Hay thanks!

I was very happy when I saw the new challenge at TGIF, which gave me the excuse to play with some adorable stamps and dies.

I'd love to have a couple of these cuties running around my backyard 🐮 but alas, sadly one of the drawbacks of urban living, lol. Though I'm sure my grandbabies would love it too... 😂😉 Anymoo, here's my card:

I assembled the barn first then watercoloured the stamped images and fussy cut. 

This really takes me back to my childhood when we used to love visiting my aunt's dairy farm, helping feed the bobby calves and playing with our cousins amongst the hay bales in the barn. For kids who always lived in cities, it was a wonderful adventure. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Little Cow Agenda (Mama Elephant), Seen & Herd (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - barn, fence, sentiment strips (Paper Rose)
• other - MISTI, water brush, Big Shot, papers from Etsy, foam squares, distressing tool

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Patchwork Wishes

Welcome to a new Tic Tac Toe challenge! Here's the grid to pick three-in-a-row elements:

I chose the left vertical line of friendship, any colour, any shape die for some colourful rooster fun.

Materials used:

• die & stencil combo - Country Rooster (Papertrey Ink)
• other dies - Essential Arches (Spellbinders), Best Wishes (stash)
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, paper clip, gingham ribbon, craft foam, distress tool, foam squares, sewing machine

I hope you'll join the fun and create and share. Be sure to check out more samples from my team mates over on the Tic Tac Toe blog.

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

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

You Make Me Smile

Are you ready for a new Tic Tac Toe challenge? Here are the combinations we have to play with this time around:

I chose the middle horizontal line of pink, square card and CAS (clean and simple).

Isn't that face absolutely adorable? 🐷

Piggy is watercoloured and I added a touch of white gel pen to the eyes and cheeks. I love that the dies used for 'smile' are uneven sizes - for me, it adds to the playfulness of the card. I even used the number one for the 'l' rather than the capital L in the set. These dies have different font styles and sizes for all the letters and remind me of a ransom note with the letters cut from a magazine, lol.  

Materials used:

• stamps - Just Pig-Cause (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - Word Play (Tim Holtz)
• other - MISTI, water brush, Sidekick, sentiment strip, white gel pen

I hope you'll get the chance to play along. Check out more samples to inspire you over on the TTTC blog.

Thanks for oinking by!

Cheers

Kerry

Warm Cozy Hugs

It's time for a colour/inspiration challenge with Just Add Ink.

I was pretty happy when I saw this inspiration pic because I knew I had a stencil set with a scene so similar it was uncanny! It was no hardship at all to adopt the colours as well to create a card.

Aww, both kitties look so relaxed and sweet! Makes me want to curl up with a nice warm blankie for a nap too, lol. 

The sentiment on the inside reads, 'Sending you warm cozy hugs.'

Materials used:

• stamp/stencil combo - Postage Collage Sew Fun (Waffle Flower)
• other stamps - Stay Warm (Mama Elephant)
• dies - Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)
• 3D embossing folder - Knitted (Lisa Horton)
• other - Big Shot, blending brushes, grip mat, linen thread, tiny tag punch, Dimensionals, MISTI, mini pins (Tim Holtz)

How do the colours or picture inspire you? We hope you'll play along with us! Check out more samples over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Make a Wish

This week I'm honoured to be the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday challenges. Here's the challenge brief:

My mixed media card uses both mediums.

I began by adhering a transparent layer (acetate sheet) over an oxide spray background then cut four frames from coral card, glueing them together and inking the edges. The bird is another acetate layer. On my background I embossed some vellum with a 3D woodgrain texture and attached it with the rough side up. Everything was given some white gouache splatters before the sentiment was added.

Materials used:

• acetate - Transparent Layers, Transparent Things 2 (both Tim Holtz)
• frame dies - Nesting Piercing Ticket Frames (Waffle Flower)
• oxide sprays - salvaged patina, saltwater taffy, scattered straw
• embossing folder - Lumber Large 3D Texture Fades (Tim Holtz)
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, Pixie spray adhesive, foam tape, white gouache, fan brush, Metallic Sticker Book (Tim Holtz)

I hope you'll check out the lovely projects the STB design team made and be inspired to play along with the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Sea Ya!

Today I'm playing along with the Simply Clean and Simple challenge for June. Their theme is always Anything Goes and this time around there's an optional topping of Nautical. 

As I do love me a nautical card and relished the challenge of making one CAS, I browsed through my Pinterest board and found a card by Ksenija that inspired me. Here's my card:

I masked off my paper and blended three shades of blue, then used a stencil on the back as a guide for the wavy lines, cutting and slightly separating them. The submarine has vellum windows and clear dots make great bubbles. I kept the sentiment short, sweet and punny, lol.

Materials used:

• dies - submarine (stash)
• stencils - slimline drifts & hills (MFT)
• distress inks - salvaged patina, peacock feathers, uncharted mariner, scattered straw, spiced marmalade
• other - blending brushes, clear dots, Coastal subsentiments (Waffle Flower), foam tape, vellum, Big Shot

Thanks for coming by.

Cheers

Kerry

Out of This World

I was recently commissioned by my daughter to make some birthday cards for my grandson's friends. Although they're not due just yet, the new challenge at AAA Birthday prompted me to get this one made early.

 

This card is for Flynn, who apparently is keen on space and very interested in the recent Artemis II mission, so I made the astronaut's suit similar to theirs, even printing a tiny NASA patch lol. 

There's plenty of mica stain in the background which gives a lovely shine and sparkle that you can see better in this second pic.

The sentiment on the inside reads 'Hope your birthday is out of this world'.

Materials used:

• moon masks - Tim Holtz
• distress spray stains and mica stains
• astronaut dies - stash
• alphabet dies - Stampin' Up Playful Alphabet
• other - blending brushes, foam squares, star die, silver glitter card, water spritzer, heat tool

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Cute as a Cow

Over at the Seize the Birthday they've got a fun topping for challenge #326:

 

And here's my card, featuring an adorable Highland cow. If you haven't watched any YouTube videos of these cute creatures, go check some out!

Materials used:

• cow dies, farm papers from Etsy, triple heart punch (SU retired), stapler, vellum, blending brushes, Big Shot, white gel pen, red marker, foam squares, computer and printer, Copic marker, distressing tool

Thanks for stomping by. 

Cheers

Kerry

MVP

Howdy and welcome to a new Tic Tac Toe challenge. This time around I'm the featured designer and this is the grid I devised to play with:

I made a card using the top horizontal row of numbers/initials, plaid and sports.

Materials used:

• dies - Playful Alphabet (Stampin' Up), Flags & Banners, Frames & Sentiments (Spellbinders Classic Mouse), stitched rectangle, tag
• papers and ephemera - Man Cave collection (Mintay)
• other - sponge daubers, foam squares, Big Shot, crop-o-dile, large eyelet, leather cardstock (Tim Holtz), distress inks and sprays

I do hope you'll play along and create using our grid as inspiration. There's more samples to see over on the challenge blog, so check those out and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Wool You Look At That!

The new challenge at Just Add Ink is a great one (and not just because it was my suggestion! 😉😂) which we hope you'll enjoy using as inspiration for your craft over the next two weeks.

I sure do love me some polka dots! All sizes of dots and especially paired with other patterns, which is just what I did for my card.

The first time I saw this stamp I fell in love with those adorable little fuzzy faces! Here they're looking a tad embarassed and sheepish (lol!) so goodness knows what they're looking at!!! I thought this punny sentiment could be used for someone just getting their drivers licence or passing an exam equally as well as for a birthday or anniversary. 

It's been a long time since I did any watercolouring, so this was a joy to put together.

Materials used:

• stamps - Shear Surprise (Unity Stamp Co)
• dies - speech bubbles (SU), stitched rectangle
• papers - boho watercolour patterns (Etsy)
• other - sponge dauber, distressing tool, water brush, craft foam, Dimensionals

I hope you'll find some polka dots to play with and join the challenge. Meanwhile, there's more samples to love over on the Just Add Ink blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Stay Cool

It's my third week guesting with Just Us Girls and the new challenge is a mood board inspiration pic.

The bright colours gave me summer vibes and the mix of straight lines and rounded rectangles brought to mind that summer favourite, popsicles!

I don't have any dies for the popsicles so improvised with some arches cut down a bit and a candy apple stick from a Halloween set. I added the sunnies/shades as well as a shimmery drop of "melting ice", lol. 

Materials used:

• dies - Essential Arches (Spellbinders), Trick or Treat Colorize (Tim Holtz), sunglasses (stash)
• other - blending brushes, foam squares, Sidekick, computer & printer, Kindy Glitz, craft foam, opal rounds (SU)

Hopefully you'll be inspired to play along and don't forget to check out the samples from the design team over on the JUGS blog.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

With Love Rose

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls where I'm guest designer for this month, and the word is ...

I had inky fun with some layering dies and stencil.

I began with cutting all the petals from vanilla cardstock, then the four largest layers again from blush card. Each layer was inked either completely or just around the edges for shading, then I curled some of them. Leaves were coloured and curled too. The background was inked and stencilled before adding white gouache splatters. As usual, the die-cut sentiment is multiple layers. This die is actually all in one piece but it just wouldn't sit right over the leaves, so I cut it in two. A great card for Mother's Day, Valentines, birthday, anniversary, get well or just because.

Materials used:

• dies - Lovely Layers Rose (Honey Bee), With Love (Waffle Flower)
• inks - tattered rose, shabby shutters, peeled paint, forest moss (Tim Holtz), caramel toffee (Altenew)
• other - blending brushes, white gouache, fan brush, trellis stencil (Tim Holtz), foam squares, craft foam

I hope you'll check out the JUGS blog for more samples and be inspired to join the fun and create with flowers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Level Up

If, like me, you love dies and stencils, you've come to the right place! It's time for a new Just Add Ink challenge and that's our brief. 

And here's my card featuring dies.

I carried the theme through to the inside as well with the mini version.

Dies - Game Controller (My Favorite Things), Playful Alphabet (Stampin' Up)

I do hope you'll get a chance to play with your own craft supplies and join the fun of our challenge. Head over to the Just Add Ink blog for lots more samples to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Birthday Hello

I'm honoured to be joining the team at Just Us Girls challenges as guest designer for the month of May. This week is Die Week with a theme of:

When it comes to sentiment dies one of my favourite types are large dies, especially those I can team up with a co-ordinating stamp, which is what I've done on today's shaker 'Birthday hello' card.

Those adorable pandas certainly know how to party! 🥳

I layered 5 cuts of the frame to allow room for the shaker after deciding the bands between segments were too narrow to use dimensional foam on. With the acetate layer and patterned paper at the back as well, that's a nice sturdy front cover, lol. 

Materials used:

• stamp&die combos - Little Agenda pandas (Mama Elephant), Overlapping Happy Additions (Waffle Flower)
• other dies - Comic Cover Wonky creative cuts (Mama Elephant), hello (stash)
• patterned paper - Rainbow Twirl (Paper Rose)
• other - acetate, Big Shot, clear sequins, MISTI, Copic markers, foam squares

I hope you'll grab some sentiment dies and join the challenge. Be sure to check out what the design team created to inspire you on the Just Us Girls blog!

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

Beautiful Day

Welcome to another Tic Tac Toe challenge! This week we have the following grid for you to pick three-in-a-row:

I chose the middle vertical column of die cut/punch - embossing - layers to make a shabby/vintage easel card.

I worked on my card front first, choosing papers and distressing them before layering. The nest was die-cut from papers in the collection and given a little ink for shading, while the bird was cut from white and coloured with distress inks. Once they were attached I added the grasses, wheat sheaf and butterfly. On the inside I carried through the papers and distressed edges, heat embossed my sentiment and added the flower and leaf. Everything was given some white gesso splatters before assembly.

Materials used:

• stamps - Gnomes for Summer (CTMH)
• papers & ephemera - Whispering Way collection (49andMarket)
• dies - layered warbler (Simon Says Stamp), bird nest (stash)
• other - blending brushes, MISTI, Big Shot, craft foam, Dimensionals, clear embossing powder, heat tool, gesso, splatter brush, distress inks

There's more samples to see from my team mates over on the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and if you are inspired to choose a row and create, be sure to share!

Thanks for dropping by and have a beautiful day.

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

Sprinkled With Joy

Welcome to another Just Add Ink challenge and this time around we have a colour/inspiration pic combo for you to play with.

Those scrummy looking donuts were the inspiration for a sweet birthday card.

Everything (except the black pieces) was cut from white as usual and coloured with inks - well, except for the sprinkles, where I coloured the card first before die-cutting. I wasn't going to try to colour all those tiny fiddly bits, lol! As it was, my tired old peepers went cross-eyed putting the white dots in four pairs of eyes! 😜 And how adorable are those little panda slippers?! 

Materials used:

• dies - doughnut girl and ice cream cone (stash)
• distress inks - kitsch flamingo (dye and oxide), picked raspberry, mustard seed, speckled egg, abandoned coral, candied apple
• other - blending brushes, caramel toffee ink (Altenew), foam squares, computer & printer, white gel pen, fine black marker

I hope the picture or colours or both inspire you to create and join us. Check out more samples over on the Just Add Ink blog, and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers 🍩

Kerry