Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Sunrise

I was very good yesterday and got a lot of work done preparing for this weekend's craft show, so to reward myself I got out my brayer. It has been a bit neglected of late, so it felt really good to be "rolling the rubber" again.

Having seen a brayered triple layer stamping card on Pinterest, I was keen to give it a try and here is what I ended up with:


Materials used:
  • stamps - My Friend
  • card - so saffron, whisper white, basic black
  • inks - so saffron, regal rose, melon mambo, black StazOn
  • other - dimensionals, brayer, post-it notes, 1 3/4" circle punch, sponge dauber

Now back to the grindstone!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Come Fly Away

Yesterday afternoon I had an inspiration.

I was supposed to be making stuff for the craft show, but you know how it is ... when you get an idea in your head and you just have to run with it ... (yeah, that's my new name for procrastinating!)

Anyway, I was inspired by three things:
  • my Ferrero Rocher chocolate suitcase - see this post
  • my sister-in-law's brilliance
  • Tanya Bell's great travel journal and camera box set - see it here
My SIL had made larger versions of the chocolate suitcase for DD14 and myself to put our brand new passports in and Tanya used the gorgeous Sent With Love kit to make a travel themed set, so I decided to combine these two ideas and this is what I ended up with:



The suitcase is made from island indigo 12" x 12" card. Inside is a travel wallet:


And it holds:


Isn't that fun? I had a ball making it and was so totally "in the zone" that DH ended up making dinner! (Anyone see a negative side to that scenario? Me neither!!! LOL!)

Materials used:
  • stamps - Sent With Love
  • card - island indigo, real red, whisper white, calypso coral, Sent With Love dsp
  • other - in colour 2010-2012 brads, crop-o-dile, Hung Up cute clips, corner rounder punch
  • non SU - Velcro dots

OK, now I guess I should be good and get on with the craft show stuff. Darn it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Poppies



It's ANZAC Day today in both Australia and New Zealand, and what better day to show a poppy card? Growing up in NZ poppies were always worn for ANZAC Day (whereas here in Aus it tends to be rosemary), so poppies will always be associated with this day for me.

I found some gorgeous poppy paper not long ago and knew instantly it would look terrific teamed with SU's Pleasant Poppies stamp, which I love. So here's my card, which is simple but (I think) gorgeous.


Materials used:
  • stamps - Pleasant Poppies
  • card - confetti cream, watercolour, soft suede, 
  • other - very vanilla satin ribbon, pearls
  • non SU -  nestabilities dies, Kaisercraft paper

Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying your day. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Holiday Mode

It's the school holidays here in NSW and I did not much of anything for the first week! It seems I was more in need of just relaxing than I realised ...

But this week I have to get busy finalising things for the Artfest craft show coming up and also get sorted planning a few things for Stamp Camp - yeah, I know it's not until November, but you all know those months will just fly by and Nov will be here before we know it! As there's such a lot of planning to do, Rob and I are getting an early start.

I've also been asked to be a guest designer for the Inky Fingers Club in May, so there's a project to be created for that too. I think it's just as well I had a quiet week last week!

Anyway, here's a couple of cards I made over the weekend when I wasn't being completely lazy.



Sorry my photography skills just aren't up to scratch - this card is so much more gorgeous in real life!

Materials used:
  • stamps - Field Flowers, Elements of Style, Afterthoughts (retired hostess)
  • card - perfect plum, elegant eggplant, watercolour, very vanilla
  • other - aqua painter, large oval punch, Big Shot, matchbox die
  • non SU - nestabilities Fleur de Lis squares die
The second card was inspired by a few different cards I've seen around and is the first time this stamp set has seen ink. I really like it, though, so I'm going to have to find time to use it more.





Materials used:
  • stamps - Million Dollar Moments (hostess), Field Flowers
  • card - whisper white, primrose petals
  • other - fancy fan E/F, Big Shot, ovals die
  • non SU - white organza ribbon

If you are on holidays too, I hope you are having a fun time. Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Oh Pooh!

I realised yesterday that I've been suffering from a new kind of malaise.

Yup, I have HDD.

What is HDD? Seriously, you have to ask? I am totally surprised you haven't heard of it already.

It's Honeycomb Deprivation Disorder.


No, not that kind.

This kind:


Yes, I was seriously deficient in honeycomb patterns and needing to craft with some sooooooooo badly! At first I was going to get a quick fix by using my honeycomb embossing folder, but then I thought no, I'll use the honeycomb punch in MDS and make pretty patterns!

(I do hope SU realise that if they don't come out with a honeycomb punch or die in the new catalog, there will almost certainly be a mutiny from demos and customers around the globe. Perhaps somebody should warn them. Just sayin')

For this project I used the colours from the Fab Friday challenge
Now you might not immediately think "baby card" with these colours, but I was in the mood for soft and pastel so I muted them down a bit by reducing the opacity - then they were just perfect for what I had in mind. Here tis:


Awww, sweet! (except the lighting is bad - click on it for a closer look)

Materials used:

  • stamps - Baby Bundle, Everything Eleanor, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
  • card - pool party, whisper white, white linen (non SU), vellum
  • other - MDS, pool party seam binding, apothecary accents die, dimensionals, calypso coral bakers twine, polka dots embossing folder, Big Shot, large oval punch, pearls, bow tying machine (non SU)

If you should happen to be a fellow HDD sufferer, well, firstly, I feel your pain. Secondly, put down that dishrag, abandon the vacuum, farm out the kids and go honeycomb!

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

For The Blokes

Cards for the men in our lives is the theme for classes this month, cos we all know how difficult they can be to make cards for. Mine is, for sure!


First up a card that can be for either sex (and may in fact end up being sent to DD21) using the new promotional kit of papers and stamps called Sent With Love.


Materials used:
  • stamps - Sent With Love
  • card - island indigo, whisper white, real red, Sent With Love dsp
  • other - in colour brad, square punch, dimensionals, cloudy day E/F, Big Shot

Next one of my favourite male sets in a joy fold card. I still have heaps of these Nautical Expedition papers hoarded away - they go with the stamp set 'just like peas and carrots' as Forrest Gump would say! But if you didn't stack up and need them, you can get them on MDS (how handy is that?).




Materials used:
  • stamps - The Open Sea, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired hostess), Best Dad Ever
  • card - night of navy, cherry cobbler, whisper white, Nautical Expedition dsp
  • other - cherry cobbler bakers twine, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, square punch, dimensionals, crystal effects

And lastly I dusted off a set they gave us at the regionals last year and which I haven't used since - I thought it would be character building to use it (lol). Once I got going I decided I rather like it after all! Ain't it always the way?


Materials used:
  • stamps - Clockworks, Best Dad Ever
  • card - more mustard, midnight muse, very vanilla, vellum
  • other - gold embossing powder, heat tool, gold brad, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, 1 1/4" circle punch

This one was inspired by a number of cards but mostly one by Erna Logtenberg. I will miss more mustard when it goes - a great colour for masculine or Autumnal cards. I'd better order some more!

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Bright and Breezy Birthday

I've been playing with MDS again (I'm just a little bit hooked on this new toy!!!) and created another hybrid card - a bright and breezy birthday card featuring two of the new colours we will be getting here Down Under: Bermuda bay and crushed curry (teamed here with rose red and Sahara sand).

Take a lookie:


It's a very overcast day here, so the photo is not as vibrant as the real thing unfortunately.

Materials used:

  • stamps - Cake & Ice Cream (MDS)
  • card - Sahara sand, whisper white, small polka dot dsp (MDS), Thoroughly Modern dsp (MDS), crushed curry
  • other - windows framelits, Big Shot, dimensionals, rose red seam binding
  • non SU - rhinestones

I am really loving having virtually all of SU's designer papers at my fingertips, plus stamp sets I don't own in rubber that I can print out in any size or colour! 

If I haven't convinced you yet to download the FREE TRIAL version of My Digital Studio and give it a go, then I'm going to have to get busy and make more MDS things! Yeah - like I need an excuse! LOL

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Oops I Did It Again

Yeah, apologies for invoking a Britney Spears song at you! It was literally the first thing that popped into my head when I was trying to think of a title for this post, and after that I just couldn't think of an alternative!

The reason for that title is that I have whipped up another hybrid card.

A friend invited us over for dinner and mentioned that her youngest son had his birthday recently. So of course I was "Aaargh! need a card for a tweenie boy! I have no boy stamps! Help!" until I remembered that I had bought a couple of MDS stamps that would be PERFECT for this young man. So in 15 minutes or less I had printed out the stamped images then added them to some "real" card and voila! all done! (Have I mentioned before how much I am loving MDS?)

Here is said card:


The birthday boy is right in to dirt biking, so these stamps could not have been more perfect! MDS, you saved me!



For the inside top page (pictured just above) I used the same grouping of stamps as on the front cover and just reduced the opacity to make them lighter, then stamped the sentiment over the top. Soooo easy.

Materials used:

  • stamps - Extreme Dirt Bike (MDS), Extreme Elements (MDS), Daring Adventure (MDS)
  • card - Pacific point, basic black, whisper white
  • other - dimensionals

Have you MDS'ed today? There's no excuse you know - there's a FREE trial version available for 30 days right HERE and a bunch of free downloads to go with it for you to play with. What on earth are you waiting for?

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

My First SU Hybrid

There hasn't been much time for crafting recently, but I finally got to have a play and made my very first SU hybrid card - ie a card that incorporates digital designing (using MDS) with traditional card and ink.

Here tis:

I used MDS for the designer paper and stamps and was able to resize the sentiments and the plane to suit my needs. The rest is "real" card, embellishments etc. I added some crystal effects over the plane image to give it a bit more dimension and you can see that better in this second photo:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Daring Adventure (MDS)
  • card - basic black, basic grey, very vanilla, designer paper from MDS
  • other - apothecary accents die, Big Shot, jumbo metal brads, crop-o-dile, crystal accents, dimensionals

So what do you think? Would love to hear from you, especially if you are in two minds about the whole digital stamping thing.

Thanks for flying by (lol).

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Happy Dance!

You can't see me but I'm jiggling a happy dance at the moment!

Well, it certainly IS NOT because my DH forgot my birthday this morning!

No, it's because Stampin' Up! have announced their colour renovation and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the colours that are returning and the in colours we are getting to keep!



As I realise this chart is probably a bit hard to see (ya think?!) here is a summary:

In the Brights colour collection we are losing regal rose and getting a new colour called Bermuda Bay. This was an in colour in the US a few years back but we didn't get it here in Aus. It's a gorgeous colour, I love it and am lucky to have some - so stay tuned for a sample in that soon!

In the Subtles colour collection we are losing pretty in pink, bashful blue, certainly celery and Baja breeze. We get to keep calypso coral, wisteria wonder and pool party (YAY!) and see the return of blushing bride, soft sky and pear pizzazz.

In the Regals colour collection we lose riding hood red, bravo burgundy, not quite navy and more mustard. We get to keep island indigo (YAY!) and also get crushed curry - from the same past in colours in the US that Bermuda bay is from.

The Neutrals collection loses only river rock and we get a brand new colour called smoky slate, which is a lighter grey than basic grey and will go with heaps of colours.


So I am EXCITED about this colour refresh and I hope you will be too. Can't wait to play with them all! Meanwhile, any product in the retiring colours - ink pads, re-inkers, card, ribbon, embellishments etc - will disappear pretty fast, so if you are losing some favourites and would like to stock up, get in quick! Remember you can simply click my SHOP NOW button and begin ordering away!

(BTW, it's OK, DH made up for forgetting my birthday later in the day ... and some of my lovely ladies sent me BEAUTIFUL birthday cards. Thanks so much ladies!)

Back soon with some crafting projects.

Cheers
Kez 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Another MDS Cutie

After getting some assessment work done this morning (a teacher's work is never done!)  I allowed myself a brief play with My Digital Studio. This time I was playing with punches, stamps and embellishments - after all, you don't often see one of my cards without some ribbon or a bow!

Here's my layout, again using an old photo of DD21:


I used:

  • stamps - Always, Friends 24/7
  • papers - Springtime Vintage dsp
  • card - very vanilla, pale plum, soft suede
  • punches - 2 1/2" circle, fun flower 1, dotted scallop trim
  • other - very vanilla grosgrain bow

She look so adorable in her bonnet don't you think? This was taken in our backyard in Christchurch and she would have been around 8 or 9 months old I think. 

OK, enough playing, I have to get back to work - more assessments to mark. 

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez