Mel's Punch Challenge

My gorgeous team member Mel has set yet another fabulous challenge for us - this time to use as many punches as we could!! Now those of you that have talked to me recently would know that I had lost my mojo :(

Well I thought this challenge might help me find it - and it did!!! I'm stoked with how this card turned out, and since making it I have made 4 more cool designs for my regional swaps- YAY! I wont be arriving empty handed!!

Anyway, back to the punch card - its based on a vase of flowers, it uses a grand total of 13 different punches, here it is...

OK, so the punches I used were:

1. 1/16" circle
2. 1/8" circle
3. 1 3/8" circle
4. 1 1/4" circle
5. 3/4" circle
6. 1/2" circle
7. Word Window
8. Photo Corners
9. Tag
10. Corner Rounder
11. 5-Petal Flower
12. Scallop Circle
13. Spring Flower Bouquet

I really wanted to get more in but it started to get messy and look like I was using punches just for the sake of using punches (which I was!). I'm really happy with how this card turned out - it's just as I imagined it, it meets the challenge requirements to use a many punches as I could, and I just think it looks cool! Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Looks Like Spring, In the Spotlight, A Beautiful Thing, Short & Sweet
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, So Saffron, More Mustard, Basic Black
Paper: Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate, Confetti white, Basic Black, Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Old Olive

Other: Punches x 13 (see list above), double stitched grosgrain ribbon purely pomegranate, rhinestone brads

So what do you think?

Sorry I didn't make it back over the weekend to pass on my blog awards or post more cards - I may not get to it before regional this weekend, but I'll definitely be back with bells on after that!

Long Time - No Post...Sorry!

Hi there, I'm back! Sorry it's been so long between posts but I've had a lot going on.

Thank you so much to all my loyal readers especially those that have left me such nice comments lately - I really appreciate it. I was especially chuffed to find that the extremely talented Nerine has awarded me the "I love your blog award"!! Wow!! Thanks so much Nerine. I'm going to do as Nerine did and bask in the glory for a couple of days whilst deciding who to pass it on to - so stay tuned!

Now I couldn't very well make a come back without a card for you, so here's one I made a little while back preparing for my mini caty workshop (I think I cased it but cant for the life of me remember who or where from, sorry)...

Stamps: True Friend, Party Punch

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Taken With Teal, Whisper White

Other: Stampin Write Markers (Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal), Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware

I plan to be back over the weekend with some more creations from the True Friend set. See you then...

Yes, You're in the right place!

I was a bit bored of my old blog template and thought it was time for a change! What do you think? The banner is a section of a scrapbook page I did about 12 months ago using Scribble This. You can see it in full here.

Bloomin' Beautiful!

Hi again, you might remember back in my spring Mini class post I mentioned that I had made 'heaps' of cards using Bloomin' with Beauty practicing for the workshop...well here is just a few of them:

The pink cocoa version...
Amethyst rose...
beautiful bronze...
purely pomegranate...and last but not least...

Another Amethyst rose - this one was for Dannie's Birthday.

If you'd like the recipes or any more details please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Have a great day!

Kaz x

Happy Stampers Watercolour Swap

I mentioned a while back that I was hosting a team swap featuring water colouring. This was my contribution. This photo doesn't really do it justice - its much much nicer IRL!

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Carte Postale (for the greeting - Mon Amie - it really is there!)
Inks: Black Stazon
Paper: Rose Red, Apricot Appeal, Prints DSP (Rose Red), Watercolour Paper
Other: Stampin Write Markers (Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Certainly Celery), Aqua Painter, Brads (Apricot Appeal), Hodgepodge hardware (Antique Brass)

Thumped Paisleys...

Mel's current technique challenge is "Thumping" and it has to be used on a Fathers Day card! I thought of doing Lovely as a Tree, but then Mel did it as an example and I really do use it a bit too much for men stuff! So I thought the paisley background stamp would be nice to 'thump', and I'd been planning a Fathers Day card from Breanna using All in the Family - so I combined the two and this is what eventuated...

Isn't it cute? I'm posting this now thinking - I hope Rick doesn't check out my blog before the day (Rick - if you do, act surprised ok!). The colours were inspired by the Spring Break DSPs. Here's the recipe...

Stamps: Paisley Background, All in the Family, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Expressive Flexible Phrases

Ink: Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Blue Bayou, Basic Black

Paper: Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Spring Break DSP (paper pieced clothes)

Other: Markers (Pumpkin pie, old olive), blender pen (to thump the blue bayou ink), Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches, dimensionals

So what do you think? Is it too girly?

I really like the thumping technique. It gives colour, but its more interesting and and random than just colouring the rubber neatly with markers.

Hope you like it Mel. Sorry its not a great photo (I couldn't wait for natural light tomorrow!!) If you need a better shot I'll take another. Thanks so much for hosting these great challenges to keep us on our toes!!

Always...Engagement, Swap & Challenge...

The stamp set I fell most in love with when I first saw the new Spring Mini Caty was Always. In particular I couldn't wait to get my hands on that love heart and the bird! Luckily for me my cousin had his engagement party a couple of weekends ago, that was the perfect excuse to break it out! This is the card I made:

StampsStamps: Always, All Year Cheer (retired)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, satin ribbon (purely pomegranate), stampin dimensionals

Then, I loved the card so much I thought this is what I'll do for Mel's Mini Caty swap, I had to change it a little, this is what the swap card looked like in the end:

Stamps: Always,
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, satin ribbon (purely pomegranate), stampin dimensionals, silver brad

Then after making up all my swaps I had 3 embossed hearts left over. SO I thought - Yay, I'll make a card for Nerine's basics challenge, and I did (but I just forgot to send it to Nerine before the deadline!) You can see all the other entries here and details on the challenge here. Here's my (non) entry:

Stamps: Always, Short & Sweet (little heart)
Ink: Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, stampin dimensionals

And The Winners Are...

I was a little later than I planned doing my random number draw for the blog candy (Breanna's bedtime didn't go to plan tonight!) Anyway, I jumped onto Random.org and generated a random number...the first one out was:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:4
Timestamp: 2008-08-04 11:08:10 UTC

So congrats to number 4 who was Natasha Murray!!! Yay Tash!!! for those who don't know Tash is one of my wonderful "Happy Stampers", and being a demo was ineligible to win the stamp set, but she does have some lovely handmade candy headed her way!!

So back to random.org for another draw:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:5
Timestamp: 2008-08-04 11:09:59 UTC

The next number out was lucky number 5 - Congratulations to Kylie Crossley!! It's great to see the candy go to such a lovely customer! The stamps will be in your hands very soon Kylie - enjoy!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, an thanks again for reading my blog!

Cheers, Kaz