Friday, August 26, 2011

Dear Friend


It was my good mate Rob's birthday recently and although I rang her on the day, I haven't had the chance to give her her birthday card until today. I've used a combination of things I know she loves - black, vanilla, cherry cobbler and my Fabulous Florets stamp set.

Here's the front:


And on the inside I have carried through the shape and the flower:



Materials used:
  • stamps - Occasional Greetings, Fabulous Florets, Perfect Punches, Vintage Labels 18 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
  • card - cherry cobbler, basic black, very vanilla, old olive, Love Letters DSP, Regals patterns stack
  • other - Versamark, cherry cobbler embossing powder, dimensionals, Big Shot, basic black satin ribbon

Back in a day or two with the gorgeous projects from our play day! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, August 19, 2011

Floral Elegance

Isn't it typical? I went to take photos for today's post earlier on while there was plenty of natural light and discovered my camera battery was dead. Now that the battery is charged, of course it is dark and dreary, cold and raining. Hmmmph!

Anywho, today's card is one I don't think I'll ever be able to give away because I love it so much! It's an elegant little number in black and vanilla and it goes something like this:


In the background is a new stamp from the 2011-2012 catalogue called Parlour Prints. I have stamped it with very vanilla craft ink and clear embossed it for a subtle but gorgeous background to my dramatic flower panel. The flower and stem are also stamped with (black) craft ink and clear embossed and I coloured the flower with my aquapainter and vanilla ink to give it a bit more richness.

The very vanilla cardstock isn't quite strong enough to hold all these layers, so I attached my vanilla to a basic black base but covered the front completely - so the card appears to be vanilla!

Here's a close up so you can see Parlour Prints a bit better:


GORJAMILICIOUS!!! I'll be sharing this little beauty with some stamping buddies when we have our play day next week and I know Rob will be drooling until then! LOL

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, August 12, 2011

You Rock!

DD13 has a birthday party to attend at the weekend, so naturally there was a need for a card. I am always a little unsure about what appeals to teenagers these days, but luckily I had a few parameters to work with:

  • the card must be funky
  • I had to use the Just Jawing set (retired)
  • the party theme is black and white
  • the birthday girl's favourite colour is purple
I must say I had a LOT of fun playing and this is what I came up with:



I cut out the skull then sprayed it with champagne shimmer mist. The eyes had heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds applied and I put some rhinestones on the crown - so there's no shortage of bling! Here's a close up of the sparkle:


The purple is my very last A4 piece of retired colour Orchid Opulence - not a colour I particularly liked, I have to admit, but here with black and white it looks rather good, and it matched the colour of the rhinestones perfectly.

DD loves it, so hopefully the birthday girl will too!

Materials used:
  • stamps - Just Jawing, Artistic Etchings, Perfect Punches
  • card - orchid opulence, basic black, whisper white
  • other - champagne shimmer paint, dimensionals, dazzling diamonds, square punch, vintage wallpaper embossing folder, Big Shot, rhinestones (non SU)
Thanks for stopping by. Have a blingalicious day!

Cheers
Kez

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Oh George!


Now that George has gotten your attention! LOL! I was honoured this week to receive the following blog award from my sweet friend Lynda over at 1..2..3...Easy PC.


Thanks so much Lynda! As usual, I have to share 5 things about myself you may not know, so I decided to have a bit of fun with it!

  1. my top 5 film hunks (not necessarily in order) are George Clooney, Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Sean Connery
  2. favourite romantic comedy movies: The Holiday (Jude Law at his best!), The Accidental Husband (hilarious!), Kate & Leopold (no-one could resist Hugh Jackman on a white horse!), Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (brilliant and sweet!) Out of Sight or One Fine Day (George is excellent in both!)
  3. Book I have read the most number of times - The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
  4. things I will definitely never master in this lifetime: skiing, ice skating, chess
  5. what career I would have chosen if I'd had any talent at all: famous movie actress
Now I have to pass this award on to 5 people whom I consider to have style. Difficult to pick only 5, but here goes:
All of them talented ladies and sweet people too, you would enjoy visiting their blogs.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Home On The Range

High on my "To Do" list this week was to create a third card for my Brayering 201 class coming up soon and I decided to play with new in colours Pool Party and Island Indigo.

I had originally intended to add some leaves in the foreground, but once I had done my masking for the mountains, I changed my mind. The reason for that is when I looked at it, it reminded me of the Blue Mountains on a hazy day and how they got their name. So I simplified by just adding some birds (from the Sail Away stamp) and here you have my home!


I just ADORE these two new colours and can see me getting a LOT of use out of them over the next two years!

Materials used:

  • stamps - Sail Away
  • card - whisper white, pool party, island indigo
  • inks - pool party, island indigo
  • other - brayer, dimensionals, scrap paper, sponge dauber, black marker

Thanks for stopping in.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, August 5, 2011

A Touch of New Colour

There was great excitement at my place yesterday morning as my pre-order goodies from the new 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue arrived on my doorstep!

I managed to get the packs all opened and drool over them for a while before I had to head off to work (gotta do the grind to pay for all the new things, lol), but I couldn't wait to play once I got home. For my first card I've used two retiring stamp sets with three new in colours and kept it fairly simple.


LOVING Wisteria Wonder already! I know lots of my ladies are going to be thrilled with this gorgeous shade.

Materials used:
  • stamps - Bella Toile, Friends 24/7
  • card - Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral, Whisper White
  • ink - black StazOn, wisteria wonder, calypso coral, lucky limeade
  • punches - 32 mm circle, 35 mm circle, scallop trim border
  • other - vintage wallpaper embossing folder, dimensionals, blender pen, sponge dauber
Of course I had to have another play and this time I was inspired by a card by Heather Telford. Heather does gorgeous one or two layer cards with sponging and masking and it was the colours and sponging on her card that inspired me. (You can visit her from the link on my blog list.)


Materials used:

  • stamps - Inspired by Nature, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
  • card - lucky limeade, whisper white, pool party
  • other - stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals, sponges

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Going, Going, Gone

I'm a little behind in my posting, so today's cards use stamps from the now ended Autumn/Winter mini. Both these masculine stamps are fabulous and so versatile.

Firstly I cased my own card which was a case of someone else's card! Hmm, if you managed to follow that logic, here's Sail Away again:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Sail Away, The Open Sea
  • card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla, crumb cake, night of navy, watercolour
  • other - night of navy striped grosgrain, dimensionals, nestabilities die, aquapainter
That gorgeous ribbon is on the retirement list, so I'll be stocking up on that one!

Next a simple card with plenty of texture and a bit of "grunge". I also put some crystal effects over the coloured portions of the bike to give it that "shiny motorcycle" buzz, lol!


Materials used:
  • stamps - Motorcycle, Sanded 
  • card - not quite navy, very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede
  • other - crystal effects, square lattice embossing folder, dimensionals
I think the sanded background stamp might be on the retirement list too, so that's another favourite going. Ho hum.

And then, as it's DH's birthday on Friday, I made another Sail Away for him. As you know, he likes bold colours, so I've used my fav red, white and blue nautical theme! Layout inspired by a card by Lesley Annabel.


Materials used:

  • stamps - Sail Away, Best Dad Ever, French Foliage, The Open Sea
  • card - cherry cobbler, whisper white, not quite navy
  • other - white embossing powder and heat tool, cherry cobbler bakers twine, non SU charm, dimensionals
Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Sad Farewell

I know it's always exciting to get a new catalogue and lots of new goodies to play with, but of course it's also tinged with a little sadness when some favourite sets have to be farewelled.

Here are a few cards made with stamps that are retiring:

A Sense of time

Party Hearty

Bella Toile

On A Pedestal

A Good Egg

Tart & Tangy

If you haven't already checked out the Retirement List (or Last Chance List), click on the name for the link.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers
Kez