Blog Hop Colour Challenge

It's time for another challenge blog hop with my SU team-mates and this month we were given a colour combo to use.

These sweet colours are not only featured in ribbon in the SAB catalogue, but also in gingham designer series papers in the Occasions catalogue. They are bright and cute and funky and I've been really enjoying playing with them.

Firstly I used one of my favourite new sets from the Occasions catalogue, Butterfly Gala. I'm not usually much into butterflies but this one is so lovely - both the stamped images and the sentiments - I found it irresistible. We made this in my last class and my ladies loved it. The three colours from the challenge I've used are daffodil delight, balmy blue and lemon lime twist.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala
• card - daffodil delight, whisper white, lemon lime twist, basic black, Botanical Butterfly DSP
• inks - Momento tuxedo black, balmy blue, daffodil delight
• other - butterfly duet punch, gingham gala adhesive backed sequins, clear Wink of Stella, tropical thinlits dies, Big Shot, stitched rectangle framelits, Dimensionals

I needed a 'thank you' card so for this one I took some of the flower images from Tea Together, pairing them with laser-cut details. I spritzed my brayered grapefruit grove background with some white shimmer mist to give it a lovely sparkle. The colours used from the challenge are grapefruit grove, lemon lime twist and highland heather.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tea Together
• card - whisper white, Beautifully Detailed Laser-cut Speciality paper, grapefruit grove, basic grey
• inks - lemon lime twist, Memento tuxedo black, grapefruit grove
• other - Big Shot, Dimensionals, Well Written framelit dies, white shimmer mist, stitched rectangle framelits, blender pen, glue pen, precision plate, tea time framelits, Stampin' Blends (highland heather), brayer

Seeing purple and orange together always makes me think of a line from the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, where Gareth comments on Scarlett's outfit -

LOL.

I used the same three colours on my last card - another we made in class - but in completely different proportions.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hello Cupcake
• card - lemon lime twist, basic black, whisper white, Gingham Gala DSP
• inks - lemon lime twist, grapefruit grove, highland heather, Memento tuxedo black
• other - organdie ribbon combo pack, mini glue dot, Dimensionals, clear Wink of Stella

That's all I have for you today. I'm third on the list of blogs, so you can go back to see what Kristy made or move forward to view Marelle's creations and keep going until you've completed the circle. 

Please leave some comment love and thanks for calling in!

Cheers

Kez

A Wee Bit Arty Farty

Hey ho stampers! I hope you are enjoying a warm, sunny day where you are - we are here in the beautiful Blue Mountains! Mind you, I believe thunder storms are predicted for later on, so I'd best enjoy it while I can! A long and rambling entry today, so if you're in the mood for an epic, read on!

Today's card is what I call "a wee bit arty farty"! It turned out that way through a series of mishaps - or rather, things not turning out quite like I thought they would ... here's the skinny:

While browsing through the IB&C I noted that the Xmas scrapbooking kit uses Cherry Cobbler (heart!), Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and Marina Mist. Hmmm, I thunk, I'd quite like to try that combo. Picture thinking cap on, trying to decide what stamps to use with these colours ... decided on Just Believe with a brayered background. Next dilemma: how to brayer blue without obliterating the green and red? Solution: clear emboss the flower first, then brayer over the top. So that's what I did, I inked my stamp with Versamark and then coloured with markers over it. First mishap! Markers do NOT like going over Versamark ink. Result? A bit of a blurry, blotchy effect. One to Murphy! Ah well, soldier on!

So I made my mask and brayered the sky with Baja Breeze and Marina Mist. It worked OK over the flowers, no problems with colours running or anything. One to Kez!

Then I got adventurous and decided to try my newly-made-up shimmer mist for a glittery effect. I have practised a couple of times but STILL got the large blobs, so again Murphy scored one and I got a bit of a patchy sparkle over my focal image!

Alright, next I stamped En Francais in Marina Mist over my vanilla background piece. Waaaaayy too prominent, so I embossed it to see if that toned it down a bit. Nah, Murphy scores again! OK, flipped it over and tried to get a vintagey/patchy look on the other side from whatever ink still remained on the stamp. Hmm, not much, but you'll see the merest hint on there! Half to Murphy, begrudgingly!

Then, the final touch and my piece-de-resistance! Some Cherry Cobbler (heart!) ribbon! No, I have not been shopping over in the good old US of A, but found some ribbon at a nearby habby shop that is a perfect match - and thus, am now in Cherry Cobbler heaven! LOL!

Another one to me - and the final score? Well, I think Murphy won that round. So, my card turned out not at all as perfect as I planned. Still, when I look at it, I quite like the soft, blurry, arty-farty kind of effect I have ended up with! Maybe Murphy should call in again some time .....!

Hey, if you've stuck with me for this long, now you deserve to see the card, yeah? Feast ....

Thanks for stopping by - and for valiantly struggling through my ramblings! Have a great day and watch out for Murphy!

Cheers
Kez

A Feast of Brayering and Birds

A bunch of us are getting together for a stamp day this weekend as we can't make it to the Stampin' Up! Convention. We are doing some projects and making swaps and generally going to have just as much fun - if not more! - than those who are going to the real thing.

I am doing brayering with the ladies and I picked two cards from Michelle Zindorf, the Master of Brayering (Mistress of Brayering just doesn't sound right somehow!) to CASE. They both use the wonderful 2 step bird punch (which you might have seen once or twice before on my blog, he he!!) at opposite ends of the seasonal spectrum. As luck would have it, the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week is to use one of the techniques they have shown on their blog hop, so these two brayered cards fit perfectly for that challenge.

Firstly here is my CASE of Michelle's 'Warm day in the field':

Colours in this one are Apricot Appeal, Really Rust and Bravo Burgundy. A very simple card but very striking.

Then I attempted 'Out in the frosty field' and I have to admit it took two tries till I was happy with it, and even then I made a couple of mistakes! Never mind, live and learn eh?! Here is my version of Michelle's beautiful card:

So for my swaps I decided to stick with the theme of brayering and birds and picked this card:

Well, thanks for stopping by. I hope you get the chance to sit and create something today; it's a damn sight cheaper than a shrink and much more fun! LOL!

Cheers
Kez

Blue Moon

A very simple card today for that occasion we all wish didn't happen: a sympathy card.

I've used the wheat sheaf stamp from Autumn Days, stamped in black StazOn before I brayered and I used the "stamping off" method to add depth. My first layer of ink was Baja Breeze (I adore this colour and am so glad we are keeping it!) and after that I put on my mask for the moon, then added Blue Bayou (which goes so perfectly with Baja) and a touch of Night of Navy at the top. When it was dry I added some more wheat for a dark foreground look. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments; it's the only sympathy one I have and I hope it's not too small.

You could use this - with a different sentiment, obviously! LOL! - for a masculine card too.

Thanks for dropping by. Have a good Sunday.

Cheers
Kez

Brayer and watercolour workshops

Some of my regular ladies have requested workshops in brayering and watercolouring, so I'm offering them to anyone else out there in the greater Sydney area who may be interested. You can come to one that is scheduled in my spacious workshop, or if you have a small group of friends who would like to learn too, I can come to you (within reason!).

Brayer workshops: Tuesday 9th June 10.00 am or Saturday 13th June 2.00 pm

Watercolouring workshops: Tuesday 7th July 10.00 am or Saturday 11th July 2.00 pm

Let me know if you are interested and I'll be happy to arrange something to suit.

Cheers
Kez