Lost Angel

When I arrived at work yesterday it was to the sad news that one of my students who was in her 35th-36th week of pregnancy had lost her baby. I can't begin to imagine how devastating that must be for her and her family and, as always in a time of loss, you feel so helpless.

I want to send a card so she will know I am thinking of her and sharing in her grief but I need your help - I am really not sure if the card I have made is appropriate. I'm worried that it looks too much like a baby card and not enough like a sympathy card, so I would REALLY appreciate your feedback on this one. I did use "baby" colours on purpose, but is it too ... too ... I don't even know what word I'm trying to say! Please let me know what you think ... feel free to make any suggestions for improvement ...

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughts & Prayers
• card - white linen (non SU), pool party
• other - Big Shot, beautiful wings embosslit die, designer frames EF, in stitches (non SU) EF, white organza ribbon, sponge dauber

Thanks for stopping by and for your comments.

Cheers

Kez

Dispatches

Sympathy cards are by their very nature the most difficult to make I think. We all have trouble knowing what to say to someone who has lost a loved one. From my experience, it's not the actual words that are said that helps, but the knowledge that someone cares.

I don't like anything too gushy, so keep the sentiments on my cards simple and hope the recipient knows they come from the heart. For design you can't go wrong with nature, whether your card is for a man or woman.

(cased from Christine Z)

Materials used:

• Stamps - Elements of Style, Thoughts and Prayers
• Card - Baja breeze, whisper white, basic black
• Other - non SU embossing folder, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

For this one I stamped the leaves on watercolour paper using the different coloured inks, then "smooshed" over them with a clean, wet aquapainter to add that little touch of watercoloured look to them. First time I've tried it and I like how it turned out, so I'll be sure to give that another go sometime.

Materials used:

• stamps - French Foliage, Thoughts and Prayers
• card - cajun craze, more mustard, early espresso, watercolour
• inks - more mustard, cajun craze, cherry cobbler, tangerine tango, early espresso
• other - dimensionals, aquapainter

Hope my Hatches, Matches and Dispatches have inspired you. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Dagnabbit!

I have an evil elf living at my place. His name is Dagnabbit.


This elf sits quietly while I measure and cut my layers of card, he does nothing at all while I sit each layer on top of the next to make sure they're even and fit nicely, then just when I think all will be well and everything will go on straight, he makes sure that when I get to the all-important sticking down stage, things go crooked! I don't know how he does it, but it frustrates the heck out of me and I call his name out quite loudly (and sometimes other words too!).


I think he may have some brothers out there living with some of you.


I wanted to make a Thinking of You card for one of my customers whose son is ill and I saw a lovely card by Adriel Hong that inspired me. She used the hostess set 'Because I Care' which I have had for some time but have to admit to not even having mounted, let alone used. (And NO, that is definitely NOT a sign that I have too many stamps!)

It's quite a different style for me and I'm not completely sure about it, so if I don't get any encouraging comments I'll know to not bother trying that again, LOL!!! Here it is in all it's Dagnabbit glory:

I've used cherry cobbler, very vanilla and early espresso with crumb cake for sponging. Sounds like a menu - maybe if I feed it to Dagnabbit he'll let me get something straight next time ...

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Let's Play Doctors and Nurses

Quite a few of my Lana ladies are nurses or nurse aids, so when I saw a nurse owl made by Theresa Romani using the new Owl Punch, I just had to have a go at creating a card for my ladies. I created a doctor owl too, wearing his blue surgical scrubs and stethoscope!

Here's my card:

The paper comes from Newsprint DSP. I punched the edge with the spiral punch and added a miniature medical chart complete with mini library clip.

How cute is that clip? I hope my nurses are going to love it!

Thanks for calling in. Have a great day.

Cheers
Kez

Sharing in Your Sorrow

The current challenge at Just Add Ink is a sympathy card and I unfortunately had need of one this week, as my boss's mother passed away. They are never an easy card to make. Here's my offering:

And on the inside:

Materials used:

• card - Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, watercolour paper
• inks - Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz, Timber Brown StazOn
• stamps - Every Moment, Thoughts & Prayers
• other - Early Espresso satin ribbon, Vintage brad, Lots of Tags die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, wide oval punch, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Rosey Flutterbies

It's time again for my lovely Lana ladies class and this week we will be focusing on roses and butterflies.

A few of them bought the beautiful set A Rose is a Rose when it was on special last month, so as my mojo is having a bit of a holiday, we will be caseing my lovely and talented team mate Liam. Click here to see Liam's card, and here is my adaptation:

My Lanas all love purple, so we are giving Pale Plum a last hurrah before it retires at the end of this month. It will be sorely missed; how beautiful does it look teamed with Perfect Plum, Old Olive and So Saffron? Love the use of the Manhattan Flower embossing folder too - thanks for such wonderful inspiration Liam!

Our next card is cased from Ilina Crouse. I've changed only the sentiment and the embossing from Ilina's original. Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise are not colours I would have thought to put together, but they are so vibrant and summery and I think they each bring out the best in the other.

Simple yet very effective; that's the kind of card I like!

Card number three uses the versatile Baroque Motifs with more lovely flutterbies in Cameo Coral, Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip.

And lastly they'll be making the card I did at stamp camp, which you've seen recently. Medallion and En Francais are my two favourite background stamps, but I think that position may be usurped after 1st Sept ...

Hope you've had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Blushing Butterflies

One of our team mates is stepping down from SU due to ill health, so I thought it would be nice for her to receive a card rather than an email message. I wanted it to be soft and simple and I think I have achieved that. Here's the card:

And on the inside:

Materials used:

• stamps - Very Vintage jumbo wheel, Thoughts & Prayers, Butterfly Prints
• inks - Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa
• other - butterfly punch, dimensionals, marker
• card - Blush Blossom and Whisper White
• non SU - adhesive pearls, tiny butterfly punch

My cutter blade is getting rather blunt, which was perfect for this card as it adds to the vintage look of the background!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day.

Cheers

Kez

Variations on a Theme

There's nothing quite like getting fixated on a card style...!

This morning I was quietly admiring my quick and simple bird card from the other day (see this post) and I decided to try some different colours. So Saffron sprang to mind first and when I was thinking what colour to put with it, somehow a sneaky purple worked its way in there! So here's quick and simple bird card No. 2 with So Saffron and Perfect Plum and just a little touch of bling!

Then I got really adventurous - I added more colours, flipped the design sideways (woo hoo!) and even went two-tone on the bird! Wowser, living on the dangerous side now!!! Here's quick and simple bird card No. 3 with Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and a dash of Kiwi Kiss:

Well, as you all know, one of the rules in papercrafting is you always have an odd number, so I just HAD to make another quick and simple bird card, didn't I? For this one I had it in my mind that I wanted to use Sahara Sand and Basic Black. With no paper in SS, I made my own background using the Very Vintage wheel, which I am now LOVING in this colour. I read on a blog or chat group somewhere recently that Blush Blossom is a card colour they almost never use and I realised I am a bit the same; I use the ink pad endlessly as my skin tone when watercolouring, but hardly ever use the cardstock, so I have set myself a challenge to use it more often and here it is as my accent colour. The ribbons of course are "contraband" as SU doesn't have BB ribbon (and now never will, sadly).

I think this one is my favourite of the three. Hope you like them too.

Non SU materials used: peach ribbons, adhesive pearl, adhesive rhinestone, rhinestone buckle.

Thanks for calling in, have a great day.

Cheers

Kez

Hatches, Matches and Dispatches

Hey ho all! We got back from Queensland late Tuesday night - well, actually, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Do you remember a childhood story about a small train who used to say "I think I can, I think I can" to get up a hill? Well, that was us! Our XPT train had engine trouble and we couldn't make it up the hill! We ended up having to get towed up by extra engines and, long story short, were 3 hours late arriving back in Sydney! Then it was over an hour's drive home, so it was the wee small hours when we got home - after a 5 am start! Yes, we were tired little bunnies yesterday. But we had a lovely time visiting my brother, niece and nephew and also caught up with my aunt and cousin, so it was a great few days.

Now, of course, it's back to work with a vengeance with classes to organise, so today I have some cards to share. These are the cards we are making at my Simply Sweet class this month and I've dubbed it "Hatches, Matches and Dispatches".

Firstly, a card suitable to welcome a new baby, use for a christening or even baby's first birthday. (Excuse the photos, I'm out of practice and the light is poor!)

• stamps used - Nursery Letters jumbo wheel, Wild About You, Best Yet, Nursery Necessities
• colours used - Barely Banana, Whisper White, Certainly Celery

This next one can be used for a wedding or anniversary.

• stamps used - Together Forever
• colours used - Basic Grey, Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate

And lastly a sympathy card.

• stamps used - Thoughts & Prayers, Baroque Motifs
• colours used - Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand

If you are interested in the Simply Sweet class, email or phone me for details. Enjoy your day!

Cheers

Kez