Caffeine Tones

It's a coffee-lover's dream over at Color Me Beautiful, with these caffeine tones as our inspiration for this week's challenge! 

I decided to go with a sepia-toned Christmas card and managed to use four of the five colours.

Here's my card - if you click on the photo you can see the sparkle better:

I masked off my ground area for the snowdrifts before I stamped the trees in soft suede and Sahara sand. The sky was sponged with river rock and soft suede and I used suede again for the ground. When everything was dry I inked the whole area with Versamark and added iridescent ice embossing powder to give a winter sparkle! It looks totally GOR-JUSS in real life! And did you notice? I used a button again! LOL

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Many Merry Messages (retired)
• card - confetti cream, very vanilla, early espresso
• other - iridescent ice embossing powder, heat tool, satin ribbon, vintage faceted button, embroidery thread, sticky strip, mounting tape, markers

Click on the link to the challenge blog to see what the other design team members have come up with to inspire you (from 5 am Sth Carolina time or 7 pm AEDST), and while you're there we'd love you to join in the challenge and create a project using this week's colours.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Edited to add: I have had a few requests both here and on other sites on how to do the snow on this card.  I will video the technique for you and add it here asap. Thanks so much for your interest!

Further edit: The video tutorial is now uploaded to Dropbox and you can get the link here.

Masked Mustard

We're having more fun with brayering at today's workshop and my ladies are keen to try out some masking. It's terribly addictive once you get going!

Inspired by this gorgeous card of Paula Dobson's, here is what I came up with:

I brayered with so saffron and more mustard at the top, then soft suede at the base. The trees were stamped in soft suede and early espresso and I added some espresso sponging around the base as well. The birds (from Up, Up and Away) are also stamped in espresso.

Just love these colours together so many thanks for the inspiration Paula.

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Up Up & Away
• card - more mustard, early espresso, whisper white
• other - post it notes, brayer, sponge daubers, stamp-a-ma-jig, 32 mm circle punch

And here is the sweet little gift box I made for my hostess:

Materials used:

• stamps - Growing Green, Because I Care
• card - pink pirouette, certainly celery, whisper white, pink pirouette patterns paper
• inks - wild wasabi, certainly celery, regal rose, pretty in pink
• other - scallop trim border punch, pennants die, Big Shot, two tags die, watercolour crayons, pearls, dimensionals, aquapainter

How about dusting off your brayer for some fun soon?

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Merry And Bright

Here's the Christmas cards we'll be making at this month's stamp-a-stack classes.

Plenty of subtle glitter on the first one as I mixed dazzling diamonds with white embossing powder. We stamp the trees with Versamark ink, add my concoction and voila! wintery white trees with sparkle.

Materials used:

• stamps - SU Lovely as a Tree, Verve sentiment
• card - night of navy, whisper white, Sahara sand
• other - dazzling diamonds, sponge dauber, dimensionals

The second card includes some watercolouring - you know how much I love it! - together with a few of my favourite colours. The embossing on the background ties in with the holly and swirls on the main panel and also stops the vanilla from being too plain.

Materials used:

• stamps - Bells and Boughs, Elements of Style
• card - crumb cake, very vanilla, cherry cobbler, watercolour paper
• inks and markers - daffodil delight, more mustard, marina mist, always artichoke, cherry cobbler, crumb cake
• other - dimensionals, aquapainter, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Are you starting to feel all Christmassy? 

Cheers

Kez

I Know You Don't Want To Hear This, But ...

...... Christmas is coming!

Oh, yeah, you know it - once we hit July, it's a downhill run from there! LOL! And as papercrafters we know what that means ... start your Christmas cards!

This month we started our Christmas stamp-a-stack classes and here are the two cards we made:

I loved using non-traditional colours for this case from my upline Marelle.

Materials used:

• stamps - Dasher, Four the Holidays
• card - crumb cake, whisper white, perfect plum, concord crush
• other - Petals A Plenty embossing folder, scallop trim border punch, white taffeta ribbon, white gel pen, dimensionals

A simple design for this one so there was time to do the colouring in. Love this cute little image!

Materials used:

• stamps - Greeting Card Kids
• card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, watercolour
• other - Kaiser designer paper, nestabilities die, dimensionals

And not for class but just for my own collection, I also played around with the ever popular Lovely as a Tree for this card:

Materials used:

• stamps - Lovely as a Tree, Four the Holidays
• card - always artichoke, creamy caramel, very vanilla
• other - Kaiser designer paper, nestabilities die, dimensionals, square punch

It's almost time for August's class, so I'll be back soon with more Christmas cards. You better get started on yours!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

A Creative Opportunity

I am sure you all know the saying, "A mistake is just a creative opportunity". Well, earlier this week I showed you a card that was to be for my beginners SAS class tomorrow. However - and yes, it's a doozie of a "however"! - when I sat down to cut materials today I found that I didn't have enough cardstock in either of the greens! I think I will blame having been so distracted by my order from the new catty arriving and the excitement of so many new things to play with! Yup, that's my story!

So anyways, what's a girl to do? No time to borrow more and no time to design a whole new card, so I'll just have to adapt. So I re-created my card using Wild Wasabi and Certainly Celery, plus added an extra layer of white, and you know what? I like the "mark II" version better!

Here are the two versions:

So I'm thinking this colour renovation business has got some merit I didn't foresee ... LOL!

And completely off topic, I am very pleased and proud to announce that DD12's netball team WON their Grand Final match this morning! Yay! Go team! Woot!

That's all from me.

Cheers
Kez

Postie Postie Don't Be Slow, Be Like Elvis and Go Man Go!

Hey ho everyone! I got back from Melbourne last night after a wonderful few days catching up with DD18. She took me to as many of her favourite places as we could fit in and we had a ball. We ate in Chinatown, enjoyed guinness and music at an Irish pub, shopped at the Queen Vic markets, bought cake at Brunetti's and brunched in Brunswick.Yesterday we went to the Tim Burton Exhibition at ACMI - I thoroughly recommend it if you are down that way, it was amazing to see behind the scenes of the creative genius of that man. DD's college show was a roaring success - they put on Stephen Sondheim's 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' - which I really enjoyed and of course am so proud of her efforts.

Today it's back preparing for upcoming classes and waiting very impatiently for the postie to bring me my new goodies! You can probably tell by my header that he hasn't done so yet! LOL So I have just one card to show you. This is one of the Christmas cards for my beginner's class Stamp-a-Stack on Sunday.

A very simple card to make and the masked sponging makes such a lovely effect. I've used Lovely as a Tree and Many Merry Messages in Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke.

That's it! I'll be back tomorrow hopefully - if my postie hears my pleas! - with more. Till then, take care and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

One of my dreams in life is to go somewhere in the northern hemisphere and have a white Christmas. Not that I'm big into snow and cold, but I just love the whole "package" that seems to come with a wintery Christmas. This card was inspired by that ideal and the colouring I chose came from the beautiful ribbon I picked up at our local $2 shop.

I've used the pine tree from Lovely as a Tree and embossed it in silver. Then I added some puff paint to make snow sitting on the branches and at the base of the tree. I sponged the edges of the night of navy cardstock with whisper white ink and I love this effect! The white card behind the image was embossed with snowflake shapes and mounted on silver, and my sentiment comes from the wonderful hostess set, Best Yet.

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

Hope you like it! Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Window Window Card

It appeals greatly to my very warped sense of humour (had it all my life; don't need a 12-step programme, I rather enjoy it!) that today's card, which is a window card, should also feature a picture of a window. OK, I never said it wasn't lame, did I, just that it appealed to me! :)

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

I have long meant to make another card using the window from the aptly named Window Dressing set and today was the day when I finally did. It took a great deal of fiddly cutting out, so luckily I was in a patient frame of mind! (I've just noticed I made a pun there. Unintentional. But a good one, huh?!!) Take a lookie - here's the front:

And on the inside:

I tried to think of how I could get some decorations and tinsel etc on the tree, but it was far too much of a brain drain after all that cutting! So the tree is bare. Still, there are plenty of pressies underneath and that's the important thing!!! LOL!

Well, I think I've inflicted enough of my humour on you for one post! I hope the very brave ones among you will be back for more another day!

Cheers

Kez

Lucky Last

I feel like I have spent the past week sitting in the doctor's waiting room ... with four visits in six days, it's no wonder! Meanwhile, I've managed to finish my last alcohol ink card and found an old one I made years ago, so have those to show you, here they are:

Last chance today to enter for my blog candy (just leave a comment on any post in September) and also last chance for the SU ribbon bundle promotion, so that gives you something to be going on with today! I'll announce the blog candy winner tomorrow, which is also DD17's graduation day! A big day for her, and a proud one for us, especially as she has come top in class in two subjects.

Thanks for calling in today. Have a good one!

Cheers

Kez