Make a Wish

This week I'm honoured to be the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday challenges. Here's the challenge brief:

My mixed media card uses both mediums.

I began by adhering a transparent layer (acetate sheet) over an oxide spray background then cut four frames from coral card, glueing them together and inking the edges. The bird is another acetate layer. On my background I embossed some vellum with a 3D woodgrain texture and attached it with the rough side up. Everything was given some white gouache splatters before the sentiment was added.

Materials used:

• acetate - Transparent Layers, Transparent Things 2 (both Tim Holtz)
• frame dies - Nesting Piercing Ticket Frames (Waffle Flower)
• oxide sprays - salvaged patina, saltwater taffy, scattered straw
• embossing folder - Lumber Large 3D Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Pixie spray adhesive, foam tape, white gouache, fan brush, Metallic Sticker Book (Tim Holtz)

I hope you'll check out the lovely projects the STB design team made and be inspired to play along with the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sea Ya!

Today I'm playing along with the Simply Clean and Simple challenge for June. Their theme is always Anything Goes and this time around there's an optional topping of Nautical. 

As I do love me a nautical card and relished the challenge of making one CAS, I browsed through my Pinterest board and found a card by Ksenija that inspired me. Here's my card:

I masked off my paper and blended three shades of blue, then used a stencil on the back as a guide for the wavy lines, cutting and slightly separating them. The submarine has vellum windows and clear dots make great bubbles. I kept the sentiment short, sweet and punny, lol.

Materials used:

• dies - submarine (stash)
• stencils - slimline drifts & hills (MFT)
• distress inks - salvaged patina, peacock feathers, uncharted mariner, scattered straw, spiced marmalade
• other - blending brushes, clear dots, Coastal subsentiments (Waffle Flower), foam tape, vellum, Big Shot

Thanks for coming by.

Cheers

Kerry

Room to Bloom

It's the first Friday of the month, which means a new challenge over at All About Papercraft. This time around we're given a colour palette and have to use at least three of the colours on our creations.

I managed to incorporate all of them on my card:

I had fun watercolouring the sweet image and adding it to layered papers in the challenge colours. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Puddles to Petals (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - Essential Arches (Spellbinders)
• other - papers from Etsy, linen thread, Big Shot, water brush, distressing tool, craft foam, blue marker

We can't wait to see what you can create with these colours! Do check out more inspiration from my fellow design team members over on the All About Papercraft blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Feel Better Soon

It's Choose Two challenge time with Just Add Ink and here's the options:

For my get well card I chose patterned paper and animals.

Materials used:

• stamps - Ruff. Ruff. Ruff. (Unity Stamp Co)
• patterned papers - Pet Puppy (Etsy)
• other - Big Shot, distressing tool, Dimensionals, water brush, linen thread, dog paws embossing folder, Bandaid dies, stitched rectangle dies, craft foam, sponge dauber

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Out of This World

I was recently commissioned by my daughter to make some birthday cards for my grandson's friends. Although they're not due just yet, the new challenge at AAA Birthday prompted me to get this one made early.

 

This card is for Flynn, who apparently is keen on space and very interested in the recent Artemis II mission, so I made the astronaut's suit similar to theirs, even printing a tiny NASA patch lol. 

There's plenty of mica stain in the background which gives a lovely shine and sparkle that you can see better in this second pic.

The sentiment on the inside reads 'Hope your birthday is out of this world'.

Materials used:

• moon masks - Tim Holtz
• distress spray stains and mica stains
• astronaut dies - stash
• alphabet dies - Stampin' Up Playful Alphabet
• other - blending brushes, foam squares, star die, silver glitter card, water spritzer, heat tool

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Oceans of Love

It's my last week guesting with Just Us Girls challenges and I've had such a lot of fun playing along each week; I hope you have too. This week it's stencil week.

I created a fun under-the-sea scene using stencils and die cuts.

I began by stenciling the two-tone water background, overlayed with seafloor silhouettes and that fabulous sunken ship! Wanting one more layer in my foreground, I created a makeshift stencil using a die and acetate. I stamped the tiny fish silhouettes and added water splatters. All die pieces were cut from scraps of card I had on hand from previous playing. I sponged the edges of the rock and raised it so things could be added underneath. 

Stencils used - Drifts & Hills slimline (My Favorite Things), Sea Floor Silhouettes (Waffle Flower)

I hope you'll have the opportunity to get out your stencils and play along, and don't forget to check out what the design team ladies created to inspire you.

Thanks to the Just Us Girls team for having me and thanks to you for swimming by!

Cheers

Kerry

Cute as a Cow

Over at the Seize the Birthday they've got a fun topping for challenge #326:

 

And here's my card, featuring an adorable Highland cow. If you haven't watched any YouTube videos of these cute creatures, go check some out!

Materials used:

• cow dies, farm papers from Etsy, triple heart punch (SU retired), stapler, vellum, blending brushes, Big Shot, white gel pen, red marker, foam squares, computer and printer, Copic marker, distressing tool

Thanks for stomping by. 

Cheers

Kerry

MVP

Howdy and welcome to a new Tic Tac Toe challenge. This time around I'm the featured designer and this is the grid I devised to play with:

I made a card using the top horizontal row of numbers/initials, plaid and sports.

Materials used:

• dies - Playful Alphabet (Stampin' Up), Flags & Banners, Frames & Sentiments (Spellbinders Classic Mouse), stitched rectangle, tag
• papers and ephemera - Man Cave collection (Mintay)
• other - sponge daubers, foam squares, Big Shot, crop-o-dile, large eyelet, leather cardstock (Tim Holtz), distress inks and sprays

I do hope you'll play along and create using our grid as inspiration. There's more samples to see over on the challenge blog, so check those out and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wool You Look At That!

The new challenge at Just Add Ink is a great one (and not just because it was my suggestion! 😉😂) which we hope you'll enjoy using as inspiration for your craft over the next two weeks.

I sure do love me some polka dots! All sizes of dots and especially paired with other patterns, which is just what I did for my card.

The first time I saw this stamp I fell in love with those adorable little fuzzy faces! Here they're looking a tad embarassed and sheepish (lol!) so goodness knows what they're looking at!!! I thought this punny sentiment could be used for someone just getting their drivers licence or passing an exam equally as well as for a birthday or anniversary. 

It's been a long time since I did any watercolouring, so this was a joy to put together.

Materials used:

• stamps - Shear Surprise (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - speech bubbles (SU), stitched rectangle
• papers - boho watercolour patterns (Etsy)
• other - sponge dauber, distressing tool, water brush, craft foam, Dimensionals

I hope you'll find some polka dots to play with and join the challenge. Meanwhile, there's more samples to love over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Stay Cool

It's my third week guesting with Just Us Girls and the new challenge is a mood board inspiration pic.

The bright colours gave me summer vibes and the mix of straight lines and rounded rectangles brought to mind that summer favourite, popsicles!

I don't have any dies for the popsicles so improvised with some arches cut down a bit and a candy apple stick from a Halloween set. I added the sunnies/shades as well as a shimmery drop of "melting ice", lol. 

Materials used:

• dies - Essential Arches (Spellbinders), Trick or Treat Colorize (Tim Holtz), sunglasses (stash)
• other - blending brushes, foam squares, Sidekick, computer & printer, Kindy Glitz, craft foam, opal rounds (SU)

Hopefully you'll be inspired to play along and don't forget to check out the samples from the design team over on the JUGS blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

With Love Rose

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls where I'm guest designer for this month, and the word is ...

I had inky fun with some layering dies and stencil.

I began with cutting all the petals from vanilla cardstock, then the four largest layers again from blush card. Each layer was inked either completely or just around the edges for shading, then I curled some of them. Leaves were coloured and curled too. The background was inked and stencilled before adding white gouache splatters. As usual, the die-cut sentiment is multiple layers. This die is actually all in one piece but it just wouldn't sit right over the leaves, so I cut it in two. A great card for Mother's Day, Valentines, birthday, anniversary, get well or just because.

Materials used:

• dies - Lovely Layers Rose (Honey Bee), With Love (Waffle Flower)
• inks - tattered rose, shabby shutters, peeled paint, forest moss (Tim Holtz), caramel toffee (Altenew)
• other - blending brushes, white gouache, fan brush, trellis stencil (Tim Holtz), foam squares, craft foam

I hope you'll check out the JUGS blog for more samples and be inspired to join the fun and create with flowers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Bake a Cake

A new month means a new challenge with All About Papercraft! This time around it's...

I love the baking themed products that various companies have released in the last few months and couldn't resist using some for my card.

Wanting a retro feel, I picked colours I thought fit a bygone era and stencilled the two focal images lightly so the colour wasn't too intense. These were then paired with warm blues and tiny polka dot hearts.

Hands up if now you're craving cake, lol ✋.

Materials used:

• dies - Nesting Postage Collage, Baking Fun (both Waffle Flower)
• stencils - NPC Baking Fun (WF)
• distress inks - saltwater taffy, abandoned coral, antique linen, shabby shutters, black soot, smoky slate, hickory smoke
• other inks - seaside spray, boho blue (SU)
• other - foam squares, Big Shot, blending brushes, Subsentiments Baking Fun diecuts (WF)

Check out more samples over on the challenge blog and of course, we'd love you to be inspired, create and share.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Level Up

If, like me, you love dies and stencils, you've come to the right place! It's time for a new Just Add Ink challenge and that's our brief. 

And here's my card featuring dies.

I carried the theme through to the inside as well with the mini version.

Dies - Game Controller (My Favorite Things), Playful Alphabet (Stampin' Up)

I do hope you'll get a chance to play with your own craft supplies and join the fun of our challenge. Head over to the Just Add Ink blog for lots more samples to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Birthday Hello

I'm honoured to be joining the team at Just Us Girls challenges as guest designer for the month of May. This week is Die Week with a theme of:

When it comes to sentiment dies one of my favourite types are large dies, especially those I can team up with a co-ordinating stamp, which is what I've done on today's shaker 'Birthday hello' card.

Those adorable pandas certainly know how to party! 🥳

I layered 5 cuts of the frame to allow room for the shaker after deciding the bands between segments were too narrow to use dimensional foam on. With the acetate layer and patterned paper at the back as well, that's a nice sturdy front cover, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamp&die combos - Little Agenda pandas (Mama Elephant), Overlapping Happy Additions (Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Comic Cover Wonky creative cuts (Mama Elephant), hello (stash)
• patterned paper - Rainbow Twirl (Paper Rose)
• other - acetate, Big Shot, clear sequins, MISTI, Copic markers, foam squares

I hope you'll grab some sentiment dies and join the challenge. Be sure to check out what the design team created to inspire you on the Just Us Girls blog!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sew Amazing

Over at Just Us Girls it's CASE a design team member week. 

I don't think I've ever taken part in this particular challenge before but Carol's card caught my eye.

Regular visitors will know I am rather partial to a postage collage card, so today I sat down to have a play and here's the result:

To make it my own I made the following changes:

• flipped the angle
• changed the wildflower theme to sewing
• swapped the gingham background for polka dots (to mirror the stencilling)
• substituted scissors and spool for the pen
• moved my sentiment (just because) 

Thanks for the inspiration ladies! Sew much fun! 

Cheers

Kerry