Can't Resist You

This month's class cards use emboss resist techniques and I must admit my fingers were very inky after I had finished playing! Such a lot of fun and a wonderful stress release ....

So, here are the cards we are making. This first one was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest (I seem to say that a lot lately!) made by Melanie Muenchinger.

Materials used:

• stamps - Summer Silhouettes, Best Yet (retired)
• card - basic black, very vanilla, calypso coral patterned paper
• other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, sponges

Ingrid Kristina's creation (also on Pinterest) inspired my second card, this time in tones of blue and brown with a homespun/distressed feel.

Materials used:

• stamps - Summer Silhouettes, Good Greetings (hostess), En Francais (retired)
• card - crumb cake, watercolour
• other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge dauber, aqua painter, button, pennant punch, burlap ribbon

And the last of our cards is a bright and cheerful offering that is NOT inspired by anything on Pinterest, lol! I used ink refills for added intensity of colour in my background.

Materials used:

• stamps - Fabulous Florets
• card - rich razzleberry, whisper white, watercolour
• other - clear embossing powder, white embossing powder, heat tool, re-inkers, dimensionals, water spritzer

Only one more week of work until the holidays, and I am soooooooo looking forward to much more time in my craft room. I have projects for our upcoming Stamp Camp to prepare and am running out of time to do it!

See you again soon, I hope. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

New Meets Old

Here I am back from chilly Melbourne! I had a wonderful few days with DD21; we did a river cruise to Williamstown, browsed the Prahran markets, heard some live swing music and had lots of fun in each other's company. It was hard to come back home again but nice to be back with DD15 and in my own bed! Here's a snap taken on my iphone of DD at Southbank, waiting for our boat ride.

Anyway, on to cards! For this week's class I am introducing my ladies to the new in colours, combining them with existing stamp sets.

First up some Crisp Cantaloupe:

Materials used:

• stamps - Fabulous Florets, Field Flowers
• card - crisp cantaloupe, whisper white, basic grey
• inks - basic grey, crisp cantaloupe, pistachio pudding
• other - basic grey satin ribbon, dimensionals, sponge daubers

Next comes Pistachio Pudding:

Materials used:

• stamps - Doily, Elements of Style
• card - pistachio pudding, whisper white, crumb cake
• inks - crumb cake, pistachio pudding, crisp cantaloupe
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, blender pen, sponge daubers, 1 1/4" square punch

And last but not least a touch of Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana (this one is the favourite of both my girls). I'm not too good at photographing white cards, so just trust me that it looks better in real life!

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Flowers, Gingham wheel
• card - white linen (non SU), whisper white, non SU polka dot dsp
• inks - strawberry slush, coastal cabana
• other - honeycomb E/F, Big Shot, window framelits, 1" square punch, dimensionals, designer frames E/F, sponge dauber

I didn't use the fifth in colour, Baked Brown Sugar, but I'm sure my ladies won't mind. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Fabulous in Kerry Cobbler

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

Floral Feast

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

Thinking of You

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

Dear Friend

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

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

Brayering 101

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