Honey, Honey, How You Thrill Me

(OK, admit it, you sang that as the ABBA song now didn't you?)

For class tomorrow I've used honeycomb as a theme and made three completely different cards showcasing the versatility of this pattern.

First off I went "the whole hog" with dsp segments inside the honeycomb embossing folder. Black and vanilla have been teamed with returning colour Blushing Bride to create this gorgeous confection:

(I know my friend Robby will be salivating over this one; like me, she loves black and vanilla together.)

Materials used:

• stamps - Blooming with Kindness
• card - blushing bride, basic black, very vanilla, Love Letter dsp (retired)
• other - apothecary accents die, clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge daubers, dimensionals, Big Shot, honeycomb E/F
• non SU - paper doily, Cheery Lynn honeycomb die

My second card is a bright and cheerful hybrid and features plenty of honeycomb shapes. The white honeycomb was cut with a (non SU) die and attached over bashful blue card, then the paper pieces added in.

Materials used:

• stamps - MDS
• card - whisper white, real red, bashful blue, various patterned papers in real red, so saffron, marina mist and Pacific point
• other - honeycomb E/F, Big Shot, dimensionals, real red ribbon, two way glue
• non SU - Cheery Lynn honeycomb die, tweezers

Our third card is one you've seen before; this one was a Top 3 Pick in the Colours and Sketches challenge a couple of weeks ago.

A little birdie tells me there just might be something honeycomb in the new catalogue that I will be happy to see - not long to wait now!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Gettin' Your Fingers Inky

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, I was honoured to be asked to be a Guest Designer for the Inky Fingers Club. Inky Fingers is a club that each week gives you beautiful, exclusive projects using only Stampin' Up! materials, and they also have regular special sessions such as for a new catalogue, etc.

My project is being featured this week and it was such a fun challenge to come up with something completely new that the members would love to re-create. A little daunting, but very exciting! And I most certainly did enjoy getting my fingers inky!

Here's a sneak peek at my project:

Every project includes step by step instructions and a full list of the materials and tools you will need to re-create the card or 3D item. You can join the monthly membership and receive a new project each week or join a special session and get access to over 50 exclusive designs and daily tutorials from talented designers. Also included are daily challenges with prizes!

You can see the whole of my project by joining today, or sign up for the Summer 2013 Session beginning July 7th. Simply click HERE to register and have a ball gettin' your fingers inky!

Cheers
Kez

Midnight Thanks

Browsing around various blogs, I came across Just Add Ink's colour challenge for this week and was tempted to give it a try.

Although these colours are perfect for a masculine card, I wanted to avoid that to give myself more of a challenge. I had in mind using some silhouette stamps and embossing powder, so sat down to play and this is what I ended up with:

Materials used:

• stamps - Summer Silhouettes, Itty Bitty Banners
• card - crumb cake, whisper white, midnight muse
• other - white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, lucky limeade organza ribbon, bitty banners framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, markers, Versamark ink, sponge daubers, spritzer tool

I embossed in both white and clear and the crumb cake card base was spritzed lightly with the matching marker colour. The two layers of midnight muse are raised above the white mat behind. All in all, I'm very happy with how my playing turned out!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Pink Poppies

I had a lot of fun the other day playing around with watercolouring. Here's the result:

I used my crumb cake marker to ink up just a portion of the stamp and then watercoloured with an aquapainter and regal rose ink. Afterwards I added a layer of plain water and soaked it up with a tissue, so that the colour became muted and "washed out" a little. I think it gives a nice soft, watercolour painting kind of effect - don't you? The background has a very light wash of Sahara sand and the seam binding I dyed using water and re-inker.

Materials used:

• stamps - Pleasant Poppies, En Francais, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
• card - regal rose, very vanilla, watercolour, crumb cake
• other - honeycomb E/F, Big Shot, very vanilla seam binding, jewellery tag punch, vintage trinket, dimensionals, sponge dauber, regal rose re-inker, soft suede marker

It will be sad to see Regal Rose go with the colour renovation, I like it much better than Melon Mambo. Ah well, such is life - supermarkets stop selling my favourite things constantly!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

NSU - Giant Sized!

I was commissioned recently to make an A4 size card for one of our local ministers. As this is FOUR TIMES the regular card size (A6), it was a challenge to say the least! I was given the wording to be included and a request for the colour blue, but the rest was left up to my creativity.

As I had to buy A3 size card for the base I knew I would have to go browsing - and you know how much of a hardship it is to cruise the craft stores!!! LOL!

Anyway, I spied some papers I thought might suit and luckily they also had A3 card in a very similar colour - a close enough match to meet my obsessive exacting standards. I snapped them up and spent the next day or two thinking about how to fill the HUGE void that was my card front!

Here is what I ended up with:

Materials used:

• stamps - none
• card - whisper white, certainly celery, Christina Re paper, Canson cardstock
• other - bird punch, leaf die, leaf punch and E/F, flower dies, flower punch, pearls, white organza ribbon, oval accents bigz die, Big Shot, dimensionals, liquid glue, embossing stylus and shaping mat, bow tying machine, computer and printer, elegant lines E/F

And just to show you how big this card is, here it is with a normal sized card:

Luckily my customer just loves it and hopefully the recipients will too!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

In Which I Am Full Of Handy Hints!

Hatches, Matches and Dispatches is the theme for this month's cards. Having a baby card, wedding card and sympathy card in your stash can come in very handy.

My "Hatches" card uses the gorgeous Two by Two single stamp and I chose pool party as a gender-neutral colour for the background. Some faux stitching on the mat piece and lacy embossing with satin ribbon enhance the baby feel.

 Materials used:

• stamps - Two by Two
• card - pool party, whisper white, watercolour, in colour patterns dsp
• other - windows framelits, Big Shot, pool party ribbon (SAB), delicate designs E/F, large scallop edgelits, aquapainter, sponge dauber, dimensionals, white brads (non SU), pool party embossing powder, heat tool, square punch, piercing mat, piercing tool, white gel pen, festive paper piercing pack

Hint: you can make your own colour matching brads. Here's how: using a pair of craft pliers, hold the feet of the brad securely and press the head firmly onto a Versamark ink pad. Now dip the head into the coloured embossing powder, shake off the excess and heat in the usual way. Repeat this process so you have two coats of embossing powder, then allow to cool. 

For the "Matches" card I went with classic black and white, always elegant for a wedding. My sentiment panel is made completely on MDS using three different stamp brush sets. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Meant To Be, All Holidays, Delightful Dozen - all MDS
• card - whisper white, basic black, garden green
• other - itty bitty punches, embossing stylus, pearls, liquid glue, Big Shot, lacy brocade E/F (retired)
• non SU - Spellbinders flower dies, Nellie Snellen leaf punch and E/F, shaping mat, Nestabilities die, white linen card

Our "Dispatches" card has been kept simple and classy. The Stippled Blossoms set is a new addition to my craft room - I've been resisting it for some time but have seen so many gorgeous cards using it that I finally gave in. I'm so glad I did, it is just divine; here it is in pink pirouette and regal rose.

The chocolate chip layer on the leaves was stamped off beforehand to tone down the intensity of colour a little. After stamping the second step of the flowers (regal rose) I went back and re-stamped it using Versamark ink, then clear embossed it. It gives a subtle, shiny finish to the flower.

Materials used:

• stamps - Love and Sympathy, Stippled Blossoms
• card - Sahara sand, chocolate chip, whisper white
• inks - pink pirouette, regal rose, Sahara sand, chocolate chip, Versamark
• other - dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Hint: buy two-step stamp sets in wood mount and that way you can create a permanent placement sheet on acetate to use with your stamp-a-ma-jig, without the hassle of making a new one each time if using acrylic blocks.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Enjoy Autumn

While surfing around on the net I found a challenge blog called CAS - Colours and Sketches Blog and I just LOVE their colour combo for this week, so decided to play along.

The tangerine and saffron leaves really appealed and with it being Autumn here in Australia - my favourite time of year - it inspired the theme for my card. Here tis:

Materials used:

• stamps - Enjoy Every Moment (retired), Collage Curios
• card - midnight muse, tangerine tango, so saffron, whisper white
• inks - midnight muse, tangerine tango, so saffron
• other - leaves No. 2 die (retired), apothecary accents die, Big Shot, honeycomb E/F, dimensionals, sponge daubers, spider web E/F, leaf punch (non SU)

I ran the leaves through the spider web embossing folder to get that leaf vein look - an idea I saw on Pinterest - and also crumpled them up for extra authenticity. For the stamping inside the "o" of enjoy I punched a circle in a post it note with my 3/4" circle punch and created a mask around the "o", then stamped in so saffron using the writing stamp from Collage Curios.

Am still loving the vibrancy of these colours together, so must use them again. Thanks for the inspiration CAS!

And thanks to you for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez 

Sunrise

I was very good yesterday and got a lot of work done preparing for this weekend's craft show, so to reward myself I got out my brayer. It has been a bit neglected of late, so it felt really good to be "rolling the rubber" again.

Having seen a brayered triple layer stamping card on Pinterest, I was keen to give it a try and here is what I ended up with:

Materials used:

• stamps - My Friend
• card - so saffron, whisper white, basic black
• inks - so saffron, regal rose, melon mambo, black StazOn
• other - dimensionals, brayer, post-it notes, 1 3/4" circle punch, sponge dauber

Now back to the grindstone!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Come Fly Away

Yesterday afternoon I had an inspiration.

I was supposed to be making stuff for the craft show, but you know how it is ... when you get an idea in your head and you just have to run with it ... (yeah, that's my new name for procrastinating!)

Anyway, I was inspired by three things:

• my Ferrero Rocher chocolate suitcase - see this post
• my sister-in-law's brilliance
• Tanya Bell's great travel journal and camera box set - see it here

My SIL had made larger versions of the chocolate suitcase for DD14 and myself to put our brand new passports in and Tanya used the gorgeous Sent With Love kit to make a travel themed set, so I decided to combine these two ideas and this is what I ended up with:

The suitcase is made from island indigo 12" x 12" card. Inside is a travel wallet:

And it holds:

Isn't that fun? I had a ball making it and was so totally "in the zone" that DH ended up making dinner! (Anyone see a negative side to that scenario? Me neither!!! LOL!)

Materials used:

• stamps - Sent With Love
• card - island indigo, real red, whisper white, calypso coral, Sent With Love dsp
• other - in colour 2010-2012 brads, crop-o-dile, Hung Up cute clips, corner rounder punch
• non SU - Velcro dots

OK, now I guess I should be good and get on with the craft show stuff. Darn it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Poppies

It's ANZAC Day today in both Australia and New Zealand, and what better day to show a poppy card? Growing up in NZ poppies were always worn for ANZAC Day (whereas here in Aus it tends to be rosemary), so poppies will always be associated with this day for me.

I found some gorgeous poppy paper not long ago and knew instantly it would look terrific teamed with SU's Pleasant Poppies stamp, which I love. So here's my card, which is simple but (I think) gorgeous.

Materials used:

• stamps - Pleasant Poppies
• card - confetti cream, watercolour, soft suede, 
• other - very vanilla satin ribbon, pearls
• non SU -  nestabilities dies, Kaisercraft paper

Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying your day. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Holiday Mode

It's the school holidays here in NSW and I did not much of anything for the first week! It seems I was more in need of just relaxing than I realised ...

But this week I have to get busy finalising things for the Artfest craft show coming up and also get sorted planning a few things for Stamp Camp - yeah, I know it's not until November, but you all know those months will just fly by and Nov will be here before we know it! As there's such a lot of planning to do, Rob and I are getting an early start.

I've also been asked to be a guest designer for the Inky Fingers Club in May, so there's a project to be created for that too. I think it's just as well I had a quiet week last week!

Anyway, here's a couple of cards I made over the weekend when I wasn't being completely lazy.

Sorry my photography skills just aren't up to scratch - this card is so much more gorgeous in real life!

Materials used:

• stamps - Field Flowers, Elements of Style, Afterthoughts (retired hostess)
• card - perfect plum, elegant eggplant, watercolour, very vanilla
• other - aqua painter, large oval punch, Big Shot, matchbox die
• non SU - nestabilities Fleur de Lis squares die

The second card was inspired by a few different cards I've seen around and is the first time this stamp set has seen ink. I really like it, though, so I'm going to have to find time to use it more.

Materials used:

• stamps - Million Dollar Moments (hostess), Field Flowers
• card - whisper white, primrose petals
• other - fancy fan E/F, Big Shot, ovals die
• non SU - white organza ribbon

If you are on holidays too, I hope you are having a fun time. Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Oh Pooh!

I realised yesterday that I've been suffering from a new kind of malaise.

Yup, I have HDD.

What is HDD? Seriously, you have to ask? I am totally surprised you haven't heard of it already.

It's Honeycomb Deprivation Disorder.

No, not that kind.

This kind:

Yes, I was seriously deficient in honeycomb patterns and needing to craft with some sooooooooo badly! At first I was going to get a quick fix by using my honeycomb embossing folder, but then I thought no, I'll use the honeycomb punch in MDS and make pretty patterns!

(I do hope SU realise that if they don't come out with a honeycomb punch or die in the new catalog, there will almost certainly be a mutiny from demos and customers around the globe. Perhaps somebody should warn them. Just sayin')

For this project I used the colours from the Fab Friday challenge

Now you might not immediately think "baby card" with these colours, but I was in the mood for soft and pastel so I muted them down a bit by reducing the opacity - then they were just perfect for what I had in mind. Here tis:

Awww, sweet! (except the lighting is bad - click on it for a closer look)

Materials used:

• stamps - Baby Bundle, Everything Eleanor, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
• card - pool party, whisper white, white linen (non SU), vellum
• other - MDS, pool party seam binding, apothecary accents die, dimensionals, calypso coral bakers twine, polka dots embossing folder, Big Shot, large oval punch, pearls, bow tying machine (non SU)

If you should happen to be a fellow HDD sufferer, well, firstly, I feel your pain. Secondly, put down that dishrag, abandon the vacuum, farm out the kids and go honeycomb!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

For The Blokes

Cards for the men in our lives is the theme for classes this month, cos we all know how difficult they can be to make cards for. Mine is, for sure!

First up a card that can be for either sex (and may in fact end up being sent to DD21) using the new promotional kit of papers and stamps called Sent With Love.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sent With Love
• card - island indigo, whisper white, real red, Sent With Love dsp
• other - in colour brad, square punch, dimensionals, cloudy day E/F, Big Shot

Next one of my favourite male sets in a joy fold card. I still have heaps of these Nautical Expedition papers hoarded away - they go with the stamp set 'just like peas and carrots' as Forrest Gump would say! But if you didn't stack up and need them, you can get them on MDS (how handy is that?).

Materials used:

• stamps - The Open Sea, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired hostess), Best Dad Ever
• card - night of navy, cherry cobbler, whisper white, Nautical Expedition dsp
• other - cherry cobbler bakers twine, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, square punch, dimensionals, crystal effects

And lastly I dusted off a set they gave us at the regionals last year and which I haven't used since - I thought it would be character building to use it (lol). Once I got going I decided I rather like it after all! Ain't it always the way?

Materials used:

• stamps - Clockworks, Best Dad Ever
• card - more mustard, midnight muse, very vanilla, vellum
• other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, gold brad, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, 1 1/4" circle punch

This one was inspired by a number of cards but mostly one by Erna Logtenberg. I will miss more mustard when it goes - a great colour for masculine or Autumnal cards. I'd better order some more!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Bright and Breezy Birthday

I've been playing with MDS again (I'm just a little bit hooked on this new toy!!!) and created another hybrid card - a bright and breezy birthday card featuring two of the new colours we will be getting here Down Under: Bermuda bay and crushed curry (teamed here with rose red and Sahara sand).

Take a lookie:

It's a very overcast day here, so the photo is not as vibrant as the real thing unfortunately.

Materials used:

• stamps - Cake & Ice Cream (MDS)
• card - Sahara sand, whisper white, small polka dot dsp (MDS), Thoroughly Modern dsp (MDS), crushed curry
• other - windows framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, rose red seam binding
• non SU - rhinestones

I am really loving having virtually all of SU's designer papers at my fingertips, plus stamp sets I don't own in rubber that I can print out in any size or colour! 

If I haven't convinced you yet to download the FREE TRIAL version of My Digital Studio and give it a go, then I'm going to have to get busy and make more MDS things! Yeah - like I need an excuse! LOL

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Oops I Did It Again

Yeah, apologies for invoking a Britney Spears song at you! It was literally the first thing that popped into my head when I was trying to think of a title for this post, and after that I just couldn't think of an alternative!

The reason for that title is that I have whipped up another hybrid card.

A friend invited us over for dinner and mentioned that her youngest son had his birthday recently. So of course I was "Aaargh! need a card for a tweenie boy! I have no boy stamps! Help!" until I remembered that I had bought a couple of MDS stamps that would be PERFECT for this young man. So in 15 minutes or less I had printed out the stamped images then added them to some "real" card and voila! all done! (Have I mentioned before how much I am loving MDS?)

Here is said card:

The birthday boy is right in to dirt biking, so these stamps could not have been more perfect! MDS, you saved me!

For the inside top page (pictured just above) I used the same grouping of stamps as on the front cover and just reduced the opacity to make them lighter, then stamped the sentiment over the top. Soooo easy.

Materials used:

• stamps - Extreme Dirt Bike (MDS), Extreme Elements (MDS), Daring Adventure (MDS)
• card - Pacific point, basic black, whisper white
• other - dimensionals

Have you MDS'ed today? There's no excuse you know - there's a FREE trial version available for 30 days right HERE and a bunch of free downloads to go with it for you to play with. What on earth are you waiting for?

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez