Monday, December 28, 2009

Marching Onward

Christmas is over and life goes on and with two birthdays coming up later in the week that means cards need making! My SIL and one of my BFFs both celebrate their birthdays on Dec 31st and with the rain we are having (thank goodness!), I have perfect excuses to sit and "play" at my craft table, LOL!!!

Here's the card for my SIL. I was compelled to drag out Chef Henri, who you may remember from previous posts here, here and here. This time I watercoloured him and I think he looks rather spiffy! The colours and the simple design are perfect for my SIL, so I know she will like it.

Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

The sentiment on the tray is from one of the Sale-a-Bration sets called Whimsical Words, available from Jan 25th, and I love how it pokes gentle fun at getting older. Not that I ever do such a thing of course .... ! :)

Materials used:
  • stamps - Voila, Whimsical Words
  • card, inks and markers - Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Blush Blossom, black StazOn
  • other - dimensionals, adhesive pearls (Kaiser), photo corner punch

My BFF loves bright colours, so I immediately thought of the Kaleidoscope papers from the Summer mini for her. Only have scraps left, though, so the patchwork style background was the way to go. Now, you all know that I am definitely NOT a bold brights person, but these papers are growing on me, I have to admit! I stamped the daisies in Versamark and embossed in white first, then overstamped in tangerine tango slightly over to one side to get that shadowy effect. The family agree she will love it, so here is card number two:

Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

Materials used (all SU):

  • stamps - Upsy Daisy, Dreams du Jour
  • card & paper - tempting turquoise, tangerine tango, whisper white, Kaleidoscope DSP
  • inks - tempting turquoise, tangerine tango, Versamark
  • punches - large oval, scallop oval
  • other - white embossing powder, dimensionals

Hope you're not sick of easel cards yet! Thanks for stopping by; I hope you're having plenty of rain too!

Cheers

Kez

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish you all the most joyous of festive seasons; I hope you have an abundance of love and laughter at Christmas and trust you will keep safe if you are travelling. Enjoy the time with friends and family, I know I will.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Kez

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

By Special Request

Yesterday Lynda asked if my lemonade cup card came in a strawberry version, so I sat right down and made one! Here tis Lynda, just for you, by special request!


Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

Yum, how good does that look?! I might just have to try making a real drink that looks just like it! As I'm in the process of having root canal and am taking strong antibiotics that preclude me having any alcohol, I think a yummy looking "mocktail" might do quite nicely for my Christmas toast!

Materials used:
  • stamps - Tart & Tangy, So Very (retired)
  • card - wild wasabi (retired), regal rose, pink pirouette, whisper white, vellum
  • inks and markers - regal rose, old olive, wild wasabi, pink pirouette, pretty in pink
  • other - sponge daubers, sticky strip, dazzling diamonds, dimensionals, patterned paper and foam letters from stash
Thanks for stopping by today!

Cheers
Kez

Monday, December 21, 2009

Lemonade, anyone?

Hot weather and cool drinks go together, so today I had loads of fun making a cute cup card. I sponged the vellum with so saffron and summer sun and you'll see from the photos that there's a line of dazzling diamonds around the top. Luckily our blue straws go very well with pacific point and Tart & Tangy stamp set was the perfect accompaniment!

Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

Here's a view from the top so you can see the curve of the cup, the straw attached with sticky strip and the lemon slice held up by a triple dimensional tower!

Lots of fun to make, so go ahead and give it a go!

Cheers

Kez

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Play Time

With classes over and Christmas cards all mailed, I got the chance to play yesterday just for fun! This card gave me a bit of angst to begin with. I had coloured the Tilda a few days ago but hadn't gotten around to making a card around it, and I went through a few different options before I finally settled on the first thing I'd thought of! Does that happen to you? Please say yes!!! Anyway, I decided to make an easel card that isn't square, so here tis:


The gorgeous mini medallion frame and sentiment are a sneak peek from the Sale-a-bration catalogue which is available from Jan 25th. It reminds me of the beautiful medallion background stamp the US has, which I really HOPE we get in our next big mini (from my lips to Shelli's ears!). I coloured the paper roses to match using markers and my aqua painter; note to self: stick them on first, cos wet soggy roses are hard to attach and squish easily!!! (Either that or have the patience to wait until they are dry, LOL!)

Do you need a close up? OK!


SU Materials used:
  • stamps - Vintage Labels
  • card - whisper white, rich razzleberry, melon mambo, watercolour paper
  • inks & markers - rich razzleberry, melon mambo, crushed curry, blush blossom, close to cocoa, pretty in pink
  • other - dimensionals, white gel pen

Non SU materials used:

  • Magnolia stamp, papers from stash, paper flowers from stash, Martha Stewart punch, adhesive pearls by Kaiser

Have a great day everyone, hope you get the chance to play too!

Cheers

Kez

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

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

Last Christmas Card of the Year

Yes, that's right, I will NOT be making any more Christmas cards! Wow, feel like they're ready to come out my ears, LOL! Made a couple of this one a while ago but forgot to photograph and post it, so here is my last Christmas card for the year ...

Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

Love, love, love this colour combo - Handsome Hunter and Real Red - and simply ADORE the new real red polka dot ribbon from the Summer mini. A very simple card to make, but I love it and am keeping one for myself! This card was inspired by a gift card holder card by Kay Kalthoff.

Thanks for dropping in!

Cheers
Kez

Monday, December 14, 2009

Year 6 Farewell

Tonight was DD11's Farewell Dinner and Dance so I've a couple of photos to share. She looked stunningly beautiful (in my totally unbiased opinion!), assisted by Big Sister's expertise in hair arranging and makeup application (you know what experts 17 year olds are at these, LOL!!!).



How fast they grow up! We have them for such a fleeting time, it's so important to treasure every moment ...

Have a great evening.

Kez

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Mojo time!

It's been a while since I've done a Mojo Monday challenge so I'm a little rusty at sketches, but thought it high time I had a go. Here's this week's sketch:
I wanted something bright and cheerful and a little different, while still being rather keen on the purple/yellow combo I used a few days ago, so I've gone with the US in colours that we don't have down here ..... yet. The butterfly is from the Butterfly Prints set and matching punch from the new summer mini - gotta love matching punches! Feast your eyes on this:

Created by Kez. Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

I have to say that cutting lots of circles made me think about getting the new Circle Scissors ...
Materials used:
  • stamps - Inspired by Nature, Butterfly Prints
  • card and markers - Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede
  • ribbon - Rich Razzleberry
  • other - dimensionals, Big Shot, embossing folder, nestabilities, adhesive rhinestones

Thanks for dropping by!

Cheers

Kez

Friday, December 11, 2009

Grunge Rock

Today's card is so far out of my comfort zone that I've got a nose bleed!!! LOL! Well, OK, not really, if you absolutely have to be literal, but figuratively speaking!

It's a gradutation card for DD11, who is deeply into lime green. I had bought some lime green with black spots card a while back and luckily discovered I also had an ink pad that matched pretty well, so I could colour plain white to make it green and I set to work! Decided to use Just Jawing (which she loves) as well as Great Grads and then the card just evolved all on its own really! I've called the look Grunge Rock, which DD17 scoffs at, but what the hey! Take a lookie:

Created by Kez. Stamps copyright Stampin' Up!
I'm pretty sure DD11 will love it! Thanks for dropping in today and have a great weekend.
Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Very Special Project for a Very Special Person

Here Down Under we are fast approaching the end of the school year and the long summer holidays. For our family it's the end of two eras: DD17 has completed high school and DD11 finishes her primary school years next week.

When DD17 left primary school I made her a mini album and had all her teachers write in it, as a special momento. She cried when she received it (which of course made me cry too!). The past couple of days I've been working on one for DD11. In the intervening years I've discovered stamping, so the albums are very different to each other, but I hope both will be treasured always.

I thought it would be fun to have the album in a tin lunchbox! The "ribbon" on the handles is actual school uniform fabric. I've used SU card, watercolour paper, inks and wheel plus the bashful blue patterns paper on the lid; everything else is non SU.

Here's the front cover of the album:

And here are the pages from each year of school. In 2003 she was in hospital when school photos were taken, so I've put in a photo from a couple of months later once she had recovered.

I've entered this in the Just Magnolia monthly challenge, which is to make a card/project for someone special. Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers
Kez

Friday, December 4, 2009

I actually made some boxes!

Tonight is our team Christmas dinner and we always do a Secret Santa gift. Naturally, craft items and creative wrapping usually play a large part in the proceedings! So I actually made some boxes! Amazing, I know! I picked the Urban Garden papers and Upsy Daisy stamps for my theme and made the following:

The items are:

  • a calendar/notebook
  • a tissue box


  • a post it note holder

  • a mini bag in a box (containing craft items)

a window slider box (also containing craft items)

And of course a co-ordinating bag and tag to store them in:

Hope my Secret Santa likes them! I'll find out in a couple of hours!

See ya!

Kez

Thursday, December 3, 2009

See, I WAS listening!

One of the things that has stuck in my mind since our Regional training day (there are more than one, I promise!) is one of our presenters saying that purple and yellow look great together. So today when I was looking for a colour combo for my faux silk sample (workshop on Saturday) I went with Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron, with a touch of Always Artichoke thrown in. And I LOVE IT!

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

I also had another play with an easel card and guess what? Yup! Bella Rose papers again! Are you sick of these yet? This time I paired them with Dreams du Jour.

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

OK, I'll give Bella Rose a rest for a while now! LOL!
Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Those Special Cards

While most of the Christmas cards I send are "mass produced" for speed, I always make special one-of-a-kind cards for my nearest and dearest. Here are some of those - but warning! I have used a lot of non SU content on these ones. Not because I don't love SU stuff (which I do, I truly do) but because the people concerned have seen all my SU ones and I needed to do something different that they haven't seen!
Created by Kez.

This one uses a digital image for the fairy and also digital paper. I put some vellum over the holly paper to tone it down a bit and give me something to stamp the sentiment on, and added some glitter to her wings.

Created by Kez. Some stamped images copyright Stampin' Up!

Another digi stamp for this one and I added some puff paint for the falling snowflakes and snow in front of Kai. Isn't she adorable? The snowflake stamp on the background is from SU set Winter Post, which I embossed in white on bordering blue card.

The last one is similar to this post. I decided to give the red one to DD17 and made a green one similar for DD11.

Hope you like them! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Monday, November 30, 2009

Summer Mini Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampers Anonymous Summer Mini blog hop! I am number two on the tour, so if you want to start at the beginning, pop over to Marelle's blog and then come back, or you can start here and still make the complete circuit just by following the links at the end of each post. There are 14 stops along the way and we hope you will visit each one to see the GORJUS creations we have to show you!

We are featuring the beautiful new products in the Summer Mini, available to you from tomorrow, 1st December. Feel free to “share the love” and leave a comment! So sit back, relax and enjoy!

My first item is a gift for my SIL, who is a very keen gardener. How cute is this little watering can?!!! As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect for my project. The stamps I have used are Hello Again and the matching wheel called Retro Remix.

Materials:
  • stamps - Hello Again, Retro Remix wheel
  • card & paper - certainly celery, whisper white

Next are two cards using a set called Razzle Dazzle. The first card uses a lot of direct to rubber technique and was inspired by a card by Melissa Aggie.

Materials for both cards:

  • stamps - Razzle Dazzle, Best Yet, Polka Dot
  • card & paper - Pacific point, whisper white, basic black, elegant eggplant, old olive, rose red patterns paper
  • punches - eyelet border, large oval, scalloped oval
  • ribbon - Pacific point, old olive
  • other - SU markers and inks, dimensionals

My last offering today is a scrapbook layout that I knew I would do the instant I saw this set in the catalogue. As regular visitors know, DD11 has Type 1 Diabetes (that's the auto-immune type, not the lifestyle type) and part of her management plan is treating episodes of hypoglycaemia. To bring her blood sugar levels back on track she eats some jelly beans and always has them with her - hence the theme of this layout. The photo was taken the day she was diagnosed and admitted to The Children's Hospital and I have written some journalling and tucked it under the photo, with a punched tab for easy access.

Here's a close up of the gumball machine. I clear embossed it to give it that shiny, metal finish and used crystal effects on some of the jelly beans for dimension. They look good enough to eat!

Materials:

  • stamps - Something Sweet
  • card & paper - basic black textured card, Pink Flamingo DSP, whisper white card
  • rub on - Bright Delight
  • punch - round tab
  • other - clear embossing powder, versarmark ink, crystal effects, lettering
The totally cute stamps are from a set called Something Sweet and you can also get a co-ordinating punch and some treat cups to use for real sweets or other goodies (they have literally a hundred uses!); I'm sure you will see some of these somewhere along the blog hop.

Thanks for coming by today; I hope these ideas may help inspire you and that you enjoy the rest of the tour. Now just click on her name to see what wonderful creations Noreen has for you.

Cheers
Kez

Tonight's the Night!

It's here at last! Tonight is our blog hop, or blog tour. You will be able to visit 14 blogs all showcasing the products in the brand new Summer Mini Catalogue and we hope they will delight and inspire you! Links will be set up so that you can move on to the next blog with just a click of your mouse!

So I look forward to your return at 8.00 pm Australian East Coast Daylight Savings Time tonight.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Only 1 sleep to go!

Yes, that's right, there's only 1 more sleep to go now until the Stampers Anonymous first ever Blog Hop at 8.00 pm tomorrow (that's Aussie East Coast daylight savings time). I am very excited about it all! Make sure you get the family organised so you can sit uninterrupted and take the tour - there are 14 demos creating up a storm of wonderful creations to share with and inspire you. See you then!

Kez