Bird Ballad Mini Album

OH. MY. GOSH.

Is it OK to totally swoon (but never drool, lol) over your own creation? I sure hope so because I am completely in love with this little album showcasing the gorgeous Bird Ballad papers. Based on the Sailing Home mini album I made with Danielle Bennenk while I was in the Netherlands (see post HERE), it's full of adorable birds and beautiful flowers, with plenty of spaces to add photos and/or journaling.

Sigh.

I can so see this being something I never want to give away.

Dying to find out what all the fuss is about? Here we go:

The pieces in the middle with the three layers of DSP lift up for more photo space. 

The last section is a sideways twist and pop.

I'm hoping to load a short video of 'revealing' this mini album to my Facebook page, as static photos lose their wow factor somewhat. If I manage to do that, I'll come back here and put a link for you to follow.

Shall I tell you a little trick I did with the fussy cut flowers on the first and twist and pop sections? Once I'd cut them roughly from the DSP, I stuck them to removable adhesive paper then fussy cut around them. This means when I add photos to the white areas, I can peel off the flowers and stick them back over the photos if I want! I know, I'm a clever little Vegemite 😜.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hugs from Shelli
• card - pool party, whisper white, petal pink, calypso coral, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - Dimensionals, pool party ribbon, delicate lace edgelits, Big Shot, precision plate, removable adhesive paper (Avery), mini Dimensionals, stitched circle dies, woven threads sequin assortment

Do you love it? Never mind if you don't - I love it enough for all of us 😁 Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Crazy Plaids

Today's cards are a plethora of plaid combined with a candela of crazy! I've been playing with some Tim Holtz stamps and here's how that turned out:

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Plaids, Crazy Dogs (both Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection), Itty Bitty Birthdays
• card - delightful dijon, basic black, very vanilla
• other - Stamparatus, real red marker, Copics, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, ruler

As soon as I saw this particular stamp it made me think of the classic Burberry plaid, so that's why I picked these colours. The fine red lines were added with a marker.

Here's a cat version:

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Plaids, Crazy Cats (both Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection), Itty Bitty Birthdays
• card - highland heather, purple posy, gorgeous grape, whisper white
• other - Stamparatus, Copics, Dimensionals, frosted frames dies, Big Shot

And I really couldn't resist a Christmas bird version too:

Materials used:

• stamps - Perfect Plaids, Crazy Birds (both Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection), Santa's Suit
• card - real red, whisper white, vellum
• other - Stamparatus, Stampin' Blends, stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, rhinestones, glue, real red marker, ruler

I think the bird is my favourite but the dog is a close second - which is your fav?

(Btw, a candela is a measurement of luminosity - I thought this fitted nicely with those luminous crazy eyes! Lol.)

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Welcome to another Stampers Anonymous team blog hop! This month - our tenth hop - we are featuring products from the new Holiday catalogue.

There are many gorgeous things to choose from but I decided to feature products from the Let It Snow suite. I don't usually do much in the way of snowy cards, but this year half of the family will be on the other side of the world experiencing a winter Christmas, so I decided to let my playful side have fun with this adorable range. I just love the colour combination used in the papers plus the fab fun bits and pieces - so let's get started!

Here I've used the Let It Snow specialty designer series paper (p20) as my feature, cutting out a second layer and shaping it over the top. The felt beanie and scarf come from the Let It Snow embellishment kit (p19).

For this one I went a little crazy with embellishments, lol! The snowman (Snowman Season stamp set p20) was stamped on vellum and again on whisper white card. I used snowflake sequins (p43) plus underneath the snowman is some shimmery crystal effects (p41) to which I added ice stampin' glitter (p41) for extra, extra sparkle! It's chunky as well as glittery, which looks great in real life but doesn't photograph well. A combination of markers and Blends were used to colour.

Next I decorated a mini pizza box and added some snowfall accents puff paint (p19) for my snowman to stand in. I'll probably add a bag of 'snowman poop' here for a laugh.

Last but not least, a twist and pop card. Embellishments from the kit were used again, as was the puff paint. I stamped my snowman directly onto glitter card then cut him out using the snowman builder punch (p19). Doesn't he look cosy in his warm beanie?

Materials used for all projects:

• stamps - Snowman Season
• card - coastal cabana, real red, whisper white, vellum, white glitter, blue bushel, call me clover, Let It Snow specialty DSP
• other - Let It Snow embellishment kit, snowman builder punch, stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, shimmery crystal effects, ice stampin' glitter, markers, Stampin' Blends, snowfall accents puff paint, Tombow glue, shaping mat and tool, scissors, tweezers, pretty label punch, Crop-o-dile, white bakers twine, mini pizza box

I had sooooo much fun making these and hope you've been inspired to get creative with your own supplies. Hit the buttons below to go forward or back on the blog hop until you complete the circle, and enjoy the projects my fellow team members have created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers
Kez

Full list:

1. Nikki Stalker
2. Kerry Bunting (you are here)
3. Elizabeth Yager
4. Kristy Davy
5. Olivia Yiew
6. Melissa Gifford
7. Sharon Wilson
8. Marelle Taylor
9. Kylie Page

Filigree Fabulous

Browsing through Pinterest a week or so ago I came across a card by the extremely talented Kittie Caracciolo that set me thinking...fast forward to me borrowing a poinsettia die set from one of my lovely ladies...then after a very busy week I finally sat down and made the card I had envisioned.

Here tis, in all its vanilla and brushed gold glory:

Materials used:

• stamps - Star of Light
• card - very vanilla, brushed gold
• dies - Delicate Lace edgelits, Pretty Pines thinlits, Sue Wilson Festive Collection - Classic Poinsettia and Filigree Poinsettia
• other - embossing buddy, gold embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Dimensionals, metallic pearls, shaping tool, shaping mat, precision plate

Love those delicate filigree petals. The brushed gold is very understated - it looks more like crumb cake in the photos!

And here's the card that inspired me. You can see they're similar yet very different - all it takes is that spark to set your creativity in motion. Whatever did we do before Pinterest? lol

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Rustic Charm Meets Elegant Simplicity

This month's stamp-a-stack Christmas cards both use the gorgeous Brightly Gleaming specialty designer series papers from the new holiday catalogue, but are very different in presentation.

Here's the one I call 'elegant simplicity' -

Materials used:

• stamps - Stylish Christmas
• card - night of navy, very vanilla, Brightly Gleaming DSP
• inks - pretty peacock, old olive, Versamark
• other - copper embossing powder, heat tool, embossing buddy, Stamparatus, metallic sequins, Dimensionals

And here, with just a few added touches to change the tone completely, is the 'rustic charm' - 

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures
• card - pretty peacock, very vanilla, crumb cake, Brightly Gleaming DSP
• other - Spritzer tool, stars thinlits, Big Shot, detailed deer thinlits, linen thread, sponge dauber, Dimensionals, precision plate, distressing tool, subtle embossing folder

The tiny speckles of colour on this have been made with a marker and spritzer tool - here's a pic in case you haven't encountered these before.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Floating Flowers

One of the techniques that hit the craft sphere while I was away is Jennifer McGuire's floating frame cards. I loved it, but with limited supplies and equipment with me on the boat, couldn't try it out for myself at the time. Yesterday I finally had the chance and here's my inaugural attempt.

Happily the technique itself was pretty simple - all the work was in the fussy cutting of the flowers and the sticking-on and unpeeling of the dimensionals! However, I'm happy with it for a first try. I coloured plain rhinestones using my Stampin' Blend marker to match my card - love how easy this is.

Here's a close up so you can see the 'floating' effect.

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird
• card - calypso coral, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - stitched rectangle dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals and mini Dimensionals, Stamparatus, rhinestones, calypso coral dark Stampin Blend marker, Glad Press'n Seal

Keen to give it a try yourself? You can watch Jennifer's video tutorial HERE.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Softness in Nature

Those who prefer bright, bold colours don't get a shoe-in this week as our nature-themed class cards are all about soft colours, and as I do love me some distressing and splodging, a couple of them also have a shabby chic look I simply adore.

Materials used:

• stamps - Beautiful Friendship, 
• card - seaside spray, whisper white, mint macaron
• other - subtle and script embossing folders, water spritzer, linen thread, Big Shot, Dimensionals, word window punch, white shimmer paint
• inspired by Teneale Williams

Materials used:

• stamps - Free as a Bird, Timeless Textures
• cad - balmy blue, whisper white, vellum, Bird Ballad DSP
• other - distressing tool, stitched season framelits, Big Shot, mini Dimensionals, linen thread
• inspired by Lauren Alarid

I deliberately left a sentiment off this one as I think it's suitable for many occasions.

Lastly I couldn't go past a touch of the gorgeous purple posy. I'm terribly impatient for the ink to arrive for this one, but at least we have the Blends pens to give us something to colour with. Stamping done with basic grey instead of black, again for a softer look.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala, Abstract Impressions
• card - purple posy, whisper white, soft sea foam
• other - tropical thinlits, Big Shot, lace dynamic embossing folder, water spritzer, metallic pearls, stitched rectangle frame lit, Stamparatus, butterfly duet punch, sponge dauber, Tombow glue, purple posy Stampin' Blends, mini Dimensionals, mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez