Bold is Beautiful

Today I'm playing along with the current Just Us Girls challenge.

For my card I used bold colours and a bold stamp for the sentiment. 

I die-cut the balloon border first, along with extras of the heart and small round balloons, and chose a palette of bold colours fresh enough to brighten anyone's day. That's mounted with foam onto my base and then it all received a liberal spritz with shimmer mist, so there's a lovely shine everywhere. My sentiment was stamped and cut before adding and the final touch was some glitter card stars. A very simple card that gives a bold wow!

Materials used:

• stamps - Your Day sentiments combo (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Balloon Frame (Waffle Flower)
• distress inks - picked raspberry, carved pumpkin, mustard seed, peacock feathers, wilted violet
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, shimmer mist, MISTI, white gel pen, foam squares

Have a good day and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Keep Swimming

It's time once again for a new challenge with Just Add Ink.

For my card I've used both dies and stencils to create an underwater scene.

Materials used:

• stamps - Bubbly Sentiments (WF)
• dies - Coral Reef, Postage Collage Fish (WF)
• stencils - Coral Reef, Under the Sea background (WF)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, foam squares, MISTI, white gel pen, black marker

Thanks for stopping by.

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

Sew Amazing

Over at Just Us Girls it's CASE a design team member week. 

I don't think I've ever taken part in this particular challenge before but Carol's card caught my eye.

Regular visitors will know I am rather partial to a postage collage card, so today I sat down to have a play and here's the result:

To make it my own I made the following changes:

• flipped the angle
• changed the wildflower theme to sewing
• swapped the gingham background for polka dots (to mirror the stencilling)
• substituted scissors and spool for the pen
• moved my sentiment (just because) 

Thanks for the inspiration ladies! Sew much fun! 

Cheers

Kerry

Baked With Love

The Time Out challenge for this fortnight held great appeal so I couldn't resist having a play with dies, stencils and pastels. 

Here's my offering:

Other than the yellow postage frame, everything else was cut from white card and coloured with inks. As usual, there are multiple layers to my sentiment die-cut. 

Materials used:

• dies, stencils and subsentiment die-cut - Waffle Flower Baking Fun collection
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, foam squares, sheer ribbon, stitched rectangle die

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

In the Clear

Today's card is for the current Time Out challenge.

The clear elements on my card are vellum leaves and clear enamel dots.

Materials used:

• dies - A7 Postage Collage and Postage Collage Blocks (Waffle Flower), script shadow words
• punch & emboss combo - rose leaves (Floral Punch)
• other - craft foam, Big Shot, clear enamel dots, Pastel Watercolour Elegance papers (Etsy)

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Hoppy Easter

Oh. My. Goodness.

Take at look at this!

I'm not ashamed to admit I was completely defenseless against all the cute adorableness! I mean, look at those bunnies! Their sweet little faces! You just know I immediately had ideas running around in my brain, lol. Here's the outcome of all that thinking.

I took inspiration from the bunnies, colours and terracotta gingham. There's another bunny and carrot on the inside and a sentiment that reads 'Hope your day is bunny-tastic'.

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage Egg Hunt (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Postage Collage Bunny Silhouettes, Postage Collage, Postage Collage Blocks (all Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, Big Shot, craft foam, Dimensionals, winter watercolour patterned papers (Etsy), fine black marker, various inks, white Pan Pastel, white embossing powder, heat tool
• design inspired by Karen Downs

It's less than a week now until Easter and the things I look forward to the most, as I do every year, are spending time with my family and eating Cadbury chocolate marshmallow eggs. The eggs are a 'tradition' from growing up in New Zealand and the holiday just wouldn't be the same without them, lol. 

Thanks for coming by and have a hoppy Easter.

Cheers

Kerry

Happy Egg Hunt

It's time for a new challenge at Tic Tac Toe. Here's the grid to choose from for challenge #289:

I picked the middle horizontal row for my offering.

The grass, eggs and bow were cut from designer paper, while the bunnies were cut from beige card. I gave them fluffy little white cottontails which I think looks very cute! That one bunny is so excited for eggs he's leaping over them all, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamp & die combo - Egg Hunt Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Postage Collage Egg Hunt Icons, Nesting Eggs, Postage Collage Bunny Silhouettes (all Waffle Flower)
• other - thick bakers twine, clear dots, Big Shot, craft foam, Dimensionals, blending brushes, distressing tool, white PanPastel

I do hope you'll pick a row of three elements and join us for this fun challenge. Check out what my team mates created to inspire you over on the Tic Tac Toe blog, and thanks for hopping by!

Cheers

Kerry

My Favourite Peeps

I've been having a lot of fun playing with some Easter-themed schtuff inspired by the challenge graphic at Four Seasons Challenges.

I took the chicks, eggs and basket as prompts for my card.
 

Unusually for me, I didn't cut everything from white - I used coloured card throughout and added shading with inks. The eggs I stencilled with various patterns using white artists pastel to keep that soft look. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Egg Hunt Sentiments stamp & die combo, Postage Collage Egg Hunt (both Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Postage Collage, Postage Collage Egg Hunt Icons (both Waffle Flower), Papercut Chicks (Tim Holtz)
• Tim Holtz stencils - mini bubble, mini grid, mini hocus pocus
• other - Big Shot, MISTI, foam squares, blending brushes, white embossing powder, heat tool

Aren't those little chicks adorable? They look really weird till you add the eyes and beak, lol, and then they come to life. 

I hope you're having some fun Easter craft in your day. Thanks for peeping in!

Cheers

Kerry

Birthday Roses

The new challenge at Just Add Ink is one of my favourite regular themes:

Dies and stencils are so much fun to play with and for my card I've used both. 

I started by cutting and stencilling the roses. Some polka dot stencilling was added to the paler purple background behind the flowers as well as to my top darker layer. I used the flower pieces cut off from the inside to add on the outside. There's mounting foam between each layer to add even more dimension, and the sentiment strip and some clear dots were my finishing touches. 

I am really loving the orange/purple combo, which always reminds me of a scene from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Anyone else? lol

Materials used:

• die & stencil combo - Rose Bouquet (Waffle Flower)
• other die and stencil from stash
• distress inks - carved pumpkin, ripe persimmon
• SU inks - highland heather, gorgeous grape
• other - Subsentiment strip (Waffle Flower), Dimensionals, foam squares, Big Shot, blending brushes, clear dots

I hope you'll pull out some of your own dies and stencils and join the challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Sew Amazing

I just couldn't resist playing along with the Time Out challenge after seeing their inspiration prompt:

Sewing theme? Yes, please! 

I began by cutting and inking my background pieces then used a stencil or stamp to add the polka dot and ticking details. Once that was done I die cut the sewing machine and accessories, again using inks to colour everything. All the colours were taken from the prompt pic, either the purple from the main body of the pouch or the stripes on the base.

Materials used:

• stamps - Ticking and Grain (Tim Holtz)
• dies - Postage Collage A6 and A6 Blocks dies, Sew Fun, Notions, Meandering Texture die (all Waffle Flower) 
• Altenew inks - strawberry, lemon ice, mint choc, pistachio
• distress inks - shaded lilac, shabby shutters, brushed corduroy
• other - mini bubble stencil (Tim Holtz), Big Shot, Dimensionals, blending brushes, silver metallic cardstock, MISTI

Colouring and assembling die pieces is my happy place, so I had a ton of fun making this card!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Let's Go To The Beach - Just Add Ink Challenge #778

It's time for an inspiration/colour challenge with Just Add Ink and this gorgeous summer mood board.

My beachy mini slimline card was inspired by both image and palette.

I blended inks for my background then gave it plenty of water splatter. Once dry, I used a fine glue pen to dot along the edge of the 'sand' and added white embossing powder as a representation of sea foam. The shells were die cut and coloured with inks before being attached. As usual, there are two layers to my large die-cut sentiment and the stamped portion was white embossed on vellum.

Materials used:

• stamp/die combo - Oversized Beach Word (Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Seashells (Waffle Flower)
• SU inks - lost lagoon, crumb cake
• distress oxide inks - fossilized amber, barn door, dusty concord
• other - blending brushes, glue pen, white embossing powder, heat tool, water spritzer, craft foam

We do hope you'll be inspired to create and share, whether it's the image or the colours that spark your muse. Check out lots more samples over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

Covered with Love

It's been so hot this week and today is expected to reach 43℃ (109.4℉) which is too draining to do much other than try to stay cool - and make a card, lol. I saw a challenge to use a cover plate so I thought I'd play along, but unfortunately I was too late to enter, lol. Not to worry, it gave me the oppotunity to try out a new die & stencil set Santa brought me (lucky me!).

Materials used:

• coverplate die - Cross Stitched (Papertrey Ink)
• die & stencil set - Rose Bouquet (Waffle Flower)
• inks - saltwater taffy (Distress), passion fruit (Pinkfresh), bamboo & parrot (Altenew)
• other dies - With Love Word die (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, mounting squares, rhinestones

I hope you get the chance to craft today too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sending Love

I think I might have mentioned in a previous post how much I LOVE the current Color Throwdown colour combo, so when I saw the Tic Tac Toe challenge board and an idea came to mind, it was beyond my capabilities to resist using them again! And yes, it's another Christmas card, lol.

  

From the TTT board I picked the diagonal row of letters, free and rectangle shape. Here's my card:

I began with my envelopes - die cutting, sponging the edges and stencilling the features on the fronts. Then I worked on the foliage, cutting from teal card but adding depth of colour with Copics. Rhinestones were used for the berries and I clear embossed the sentiment after stamping in red. 

Materials used:

• stamp - Sending Love (Hero Arts)
• dies - nesting postage stamps infinity dies (Hero Arts), mini holiday greens (Tim Holtz), postage collage mini seals, envelopes (both Waffle Flower)
• stencil - postage collage addressed envelope (Waffle Flower)
• patterned paper - Cool Collab (MFT)
• SU cardstock - pool party, coastal cabana, Bermuda bay, poppy parade
• other - Copic markers, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge dauber, craft foam, rhinestones

Hope you're having as much fun in your day as I did making this! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Merry Birdie

I absolutely love, love, LOVE the combo at this week's Color Throwdown! 

I've often used this combo and especially love it for Christmas - it's just that little bit different and also bright and cheerful. As soon as I saw the board I knew I had to play along and that I had to dig out some papers I bought a few years back that fit the challenge to perfection! They feature red, white and three shades of aqua. 

So cute! 

I cut several layers of  'Merry' for depth, also raising it with foam. The little birdie was coloured with Copics and a bit of paper piecing. On the background I blended some aqua ink then stencilled over it with the same colour. 

Materials used:

• dies - Overlapping Vertical Merry Word die, Birdie Friends in Winter (both Waffle Flower)
• papers - Cool Collab 6x6 (My Favorite Things)
• other - Copic markers, Sidekick, silver thread, silver pearls, blending brush, sparkle fade stencil (Tim Holtz), Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Thank You Sunflowers

Today's card brings you some pretty sunflowers! I'm taking part in two challenges:

  

I took the colours from the mood board as inspiration for my die-cut florals and card base.

A very simple card - cut the die, use the co-ordinating stencils to colour, attach to card layer then base and add die-cut sentiment and embellishments. I did ink around the edges of the layer behind the flowers for a bit more visual depth. 

Materials used:

• dies & stencils - Sunflower Cluster (Waffle Flower), Thanks (stash)
• distress inks - spun sugar, picked raspberry, wild honey, spiced marmalade
• Altenew inks - silver sage, eucalyptus
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, clear gems, craft foam

It's so fun inking up dies! I do hope you're having some inky fun in your day too. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Warm Winter Friend Wishes

The current Inkspirational challenge captured my interest.

                                      

Some new wintery friends had just arrived in my mailbox and gave me the perfect opportunity to play along. They're rugged up nice and warm, just as I was while I created and the rain and wind argued outside. It's nowhere near cold enough to snow where I live but some days it sure feels like it - I must be getting old! 

I die cut first, colouring each piece individually using the matching stencils and doing two branches to layer for extra depth. The background was stencilled and sponged with white ink for a subtle, dreamy snowy scene. I'm sure you're as surprised as I am there are no white splatters, lol, but I wanted the snow to be secondary to those cute little birdie friends.

Materials used:

• stencil & die combo - Birdie Friends in Winter (Waffle Flower)
• other - distress inks, blending brushes, Sidekick, snow stencil, Dimensionals, craft foam, white gel pen, Subsentiments Fa La La diecut (Waffle Flower), sponge dauber

I hope you're having some warmth in your day and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Aloha - Just Add Ink Challenge #759

Welcome to another Just Add Ink challenge, this week a Choose Two combo that gives a ton of possibilities:

I had so much fun making my card that I ended up making a second, both using all three options with a tropical twist. 

The backgrounds are done as a whole piece then I used the blocks stencil to help place the stamps. I cut three layers of the blocks dies for some lovely frame dimension. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Postage Collage Tropical Sunset, Postage Collage Beach Days (Waffle Flower)
• die & stencil - Postage Collage mini slimline blocks, Postage Collage blocks (Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Smart Glasses (Spellbinders), Vault World Travel (Tim Holtz)
• distress oxide inks - squeezed lemonade, saltwater taffy, salvaged patina, peacock feathers
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, T10 Copic marker, Big Shot, white gel pen, craft foam, Dimensionals

Head to the Just Add Ink blog to see which options my team mates used on their creations.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sweet Wishes

When Festive Friday Challenges decides to celebrate World Chocolate Day, who am I to argue? Never let it be said I neglected the opportunity to make a card with a chocolate theme, lol. I'm dovetailing it with Just Us Girls and Inkspirational challenges too, as they both have a stencil theme.

 

From the FF inspo list, I used brown, cream, cherries and a sweet sentiment.

I've layered the box of cupcakes, cutting two from kraft card and one from white, stencilling with a variety of inks. The sentiment comes from the same release. Anyone else craving a cupcake/some chocolate now???

Materials used:

• stamp & die combo - Hey Cupcake (Waffle Flower)
• dies & stencil combo - Boxed Cupcakes (Waffle Flower)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, white gel pen, craft foam, Copic markers, Dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat tool

Have a sweet day and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Ahoy! Arrr you ready?

It's cold and wet outside - in other words, perfect weather for staying in and making cards. I had an idea for my first play with an add-on set of stamps and dies I recently purchased to go with my inquisitive seagulls. Please say a loud Ahoy! to pirate seagulls!!!

Their little faces arrr just adorable, even with an eye patch or pirate hat, lol. I made them a little 'grubbier' than usual as I figured pirates wouldn't bathe too often 😉. It was soooooo much fun making this! 

As I haven't yet decided what occasion to use it for, I haven't put a sentiment inside - that can be done closer to use.

Materials used:

• stamps - Treasure Hunt Sentiments (Waffle Flower)
• dies - Inquisitive Seagulls, Inquisitive Pirate add-ons (Waffle Flower), belt and buckle (stash)
• distress inks - antique linen, pumice stone, brushed corduroy, scorched timber, spiced marmalade, salvaged patina
• other - blending brushes, distress inks, Dimensionals, Big Shot, MISTI

I hope if your weather is nasty too, you've got something equally fun to play with. Thanks for swashbuckling by!

Cheers

Kerry