Cherries and Plums

I have had such a fun afternoon, taking part in my very first online tutorial! I was a bit nervous at first that I would press the wrong buttons and not be able to see the instructions - wouldn't be the first time, LOL! - but I managed to work everything OK and keep up with the lesson.

We were making a most adorable cupcake box and I decided to jumbo size mine and turn it into a Christmas gift box, complete with mini Plum Pudding!

I used Cherry Cobbler (of course!) with Jolly Holiday designer papers, added some Old Olive satin ribbon and a tag made from Delightful Decorations and the Ornament Punch. I also made a little matching "hat" for the plum pudding! Take a lookie:

Yum yum! You can't go wrong with cherries and plums, LOL! (hey, that rhymes!)

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by today.

Cheers
Kez

Lovin' That Ornament Punch!

I know it's mean to taunt you all with my gorgeous Ornament Punch when you don't have one yourselves, but console yourself with the fact that you WILL be able to get one from 1st September! Oh yeah, you read it right, that baby is in the new IB&C, along with my fav Xmas stamp set, Delightful Decorations.

Just to keep you going until you can order these delightfully delicious goodies, here is a Christmas card I cased from Chat. I've used Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive and think they make rather a lovely Xmas combo, so might just have to use them again!

Noice!

Now, for my next card you will need to sneak into your soundproof room and bolt the door, cos you are gonna squeal so loudly with awe and glee that the family will think something is wrong and come a-runnin'!!! I am talking SERIOUSLY cute people! This one I cased from the very talented Jackie Topa and it was soooooooooooo much fun to create.

Here's the outside.

Can you tell me these two little tykes aren't just the cutest thing? Busy makin' their snowman with their cheeks flushed from the cold crisp air ... Awwwwwwwww! But wait! There is more to come, yes indeedy! For when you open up the card you find ...

Is that awesomely cute or WHAT? LOL! Even my DH (who is most definitely NOT known for his praise of my cards - amazing, I know!) said of this card: "Now THAT is a real card!"

So there you have it. If the ornament punch was not number one on your wish list from the new catty, it will be now I'm sure. And so my work is done!

Cheers
Kez

If At First You Don't Succeed

This is a card I made last year with a thought to using it for my Stamp-a-Stack classes, but I wasn't entirely happy with it and didn't end up using it. I call this version 1:

So, I am now planning my SAS for this month and decided to revamp the card.

The things I didn't like were the line at the end of the embossing (above the sentiment), the gap left above the left hand bauble, and the ribbon. So I put my thinking cap on and made some changes: added another layer (which I think makes it look more finished), embossed the greeting (to eliminate the line) and shortened the top panel (to eliminate the gap above the bauble). Here is version 2:

Still not entirely happy - not sure about the stamped sentiment being embossed, plus I think the embossed background dominates the card a little - not what I was after.

Thinking cap back on, reverted to original size for the top panel and moved the sentiment from the larger piece, allowing me to still emboss the whole bit. Now the embossed background does what it is meant to - stays in the background - while my front panel is the main focal point and the sentiment fills in the gap above the baubles. Hooray for version 3!

This gorgeous ornament stamp is from a set called Delightful Decorations, which I was lucky enough to receive from a friend in Canada last year. It comes with a matching punch - the ornament punch, which you've seen samples from recently - which makes it oh so easy! You may perhaps see these two items around quite a lot after 1st September ...

Thanks for calling in today. Have a good one!

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

Ornamental Part 1

Woohoo! Our SU team has just had a Stamp Camp in the Hunter Valley so I had a couple of days away doing some "craft therapy" with friends. We had a ball and I'll be sharing some of the goodies I made and maybe a photo or two.

I was asked to do one of the presentations and chose to showcase another punch in a similar way to what I did for our Autumn mini blog hop (see here if you missed it). We are all hopeful that the ORNAMENT PUNCH (which I am lucky enough to have) will make an appearance in our new catalogue in September, so I thought I would show some of the fun ways of using it that I have seen on many overseas blogs.

As you know, I am a sucker for cute critters, so I love these three cards. Firstly, an adorable love skunk:

So cute! That card was cased but I apologise for losing the name of the original artist. (Edited to add: I found it! Cased from Cindy Lawrence. Thanks Cindy!) Next are some friendly fish:

And another of Gretchen Barron's gorgeous Garden Giggles critters, this time Barnaby Bee:

The ornament punch also makes a great vase for flowers, including tulips made from the bird punch:

Acorns that grow into mighty oaks can also come from ornaments:

Babies in nappies are no problem for the ornament punch!

And there are a number of versions of roses or camellias made with this punch too. This one I have posted before, but it's worth another look:

I'll be back tomorrow with some more ways to use this great punch for Christmas themed items.

Cheers
Kez

You Gotta Have Friends

"Oh, you gotta have frie----iends!" Oops! was I singing out loud?! My bad!

My sweet friend Lynda very kindly sent me a link last night to a US blog. While browsing she came across a gorgeous flower made using the Ornament punch, and knowing I have the punch she thought I might be interested (thanks so much darl!). When I took a look I just about fell off my chair! The flower was AMAZING and I just had to try to make one straight away! It is not too bad for a first attempt (especially late Friday night!) and I'm sure I'll get better with practice!

It is rather a large flower so I created a good size box (measures 13.5 x 13.5 cm) to display it on and used the lovely Haiku papers which haven't had an airing in a while. I added a sentiment and now it is perfect to fill with goodies and give away!

Here tis, hope you like it:

The flower was originally designed by Rhea Anderson and was adapted by Kay Sha and it's her tutorial I followed here.

Thanks for dropping in today. Hope your Saturday is a great one!

Cheers
Kez

Delightful Snowflakes

The brief for Creatalicious Challenge No. 4 is to make something for Christmas and include snowflakes and lots of sparkle/glitter. As I'm still "in love" with my Delightful Decorations set and punch, I planned to use them for my card and I saw some sparkly snowflakes at my LSS that I just couldn't resist!

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

For the background I used my brayer to add ink to the inside of my embossing folder, put my piece of card inside and then ran it through the machine. This put ink in the debossed areas and left the embossed areas to really stand out. If anyone knows how to get bling to photograph well, let me know!

Anyway, hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Next Year I'll Be Wiser

The Christmas countdown tells me I am fast running out of time and I am still making my own Xmas cards. Next year I will be wiser and when my class are making them at Stamp-a-Stacks, I will be making them too! I have been having fun making more cards using Delightful Decorations and the matching Ornament Punch, both of which I totally ADORE (and they were a big hit at the team meeting on Monday!).

Lots of texture on this first one with ribbon and embossed shapes. I love this snowflake paper from the Ski Slope set.

A touch of bright with some Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo. The small stamps that come in the set make a great background.

Love red and white together (not surprisingly, as red is my favourite colour!). Cased this one but don't know where from! Thanks for the inspiration, whoever you are.

Some Baja breeze and chocolate chip, cased from Jan Tink. Nice to shake it up with non traditional colours every once in a while!

And some gift tags too, which this stamp and punch combo are PERFECT for. So quick and easy - punched the base from cardstock that was folded to make a double shape. Stamp the two designs, punch them out then adhere to the card one. Punch a hole, add cord and presto! All finished. I think Santa might use a whole bunch of these this year!

Not to freak you out, but have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? Me neither - barely started, in fact! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kez