Summer Shells

Hello Everyone!!  I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Break!  Here in Australia it's Summer time, so I was feeling in a warm, beachy mood when I made this card!  For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope this makes you feel a little warmer through your winter!!  Every Christmas I make my Grandmother a pack of cards for various occasions and this is one that went into her pack.  I thought it would be good to have a no sentiment card and one that could be used for a male or female.  (OK - admittedly, perhaps I shouldn't have added the pearls if it goes to a male, but it's too late now!)

I started with a base of aqua bazzill and layered with So Saffron and some Very Vanilla that has been embossed with the Floral and Stone Impressabilities that I put through my Grand Calibur!!  I sponged a little Antique Linen ink over it to make the embossing pop a bit more.  Next I cut a piece of Windsor Knot DP (retired) with the Label 17 Nestabilities (and boy does the Grand Calibur cut like BUTTAH!!!!  Love it!!!!)  Across this I added some Natural Mesh (May Arts).  The shells are from JustRite's By The Sea set and have been stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-press It Blending Card and coloured with Copics.  It was cut out with Small Oval Nestabilities and matted with aqua bazzill cut with Large Oval Nestabilities and matted again with So Saffron cut with Large Scallop Oval Nestabilities.  To finish I added a couple of Kaisercraft Chino Pearls to the top and bottom corner.

Stamps - By The Sea (JustRite)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Aqua Bazzill, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Windsor Knot DSP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Antique Linen
Accessories - Copics, Nestabilities: Small Oval, Large Oval, Large Scallop Oval, Label 17; Floral and Stone Impressabilities, May Arts Natural Mesh, Kasiercraft Blush Pearls.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)

Butterfly Birthday

Hello Everyone!!  The other day I was playing with the Butterflies and Blossoms new release by Flourishes and I had coloured a few of the images - today I decided to use a couple of the pieces that I hadn't used the first time!  :)  Makes for a quick card when you have pre-coloured images just waiting for you!!

I started with a base of green bazzill and layered with Very Vanilla and then used some Basic Grey Cappella DP.  Across this I added two pieces of dark ivory satin ribbon and knotted the bottom one.  I cut out the Clematis flowers with Large Square Nestabilities and stamped the sentiment from Tag Lines in Memento Tuxedo Black.  I then cut a piece of vanilla and pieced around the edges and finally framed it with green cut with Lacey Square Nestabilities.  The butterfly was cut out and popped up on foam tape.  Both the flower and the butterfly were coloured with Copics (Clematis - 0, BV00, BV02, BV04, YG11, YG13, YG17; Butterfly - YR00, YR02, YR07, YR24, B00).  To finish I added a couple of Kaisercraft Blush Pearls to the top corner.

Stamps - Butterflies and Blossoms, Tag Lines (Flourishes)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Green Bazzill, Very Vanilla, Basic Grey Cappella DP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Copics, Large Square and Lacey Square Nestabilities, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Ivory Satin Ribbon, Kaisercraft Blush Pearls, Foam Tape.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone and blessings to you and yours!!!  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day celebrating the birth of our Saviour!!  Today I am celebrating with my family - 4 generations of us!!  So today, I'm just going to post a few of my favourite Christmas cards and projects that I've made this year.  :)

Merry Christmas!!!
Hugs
Kathy  :)

Happy Holidays!

Hello Everyone!!  I've been doing so many red Christmas cards lately, that I've decided to boycott red for this card!!  :)  Instead I'm going with monochromatic green!  I really like the crisp, fresh look of white and one other colour and was happy with the way this turned out!

I've started with a base of green bazzill and layered with light green bazzill and some white that was embossed with the Jemara EF.  Across this I've added two pieces of green satin ribbon.  For my feature panel, I've stamped the outer border and the inner border from JustRite's Christmas Nested Frames in Memento Bamboo Leaves onto X-press It Blending Card and coloured them with Copics (YG93, YG95).  The outer border was cut out with the new Nested Frames Die by JustRite!  These dies are made by Spellbinders and JustRite is a Preferred Stamp Company - so you know they are going to be good!  :)  The inner border was cut out using the Nested Sentiment Dies and I used the Grand Calibur to die cut it, beautiful crisp cutting, first time, every time!!  :)  I actually cut a little green mat to go around it just to make it pop!  The sentiment comes from the Christmas Nested Sentiments and Verse set and has been stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, I've cut it with my trimmed and matted it with more green.  I then cut a 5" x 3.25" of green card and used the MS Deco Fan punch around the page set to create a beautiful frame for my sentiment and popped it all up on foam tape.

Stamps - Christmas Nested Frames, Christmas Nested Sentiments and Verse (JustRite)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Green and Light Green Bazzill
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Bamboo Leaves
Accessories - Nested Frames Dies, Nested Sentiment Dies (JustRite), MS Deco Fan Punches, Jemara EF, Green Satin Ribbon, Foam Tape.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)

SSSC97 Peace at Christmas

Hello Everyone!  This is the last Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for the year and it's such a great one that I had to play along!  Thankfully we don't have to wait long and Karen will be back with more on January 2nd!

I started with a base of Aqua bazzill and layered with white and some red bazzill.  The paper is Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly DP.  The middle panel is some white card that I stamped the sentiment from Christmas Blessings in Memento Tuxedo Black.  For a little texture I then embossed it with the Snowflakes EF.  Across the bottom, I've added another piece of red that's been punched with the MS Loop Punch and then topped with some white May Arts satin ribbon.  The snowflake is from ODBD's Peace and Joy set and has been stamped in Celadon Versacolor ink and cut out using the Custom Snowflake die.  (You can buy them in a bundle and save 10%!)  To finish I added some Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones to the Snowflake and the top corners.

Stamps - Christmas Blessings, Peace and Joy (ODBD)
Paper - Aqua, Red and White Bazzill, Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly DP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Celadon Versacolor
Accessories - Snowflake Die (ODBD), MS Loop Punch, Snowflakes EF, May Arts Satin Ribbon, Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!

Butterfly Wishes

Hello Everyone!!!  Today I was inspired to stamp by the Featured Stamper Challenge!  I love this challenge and the chance to view different galleries!!  I'm also entering this in the last Flutter By Wednesday challenge to use a butterfly, fairy or angel.  Today I chose MaryRose's Rudolph card, changing the colours and image, moving the ribbon bow and adding some pearls.  I had the joy of playing with the new Butterflies and Blossoms set by Flourishes!  Isn't this image DIVINE!!!  *happy sigh*.  I actually had to look up what sort of flower this was - it's a Clematis and comes in a variety of colours although the most common are shades of purple, so that's what I decided to go with today.  :)

I started with a base of green bazzill and layered with purple bazzill, white and some MME DP that I found in my stash.  Across the card I've added some white crochet lace and topped with green satin ribbon.  The image is from Butterflies and Blossoms and has been stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-press It Blending Card.  I've coloured it with Copic Markers - Butterfly: YR00, YR02, YR07, YR24, B000, B02; Flowers: BV00, BV02, BV04, 0, Y21, Y35, Y38, G20, G21, G24.  I cut the image out with Large Square Nestabilities and matted with purple bazzill cut with Lacey Square Nestabilities and popped it up on foam tape.  Next I added a green satin bow and topped it with a white button (actually it's kind of mother of pearl, don't know why it looks green here) and some silver cord.  To finish I added some tiny Kaisercraft Snow Pearls to the corners.

Stamps - Butterflies and Blossoms (Flourishes)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Green, White and Purple Bazzill, MME DP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Copics, Large Square and Lacey Square Nestabilites, White Crochet Lace, Green Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Button, Silver Cord, Kaisercraft Snow Pearls, Foam Tape.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!

Christmas Came Early!!

I can't even BEGIN to tell you how excited I was when the gorgeous machine arrived on my doorstep late yesterday afternoon!!!!  I squealed like a little girl and even the lady mail deliverer was laughing at me!!!  :)  This is the gorgeous Grand Calibur by Spellbinders!!!!  I have been DYING to try this out - it's hard to tell from pictures, but unlike my old Cuttlebug, this one has a mouth size of 8 1/2 inches - so you can put an entire piece of A4 Cardstock through it without trimming!!!!!  *HAPPY SIGH*  AND - can you see the plates are all coloured coded and NAMED!!!  Oh Happy Day - no more picking up the wrong one!!!  YIPPEEE!!!  :)

Now I really should be doing things in preparation for Christmas, but instead I'm going to show you some pics of how this machine works!!  :)

The Grand Calibur has to have the ridges of the die facing up, so to make sure my Large Circle Nestabilities die doesn't move, I've taped it with some Scotch Removable Magic Tape where I want it to stay.  I have a roll of this permanently on my desk!  The Poppies are from JustRite Stamper's Plant a Little Love stamp set.

This is the sandwich for cutting with your Spellbinders dies, from the bottom -
*Gray A Plate
* Then your die (that I've taped to my poppies image)
*Paper/Cardstock
*White C Plate

Make sure your sandwich is flat and then place it into the mouth of the Grand Calibur and wind the handle!  Yep, this one is a winder, not a crank action like the Wizard, and it is SOOOOOOO smooth!!!

To emboss the edges of your shape, leave the paper/cardstock in your die (it cuts so well that your paper will just pop out easily - beautiful crisp cutting!!!) and follow this sandwich -
* Gray A Plate
* Die with paper still inside
* Tan Embossing Mat (comes with the Grand Calibur)
* Pink B Plate

Make sure your sandwich is flat and put it through the Grand Calibur!!  Remember I said it was a winder and how smooth it was??  Here is my 3yr old winding the embossing sandwich through - she loves helping!  ;-)

Look at the beautiful embossing result the Grand Calibur gives....

To give a comparison between machines, I cut and embossed two of the Heirloom Ornaments dies (same size,  both using Very Vanilla Cardstock) and here is the result....

The Grand Calibur's embossing is SO much sharper!!!

If you've stayed with me this long - thanks for indulging me today with my new toy machine, actually the box says it's not a toy, but it sure is lots of fun!!!  :)

Hugs
Kathy  :)

FTC - Grand Calibur graciously provided by Spellbinders for me to play with!!  :)

Sprinkled Moon Dust...

Hi Everyone!  Today I was inspired to stamp by this month's SCS Fan Club Central Challenge!  I was playing with the new Cling set by JustRite Stampers called In The Moonlight and features this super cute fairy - doesn't it just bring the old Carpenters song to mind about sprinkling moon dust and golden starlight!!!  :)  And isn't she sweet looking over her shoulder like that!!  :)  I had so much fun making my last shaker card, that I decided to do another!  This time I used some Gold Flower Soft because my yellow moon makes it look like Moon Dust or perhaps that should be Golden Star Light!!  :)  I'm also entering this into this week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge to use a butterfly, fairy or angel!  :)

The base is Aqua Bazzill and layered with white, then some Kaisercraft Twinkle DP.  I stamped her in Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-press It Blending Card and coloured her with Copics (BV00, BV04, R02, R22, E33, E35, E37, E50, E51, YG11, YG63, BG10, BG15, Y00, Y21).  I airbrushed the sky and made the shaker frame and stuck it to the front of the card.  Finished by stamping the sentiment - also from In The Moonlight - at the bottom, added a few pearls as well as a flower to accent the top!  Bit of faux stitching and you're done!!  :)

Stamps - In The Moonlight (JustRite Stampers)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Aqua Bazzill, White, Kaisercraft Wish Upon, Twinkle DP, Acetate
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Copic Markers, Label 8 Nestabilities, Gold Flower Soft, Kasiercraft Flowers, Kaisercraft Snow Pearls, Foam Tape.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)

Ornament or Gift Tag?

Hello Everyone!!!  Can you believe that Christmas is coming up fast!!!  I still have a couple of gifts to buy and ALL of them to wrap!!!  YI, YI,YI!!!!  So of course, instead of wrapping I'm playing in my craft room!!  LOL!!!  I was colouring this Christmas Ornament by ODBD and thought it would make such a pretty ornament to hang on our tree.....but then I thought, wouldn't this be a nice gift tag to add to a present......what do you think??

I started by stamping the largest ornament from Ornaments by ODBD in Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-press It Blending Card.  Then I airbrushed it with a Y35 Copic Marker, making it a little darker on the edges.  I have done a lot of red poinsettias this season, so I decided to change the trend and make this one deep pink!  I used Copics R83, R85 and R89 for the Poinsettia, YG93 and YG95 for the leaves and then accented with Gold Spica on the swirls and centre of the poinsettia.

It is extremely difficult to capture the subtle shimmer of Spica - but I think you get the idea. I actually cut this one out by hand and then matted it with Rich Razzleberry die cut with Spellbinders' Heirloom Ornaments set!  Both the ornaments in this stamp set are designed to fit perfectly inside the Spellbinders dies - how FAB is that!!  :)  You can buy the Ornaments Stamp Set and Spellbinders Die Bundle from ODBD for $39.30!!  To finish I simply added a pink button tied with gold cord and added some gold organdy ribbon to the top.  How easy is that??!!  :)

Stamps - Ornaments (ODBD)
Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Rich Razzleberry
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Copics, Gold Spica, Heirloom Ornaments Nestabilities, Pink Button, Gold Cord, Gold Organdy Ribbon.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)

Dreams Come True

Hello Everyone!!  I am late playing this week's Featured Stamper challenge, but it's better late than never right?!  I chose to case Lisa's Thanks a Bunch card - altered the layout since this was a sketch, but kept the oval feature, different image and moved the bling and ribbon. I decided to play with my new JustRite Stampers Cling sets and used the Garden Fairy Wishes set.  The Cling sets are fabulous since you can store four sets in a Mini Binder Box and just peal them on and off your clear block!  These fairies are just adorable - my 3yr old daughter thinks they are 'pwetty' and I can see I'll be using them a lot for birthdays and fairy parties that are bound to come my way in coming years!!  :)  After 2 boys, it's a nice change from dinosaurs and trucks!!!

The base is Kiwi Kiss and then layered with white that has been punched with the Martha Stewart Deco Fan punch (I soooooo love this punch!!!  Have you got one yet Marisa??) and then topped with some Cosmo Cricket DeLovely DP.  Across the card I've added some white organdy ribbon and topped with some white satin ribbon.  The fairy is from Garden Fairy Wishes and has been stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-press It Blending Card.  I had such fun colouring her with my Copics!  (E000, E01, R20, V01, V12, V15, V17, BG0000, BG11, BG72, R02, R22, R24, E33, E35, E37, G12, G21, G24, Y21, Y35.)  She was cut out with Large Oval Nestabilities and matted with Kiwi Kiss cut with Beaded Oval Nestabilities and popped up on foam tape.  To finish I added a little white satin bow and some bling to three corners and the sentiment from the same set in the bottom corner.

Stamps - Garden Fairy Wishes (JustRite)

Paper - X-press It Blending Card, Kiwi Kiss, White, Cosmo Cricket DeLovely DP

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Copics, Large Oval and Beaded Oval Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Deco Fan Punch, White Organdy and White Satin Ribbon, Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones, Foam Tape.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!!!  :)