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

Just Breathe

I was honoured recently to be picked as winner of the CAS on Friday challenge #167 - a one-layer card (this one) - and subsequently get to be guest designer for their new challenge. The theme this time around is to use black and/or white and one colour.

For my colour I picked the beautiful seaside spray - such a lovely soft warm blue.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hugs from Shelli, Colourful Seasons
• card - whisper white
• other - Dimensionals, Mini Cloud Edges stencil (MFT), sponge dauber, Stamparatus, craft foam

I am so happy with how this card turned out and must admit, the more I make clean and simple cards, the more I'm drawn to them. Something about the clean lines and simplicity of design really resonates with me, so you can probably expect to see more in the future.

Pop on over to the CAS on Friday blog and be inspired by the design team's lovely creations - and hopefully you'll get the urge to join in the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by. 

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

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

Stepping Up Hugs from Shelli

I've always liked the style of stamps designed specifically by SU's co-founder, Shelli Gardner, so when her special Paper Pumpkin kit became available I couldn't resist.

For my first play I took the image that was shown to everyone and upscaled it a little - here's the basic card folks made at the SU events held in April:

As these notecards are the perfect size for layering on our A5 card, I "upsized" and added in a touch more pink along with some rose gold foil.

You may also notice the eggs in the nest stand out a little more - I coloured them with a white watercolour pencil. The die-cut flowers were super easy to pop out and attach and I also added one of the delightful bird charms (is that a swallow?) from the embellishments in the kit. I used more rose gold foil around my sentiment panel and added Dimensionals to everything for extra depth.

Given that I originally thought this brown card was the least attractive of the four designs in the pack, I rather like my finished product!

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - petal pink, early espresso, rose gold foil
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, watercolour pencils, aqua painter

For my second design I again took one of the notecards and made it a layer on a larger card.

The background pool party piece was spritzed with white shimmer mist before running it through the Big Shot with the subtle embossing folder, giving it a beautiful sheen as well as that lovely texture. The frame is new in-colour pretty peacock - isn't it gorgeous? This time I teamed the Paper Pumpkin elements with an image from complimentary stamp set Free as a Bird.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, pretty peacock, whisper white, vellum
• other - stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, subtle embossing folder, white shimmer mist, Stamparatus, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends - pool party, Bermuda bay, pineapple punch, pumpkin pie, soft sea foam

Again, in my third card, I've added some layers to dress up the kit contents, but it's still a simple and straightforward card. The sentiment is from Free as a Bird once more and don't you love the pink chenille cord? So soft and lovely.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - very vanilla, mossy meadow
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, Lots of Labels framelits, sponge dauber

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez