JAI #679 - Just Add a Colour Combo

For this week's Just Add Ink challenge we've a colour combo for you to play with. Our board uses the names for Stampin' Up ink colours but you're welcome to substitute them with a similar colour from a different brand. You can also use white, vanilla, black and metallics as accents if you wish. No other colours should be used.

This combo brought to mind some designer paper Stampin' Up had a few years back - and which I bought plenty of before it retired, lol - so I dug some out for my card. I love the whitewashed look of this polka dot paper and although petal pink is definitely not one of my favourite colours, decided to feature it with just hints of the much darker calypso coral. 

I distressed the edges of the calypso coral card and the flower bud the bird is carrying was cut from the DSP, the rest of the construction is pretty self-evident. To me this card could be used for a variety of occasions so I have left off a sentiment for now.

Materials used:

• card - basic white, pool party, calypso coral (Stampin' Up), Bird Ballad DSP (retired SU)
• dies - stitched circle, Soaring Layered Bird (Simon Says Stamp)
• other - Big Shot, craft foam, Dimensionals, blending brush, white baker's twine, mini cloud stencil (My Favorite Things), markers in black and petal pink, pool party ink

Check out how my fellow team-mates used this colour combination over at the JAI blog and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept Challenge - Vintage Style

This week over at The Card Concept we're giving you a vintage style challenge. Here's the inspiration pic to fire up your creative juices:

I took the bird and florals as my inspiration and kept mainly to the predominantly neutral colour scheme of the cushions for my shabby layered card. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Notes (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
• card - basic black, Natural Mini Collection (49 and Market), Bird Ballad DSP (SU retired), basic white
• other - fancy scallop stitched rectangle die (Scrapdragon), faceted dots (SU), sponge dauber, craft foam, mounting tape, Dimensionals, distressing tool, scissors 

There's plenty more samples for you to see over at The Card Concept blog and hopefully you'll be inspired to join the challenge - we'd love to see your creation in our gallery!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Hugs to You

This week I gave my ladies a sketch to play with, one I borrowed from FMS:

Naturally, I had to come up with an example of my own and it wasn't until this morning that a solid idea formed in my brain and drove me into my craft room. I turned the sketch on its side for a landscape orientation and did a bit of fussy cutting, then found a die cut piece on my desk and decided to use that too.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hugs with Shelli
• card - crumb cake, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP, so saffron patterned paper
• other - linen thread, fancy scallop rectangle die (Scrap Dragon), Big Shot, Dimensionals, Subtle embossing folder, craft foam, stitched rectangle die (Scrap Dragon)

Lots of dimension on this one and some subtle texture in the background gives a huge lift to the overall impression. To give the dsp more strength, I adhered a rough cut piece to some white card then fussy-cut through both layers. I'll be sad to see these papers go (though I've got plenty in my stash, lol) but look forward to some more birds in the new catty. 

Thanks for dropping by. Stay safe.

Cheers

Kez

Bird Ballad Mini Album

OH. MY. GOSH.

Is it OK to totally swoon (but never drool, lol) over your own creation? I sure hope so because I am completely in love with this little album showcasing the gorgeous Bird Ballad papers. Based on the Sailing Home mini album I made with Danielle Bennenk while I was in the Netherlands (see post HERE), it's full of adorable birds and beautiful flowers, with plenty of spaces to add photos and/or journaling.

Sigh.

I can so see this being something I never want to give away.

Dying to find out what all the fuss is about? Here we go:

The pieces in the middle with the three layers of DSP lift up for more photo space. 

The last section is a sideways twist and pop.

I'm hoping to load a short video of 'revealing' this mini album to my Facebook page, as static photos lose their wow factor somewhat. If I manage to do that, I'll come back here and put a link for you to follow.

Shall I tell you a little trick I did with the fussy cut flowers on the first and twist and pop sections? Once I'd cut them roughly from the DSP, I stuck them to removable adhesive paper then fussy cut around them. This means when I add photos to the white areas, I can peel off the flowers and stick them back over the photos if I want! I know, I'm a clever little Vegemite 😜.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hugs from Shelli
• card - pool party, whisper white, petal pink, calypso coral, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - Dimensionals, pool party ribbon, delicate lace edgelits, Big Shot, precision plate, removable adhesive paper (Avery), mini Dimensionals, stitched circle dies, woven threads sequin assortment

Do you love it? Never mind if you don't - I love it enough for all of us 😁 Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Floating Flowers

One of the techniques that hit the craft sphere while I was away is Jennifer McGuire's floating frame cards. I loved it, but with limited supplies and equipment with me on the boat, couldn't try it out for myself at the time. Yesterday I finally had the chance and here's my inaugural attempt.

Happily the technique itself was pretty simple - all the work was in the fussy cutting of the flowers and the sticking-on and unpeeling of the dimensionals! However, I'm happy with it for a first try. I coloured plain rhinestones using my Stampin' Blend marker to match my card - love how easy this is.

Here's a close up so you can see the 'floating' effect.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - calypso coral, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals and mini Dimensionals, Stamparatus, rhinestones, calypso coral dark Stampin Blend marker, Glad Press'n Seal

Keen to give it a try yourself? You can watch Jennifer's video tutorial HERE.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Hybrids For The Win

Another simple but effective card for you today which once more combines the Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit with the Free as a Bird bundle. The DSP and sentiment are from the bundle, while the swallow and splotch stamps are from the PP kit. Aren't they gorgeous together? And in pool party, one of my all-time fav SU colours.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, basic black, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched rectangle framelit, Big Shot, mounting strips, Stampin' Blends - smoky slate, pool party

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

More of You

As we're going away soon, I tried to be really good about not getting too much new stuff in the pre-order we demonstrators are allowed from the upcoming annual catalogue. One stamp set I simply could not pass up, though, is Free as a Bird. Living in the Blue Mountains, we are visited by a huge variety of feathered friends on a daily basis, so these cute little guys were irresistible. There's some gorgeous designer series paper to go with the stamps and my very first card featuring 'new stuff' uses both of these products as well as a new punch.

Take a lookie:

Are they adorable or what? Why yes, Kerry (I hear you say), yes they are.

The branch going across the frame is a stamp from the set, the background is the DSP. And do you love the punch? Yeah, me too.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, so saffron, whisper white, basic black, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched framelits, Big Shot, subtle E/F, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, timeless label punch

I'll try to be back with more 'new stuff' soon (can't promise anything though), but coming up in a couple of days is our team's blog hop and there we're showcasing retiring products. That should give you plenty of ideas for last minute projects!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez