Fun Fair Birthday

This card turned out better than I thought it would. I used mostly Lawn Fawn products for this card.

Materials:

Card: Naturals Ivory, Whisper White, Brightside patterned papers from Lawn Fawn
Ink: Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Admit One, Say Cheese, Quinn's Abc's, Sophie's Sentiments, all by Lawn Fawn
Accessories: Basic rhinestones
Tools: Coloured pencils, dimensionals, scissors for fussy cutting

Baby Shower

This card was made for my niece's baby shower. They were keeping the gender of the baby a secret so I wanted to go with bright colours for something a little bit different.

Materials:
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Bashful Blue, patterned papers "Bright Side" by Lawn Fawn
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Versamagic Cloud White, Pumpkin Pie marker
Stamps: Plus One, Sunny Skies, Say Cheese, all by Lawn Fawn
Accessories: Baker's twine from The Twinery, orange and purple rhinestones, pink polka dot washi  tape, vintage glass look button
Tools: Big Shot machine, Say Cheese Lawn cut dies by Lawn Fawn, corner rounder punch, Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue, dimensionals, white gel pen

Personalised Wedding Card

The trickiest thing about this card was doing the alphabet stamping. It's a simple card and I'm happy with the result. Except for the bow. I have to get a bow tying device.

The cardstock was a shimmery white in real life which isn't caught by the camera here.

Materials:
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Blushing Bride
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Blushing Bride
Stamps: Happily Ever After, Sally's abc's, both by Lawn Fawn
Accessories: Striped organza ribbon, Basic rhinestones
Tools: Nestable square dies, dimensionals

Bright Birthday

Hi there, I'm still making cards just have been so busy I've not gotten around to posting them. Let's start with this one that I made back in April.

The layout was cased from another card. I have the picture of it but not the website or designer. I will add it as soon as I can find it.

This is how it was done -

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Brightside 6x6 paper (Lawn Fan)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Stamps: Bake Me a Cake, Sophie's Sentiments (both Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Basic rhinestones, Lemondrop twine (The Twinery), iridescent glitter.
Tools: Beautiful Wings embosslit, square punch, 2 way glue pen, dimensionals, glue tape

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is pretty straight forward. I used the 2 way glue pen to adhere the glitter to the cupcakes and butterfly. Here's a pic of the glitter, blurry I know but you get the idea:

Stuff Ups:
1. I'm not happy with the way I stamped some of the cupcakes. The cherry is lopsided and that swirl just doesn't look good.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The butterfly looked great with the glitter on it and the twine wrapped around it to make the body and antennae.

3rd Anniversary

Happy 3rd anniversary to my gorgeous hubby! This is the card I made for him. It's very cutesy but he likes it anyway. The muffins were inspired by this card by Chari Moss.

Here's how I made it:

Materials:
Cardstock: Confetti White, Crumb Cake, old blue that was lying around.
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Crumb Cake, markers - Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Basic Black.
Stamps: Love n Breakfast, Sopie's Sentiments (both Lawn Fawn).
Accessories: Hemp twine, Bevelled Window Panes, blue organza ribbon (Kaiser Craft), Basic Rhinestones.
Tools: Big Shot machine, polka dot embossing folder, sponge, mini glue dots, dimensionsals.

Tips and Tricks:
1. It's pretty straight forward - the embossed white layer was sponged with Crumb Cake ink around the edges.
2. I adhered the bevelled window pane with mini glue dots because I couldn't think of a better way to keep it in place. If you know a better way, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!
3. Those spots either side of the sentiment are rhinestones.

Stuff Ups:
1. The muffins are a little big to fit under the window pane properly.
2. The confetti cardstock is gorgeous - full of little bits so it looks recycled. Unfortunately one of those bits looks like a red splotch above the sentiment, oh well.
3. The glue dots show through the window pane.
4. Probably should have positioned the centre panel lower and cut the ribbon shorter.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. I like the blue cardstock. It was a bit flimsy but the colour is pretty.
2. The muffins are cute and my colouring in was not atrocious.

A little boy's birthday

It's been a while since I posted a 'Kate Original' card. (Obviously meaning I didn't copy or case it from anyone, it's my own creation, just a product of my crazy thoughts.) Here's one for you today! I made this card for a friend's son who turned 3 today.

Here's how it's made:

Materials:
Cardstock: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White.
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Versamark, Tuxedo Black (Memento). Markers: Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black.
Stamps: Monster Fun (Hero Arts. I borrowed this from a friend at our card making day - thanks Shauna!), Put on Your Party Hat (Fiskars), Admit One (Lawn Fawn).
Accessories: Maraschino and Cappucino baker's twine (The Twinery), Miss Nelly jewels (Kaisercraft).
Tools: Big shot machine, Top Note die, sponge, dimensionals, 2 way glue pen, glue tape, mini glue dots, sanding block.

Tips and Tricks:
1. The blue layer was stamped randonly with a Lawn Fawn star in Versamark. I sponged around the edges with Tempting Turquoise ink.
2. I trimmed up the white top note die cut to reveal the red one beneath. Then I sanded the edges of the white (I would have used my distressing tool had I brought it with me) and sponged around it with Tempting Turquoise ink.
3. The monsters and balloons were coloured in with Stampin' Up markers. After cutting out all the monsters and balloons, I used a black marker to colour the cut edges.
4. The balloons were adhered to each other one at a time so I got the right positioning on the card. Then I attached the twine to each balloon using glue tape. After that I attached the balloons to the card with dimensionals.
5. I tied up the balloon strings and stuck them in position with a mini glue dot.
6. The mini monster is on dimensionals too to make him stand out and look like he's holding the bunch of balloons.

Stuff Ups:
1. This is just a technicality but I don't like the streakiness of the markers. There's nothing I can do about that apart from buy Copics instead.
2. The cutting out the top note die cut could have been better (as always).

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The way the red and blue contrast. I like it.
2. The stamp set is so cute. I would have been lost without it!
3. Finally, a concept I had in my head was realised in the way I wanted it to be!!

A flowery birthday

Today's card took a long time to make and I'm pretty proud of it. I poached this card design from Vicky Hayes at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments. Her card must have been a lot smaller than mine because it took me so many stamped images to fill in all the white! This is for a friend of my husband and I:

This is a 6 x 6 inch card. I'm really liking this size of card but I'll have to buy some 12 x 12 inch cardstock as I don't have much of it.

Materials:
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White.
Ink: Concord Crush, Rich Razzleberry, Not Quite Navy, matching markers, Green Garden marker, Versamark.
Stamps: Sweet Summer (from last year's Sale-A-Bration?), Curly Cute.
Accessories: Basic rhinestones, silver embossing powder.
Tools: Paper trimmer, heat tool, aqua painter, kraft mat, glue tape runner.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I stamped and embossed the sentiment first because I didn't want to spend heaps of time colouring the flowers and then ruin the card with a mucked up sentiment.
2. Apart from the first row, I stamped the flowers randomly in all three colours. Then I stamped the leaves.
3. I put ink on my kraft mat and coloured each set of flowers with an aqua painter. I tried to get a gradient of colours within each set of flowers. I coloured the leaves and put a pale green wash in any blank spaces.
4. I dried the watercolours with my heat tool on the front and back to help stop the card from warping.
5. I coloured the flower centres with markers of the same ink colour.
6. I added rhinestones randomly around the flowers. The camera doesn't pick it up too well.
7. Then I layered it all together with a glue tape runner.

Stuff Ups:
1. My water colouring needs work. I thought it was going to take ages so I rushed a bit in the beginning.
2. Initially I added too much ink to my aqua painter and the colour separated on one of the flower heads, oops!
3. Either I didn't wait long enough for the water colouring to dry or I didn't put enough glue on the back of the layer because it has warped slightly on the finished card (bubbled up and not sitting flat).

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The overall look of the card is nice. It was becoming dodgy for a while there.
2. I think the colour combination is pretty. I would normally stay away from navy blue on this kind of card but it seems to work.
3. I made an envelope with my scoring board that turned out ok. I practised on paper first because I forget how to do it and that meant I didn't waste any cardstock.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2012 everyone!
This card is for my Mother-in-law who is in hospital again and we will be visiting her tomorrow. It's quite similar to my last card but I tried a few different techniques on this one.

I did consider colouring the flowers in different shades and tints of purple but since this is a 'get well' card, I wanted it to look more colourful than monochromatic.

Materials:
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Concord Crush, Whisper White, Watercolour paper, In-colour 2010-2011 DSP: Concord Crush.
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Memento's Tuxedo Black, markers - So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive, Versamark.
Stamps: On The Mend by Lawn Fawn.
Other:  Basic Rhinestones, clear glitter embossing powder, dimensionals, sponge, Pink Sorbet baker's twine by The Twinery.

Tips and Tricks:
1. Bandaid background - I clear embossed the bandaids. If I had distress inks, I would have used them for the background colour but I don't so I used a sponge and ink pad. I also used the same technique on the flower panel.
2. The vase is paper pieced.
3. I used the Pretty in Pink marker to add rosy cheeks to the flowers.

Stuff Ups:
1. The bandaid stamping is pretty terrible - unevenly spaced, overlapping in parts.
2. The embossing is terrible too - I missed bits and smudged the Versamark when I was sponging. Fortunately most of those bits are covered by the flower panel.
3. I seriously need a lamp because the lighting in my craft room sucks!!
4. On my first attempt at making the flower panel I tried watercolouring the flowers but I guess I didn't let the Tuxedo Black ink dry long enough as it started to run when the aquapainter hit it.

Christmas, oh how I love you!

What a month I've had! I did get my preparation done in time for my interview and it certainly paid off as I got the job! I'll be teaching at a brand new school next year that is still being built! It's so exciting! Yay!

I also finished all my Christmas cards yesterday, thank goodness. It's taken me 3 months on and off to get them done. I tried paper piecing and I'm pleased with the results. The colours pop more in real life, I just couldn't get a decent snap of the card today, sigh.

I made 50 plus some spares. I used different patterned paper (as I've posted in a previous entry) so each card is different from the next one.

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, patterned paper is called December 25th by Kaisercraft.
Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Memento ink in Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker.
Stamps: Ornate Ornaments by Lawn Fawn.
Other: Basic Rhinestones, sponge.

Tips and Tricks:
1. Since I was making so many cards I did it all in stages like an assembly line:

1. Made a prototype.
2. Paper pieced the ornaments.
3. Cut the base cards and card layers.
4. Sponged the edges of the Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake ink.
5. Stamped images on the Very Vanilla.
6. Attached paper pieced ornaments.
7. Stamped sentiments on base cards.
8. Wrote messages in all the cards.
9. Attached layers to card fronts and added rhinestones.
10. Addressed envelopes and now they are ready to post!

2. Paper piecing took a long time! I stamped the baubles on patterned paper and cut them out. I stamped the baubles again on patterned paper and cut out the bands and topper pieces. Then I ran the edge of a Basic Black marker around the edge of each paper piece to hide the cut edge.
3.  I use my scissors to help me attach the sticky back rhinestones accurately. I find it easier than using tweezers.

Stuff Ups:
1. Lots. When making so many cards, mistakes are easy to make. The most mistakes were to do with stamping, the image smudging or not stamping fully, etc, etc.

My poor hubby!

My lovely hubby had an operation last week and I made him a get well card for his stay in hospital. This card was kind of a challenge as I had only a small bag containing my most basic card making items in it. I knew I wanted to use my new French Foliage stamp set and some colours from the Regals collection. I threw in some things that I thought would work and this is the result:

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Bravo Burgundy, Versamark.
Stamps: French Foliage, So Happy For You.
Other: None
Non Stampin' Up: Charcoal grosgrain ribbon, black rhinestones, Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold, edge distresser tool.
 
Tips and Tricks:
1. After I stamped the card base, I spritzed the card with the Perfect Pearls mist for a nice gold sheen. You can see it above the sentiment layer where the camera flash highlights it.
2. I also spritzed the sentiment layer after crumpling the cardstock because it was too bare and new.
3. Some of the leaves have been stamped after first stamping off on a scrap piece of paper. This softens the colour and produces a lighter effect.
4. The Versamark has been used to stamp splodges from the French Foliage set over the leaves, on the sentiment layer and inside the card.

Stuff Ups:
1. I originally used the masking technique to create the background of leaves and gold spritz and left a blank centre rectangle for the sentiment but it didn't look right. Essentially, the Very Vanilla hides some mistakes. The Very Vanilla cardstock may be too bright and I could have used more Crumb Cake I suppose. I didn't have any with me and I like the Vanilla as it is.
2. The charcoal ribbon doesn't quite match but I don't have any black.
3. The placement of the rhinestones could be more precise.
4. I need to learn how to make pretty bows instead of snaggly lopsided ones!

A bright birthday

The best thing happened today. I dropped into my favourite stamping store (Stampit in East Vic Park) and they had a sale on Prima and Ki Creations - 50% off it all! I was like a kid in a candy shop and stocked up on all the Prima Flowers and Pebbles that I wanted. You can be sure to see a lot more of those in the future, starting today!

I made a card for my Mum's birthday but I wasn't completely happy with the way it turned out. I had to look to the internet for inspiration as I was suffering from brain burnout. I'll post the card I designed at a later date, but for now here is the card I was inspired to make:

No top note die or modern label punch, aren't you proud of me??
The colours are much bright in real life but that's what bad lighting and bad photography will do.
The card that inspired me to make this is from Ivanka's Card Studio.

Materials:
Cardstock: Basic Black, So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake and Shimmery White.
Ink: Stazon Black.
Stamps: Curly Cute.
Other: Big shot machine, Vintage wallpaper embossing folder, dimensionals, mini glue dots.
Non Stampin' Up: Flowers (Prima Flowers - Raspberry), Blue rhinestones (BoBunny Jewels - Barefoot & Bliss).

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is pretty straight forward - simple layers and the shimmery white card is dry embossed with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder.
2. The flowers are adhered to the card with mini glue dots.
3. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals.

Stuff Ups:
1. The sentiment took me ages today because I couldn't stamp it perfectly so I kept redoing it, then I'd get it right but cut it crooked and have to start over. Sooo frustrating!
2. I tried using basic black ink but it kept bleeding through the cardstock. Stazon gives a much crisper result, however, it does stain your stamp.
3. I need to buy new blades for my paper trimmer so the layers are a bit straggly around the edges.