Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Dec 25


Wishing you all the blessings and joy of this festive season.

Cheers
Kez

Sunday, December 23, 2012

The Man Himself

Didn't expect to get time to get another post in before Christmas, but here I am!

Each year we think up a theme for our Christmas decorating, food, etc - and this year we chose the man himself, Santa Claus. So our Christmas dinner menu is food that is full, robust and heartwarming and we have plenty of red and white items around.

The other day I found a garden light at my local $2 shop which I couldn't resist buying and yesterday I glanced upon a large glass vase I have - and the two items clicked together in my head as an idea for our Christmas table centrepiece. Luckily, when I tried it out, my idea came together first time (hooray!) and produced our very own North Pole:


And yes, you do recognise those snowflakes I am sure - from the Snow Swirled set which I have stamped on with whisper white craft ink (rotate pressure on the stamp a little as you press the ink on to the rounded surface of the vase).

I also saw a very simple idea on Pinterest that I have used to dress up the dining chairs a little - here's a photo of one of those:


And our Christmas dinner menu is inside this little holder made with the two tags die and stocking punch:


Materials used:
  • card - midnight muse, crumb cake, real red, basic black, glitter card
  • other - two tags die, Big Shot, stocking punch, dimensionals
  • non SU - brick wall embossing folder, corner rounder punch

Just little things to make our day even more fun. Hope you are enjoying preparing for Santa too!

Thanks for popping in.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, December 21, 2012

Gingerbread Wreath

I am sure you are all like me and frantically trying to squeeze more hours into the day with so much organising still to do for the "Big Red Day"! All this planning and preparation for something that is over so fast, but we keep doing it every year! LOL

As always, it will be a pleasure just to have our small family all together to celebrate and keep up many of the family traditions that have been established over the years.

Meanwhile, for this year I created a new wreath for my front door. It is one of those projects that ended up looking completely different to what I originally had in mind, but I am finding it very difficult to get my head into craft mode, what with all the other distractions, so in the end it was very much a "that will do" kind of approach! It's just a bit of fun:


Materials used:

  • stamps - Scentsational Season
  • card - whisper white
  • other - holiday collection framelits, Big Shot, polka dot ribbon (retired)
  • non SU - red satin ribbons, wreath, hot glue gun, red rhinestones, jingle bells, Noel embellishment, gold cord

I wish you and yours a wonderful festive season filled with much joy, love and laughter. If you are travelling, stay safe. Many thanks for visiting over the past year, I hope you will come back in 2013.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Cheers
Kez

Friday, December 14, 2012

The Tassel Was Worth The Hassle

Today we are in Melbourne attending DD20's graduation ceremony where she is receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree. Naturally, we are the proudest family in the world and I'm so happy we can all be together to celebrate her wonderful achievement.

Later on tonight we are going out for a special celebratory dinner, but for now of course there are handmade cards and graduation gifts to be given!

Here is the card I made and it is a perfect example of why I don't get rid of retired product! I've used a retired colour (ballet blue - DD20's favourite and a good match for her skirt and the BA hood) and retired Timeless Type alphabet die as well as retired stamp set, Great Grads. The main image is a non SU stamp but perfect for the occasion, don't you think?


Materials used:
  • stamps - Great Grads (retired)
  • card - ballet blue (retired), basic black, whisper white, watercolour
  • other - Timeless Type alphabet dies (retired), crystal effects, stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals
  • non SU - Tessa Tassel by Kraftin' Kimmie

This post was scheduled, but if I manage to get internet access this afternoon I will add a photo of DD in her regalia - otherwise it will be in a few days when we get home.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers
Kez

Edited to add: here are some photos of the great day








Tuesday, December 11, 2012

It's Just Not Fair

It's just not fair when the AusPost man brings a box of SU goodies to your doorstep at 8 am on a morning when you have plenty of chores to get done.

The new rubbah (or dsp or tools) sits there and stares at you, taunting and teasing. "Open me!" it says, "Play with me, you know you want to!"

Of course I want to, who wouldn't? But those chores ... We're heading off to Melbourne on Thursday and then DD20 will be coming back with us - and my craft room is nowhere near ready to be invaded inhabited "for the duration"! LOL.

So the new things will have to wait (sob, sob!) but I did make a card the other day, playing with the technique where you have a gap in your embossing to stamp in (I don't know if it has a shorter name!) - yes, I am already thinking of techniques to teach my ladies in next year's classes! Not a total success, but there's plenty of time to practise that one a bit more!




Materials used:

  • stamps - Pleasant Poppies
  • card - whisper white, certainly celery
  • other - windows labels framelits, Big Shot, pretty in pink ribbon, dimensionals, fancy fan E/F, blender pen

Well, better get back to those chores - time's a'running out! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Butterflies in Flight

For the first time in ages, today I got to sit and make a card just for FUN! Not for DT work or classes or  for Christmas preparation - just for the pure enjoyment of creating - and I loved it!

I was inspired by an embossed and sponged panel I saw on a card, so I ran with that idea and ended up with some butterflies in flight - take a look:




Materials used:
  • stamps - Creative Elements, All a Flutter, Kindness Matters
  • card - midnight muse, whisper white, gold
  • other - gold embossing powder, dimensionals, blender pen, sponge, gold pen

I embossed the gold swirls first, then sponged with tempting turquoise, island indigo and midnight muse. My "flutterbies" were coloured with perfect plum, calypso coral, tempting turquoise and lucky limeade. The most awkward part was sticking those little beauties on! We're talking TINY amounts of dimensional here! LOL!

Anyway, now I've got to get back to my To Do List - there's more Christmas cards to make and a graduation card for DD20 that won't create itself! Back with those next week!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez



Last Class

Well, it had to happen some time - the last class of the year. Here are the cards we made, firstly a simple masculine card:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Best Dad Ever
  • card - gumball green, midnight muse, whisper white, gumball green patterned paper
  • other - rhinestone, buttons die, white gel pen, dimensionals, white bakers twine

Then I had to give my new Hello Doily stamp an airing - this has been on my wish list for a LONG time! I paired it with the beautiful Field Flowers and a sentiment from Blooming with Kindness:


Materials used:
  • stamps - Hello Doily, Field Flowers, Blooming with Kindness
  • card - crumb cake, rich razzleberry, very vanilla
  • other - crumb cake seam binding, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig

And of course I could not complete the year without some kerry cobbler, now could I? This one was inspired by a Melissa Davies card and I've used another new set, Everything Eleanor. Bit of fussy cutting with this one, but my ladies cheerfully fiddled with it!


Materials used:
  • stamps - Everything Eleanor, Blooming with Kindness
  • card - cherry cobbler, very vanilla
  • other - apothecary accents die, pearls, cherry cobbler seam binding, large scallop edgelit, delicate designs embossing folder, stripes embossing folder, sponge dauber, dimensionals

It has been another wonderful year of classes with my lovely ladies and while I am looking forward to a break, I know I'll be raring to get back to it come January!

On Monday night we had our Christmas get together dinner and here is the Christmas card I made for everyone (cased from Steffi):


Plus there was a small gift in a lovely Fancy Favour gift box, which were made in different colour combinations:


Hope you're having fun at your Xmas "doos" too! Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Kez