Same Design, Different Day

Today's card is the same design as yesterday's. In fact, it's even the same piece of DSP, just flipped over to the other side. I am LOVING this colour combo of pool party with petal pink and whisper white - and yes, a touch of black and mossy meadow thrown in there for good measure. Some fussy cutting took place as you can see, but they were pretty simple.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird, Climbing Roses
• card - pool party, petal pink, whisper white, mossy meadow, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched framelits (non SU), Dimensionals, Big Shot, pool party Stampin' Blends, blender pen, pearls

These Bird Ballad papers are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous - you are most definitely going to want to get your hands on them next week when the new catalogue goes live.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Hybrids For The Win

Another simple but effective card for you today which once more combines the Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit with the Free as a Bird bundle. The DSP and sentiment are from the bundle, while the swallow and splotch stamps are from the PP kit. Aren't they gorgeous together? And in pool party, one of my all-time fav SU colours.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, basic black, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched rectangle framelit, Big Shot, mounting strips, Stampin' Blends - smoky slate, pool party

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Stepping Up Hugs from Shelli

I've always liked the style of stamps designed specifically by SU's co-founder, Shelli Gardner, so when her special Paper Pumpkin kit became available I couldn't resist.

For my first play I took the image that was shown to everyone and upscaled it a little - here's the basic card folks made at the SU events held in April:

As these notecards are the perfect size for layering on our A5 card, I "upsized" and added in a touch more pink along with some rose gold foil.

You may also notice the eggs in the nest stand out a little more - I coloured them with a white watercolour pencil. The die-cut flowers were super easy to pop out and attach and I also added one of the delightful bird charms (is that a swallow?) from the embellishments in the kit. I used more rose gold foil around my sentiment panel and added Dimensionals to everything for extra depth.

Given that I originally thought this brown card was the least attractive of the four designs in the pack, I rather like my finished product!

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - petal pink, early espresso, rose gold foil
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, watercolour pencils, aqua painter

For my second design I again took one of the notecards and made it a layer on a larger card.

The background pool party piece was spritzed with white shimmer mist before running it through the Big Shot with the subtle embossing folder, giving it a beautiful sheen as well as that lovely texture. The frame is new in-colour pretty peacock - isn't it gorgeous? This time I teamed the Paper Pumpkin elements with an image from complimentary stamp set Free as a Bird.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, pretty peacock, whisper white, vellum
• other - stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, subtle embossing folder, white shimmer mist, Stamparatus, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends - pool party, Bermuda bay, pineapple punch, pumpkin pie, soft sea foam

Again, in my third card, I've added some layers to dress up the kit contents, but it's still a simple and straightforward card. The sentiment is from Free as a Bird once more and don't you love the pink chenille cord? So soft and lovely.

Materials used:

• Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit
• card - very vanilla, mossy meadow
• other - mini glue dots, Dimensionals, Lots of Labels framelits, sponge dauber

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Whale Hello There

Two nautical posts in one day! Can you tell I'm gearing up to be on the boat? Lol.

I've made another project to decorate our boat - and replace the *cough* 'artwork' that was left behind by the previous owners. I really wanted to (a) use a distress oxide background, and (b) try out a new stamp set bought a few weeks ago. The biggest stamp in the set is rather large (it's 15cm long and 8cm high), so I began with an A4 sized sheet of heavyweight watercolour paper then cut it down a little. The open edges of my Stamparatus came in very handy to fit this mammoth piece in!

There's still a frame to find for it, but here it is so far:

Materials used:

• stamps - Whale Nautical Series (Pink Ink Designs)
• card - basic black, 425gsm watercolour paper
• distress oxide inks - peacock feathers, mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch, wilted violet (for the sea); tumbled glass, stormy sky, faded jeans, antique linen, tea dye (for the whales)
• other - blender tools, water spritzer, glitter epoxy dots, Stamparatus, sticky strip, clear embossing powder, heat tool

I stamped the whale images on the background piece and again on a separate sheet of watercolour paper using black craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. They're hand cut and attached using strong adhesive after I coloured them, again using DO inks. Using the thicker watercolour paper gives more strength to the background but also dimension to the stamped whales - they almost look like they're popping off the paper! I used more images from the set - the bubbles and swirls - on my background, added some glitter epoxy dots and sponged around the outside edges with night of navy ink.

I must admit I'm in two minds about the swirls - I think they make it a little more whimsical than I would have liked - but the space looked bare and unfinished without them, so...what are you gonna do?

Can't wait to see this hanging up in situ. Only 15 more sleeps until I leave!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Setting Sail

This week for class we're doing a Shoebox Swap, something my ladies enjoy - as long as I don't ask them to do it too often, lol! In case you're not familiar with the concept, each person designs and makes a card, then cuts the materials for everyone else to make it and puts all the resources - stamps, inks, card, embellishments, punches, etc - into a box. Then at class we sit and work our way through all the boxes and end up with a host of cards to take home.

It's our last class before I head away and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a marine themed card and introduce them to some new product from the 2019-2020 annual catalogue at the same time. Here's my offering:

I've used a new stamp set, new in-colour inks and new designer series paper. Some background stamping and simple watercoloring make this a quick and easy card to put together.

Materials used:

• stamps - Sailing Home
• card - seaside spray, night of navy, watercolour, Come Sail Away DSP
• inks - seaside spray, night of navy, terracotta tile, soft suede, black StazOn
• other - jute twine, Dimensionals, mini glue dot, aqua painter, Stamparatus, stitched framelits, Big Shot

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Faux Retirement

It's the 14th, which means it's time for another Stampers Anonymous team blog hop!

This month we're featuring retiring products and I decided to showcase a set that's a bit of an 'unsung hero' - ie the stamps we often use on our backgrounds but aren't the focal point of our cards. Such a one is Timeless Textures. This is a set that will be staying on my shelves despite passing its 'use by date'; it is just too versatile and one I reach for often to add texture and interest to my backgrounds.

For my first card I've paired it with another retiring favourite, Dragonfly Dreams, as well as retiring in colours.

Here you can see how glittery the dragonfly is

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures, Dragonfly Dreams
• inks - lemon lime twist, grey granite, berry burst, tranquil tide
• card - lemon lime twist, whisper white
• other - sponge daubers, Big Shot, clear Wink of Stella, mini dimensionals, distress tool, Detailed Dragonfly tints dies

Keeping with the retiring in colours, my second card uses some sponging and the faux tile technique to create a gorgeously rich tapestry for my focal point. 

For this technique I like to use an ultra thick embossing enamel as it gives a deep, glossy texture that looks stunning in real life. In this second photo you get a hint of its shine and depth.

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures
• card - thick whisper white, powder pink, fresh fig
• inks - powder pink, berry burst, fresh fig, Versamark
• other - 1 3/8" circle punch, post-it notes, sponges, heat tool, UTEE, white gel pen

That's all from me! Click on the links to take you forward or back and have fun checking out what others on the team have to show you. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

More of You

As we're going away soon, I tried to be really good about not getting too much new stuff in the pre-order we demonstrators are allowed from the upcoming annual catalogue. One stamp set I simply could not pass up, though, is Free as a Bird. Living in the Blue Mountains, we are visited by a huge variety of feathered friends on a daily basis, so these cute little guys were irresistible. There's some gorgeous designer series paper to go with the stamps and my very first card featuring 'new stuff' uses both of these products as well as a new punch.

Take a lookie:

Are they adorable or what? Why yes, Kerry (I hear you say), yes they are.

The branch going across the frame is a stamp from the set, the background is the DSP. And do you love the punch? Yeah, me too.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - pool party, so saffron, whisper white, basic black, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched framelits, Big Shot, subtle E/F, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, timeless label punch

I'll try to be back with more 'new stuff' soon (can't promise anything though), but coming up in a couple of days is our team's blog hop and there we're showcasing retiring products. That should give you plenty of ideas for last minute projects!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Rosy Relaxing

Our team challenge this month is to draw inspiration from the current Everything is Rosy product medley promotion.

I wanted to use the colours as my inspiration but was having trouble deciding on a stamp set and design until I woke this morning with the idea to brayer a beautiful sunrise. After that the rest just fell into place, except now I'm jealous of anyone relaxing in a warm tropical setting while here the weather cools more every day!

I kept the front simple and put my sentiment inside.

Materials used:

• stamps - Beach Happy
• card - whisper white, melon mambo, night of navy
• inks - night of navy, blushing bride, melon mambo
• other - Stamparatus, brayer, post-it notes, 2 1/2" circle punch, sponge dauber, stitched framelits, Big Shot, mounting tape, night of navy marker, washi tape

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Prepping for Boat Life

At the beginning of June I'm heading off to spend the European summer on the boat. Naturally, I can't not craft in all that time, no matter how busy I'll be exploring new places and catching up with DD27 and her partner in the UK, so I'm having to be (a) selective and (b) creative in deciding what craft stuff will go with me (sadly, I can't take everything). With limited space aboard, where and how things will be stored of course becomes very important and it was with those constraints in mind that I asked Santa for a Big Shot Foldable die cutting machine. Luckily, the big guy came through:

Cute, huh? I know it's a heavy thing to have to cart over in my luggage allowance, but I couldn't find it available for purchase over there, so... Anyway, I love how it takes up much less space than the regular one, but is still full width.

I've also been doing a bit of organising this morning with embellishments and SU's copper tins have come in very handy indeed:

Small and compact, check. Lids to stop things falling out easily with movement of the boat, check check. Labels so I know what's in there, check check check. 

Now to sort out stamps and dies and inks and tools and...oh my! (Lucky for me SU has a presence in the EU and I can order anything I leave behind!)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great creative day.

Cheers

Kez