Extreme Elements
I have thought about buying this set since the catalogue came out, but kept putting it off. Not as long as I waited to buy Lovely as a Tree (2 years). I finally gave in and I am so glad that I did. What a great set. I teamed it with the Extreme Guitar and this weeks sketch from SUDSOL to create a male style card..
I started with a Crumb Cake base and added a layer of Early Expresso which I stamped around the edges using the star image from Extreme Elements and Early Expresso ink. I also sponged the edges using the same ink. I stamped the various images from the Extreme Elements using Real Red, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake ink. The Extreme Guitar image has been stamped over the top using Early Expresso ink. I stamped “party” from the Party Hearty stampset onto Whisper White card using Real Red ink and punched it out with the Word Window Punch. I added a Real Red Modern Label and attached it to the image panel so that it hung over the edge, then I trimmed it off. I added a Marina Mist mat to the image panel and attached it to the card front. No dimensionals, no bling, but boy am I happy with this card. I can see me using this a lot more for those hard (for me) to make male cards. In fact I like it so much, it is going to be one of the cards we make at my Stamp-A-Stack coming up in April. For more details about the Stamp-A-Stack check out my Classes and Workshops page.
Please keep those comments coming, I love to hear what you think.
Bye for now, Kris.
First Day of Pre-School
My grandson Noah and granddaughter Jae had their first day at pre-school earlier this month and I wanted to scrap the photos. They looked so cute.
Again I followed this weeks sketch from Scrap, Love, Create. I really do love these sketches, there is a new one every week and if you need something to give you a kick start, these sketches are just the thing.
I started with a Basic Black 12″ x 12″ page. The photos are all matted with Basic Black card and added to a piece of Sahara Sand card. My journaling is computer generated using the RGB codes for Pacific Point and layered onto Pacific Point Card. I added a strip of Pacific Point card which has been run through my crimper above and below the photo mat. “Tadpoles” has been cut from Garden Green card using my Timeless Type Junior Alphabet. The little frog (also Garden Green card) in the bottom right hand corner is made using the Two Step Owl punch and also the Small Oval Punch.
Boy oh boy, I am on a scrapbooking roll at the moment. I still have about 6 years of scrapping for the grandchildren to catch up on. Trouble is, I keep taking all these cute photos now and the old ones are languishing somewhere on my computer.
Love to know what you think.
Bye for now, Kris.
Another award for me
I am feeling rather special at the moment. I got an email from a lovely papercrafter April telling me that she has passed the Cherry on Top award to me. April and I have been in touch with one another through the SUDSOL group for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators that I belong to. Now to accept this award I have to tell you 3 things about myself and pass the award to 5 bloggers.
1. I have been attending Weight Watchers meetings and have lost 7.5kgs but still need to lose another 6.5kgs to get to goal.
2. I prefer Coffee to Tea.
3. Cooking is something I “have” to do, not “love” to do. I’d rather spend my time in my craft room.
Well there is a little trivia for you. Now to share 5 blogs and bloggers whose work I greatly admire.
1. Lee Conrey
2. Mary Brown
5. Bev Watt
Please visit the blogs of these very talented papercrafters and don’t forget to leave a comment. I know how lovely it is to receive them.
Bye for now, Kris.
Some new product
You know how exciting it is when you get a new catalogue and you can’t wait to try all the new product. I always rush out and buy heaps of things and then forget to play with half of them. I can tell all of you this because my husband never reads my blog. Anyway I saw a sketch for a challenge on Try Stampin on Tuesday and thought I would dust off the Island Floral Die.
To make the flower I cut one of the 5 petal flowers from the Island Floral Die using Concord Crush card. I also cut one of the small flowers using the same cardstock. I also punched one Fancy Flower Extra Large from Concord Crush card. I cut one set of leaves from the Island Floral Die using Pear Pizzazz card. To get my flower to have some bulk and some shape, I used my bone folder to distress each of the flowers on both sides until the cardstock started to separate. So now I have two of each of the 3 flower shapes. I scrunched each one individually and then opened them. I did the same thing with the leaves. After opening them I stacked them with the leaves at the bottom, then the large Island Floral flower, then the punched Fancy Flower and then the small Island Floral flower. I held them altogether with a Pretty in Pink brad. I also made sure that each of the flowers and the leaves was offset to each other. Then starting with the smallest flower I scrunched it up over the brad. I continued to do this with each of the layers of the flower. I then opened them out again, careful to leave them slightly plumped up.
To make my card I started with a base of Sahara Sand card and added a strip of Pink Pirouette card which I embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. I wrapped this with a piece of Concord Crush 1/2″ Stitched Poly Ribbon. I added my flower over the ribbon using several mini glue dots. Lastly I added 3 Pretty in Pink Brads to the upper left hand corner.
I absolutely love the way this flower turned out. I can see that I will be using this die a lot more in the future. I just hope it doesn’t retire at the end of next month.
Bye for now, Kris.
Stylish Blogger
I received an email from Juanita Golson about a week ago telling me that she had awarded me with the Stylish Blogger award. I am so honoured and cannot thank Juanita enough, I am just so sorry that I haven’t responded as quickly as I should.
Now in order to accept this award, I need to thank the person who bestowed it on me – so thank you once again Juanita. I also need to share 8 things about myself which I have not previously shared and to bestow this award on another 8 bloggers and email each of them and let them know that they have received this award.
Ok so now 8 things about myself.
1. I love papercrafting and have been a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator for nearly 4 years now. I love the product and cannot get enough of it. I think I have shared this before but it really is true.
2. Blogging has made me step out of my comfort zone in many ways, but mostly it pushes me to be creative every day.
3. I am a card maker first and foremost but this year I have been inspired to create more scrapbook pages to record my family life.
4. I have made several friends through my blogging and various online groups that I belong to, some from nearby and some from overseas.
5. I moved from a beautiful seaside village to the beautiful city of Brisbane 3 years ago to be nearer to my daughters and grandchildren.
6. My husband and I travelled to Cooktown last year with our caravan and had an absolute ball.
7. When I was about 8 I travelled with my family to the United States. We lived there for 18 months in Bay City, Milwalkee and Boston.
8. My parents share the same birthday, although they were not born in the same year.
And now onto 8 bloggers who I admire.
1. Stephanie Pike (my fabulous upline)
2. Tami Black
6. Maria
Bitty Button Flowers
For this card I decided to use something from the Summer Mini which I had to have and which I have hardly used, my Bitty Buttons. I used the sketch from the Technostamper and because I used my Big Shot it also fits this weeks challenge at Late Night Stampers. I must admit just about every card I make these days uses my Big Shot, I don’t know how I survived without it.
I stamped my image from the Simply Said stampset using Old Olive ink onto Whisper White card. I punched the flower shapes from Rose Red card using one of the punches from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I used my 2-way glue pen to attach the matching Bitty Buttons to the punched shape and then used mini glue dots to attach them to the image replacing the stamped flowers with the punched ones. I attached the image panel to the Crumb Cake layer which has been embossed using the Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder. I cut a strip of Daffodil Delight card approximately 1.5cm wide and inserted the ends into the Modern Label Extra Large punch to decorate the ends. I attached this over the image panel and inserted and Old Olive brad into each end. I stamped “Birthday Wishes” from the Occasional Quotes stampset (Level 3 Hostess Set) onto Whisper White card using Rose Red ink, punched it out with the Word Window punch and attached it to the Daffodil Delight strip. The whole piece was then attached to the Daffodil Delight base card.
This is a close up of the buttons and the punched shapes. You can see how much dimension they give to the card. I’m not sure why I haven’t used these before, probably because I was hoarding them for something special.
Bye for now, Kris.
Great Friend
This stampset was one I couldn’t get enough of when it first came out but unfortunately it has since been lost in the pile of stamps in my cupboard. I decided to dust it off and use it for my entry in the Stamping 411 sketch challenge this week.
I started with Rich Razzleberry card and added a layer of Whisper White which has been embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. I wrapped the Whisper White card with Old Olive 5/8″ Satin Ribbon and then attached my bow using a Vintage Brad (aren’t these just gorgeous). I punched a 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle from a piece of Rich Razzleberry card which was also embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder. I stamped the “frame” image from Great Friend using Rich Razzleberry ink onto Whisper White card and cut it out. I also stamped the “leaf” image 3 times using Old Olive ink onto Whisper White card and cut them out. I layered them onto the frame image and cut off the stems where necessary. I stamped the butterfly using Pacific Point ink onto Whisper White card and cut it out.
I layered the “frame” image onto the Rich Razzleberry 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle and attached it over the Old Olive 5/8″ Satin Ribbon on the right hand side of the card using dimensionals. Lastly I added the butterfly. I like to cut a dimensional in half and add one half under each of the wings. I use snail down the centre of the butterfly and this lets you attach it to the card with a little lift under the wings. I hope you can see all the dimension in this photo.
Here is a close up of my bow. It has been put together in exactly the same way as I described in my Vintage Vogue post yesterday. I just love the way these bows turn out.
All in all I think you would agree this card turned out not too bad.
Bye for now, Kris.
Vintage Vogue
Ok, the card for today is one I completed for the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink this week.
I started with Perfect Plum and added a layer of Whisper White which has been embossed using the Square Embossing Folder. My image panel is Whisper White which is layered onto Perfect Plum. Both of these cardstock pieces have had the top corners rounded using the Corner Small Punch. Underneath is a layer of Certainly Celery which has been cut using the Top Note Die. I also cut two sets of Little Leaves from Certainly Celery card. My flowers are from the Oh So Beautiful Set, Vintage Vogue. I stamped the large flower and 2 small flowers using Perfect Plum ink onto Whisper White card and cut them out. I stamped one small flower using Perfect Plum ink onto Whisper White card but stamping once onto scrap paper and then cut it out. I added my flowers over the leaves on the image panel using mini glue dots and to finish them off added small Basic Rhinestones to the centres of the flowers. I added a strip of Perfect Plum cardstock which has been punched along one edge with the Scallop Trim Border punch. I have wrapped this piece with Whisper White Tafetta ribbon. My bow is tied using a Bow Tying Stand which my son-in-law makes. This turns out perfect bows every time. To attach it to my ribbon I used a Rhinestone Brad. You open the prongs of the brad as far as they will go and then pop the bow and the ribbon strip between the open prongs and then close the prongs around both the bow and the ribbon strip. I used a mini glue dot to hold it in position. Sometimes you have to trim the prongs a little and this can be done easily with our Paper Snips.
Here is a close up of the largest flower. You can see here the difference between stamping the first time with your inked up image (1st generation) and stamping the second time with your inked up image (2nd generation). So you can get shades of colour using the one ink pad. I love the bling that is so easily acquired with the new Basic Rhinestones.
I want to thank those of you who comment on my work, it is what keeps me going, to know that you are inspired by what I do.
Bye for now, Kris.
My Girls
For Christmas this year my daughters gave me a set of photos to go on the wall in my tv room of all 6 of my grandchildren. They had organised a photo shoot and had the photos taken. At the same time the photographer took this photo of my two gorgeous daughters and I have been going to scrap it ever since. When I saw Maria’s sketch this week at Scrap Love Create, I knew that it would be perfect for this photo.
I started with a 12 x 12″ sheet of Basic Black card and added pieces of Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper. This paper is really gorgeous and although the colours scream Christmas, the designs do not and therefore it can be used for so many different themes. The polka dot piece of designer paper has been trimmed to 11 x 11″. The striped designer paper is about 6 1/4″ wide . The last strip of paper is about 2 1/4 x 8″. I cut two strips of Cherry Cobbler card 21cm x about 3cm and punched one edge with the Scallop Trim Border punch. I then cut two strips of Very Vanilla card about 21cm x 5cm and punched one edge with the Eyelet Border punch. I attached the Cherry Cobbler strip to the Very Vanilla strip and attached them behind the striped designer series paper. I printed my journalling onto Very Vanilla card using the RGB values for Cherry Cobbler and matted it with a strip of Cherry Cobbler card. The title uses Cherry Cobbler card and is cut using the Big Shot and the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet.
If you haven’t checked out Scrap Love Create, then do because each week Maria posts a new scrapbook sketch. I have found that they suit my style completely, clean and simple.
Bye for now, Kris.
More Holiday Scrapping
I decided to scrap some more photos from our week in Pottsville. Elyssa and Noah had a lovely time at the beach and in the pool and I wanted to save the memory for myself and for them. My grandchildren love checking out my latest creations whenever they visit.
I started with a 12 x 12″ Night of Navy page and added two 6″ squares of Marina Mist card. I stamped the Medallion background in one corner of each of these using Marina Mist ink. I added a circle of Bashful Blue card which I was going to cut with my Circle Scissors but ended up needing a larger circle, so I cut around a bread and butter plate. My photos are matted on Basic Black card. I stamped the shell from Ocean Commotion onto Whisper White card using, River Rock, Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake ink and cut them out. I stamped the fish from the same set using Melon Mambo ink onto Whisper White card and cut it out. I stamped the seahorse using Soft Suede ink onto Whisper White card and cut it out. The title was cut from Night of Navy card using my Big Shot and the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet. I printed my journalling onto Whisper White card (matching the RGB colour to Night of Navy) and cut it into strips, which I matted on Night of Navy card.
Here is a close up of the pieces I cut out. They make a great statement in the corner of my layout and remind me of the fun we had playing at the beach.
I love spending time with my grandchildlren and it is a special delight when they come away with us in the caravan. They seem to be growing up so quickly and these precious years are flying by.
I’d love to hear what you think of my scrapbooking.
Bye for now, Kris.
Stamping with Kris 