodge Hardware, black brads, aquapainter, dimensionals

I didn't get all the decorations made that I wanted to, but we have got plenty of eye balls, body parts and skeleton pops to give out to Trick-or-Treaters!

Have a spooky Halloween and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

My Own Little Troopers

2011-10-29T19:41:00.000+11:00

Well, today was such a busy and fun afternoon as we made 250 Christmas cards to send off to our troops in Afganistan, Iraq, etc. Here's a photo of my own "little troopers" who so happily gave their time and effort to do this small service for our Diggers:

We got our cards finished in less than 4 hours even though we took some time off for a scrumptious afternoon tea, so they all got an "early mark" - that's why they look so happy, LOL!

My thanks again to you all, ladies, and congrats to Jean and Jane who won raffle prizes. Have fun with all those goodies!

Cheers
Kez

Happy Christmas, Diggers

2011-10-28T17:17:00.000+11:00

It's time for our annual Cards for the Troops event and tomorrow a dozen of my lovely customers and friends will help in making Christmas cards to send to defence force personnel serving in combat zones so that they have cards to send home to their families and loved ones.

We make 50 cards of each design, so my challenge is to make them easy to mass produce while using different stamp sets and ink pads so there's no competing for equipment! Here are the cards we're making this year:

A non-Christmas set that I thought made a lovely Xmas card - Creative Elements and a Verve sentiment stamp.

Materials used:

stamps - Creative Elements, non SU sentiment
card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, garden green
inks - same as card
other - non SU dies

Such a beautiful set, this one, and I'm so sad it's no longer in the catalogue.

Materials used:

stamps - A Wish for Peace, Four the Holidays
card - very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede
inks - same as card
other - sponge

Who said pink doesn't look good on a Christmas card? It does if you team it with kerry cobbler and chocolate chip!

Materials used:

stamps - Many Merry Messages, bauble stamp from Artee
card - pink pirouette, cherry cobbler, chocolate chip, whisper white
inks - chocolate chip, cherry cobbler
other - decorative label punch, scallop trim border punch

One of my favourite new Xmas stamps - well, you know I can't resist a good image to watercolour! This one is coloured with watercolour crayons to make it quick and easy to work on.

Materials used:

stamps - Beautiful Season
card - old olive, whisper white, basic black, Jolly Holiday DSP (retired)
other - square punch, watercolour crayons, aquapainter

This one was cased but I don't know who from, sorry!

Materials used:

stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Dasher, Perfect Punches
card - bashful blue, early espresso, whisper white
inks - bashful blue, early espresso
other - 35 mm circle punch, scallop circle punch

It's always a fun day - what day making cards isn't fun? - but even more so knowing we are doing it for such a great cause.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Sailing the Ocean Blue

2011-10-24T18:10:00.001+11:00

A double header for today's card; I've amalgamated the Just Add Ink sketch challenge with the Inkspirations colour challenge.

The colours are perfect for a masculine card and even more perfectly fit the colours of the papers I wanted to use. Here's my card:

The sails have been stamped twice and layered - little bit of fussy cutting, but not too bad and it makes me think of a ship in a bottle. I covered the anchor stamp with crystal effects after cutting it out, then tied some cherry cobbler baker's twine through. It took no time at all for the CE to dry in this heatwave we are having! Phew! Wouldn't mind an ocean voyage to cool off, lol.

Materials used:

stamps - The Open Sea
card - cherry cobbler, not quite navy, very vanilla, sahara sand, Nautical Expeditions DSP
other - crystal effects, bakers twine, dimensionals, non SU die, Big Shot, sponge daubers

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Did You Hug a Kiwi Yesterday?

2011-10-22T11:16:00.001+11:00

Did you know that yesterday was International Hug a Kiwi Day? The lovely ladies at my workshop all got a hug from this kiwi! Hi gals! I had so much fun and am looking forward to our next date.

We made this card yesterday which I cased from Kristin Moore with a couple of changes:

I had also made some other samples using Snow Swirled, as that is the set they were all keen to see:

Concord crush, whisper white and garden green for this one. I masked my holes, stamped the tree image, sponged and then sprayed with shimmer mist - click on the photo to see this closer.

Island indigo, whisper white and calypso coral look stunning for a non-traditional colour combo.

Thanks for dropping in today.

Cheers

Kez

Teenage Funk

2011-10-18T07:29:00.000+11:00

At the complete opposite end of the ambience spectrum to my last post is today's card, a teenage birthday. The mood took me for bright and funky, so I went with it - I don't create nearly enough teenage cards to keep up with all my daughters' friends!

I had been eyeing the Extreme Guitar stamp for quite a long time and was finally galvanised into action when it went on the retirement list, so here is my first card using both it and the Extreme Elements background set.

Materials used:

stamps - Extreme Elements, Extreme Guitar (retired)
card - tempting turquoise, whisper white, melon mambo, basic black, rich razzleberry
other - basic black craft ink, clear embossing powder, heat tool, basic black satin ribbon, lace ribbon border punch, dimensionals, dazzling diamonds, two way glue pen, square lattice EF, non SU circle dies

It's much more vibrant IRL, as you can imagine from those colours! DD13 loves it and claims she wouldn't want to give this one away to her friends, so I have to make some more exactly the same! As the sparkly stars were her idea and certainly help make the card "pop", I guess I might have to go along with that one, LOL!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Beau Elegance

2011-10-15T13:39:00.000+11:00

Well, inspired by my Beau Chateau gift box, I have ventured once again into the realm of shabby chic and tried out my new Established Elegance set for the first time. Much trial and error went into this one as I left my comfort zone and there were some last minute additions which luckily didn't completely ruin the whole thing!

The front tag was sprayed with champagne shimmer mist, so it has a soft, subtle sparkle which looks nice IRL. I tried to cover up as many roosters as I could - roosters, for goodness' sakes?!!! - but still leave the other gorgeous details of the dsp to show through.

Materials used:

stamps - Established Elegance, Creative Elements
card - soft suede, marina mist, whisper white, Beau Chateau DSP
other - marina mist satin ribbon, pearls, Two Tags die, Big Shot, non SU flowers, Designer Frames EF, sponge daubers, dimensionals, shimmer paint

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Shabby Chic-tagstic

2011-10-10T16:17:00.000+11:00

I've been wanting to do something with the divine Beau Chateau papers for a while now after seeing so many gorgeous creations out there in Blogland, so yesterday I "got my feet wet" with another small box made from the Two Tags die.

I really don't make punched flowers well, especially small ones, so I've resorted to using bought ones. Shameful I know, but at least this way they actually look like flowers, which they wouldn't if I'd made them! LOL

Here tis:

Materials used:

stamps - Tagtastic (hostess)
card - marina mist, very vanilla, Beau Chateau DSP, soft suede
other - bird punch, designer frames embossing folder, Big Shot, purchased paper flowers, two tags die, marina mist 1/8" taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, champagne shimmer mist

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Boo-tiful Boxes

2011-10-09T15:48:00.000+11:00

Note: This is my second post today. Scroll down to see my Sydney Regionals Workshop Wow Presentation.

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to just add a die cut, so I got started on my Halloween goodies. We always get a few local children coming to the door Trick or Treating and it's nice to have something fun to give them. Last year DD and I made mini milk carton Mummies, Frankensteins and Draculas (see post here) and this year there is no shortage of ideas to get inspiration from.

First up I've used the Box #2 die to make a holder for some spooky test tubes filled with mini M&Ms:

And here's a boxful of sour worms made from the Two Tags die:

The spider and bats are die cuts also.

Materials used:

stamps - Sweeter Treaters (retired)
card - elegant eggplant, cajun craze, basic black, whisper white, Frightful Sight DSP
dies - Two Tags, Box #2, spider and bats (non SU)
punches - 3/4" circle, 1" circle, 38 mm circle, scallop circle, decorative label
other - dimensionals, blender pen, sponge daubers, cobweb embossing folder (non SU), elegant eggplant brads

Now, I've just seen an adorable milk carton hexagon box with bat wings - might have to go and investigate that one! Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sydney Regionals Workshop Wow

2011-10-09T08:52:00.001+11:00

At last I have finally gotten around to re-creating the Workshop Wow card I left with SU and can now show you the projects I presented.

I called my presentation Five Great Tips for Happy Brayering and demonstrated basic brayering technique with a little bit of masking as well, for using on backgrounds.

My Five Great Tips are:

Always begin with your lightest colour first (this saves you having to clean the brayer in between if you go from lightest to darkest)
Hold on to your inkpad! (learnt that one from experience!)
Roll your brayer in one direction ONLY when you are inking it up (gives a more even coating of ink)
Check your inking is even (turn the rubber roller to make sure the ink is even all the way around, otherwise you'll get lines)
Begin brayering a little above your piece of paper (again to avoid lines, roll a couple of times above the paper then move down)

Here's my first card made with a very simple brayered background:

Materials used:

stamps - Growing Green, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
card - pretty in pink, whisper white, certainly celery, wild wasabi, pink pirouette patterned paper, watercolour paper
inks - certainly celery, wild wasabi, pink pirouette, pretty in pink, black StazOn, Versamark
other - pretty in pink satin ribbon, square lattice embossing folder, bird punch, 1" circle punch, white embossing powder, dimensionals, brayer

Then I explained how to mask for a sun or moon and gave a quick demo of how to mask for hills or mountains. Here is the finished card for that sample:

Materials used:

stamps - Word Play, Inspired by Nature
card - tangerine tango, basic black, whisper white
inks - calypso coral, tangerine tango, black StazOn
other - post it notes, dimensionals, brayer

I had other samples on display, most of which have appeared on my blog already (just use my search facility for brayering), but here are some new cards I made for samples:

Materials used:

stamps - Upsy Daisy
card - wisteria wonder, concord crush, whisper white, concord crush patterned paper
inks - wisteria wonder, concord crush
other - post it note, dimensionals, 1 3/8" circle punch, brayer

And this one, inspired by Paula Dobson, where I've brayered on very vanilla for a change:

Materials used:

stamps - Autumn Days
card - early espresso, very vanilla, crumb cake
inks - crumb cake, soft suede, early espresso
other - 1 3/8" circle punch, post it notes, brayer

Brayering is like any new skill, you just have to practice tons! Play around and try out what works for you - but most of all, HAVE FUN!

Happy Brayering!

Cheers

Kez

And Another One

2011-10-03T10:54:00.001+11:00

Still inspired by the gorgeous colours at this week's Just Add Ink challenge, I have made another card. Again the papers from Domestic Goddess gave me an idea and while DD13 was catching up on some sleep, I quickly made up my offering.

Here tis:

Materials used:

stamps - Peachy Tilda by Magnolia
card - crumb cake, whisper white, Domestic Goddess DSP, watercolour
other - dimensionals, computer and printer, aquapainter, markers

Reminds me of all the peaches we used to pick from our trees when I was a kid - so sweet and juicy! Wonderful memories.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

A Long Time Coming

2011-10-02T10:52:00.000+11:00

It has been quite a while since I made a card for a challenge, but this week the colours over at Just Add Ink really appealed and I decided I'd have a go. Here's the combo:

I love the new in colours and the opportunity to use them was one I couldn't pass up! I got out my Domestic Goddess papers for inspiration as they have pool party, calypso coral and whisper white. Once I saw the paper with the little flowers on, an idea came to mind and so my card was born.

Here tis:

DD19 (home for a few days from uni) saw it and said she absolutely loves it - so I'm thinking it might end up down in Melbourne. Very fitting sentiment for a uni student too ....

Materials used:

stamps - Up, Up and Away
card - crumb cake, calypso coral, whisper white, Domestic Goddess DSP
ink - pool party, calypso coral, basic black
other - cupcake punch, dimensionals, 1 3/4" circle punch

I hope you can see it OK - for quite apart from it being a cold, wet and dark day, I spent last night at the hospital with DD13 and got no sleep whatsoever, so my eyes aren't exactly reliable right now! And daylight savings started this morning (first time I've ever been awake at 2 am to see it change to 3 am!) so I've lost an hour as well! Off to bed with me for a while before I need to check on DD again.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Dispatches

2011-10-01T13:14:00.000+10:00

Sympathy cards are by their very nature the most difficult to make I think. We all have trouble knowing what to say to someone who has lost a loved one. From my experience, it's not the actual words that are said that helps, but the knowledge that someone cares.

I don't like anything too gushy, so keep the sentiments on my cards simple and hope the recipient knows they come from the heart. For design you can't go wrong with nature, whether your card is for a man or woman.

(cased from Christine Z)

Materials used:

Stamps - Elements of Style, Thoughts and Prayers
Card - Baja breeze, whisper white, basic black
Other - non SU embossing folder, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

For this one I stamped the leaves on watercolour paper using the different coloured inks, then "smooshed" over them with a clean, wet aquapainter to add that little touch of watercoloured look to them. First time I've tried it and I like how it turned out, so I'll be sure to give that another go sometime.

Materials used:

stamps - French Foliage, Thoughts and Prayers
card - cajun craze, more mustard, early espresso, watercolour
inks - more mustard, cajun craze, cherry cobbler, tangerine tango, early espresso
other - dimensionals, aquapainter

Hope my Hatches, Matches and Dispatches have inspired you. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Matches

2011-09-30T07:00:00.003+10:00

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.

Hatches

2011-09-29T11:54:00.000+10:00

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

Table Goodies

2011-09-25T08:47:00.000+10:00

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

Daffodil Delight For Sue

2011-09-22T07:00:00.001+10:00

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

Weekend Wonderfuls

2011-09-21T11:34:00.000+10:00

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

Spotlight on Inspiration

2011-09-19T16:34:00.000+10:00

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

2011-09-19T07:00:00.009+10:00

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

Antiquing Technique

2011-09-18T09:00:00.003+10:00

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

What a Hoot!

2011-09-17T09:15:00.003+10:00

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

NSU - A Crafting We Will Go

2011-09-16T19:30:00.004+10:00

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

Ongoing Sadness

2011-09-14T07:45:00.000+10:00

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

Triple Layer Punch Tutorial

2011-09-13T18:25:00.000+10:00

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

Coral Love

2011-09-12T19:55:00.000+10:00

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

Regionals Swaps

2011-09-10T11:00:00.001+10:00

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

For Jasmine

2011-09-09T12:03:00.000+10:00

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

A Feast of "Kerry Cobbler" and Embossing

2011-09-08T07:00:00.001+10:00

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

Happy Father's Day

2011-09-04T08:38:00.003+10:00

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

Happy Anniversary Bunting

2011-09-03T09:27:00.000+10:00

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

Happy New SU Year!

2011-09-02T04:16:00.001+10:00

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

Dear Friend

2011-08-26T09:57:00.001+10:00

It was my good mate Rob's birthday recently and although I rang her on the day, I haven't had the chance to give her her birthday card until today. I've used a combination of things I know she loves - black, vanilla, cherry cobbler and my Fabulous Florets stamp set.

Here's the front:

And on the inside I have carried through the shape and the flower:

Materials used:

stamps - Occasional Greetings, Fabulous Florets, Perfect Punches, Vintage Labels 18 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
card - cherry cobbler, basic black, very vanilla, old olive, Love Letters DSP, Regals patterns stack
other - Versamark, cherry cobbler embossing powder, dimensionals, Big Shot, basic black satin ribbon

Back in a day or two with the gorgeous projects from our play day! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Floral Elegance

2011-08-19T12:56:00.000+10:00

Isn't it typical? I went to take photos for today's post earlier on while there was plenty of natural light and discovered my camera battery was dead. Now that the battery is charged, of course it is dark and dreary, cold and raining. Hmmmph!

Anywho, today's card is one I don't think I'll ever be able to give away because I love it so much! It's an elegant little number in black and vanilla and it goes something like this:

In the background is a new stamp from the 2011-2012 catalogue called Parlour Prints. I have stamped it with very vanilla craft ink and clear embossed it for a subtle but gorgeous background to my dramatic flower panel. The flower and stem are also stamped with (black) craft ink and clear embossed and I coloured the flower with my aquapainter and vanilla ink to give it a bit more richness.

The very vanilla cardstock isn't quite strong enough to hold all these layers, so I attached my vanilla to a basic black base but covered the front completely - so the card appears to be vanilla!

Here's a close up so you can see Parlour Prints a bit better:

GORJAMILICIOUS!!! I'll be sharing this little beauty with some stamping buddies when we have our play day next week and I know Rob will be drooling until then! LOL

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

You Rock!

2011-08-12T15:49:00.001+10:00

DD13 has a birthday party to attend at the weekend, so naturally there was a need for a card. I am always a little unsure about what appeals to teenagers these days, but luckily I had a few parameters to work with:

the card must be funky
I had to use the Just Jawing set (retired)
the party theme is black and white
the birthday girl's favourite colour is purple

I must say I had a LOT of fun playing and this is what I came up with:

I cut out the skull then sprayed it with champagne shimmer mist. The eyes had heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds applied and I put some rhinestones on the crown - so there's no shortage of bling! Here's a close up of the sparkle:

The purple is my very last A4 piece of retired colour Orchid Opulence - not a colour I particularly liked, I have to admit, but here with black and white it looks rather good, and it matched the colour of the rhinestones perfectly.

DD loves it, so hopefully the birthday girl will too!

Materials used:

stamps - Just Jawing, Artistic Etchings, Perfect Punches
card - orchid opulence, basic black, whisper white
other - champagne shimmer paint, dimensionals, dazzling diamonds, square punch, vintage wallpaper embossing folder, Big Shot, rhinestones (non SU)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blingalicious day!

Cheers
Kez

Oh George!

2011-08-11T22:14:00.001+10:00

Now that George has gotten your attention! LOL! I was honoured this week to receive the following blog award from my sweet friend Lynda over at 1..2..3...Easy PC.

Thanks so much Lynda! As usual, I have to share 5 things about myself you may not know, so I decided to have a bit of fun with it!

my top 5 film hunks (not necessarily in order) are George Clooney, Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Sean Connery
favourite romantic comedy movies: The Holiday (Jude Law at his best!), The Accidental Husband (hilarious!), Kate & Leopold (no-one could resist Hugh Jackman on a white horse!), Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (brilliant and sweet!) Out of Sight or One Fine Day (George is excellent in both!)
Book I have read the most number of times - The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
things I will definitely never master in this lifetime: skiing, ice skating, chess
what career I would have chosen if I'd had any talent at all: famous movie actress

Now I have to pass this award on to 5 people whom I consider to have style. Difficult to pick only 5, but here goes:

All of them talented ladies and sweet people too, you would enjoy visiting their blogs.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Home On The Range

2011-08-10T14:18:00.001+10:00

High on my "To Do" list this week was to create a third card for my Brayering 201 class coming up soon and I decided to play with new in colours Pool Party and Island Indigo.

I had originally intended to add some leaves in the foreground, but once I had done my masking for the mountains, I changed my mind. The reason for that is when I looked at it, it reminded me of the Blue Mountains on a hazy day and how they got their name. So I simplified by just adding some birds (from the Sail Away stamp) and here you have my home!

I just ADORE these two new colours and can see me getting a LOT of use out of them over the next two years!

Materials used:

stamps - Sail Away
card - whisper white, pool party, island indigo
inks - pool party, island indigo
other - brayer, dimensionals, scrap paper, sponge dauber, black marker

Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers
Kez

A Touch of New Colour

2011-08-05T08:48:00.000+10:00

There was great excitement at my place yesterday morning as my pre-order goodies from the new 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue arrived on my doorstep!

I managed to get the packs all opened and drool over them for a while before I had to head off to work (gotta do the grind to pay for all the new things, lol), but I couldn't wait to play once I got home. For my first card I've used two retiring stamp sets with three new in colours and kept it fairly simple.

LOVING Wisteria Wonder already! I know lots of my ladies are going to be thrilled with this gorgeous shade.

Materials used:

stamps - Bella Toile, Friends 24/7
card - Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
ink - black StazOn, wisteria wonder, calypso coral, lucky limeade
punches - 32 mm circle, 35 mm circle, scallop trim border
other - vintage wallpaper embossing folder, dimensionals, blender pen, sponge dauber

Of course I had to have another play and this time I was inspired by a card by Heather Telford. Heather does gorgeous one or two layer cards with sponging and masking and it was the colours and sponging on her card that inspired me. (You can visit her from the link on my blog list.)

Materials used:

stamps - Inspired by Nature, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
card - lucky limeade, whisper white, pool party
other - stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals, sponges

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Going, Going, Gone

2011-08-03T09:43:00.002+10:00

I'm a little behind in my posting, so today's cards use stamps from the now ended Autumn/Winter mini. Both these masculine stamps are fabulous and so versatile.

Firstly I cased my own card which was a case of someone else's card! Hmm, if you managed to follow that logic, here's Sail Away again:

Materials used:

stamps - Sail Away, The Open Sea
card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, crumb cake, night of navy, watercolour
other - night of navy striped grosgrain, dimensionals, nestabilities die, aquapainter

That gorgeous ribbon is on the retirement list, so I'll be stocking up on that one!

Next a simple card with plenty of texture and a bit of "grunge". I also put some crystal effects over the coloured portions of the bike to give it that "shiny motorcycle" buzz, lol!

Materials used:

stamps - Motorcycle, Sanded
card - not quite navy, very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede
other - crystal effects, square lattice embossing folder, dimensionals

I think the sanded background stamp might be on the retirement list too, so that's another favourite going. Ho hum.

And then, as it's DH's birthday on Friday, I made another Sail Away for him. As you know, he likes bold colours, so I've used my fav red, white and blue nautical theme! Layout inspired by a card by Lesley Annabel.

Materials used:

stamps - Sail Away, Best Dad Ever, French Foliage, The Open Sea
card - cherry cobbler, whisper white, not quite navy
other - white embossing powder and heat tool, cherry cobbler bakers twine, non SU charm, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

A Sad Farewell

2011-08-02T22:51:00.000+10:00

I know it's always exciting to get a new catalogue and lots of new goodies to play with, but of course it's also tinged with a little sadness when some favourite sets have to be farewelled.

Here are a few cards made with stamps that are retiring:

A Sense of time

Party Hearty

Bella Toile

On A Pedestal

A Good Egg

Tart & Tangy

If you haven't already checked out the Retirement List (or Last Chance List), click on the name for the link.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Merry And Bright

2011-07-31T07:00:00.001+10:00

Here's the Christmas cards we'll be making at this month's stamp-a-stack classes.

Plenty of subtle glitter on the first one as I mixed dazzling diamonds with white embossing powder. We stamp the trees with Versamark ink, add my concoction and voila! wintery white trees with sparkle.

Materials used:

stamps - SU Lovely as a Tree, Verve sentiment
card - night of navy, whisper white, Sahara sand
other - dazzling diamonds, sponge dauber, dimensionals

The second card includes some watercolouring - you know how much I love it! - together with a few of my favourite colours. The embossing on the background ties in with the holly and swirls on the main panel and also stops the vanilla from being too plain.

Materials used:

stamps - Bells and Boughs, Elements of Style
card - crumb cake, very vanilla, cherry cobbler, watercolour paper
inks and markers - daffodil delight, more mustard, marina mist, always artichoke, cherry cobbler, crumb cake
other - dimensionals, aquapainter, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Are you starting to feel all Christmassy?

Cheers

Kez

I Know You Don't Want To Hear This, But ...

2011-07-29T08:56:00.000+10:00

...... Christmas is coming!

Oh, yeah, you know it - once we hit July, it's a downhill run from there! LOL! And as papercrafters we know what that means ... start your Christmas cards!

This month we started our Christmas stamp-a-stack classes and here are the two cards we made:

I loved using non-traditional colours for this case from my upline Marelle.

Materials used:

stamps - Dasher, Four the Holidays
card - crumb cake, whisper white, perfect plum, concord crush
other - Petals A Plenty embossing folder, scallop trim border punch, white taffeta ribbon, white gel pen, dimensionals

A simple design for this one so there was time to do the colouring in. Love this cute little image!

Materials used:

stamps - Greeting Card Kids
card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, watercolour
other - Kaiser designer paper, nestabilities die, dimensionals

And not for class but just for my own collection, I also played around with the ever popular Lovely as a Tree for this card:

Materials used:

stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Four the Holidays
card - always artichoke, creamy caramel, very vanilla
other - Kaiser designer paper, nestabilities die, dimensionals, square punch

It's almost time for August's class, so I'll be back soon with more Christmas cards. You better get started on yours!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

NSU - Cuteness Factor

2011-07-26T12:43:00.001+10:00

I've got some birthday cards for you today and the first two feature stamps from Lili of the Valley's newest ranges.

Pastel shades for this pretty card with a ribbon and button feature:

Materials used:

stamps - LOTV, SU Think Happy Thoughts
card - certainly celery, pretty in pink, whisper white, watercolour, dotted paper from stash
punches - 35 mm circle, 38 mm circle (non SU), scallop circle
other - so saffron ribbon, pink buttons (non SU)

For my wizard card I made my own background using stamps and gold embossing, then added some embedded embossing on the mustard panel. The sentiment was done on the computer. This one is particularly topical with the release of the last Harry Potter movie!

Materials used:

stamps - LOTV, SU Starring You
card - cherry cobbler, more mustard, night of navy, watercolour, very vanilla
punches - small star
other - nestabilities die, square lattice embossing folder, gold embossing powder, heat tool

Lastly I couldn't have a cute colouring in session without a Magnolia card too, now could I? Tilda is blowing some birthday wishes in this pretty floral card.

Materials used:

stamps - Magnolia, SU Sincere Salutations
card - bravo burgundy, very vanilla, always artichoke, pink pirouette patterned paper, Kaiser English roses paper, watercolour
other - nestabilities die, Martha Stewart doily lace punch, very vanilla satin ribbon

Hope you get some time to do some colouring in today. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Thinking of You

2011-07-19T11:02:00.000+10:00

This card was loads of fun to make, incorporating some of my favourite techniques - watercolouring, sponging and distressing.

The sentiment was stamped twice to make it a bit darker and the bird and two bullrushes were stamped on watercolour paper, cut out and stuck on over the very vanilla image for dimension. I also "shabbied" the lace by sponging over patches of it.

Materials used:

stamps - Every Moment, French Foliage, Silhouette Sentiments
card - crumb cake, very vanilla, marina mist, watercolour paper, Elegant Soiree DSP
inks & markers - soft suede, pear pizzazz, crumb cake, Baja breeze, marina mist, so saffron, more mustard
other - lace, dimensionals, nestabilities die, aquapainter

Hope you get the chance to play with some of your favs today! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Wildflowers at Sunset

2011-07-19T08:48:00.000+10:00

Well, after a wonderfully fun Brayering 101 with my lovely Sunday ladies, they are keen to move on to the next step and try Brayering 201. So when I got home from work yesterday I just had to sit and play with my brayer. My first few attempts ended up in the bin but I finally went with the one below, even though my brayering isn't quite as even as I would like it.

Materials used:

stamps - Silhouette Sentiments (level 1 hostess)
card - whisper white, basic black, rich razzleberry
inks - regal rose, melon mambo, rich razzleberry, black StazOn
other - brayer, circle punch, sponge

However! Note to self: don't use cheap post it notes for masking! They don't punch very well (even using two sheets instead of just one) and they also leak the ink in a little. From now on I'll have to stick to the original, more expensive post its!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Brayering 101

2011-07-08T08:48:00.002+10:00

My Sunday ladies - feeling proud of their recent upgrade from beginner to intermediate, LOL - are giving brayering a try this week, so I've made some cards with simple brayering to start them off.

Firstly a floral vision in pinks with some watercolouring thrown in for extra fun. I cased a card I made at stamp camp a couple of years back. Looks more gorgeous IRL, the subtle pinks don't show well in my photo.

Materials used:

stamps - Best Yet, Fabulous Florets
card - pink pirouette, whisper white, chocolate chip, watercolour paper
inks - pink pirouette, blushing bride, chocolate chip
other - stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals, blushing bride marker, brayer

Next a masculine card and I've given the sailboat a rest this time in favour of the Motorcycle a la carte stamp. Two of my ladies' husbands are big into bikes, so they will love this one. I have cased a card by Kristine McNickle as I just love her colour combination and simple design.

Materials used:

stamps - Motorcycle, Best Yet
card - whisper white, river rock, basic black
inks - peach parfait, river rock, always artichoke, basic black, black StazOn
other - dimensionals, 35 mm punch, 38 mm punch (non SU), brayer, Versamark pen, clear embossing powder, heat gun

And lastly a card using my go-to set when I want a stunning card using almost any technique - Inspired by Nature. This one was cased from Laurie F.

Materials used:

stamps - Inspired by Nature
card - very vanilla, basic black, more mustard
inks - so saffron, more mustard, cajun craze
other - dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, brayer, sponge dauber

If you fancy an intro class in brayering at your place, why not email me here - sorry, won't go outside state borders (unless of course, you pay the airfare!) LOL!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

I Couldn't Believe My Eyes ... er, Nose

2011-07-03T08:05:00.000+10:00

I was in my favourite LSS yesterday, just browsing (as you do) when something caught my eye. When I took a closer look, I could NOT believe it and had to immediately put the product in my basket. Then I couldn't wait to get out to the car and check it out ... and to get home to make a card with it.

What caused this fever of excitement, you may ask? (And probably are, LOL!)

Well, I found some Scratch and Sniff stickers that SMELL LIKE CHOCOLATE!!!! Yes, you read that right, but I'll repeat it just so's you know you are not imagining it - they really and truly actually do SMELL LIKE CHOCOLATE.

Seriously, it would have been a crime against confectionery if I had not bought those stickers! And when I took them out of the pack and took a sniff ... well! Mmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmm! "And that's all I have to say about that", as Forest Gump would say.

They did have other flavours - er, smells - pizza, ice cream, popcorn and peanut butter - but I didn't pay those ones too much never mind, as I was only concerned with the CHOCOLATE SMELLING ones! Naturally, the Eat Chocolate set came immediately to mind (I could not in all conscience call myself a compulsive obsessive paper crafter if it did not) and I rushed right home to make a card. And another.

Wanna see?

Mmmm, chocolate (drool, drool)! The only problem with these delectable goodies is that I now have the dilemma of

something that LOOKS like chocolate, and
SMELLS like chocolate, but
is NOT chocolate and therefore cannot be sacrificed on the altar of my chocolate craving!

The solution? Well, it's obvious really. I must give these to a friend who loves chocolate as much as me, so that she too will be driven crazy by the "you can smell me but can't eat me" chocolateyness! After all, what are friends for?!!!

Cheers

Kez

Seasons Herald The Passing Of Time

2011-06-28T10:43:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I got to thinking about how the seasons and the passage of time are intertwined and I found a great quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes that refers to this:

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.

So I decided to make a card along this theme and picked the stamp sets French Foliage and A Sense of Time, which were just perfect for what I had in mind. Here's the card front:

And on the inside:

What do you think?

Materials used:

stamps - French Foliage, Sense of Time
card - very vanilla, early espresso, more mustard, cherry cobbler
inks - early espresso, more mustard, cherry cobbler, tangerine tango, cajun craze
other - sponge daubers, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Pencil Magic

2011-06-26T15:23:00.000+10:00

(second post today - scroll down for earlier post)

Last week my Sunday ladies learned the Black Magic technique - so simple and so effective.

Here are the cards they made:

This one was inspired by a card by Deb Valder and I've used "kerry cobbler", basic black and white with the Just Believe stamp set. In the background are En Francais (LOVE this stamp) with a non-SU harlequin design.

Next up I dragged out retired set Live Like You Mean It and used a gorgeous nestabilities shape for highlighting my main panel. The spotted background paper is from Love Letters and I just sponged some purple on to match my flowers. I shaped my "banner" sentiment with my bone folder to get it to sit how I wanted it.

Last but not least, I don't think you can do this technique without using either Upsy Daisy or Inspired by Nature - both sets were just "made" for this style! I chose IBN and here's how it ended up:

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Petite Chic

2011-06-26T14:54:00.001+10:00

Sorry to be MIA for so long - had to make a quick road trip down to Melbourne to rescue my two DDs stuck because of the ash cloud!

Anywho, we're making hexagon boxes in class this week using the mini milk carton die (as per my tutorial here) so I thought I'd do my own version of Rob's Artistic Etchings one from Unconvention (see it here).

As I love the look of black and cream I've used those, with a touch of grey and yellow thrown in. Here's how it turned out:

Oo-la-la! DD19 loves it, so hope my ladies will too.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Playing With My Brayer

2011-06-18T17:22:00.000+10:00

Had an urge to dust off my brayer, so I pulled out the fabulous Sail Away again - so great for male cards - and brayered a moon rising on the horizon using marina mist and night of navy for the sea and more mustard, cajun craze and kerry cobbler for the sky.

The stamped background on the mustard is Old World Map, a retired SU stamp borrowed from the lovely Lynda, and the DSP is Nautical Expedition (not released in Aus but PLEASE put it in our new catty! with the matching stamp set, preferably!!!).

Now, I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have used the in colour Poppy Parade. It's not really my cup of tea - it's no kerry cobbler, let's face it! - but I made a concerted effort to give it an airing with this card.

I brayered with daffodil delight, peach parfait and poppy parade and I think they have blended really well together. The bird from Every Moment was stamped in black StazOn ink and then coloured in with basic black marker, then I stamped the grass from Inspired by Nature (hope they never retire this set) using my stamp-a-ma-jig to place it just so. Some embossing with the square lattice and there's my card.

Thanks for all your kind words on my first tutorial and I hope you'll stop by again soon.

Cheers
Kez

Asian Inspired and My First Tutorial

2011-06-15T16:10:00.004+10:00

Howdy! I have had a few requests for a "how to" on the mini milk carton box with the legs, so settle down for a long post and here goes!

cut two mini milk cartons using your die and Big Shot
cut off one complete section from each as shown below

the centre panel has different scoring to the others (to make the spout part) but we need it to be the same, so firstly score from where the point meets the top, down to the next score line as seen below

now score from here to either corner so you have a triangular scored shape like the others

fold all your score lines and use your bone folder to get nice sharp creases
using strong adhesive on the end tabs, attach the two boxes together

to help keep your hexagon the right shape, join the bottom pieces as follows: take two opposite pieces and join them so they match perfectly and make a straight line

do this with the other two sets of opposite pieces as well

now cut another piece of cardstock 25.6 cm wide and height whatever you want - I used 9.5 cm for this sample
score this piece every 4.1 cm, so at 4.1, 8.2, 12.3, 16.4, 20.5 and 24.6 - you will then have a 1 cm piece for joining
using the 32 mm (1 1/4 inch) circle punch, punch the bottom of each section as shown below. I punched a piece of scrap paper first, folded it in half, then drew around it to give me a guide to where to punch my first one (see below), then traced around the one I had punched as a guide for the others

don't forget to give the end piece a bit of shape too

now decide how high up the carton you want to attach your "legs" piece. Don't put it right up to the fold as this will show too much - put it a bit below so you can hide it with your decorative panels of DSP or whatever

put plenty of strong adhesive on the inside part - remember not to put the adhesive so far down that it goes beyond the base of your box (I drew a line at 4.5 cm so I would know where to stop!)

begin attaching at the tab part and move around the box, adhering firmly

use your crop-o-dile to punch holes in the folded top sections, then thread ribbon through to tie

now decorate the side panels as you like - either one piece of DSP all the way around, or separate panels as per the examples below

Phew! I hope I haven't forgotten anything - have proofread this a million times!

Hope you have tons of fun making your own boxes. Many thanks to my mate Robbity for showing me how to make them in the first place!

Cheers
Kez

Edited to Add: I have since discovered that my friend got the idea for this box from two projects posted on www.creativityinprogress.com Many apologies to Sunghee for not giving her credit originally.

Coming Soon ...

2011-06-15T07:11:00.000+10:00

.... at a station near you! he he!

I have had more than a few hints and requests for how to do the legs on the mini milk carton gift box (see last post), so I am preparing a tutorial for it. Give me a day or two to get it done in between work and life and I should have it up here for you by the end of the week.

Stay tuned!

Gift Boxes

2011-06-14T07:00:00.001+10:00

I've had fun making more hexagon boxes from the mini milk carton die - just love these, they are so easy and so effective.

For the first one I wanted to go all girly and floral for some reason! I used two sets that I got from overseas and am hoping they make it into our new catalogue - Baby Blossoms and Four Frames. My colours are certainly celery, wild wasabi, pretty in pink and regal rose.

My second has the added "legs" and a much bolder colour combination with my favourite "kerry cobbler", marina mist and a touch of gold. These papers are called Paisley Petals - another "foreigner" I am hoping will appear on our shores come September.

Think we might just have to have a class on these soon!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Punch Buggy Yellow

2011-06-13T07:00:00.003+10:00

Do your kids/grandkids love to play the Yellow Car game? My girls do and we often have a hilarious journey trying to beat each other to call "punch buggy yellow"! Being in the driver's seat has its advantages and disadvantages, mind you! We use all yellow cars, not just "buggies" or VW beetles - except we can't play this game when we are in Melbourne with DD19 as she lives very close to the CBD and all the taxis are yellow! LOL

So having seen a gorgeous punch art VW beetle some time ago, I finally got around to making a punch buggy yellow card - literally! Here tis:

I love it! Takes me back aeons ago to my own childhood when we had a white VW beetle - named Herbie of course! (For those of you ancient enough to remember the original Love Bug movies!)

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

You're In My Thoughts

2011-06-12T11:40:00.000+10:00

Sadly, my SIL's dear wee dog Max had to be put out of his pain yesterday. I know she will miss him terribly and I made a card to tell her we are thinking of her and sharing her loss as she mourns Maxie - such a sweet wee man.

I went with classic and simple, which she likes.

I did three layers on the rose but haven't used dimensionals in between layers, just adhered the centres so it has a little depth.

After I'd made my card I found that Just Add Ink's challenge this week is black and white, so I'm entering it in that.

Thanks for calling in.

Kez

Craving Craft

2011-06-12T09:46:00.001+10:00

This past week was one of those weeks when everything conspired against stamping! I had extra hours at work, DD13 was sick, then I had a fall at work and had to rest up for a couple of days. But this morning I finally made it into my new craft room (not completely moved in yet, due to the above!) to make a card.

This one is for DD13, who loves to design her own fashions and make clothes - which is primarily the reason why I bought this suite of stamps and papers. I've used one of the great sentiments from Word Play and my colours are tangerine tango, cherry cobbler, very vanilla, crumb cake and marina mist.

It's a dull, overcast day here so forgive the poor lighting in the photo. Click on it for a better look!

Hopefully I'll get time over the long weekend for some more playing!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Great Excitement

2011-06-05T07:00:00.001+10:00

Well, we've got great excitement happening in our house at the moment for two reasons:

DD is excited because today is her birthday and she is now DD13! Yes, my baby is officially a teenager - which is exciting and sad for me at the same time. But I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming and love spending time with her - she seems to have inherited a rather warped sense of humour from somewhere (can't imagine where/who!!!! :P) and we have tons of laughs together.
I am excited because I have a new craft room! Up until now I was squished on a small desk in a corner of my bedroom and stuff has been overflowing every which way I look (new stamps, papers etc seem to magically appear!), so I have now moved in to a craft room! After a very fun trip to IKEA (gotta love it!) and hours spent with my wonderful SIL helping assemble bookcases, I have started moving "schtuff" in! Once I am more settled in there I will get some photos up here for you to see my new slice of heaven!

So, naturally, these two events converged in that I needed to "christen" my new craft room by making a card - and had need of a card for DD's birthday! What could be more perfect?

I found some great wrapping paper that has brightly coloured balloons all over it and also some fab take out boxes (for goodie bags) also covered in bright balloons ... so naturally I have used those gorgeous balloons from Crazy for Cupcakes (one of those sets that magically appeared, LOL!) and some bright, cheerful colours. Here tis:

Unfortunately the night I had the crystal effects drying was a cold one ... so cold that it has cracked the CE!!! Luckily DD understood. The sentiment stamp from PTI expressed my feelings perfectly ...

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Unconvention 4 - Other Projects

2011-06-03T08:48:00.000+10:00

Finally got my photos sorted and can show you the totally GORGEOUS project that Rob had for us to do at our Unconvention.

We were making a lovely 6-sided box using the mini milk carton die and Rob had tons of beautiful samples for us to see the different ways you can do them. Here are some photos of her samples:

They were all stunning but I think everyone's favourite was the Artistic Etchings one shown above. Just gorgeous. Now I need to find time to case it!

Here's the one we all made:

The others coloured flowers from the Pretties Kit with markers, but I used DSP and the Birds and Blossoms die for mine. The colours are "kerry cobbler" and daffodil delight - don't they look stunning together?

Well, back with photos of other swaps when I get organised. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

More Believers

2011-05-31T07:00:00.001+10:00

Here are the other two Just Believe cards we're making in class this week.

A bright one, for this I've teamed daffodil delight with always artichoke and whisper white. My first attempt at a double bow! I kinda like it, even though you almost need shades on!

I adore this one, CASEd from Julie Davison. Soft suede, tangerine tango, old olive and very vanilla are the colours used. Simple yet elegant, although I'm thinking maybe the wider lace would look better. I've popped the sentiment panel up on dimensionals for some depth.

Such a versatile set and definitely one of the best in the catalogue, IMO.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

NSU - The Circus is in Town

2011-05-29T10:40:00.001+10:00

In a couple of days I'll be catching up with a dear friend I haven't seen in a while who has recently landed a plum job with the Moscow Circus! She always credits me with her job success (she's a past student of mine), but it is really her courage and determination that got her through from a sad background to the confident, successful person she is now and I am so proud of her achievements. There are some lyrics from a song that always make me think of her -

I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing
Each time I find myself
Flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race

Naturally I wanted to make her a circus themed card! Here tis:

The animal stamp, rub on and papers are Kaiser and I love the little bits of sparkle and shine in them. The sentiment from SU seemed perfect. On the inside I've carried over the Big Top theme:

Hope your day is filled with friendship. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

NSU - Girlfriends in the Tub

2011-05-28T16:12:00.000+10:00

The image for today's card really tickles me and makes me laugh every time I see it! I had great fun watercolouring it up and had a good chuckle when I added the rosy cheeks - well, I figured they would be pretty rosy after a glass or two of wine, LOL!

Here are Girlfriends In the Tub:

That sentiment cracks me up too, it is soooooo true of me and my girlfriends! I'd love to be in a hot tub right now with a glass of wine in hand ... bliss! Sigh!

Materials used:

stamps - Art Impressions
card & paper - SU, Papertrey Ink, unknown from stash
all inks - SU

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez