Monday, December 30, 2013

Birthday Bonanza

Tomorrow both my SIL and a dear friend are celebrating their birthdays, so although my craft room is still occupied by DD21, I had to get bits out to do some creating! We are celebrating SIL's birthday tonight with a family dinner, so her card got priority to be finished first.

Here tis:


Some pretty Summer flowers to go with the gorgeous warm weather we are having. I embossed the flowers with white on vellum cardstock and coloured them on the back using markers, then cut out two layers for each. The leaves are also from vellum and sponged on the edges. I don't have a really good birthday greeting that fitted my layout, so used my computer and printer instead!

Materials used:

  • stamps - Secret Garden
  • card - vellum, strawberry slush, in colour patterned paper, non SU white linen
  • other - ticket corner punch, white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, pearls, little leaves die, Big Shot, markers, sponge dauber


Hopefully she'll like it. Tomorrow I'll be popping into the craft room to make a special card for my friend, who is celebrating a "Big Zero" birthday - there's nothing like last minute pressure to stimulate the mojo!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Happy Christmas


Just a quick pop in to wish you all a happy, safe and joyous Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a restful holiday season.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Full Steampunk Ahead

Hands up those who are most definitely NOT ready for Christmas? Me too!

With DD21 home and my craft room invaded, plus the HEAT and HUMIDITY we've had all week, I have had zero crafting mojo - but plenty of things needing doing for our Steampunk theme.

I did manage to make a start on some of our theme things - a while back I bought some cheap plastic hats for us to wear as our "costume" on the day and I've since been beavering away little bits and pieces that I thought I could use to decorate them. Here are the first two I made:

This one will be for one of us girls


More masculine, the next one is for our token male (DH). Inside the frame (which I embossed with a mix of copper, gold and aged ivory embossing powders) I lavished some hot glue and then tossed in lots of tiny gadgets (this is where you LOVE your silicon mat!) - they stick out at all angles and look tres cool IRL.



And I must show you the Christmas card I received from my dear SIL the other day. She has (what she says is) the daunting task of making a card for me twice a year (can't think why that would pose a problem!) and our theme no doubt upped the anty just a little! However, she rose to the challenge like a champion and came up with this totally gorgeous centre-step card:


Isn't it fab? For someone who claims she is not "crafty" I think she has done an outstanding job.

So this morning I felt I had to sit and make SIL's Xmas card, which with my mojo being off on holidays, was a bit of a challenge, I can tell ya! This is what I managed to come up with:


And I made a circle flip card for DH. The image on the inside will appeal to his inventor's mind.



That's it for now - thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Onesie

The friends that DD15 babysits for welcomed a new daughter into the world yesterday, so I set to this morning and made a onesie card for baby Delilah.




Materials used:
  • stamps - Baby Bundle
  • card - pretty in pink, whisper white, pretty in pink patterned paper
  • other - ovals framelits, Big Shot, strawberry slush frilled ribbon, neutrals candy dots, Timeless Type alphabet die, markers

The pattern for the onesie came from here and I printed mine at 125% scale. Being a bit large for a regular envelope, I naturally had to make my own using the EPB (my new BFF).

Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers
Kez

Edited to add: Someone on SC asked for ideas for a boy onesie and an idea popped into my head. This is the result - a onesie card for a baby boy, especially one born in winter.


Materials used:

  • stamps - Baby Bundle
  • card - soft sky, very vanilla, crushed curry, Sweater Weather dsp 
  • other - marker, ruler, square framelits, Big Shot, neutrals candy dots

Friday, December 13, 2013

Proud Mama Moment

My youngest has gone off to her Year 10 Formal tonight, made more poignant for her as she leaves that school next week and is off to a new school for the next two years.

She is a great lover of 50s retro looks in fashion and hair and you can see this influence in her outfit. She picked this gorgeous dress (which is a bit more vivid IRL than it is in my photos) and I chose the red accessories which give it a real Wow!


Hmmm, we would see the shoes a lot better if DH had cut the grass!


Classic 50s pose!


Big sister was sad not to be here in person so we Skyped her on my iPhone and she wanted a photo taken together!

My baby looks so grown up and gorgeous! Sniff, sniff!

Meanwhile, I have finally gotten started on my family Christmas cards, so there might be some craft to show you before too long. But I've still got to get my craft room ready to be invaded when DD21 comes home next week! Aaargh!

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Tags and Bows

Today is my last class for the year and we will be making some Christmas tags and gift bows.

Here is the set of tags we'll make:



We'll be making a gift bow angel:


Materials used:
  • card - whisper white, gold glimmer, blush blossom
  • other - various circle punches, itty bitty punch, rhinestone, Big Shot, gift bow die, vintage wallpaper E/F, sponge dauber, word window punch, white taffeta ribbon, black marker, white bakers twine

We will also look at a variety of bows for gift giving:


And something else you can make with the gift bow die - though we won't make one in class - is this cheerful little chap:


Materials used:
  • card - very vanilla, naturals ivory, basic black, pumpkin pie
  • punches - 2 1/2" circle, 1 3/4" circle, owl
  • other - gift bow die, Big Shot, cherry cobbler stitched edge grosgrain ribbon, frosted finishes embellishment, white gel pen, old olive grosgrain ribbon, sticky strip
  • non SU - hot glue gun, twigs

I found this on Pinterest but unfortunately the instructional video for making it was full of errors and wrong instructions, so my first one ended up in the bin and I had to muddle through to work things out myself - not my strongest suit! However, it all came right in the end - well, kinda alright. He's a bit rough and ready, but not to worry!

Thanks for calling in today. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some Christmas craft for home. We're having a Steampunk theme this year, so that is going to be a challenge!

Cheers
Kez

Friday, December 6, 2013

My Lovely Ladies

Wednesday night was the annual Christmas Dinner with my lovely class ladies. We always have such a fun evening that it's a shame we only do it once a year!

Here are the card and gift I made for them this year. I got some great inspiration from Pinterest - gotta love that site! - although my sweeties don't look as good as the originals (ain't it always the way?)!



This is a candy cane marshmallow - you hang it over the side of your cup of hot cocoa or hot chocolate and the marshmallow and candy cane melt and the flavours are infused into your drink. YUM!

Materials used:
  • stamps - Merry Little Christmas
  • card - real red, whisper white, cherry cobbler, gumball green
  • other - stylish stripes embossing folder, Big Shot, small tag and large tag punches, chalk talk framelit dies, cherry cobbler stitched edge grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, rhinestones, white bakers twine, crop-o-dile
  • non SU - white linen card, holly punch, nestabilities die, cellophane bags, Copic marker

Each year we wear something Christmassy and this year I challenged them to wear something that is hand made. Here are some snaps of their creativity and ingenuity:


















And here's a shot of us all


This coming Sunday is our last class of the year and we are making Tags and Bows, so tune back in then for some more festive goodies!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, December 5, 2013

My New BFF

I've been having a play with the Envelope Punch Board and watching videos by other talented crafters and am totally in love with this new toy. At this time of year especially - or at any time when you need gift boxes and bags - this tool is worth its weight in gold!

Here are the samples I've been making to show my ladies:
  • box made from 12" x 12" card (from tutorial at this link)


Materials used:
  • stamps - Merry Little Christmas
  • card - real red, garden green, very vanilla, retired dsp
  • other - Envelope Punch Board, chalk talk framelits dies, Big Shot, retired polka dot ribbon, dimensionals

  • same box made from 9" x 9" card 

Materials used:
  • stamps - Snow Swirled
  • card - crumb cake, cherry cobbler, whisper white, Season of Style dsp
  • other - EPB, gift bow die, Big Shot, decorative label punch, dimensionals

  • and again from 6" x 6" card 

Materials used:
  • stamps - More Merry Messages
  • card - cherry cobbler, old olive, whisper white, Season of Style dsp
  • other - EPB, Big Shot, scallop circle punch, 1" circle punch
  • non SU - rosette die, hot glue gun

Here's a shot of the three boxes together so you can see the proportions:


  • folded gift bag made from 12" x 12" dsp (from tutorial at this link)

Materials used:
  • card - In Colour patterns paper (crisp cantaloupe)
  • other - EPB, pansy punch, Victoria lace ribbon, crop-o-dile, calypso coral bakers twine, very vintage designer button, bone folder, dimensionals

  • then I took the same dimensions as the bag but used card instead, adapted the lid a little and turned it into a box with a belly band

Materials used:
  • card - old olive, cherry cobbler, retired Xmas dsp
  • other - Big Shot, dimensionals, rhinestones
  • non SU - poinsettia dies, marker

  • another box made from 7 1/2" square of card (from tutorial at this link)

Materials used:
  • card - coastal cabana, Winter Frost dsp, silver glimmer card
  • other - snow flurry die, Big Shot, dimensionals

I know there are oodles more too - you just have to Google it or YouTube it to find tons; I'll get around to that after Xmas. Oh, and did I forget to mention it also makes 66 different sized envelopes?

Soooooooooo, if you haven't got one of these yet, I am kind of wondering WHY NOT?!! lol!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

December Creative Crew Scrapbook and More Focus


It's hard to believe this is my last challenge for the Creative Crew design team - the past four months have just flown by and I've really enjoyed all the challenges the ladies have come up with.

For this project we were to make a calendar, to do list, booklet or journal for a friend to use in 2014. I decided to make something for DD21 to use at uni and on teaching placement - a Post-It Note Desk Box. I found a great tutorial by Jill Hilliard (click here) and just made some adjustments to the box measurements as I wanted to use a big cube of post-its - I know DD uses A LOT of them!

I couldn't go past her favourite red and white polka dots and dressed it up with some black accents and cute little bows and one of my all-time favourite stamped images, just so she doesn't forget how much I love her (as if I would let her!).

Here's my project:




Materials used:
  • stamps - Greeting Card Kids
  • card - basic black, real red, whisper white, retired Xmas dsp
  • other - scallop envelope die, Big Shot, dimensionals, 1 3/8" circle punch, pennants die
  • non SU - Bella ribbon bows

I hope you have enjoyed my creative journey being on the design team. Be sure to visit the Creative Crew Challenges Gallery over at SCS to see what my fellow team members came up with for their final challenges.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

December Creative Crew Challenge - Holiday Focus

This month's Holiday Focus is National Chocolate Day on Dec 24th - seems to be tailor-made for me! I particularly love the wording of this challenge - "While eating the best chocolate you can find, make a card using chocolate chip on it. If you CASEd someone fabulous, give credit to this wonderful stamper."

I took those instructions very seriously and while I was gobbling down chocolate creating, channelled the creative genius of not one, but two wonderful crafters. I loved on sight Jackie Topa's little Lindor elf and wanted immediately to combine it with the brilliant idea of Michelle Surette to make a slight alteration to one of my favourite Christmas greetings.

So here's my project, which uses both chocolate and chocolate chip!


Materials used:
  • stamps and dsp - Merry Little Christmas designer kit (MDS)
  • card - chocolate chip, whisper white, real red, blush blossom
  • punches - pennant, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Merry Minis Ornament, Owl Builder, Word Window, Small Oval, Small Scallop Circle
  • other - chalk talk framelits, bitty banners framelits, Big Shot, stylish stripes embossing folder, sponge dauber, dimensionals

Here's a closer look - first little Alfie:


Punches used: word window, small scallop circle, small oval, pennant, itty bitty, owl, merry minis.

And the card:


Please note that no Lindor chocolates were harmed during the making of this project (I made sure they didn't feel any pain!!!!!)

Thanks for calling in today - why not visit the Creative Crew Challenge Gallery at SCS and see what other chocolate delights await you!

Cheers
Kez

Monday, December 2, 2013

December Creative Crew Challenge - DSP Focus

"Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation" (Mason Cooley).

This month's DSP focus is the totally gorgeous Modern Medley papers but as I've used those for a few other crew projects, I chose our other option of using basic black and very vanilla.

We are also to CASE someone we admire. I picked a fellow Australian demo whose projects I have found particularly inspiring lately, Mel Sharp from Melbourne. Mel has a clean, crisp style and makes fantastic use of white space on her work. I chose to CASE a stunningly elegant Christmas card she made recently in navy and white. Here's Mel's card:


And here is my CASE. I changed it to black and vanilla and for a bit of fun, made my window shape a Christmas ornament instead of a circle:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Four the Holidays, Christmas Collectibles
  • card - basic black, very vanilla
  • other - holiday ornaments framelits, pearls, Big Shot, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, embroidery thread (non SU)

To make the frame I traced around the outside of the ornament shape before cutting it on the Big Shot (the magnetic platform holds it in place) and then cut the larger shape by hand.

Thanks for such great inspiration Mel, I had a lot of fun making this card. 

Pop on over to Splitcoaststampers and check out the other crew members' projects. You can even look at Mel's gallery too!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, December 1, 2013

December Creative Crew Challenge - Catalogue Focus

This month's catalogue focus is candy dots. I have to admit, I hadn't gotten around to getting any yet, so had to hot foot place an order for some! With imitation being our theme for December, the challenge is to copy someone's artwork that loves brads or candy dots and to use candy dots generously on our project.

I drew my inspiration from this lovely card I found on Pinterest that comes from Riddersholm Design blog. 



In keeping with the modern graphic look of the Winter Frost paper, I kept my card simpler and more streamlined. I sprinkled both candy dots and rhinestones liberally to add zing to the soft, subtle colours. 



Materials used:
  • stamps - Snow Swirled, Snow Burst (MDS), A Cardinal Christmas (MDS)
  • card - pool party, whisper white, smoky slate, Winter Frost dsp
  • other - two tags die, snow flurry die, Big Shot, frosted finishes embellishment, dimensionals, pool party seam binding, dotted scallop ribbon border punch, subtles candy dots, rhinestones 
  • non SU - white glitter card

Do visit the December challenge gallery and check out what inspired my fellow design team members over at SCS.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez