Thursday, April 29, 2010

Haute Couture for Mums

Well, not quite Haute Couture, but the papercraft equivalent, LOL! For my Mother's Day craft class this year I couldn't resist making a gorgeous Haute Tote bag from "creations by AR". I used classic colours Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla and papers from Bella Bleu for accent.

Here's the tote:

And of course there must be a card to go with it. As I'm loving Corie's puffy flowers, I wanted to incorporate one of those, so I cased the layout from one of Corie's own cards and just simplified it to match the clean lines of the tote.

Here's the card:


And here are the two together. Aren't they divine? When I showed samples to my ladies, I got such an amazing response! I haven't had so many people book in to one class in ages! There are going to be some very lucky mums out there this year, LOL!


The class is full already, but if you have a group of friends who would like to make this project, get in touch as I may be able to bring the class to you!

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Birds and The Bees

This post was written yesterday but I had ... ahem! ... issues, shall we say? ... with Blogger and uploading photos, which I found ... cough! ... rather exasperating (this is a public forum, after all, but those who know me can substitute other words in there!) ... and now, 24 hours later, I can finally upload. So, if it says today it means yesterday and tomorrow means today - alright? Carry on!

Whenever I get a new stamp set the first thing I do is browse blogs and splitcoaststampers to find samples of cards using that set, then I save the ones I really like on my computer. These are used as inspiration and most times act as a springboard for my brain to come up with a design - it might be the colours, layout or technique used that appeals to me.

But occasionally I like the sample card so much that I pretty much want to copy it just as it is, sometimes with minor changes. This is the case with the cards I made today.

My Lana ladies asked to make cards using some cute little bees, from a set called Just Buzzin' By. It is an SU set but is not available in Australia yet, hopefully it will be in the new catalogue in September - it's quite versatile and great fun.

Here are the cards I made today; the first one is cased from Christine Creations and the second cased from Mary Ann K, both with minor changes.



The honey looks almost real when you add some crystal effects! Yum!

And here are another two using this set that I made some time ago (so regular viewers may have seen them before, sorry!).


My problem is now I am having a lot of trouble deciding which two to make in class this week! Help me out by letting me know which two are your favs!

The ladies also requested to make the brayered bird reflection card I made for the blog hop (shown again below) so it's going to be birds and bees this week! That's where the title for this post comes from - not what you were thinking, is it???!!! LOL!
Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to help me choose two cards!

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Blushing Butterflies

One of our team mates is stepping down from SU due to ill health, so I thought it would be nice for her to receive a card rather than an email message. I wanted it to be soft and simple and I think I have achieved that. Here's the card:
And on the inside:

Materials used:
  • stamps - Very Vintage jumbo wheel, Thoughts & Prayers, Butterfly Prints
  • inks - Blush Blossom and Close to Cocoa
  • other - butterfly punch, dimensionals, marker
  • card - Blush Blossom and Whisper White
  • non SU - adhesive pearls, tiny butterfly punch

My cutter blade is getting rather blunt, which was perfect for this card as it adds to the vintage look of the background!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day.

Cheers

Kez

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mojo Time

It has been a long time since I did a Mojo Monday sketch challenge and I didn't think I'd do one this week either as the sketch looked like something way out of my comfort zone! Take a look:

But late last night I had a go at making one of Corie's gorgeous puffy flowers (see her tutorial here) and as I went to bed, a plan for a card came into my head and was still there first thing this morning. So, up I got and made the card before the idea disappeared!

I'm rather pleased with how it came out and I hope you like it too.

Non SU materials used: nestabilities dies, ribbon from stash

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a mojoful day!

Cheers

Kez

I've Updated My Colours

I'm really on a purple kick at the moment - I've even had a wall painted purple!

You see, my dear SIL offered to paint my lounge for me as my birthday present (she knew how badly it was in need) and I have learned over the years NEVER to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I said YES PLEASE! The old colour was yellow and it's now cream on 3 walls and a feature wall in purple, with matching purple curtains. Quite a change and DH's initial reaction was "Oh my Gosh!" (or something thereabouts, LOL!!!)

Here's a quick squiz:
You will note the perfect matching of the colours on curtains and wall, as I am a real matchy matchy girl! I would describe the colour as a cross between perfect plum and rich razzleberry!

Stampin' Up! have had a bit of a colour overhaul too, and as from 1st July in the US and 1st September here, we will have 4 revamped colour collections to replace our current colour families.
Here are the new colour collections

They look fresh and appealing to me, so I am very excited about new colour combinations! These are the colours we will be losing:A couple of favourites in there will be missed, but at least I've got tons of time to stock up.

The great news is
  • rich razzleberry, melon mambo, soft suede, pink pirouette, riding hood red, tangerine tango, baja breeze and pacific point are becoming permanent core colours
  • we are getting 5 new permanent core colours - cherry cobbler, marina mist, cajun craze, daffodil delight and early espresso
  • river rock and wild wasabi will be back as permanent core colours too
  • each year we will get 5 new in colours
  • in colours will stay around for TWO years instead of one, meaning that apart from this year, we will have 10 in colours each year!

Well! Big colour changes all round! No doubt you'll hear more about the new collections as the months go by but meanwhile enjoy the great selection you have at the moment.

Cheers

Kez

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Variations on a Theme

There's nothing quite like getting fixated on a card style...!

This morning I was quietly admiring my quick and simple bird card from the other day (see this post) and I decided to try some different colours. So Saffron sprang to mind first and when I was thinking what colour to put with it, somehow a sneaky purple worked its way in there! So here's quick and simple bird card No. 2 with So Saffron and Perfect Plum and just a little touch of bling!

Then I got really adventurous - I added more colours, flipped the design sideways (woo hoo!) and even went two-tone on the bird! Wowser, living on the dangerous side now!!! Here's quick and simple bird card No. 3 with Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and a dash of Kiwi Kiss:

Well, as you all know, one of the rules in papercrafting is you always have an odd number, so I just HAD to make another quick and simple bird card, didn't I? For this one I had it in my mind that I wanted to use Sahara Sand and Basic Black. With no paper in SS, I made my own background using the Very Vintage wheel, which I am now LOVING in this colour. I read on a blog or chat group somewhere recently that Blush Blossom is a card colour they almost never use and I realised I am a bit the same; I use the ink pad endlessly as my skin tone when watercolouring, but hardly ever use the cardstock, so I have set myself a challenge to use it more often and here it is as my accent colour. The ribbons of course are "contraband" as SU doesn't have BB ribbon (and now never will, sadly).

I think this one is my favourite of the three. Hope you like them too.
Non SU materials used: peach ribbons, adhesive pearl, adhesive rhinestone, rhinestone buckle.
Thanks for calling in, have a great day.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

More Easel Calendar Drawer thingies

DD11 came along to class today while my Lana ladies made easel calendar drawer thingies, so she had a go too using her fav bold brights and some small remnants I had of Kaleidoscope designer papers. And as I had a sample partially made up so I could demo the cutting and taping bits, I made another too for DH to sit on his office desk. He has some robotic machinery so I thought he'd enjoy some broken down bots!

Here's DD11's lovely one:

Unfortunately her mum (silly me!) forgot to cut the square piece for the front of the easel card, so that's why her green piece is smaller! I think it looks good that way!

And this is the one I made for DH:
I have another class making these on Sunday, so I'll have to make another sample one - hmmm, who should I make that one for? You want one?

Thanks for dropping in; hope it's a beautiful day wherever you are.

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

Monday, April 12, 2010

Friendship Purse Album

One of my workshops this week is for a group of young ladies and the hostess chose to make a mini scrapbook purse album using the new Cottage Wall designer papers and with Friendship as the theme.

So I decided to revamp the purse design a little from the Carousel Notes purse albums I made here and here. For the new shape flap I've used a nestabilities die (I know I should be using the Top Note die, but I like the variety of sizes that nesties offer which the TND doesn't. Sorry SU.) and I have repeated this shape inside the album as well.

I made a scallop punch flower from designer paper as the main feature on the front and my Friendly Words wheel to introduce the theme of the album.

Inside I have used Vintage Vogue stamp set and Friendly Words again - this time, one I removed from the wheel, cut up into individual stamps and mounted on Ezymount foam. This makes them cling to acrylic blocks, just like the new clear mount stamps. The old olive pieces you see are matting for photos.

I am lucky enough to already own the markers which match our three new in colours, so I was able to use rich razzleberry as well as orchid opulence for the flowers on these sections. You will be able to buy the RR marker too after 1st September!

The shape behind this sentiment is one of the new dies from the set called Lots of Tags.
And inside the envelope pockets I have used more of the nesties shapes, rather than scallop circles, to bring continuity. More photos get placed on these pull outs. The envelopes I used are 13 cm square, so that gives you an idea of the size of this album.

I certainly seem to be making alot of purple projects lately; practically all of my customers love purple, so it's very much in demand at the moment! No doubt you will be seeing some more in the future ...!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a very purple day!

Cheers
Kez

BLOG CANDY WINNERS



STAMPERS ANONYMOUS AUTUMN/WINTER MINI BLOG HOP

BLOG CANDY WINNERS

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to leave comments on our blogs and let us know you liked the projects we created for you using products from the new mini catalogue. We hope we inspired you and showed you that creative opportunities are endless!

Two winners of the blog candy have been drawn and they are:

PAULA FULLER and LISA MARTIN

Congratulations Paula and Lisa! Would you ladies please email me, Kerry, to give me your contact details so I can get your candy in the mail.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, April 11, 2010

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

Friday, April 9, 2010

Simple Medallion

I loved the new Medallion stamp from the moment I saw it in the US catalogue last year and I am so thrilled it finally made it to our shores.

Here's my first offering with this gorgeous stamp, a very simple card but black and white always looks so classy don't you think?

I added a pearl to the centre of the medallion which is a bit hard to see in the photo. The sentiment is punched with the large oval and sponged around the edge in black, as is the scallop oval behind it.

I'll be away for a few days (taking a road trip with DD18! - look out!) so things will be quiet here ... but back with a vengeance next week! See you then.

Cheers

Kez

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Another Tent Card

My Lana ladies loved my tent card (see here) so in next week's class we are making one using the new Cottage Wall designer papers for their purple fix! Here is the sample I made for them.
This time around I managed to get the joining part on up the right way (LOL) so here's a side view.
You can use the reverse side of the Rich Razzleberry ribbon if you don't want the polka dots side to show and of course I've used one of my favourite punches, the Scallop Oval punch - did you know you can still buy this punch and that it will be in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue out in September?

What amazes me is how much I am using Orchid Opulence - a Bold Bright of all things! Shock, horror!!! I've actually ordered the ink pad and I just don't know how I'm going to fit it in to my carefully organised stamp pad caddy!

I'll be back again soon with some more purple and green goodies for another class next week. Be good till then won't you?!

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Completely Altruistic

With the end of daylight savings on Sunday, I was up early in the morning. As I didn't want to disturb the household, I used the time to have a play with some new stamps - completely out of consideration for others, of course, not because I'm obsessed with stamping or anything ...

So I made a couple of cards using the adorable new set from the Autumn mini, Lots of Bots. Now, I don't have any boys (well, apart from DH LOL!) but I just had to get this set because (a) it's so darn cute! and (b) I'm sure plenty of my customers with sons and grandsons will love to make some cards with it.

First up is the little Bot that looks very similar to Wall-E and I've used some paper from the Patterns II pack (level 1 hostess). The binary code stamp I did freehand and can't believe I got it so straight and even - unheard of!!!

I used masculine colours kiwi kiss, tangerine tango and night of navy for this next birthday card and cased the layout from jaydeestamping. A bit fiddly cutting out, I have to admit, but I love the effect.

That's it for today! Back soon with another card or two (hopefully).

Cheers
Kez

Monday, April 5, 2010

Last chance for Blog Candy

Midnight tonight (AEST) is the deadline for the Stampers Anonymous Autumn/Winter Mini Blog Hop candy, so if you haven't yet spent a pleasant half hour or more hopping around our team blogs, now is the time! To be eligible for the candy you must leave a comment on all 14 blogs then email me here to tell me that you've left 14 comments and would like to be entered for the candy (you also have to be an Australian resident). As a fantastic bonus you will get to see some amazing creations that will give you ideas to CASE for weeks!

You can join the blog hop here and there will be a link at the end of each post to take you on to the next stop.

Enjoy!

Kez

Friday, April 2, 2010

April classes

Autumn has always been my favourite time of the year; the heat is over (supposedly! No one told Mother Nature this year though!) but it's not too cold and I adore the colours of the leaves on deciduous trees. It's so beautiful in the mountains in Autumn, but I do miss Christchurch the most then ...

The Autumn Traditions designer papers and Autumn Days stamp set appealed to me in a nanosecond when I first saw them in the US catalogue, so they were high on my list of must haves for my demo pre-order! And the first thing I used them for was to create an easel calendar card with drawer attached to sit on my desk.

Gorjamalicious! Well, of course I could not stop at one! More new goodies to try - can't have them feeling left out, can I?! So I made another using the Cottage Wall papers and Vintage Vogue stamp set. Here tis:

The little handle for the drawer I found at my LSS; isn't it just too perfect?!

My regular ladies love these too - well, actually, they haven't seen the purple one yet and I know they'll just be SWOONING cos they all luuurrve purple! - and we will be making them in class this month. If you are interested, send me an email and I'll give you details, or I can come to you!

Cheers
Kez