Rosey Flutterbies

It's time again for my lovely Lana ladies class and this week we will be focusing on roses and butterflies.

A few of them bought the beautiful set A Rose is a Rose when it was on special last month, so as my mojo is having a bit of a holiday, we will be caseing my lovely and talented team mate Liam. Click here to see Liam's card, and here is my adaptation:

My Lanas all love purple, so we are giving Pale Plum a last hurrah before it retires at the end of this month. It will be sorely missed; how beautiful does it look teamed with Perfect Plum, Old Olive and So Saffron? Love the use of the Manhattan Flower embossing folder too - thanks for such wonderful inspiration Liam!

Our next card is cased from Ilina Crouse. I've changed only the sentiment and the embossing from Ilina's original. Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise are not colours I would have thought to put together, but they are so vibrant and summery and I think they each bring out the best in the other.

Simple yet very effective; that's the kind of card I like!

Card number three uses the versatile Baroque Motifs with more lovely flutterbies in Cameo Coral, Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip.

And lastly they'll be making the card I did at stamp camp, which you've seen recently. Medallion and En Francais are my two favourite background stamps, but I think that position may be usurped after 1st Sept ...

Hope you've had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Ornamental Part 2

Thanks for calling in today! I have some more things to show you from our Stamp Camp in the Hunter Valley. Here are a few more items from my presentation highlighting the versatility of the ornament punch that we hope will be in our new catalogue on 1st September.

Today's samples keep to the Christmas theme - firstly a simple card with other punches and the alphabet dies from the mini together with Baroque Motifs:

But you can also make other Christmas projects, such as this super cute elf peeking out from behind some presents (created by Andrea Walford):

The next two items are the ones that my team mates and their guests had the chance to make for themselves, firstly a Christmas cardinal using the bird punch (created by Lyn Pratt) and then a choral angel (created by Sandi MacIver):

More items and photos from Stamp Camp coming soon plus more Christmas items coming as I prepare for my second month of Stamp-a-Stack classes.

Cheers
Kez

Rewarding Myself

Today I had a heap of housework to get through, so afterwards I rewarded myself with some playtime! It's our team meeting on Monday and we always have a Show and Tell. This month we are meant to show goodies made from our Autumn mini pre-order, but being the newly-poor parent of a university student, I haven't got my pre-order yet! As luck would have it, though, I do have some of the new in colours, so I made some cards using the new colours with existing stamp sets rather than new stamps.

I can't claim credit for the card designs - my mojo having fled along with my bank account! - they are all cased, but unfortunately the relevant computer files are in Melbourne with DD17 and I can't name the creative ladies who originally thought them up. Apologies ladies, and thanks for the help when my brain wouldn't function for itself!

Here they are, hope you like them.

This one uses Rich Razzleberry along with Orchid Opulence (goodness! I've used a Bold Bright!) and So Saffron.

Here I've used Melon Mambo with Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. You could substitute Taken with Teal and Summer Sun or So Saffron. I love this card, it's so cheerful and bright, it does make me want to party!

Loving this combo; Soft Suede with Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla. I think this might get more airings as the months go by ...

Well, I'll just have to wait and see what they think at the team meeting! Hope you are having a great weekend; thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Hatches, Matches and Dispatches

Hey ho all! We got back from Queensland late Tuesday night - well, actually, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Do you remember a childhood story about a small train who used to say "I think I can, I think I can" to get up a hill? Well, that was us! Our XPT train had engine trouble and we couldn't make it up the hill! We ended up having to get towed up by extra engines and, long story short, were 3 hours late arriving back in Sydney! Then it was over an hour's drive home, so it was the wee small hours when we got home - after a 5 am start! Yes, we were tired little bunnies yesterday. But we had a lovely time visiting my brother, niece and nephew and also caught up with my aunt and cousin, so it was a great few days.

Now, of course, it's back to work with a vengeance with classes to organise, so today I have some cards to share. These are the cards we are making at my Simply Sweet class this month and I've dubbed it "Hatches, Matches and Dispatches".

Firstly, a card suitable to welcome a new baby, use for a christening or even baby's first birthday. (Excuse the photos, I'm out of practice and the light is poor!)

• stamps used - Nursery Letters jumbo wheel, Wild About You, Best Yet, Nursery Necessities
• colours used - Barely Banana, Whisper White, Certainly Celery

This next one can be used for a wedding or anniversary.

• stamps used - Together Forever
• colours used - Basic Grey, Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate

And lastly a sympathy card.

• stamps used - Thoughts & Prayers, Baroque Motifs
• colours used - Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand

If you are interested in the Simply Sweet class, email or phone me for details. Enjoy your day!

Cheers

Kez

Acetate Attempt

After doing a class with the lovely Teneale recently, I was keen to have a go at making an acetate card. I managed to find one A4 sheet of acetate in my stash (although I think it's too heavy) so gave it a go - and my first attempt ended up in the rubbish. The second attempt came out OK, close to what I had imagined in my head, LOL!

Created by Kez. Stamped images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

Materials used:

• stamps - Tres Chic, Baroque Motifs, Great Friend
• card - elegant eggplant, whisper white
• ink - elegant eggplant, vibrant violet StazOn
• punch - scallop border
• ribbon - elegant eggplant grosgrain, white organdy (from stash)
• other - dimensionals, adhesive rhinestones

Have a lovely day everyone!

Cheers

Kez

Elegant Kiwi

No, not me! I am far from an elegant kiwi today; torn jeans and a scruffy T-shirt! LOL! No, I'm talking about the elegant eggplant/kiwi kiss combo that I mentioned the other day - the ladies at my class yesterday loved it too, so I thought I'd show you two cards made using the same colours. Warning though, one card contains non-SU stamps - beware!!!

This first card is the one that started it all: I was colouring the image (one of our Christmas stamp-a-stack cards this month, by special request) and decided to use purple for the king's robes. Then I thought I'd use it for the card base too, kind of a non traditional colour thing going on! I wasn't overly in love when I paired it with old olive (much as I lurve OO, you understand!) so tried Kiwi Kiss and ... ZING! Great combo!

Then I decided to see what else looked good in this combo and as one of my good friends LOVES purple, I had her in mind when I tried some purple roses.

Yup, I am really liking it! Are you sick of it yet? Maybe I can sneak in a few more .... LOL! So, why don't you try making a card with these colours and send me a photo - I'd love to see some of your creations. Go on, don't be shy, I don't bite! Honest!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Cheers

Kez

Homework

At last month's team meeting no-one brought anything for show and tell, so Marelle gave us some "homework" to do for this month's meeting! She gave out packages that she had left over from various make-and-takes etc, which we had to use to make a card. In mine I got some Lovely Lilac, Certainly Celery and white gloss card. That's it; no embellishments or extras!

This is what I came up with. I hope I was allowed to add a little extra in, I used a bit of whisper white for matting and a smidge more lilac, plus some adhesive pearls. No nesties in this one - shock, horror! - but I have embossed with my "cute-le-bug", LOL!!

Stamp sets used were Baroque Motifs and Great Friend and of course the DIVINE new scallop oval punch.

Thanks for stopping by; have a great weekend!

Cheers

Kez

Christmas with a Twist

The new challenge for this month over at Marelle's blog is Christmas with a Twist. The idea is to make a Christmas card using:

• non traditional colours, or
• non Christmas stamp sets, or
• both!

Now, as luck would have it, I have just finished making and mailing 12 such cards after taking part in a swap with other SU demos with the exact same theme, so this challenge is a piece of cake! Here is my entry:

I used the swirl from Baroque Motifs in Old Olive for the tree branches. Boho Backgrounds was used for the designs on the baubles, using Versamark ink and white embossing powder on Riding Hood Red cardstock. Circle punches of various sizes made the baubles and the small and large oval punches were used for the "hanging part". Gold cord was tied on and attached at the back. The sentiment is from that fantastic hostess set, Best Yet.

Here's another Christmas card, one that we are making in my Stamp-a-Stack at the end of this month. The design is inspired by a card by Karen Thomas and if you would like to learn how to make this gorgeous card, I have two spots left!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

A Simple Magnolia for Mum

This week's challenge at Magnolia Down Under is, naturally, a Mother's Day theme. I lost my mum to cancer a couple of years ago but I have made a card I know she would have loved as it uses her favourite colours.

Mum was a redhead and in practically all of my memories of her, she wore earthy tones - browns, oranges, greens and creams - with no fuss or frills, just plains or geometric designs. These gorgeous papers from SU are absolutely perfect, as is Magnolia's Tilda with fall flowers.

Created by Kez. Some stamped images ©1990-2009 Stampin' Up! ®

Miss you mum.

Kez