Pretty In Pink

The cards for this month's class feature SU's gorgeous range of pinks. Check them out:

This one was inspired by a Mary Fish creation and is not only a flip card but a gift card holder as well.

 Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Sketched
• card - pink pirouette, smoky slate, whisper white, subtles patterned paper
• punches - dotted scallop ribbon border,  2 1/2" circle
• other - rhinestones, circle framelits, silver trim 1/8" ribbon, delicate designs embossing folder, Big Shot, circle card thinlits 

Although I'm not usually into the brights range, the lovely colour combination and simple design of a card by Alisa Tilsner really appealed to me, so I have cased it for my next project.

Materials used:

• stamps - Simply Stars, Banner Blast, Four You
• card - melon mambo, whisper white
• punches - banner, large star
• other - white bakers twine, dimensionals, decorative dots embossing folder, Big Shot, sponge dauber, melon mambo embossing powder, heat tool

And lastly some simple brayering on a card that reminds us that we are losing a lot if we look only for perfection.

Materials used:

• Perfect Pennants, Mosaic Madness
• card - blushing bride, early espresso, whisper white
• punches - mosaic, itty bitty
• other - brayer, dimensionals, rhinestones, sponge dauber, stamp-a-ma-jig, Tombow glue

It felt really good to be crafting again and I was greatly relieved to get these three done in a day - as it's the only day I have free between now and the class! Lol. Teaching and studying are keeping me VERY busy and I usually only visit the craft room to do some homework these days!

I have a couple of weekends to look forward to though - this coming weekend DD15 and I are off to see Michael Buble in concert and the following weekend we are going to Melbourne to visit DD22 and see Wicked! Can't wait!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

August Class Cards

I have finally gotten around to photographing the cards we made in class this month. They featured either new product or a new technique for my ladies - or maybe both!

Firstly we made this simple stand-up card which features new stamp set Chalk Talk and matching dies. Not quite sure why they are called a "stand up" card - don't all cards stand up? lol! (Layout cased from Julie Davison)

Materials used:

• stamps - Chalk Talk
• card - strawberry slush, basic black, whisper white, in colour patterned paper
• other - chalk talk dies, Big Shot, rhinestones, wide oval punch, square punch, dimensionals

We also made a masculine card which I cased from Christy Fulk with a couple of minor changes (this is the card I gave to DH for his birthday earlier this month).

Materials used:

• stamps - Wetlands
• card - soft suede, more mustard, watercolour, early espresso
• other - aquapainter, square punch, antique brad, dimensionals

And our last card was this embossed beauty you have seen before. The ladies loved the feel of the sanded core'dinations card just as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

50 And Fabulous

Tonight we are off to a Trivia Night to raise funds for the Quest for Life Foundation and also to celebrate the 50th birthday of the organiser of the event, who is a dear friend.

Naturally, a card had to be made. And, in fact, a second card also - for everyone at the event to sign too. That, of course. occasioned a rather large card, so I made one with extra paper inside for lots of signatures and birthday wishes. As the birthday girl just loves flowers and is known everywhere for always wearing a flower in her hair, naturally they needed to feature on the cards.

For my card I played again with sanding some core'dinations cardstock, this time in primrose petals and embossed with mosaic. I carried through the mosaic shape with stamping for one of my flag pieces (and on the inside), and teamed the primrose with summer starfruit and some watercoloured poppies. I love the aged look the sanding gives on the embossing!

Materials used:

• stamps - Pleasant Poppies, Four You, Summer Silhouettes
• card - primrose petals (plain and core'dinations), very vanilla, summer starfruit
• other - mosaic embossing folder, Big Shot, 1" square punch, aquapainter, sanding kit, dimensionals
• non SU - nestabilities circle and scallop circle dies

Black, vanilla and pink have been teamed up for the large card which is A4 folded in half. A bit of bling adds some glamour!

Materials used:

• stamps - none
• card - basic black, pretty in pink, very vanilla, Modern Medley dsp, silver glitter, garden green
• other - Big Shot, Timeless Type number dies, dimensionals
• non SU - nestabilities die, pink rhinestones, purchased paper roses, Martha Stewart rose leaf punch and matching embossing punch, hot glue gun, computer and printer

We are looking forward to a fun night and hopefully will raise heaps of money for Quest. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Edited to add: We had a great night, the birthday girl loved both her cards and we raised over $14,000 for Quest. Yay! Also, our team won the Trivia! double yay! (lol)

Tutorial Review

A few weeks ago I was approached by the online media coordinator for Daily Craft TV and asked if I would be happy to watch one of their video tutorials and write a review. Daily Craft TV has a huge range of videos on their site that teach you hundreds of techniques for quilting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking and papercrafting.

I picked a video from the papercrafting section called, "Inspiring Ideas for Fun and Fabulous Projects". The video was an hour long and it covered 7 topics:

1. Techniques Revealed: Dressing Up Chipboard with Scrap Paper
2. Creative Shortcuts: Creating Rolled Flowers
3. Designer Hints: Preserving Scrapbook Memorabilia
4. Everyday Inspiration: Adding Bling to Your Projects!
5. Going Green: Getting More Out of Your Scrapbooking Products
6. Design Workshop: Using Fabric Paper on Layouts and Cards
7. Techniques Revealed: Building Boxed Flowers

The people presenting the video gave clear, concise explanations that were easy to follow and it was at all times easy to see the projects coming together and match the visual to the audio instructions. As an experienced papercrafter of some years, I had come across all of these techniques before - but it would be ideal for someone just starting their crafting journey or someone who has covered the basics and now wants to learn a few extra "Wow" elements for their projects. Having said that, it did inspire me to use some of those techniques that I hadn't incorporated in my work for some time (see my card below).

I know you can find free videos on many crafting topics over the internet, but if you don't want to have to do a grand search everywhere to find what you are after, or if you don't know exactly what you want to see and just want to get some new ideas, then this site may be perfect for you. At US$5 for 7 techniques, it was pretty good value.

So why not pop on over and have a look. With the huge range of crafts covered, you are sure to find something of interest. Here's the link again - Daily Craft TV.

And here's a card I made using two techniques from the video - creating rolled flowers and adding bling:

Materials used:

• stamps - Four You
• card - pool party (plain and core'dinations), whisper white, baked brown sugar, crisp cantaloupe
• other - beautifully baroque embossing folder, Big Shot, sanding block, bird punch, rhinestones, deco label die, sponge dauber, dimensionals, embossing stylus
• non SU - flower die, hot glue gun

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez