Because Monday

It's time for a new challenge with All About Papercraft and this month it's...

There are plenty of great techniques in papercraft and I love many of them, so whittling the list down was a tough ask, lol. 

Back in my very early days of card making I was thrilled to discover rubber stamps and how I could use them to continue my love of colouring in (especially as I can't draw to save myself, lol). Watercolouring stamped images was a revelation to me and it's something I still love to do, so I chose that technique to use for my project as well as some ink smooshing, masking and heat embossing.

I began with stamping my main image on watercolour card then masking it before ink smooshing and stamping on my background. Once that was dry I did my watercolouring and shading. The sentiment was heat embossed twice with clear embossing powder over ink and I fussy cut the teal layer to go over the brown. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Coffee is Not Enough (Unity Stamp Co), Coffee Run (Echo Park), Timeless Textures (SU), Coffee Blends (stash)
• dies - stitched rectangles
• other - water brush, water spritzer, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool, foam dots, SU markers, distress inks, craft foam

Hopefully you have a favourite technique or two or three that you will want to create with and join the challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Magical Chapters

It's the first Friday of the month, which means a new challenge from All About Papercraft. This month it's...

I chose the occasion we probably celebrate the most often - someone's birthday - for my card. 

As a voracious reader, I'd happily receive this one myself, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps & dies - Twilight Tales (Pinkfresh Studios)
• die & stencils - Nature's Narrative (Pinkfresh Studios)
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, Big Shot, foam squares and strips

I hope you'll join us in creating a celebration project. Check out more inspiration from my fellow design team mates over on the All About blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Still Making Waves

Welcome to a new challenge with All About Papercraft. This month the theme is...

I picked a nautical theme for a birthday card and was in my happy place colouring die cuts and getting inky with stencils.

The focal feature is all cut from watercolour card.

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage Beach Days (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Fair Winds Sailboat, Stylish Ovals (both Spellbinders), Sentiment Strips (Paper Rose), gulls (stash)
• Stencils - Fair Winds (Spellbinders), Clouds (My Favorite Things)
• other - blending brushes, Castaway embossing folder (Spellbinders), foam tape, Big Shot, water brush, MISTI

Check out more masculine goodness from my team mates on the All About blog and of course we'd love you to create and join us.

Entering this in the Krafty Chicks challenge, which has a birthday theme.

Thanks for sailing by.

Cheers

Kerry

Love & Hugs

It's the first Friday of the month, which means it's time for a new challenge with All About Papercraft. 

I made a card featuring my favourite postage frame and some gorgeous poppies.

I cut three postage pieces, two from blue and one white. On the white one I ink blended and stamped before attaching it to one of the blue pieces. From the second blue piece I cut a rectangle within the postage edging to make my frame, adhering it over the white at the top only at  first then the lower half once the poppies were in place and stems trimmed. The poppies themselves were cut from watercolour card and coloured with distress inks.  

Materials used:

• stamps -  Caring Thoughts (SSS), music & script collage (stash)
• dies - Into the Blooms: Poppies (Papertrey Ink), Nesting Postage Infinity (Hero Arts)
• distress inks - tattered rose, saltwater taffy, abandoned coral, black soot, peeled paint, rustic wilderness, antique linen
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, foam squares, craft foam, MISTI, paper from Etsy

Check out more inspiration from my fellow design team members over on the All About blog and we do hope you'll play along.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry 

My Kind of Weird

It's time for a new challenge with All About Papercraft and this month we're celebrating friends.

The world would be a darker place without good friends. I love that my bestie and I chat multiple times a week in spite of living thousands of miles apart and not having seen each other in person for a while. We were initially drawn together through our shared love of crafting but over the years have found many other commonalities, including a zany and sometimes weird sense of humour, so my card was created with her very much in mind and I know she'll crack up when she sees it.

The speech bubble die I used actually cuts in the opposite direction so I flipped it over, drew around the inside edge with a white gel pen, then fussy cut and sanded to get the look I wanted. Behind the patterned paper pieces I dry embossed some black with a hearts folder - it's not terribly obvious, but gives a little texture and interest IRL. 

Materials used:

• stamps -  Little Weirdo (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - stitched rectangle (Poppystamps), speech bubble (SU)
• SU inks - Bermuda bay, lemon lime twist, calypso coral, Sahara sand
• other -  triple heart punch, MISTI, Big Shot, water brush, craft foam, patterned papers from stash, white embossing powder, heat tool, white gel pen, acrylic dots, hearts embossing folder

We'd love you to play along with the challenge! Check out more samples to inspire from my teammates as well as our special guest designer, over on the All About Papercraft blog.

Thanks for dropping in.

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

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

Best Era Yet

It's challenge time once again at All About Papercraft and this month it's ...

April is definitely all about birthdays in our clan; quite a few family members have or had birthdays this month. My own is tomorrow then just two days later is my elder daughter's, so my project is the card I made for her. She's a die-hard Swiftie and I bought this stamp with her in mind. 

I used Copic markers to colour the singer and holographic glitter for her shiny outfit, which I set with a spray sealant so it wouldn't brush off. The background was ink blended and given some water splatters before stencilling over with a baby wipe to remove ink. I love that it looks like a cool lighting effect. As one foot was raised, I thought it appropriate she would be standing on the sentiment, lol. Tiny rhinestones were the finishing touch and you really need to move this around to catch the light and see it's full glittery glory! 

Materials used:

• stamps - Uptown Girl Loves to Sing, Shake It Off Sentiments (both Stamping Bella)
• other - Copic markers, holographic glitter (Lavinia), foam squares, MISTI, Vortex stencil (Brutus Monroe), baby wipe, tiny rhinestones, subsentiment sticker (Waffle Flower)

We would love to see your birthday themed creations in our challenge linky this month! And do pop over to the All About Papercraft blog to see more samples from my team mates to inspire you.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Leaves are Falling, Autumn is Calling

It's time for another challenge with All About Papercraft and this month it's...

My featured season is autumn, which runs March through May here in Australia. And while summer hasn't quite done with us, I am very much looking forward to cooler days and nights, vibrantly colourful leaves, feasting on pumpkin soup, and reading a book with a warm blanket over my lap and a hot drink in hand. Bliss!

Here's my project:

All the pieces were cut from white or vanilla card and ink blended using distress inks. The little bit of stamping was done with archival ink. This is the (US) size A7 postage collage die, so it's bigger than our standard card size at 16.5cm x 11cm but perfect for the elements I've used.  

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
• dies - A7 Postage Collage and A7 Postage Collage Blocks (Waffle Flower), Fall Foliage (Tim Holtz), Into the Blooms: Mushrooms (Papertrey Ink), Little Sunflower Bloom (Simon Says Stamp), Autumn Elements (Karen Burniston), Country Road Seasonal Decor (Spellbinders)
• other - distress inks, blending brushes, Dimensionals, Big Shot, frayed burlap archival ink, photo frame (Officeworks)

What's your favourite season? Or maybe you're just enjoying the season you're in now? We'd love you to join in the fun with our challenge, plus we've more samples to inspire you over on the All About Papercraft blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Sending Love - All About Challenges #2

It's time for a new challenge with All About Papercraft Challenges and this month it's...

My crafting journey began with scrapbooking, but discovering stamps - red rubber mounted on wood blocks in those days - got me hooked on cardmaking. They're so versatile!

For my project I've made a card with a faux postcard scene. Apart from the stencilling on the base card and a little masking, the rest is created entirely with stamps. 

My first step was stencilling the base card, then I cut the main panel to size. I began stamping with the four lines and the vertical break design using archival ink (to avoid smudging when I inked over them later). Then came the postcard header and the postage stamp, after which I stamped Bundle Girl. She's coloured with Copics, as are the hearts. I tore a scrap of paper to use as a mask for inking the ground and created another mask of the little girl so I could ink the blue portion. The sentiments in the lines were stamped next and the little heart and hugs and kisses in the "stamp" were my last step before mounting the panel on the base.

Materials used:

• stamps - Bundle Girl with Falling Hearts (Stamping Bella), Stamps #521 (Poppy Crafts), Sentiment Strips 2 (Altenew), Basic Sentiments (Pinkfresh Studio), Merci Beaucoup (Clearly Besotted), Hot Cocoa (Mama Elephant)
• other - postage collage colouring stencil (Waffle Flower), blending brushes, Copic markers, MISTI, craft foam

Pop over to the All About blog (just click on the challenge icon) to see more inspiration from my fellow design team members, then get out your stamps and join the fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Berry New - All About Challenges #1

Happy New Year! 

I'm thrilled to be starting off 2026 on the design team for a brand new challenge called All About Papercraft Challenges and the theme for our very first challenge is, appropriately...

For my project I chose the new-to-me technique of a folio journal using new products combined with some old favourites. 

This journal measures around 6" x 4 1/2". I kept it fairly simple as it was my first attempt, using papers, rub-on transfers and die-cut embellishments with a nature and strawberries theme.  

Here are the front and back covers

It opens up to this

The left flap opens up to reveal a pocket for tags. I made sure to leave blank spaces for journalling on the backs of tags, cards etc, as well as some of the pages. 

In the middle section I used a file folder as a flap, which holds three decorated cards.

The right side has a fold over portion and holds an envelope. Inside that is another decorated card with space on the back for journalling. 

I made the base folio journal following measurements and instructions from Julie at Camelia Crafts Designs (with a tweak or two). Follow this link to her YouTube tutorial if you're interested. 

Materials used:

• papers, rub-on transfers and die-cut embellishments - Nature's Haven collection (49 and Market)
• Tim Holtz dies - Collector, Postale, Specimen
• other - tag dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, sponge dauber, brushed corduroy distress oxide ink, rub-on tool, bamboo cord, 

Click on the challenge icon to visit the All About papercraft challenges blog and check out what 'new' projects my fellow design team members created to inspire you. We do hope you'll join us and play along!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Exciting news!

I'm proud to announce that I have joined the design team of a brand new challenge blog. It's called All About Papercraft Challenges and will be a monthly challenge for papercrafters of all kinds, with a variety of themes. 

Challenges will be on the first Friday of each month, so the first one will be 2nd January 2026 - which is only a matter of a couple of weeks away! 

I do hope you'll join me then and spread the word to all the crafters you know.

Cheers

Kerry