Adulting is Hard

SU's stamp set 'Nothing's Better Than' was one of those I instantly knew I'd buy when I first saw the 2020-2021 annual catalogue. Well, that's probably not a shock to you considering it features all the most fun things in life - which coincidentally all begin with 'C'. Case in point: chocolate, cocktails, coffee and cookies! I mean, seriously. Actually, for me, not so much the coffee - can't stand the stuff. Even refuse to kiss my family when they have 'coffee breath' lol. But I do appreciate me a nice chai latte!

Anyways, I had fun over the last few days playing with various colours and designs before these cards were born.

Materials used:

• stamps - Nothing's Better Than
• card - whisper white, magenta madness, that bee DSP (lol)
• other - stitched rectangle die; Love You More Than dies; Big Shot; Stampin' Blends - Bermuda bay, daffodil delight, pumpkin pie, granny apple green, lovely lipstick; Stampin' Write markers - Sahara sand, gorgeous grape, magenta madness, Bermuda bay; Dimensionals; craft foam.

You'll notice I did the cocktails and chocolate ones first, because...come on...priorities. 😉

Materials used:

• stamps - Nothing's Better Than
• card - whisper white, just jade, that bee DSP (lol)
• other - stitched rectangle die; Love You More Than dies; Big Shot; Dimensionals; craft foam, Copic markers E15 and E39, in colour markers

For this one I used my just jade marker to ink up 'ummm...' from part of one stamp and 'y' from another to give me 'yummm...'

And lastly my coffee version (haven't done a cookies one). I don't particularly like the coffee cup image in the set so I dug out a mini coffee cup die set I have in my stash and used that instead.

Materials used:

• stamps - Nothing's Better Than
• card - whisper white, misty moonlight, that bee DSP (lol)
• other - stitched rectangle die; coffee cup dies; Big Shot; Dimensionals; craft foam, in colour markers; Love You More Than dies

This week's challenge with my ladies is to use something new, so I've certainly got that covered with this set, lol! Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Cheers

Kez

Zany Friends

It's been a while, I know, since I promised more new stuff from the 2020-2021 annual catalogue, but when a global pandemic slows down delivery of said new stuff, I just have to go with the flow! At any rate, I finally got my hands on the ink pads and markers that match the new in-colour cardstock I've had since May, so here's a simple card for you.

You'll notice I'm still in 'black, white and one colour' mode, lol. Zebras are, of course, perfect for this! 😁 This is a new stamp set along with new in-colour, Magenta Madness. It's a bit 'in your face' for me, so I think I'll be using it in small doses, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps - Zany Zebras, Beautiful Friendship
• card - basic black, whisper white, Butterfly Gala DSP
• other - Stamparatus, Sahara sand marker, magenta madness marker, basic black marker

I hope you're managing to play with some new stuff too! Thanks for calling in and stay safe.

Cheers

Kez

Sharing Sunshine

Stampin’ Up have available a digital stamp collection called Share Sunshine. It’s a pdf file with 15 pages of images and sentiments relating to the pandemic and isolation/quarantine situation. You print them on your computer (I recommend printing on whisper white card rather than printer paper) then cut with punches, dies, etc to use on cards to send to your nearest and dearest. Some of them are serious, many are light-hearted and some come in a range of colour options (you can see a sample in the image below).

100% of the cost for this resource will go to COVID-19 efforts through two organisations - The World Health Organization’s COVID-Solidarity Response Fund or United Way Worldwide’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.

Here are some cards I've made up so far with just a small sample of the images:

This one I coloured with SU's watercolour pencils then mounted on matching card for a CAS card.

Materials used:

• digital image - Sharing Sunshine pdf
• card - balmy blue, whisper white
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, watercolour pencils, craft foam

For my next card I used some plaid paper from the mini catalogue together with twine as I thought they looked like pyjama pants and the cord, lol. This sentiment really makes me laugh and I'm not ashamed to admit there has been a day or two where I've spent all day in my pjs 😏.

Materials used:

• digital image - Sharing Sunshine pdf
• card - night of navy, whisper white, Country Club DSP
• other - stitched circle die, Big Shot, white baker's twine, epoxy dots, Dimensionals

I've used dsp again for my third card and added simple touches with some punching and fussy cutting.

Materials used:

• digital image - Sharing Sunshine pdf
• card - petal pink, whisper white, lovely lipstick, Best Dressed DSP
• other - corner rounder punch, Dimensionals

If you're interested in getting these images here's the link that will take you there. You don't need to have a demonstrator for this, it's a special purchase. Just click HERE. (Please note the price of $12 is US dollars, so converts to approx AU$18-19.)

Thanks for calling in. Stay safe in your quarantine.

Cheers
Kez

Stampers Anonymous Blog Hop #17

Well, hi! Welcome to the Stampers Anonymous Blog Hop for April. I haven't played along for a couple of months but you know I find it hard to resist when there's a colour challenge going on...

As usual, we're allowed to use neutrals such as black, white, vanilla and crumb cake.

This combo certainly got me thinking and I ended up with three samples to show you, all quite different styles, but hopefully that just means at least one of them will be to your taste!

For my first card I went with an animal that's grey and used one of my favourite techniques (ink blending) to incorporate the other two colours. Here's how that one turned out:

Materials used:

• stamps - Animal Outing, Butterfly Gala
• card - smoky slate, shimmer white, whisper white
• other - stitched rectangle die, circle die, Big Shot, Stampin' Blends, Stamparatus, blending brushes, craft foam

My second offering is much more subdued, this time featuring two stamps from the Very Versailles set plus some epoxy dots coloured with Stampin' Blends for small bursts of colour. All the embossing was done first, then I over-stamped with smoky slate ink to give this tone-on-tone effect. I love how it gives great shadow and depth to the sentiment.

Materials used:

• stamps - Very Versailles
• card - whisper white, smoky slate
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, Stampin' Blends, craft foam, epoxy dots, embossing buddy, stitched rectangle die, Big Shot

And lastly, a bit of fun with those adorable meerkats from the SAB catalogue. Here's the front...

Now open it up, and...

So cute! Who doesn't love meerkats, am I right? LOL.

Materials used:

• stamps - The Gang's All Meer
• card - whisper white, Bermuda bay
• other - cloud die, Big Shot, Sahara sand marker, black marker, Stampin' Blends, Stamparatus

To follow along the rest of the blog hop just click on the buttons below to move back or forward till the circuit is complete, and we'll be very happy if you leave each person some comment love for their efforts!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Simply Thankful

The sentiment on today's card sums up quite eloquently my current state of mind. After celebrating a special birthday yesterday which, to all intents and purposes, I spent mostly physically isolated, I have to say it was a really nice day. Ok, yes, I was meant to be in Scotland with DD1 and that didn't pan out, but there are still many things to be thankful for:

• I'm thankful I have the type of relationship with both my daughters where they're among my best friends and happy to spend time with me (we had a Zoom chat and watched a movie on Netflix together)
• I'm thankful for the technology that allowed me to see and speak to them even though the three of us are in different countries around the world (no such thing as computers, internet or video calls when I was travelling in my 20s)
• I'm thankful for my sister-in-law who bought me dinner from a restaurant that's home delivering and baked me my favourite cake (even if we didn't get to exchange a hug)
• I'm thankful for the friends and family who let me know through birthday messages that they were thinking of me

So yeah, it was a lovely day, and my heartfelt thanks to all who made it so.

Here's my card:

Materials used:

• stamps - Country Home
• card - whisper white, mint macaron
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, mint macaron twine, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, craft foam, Sahara Sand marker

I hope you have something to be thankful for today in spite of all that's going on. Thanks for calling in.

Stay safe.

Cheers

Kez

Garden Arch

For our next class we'll be making a couple of fancy fold cards, the first of which is this simple diorama card featuring the gorgeous arched gate die from the mini catalogue. When I first saw the preview of this catalogue, this was the stamp set and die bundle that appealed to me the most and I knew it would be 'first cab off the rank' when I ordered!

It folds flat into regular C6 size for postage, which is always handy.

Materials used:

• stamps - Grace's Garden, This Little Piggy
• card - whisper white thick
• other - Garden Gateway dies, Big Shot, Stampin' Blends, glue, blending brush, Stamparatus, mini cloud stencil (MFT)

Once I've finished making our other 3D project, I'll be back, and to keep you going there'll be a new CAS challenge tomorrow night. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

True Colours - CAS on Friday challenge

I just love colour challenges, probably because I love playing with colours in inks and paints etc.

Hi all and welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge! This is challenge #174 and as you may have already guessed, we have some colours for you this time around.

My first instinct when I saw coastal cabana, crushed curry and Bermuda bay together was for an ocean sunrise/sunset scene but I must admit, it floored me at first about how I would incorporate granny apple green. Thankfully, after a few days my brain kicked in to remind me that the sea can be a greeny-blue!

I made simple masks from post-it notes, sponging the sky area first with crushed curry, then Bermuda bay and granny apple green for the water. My only coastal cabana is the card base itself. All-in-all, this card took less than 10 minutes to make!

Materials used:

• stamps - Thoughtful Branches (SU)
• card - whisper white, coastal cabana
• other - blending brushes, post-it notes, 1" circle punch, Stamparatus, clear Wink of Stella, craft foam

Please visit the CASOF blog and my fellow DT members to see what wonderful things they've done with these colours - and don't forget to leave us all some comment love!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Brighter Days

Over at Simply Less is More they have an interesting challenge at the moment and I couldn't resist playing along.

It's like two challenges in one!

Here's my card:

I stamped the girl first and coloured her, then covered her with a mask and sponged the background. The raindrops and sentiment were added after that. I just had to make the umbrella yellow as DD21 has one and it makes me think of her.

Materials used:

• stamps - Beautiful You, Under My Umbrella
• card - whisper white
• other - Stamparatus, blending brush, sticky note, Stampin' Blends, basic grey marker

Why not pop over to the SLIM blog and check out the other entries - or better yet, enter the challenge yourself.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Bright and Breezy

I was having a play day with my BFF yesterday and whenever we get together we do a 'show and tell' of the cards we've been making. Upon seeing one of mine she pronounced, "This one hasn't been on your blog," and after I admitted it hadn't, she ordered "Well put it up there!". So this is me following instructions (enjoy it while you can, Rob) and showing you my tropical-flavoured, bright and breezy card.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tropical Chic, Itty Bitty Greetings
• card - pineapple punch, coastal cabana, whisper white
• ink colours - Bermuda Bay, gorgeous grape, lemon lime twist, coastal cabana, pineapple punch, lovely lipstick, granny apple green, watermelon wonder
• other - tropical dies, Big Shot, sequins, mini glue dots, Dimensionals, clear Wink of Stella, Bermuda bay marker, ruler

The flowers have a touch of shimmer and look gorgeous when they catch the light. 

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Just Hello

When a card comes together just as you imagined...

So, the good folks at CAS on Friday are looking for new design team members and I decided to throw my hat in the ring, as it were. The instructions were simply to create a CAS card - no boundaries, guidelines or parameters, which, of course, made it all the more challenging! Here's what I ended up with:

The panels are simply two sponged colours (Bermuda bay and crushed curry), the branch is die-cut and the bird stamped and fussy-cut. I spritzed with ink from a marker, stamped the sentiment and all done!

Materials used:

• stamps - Grace's Garden, Enjoy Life
• card - whisper white, early espresso
• other - Seasonal Layers thinlits, Big Shot, blending brushes, spritzer tool, Stamparatus, markers, craft foam, glue, water spritzer

The colours are perfect for the heatwave we're currently experiencing and I'm sending a big Hello and best wishes to all in danger from bushfires around the state and country.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

When You're Feeling a Little Prickly

I may or may not have been chuckling to myself as I made this fun little 'get well' card using two images from SAB set The Gang's All Meer which I introduced to you yesterday. I'm not sure if this is a lizard or chameleon but it certainly reminds me of the chameleon character in the animated movie, 'Tangled', don't you agree?

I stamped the two images on the coastal cabana background then stamped again on whisper white, coloured and fussy cut. Doing it that way you can cut off the really tricky parts like the thorns on the cactus and the lizard's tongue and they're still there on the underneath image.

Materials used:

• stamps - The Gang's All Meer, Itty Bitty Greetings
• card - coastal cabana, pineapple punch, whisper white, Butterfly DSP
• other - Stampin' Blends, coastal cabana, pool party and basic black markers, white embossing powder, heat tool, Stamparatus, craft foam, embossing buddy

I'm certainly getting a lot of mileage from Itty Bitty Greetings lately and can recommend it as an extremely versatile set.

Well, that's it. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Friendship and Love

It's the 14th of the month, which means it's time for another team blog hop! So grab a cuppa, relax and take your time scrolling through the inspiration we have to offer you.

This time around we were given a sketch:

First up I made this little cutie. Now, most people I'm giving birthday cards to would need all these candles and more (lol), but they are definitely all awesome.

Isn't she a sweetie? I love how she's very 'matchy-matchy' with her outfit - that's my kinda gal!

Materials used:

• stamps - Itty Bitty Birthdays, Young at Heart
• card - crumb cake, whisper white, Bird Ballad DSP
• Stampin' Blends - calypso coral, pool party, so saffron, crumb cake, soft sea foam, smoky slate, ivory
• other - stitched rectangle die, stitched circle die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, calypso coral seam binding, Ornate Frames dies, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Next up is a sweet Valentine's card featuring products from the From My Heart suite in the upcoming mini catalogue. I switched sides for my feature and changed the circle to a heart.

Materials used:

• stamps - This Little Piggy
• card - flirty flamingo, real red, whisper white, From My Heart specialty DSP
• other - heart doilies, From My Heart faceted gems, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends, word window punch, real red double stitched satin ribbon, clear embossing powder, heat tool

Also featuring new goodies from the mini catalogue is my last offering. This is the first card design I thought of when I first saw the sketch a couple of weeks ago, but I had to wait until the last minute to make it as AusPost managed to lose my pre-order goodies and they only just arrived in the nick of time!

Materials used:

• stamps - Grace's Garden, Itty Bitty Greetings
• card - whisper white, watercolour, Sahara sand, brights DSP
• other - Garden Gateway dies, Big Shot, stitched rectangle die, stitched circle die, aqua painter, Stampin' Blends, Dimensionals, Stampin' Write markers, sponge dauber, blending brush, mounting strips

Now move on to the next team member, Kristy Davy, to see what she has created for you. Thanks for calling in!

Cheers

Kez

 

Cheap and Cheerful

Everyone loves a card you can whip up in 5 minutes, right? Here's a fast, easy one that will brighten anyone's special day:

Materials used:

• stamps - Stylised Birthday, Beauty Abounds
• card - whisper white, pineapple punch
• inks - coastal cabana, pineapple punch, gorgeous grape, Memento tuxedo black
• other - stitched rectangle die, Big Shot, craft foam

This colour combo is so cheerful, I love it! 

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Blog Hop #12

Welcome! It's time once again for our team blog hop and this month we were given some gorgeously vibrant colours to play with.

My first offer is a fun birthday card with some sponging. I made the striped edging piece myself using a ruler and the brush tip of the marker. You need a steady hand though, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Itty Bitty Birthdays
• card - whisper white, night of navy
• other - balloon bouquet punch, white gel pen, sponge daubers, ruler, night of navy marker, clear epoxy droplets, ornate frames die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool, embossing buddy
• inspired by Simonne Clay

I've always loved blue and green together and night of navy with granny apple green has to be one of my favourite combos. Here's a 'bloke' card that uses this pairing and is clean and simple. I purposefully left off any sentiment because I want it to be one of those cards you can pick up and use for almost any occasion - birthday, Father's Day, retirement, etc. There are three layers to the image, which give it depth and dimension in real life. 

Materials used:

• stamps - A Good Man
• card - granny apple green, night of navy, watercolour
• other - aqua painter, markers, craft scalpel

And now for something quite different - whereas the previous cards had a lot of light space, the next one is a touch more dramatic in the use of the colours. I've done more sponging, this time in a Bokeh background effect. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Perennial Birthday, Butterfly Gala
• card - granny apple green, lovely lipstick, whisper white, night of navy, acetate
• punches - 1/4" circle, 1/2" circle, 3/4" circle, 1" circle
• other - Dimensionals, Well Written thinlits, Big Shot, Stampin' Blends, Stamparatus, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Stitched Seasons thinlits, Butterfly Beauty thinlits, sponge dauber

That's it from me! Click on the links below to move around the hop until you've completed the circle, and I hope you have a lot of fun being inspired to play.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

It's Coming On Christmas

'It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees, putting up reindeer, singing songs of joy and peace.'

Good golly Miss Molly, it's only 44 days until Christmas! I hope you've started your organising - I've got my menu planned, table decorations sorted and presents underway. Phew! With some of the family overseas for the big day this year, we'll be a smaller group than usual but we'll still try to keep up with a few of our family traditions.

And also coming up soon - very soon in fact - is my last card class for 2019. Over the past few years the theme for this has been special, one-off Christmas cards - those which take a bit more fiddling and effort and are too intricate or time-consuming to make in our usual stamp-a-stack classes. We'll be doing that, but I've also snuck in another theme to add to it - cos I'm tricky that way, lol. No, you see what happened was I had to cancel my previous class in which we were going to make three fancy fold cards so I thought, hey, why not re-make those same fancy folds but in line with the festive season? Once my muse struck with ideas, I got busy crafting!

Here's the first one. I took this double z-fold using petal promenade papers:

Changed the papers, chose some stamps and got busy sponging...and ended up with this:

Materials used:

• stamps - Wonderland, Dashing Deer
• card - coastal cabana, real red, whisper white, Let It Snow DSP
• other - white embossing powder, heat tool, sponge, Stamparatus, hills & borders stencil, costal cabana marker, embossing buddy 

I love it! Hopefully my ladies will too. I'll be back over the next few days with the other fancy fold adaptations.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Another Fancy Fold

After making two fancy fold cards I thought I might as well make a third and they can be our class cards for next week. I was also conscious - as I'm in the middle of a big sorting out of my craft room - that I tend to hoard papers and should use some of them up (don't even get me started on how I'm even worse at hoarding ribbons!), so I dragged out the beautiful Petal Promenade DSP and made a double z-fold card.

I kept to neutral colours for my base and matting which, in an astonishing dash of Kismet, matched the reverse side of the paper I used! Such a clever little Vegemite, lol. Not much was needed to add to this, just a simple sentiment and then let the gorgeous papers take centre stage.

Materials used:

• stamps - Perennial Birthday
• card - smoky slate, basic grey, Petal Promenade DSP
• other - Ornate Frames thinlits, Big Shot, Dimensionals

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Magnolia Magnificence

Back to the theme of fancy fold cards, I decided to have a go at a Pop Up Front Step card - at least, I think that's what they're called, lol. I saw a few on Pinterest and managed to find some instructions - sadly they were in imperial measurements, so I had to adapt and adjust. Luckily not too steep a learning curve for this one! Once I sorted out measurements, it was very easy to construct and it doesn't take long to cut a few pieces of DSP to compliment this magnificent flower.

Materials used:

• stamps - Good Morning Magnolia
• card - basic black, whisper white, petal pink
• other - magnolia dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Well Written thinlits, strong adhesive, Stampin' Blends

I don't have the mossy meadow Blends but as luck would have it, the medium and dark old olive Blendabilities pens (from when we had sets of three shades) gave me a close approximation. There are two layers to the 'thanks' sentiment, which makes it stand out much better than only one layer does.

It all folds flat, though I did have to cut off one leaf and place the flower so it didn't extend far past the outside of my base in order to ensure this would still fit into a regular C6 envelope.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Vintage Butterfly Hello

Our team's challenge this month is a fancy fold card and I immediately got it stuck in my head that I wanted to do a centre-step card. I had no idea what design to use until I was inspired by a card I saw ... guess where? Yes, you know me well. Pinterest, of course! Gosh, I remember the days I'd spend a small fortune on craft magazines for ideas, now all I have to do is sit in front of my computer for hours a short time.

Anywho, here's the card I made. I'm very happy with it (except for a small snaffoo drawing the antennae which hopefully nobody will notice lol) and suspect it may end up in my 'too nice to give away' pile.

A few speckles of gold in the background tie in with the gold embossing on the base piece, as does the sentiment panel.

I did three layers on my butterfly: the initial stamp on the background piece then two more coloured and cut and adhered with black mini dimensionals to give the wings some 'lift'.

Materials used:

• stamps - Butterfly Gala, Climbing Roses, Gorgeous Grunge, Timeless Textures, Itty Bitty Greetings
• card - crumb cake, very vanilla, basic black
• other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, black Dimensionals, sponge dauber, black marker, butterfly punch, embossing buddy, post it note

Be sure to leave some comment love if this one turns your crank! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

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