Vote Elmo for President

OK, so I know that we don't actually have a President in Australia, but there is talk of becoming a republic and if we do, then by golly we better get Elmo to immigrate and vote him in!

What's with all the Elmo Enthusiasm, you ask? Well, the other day DD19 and I were shopping in Big W and as I was cruising the Xmas decorations aisles, looking for some inspiration, I spied this:

Now I just can't resist a button that says

naturally, I mean who can? - and so I did (press there, that is) and Elmo starts to sing Jingle Bells! His mouth moves and everything! And he gives a gorgeous little Elmo giggle at the end and oh-my-goodness-who-could-possibly-resist-him? So I showed this to DD19, who just stared open-mouthed while the King of Cute did his thing. I honestly couldn't read her facial expression and was thinking that maybe she didn't like it and was thinking I was being silly - but after Elmo finished his song, she just grabbed it and proclaimed "We are buying this!" She loves it as much as me and of course DD13 does too (she used to have a Tickle Me Elmo), so now every now and then we play it and we all sit there with huge smiles on our dials!

So that's why I'll be voting for Elmo for President. DD19 will too. Yup.

And as I thought perhaps you might want to see something craft-related, I'll reshow this adorable card I made a whiles back:

Hope you get some Elmo-cute giggles in your day. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Santa Candy

Last night I had the pleasure of a Christmas dinner celebration with many of the lovely ladies who have come to my classes all year. We dined in a beautiful heritage listed building with tons of atmosphere and scrumptious food - it doesn't get much better than that!

I had made a small gift for each of them using the new candy wrapper die and plenty of bling:

The square buckle was for one lady who doesn't eat chocolate or sweets, so I could tell which one was hers. These were so fast and easy to make, I think there may be some on our Christmas table this year.

We also do a Secret Santa gift and I bought some gorgeous bath confetti that looks like rosebuds - you break the rose petals apart and sprinkle them in your bath, where they melt to  make you smell like roses. How lovely would it be to take a bath in rose petals? Mmmmmmmmmm! But the packaging they came in was pretty basic, so I fancied it up a notch.

Here's the rose petal confetti:

I punched out a lacy border using the lace ribbon border punch, threaded some fine ribbon through and added some pearls for a special touch.

Then on the front I put a gorgeous big satin bow held with a pearl brad.

It was, as always, a fun and enjoyable night and I once again reflected on how lucky I am to have such lovely ladies come to my classes and make it such a pleasure to teach something I love to do. I already can't wait until next year's classes begin!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Gifts of Christmas

For this year's Christmas cards for all my wonderful customers I used a lovely SU set called Gifts of Christmas. It hasn't made it into our catalogue yet, but I hope it will next year as it is gorgeous and goes perfectly with the petals aplenty embossing folder (as you'll soon see, "wink"!)

Now of course, knowing me so well, my ladies would be most surprised if I didn't use my favourite colour - and a perfect red for Christmas - kerry cobbler, er, cherry cobbler. I teamed it with very vanilla and always artichoke and here is the result:

As luck would have it, this card fits perfectly into two challenges: the SU Only challenge to use your favourite holiday colours and the PPA challenge which is co-incidentally

Kismet!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Free At Last!

Yay! Although I've got a couple of staff meetings next week, all my TAFE classes have finished for the year and assessment results are in the computer and locked! Card classes are taking a break too so that leaves me free to get stuck into my Christmas cards and decorations. It feels good! Mind you, I've got sooooooo much to do .... might have to find some sweet teenage elves to do the usual pre-Christmas clean up while I craft! What do you think my chances are? Yeah, I'm not holding my breath, LOL!

Anyways, here are some pics of the project I got made today. My friend Rob came over to (a) help me celebrate my freedom and (b) do some crafting with new goodies, so we had a ball playing and laughing and bouncing ideas off each other.

We made Advent Calendars! Rob had pre-made the base boxes with the dividing sections in and had punched out the little boxes using the petal card double punch. We stamped the images (from an SU set called 25 and Counting - not released here) and after a little colouring here and there, punched them out with the 1" square punch, then stuck them on to the petal square bases. Fine gold cord was attached to use for opening them (or you could use a brad) and then they were stuck on.

Here's a closer view of my one:

And here's Rob's:

The best part was shopping for the goodies to put inside the little boxes! Here's a shot of mine with a box open to see the chocolatey yummy inside:

It was a lot of work but so fun and so worth it - and of course, all the more fun to share it with a friend :)

Hope you've had some jolly crafting in your day too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Dear Spammers

To those who constantly leave spam in my comments: please leave my blog alone.

I most emphatically do NOT want information about sexual organs or aids, pharmaceutical products, online dating services, Columbian web design companies, casinos, long distance telephone calls or Taiwan nanny agencies.

I just want to make cards and share them with other people who also like to make cards.

It is seriously disheartening to find that 50% or more of the comments I receive on this blog are completely unrelated to card making or papercraft in any form. I don't want to have to put word verification on here because I know it puts people off commenting and I love to receive comments  - about my cards, that is.

I am pretty sure that somewhere out there in cyberspace there are people who would be genuinely interested in your products (sadly) but I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.

Just go away and leave me alone, I beg you.

Edited to add: I do have comment approval settings on, I just hate getting all this spam in my email inbox and having to delete them, I'd rather not get them in the first place!

Floral Feast

Today is the last class for the year and my ladies chose a veritable feast of pretty, feminine flower cards to make. Here's the group:

You've seen these two before, which both use Parlour Prints in the background:

Fabulous Florets, coming soon in the Summer mini.

Field Flowers, a gorgeous 2-step set.

And this one is a re-working of this card, made to fit a standard size envelope.

With the sun back out at last after more than a week of grey skies and endless rain, the floral cards are just right to get us back into Spring mode!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

I Know, I Know

Some of my ladies tell me it's a bit disappointing when they look on my blog and I haven't posted a new card - well, they won't be happy with me at the moment, then, as it's been a whole week since my last one! But I have a number of good excuses:

1. It's the last two weeks of the semester at work and I've got tons of assessments to plan, mark and record.
2. We went away last weekend, so I missed three whole days' opportunity to stamp.
3. DD19 came home from uni on Tuesday, so I've been spending time with her.

So I haven't had much time to craft, but I have got something to share - some photos from our weekend away. We went to the Warbirds Down Under air show at Temora as part of the birthday present I gave DH. For DH and myself it was a touch of nostalgia, but for DD13 it was a whole new experience - and luckily, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hubby's favourite was the Super Constellation named Connie - here she is:

But for me the scene stealers were the Harvards as they took me back to my childhood growing up on air force bases all around New Zealand. I must admit to a lump in my throat as it made me miss my folks, but it was great to see that little plane and its kiwi emblem.

I promise to try and be back real soon with some craft related stuff!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

The Geese Are Getting Fat

Well, if you hadn't caught up with the news yet (or have been studiously avoiding it in a mild state of panic and denial) - Christmas is getting close! There's no way we can put it off forever on the basis of "it can't be Christmas already" or "didn't we just have Easter?" So there's nothing for it but to embrace that hectic lead up to the Big Day and go all out with Christmas craft!

At home we always have a decorating theme and this year DD19 picked a colour combo of cherry cobbler, gold and white. I modified that slightly (because she was in a whole other state and I thought I was safe!) to make it a vintage Christmas theme with those colours predominating but others allowed too. I am the person making all the decorations, after all, LOL!

To start you off here's a little something made from the petal cone die:

After I had cut out my two petal cones I gold embossed them with the swirl from Creative Elements. Next I attached my striped papers to the flaps and then the pleated lace underneath. The stamped label is coloured with markers and the lovely chipboard poinsettia finishes it off. So far I meet DD19's criteria of plenty of cherry cobbler and gold plus I hope it looks suitably vintage!

Materials used:

• stamps - Tags Till Christmas, Creative Elements
• card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, paper from Kaiser
• other - decorative label punch, markers, dimensionals, Victorian lace, gold embossing powder, Big Shot, petal cone die, heat tool, chipboard poinsettia from Scrapmatts, gold brad, sticky strip, cherry cobbler brads

I hope you find time to make a start on your decorations too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Honey At Last!

I don't think I've ever had a project that has taken me as long to complete as this one - it has been literally MONTHS in the making, LOL!

The card was actually made in April of last year and I'd never used it, then earlier this year I saw an idea for a matching gift box using the mini milk carton. I began constructing it but didn't have any product I was happy with to give a beehive effect - until last weekend, that is. At the papercraft show in Penrith DD13 spotted the PERFECT embellishment and I finally got to finish my project!

And what gift would I put inside the box? Why, chocolate honeycomb of course! LOL!

Materials used:

• stamps - Just Buzzin' By
• card - basic black, whisper white, summer sun
• other - dazzling diamonds, dimensionals, markers, black taffeta ribbon, mini milk carton die, Big Shot, chicken wire panel by Dusty Attic, 32mm circle punch, cropodile

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

In Which I Actually Make Pretty Flowers

Yes, that's right! I actually made some pretty flowers using SU dies. No more flat, 2-dimensional, boring flowers for me - now I know how to make them look slightly realistic! No more having to resort to buying paper flowers - now I can make my own!

It happened like this: I was cruising through Splitcoaststampers and saw a project with some gorgeous roses on. I went to the blog to find out what die or punch was used for the roses and when I found that info, did a Google search for the die. One of the things that came up was a YouTube tutorial on how to make these roses - and voila! I applied those techniques to my SU dies and I am soooooooo happy with the result!

You just gotta LOVE the internet!

Here, take a lookie:

These ones are using the Birds and Blooms die set.

These are made from Flower Fusion.

Now, I'm sure many of you have twigged onto these techniques much quicker than I did, but in case you're a bit technique-challenged like me, click HERE for the link to the tutorial.

There may be more flowers on my cards from now on, I'm thinking!

Cheers
Kez

PS Thanks for your feedback on yesterday's card. I can't mail it till Monday, so I'm hoping for a few more opinions to help me decide.

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

Field of Pink and Green

For my workshop today the ladies want to learn embossing, so that gave me the perfect excuse to use the beautiful Parlour Prints stamp again. I've added in some very simple masking and sponging and the gorgeous Field Flowers set - such a simple 2 step set to use. For colour I've gone with a pink and green combo - I love how fresh and pretty these look together.

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Flowers, Parlour Prints, Short and Sweet
• card - pretty in pink, certainly celery, whisper white
• inks - certainly celery, wild wasabi, basic black, pretty in pink, regal rose, Versamark
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, sponge, Big Shot, non SU oval die

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Thinking of You

One of my lovely ladies is having a bit of a rough trot in life at the moment so I wanted to make her a card to say my thoughts are with her. I got a germ of an idea and this is what it turned into:

I thoroughly enjoyed the watercolouring and kept the rest of the design very simple so the flowers would take centre stage.

Materials used:

• stamps - Curly Cute, Fabulous Florets
• card - crumb cake, calypso coral, watercolour paper, very vanilla
• inks - calypso coral, tangerine tango, cajun craze, wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant, lucky limeade, black StazOn, crumb cake, soft suede
• other - pearls, scallop trim border punch

I stamped a flower on the inside and on the envelope as well.

As the SUO challenge this week is, co-incidentally, a Thinking of You card, I'm entering it into that.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Very Merry

It's our last Christmas Stamp-a-Stack today and here are the two cards we'll be making:

Materials used:

• stamps - Beautiful Season, Best Yet
• card - cherry cobbler, basic black, watercolour, very vanilla, crumb cake
• other - large oval punch, scallop oval punch, aquapainter, sponge daubers, dimensionals, non SU embossing folder, Big Shot

Materials used:

• stamps - Stitched Stockings, Many Merry Messages
• card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, old olive, Jolly Holiday DSP (retired)
• other - stocking punch, dimensionals, alphabet dies, Big Shot, square lattice EF

Is that cute or what? Idea cased from Kathy at Stamping Still.

Now, much as I love making Christmas cards, it will be nice to have a break from them for a while - until I have to make the special family cards, that is!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Hung With Care

You simply cannot help but LOVE SU's new Stocking punch and I've been having a play with it - and the matching stamp set, of course! Here's a couple of fun cards:

For this one I embossed the stockings with the petals aplenty EF and coloured the flower centres with a white gel pen. White glitter card has been used for the stocking tops, but the shimmer doesn't show in the photo unfortunately.

Materials used:

• stamps - Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Bells and Boughs
• card - old olive, real red, retired Xmas DSP, non SU white glitter card
• other - petals aplenty EF, stocking punch, white gel pen, Big Shot, gold brads, real red taffeta ribbon

Here I've used the versatile square lattice EF on my backgrounds for a bit of texture.

Materials used:

• stamps - Stitched Stockings, Short and Sweet
• card - real red, whisper white, garden green, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP
• punches - scallop trim border, stocking
• other - dimensionals, square lattice EF, Big Shot

If you missed buying these during the promotion last month, you'll want to put them on your Summer mini catalogue wish list, trust me!

We are all slowly catching up on lost sleep around here and with three classes in the next week I'll have lots to show you soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez