Take Risks

If there is an age where you no longer have fun getting inky fingers, then I haven't yet reached it, lol. Today's card was a veritable feast of colour all over my hands, as you can see:

But it was worth it, I think. This card is for the Just Add Ink sketch challenge this week. 

It had me rather intrigued for a while, then I decided to see how it would look in a mixed media format and, well, here's the result.

This poor butterfly, tattered and torn, is still out there taking risks for the duration of its short life - kind of a metaphor for our own lives, don't you think?

Materials used:

• stamps - Attic Treasures, Remnants (Tim Holtz)
• card - crumb cake, early espresso, watercolour
• distress oxide inks - peacock feathers, evergreen bough, vintage photo, mustard seed, kitsch flamingo
• other - vintage photo, antique linen and walnut stain distress crayons (TH), Tattered Butterfly Bigz die (TH), Big Shot, blending brushes, water spritzer, heat tool, hexagon die, word chips (TH), fossilized amber distress archival ink, clear rock candy distress crackle paint (TH), sponge dauber, Dimensionals, distressing tool

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Double Up

For the past few days I've found myself in that state where an idea for a card design was rattling around inside my brain and wouldn't let me rest until I gosh darn just sat down and made the thing! LOL. 

In actual fact, the idea incorporates two clean and simple challenges:

And here's the card I came up with. I sponged distress oxide inks through the flower stencil first, then stamped the background stamp using Versamark while the stencil was still in place. After removing the stencil I added white embossing powder and melted that, then overstamped the main greeting - thank goodness for stamp platforms is all I can say!

Materials used:

• stamps - You Matter, You Matter Background (both Simon Says Stamp)
• card - whisper white
• distress oxide inks - festive berries, candied apple
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, flower stencil, Stamparatus

You can click on the challenge blog icons to see what fab creations their design teams and other challenge participants came up with.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Bold and Beautiful Butterfly - CAS on Friday Challenge #199

Hi everyone and welcome!

It's time for another clean and simple challenge with CAS on Friday and this time around I got to pick our theme. Inspired by summer here in Australia, I decided on a colour challenge of turquoise/teal, orange and white. 

Such bright, cheerful colours that look stunning together - I hope they'll inspire you as much as they did me.

For my card I couldn't resist the opportunity to use this gorgeous butterfly from Tim Holtz's Specimen set, adding a little ink blending and stencilling for my background. The pattern in the centre of the inspiration picture gave me a Middle Eastern/Morroccan vibe, so I picked a trellis design along those lines for my stencil.

And there's plenty of shine and shimmer when it catches the light.

Materials used:

• stamps - Specimen (TH), Fancy Sayings (Clearly Besotted)
• card - whisper white
• distress oxide ink - ripe persimmon
• other - trellis stencil, distress embossing dabber (TH), crackling campfire embossing glaze (TH), heat tool, blending brush, craft foam, Stamparatus, alcohol markers, clear Wink of Stella, clear sequins

My fellow DT members have some beautiful samples to get your creative juices flowing over on the CASOF blog, so pop over to take a look. And, of course, we'd love you to join us in the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Welcome, Kitsch Flamingo

With a new distress colour released this past week, it was inevitable that I would be having a play with it. I chose to watercolour some flowers using this gorgeous new pink.

Materials used:

• stamps - Flower Garden, Attic Treasures, Tiny Text (all Tim Holtz)
• card - Sahara sand, soft suede, watercolour
• distress ink - kitsch flamingo
• distress oxide inks - kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry, fossilized amber, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness, speckled egg, weathered wood, frayed burlap
• other - Harlequin stencil (TH), speckled egg distress embossing glaze (TH), linen thread, word window punch, Dimensionals, shaping mat and tools, sponge dauber, crumb cake marker, vintage photo archival ink (TH), embossing dabber

I shaped the flowers a little to curl the edges and 'bowl' the heads for some interest and dimension. I love the way they spread out over the edges of the background piece. 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Dancing Chooks

Hi all! I'm sure by now you've seen the Hey Chick promotion on offer from Stampin' Up. Personally I couldn't resist the Hey, Birthday Chick stamp set from the Jan-June mini catalogue - these gals are just tooooo cute! 

For my card I've used the masking and hinge stamping techniques to create a card that's deceptively simple as well as happy and cheerful - I mean, who could resist dancing chooks? Not me! (Whenever I look at this card, I start singing the Macarena in my head, lol!)

Materials used:

• stamps - Hey, Birthday Chick
• card - crushed curry, cherry cobbler, watercolour
• SU inks - crushed curry, Cajun craze, cherry cobbler, Sahara sand
• other - Stamparatus, post-it note, cherry cobbler embossing powder, heat tool, aqua painter, SU markers, craft foam

We'll be making this one in class next week and as some of my ladies have already purchased this adorable set, I know they'll love putting ink to these classy ladies.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Love You - CAS on Friday Challenge #198

Welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge. With Valentines Day just around the corner, naturally our thoughts turn our theme for challenge #198, which is LOVE.

Here's my card:

Materials used:

• card - whisper white, melon mambo, Daffodil Joy designer papers (Nitwit Collections)
• other - triple heart punch, Love You More Than dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle die, craft foam

Check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire you by following the link above, and we'd certainly LOVE to have you join in our challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

With All Your Heart

Some new goodies had mysteriously found their way to my craft desk ... 😉 ... so naturally I had to play with them, right? You understand the 'rules', plus it's a wet and gloomy day, so ...

Anyway, what I ended up with was this... 

All of the pieces for the flowers and leaves were cut from watercolour card and coloured with oxide inks. And isn't that plaid die just so sweet? You all know how much I love me some plaid - and as luck would have it, the TGIF challenge for this week is Mad for Plaid so ... serendipity, right?

Materials used:

• stamps - Tiny Text (Tim Holtz)
• card - very vanilla, watercolour
• distress oxide inks - abandoned coral, worn lipstick, spun sugar, scattered straw, rustic wilderness, speckled egg, evergreen bough, vintage photo, ground espresso
• other - plaid slimline die (Pink and Main), Big Shot, Bloom Colorize die (TH), blending brushes, sponge dauber, Dimensionals, craft foam

Love, love, love all the dimension from layering dies! 

Thanks for dropping in. Hope it's wet and gloomy at your place too - better excuse to sit and craft!

Cheers

Kez

Unsupervised - CAS on Friday Challenge #197

Hi all and welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge. This is challenge #197 and our theme is ANIMALS.

Our family have always been cat people and as any other cat people will know, those playful felines just love cardboard boxes - hence my very tongue-in-cheek card. We've certainly spent many enjoyable hours watching our cats play in, around and on top of boxes!

ROFLOL.

Materials used:

• stamps - Crazy Cats, Snarky Cats  (Tim Holtz)
• card - crumb cake, soft sea foam, watercolour
• other - box die, Big Shot, aqua painter, sponge dauber, Dimensionals, craft foam, Sahara sand marker, stitched rectangle die, Glossy Accents

This was so fun to make - and you can have fun too, taking part in our challenge. Head on over to the CASOF blog to see what my fellow DT members have created and to enter your own animal-themed card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Let's See How Long I Can Keep This Resolution...

I'm not usually one for making new year resolutions but this year I'm giving it a whirl. It's a crafting resolution, so I figure it should be easier than the regular kind, lol! Due to shipping delays etc etc (*eye roll*), many Xmas goodies I ordered didn't make it in time - arriving either far too close to Dec 25th to be used, or not arriving until well after the Big Day. Sooooo, rather than having them gathering dust, I resolved to make at least one Christmas card per month.

My January card is done and we're not even halfway through the month, so I'm doing well so far. Let's see if I can keep it up - maybe you can remind me if it's getting close to the end of the month and you haven't seen a Chrissie card up here!

For this one I've used a number of Tim Holtz products (no surprise there, methinks). The first time I tried this die I was 'not happy Jan' but I stumbled across an excellent YouTube video which made it much easier to piece together and my second go was a snap. There's still a few small errors, but hey - live and learn, right? I was making it late at night so I've given myself a pass on those.

I'm very pleased with my night sky - it came out even better than I was hoping, to be honest. First time using the splatter brush (for the stars) and boy! you get so many splatters from just one go! Pretty sure I'm hooked on that thing now. 

Materials used:

• distress oxide inks - chipped sapphire, blueprint sketch, black soot
• card - whisper white, soft suede, cinnamon cider, crushed curry, garden green, white glitter, gold foil
• other - Holiday Village die (Tim Holtz), blue alcohol marker, coloured rhinestones, picket fence distress paint, splatter brush, Big Shot, double-sided adhesive sheets, blender brush, heat tool, water spritzer

Now, as luck would have it, the theme for the newest challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments is winter, so I'm entering my card there. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

PS If you're interested in the YouTube tutorial I used, click HERE.

Poor Ted - CAS on Friday Challenge #196

Welcome to the very first CAS on Friday challenge for 2021! I hope you all have a wealth of wonderful crafting goodness ahead of you in this new year.

To start us off our theme for Challenge #196 is FEEL BETTER. 

Two old favourites were used on my card: this adorable stamp from Lili of the Valley and one of my all-time fav techniques, watercolouring. I got out some long-retired ink colours from SU and spent a very pleasant few minutes giving life to the image.

Materials used:

• stamps - Itty Bitty Greetings (SU), Get Well Soon (LOTV)
• card - pistachio pudding, watercolour
• ink colours - strawberry slush, baked brown sugar, Baja breeze, pistachio pudding, petal pink, so saffron, smoky slate
• other - aquapainter, craft foam, Dimensionals, pennant punch, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, pool party and Sahara sand markers

Poor Ted!

When I was a child my mum had a linctus for coughs that had to be diluted in warm water and it was horrible! Very hard to keep down, lol. My younger daughter couldn't physically keep liquid medicines down - and of course most children's medicines come in liquid form. Doctors always gave us the side eye when we asked for it in tablets. Happy days.

I do hope you'll join our challenge and make your own Feel Better card - perfect to have on hand for those summer colds and winter ills alike. And don't forget to pop over to the CASOF blog to see what lovely creations my fellow DT members have come up with for your inspiration - and comment love is always welcome and appreciated!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

The Professor is in the House

Today I had the pleasure of a few hours playing with distress oxide inks, trying to create a rusty, grunged look. I experimented with a few colour combinations then picked one for the background of my card. Here tis:

Pretty much all Tim Holtz products here, but SU officiandos may spy the brass 'Hodgepodge Hardware' piece from quite a few years ago. 

Materials used:

• stamps - The Professor (TH)
• card - early espresso, very vanilla, watercolour
• oxide inks - vintage photo, walnut stain, spiced marmalade, cracked pistachio, antique linen
• other - Gearhead dies (TH), Big Shot, Mechanics 3D embossing folder (TH), tag die, Mini Stencil Set 1 (TH), blending brush, distress micro glaze, vintage photo archival ink, Hodgepodge Hardware, Dimensionals, Stamparatus, Delicata celestial copper ink

Love the texture these deep embossing folders give, they make you just want to reach out and touch, lol. I couldn't decide on a sentiment (maybe 'Gearing up for another birthday?') so went without for now.

Here's how I went about making it (instructions by request! lol)

Background:

• Used heavy watercolour cardstock and oxide inks, water spritzer, heat tool

• Smooshed walnut stain and vintage photo oxide inks on craft mat, spritzed to get droplets, gave card a light spritz also then laid onto inks and gave a twist to get both colours covering most of the card

• Dried

• Applied again to any leftover ink

• Dried

• Smooshed spiced marmalade ink on craft mat, spritzed to get droplets, ran fingers through to break up then dipped card in various spots to distribute colour

• Dried

• Did same with cracked pistachio oxide ink (the green gives a patina look)

• Dried

• Applied a light mist of water to allow inks to blend and to encourage oxidisation

• Dried

• Once happy with the effect, I applied a light coat of distress micro glaze over the whole piece, wiping any excess off with a tissue. This not only seals the inks but also enhances the colours.

• Dried

• Spritzed it on the back with water and placed it in the Mechanics 3D Texture Fades embossing folder and ran it through my Big Shot three times

• Ran very lightly over the raised portions with Delicata Celestial Copper ink pad, also adding some ink using my finger (this doesn’t really show in the photo, but catches the light beautifully)

• Inked around outside edges with vintage photo archival ink

• Mounted on to a piece of vanilla cardstock, lightly inked around the edges with antique linen oxide (as the original vanilla was a bit stark/bright)

• Mounted both on to espresso card base

Tag:

• Background of tag:

• o Cut a piece of heavy watercolour cardstock using tag die
• o Ran vintage photo oxide ink pad dry across tag surface; spritzed with water to move ink around
• o Dried
• o Decided it was too dark so did same with antique linen oxide ink; dried
• o Spritzed with water and applied kitchen towel to absorb moisture, thus also lightening the colour; continued this until happy with amount of colour; dried
• o Stencilled vintage photo oxide ink through Industrial mini stencil over whole tag
• o Inked edges with vintage photo archival ink

• Cogs:

• o You could use metallic embellishments, but I made my own
• o I covered a piece of heavy watercolour cardstock with Delicata Celestial Copper ink then cut a number of cogs of various sizes using Gearhead dies
• o Each cog then had black soot and vintage photo archival inks applied in a random manner, as well as cracked pistachio distress paint applied in smudges using my finger

• Professor:

• o Stamped onto watercolour cardstock using ground espresso archival ink
• o Fussy cut by hand
• o Decided it was a bit stark (bright contrast to my background) so used waterbrush to lightly colour with antique linen oxide ink (except his goggles)
• o Adhered him to base of tag, cutting off excess, applying adhesive only down the centre of the image so I could lift the edges to adhere some cogs underneath

• Glued the cogs on using distress collage medium

• Punched a hole at top of tag using Crop-o-dile and attached brass embellishment

• Attached the tag using dimensional squares

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers

Kerry

There Be Dragons

The opportunity to 'just add magical creatures' for the current JAI challenge was too good to pass up, so I made a soft baby card using the adorable Magical Dragons from My Favorite Things.

Materials used:

• stamps - Magical Dragons (MFT), Short and Sweet (retired SU)
• card - whisper white
• other - stitched circle die, Big Shot, balloon duet punch, word window punch, Magical Dragons die, mini cloud stencil (MFT), white baker's twine, Dimensionals, mounting tape, Copic markers

I love these sweet and charming stamps, it was so nice to have a reason to drag(on) them out again - pun intended! Lol. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Here's Hoping - CAS on Friday Challenge #195

Hi all and welcome back!

It's time for the last CAS on Friday challenge for the year and the theme is BEST WISHES. 

My SIL and a dear friend both have their birthday on Dec 31st, so this is a good combination 'happy birthday' and 'happy new year' kind of card. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Celebration (Darkroom Door), Best Year (SU)
• card - whisper white
• other - Copic markers, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, archival ink

We do hope you'll join us in our challenge - plus, don't forget to check out all the wonderful inspiration from the design team members over at the CASOF blog and leave us all some comment love!

Keep safe and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

For the Guys

I recently had a play day where I just made a whole bunch of distress ink backgrounds, then had the fun later of turning some of them into cards - in this case, masculine cards. Always helpful to have a few on hand.

This one is twisted citron and cracked pistachio with a stamp from Tim Holtz's Theories set.

For this one I used antique linen and vintage photo on my background. Timekeeper, Umbrella Man and Tiny Type Upper dies are all TH. The man is cut from 'leather' cardstock and has great texture.

Here's peacock feathers and hickory smoke. I cut the main panel from the background then matted and raised it. The white dots are grit paste, so they have great texture.

These colours are squeezed lemonade, hickory smoke and black soot. Grit paste again on this one, coloured with squeezed lemonade for the lighter stencilled areas. 

Thanks for dropping by. Stay safe.

Cheers

Kez

The Showstoppers

Occasionally I make a card which keeps drawing my eye again and again. It could be the colours that draw me, perhaps the design or form and at other times I'm not sure exactly what it is, I just know I love it!

Here's a run through of the cards that have been showstoppers for me this year. Some of them you've seen before, some you haven't.

An eclectic bunch, to be sure! Lol. Thanks for calling in. Stay safe.

Cheers

Kez