Fab Friday 125
Since I had the Graceful Garden stamp set on my desk and I loved the sketch this week from Fab Friday, I used both to create a birthday card which I needed to send. I embossed Whisper White card using the Petal Burst Embossing Folder and attached it to scored and folded Rich Razzleberry card. I cut two pieces of the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper and attached one to the top left hand corner and one to the bottom right hand corner of the embossed card. I adore how this gorgeous Designer Series Paper is not limited to Christmas. I stamped the flower from the Graceful Garden stamp set onto Whisper White card three times using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
I coloured the flower on one image using the Light and Dark Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Blends and the leaves on all three flowers using the Light Old Olive Stampin’ Blend. Once coloured I cut out the coloured flower and leaves and just the leaves on the other two images. I cut an oval from Whisper White card and a scalloped oval from Rich Razzleberry card using the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies and attached them together. I stamped the greeting from the Best Birds stamp set onto the right hand side of the Whisper White oval using Rich Razzleberry in. 
I attached the extra two sets of leaves behind the flower and attached the whole piece to the left hand side of the stamped oval. The image panel is attached to the card front using dimensionals.
To decorate the inside of the card, I stamped the same flower image onto the bottom left hand corner of Whisper White card and coloured the image once more using the Light and Dark Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Blends and the Light Old Olive Stampin’ Blend.
Simple but really quite pretty isn’t it? I hope the lovely lady this is destined for is happy to receive it.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Sympathy
I had the need for a sympathy card and thought that I would share it with you today. I embossed Whisper White card using the Petal Burst Embossing Folder. I punched a length of Calypso Coral card using the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch and attached it behind one long edge of a piece of Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper. The Designer Series Paper is attached to the embossed Whisper White card and then scored and folded Calypso Coral card. I cut Whisper White card and Calypso Coral card using the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies. The dies are attached to each other and then the card front using dimensionals.
I stamped the flower from Graceful Garden stamp set onto Whisper White card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured the flower using the Light and Dark Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blends. I coloured the leaves using the Light and Dark Old Olive Stampin’ Blends. I cut out the flower and attached it over the Whisper White oval. I added pieces of dimensionals to the back of the stem. I didn’t want to trim the stem of the flower, I love how it looks floating off the ovals.
To decorate the inside of the card, I stamped the greeting from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set onto Whisper White card using Old Olive ink. I punched Calypso Coral card using the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch and attached it behind a piece of the same Designer Series Paper before attaching to the bottom of the stamped card. I stamped two sets of leaves from the Graceful Garden stamp set onto Whisper White card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured the flowers using the Light Old Olive Stampin’ Blend before cutting out the images. I attached both sets of leaves to the lower left hand corner of the stamped Whisper White card.
I’d love to hear what you think of this card.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Special Request
Sorry for being so late posting today but I have been busy. Firstly we only got home Monday from a few days away with my Mum and Dad at Woodgate, a very beautiful coastal town near Bundaberg in Queensland. Tuesday I had my weekly class at Beachmere and this morning I had to go shopping, don’t know why my husband thinks we have to eat. 
Anyway, after all that I spent some time making this card for my husband to give to a friend for his 50th birthday. Ron and a few of his mates got together and purchased a framed photo of the Parramatta football team, apparently Scot is a huge fan. So with a little help from the internet, I put this card together. He wanted a large card so I created a tri-fold card 7″ x 6″ which gives plenty of room for everyone to sign. 
I attached four strips of Daffodil Delight card across Night of Navy card and attached it to scored and folded Whisper White card. I used my Layering Circle Framelit Dies to cut a circle from the right hand side. I attached the second double folded Whisper White card inside the first one, so that the fold was on the bottom of the card. I found an image on the internet, printed it onto Whisper White card and cut it out using the same circle die.
I attached the image inside the circle I cut in the front of the card so that it sits inside the card. I cut the numbers and letters from Night of Navy card using retired dies and attached them next to the image. I cut Night of Navy card using the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die and attached it to the middle of the card. I used my Envelope Punch Board (love how it gives dimensionals for various card sizes) and Night of Navy card to create an envelope. I punched Daffodil Delight card using the Balloon Bouquet Punch and attached some retired gold Bakers Twine to the back of each balloon before attaching to the front of the envelope using dimensionals. I tied the ends of the twine in a knot and attached them to the card front using a Glue Dot. Ron seems pretty happy with the card – I hope Scotty likes it too.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Christmas Ornament
This is one of the projects that we made at the All Day Class at Beachmere last week. Everyone got to create one of the ornaments from the Be Merry Kit which can be found on Page 32 of the Holiday Catalogue. These ornaments are so pretty and really quick to put together. The only thing that can be a little tricky is using the hot glue gun and this sometimes leads to a very messy work area. I thought these ornaments were so fabulous that they would make an awesome gift for Christmas, so we also created a lovely presentation box. The box base is created from Basic Black card and the lid is Whisper White card.
I cut the pieces for the lid and base at 6-1/2″. The base is scored at 1″ on all four sides using my Simply Scored Scoring Tool. The base is also scored at 1″ but I used a box making shim which was shared by Connie Stewart on a You Tube. This shim is fabulous because it makes the scored line on the lid just under 1″ so that when you put your box together it fits perfectly. To decorate the lid of the box we did a little fussy work cutting circles and scalloped circles of different sizes to create a layered look. The first thing we did was attach a piece of Merry Music Designer Series Paper 4″ square to a 4-1/4″ piece of Basic Black card. Making sure to centre the die we cut a scalloped circle using the Layering Circle Framelits Dies. 
Once the designer series paper piece is cut we attached it to the centre of the box lid inside the scoring lines using repositional glue and cut a slightly smaller circle from the Whisper White card making sure to centre the die inside the scalloped circle in the designer series paper again using the Layering Circle Framelits Dies. Once the circle was cut from the Whisper White card, the designer series paper piece was removed and repositional glue was used to hold a 4″ square of Real Red inside the scoring lines on the back of the box lid. A slightly smaller scalloped circle was cut from the Real Red card, again making sure to line up the die within the circle already cut from the box lid. 
Once the scalloped circle was cut the Real Red card was removed from the box lid. We used a 1″ circle punch to punch a finger grip on two opposite sides of the box lid. We also cut the box from the outside edge to the score line on two opposites sides. Once this was done we glued the Designer Series Paper piece to the top of the box. We used Glue Dots to attach a piece of Window Sheet onto the back of the box lid before attaching the Real Red card. Once this was done we assembled the box lid. The base is cut from the outside to the score line on two opposite sides and also assembled. This produced a lovely box which shows off the ornament once it is placed inside. I am pretty sure these are going to make an appearance both on and under my tree this year. If you would like to complete this project, please click on the link below to download your free PDF tutorial here. You will also find this tutorial on my Free Tutorial page.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Online Extravaganza
Today marks the beginning of a great opportunity to purchase some great stamp sets and accessories at greatly reduced prices. The online extravaganza starts today and ends on the 26th November and to kick things off with a bang from midnight on the 20th November till 11.59pm on the 20th November you can purchase from a list of great stamps at a 20% off saving. For the whole of the period you can purchase from a select list of accessories including some great framelits and thinlits, some of which are up to 50% off the normal price. To see what is available please click on the photo below to download the PDF.
To mark the end of the sale there will be another 24 hour flash sale on the 27th November, after the end of the purchase period for the items on the list. So don’t miss out, check out what you need and then visit my online store to place your order and take advantage of a whole range of fantastic deals.
Bye for now
Kris
More Climbing Orchids
I had so much fun using the Climbing Orchids bundle that I thought I would share another couple of cards I made. The colour inspiration once more comes from the fabulous Bronwyn Eastley and I am in love with how gorgeous these flowers look in real life. For each of these cards I die cut Whisper White card using the Orchid Builder Framelits dies. 
The Whisper White card is coloured using a sponge to add the ink. The card on the left uses Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder and Berry Burst. The stem is cut from Crumb Cake card using the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies. I embossed the Whisper White card using the Petal Burst Embossing Folder and used Wisteria Wonder for the card base. The greeting from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set using Berry Burst ink. I stamped Whisper White card using the image from the Graceful Garden stamp set and Wisteria Wonder ink to decorate the side panels of the card.
The card on the right uses Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze. The branch is cut from Old Olive card using the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies and the card base is Cajun Craze. 
The side panels are decorated by stamping the image from the Graceful Garden stamp set using Cajun Craze ink. The greeting is also stamped using Cajun Graze ink.
To decorate the inside of the card, I attached a medium flower and a flower bud to a short piece of the stem to match the card front. I love centre step cards and they are such fun to decorate. I’d love to hear what you think.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Beachmere Christmas Class
I shared some photos of the bags I decorated to hold the supplies the ladies at Beachmere would need to create their projects last Wednesday and thought you might like to see some of the set up. There were 11 ladies in all who participated in the day and we created 5 different projects. 
I set up 5 tables one for each project and the ladies could move from table to table as they completed the projects. We shared a lovely lunch (unfortunately I forgot to take photos) and spend a lovely day together creating. 
We created a framed art piece, a set of three tags, a boxed set of four cards, an ornament and presentation box and a Pop and Twist card. To help things along I walked everyone through the projects at the start of the day and I also created interactive displays so that they could see all the different steps to creating both the Pop and Twist card as well as the Ornament Presentation Box. 
Each table was set for four people to make it easy for everyone to get through the projects. We started at 9am and finished around 4pm, with a break for a morning cuppa and also for lunch. Everyone completed all of their projects and I think all in all were very happy with what they created. It’s a once a year day and while it takes a while to prepare for such an event, it is always lovely to watch everyone enjoying creating their projects. I’ll pop in soon with photos of the projects and maybe some free PDF’s so you can create these great projects as well.
Bye for now,
Kris
Christmas Class
Every year since I have started teaching card classes at Beachmere Retirement Resort we have had an all day event about this time in November. It’s a fun day, we get together and spend the day creating some great projects for the Christmas Season. This year I decided to decorate gift bags to hold all of the project kits for each of the ladies attending.
I stamped Whisper White card with the starry background stamp from the Star of Light stamp set using Smoky Slate ink. I stamped the greeting from the Carols of Christmas stamp set onto the right hand side of the stamped card using Night of Navy ink. I punched 1″, 1-1/2″ and 2″ circles from Cherry Cobbler card and embossed each of the circles using the Sparkle Embossing Folder.
I attached the embossed circles to the left hand side of the stamped Whisper White card and drew strings using the Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker. I cut Night of Navy card using the scalloped border from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies and attached a strip behind each long edge of the stamped card. The panel is them attached to the front of the plain white gift bag. I used some retired Gold Cord and tied bows which I attached to each of the circles using a small amount of Tombow Multipurpose glue.
I love how these turned out and the ladies appreciated the new and improved packaging for our day of crafting.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Not Stampin’ Blends
I thought you might like a change from the cards I have been sharing using the Stampin’ Blends. Don’t get me wrong I am totally addicted to them but thought you might like to see something different. I only gave in and bought the Climbing Orchid stamp set and the co-ordinating Orchid Builder Framelits Dies when the Stampin’ Blends were released. I have always loved this set but thought that I wouldn’t use it enough. 
Anyway, any excuse will do, isn’t that right? I saved some information that an Aussie Demonstrator Bronwyn Eastley shared when the current Annual Catalogue was released. She created a whole list of colours to use to recreate different varieties of these beautiful flowers. 
I put them to use to create two cards for a couple of friends, one who has a broken wrist and one who has just had a back operation. I cut the flowers from Whisper White card and then coloured them using a sponge. The large and medium flowers are firstly sponged with Flirty Flamingo ink and then Melon Mambo ink. The flower centres and the small flower buds are sponged with Real Red ink. 
I did use my bone folder to add a little dimension to the petals before attaching them together with glue dots. I stamped the branch images from the Climbing Orchid stamp set onto Whisper White card using Early Espresso ink. The flowers are attached using dimensionals and the small flower buds are attached using Tombow Multipurpose glue. I stamped the greeting from the Lift Me Up stamp set using Early Espresso ink. The first card has two medium flowers because I needed to cover a small smudge on the card front. 
That’s what you get when you sponge – inky fingers – and smudges. This card has the image panel attached to Melon Mambo card and then scored and folded Thick Whisper White card.
To decorate the inside of this card, I created one more medium flower and two flower buds and attached them over the stem images which are again stamped in Early Espresso ink.
The second card has the image panel attached to Flirty Flamingo card and then scored and folded Thick Whisper White card. To decorate the inside of this one I added a layer of Flirty Flamingo under the Whisper White card. The flower and flower buds are created in the same manner as the ones for the card front and the stem image is again stamped in Early Espresso ink. These extra layers of card are also to cover a smudge. This time, I completed the card and when I turned it over there was a huge smudge of dirty reddy/brown ink on the card. So I removed the front layer, cut down the inside panel and attached them both to new scored and folded Thick Whisper White.
I’m not usually this messy but I do seem to have red ink everywhere at the moment. I don’t think my fingers will be clean for quite a while! Oh well, I think it was worth it. I absolutely love both cards and hope that my friends Lyn and Gwen do too.
Bye for now,
Kris
Product Used:
Home Again
I had the best weekend with my friends Jenny and Joyce at the Gold Coast to attend the Stampin’ Up! Onstage event. We are always spoilt by the company and all of the staff who attend and this year was no exception. I was lucky enough to come home with three new stamp sets all from the Occasions Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration catalogues which will be released in the New year. We also had the priviledge of having lots of other product from the Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catalogues showcased by some great demonstrators and Stampin’ Up! Home Office staff including Sara, the company CEO. We got a head start on the company’s 30th year celebrations with a carry bag and a beautiful badge.
One really exciting announcement was for a new tool called the Stamparatus. Wonder if you can guess what it is. Well, it is a stamp positioner but so much more. The plates on the Stamparatus are moveable and you can position up to 4 stamps so that you can have a real production line going. The Stamparatus works with clear mount and photopolymer stamps. It is amazing and it is being released on a reservation basis. You can jump online on the 17th to the 3oth November and reserve your Stamparatus which would be shipped around the 1st February next year. 
There will be three such periods for you to reserve one of these fantastic tools. Second reservation period starts on the 6th to the 30th December with an expected shipping date of 19th March and the last reservation period is from 16th to the 30th January with an expected shipping date of the 15th April. Stampin’ Up! is determined that no-one will be disappointed. If there is an overwhelming response to the first reservation period, they will turn off the availability until the next reservation period. This will ensure that there are no backorder issues and everyone receives what they order in a timely manner.
Having seen this awesome tool in operation I cannot wait to have my own to make the creative process even better. Here is a video which Stampin’ Up! has created so that you can see for yourself how awesome it will be.
So don’t forget your first opportunity to purchase this tool is the 17th November which is only four days away.
I forgot to say that this awesome tool will be available in the 2018 Annual Catalogue. So it is going to be a permanent addition to the already fabulous tools we have available for purchase.
Bye for now,
Kris
