Black and White Purse
I made this gorgeous little purse after seeing one that Elizabeth Hurst made. She was kind enough to send me the template which I printed onto Whisper White card.
One of the things which I was able to pre-order from the new catalogue was the Newsprint Designer Series paper. Until I made this purse I hadn’t used it but I think it is going to be very versatile. So after printing my template and cutting it out I covered the purse with a piece of Newsprint DSP. The top of the purse is a piece of Basic Black cardstock (I know the colour is off but it is black) which I ran through the Big Shot, firstly with the Top Note Die and then with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder. I made the handle by adding a piece of Basic Black 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon to a piece of Very Vanilla 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon. I added two Antique Pewter Jumbo Brads to the sides of the purse and tied the ribbon on the inside. I made a little flower by punching out 6 1″ circles from the Newsprint DSP and scrunching and layering them to make a gorgeous carnation-like flower. I added a velcro dot to close the purse.
Elizabeth had made some gorgeous little 3 x3″ notes to go inside and I cased one of the designs because I absolutely love it. I cut my Whisper White card 6″ x 3″, scored it in half and it through the Big shot using the Finial Press Embossing Folder on the front half only. I cut the flowers using the Simple Flower embosslit (which cuts and embosses at the same time) using Rich Razzelberry, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo and Regal Rose card. I cut the Old Olive card using the Little Leaves Sizzlet to go underneath the flower.
Very simple but I absolutely love the way this turned out. I gave this to my last Hostess (Hi Lynda) as a token of my appreciation.
I’d love to hear what you think of this gorgeous purse.
Bye for now, Kris.
A simple challenge
As you know I belong to a group of Australian and New Zealand Demonstrators ESAD and this week was a card challenge. The challenge was to make a card with only two layers. Do you know how hard that is?
Anyhow, this is my submission. I started with Rose Red cardstock and stamped it with the reeds from Inspired By Nature using Rose Red ink. Then I sponged the edges of the card with the same ink. I used Regal Rose, Rose Red and Certainly Celery markers to ink up the flowers from Inspired By Nature and stamped them onto Whisper White card. To add some dimension I tore the right hand side of the Whisper White card and then sponged around the edges using Rose Red ink. I stamped “cherish” from the Baroque Motifs stampset using Rose Red ink as well. To make the word a little darker, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped three times.
Well I’m off to work on my swap cards for Regionals. I have come up with two designs and have finished making those cards but I want to make one more card. So far I have rejected several designs but I think I have one in mind now.
Bye for now, Kris.
I Told You I would be back
I know that I am not usually so prompt in getting back to you when I say I will but I really do want to share some great little bags I made using the Top Note Die and also some of the new embossing folders released today. These folders create the deepest impression.
All of these little bags were made following instructions I found on Cathy Clark’s website. I love how they turned out. The little bags inside the Top Notes were made following Cathy’s instructions. She used one bottle bag to make two little bags to go inside the Top Notes. I didn’t have bottle bags so came up with my own dimensions and folded them out of sheets of A4 printing paper. The bag at the back is made using Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I ran the Top Notes through Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper Impressions Embossing Folder. I added a Flower made from by punching 6 Scallop Circles from DSP. I cut the leaves using the Big Shot and my Little Leaves Sizzlet.
The bag on the left is made using Ridinghood Red card. Again I ran the Top Notes through the Big Shot this time using the Elegant Lines Impressions Embossing Folder. I used the stampset Oval All to made the accent. I stamped the image on Whisper White card using Chocolate Chip ink. Coloured the flowers using my Blender Pen and Riding Hood Red ink. I punched the image using my Large Oval and then attached it to a Scallop Oval punched from Chocolate Chip card.
The bag in the centre is made using Regal Rose card which I docorated with the Friends Jumbo Wheel using Versamark ink. The roses were made by punching a Scallop Circle from Rich Razzleberry card and then cutting it into a spiral. You then wind the spiral starting at the outside to make the rose. I also added leaves made using the Little Leaves Sizzlet and Old Olive card.
The bag on the right is made using Sahara Sand cardstock. This time I ran the Top Notes through the Big Shot using the Petals-a-Plenty Impressions Embossing Folder. The leaves are again cut using the Little Leaves Sizzlet and Old Olive cardstock. The frame is from the Great Friend stampset and the butterfly is made using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die (this die cuts and embosses and you get 5 butterflies!!!).
All the bags are filled with sweets and tied off with Very Vanilla Tafetta Ribbon. These will be for sale on my stall at the Narangba Valley State School Spring Fair this Saturday. So pop in and say hello.
YAAY The New Catalogue is here
Well today marks the launch of the new catalogue and also the launch of my status as a pauper. I love everything about the new catalogue, the new colour families, the new stampsets, the new accessories and of course all the new Big Shot accessories. Just click on the picture to the right to view the catalogue online. If you would like a hard copy, then email me and I can let you know how you can get your hands on one of these FREE.
I will pop in soon with some samples of new product for you.
Bye for now, Kris.
Back from Retreat
Last weekend I had a fantastic time at a Stamping Retreat organised by my fabulous upline Stephanie Pike. It was held at the Shearwater Resort at Kings Beach, Caloundra. I was able to spend this great weekend with my Mum and also my friend and downline Shirley and her sister-in-law Lorena. We had access to the most amazing library of stampsets, big shot accessories, punches and all sorts of bits and pieces to help with all of our creating. Just look at the mess on our table. If you pop on over to Shirley’s blog she has some great photos of our beautiful room and our gorgeous view of the beach.
Shirley is a very talented papercrafter and she made Mum, Lorena and I these gorgeous little purses. Inside was a notebook, matching pen and also some chocolate (wonder where that is?). She used some gorgeous designer series paper called Greenhouse Gala. Now this designer paper will be available in the new catalogue being released on the 1st September. If you would like a copy of this fabulous new catalogue then contact me and we can made some arrangements. The note book came in very handy over the weekend for jotting down ideas. Thanks again Shirley for such a gorgeous, thoughtful gift.
Here you can see Lorena, Shirley and Mum hard at work at the Christmas card Stamp-A-Stack. This was just one of the many optional classes run over the weekend. Because these retreats are so fantastic you get to catch up with many of the wonderful people that you met the year before. I also get to catch up with some of my fellow team members from Steph’s downline.
This photo of the four of us was taken on the verandah outside our stamping room. This is where our gorgeous meals were served on Saturday and Sunday. It is just such a pleasure to be able to spend all of my time creating without having to stop to prepare meals. By the time Sunday rolls around you have made friends with everyone and it is quite sad to have to pack up and go home. I can’t wait for next year’s retreat but Steph won’t let us book in yet.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Cased Father’s Day
I had this card by Mary Fish saved on my computer for ages and finally got around to making it. I hope my Dad likes it.
I love the clean lines of this card and the cute tie. I changed Mary’s card only slightly because it was so perfect. The decoration on the right hand side of the card is made using 1/2″, 3/4″ and 1″ circle punches. The tie is 1/4″ black grosgrain ribbon “tied” around the main panel. I used Mini Glue Dots to keep it in place and trimed the ends to look like a tie. The Whisper White card has been run through my crimper. Three black brads and the greeting complete the card. I love Red, White and Black together. The greeting panel has been added using dimensionals. The only stampset used is Occasional Greetings for the “Happy Father’s Day”.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Lovely Challenge
Well today I am sharing a card with you that I made for the current LNS Challenge. The challenge is to use a stampset in a different way to the one it is meant for, e.g. a Christmas stamp to make a birthday card. I am not quite sure if I have pulled this off or not but you can be the judge.
I started by using this week’s Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge. I love all the layers in this sketch. I used Baja Breeze card for my base layer and then added a Basic Black layer. I stamped Noel (from Many Merry Messages stampset) using Riding Hood Red ink onto the Whisper White card before I ran through my Big Shot (how did I manage without this) using the Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder. The next layer is again Basic Black and then a layer of Ridinghood Red and again Whisper White which has been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder. Using dimensionals I added a layer of Baja Breeze.
To create the image panel I firstly stamped the tree image from Lovely as a Tree using Baja Breeze ink onto Whisper White card. I layered this onto Ridinghood Red card and then a layer of Basic Black which has one edge punched using the Scallop Edge Punch. I added this layer to the card front using dimensionals. Lastly I added the Whisper White half pearls from the Pretties Kit using mini glue dots.
I am really pleased with this card and I am sure that I will be using this sketch to make more cards in the future.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Fond Farewell
Recently I held a Technique Class to show how to make the gorgeous pansies that are everywhere on the internet at the moment. We made 3 cards during the class and a 6 x6″ scrapbook page, but I also gave the instructions and materials to make a Holder for the cards and matching envelopes. Most of the cardstock we used for this class will be retiring at the end of the month.
This is the front of the Holder. I experimented before the class with several different ways of colouring my pansies and was happiest with the result when I used my Stampin’ Write Markers. So how do you make the pansies? Well you punch two butterflies from Whisper White card using the Butterfly Punch. You take two makers (in the case of the Holder I used Barely Banana and Summer Sun) and using the lightest first you colour from the centre of the butterfly out towards the edge of the wings and then you take the darker marker and colour just on the edges of the wings. The next thing you have to do is spritz the butterflies with water and then you scrunch the butterflies up into the smallest ball you can, and then very carefully open them up. You do have to be very careful at this stage as you can quite easily tear the butterfly in half (speaking from experience here). You do not flatten the butterflies but leave them slightly scrunched and let them dry. I use my heat gun to hurry this up a bit. Once the butterflies are dry you punch a hole in the centre of each butterfly and attach them together with a brad. Very simple but very effective. I love the way each one turns out quite different to the last.
While my butterflies were drying I stamped the right hand side of the holder using my En Francaise background stamp and ink to match the cardstock (in this case Barely Banana) and sponged the edges using the same ink. I rolled a piece of Whisper White card using my Very Vintage Wheel and Always Artichoke ink. I sponged the edges with the same ink and attached it to the left hand side of the Holder cover. Before attaching the pansy to the front right hand side, I ran some Always Artichoke card through the Big Shot using the Little Leaves Sizzlet twice. I attached the leaves and then added the pansy over the top using Mini Glue Dots.
This shows the inside of the Holder. The two pockets have panels which have also been rolled with the Very Vintage Wheel and Always Artichoke ink for decoration. One pocket holds the cards and one holds the envelopes. I rolled the envelopes using the Very Vintage Wheel and green ink to match the one used for each card.
The colour combinations for the cards were taken from the Colour Coach. I have used Barely Banana/Summer Sun/Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal/Pumpkin Pie/Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral/Ruby Red/Old Olive and Pale Plum/Perfect Plum/Mellow Moss. I absolutely love the way this set has turned out and I will be donating it as a raffle prize at the next monthly meeting for a group to which my husband belongs.
The only colours out of all of these that will be in the new catalogue are Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie and Perfect Plum, the others will be retired as part of the new colour renovation. I will be sad to see these colours go, particularly Mellow Moss, but I am sure that it will not be long before I am absolutely in love with all the fabulous new core colours that are coming.
Hope you like this little Holder. I am particularly proud of it because I designed it myself.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Sneak Peak and
a couple of challenges. I love the Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411 this week and decided to play along using the colours for last week’s Cards & Things Challenge.
I started with a base card of Night of Navy. The Baja Breeze cardstock was run through my Big Shot using the Vintage Wallpaper Impressions Embossing Folder which I was able to pre-order from the new catalogue being released on the 1st September. I love this folder. The impression is very deep and very detailed. I added a strip of Basic Gray cardstock with the edges punched using my Eyelet Edge Punch. Next I stamped the words from a stampset called Perfect Punches (also part of my pre-order) using Baja Breeze ink and punched it out with my Wide Oval Punch. I attached this to a tag which was cut with my Big Shot using the Lots of Tags Sizzlet Die. I added a Flower Brad and underneath some strips of Night of Navy 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon. This whole piece was attached to the front of the card using dimensionals.
I love everything about this card – its simplicity, the colours and the layout.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Wheely Good Cause
This week’s challenge at Just Add Ink has been set by Genna from the Helping Hudson crew. Helping Hudson is all about helping a little boy get a Kid Walker to enable him to interact with his family as much as possible. The Helping Hudson website has some great challenges, prizes and possibly the best value tutorials around. I myself have purchased all 6 tutorials and I am thrilled with all the great things that I am going to be able to make. Anyway back to the challenge which is – Just Add Wheels.
I used an old Mojo Monday Sketch (week 77) for the layout for this card and I love it. I can see me using this one a lot more. I started with a base card of old olive. My next layer is Whisper White card rolled with the Very Vintage Wheel using Rich Razzleberry ink. I also sponged the edges using the same ink and then layered it onto a piece of Chocolate Chip card. I added 3 Old Olive Brads on the right hand side. My next layer is Whisper White card which I ran through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dot Impression Folder and this is also layered onto Chocolate Chip Card. I used my Big Shot and Old Olive card to cut the leaves using Little Leaves Sizzlet Die. I stamped the large flower from the Vintage Vogue Stampset onto Whisper White card using Rich Razzleberry ink and cut it out. I added a Chocolate Chip 5/16″ Brad to the centre of the flower and then using a dimensional attached it over the leaves.
I am happy to say that all of the product that I have used on this card is carrying over to the catalogue being released on 1st September. Yes, I have seen it and I love it and I am sure you will too. If you would like to get your hands on one of these catalogues free, just send me an email with your details and I will give you a call and we can discuss how.
Bye for now, Kris.
Stamping with Kris 