Disconnected

With one semester of being both teacher and student behind me, I am sooooooooo pleased to be on a break and have the chance to get back into my craft room to actually create. Mind you, finding some stamping mojo is proving to be no small task!

I had a class with my lovely ladies at the weekend and wanted to show them some of the goodies in store in our new catalogue, as well as making a bit of packaging for a change from just all cards. We used the tag a bag gift boxes with clear covers - I love these, they are so simple to put together and incredibly versatile in how you can choose to decorate them. The ladies loved them too, although they seemed to think I tricked them with how simple they are to assemble and then gave them hard work decorating them! I just don't know what they were complaining about - colouring in and fussy cutting? What's the problem? LOL

Materials used:

• stamps - You're Lovely (SAB), En Francais
• card - whisper white, crisp cantaloupe, pistachio pudding, in colour patterned paper
• other - paper doily, scalloped tag topper punch, tag a bag gift boxes, crisp cantaloupe thick bakers twine, white ribbon, deco label die, Big Shot, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Versamark ink, sponge dauber, blender pen

One of the new stamp sets from our upcoming catalogue that I bought on pre-order is great for masculine cards, always a useful addition. Here's a fairly simple layout using current in colour baked brown sugar teamed with new in colour lost lagoon.

Materials used:

• stamps - Traveller, That's the Ticket
• card - baked brown sugar, very vanilla, lost lagoon
• other - sponge dauber, dimensionals, arrow embossing folder, Big Shot, baked brown sugar thick bakers twine 

Our last project is the thing I am most asked for - a birthday card. Here we are using a new stamp set called In This Together along with an old favourite Happy Hour and some watercolouring.

Materials used:

• stamps - In This Together, Happy Hour
• card - pool party, calypso coral, watercolour, dsp
• other - dimensionals, aqua painter, markers, sponge dauber

That's it for now - hopefully I'll be back soon with some more crafty goodness!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Fancy A Spot Of New Colour?

With the arrival of the new 2014-2016 in colours at my house yesterday, I was determined to get into my craft room and have a play. So after a late rising (well, it is a long weekend, after all!) that is exactly what I did. Hubby came past just as I had gone in and asked if I was having fun. "Not yet", I replied, "but I'm about to!"

I had an urge to watercolour, so got out the beautiful Pleasant Poppies stamp and set to.

Here's the result - not quite as awesome as I was hoping, but not bad either. Hubby praised it, which is a big deal!

The card base is blackberry bliss, the poppies are hello honey with mossy meadow for the stems and a diluted lost lagoon for the sky. The other in colour I didn't use is tangelo twist. I coloured the edge of the lace to make it stand out more using the blackberry bliss marker.

Materials used:

• stamps - Pleasant Poppies, Petite Pairs
• card - blackberry bliss, hello honey, watercolour
• other - aqua painter, markers, lace ribbon, dimensionals

Has that whet your appetite for the new in colours? Hope so!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Book Nerd

My "baby" DD turns 16 on Thursday and so the pressure was on today (my only day off in the week) to make a card. As part of her present is a gift card to her favourite book store, I decided to incorporate a gift card holder pocket into an easel card.

I am quite happy with how it turned out and can safely show it to you as she doesn't read my blog:

The images are coloured using Stampin' Up!'s new Blendabilities alcohol markers - which quite fortuitously arrived on my doorstep this morning! These are only available in select colours to demonstrators at the moment, but you won't have too long to wait! What I love about them is (a) they match card, ink, ribbon, etc (gotta LOVE that) and (b) they are formulated to work on whisper white card stock, so I don't have to buy special card for them, yay. I also coloured the three rhinestones with a blendabilities pen.

Materials used:

• card - old olive, whisper white, daffodil delight, retired old olive patterned paper
• other - oval framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, rhinestones, sticky strip, sponge dauber
• blendabilities - skin tones, light and medium daffodil delight, light, medium and dark pumpkin pie, light and medium old olive, bronze
• non SU - stamps, gift card

Only two more weeks until the mid-semester break and I am looking forward to getting serious about some card making!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Pretty In Pink

The cards for this month's class feature SU's gorgeous range of pinks. Check them out:

This one was inspired by a Mary Fish creation and is not only a flip card but a gift card holder as well.

 Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Sketched
• card - pink pirouette, smoky slate, whisper white, subtles patterned paper
• punches - dotted scallop ribbon border,  2 1/2" circle
• other - rhinestones, circle framelits, silver trim 1/8" ribbon, delicate designs embossing folder, Big Shot, circle card thinlits 

Although I'm not usually into the brights range, the lovely colour combination and simple design of a card by Alisa Tilsner really appealed to me, so I have cased it for my next project.

Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Stars, Banner Blast, Four You
• card - melon mambo, whisper white
• punches - banner, large star
• other - white bakers twine, dimensionals, decorative dots embossing folder, Big Shot, sponge dauber, melon mambo embossing powder, heat tool

And lastly some simple brayering on a card that reminds us that we are losing a lot if we look only for perfection.

Materials used:

• Perfect Pennants, Mosaic Madness
• card - blushing bride, early espresso, whisper white
• punches - mosaic, itty bitty
• other - brayer, dimensionals, rhinestones, sponge dauber, stamp-a-ma-jig, Tombow glue

It felt really good to be crafting again and I was greatly relieved to get these three done in a day - as it's the only day I have free between now and the class! Lol. Teaching and studying are keeping me VERY busy and I usually only visit the craft room to do some homework these days!

I have a couple of weekends to look forward to though - this coming weekend DD15 and I are off to see Michael Buble in concert and the following weekend we are going to Melbourne to visit DD22 and see Wicked! Can't wait!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Ben Does Stampin' Up!

Imagine my surprise this morning while cruising the www to find a Stampin' Up! card made and signed by my favourite actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.

A number of celebrities have made cards to be auctioned off for a children's charity in the UK - you can read all about it in the news article at this link.

And here is Benedict's card:

Way to go, Stampin' Up! (and the card-makers, of course!)

Coming soon - I actually get into my craft room and make something!!!!!!

Cheers
Kez

Aged to Perfection

For last month's card classes we had a vintage theme and these are the cards we made:

Materials used:

• stamps - Best of Butterflies
• card - crumb cake, very vanilla, Graphic 45 Secret Garden dsp
• other - pearls, Big Shot, dimensionals, sponge daubers
• non SU - Gesso, nestabilities dies, copics

The papers were a little bright for what I had in mind, so I brushed them with Gesso which tones down the colours and also adds a lovely canvas-type texture to the paper.

Next I tried out a vintage masculine card using SU's World Map and Open Sea stamps.

Materials used:

• stamps - Open Sea, World Map, Happiest Birthday Wishes, canvas background 
• card - crumb cake, basic black, very vanilla
• other - twine, dimenionals, sponges, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

For the last card we used the emboss resist technique over the dsp to age it a little more - it looks a lot like some old wallpaper my ladies thought! The rose was made with two toning colours of cardstock, one of which is core'dinations card and was sanded back for a distressed look. More crinkling of seam binding - this time always artichoke - similar to the card in my last post.

Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Sketched, Tres Chic
• card - raspberry ripple, very vanilla, always artichoke, primrose petals, Vintage something retired dsp (can't remember the name!)
• other - pearls, deco labels framelits, Big Shot, always artichoke seam binding, dimensionals, sanding set
• non SU - roses die, rose petals punch and embossing punch, hot glue gun

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Who Are You?

I think that's what my craft room asked when I finally wandered in there this morning, lol!!! I am procraftinating again - there's a huge pile of marking waiting for me - but after an SU delivery I just could not resist sitting down and making a card.

I wanted to use the gorgeous spotty paper from the Fresh Prints dsp stack in the Occasions catalogue and as it has a slightly shabby look to it, I scrunched up my ribbon and chose one of my all-time fav SU watercolour pics to go with it. Loving this colour combination of coastal cabana, crumb cake and real red.

Materials used:

• stamps - Greeting Card Kids, Just Sayin'
• card - coastal cabana, crumb cake, watercolour, Fresh Prints dsp
• other - word bubbles framelits, Big Shot, aquapainter, markers, dimensionals, crumb cake seam binding

Cute! 

Hopefully I'll find some time again soon to return to my craft room, but till then 'Thanks for stopping by!'

Cheers

Kez

A Card At Last

Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you miss me?

(Yes, channelling some Moriarty there 'cos my girls have gotten me totally hooked on the BBC Sherlock series)

Sorry I haven't been crafting much lately - I have taken on some study as well as working more hours (temporarily, at least) and I'm so tired at the end of the day that there is no mojo or energy for crafting! But with all that left-brain logical stuff going on, the right-brain creative side of me has been CRAVING a bit of card making. I had a free day yesterday so finally sat down and made one - took me hours to decide on a design though, lol!

It's a simple little number that can be used for a variety of occasions and I absolutely love it - so it will definitely be going in to my "to be given only to special people" box!

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Pennants
• card - coastal cabana, basic black, whisper white
• other - non SU embossing folder, Big Shot, rhinestones, dimensionals, chalk talk framelits

The sentiment was stamped with black craft ink and clear embossed, which gives it a teeny tiny bit of dimension and shine to match all the bling. I hand cut the black matting behind it, so don't look too closely for the uneven bits!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Autumn Splendour

It's not long now until March and here in Australia that heralds the arrival of Autumn, my favourite time of year. Here in the Blue Mountains the colours on the deciduous trees will be just stunning over the next few months - it always makes me wish I had some talent as a painter to capture that glory of nature. So I do the next best thing and stamp!

The projects for this month's classes feature Autumn colours and here they are:

Inspired by Patty Bennett, this one was a ton of fun with sponging and emboss resist.

Materials used:

• stamps - Magnificent Maple
• card - Sahara sand, whisper white, pumpkin pie
• inks - crushed curry, pumpkin pie, cajun craze, early espresso, Versamark
• other - sponges, brayer, clear embossing powder, heat tool, honeycomb embossing folder, Big Shot, dimensionals

The next card is more fun with sponges and ink, CASEing a glorious card by Tricia Traxler. I am especially pleased with how my leaf turned out! Take a lookie:

Materials used:

• stamps- Magnificent Maple, French Foliage, Best Yet
• card - cajun craze, very vanilla, naturals ivory
• inks - so saffron, crushed curry, calypso coral, cajun craze, tangerine tango, early espresso
• other - sponges and sponge daubers, embossing stylus and mat, dimensionals, non SU scalloped rectangle die

For our third card I borrowed the beautiful Simply Sketched hostess set from my SIL and went to town with watercolouring. Sanding the core'dinations card (in glorious cherry cobbler) made the perfect background.

Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Sketched
• card - cherry cobbler (plain and core'dinations), watercolour, more mustard
• inks - crushed curry, more mustard, cajun craze, old olive
• other - lace ribbon, aqua painter, dimensionals, mosaic embossing folder, ovals framelits, Big Shot, sanding block, sponge daubers

I love, love, love how this one turned out, the colours are so rich.

Have fun playing in the Autumn leaves and thanks for calling in!

Cheers

Kez

You Stole My Heart

I make a point of telling my two girls all the time how much I love them, so I don't usually join in the Valentine's Day hype - but this year I had an idea for a card so I ran with it. I also made them a gift bag of sweet treats.

As the card was very simple, I kept my gift bag simple also and just carried through the colours and motif. Here they are:

I printed the sentiment and stamp twice (created in MDS) and simply cut out the second heart with the matching die, layering it on top with dimensionals.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hearts a Flutter (MDS)
• card - pool party, real red, whisper white
• other - dimensionals, Big Shot, hearts a flutter dies, pool party seam binding, Sweetheart treat bags, computer and printer

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

80 Years Young

I was asked recently to make a card for a gentleman about to celebrate his 80th birthday. My brief was that his favourite colour is red and he really likes stripes - so naturally, the Nautical Expedition papers came immediately to mind. Assured that he does like boats, I went with that theme and paired it up with a great quote from the Daring Adventure set. It's an A4 sized card (ie four times the usual size) so that all the people at the celebration event can sign it.

The stamping part was done on MDS so I could increase the size enough to suit my large card. It also gave me the advantage of being able to really get the effect of that great ship graphic. I added a couple of retired brads and a chipboard anchor.

Materials used:

• stamps - The Open Sea, Daring Adventure (MDS)
• card - nautical expedition dsp, whisper white, midnight muse, purchased A3 navy card
• other - deco labels framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, cherry cobbler bakers twine, brads, chipboard anchor

On the inside I put a message that continues the adventure theme:

When I took it around to my client I was given three excited hugs, so I'm assured that she likes it! Hopefully the birthday boy will too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Friends

In a complete change of pace from my cards over the past week or so, today's project is a soft and feminine shabby chic offering using a number of old favourites I just can't bear to part with. Hopefully trends in the papercrafting world will return to these pretty florals and elegant fonts, cos I miss them!

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais, Best Yet
• card - blushing bride, soft suede, very vanilla, pear pizzazz, Springtime Vintage dsp
• punches - hexagon, bird, itty bitty
• other - designer frames E/F, Big Shot, rolled rose die, pearls, sponges, dimensionals, hot glue gun

To get the patchy look from your background stamp like I have, lay the stamp rubber side up on your table and ink it up then lay the paper on top and just press lightly in random spots (not all over the paper) - add some sponging around the edges and your shabby background is complete.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

NSU - Love You Honey

Today's card is my second offering with copic colouring - I'm very new at this but am loving the challenge. I think I enjoy it as much as watercolouring, although it is a bit more difficult I find!

Anyway, one of the images I couldn't wait to colour was this totally adorable Mo Manning drawing of Baby Fairy Bee. Sooooooooo cute! The curly hair gave me some problems and I can see I'm going to have to look up some tutorials on that, but otherwise I am quite happy with it for a beginner.

Check out this sweetie:

 Materials used:

• stamps - Baby Fairy Bee (digital stamp - Mo Manning), Lovely Little Labels (SU)
• card - perfect plum, whisper white, basic grey, pumpkin pie polka dot dsp, XPress It
• other - SU jewellery tag punch, Cheery Lynn honeycomb die, paper flowers, mounting tape, copics, SU 1.6 cm organza ribbon, SU ovals framelits, Big Shot, hot glue gun, Spica glitter pen

I coloured the hair last and one of my brown pens leaked two HUGE blobs of ink! Luckily for me, they were right on the hairline, so I cut around the image and stuck it over a second one to save me having to start all over again! There was a fair bit of muttering going on, as you can imagine! LOL!

Well, hope you like my offering. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Make A Wish

A fun birthday card for you today using the cute Retro Fresh papers from the new Occasions catalogue. I used a fancy fold that I've used before (on this card) but turned it the other way and added the cut off piece from the top to the bottom for another layer (idea from Beth Beard).

My pool party piece is embossed with the new arrows embossing folder, also from the OC, and inked around the edge. The sentiments on both front and inside of the card come from new set Perfect Pennants (OC) and I used the SAB freebie pennant punch to make the ends of my so saffron piece. The calypso coral and pool party arrows are made with dies from the labels card thinlits set.

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Pennants
• card - so saffron, pool party, calypso coral, whisper white, Retro Fresh dsp
• other - chalk talk framelits, labels card thinlits dies, dimensionals, pennant punch, 1/2" circle punch, arrows E/F, Big Shot

It's going to be a really hot one today, so I do hope you are staying cool!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

No More Sleeps!

YAY! There are no more sleeps to go until DD15 returns from her fabulous trip to the UK and France. We are off to the airport tonight to collect her and I can't wait to hear all her stories and experiences - and most of all, to give her a BIG hug to welcome her home! (Well, maybe more than one hug!)

While she was away, my SIL and I have been painting her room and for a bit of fun, I painted the inside of her bedroom door a special way - check it out:

It wasn't until I had completely made both "windows" that I discovered I have the wrong number of panes - but I wasn't prepared to start from scratch, so she'll have to deal! The cavity in the wall for the door to slide into is very narrow, so I had to make sure all the embellishments are nice and flat.

Naturally, I made her a card for her homecoming (hey, it's what we crafties do!) so I carried the Dr Who theme through on that as it goes so well with travel, lol. There wasn't much mojo going on so it's a bit plain, but I am pretty sure she will like it nevertheless. (Photo taken on my phone, so not the best, sorry!)

Materials used:

• card - pear pizzazz, whisper white, basic black, Pacific point, real red
• other - dimensionals, copics, banner punch

DD's door has an extra bit - the St John's Ambulance sticker - this is from Matt Smith's TARDIS. Did you know that the TARDIS is different for each new Doctor? Learnt that from watching Graham Norton! I made my windows from gloss card, so when they catch the light they shine and look a bit like real glass - clever little vegemite, aren't I? LOL!

And I must wish a Happy Australia Day to all fellow Aussies out there. We are saving our BBQ celebration until tomorrow, so DD15 can join in too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez