NSU - Cuteness Factor

I've got some birthday cards for you today and the first two feature stamps from Lili of the Valley's newest ranges.

Pastel shades for this pretty card with a ribbon and button feature:

Materials used:

• stamps - LOTV, SU Think Happy Thoughts
• card - certainly celery, pretty in pink, whisper white, watercolour, dotted paper from stash
• punches - 35 mm circle, 38 mm circle (non SU), scallop circle
• other - so saffron ribbon, pink buttons (non SU)

For my wizard card I made my own background using stamps and gold embossing, then added some embedded embossing on the mustard panel. The sentiment was done on the computer. This one is particularly topical with the release of the last Harry Potter movie!

Materials used:

• stamps - LOTV, SU Starring You
• card - cherry cobbler, more mustard, night of navy, watercolour, very vanilla
• punches - small star
• other - nestabilities die, square lattice embossing folder, gold embossing powder, heat tool

Lastly I couldn't have a cute colouring in session without a Magnolia card too, now could I? Tilda is blowing some birthday wishes in this pretty floral card.

Materials used:

• stamps - Magnolia, SU Sincere Salutations
• card - bravo burgundy, very vanilla, always artichoke, pink pirouette patterned paper, Kaiser English roses paper, watercolour
• other - nestabilities die, Martha Stewart doily lace punch, very vanilla satin ribbon

Hope you get some time to do some colouring in today. Thanks for calling 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

Quick and Simple

The card I made last night was inspired by none other than Linda Ronstadt (Queen of Rock in my day).

OK, I can see you're confused. Well, on Sunday I was driving back from Melbourne all by myself and to keep myself awake and, let's face it, amused, I was singing along to some music ... yes, yes, I was singing quite loudly! But I had the windows up to protect other drivers! (At least one of the perks of driving by yourself is that you get to listen to ALL your own CDs and don't have to "share" with teens!) On one of my mixed compilations was an old favourite by Linda called Blue Bayou. Hands up those who remember it!

Now can you see where this is going? That's right (top marks!), I dragged out last year's in colour Blue Bayou to team up with Baja Breeze on a very quick and simple card using my new fav punch, the 2 step bird. Take a lookie:

Non SU product used - adhesive pearl

OMG, that's so cute, I hear you say - I know! sometimes I even amaze myself!!!! LOL! And here's the inside:

No, don't keep looking down here for more - that's all, just a quick one - this post is called Quick and Simple you know!

Cheers

Kez

Autumn play

I was having a play the other day with some Autumn colours for thank you cards. Inspired by the colours of the new papers, this was my first card:

I used my crackle background stamp in a paler colour over the top to give an authentic look; plain white just looked too stark. Can you pick where the swirl is from? That's right, Season of Joy! Not just a Christmas set!

The second one started as something completely different and evolved into this:

The shape around the sentiment is die cut from the Lots of Tags set, which I don't have YET but have ordered - hooray for birthday cash!

Hope you like them and thanks for dropping by!

Cheers

Kez

Goodbye and Thanks EPS

Well, it came and went ... DD11's last day at primary school. She was compering the school talent fest (and making a terrific job of it, I'm told) but health issues kicked in and she had to leave. We managed to sort it all out luckily and she returned for the last of the rituals.

Each year the whole school comes out to form an arch of honour for the year 6 six kids to walk through. Here is a shot of my dear DD11 making her way through the kindy kids (hint: she's wearing a purple top):

And here is an easel card I made to thank the staff of the school for the last 13 years while my two girls went through. I used Tildas who bear a mild resemblance to my two and photocopied the school uniform fabric for the background paper. Excuse the photos, DD11 was holding it for me in the school car park!

Thanks for calling in today! Hope your littlies have enjoyed their last week before the holidays too.

Cheers

Kez

Window Window Card

It appeals greatly to my very warped sense of humour (had it all my life; don't need a 12-step programme, I rather enjoy it!) that today's card, which is a window card, should also feature a picture of a window. OK, I never said it wasn't lame, did I, just that it appealed to me! :)

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

I have long meant to make another card using the window from the aptly named Window Dressing set and today was the day when I finally did. It took a great deal of fiddly cutting out, so luckily I was in a patient frame of mind! (I've just noticed I made a pun there. Unintentional. But a good one, huh?!!) Take a lookie - here's the front:

And on the inside:

I tried to think of how I could get some decorations and tinsel etc on the tree, but it was far too much of a brain drain after all that cutting! So the tree is bare. Still, there are plenty of pressies underneath and that's the important thing!!! LOL!

Well, I think I've inflicted enough of my humour on you for one post! I hope the very brave ones among you will be back for more another day!

Cheers

Kez

Bella Rose Birthday Easel

I have seen a few easel cards around on blogs and they look great, so I had a go at one. Sooooo easy and soooooooooooo much fun! I wanted to do a birthday theme using my new 'Yummy in your Tummy' Magnolia stamps and gingham is kitchen-y, so I picked the lovely Bella Rose papers. Haven't used these in a while, but they are so pretty and feminine and I think they suit Tilda perfectly.

I found instructions for a 4" square card, but increased it to 5" as I needed a little extra space for the size of my stamps. Tilda and the cake are coloured on watercolour paper; the flowers are Kaiser, organdy ribbon from my stash, and I finally got a chance to use some of those gorgeous corduroy buttons!

Here's the front:

And the inside looks like this:

And this is where the easel name comes from; it sits propped up like an easel:

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

Now doesn't that look like fun? Try an easel card for yourself, they are easy to make and have a real wow factor!

Cheers

Kez

Me and My Big Mouth

Being the sweet, generous, kind and thoughtful person that I am (YILM!) I said to DD17 the other night to let me know if she wanted me to make any Thank You cards. I was thinking there might be one or two teachers that she would like to give one to when she graduates (less than 2 weeks now!)

She asked for 10!

Me and my big mouth! So I began working on Thank You cards, which have to of course be all different to each other! This is my first batch:

Back again in a day or two with the next batch!

Cheers

Kez

Love that Postie!

Our postie has just been and delivered not one, not two, but THREE parcels of goodies from SU! Not all for me, unfortunately (LOL!), but at least some of it was! I was very lucky to recently earn a free stamp set and that was one of the parcels. It was a difficult decision choosing what to get - DD11 was pressing for her favourites (Sock Monkey, That's Funny, Sip by Sip and Animal Crackers) and after doing a class with team-mate Liam, Cheep Talk was high in the running, but Bugs and Kisses, Thoughts and Prayers and Snow Swirled were all in with a chance too!

Then I was side tracked by Great Grads, a set I would not normally buy as I wouldn't get that much use out of it (I thought), but with daughters graduating from year 12 and year 6 this year, it was tempting ... Finally DD11 tipped the scales by pointing out that I could use it for my TAFE students - an idea that had entirely escaped my conscious thought but was so obvious once she'd said it! "Out of the mouths of babes..." as they say! LOL So Great Grads it was, which I can use every year for my classes - brilliant!

So here are my initial attempts; the first uses DD17's fav colours (and my fav papers!):

Materials:

• stamps - Great Grads
• papers - Baja Breeze, Whisper White cardstock; Parisian Breeze DSP
• inks - Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
• other - nestabilities, 32 mm circle punch, sponge daubers, chocolate chip satin ribbon, dimensionals

Eh! I thought. It's OK but I'm not in love with it. Have another go, this time using brocade blue and night of navy (which I have decided are fantastic together). Everything went smoothly until right at the very end when I stuck on the last piece and then discovered ... I had gotten a smudge of blue ink on the white. Damn! I hate it when that happens! Usually a boo boo can be covered up with a flower or something, but not this time! I put some white gel pen over it, but this card is definitely going to have to be the "before" card and not the "after"!!! With any luck you guys won't be able to see it in the photo!

Materials:

• stamps - Great Grads
• papers - night of navy and whisper white card; brocade blue DSP (from hostess set)
• inks - brocade blue, night of navy
• other - small star punch, large star punch, brads (from stash), dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig
  

Last week at our team meeting I gave a demo on brayering and this morning I finally got around to using my demo piece and turning it into a card.

Materials (completely SU):

• stamps - Inspired by Nature, Sincere Salutations, Sanded
• card - basic black, pumpkin pie, old olive, whisper white
• ink - pumpkin pie, so saffron, black StazOn
• other - large oval punch, scallop oval punch, dimensionals, brayer, old olive ribbon, sponge daubers

Well, that's todays offerings. Tomorrow I will be at the Stitches and Craft Show, so if you are in the vicinity of Rosehill Racecourse, drop in to the SU stand and say hello. We'll have Make and Takes and Lucky Door Prizes, so you won't go away empty handed!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez

Farther Down Under

Good morning all! Today I'm in beautiful Christchurch and having loads of fun catching up with old friends and some new ones too. Finally I can show you the projects that I've been planning for weeks for these workshops!

Firstly a card purse and card set using the simply gorgeous Bella Bleu papers and the stunningly beautiful - and so very versatile - stamp set, Fifth Avenue Floral.

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

Here are the cards. I tried to keep them very simple in design and construction (as many of the calligraphy society members aren't stampers) and yet be elegant at the same time.

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

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

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

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

And of course stamped envelopes to match:

Tomorrow I'll show you some more goodies we are making here in the glorious Garden City. Till then, have a good one!

Cheers

Kez

Cobwebs and pearls

As I mentioned yesterday, I am going to Christchurch soon for a visit. While I am there I will be teaching a workshop to my old friends at the Calligraphy Society and I have been working very hard on the projects we'll be doing. I don't want to spoil it for them and show you all the GORJUS goodies now, but here's a couple of sneak peeks at what I have in store for them ...

Dusted quite a few cobwebs off my calligraphy skills for this one ... it has been a while! I bet the clever ones among you can guess which Tilda I've used!

Some classic elegance in this lovely set, which come in a super GORJUS container!

Well, enough of a spoiler! I'm off to browse the new Spring mini catalogue ready for pre-ordering tomorrow - one of the many perks of being a demo, te he! Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers

Kez

Pink for Lauren

Had a little time to spare this morning while my DDs made me breakfast for Mother's Day, so I whipped up a card. A friend asked me to make a card for her daughter's upcoming birthday and she chose this lovely Sarah Kay stamp. I've used the gorgeous Candy Lane papers with it, they are simply irresistable!

Watercolouring on whisper white with watercolour crayons and inks. If you'd like to see a neat colouring technique, pop on over to this entry on Teneale's blog. Thanks for dropping 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

Swimming in testosterone!

Aaaaccckkkkkk! I think I have finally hit the wall with male cards! Losing mojo .... must ... have ... girly ... things.. ! So here are the last couple of male cards (see earlier entries for the story) plus a Tilda card I made a while back as a thank you for a RAK.

For the first one I had more fun with puff paint on the beer mug from Cheers To You and mixed it with an old favourite, Enjoy Every Moment. The papers are from Windsor Knot DSP, which I really like BTW, even tho they are mostly masculine looking! And the little chipboard star is from On Board Essentials.

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

The next one - the last one! - again uses stuff from the Simply Sent kit and matching stamp set, with the addition of a double-punched star. Could be a birthday card or congrats card, I guess - I don't know what I was thinking when I did it!!!

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

And lastly, to save my sanity, a beautiful little girly card! Yay! Just as well I have two girls and not two boys, I'm thinking! I just LURVE this brocade blue DSP from the Patterns II hostess set.

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

That's all folks! Hope you have a good day and thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez