Last But Not Least

Phew! There's a whole lotta posts today! But I've been catching up on photographing all the cards I've made in the past two weeks, feeling guilty because people keep asking for them! So here is my final batch - no new stuff, just playing with colour and ideas.

Materials used:

• stamps - Weather Together
• card - basic grey, whisper white, daffodil delight, brights patterned paper stack, white glitter
• other - umbrella dies, Big Shot, dimensionals

The challenge on this one was sticking those sparkly raindrops on individually!

It's fun to have another play with this great bundle and hopefully give my ladies some ideas. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Beautiful You, Thoughtful Branches
• card - smoky slate, whisper white, neutrals patterned paper
• other - branches dies, Big Shot, dimensionals

For this last card it's actually been some time since I made it, but as I hadn't gotten around to showing it to you, I'll pop it in. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Baby Bear
• card - sweet sugarplum, whisper white, in colour patterned paper, tip top taupe
• other - stitched framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals

Well, that's it, I'm all caught up. Hope you enjoy wandering through all the posts today and my feast of cards.

Cheers

Kez

Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that stampers love playing with new product. Am I right? Yes, I am.

With my visitors gone (sad face), the silver lining was that my craft room was my own once again, and that meant PLAY TIME! The goodies I'd pre-ordered from the Occasions Catalogue were taunting me from the shelves so it was time to settle down and get serious with ink.

And you know how I love to get inky. Oh yeah. The new Dragonfly Dreams bundle gave me just the opportunity to get messily creative - so yes, I am happy to admit, my fingers are all shades of grubby right now! But. I. Don't. Care.

As usual, I found some inspiration from Pinterest, and also - unusually - from the Occasions catty itself. Here's my first effort, some Bokeh effect with gold and purples. So rich and glamorous! A whispery trail of dragonfly sparkle ties the two gold elements together and gives the card movement.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Basics, Dragonfly Dreams
• card - whisper white, blackberry bliss, gold foil
• inks - rich razzleberry, blackberry bliss, whisper white, Versamark
• other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, dragonfly thinlits, cirlce punches and dies, sponges, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, Big Shot, die brush

The card in the Occasions catty I based my next sample on used some of the lovely new papers, but there's not enough of it in a pack for me to use with classes, so I had to improvise and create my own. 

I began with a piece of very vanilla and stamped En Francais using crumb cake ink, then sponged it unevenly (yes, on purpose) with so saffron. Next some Bermuda bay sponging of a diamond stencil - not SU, unfortunately, as they don't have this shape (yet) - and the 'dots' of hello honey. The edges were given a deep sponge with crumb cake, then a light edging with early espresso for more depth. The dragonfly (stamped in early espresso) has hints of saffron and Bermuda on its wings, which also glitter with Wink of Stella. The sentiment is stamped on vellum. Et voila! 

Materials used:

• stamps - Dragonfly Dreams, En Francais (retired)
• card - Bermuda bay, very vanilla, vellum
• inks - crumb cake, so saffron, Bermuda bay, hello honey, early espresso, StazOn timber brown
• other - sponges, Tim Holtz stencil, dragonfly thinlits, Wink of Stella, dimensionals, spray adhesive, Big Shot

Sometimes, of course, simple is best, as you can see in my next card, inspired by a creation from a UK demo called Kim that I found on Pinterest. To get my sentiment dark enough but still use the matching ink, I used my MISTI and stamped it three times.

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Canvas (retired)
• card - Sahara sand, dazzling diamonds glimmer, Falling in Love DSP
• inks - Sahara sand
• other - dragonfly thinlits, layering ovals framelits, Big Shot, MISTI, sponge dauber, dimensionals, die brush

Okay, time to go back for some more playing. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Thoughtful Branches

You all know what it's like, I'm sure.

You see a stamp set in a catalogue or flyer and you think, "Meh, yeah, I guess it's okay," and you decline to order it.

Then a good crafting friend mentions she bought it, so you figure you should give it another look. You do your usual browsing among creative websites and blogs, or - my personal kryptonite - Pinterest, and you begin to see lots and lots of lovely samples made using that stamp set. You see ideas for using it you never would have thought of on your own and you begin to see it in a whole new light.

You all know what happens next, don't you?

Yes, you order the set. You. Are. Hooked.

Line. And. Sinker.

What's that? Did this happen to me? Puh-lease!

Of course it did. Damn you, Thoughtful Branches, with your many pretty fonts, your variety of branches, leaves, petals, trees and others, and your dies that match up so easily you can make a lovely card in less than ten minutes. Damn you!

Sigh.

Okay, here are the samples I've made so far, and I feel it only fair to point out that these were made yesterday at a play day with my enabling (former) good crafting friend, and that my own set just arrived in the post today - so goodness only knows what I'm going to come up with next!

Love, love, love this set for a softly evocative Christmas card:

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Good Greetings
• card - whisper white, real red,
• other - softly falling embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, Thoughtful Branches die set

Two layers of leaves, one in plain card (mint macaron) and one stamped, make a great canopy for a tree:

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches
• card - whisper white, mint macaron, baked brown sugar
• other - Big Shot, Dimensionals, Thoughtful Branches die set, Sahara sand marker

Here I've tried for the hydrangea look and I don't think it's quite worked, but I'll show it to you anyway. I'm still in love with the woodgrain background stamp - another one I was slow to warm to and glad when I finally caved and got it.

Materials used:

stamps - Thoughtful Branches, Woodgrain

card - Sahara sand, mint macaron, sweet sugarplum

other - clear embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Thoughtful Branches die set, sponge dauber

If my story and/or samples have finally convinced you to order this set - well, firstly, hurry up because it's only available until the end of this month - and also, I'll happily accept the blame for enabling you. You know what they say - you've got to pay it forward. That's all I'm doing, right?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez