Disconnected

With one semester of being both teacher and student behind me, I am sooooooooo pleased to be on a break and have the chance to get back into my craft room to actually create. Mind you, finding some stamping mojo is proving to be no small task!

I had a class with my lovely ladies at the weekend and wanted to show them some of the goodies in store in our new catalogue, as well as making a bit of packaging for a change from just all cards. We used the tag a bag gift boxes with clear covers - I love these, they are so simple to put together and incredibly versatile in how you can choose to decorate them. The ladies loved them too, although they seemed to think I tricked them with how simple they are to assemble and then gave them hard work decorating them! I just don't know what they were complaining about - colouring in and fussy cutting? What's the problem? LOL

Materials used:

• stamps - You're Lovely (SAB), En Francais
• card - whisper white, crisp cantaloupe, pistachio pudding, in colour patterned paper
• other - paper doily, scalloped tag topper punch, tag a bag gift boxes, crisp cantaloupe thick bakers twine, white ribbon, deco label die, Big Shot, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Versamark ink, sponge dauber, blender pen

One of the new stamp sets from our upcoming catalogue that I bought on pre-order is great for masculine cards, always a useful addition. Here's a fairly simple layout using current in colour baked brown sugar teamed with new in colour lost lagoon.

Materials used:

• stamps - Traveller, That's the Ticket
• card - baked brown sugar, very vanilla, lost lagoon
• other - sponge dauber, dimensionals, arrow embossing folder, Big Shot, baked brown sugar thick bakers twine 

Our last project is the thing I am most asked for - a birthday card. Here we are using a new stamp set called In This Together along with an old favourite Happy Hour and some watercolouring.

Materials used:

• stamps - In This Together, Happy Hour
• card - pool party, calypso coral, watercolour, dsp
• other - dimensionals, aqua painter, markers, sponge dauber

That's it for now - hopefully I'll be back soon with some more crafty goodness!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Friends

In a complete change of pace from my cards over the past week or so, today's project is a soft and feminine shabby chic offering using a number of old favourites I just can't bear to part with. Hopefully trends in the papercrafting world will return to these pretty florals and elegant fonts, cos I miss them!

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais, Best Yet
• card - blushing bride, soft suede, very vanilla, pear pizzazz, Springtime Vintage dsp
• punches - hexagon, bird, itty bitty
• other - designer frames E/F, Big Shot, rolled rose die, pearls, sponges, dimensionals, hot glue gun

To get the patchy look from your background stamp like I have, lay the stamp rubber side up on your table and ink it up then lay the paper on top and just press lightly in random spots (not all over the paper) - add some sponging around the edges and your shabby background is complete.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Creative Crew October Challenges - Creative Focus

Welcome back! Today's project is CCREW1013CF - Creative focus: Celebrate Sweetest Day (19th Oct) by creating a card for your Sweetest using products from the Etcetera Suite found on p96-109 of the Annual Catalogue.

For this challenge I began with picking two stamp sets from the Etcetera Suite and deciding what technique to use to combine them. I stamped En Francais and the swirl from Creative Elements on to a piece of daffodil delight cardstock using Versamark ink and clear embossed. Then I swiped my whisper white ink pad over the whole piece and wiped off the excess ink using a tissue - this has the effect of muting the brightness of the daffodil and making the embossed stamps stand out.

Choosing an oval to compliment the rectangular shape of the card, I stamped the swirl again with my sentiment and added some butterflies. These were first stamped using the butterfly stamp from Creative Elements so I got the lovely delicate pattern, then punched smaller with the itty bitty butterfly punch and beautiful wings embossing die. Add a touch of bling, some ribbon and a button and there you have it!

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais, Creative Elements
• card - marina mist, whisper white, daffodil delight
• other - ovals framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, marina mist satin ribbon, subtles button, white bakers twine, itty bitty butterfly punch, Beautiful Wings embossing die, rhinestones

Tomorrow I'll show you the Holiday Focus project. Meanwhile, pop over to the CC gallery and look at all the other fabulous inspiration. The link is HERE.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Sisters

The colour combination for the Fab Friday challenge really appealed this week:

But before you see my project, you'd better strap in, buckle up or just hang on tight because I've only gone and made a scrapbook page! Shock!!! Yes, there may well be thunderbolts, lol.

I've tried for an antique/shabby chic kind of look. I stamped on my background card and sponged around the edges, then also stamped and sponged on the pink pirouette striped paper. The lace, doily, heart embellishment and pool party embossing powder are all from the Seasonal catty.

The flowers are fabric, the leaves die cut or punched card.

The "sisters" is a chipboard die cut which I embossed with aged ivory embossing enamel - doesn't it look amazing? You'd swear it was worn metal or something.

I adore this shot of my two gorgeous girls and I hope this layout has done it justice.

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais, Everything Eleanor, Delicate Doilies, Tiny Tags
• card - crumb cake, very vanilla, pink pirouette patterned paper, cherry cobbler
• other - paper doily, pool party embossing powder, heat tool, sponges, artisan embellishment kit
• non SU - fabric flowers, wooden word, leaf die, leaf punch, aged ivory embossing enamel, rhinestone embellishments, hot glue gun, mounting tape

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Pencil Magic

(second post today - scroll down for earlier post)

Last week my Sunday ladies learned the Black Magic technique - so simple and so effective.

Here are the cards they made:

This one was inspired by a card by Deb Valder and I've used "kerry cobbler", basic black and white with the Just Believe stamp set. In the background are En Francais (LOVE this stamp) with a non-SU harlequin design.

Next up I dragged out retired set Live Like You Mean It and used a gorgeous nestabilities shape for highlighting my main panel. The spotted background paper is from Love Letters and I just sponged some purple on to match my flowers. I shaped my "banner" sentiment with my bone folder to get it to sit how I wanted it.

Last but not least, I don't think you can do this technique without using either Upsy Daisy or Inspired by Nature - both sets were just "made" for this style! I chose IBN and here's how it ended up:

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Petite Chic

Sorry to be MIA for so long - had to make a quick road trip down to Melbourne to rescue my two DDs stuck because of the ash cloud!

Anywho, we're making hexagon boxes in class this week using the mini milk carton die (as per my tutorial here) so I thought I'd do my own version of Rob's Artistic Etchings one from Unconvention (see it here).

As I love the look of black and cream I've used those, with a touch of grey and yellow thrown in. Here's how it turned out:

Oo-la-la! DD19 loves it, so hope my ladies will too.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Sepia Roses

The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to just add stamps - ie to use nothing but stamps and cardstock. No ribbon, no punches, no buttons, no DSP, no die cuts. NO RIBBON? What were they thinking? LOL.

Well, I decided I just had to take a stab at this challenge! I was inspired by a lovely scrapbook layout that I remembered seeing somewhere which had sepia toned roses in the background, so I got out my stamps and went to work.

Here is my first entry for the challenge. I am not completely happy with it ... my fingers are just itching to add things! Lace! Pearls!

Materials used:

• stamps - Baby Blossoms, A Rose Is A Rose (retired), Afterthoughts, En Francais, Polka Dot (retired)
• card - crumb cake, soft suede, very vanilla
• ink - crumb cake, soft suede

I think I just might be back with a second entry for this one - something more clean and simple so I can live without ribbon!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kez

Thanks So Much

Here is the thank you card I made for the lovely ladies who are coming to make Mothers Day cards for the Troops today.

Materials used:

• stamps - En Francais, Medallion, Sincere Salutations
• card - very vanilla, crumb cake, cherry cobbler
• ink - crumb cake, soft suede, cherry cobbler
• punches - 2 step bird punch, scallop trim border punch
• other - sponge daubers, dimensionals, rhinestone (non SU)

The name tags have some stamping too.

I'm sure the canny among you have spotted the cherry cobbler used in both!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Paper Roses

Boy, that header takes me back!

Do you mind a little digression? Let me take you down Memory Lane a few decades (and we won't count exactly how many decades, cos that's a little scary!) to the time when I was in my early teens. A computer took up a whole room, we used manual typewriters to type on and most families only needed one income and one car. David Cassidy and Donny Osmond were slugging it out for most popular teen singing idol for girls like me to drool over! I really liked Donny the best but I pretended to like David most (sorry Donny!) because my best friends liked him (oh, the power of peer pressure!). We had a kid a year ahead of me in high school who unfortunately looked just like Donny - not that Donny wasn't cute (cos he was, and still is in a way) - but it must have been incredibly frustrating to have girls chase him and point at him all the time! Poor guy.

Well, we watched good wholesome shows on TV like Disney, Little House on the Prairie and - of course - Donny and Marie. Little bit country and a little bit rock 'n roll! And Marie Osmond had a hit called Paper Roses. Yes folks, we finally made it back to what triggered off my mind wander in the first place, LOL!

Anywhooo, today I finally got around to trying out the paper flowers made using the scallop circle punch. I watched a video, just to make sure it really was as easy as everyone said (which it is) then had a go. I used three different shades of pink card - pink pirouette, pretty in pink and regal rose. Take a lookie:

Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2010

Aaawwwwwwwww, pretty! Thanks for dropping in today; hope you didn't mind my little wander down the deep dark recesses of my memory ....

Cheers

Kez

Ooh La La!

As soon as I saw the little bird in a cage from the SAB set Happy Moments, I thought of Paris. I don't know why! I don't remember having any particular avian encounters when I was in Paris that might have stuck in my subconscious (unlike a pigeon encounter in London!).

My brain didn't do anything with that thought until I was at Teneale's on Friday and saw a card she has made using that particular stamp. (Her card is GORGEOUS, of course, so keep an eye on her blog for it to appear this week!)

So after cogitating for a couple of days, I sat down tonight to create. My mind was thinking black, white and red, which I think of as atypical chic French colours - think berets and stripe shirts. And I liked my card - so much so, in fact - that I made two more! Here they are:

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2010 Stampin' Up! ®

Tres jolis, oui? Je l'aime!

Cheers

Kez

Lovin' that Combo

Hi all, thanks for calling in today. Hope your week is going well. It's rather a nail-biting one here at the moment - we've been waiting for Uni offers to come out! DD17 has received two, and luckily one of them is from her first choice. Now we have to wait and see if her first choice college accommodation makes an offer too. Nerve-wracking!

Meanwhile, my last post showed one of the cards we're making in class tomorrow; here are the other two. Firstly a card using Friends 24/7, a really gorgeous set, with Really Rust, Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue and I've tried the cracked glass technique.

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2010 Stampin' Up! ®

The next card uses a colour combo I haven't tried before, but I love, so I'm thinking it will crop up again before too long! It's Certainly Celery, Regal Rose and Whisper White. I don't often add a touch of sparkle but the dazzling diamonds top this card off nicely, IMHO!

Created by Kez. Stamped images ©1990-2010 Stampin' Up! ®

Isn't Upsy Daisy an amazing set? So versatile. Gotta love that about SU! Hey and don't forget something else to love about SU - Sale-a-bration! Starts on Monday and you'll love the sets available this year. Just contact your usual demo ...

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

Possession

DD17 had to make a poster for a school assignment and asked for my help with the decoration. She wanted it to look "antique" and fit the era of the related texts she had to quote. Well! I had a ball sponging and antiquing and stamping! I even got DD17 sponging and she is not usually into craft AT ALL, but said that she did enjoy that particular project!

Here are some photos of the poster:

I used tim Holtz antique linen distress ink to "age" papers and DD17 used a tea bag for the poster page. Colours used in accents were creamy caramel, really rust, close to cocoa and bordering blue and I used the damask stamp from Friends 24-7 with En Francais background stamp.

I hope she has another poster to do soon - I had fun with her homework!!!!

Cheers

Kez