Iconic Aussie Bloke

Move over Ozzie Osbourne ... Ozzie the Owl is coming through!

Yes folks, today is Australia Day, the day when Aussies old and new celebrate being part of this "big brown land". Our family has two "real" Aussies (DH and DD12) and two "new" Aussies (DD18 and myself - both Kiwis), so we always celebrate both Australia Day and New Zealand (Waitangi) Day.

I usually make a card to mark the occasion and you had to know that I just HAD to create another owl, didn't you?

I have come up with an iconic Aussie bloke, complete with Akubra hat with corks (to keep the flies off your face, in case you're from overseas and didn't know) and an ice cold beer in hand. He's standing on a gum leaf and his green and gold banner proudly proclaims his name! Come and meet him .... (click on the photo for a better look) ...

The corks on his hat are made with slivers from a real cork, sewn on with needle and embroidery thread - a very painstaking job, I have to say. The foam on his beer is made from puff paint. Yes, I know, he looks as if he's had a couple of beers already! Well, I tried to make him look as authentic as I could ... ROFLOL!!!

Right oh, Ozzie, let's get back and throw another prawn on the barbie! Hope you are enjoying your Australia Day and thanks for dropping in.

Cheers mate
Kez

Making me thirsty!

It's been a while since I've tried one of Kristina Werner's colour challenges, so I thought I'd give it a burl. I was lucky enough to find a stamp set I thought suited these colours:

Here's what I ended up with:

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

That drink looks awfully good - wonder if there's anything more mustard coloured in my liquor cupboard?!!! LOL!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow all you mums out there.

Cheers

Kez

Swimming in testosterone!

Aaaaccckkkkkk! I think I have finally hit the wall with male cards! Losing mojo .... must ... have ... girly ... things.. ! So here are the last couple of male cards (see earlier entries for the story) plus a Tilda card I made a while back as a thank you for a RAK.

For the first one I had more fun with puff paint on the beer mug from Cheers To You and mixed it with an old favourite, Enjoy Every Moment. The papers are from Windsor Knot DSP, which I really like BTW, even tho they are mostly masculine looking! And the little chipboard star is from On Board Essentials.

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

The next one - the last one! - again uses stuff from the Simply Sent kit and matching stamp set, with the addition of a double-punched star. Could be a birthday card or congrats card, I guess - I don't know what I was thinking when I did it!!!

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

And lastly, to save my sanity, a beautiful little girly card! Yay! Just as well I have two girls and not two boys, I'm thinking! I just LURVE this brocade blue DSP from the Patterns II hostess set.

Created by Kez. Some stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

That's all folks! Hope you have a good day and thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

May is for Male

Having just gotten over all the female friends and family having birthdays in April, now I'm faced with five male birthdays for early May! Yes, five!!! And all really close together! We all know how challenging it is to create male cards, so as you can imagine, I started off feeling a little daunted at the thought of five!

Had a good look through all the sets I have that could be used, browsed my stash of DSP for masculine colours, and came up with a bunch of cards that I'll choose from and keep the rest in stock. Here are the first three. You'll find the layout similar in some of them - I follow the Keep It Simple rule (just like blokes, LOL!!!).

I started with Chef Henri, the little fat chef:

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

Supplies used:

• stamps - Voila and Voila a la carte
• papers - Apple Cider DSP (retired), close to cocoa and whisper white cardstock
• other - dimensionals, Big Shot and nestabilities, wild wasabi double stitched ribbon, watercolour crayons, aquapainter

Next came some tools, a good bloke standby!

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

Supplies used:

• stamps - For Father (retired)
• paper & card - basic grey, baja breeze and whisper white cardstock, basic grey patterns DSP (hostess set)
• other - "screw" type brads (stash)

I had a play with a new set and some puff paint - fun, fun, fun! I also put crystal effects over all of the beer glass to make it shine like glass (but you can't tell that in the photo). I don't have a stamp reverser, so drew the reverse image by hand after cutting out the shape - hence the crooked lines!

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

Supplies used:

• stamps - Cheers to you
• card & paper - Windsor Knot DSP, sage shadow and whisper white cardstock
• other - dimensionals, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, crystal effects, puff paint

Hope they help if you are in need of inspiration for male cards too! I'll have some more tomorrow.

Cheers

Kez