The Thread That Binds Us

My younger daughter is celebrating a birthday today so I thought I'd show you the project I made for her. She's an enthusiastic sewer, often making garments entirely sewn by hand, so I've used a sewing theme for this decor piece.

The background was stencilled with the pattern repeated, the colours chosen to co-ordinate with her home. Although the sewing machine is a modern shape I wanted to give it an antique look, so die-cut in black and sponged the edges with white ink as well as highlighting the detailed decorative pattern with a white gel pen. 

I wanted the buttons to look wooden, so cut them from woodgrain card before colouring them. I used baker's twine on the cotton reels and threaded needle, gluing it in strategic places. The faux stitching around the border of the vellum - used to both mute the bright colours behind and to give a base for the focal elements - tied in perfectly. 

Materials used:

• dies - Sew Fun (Waffle Flower), Sewing Set (Our Daily Bread Designs), slimline stitched rectangle, Nothing's Better Than (retired SU)
• stencil - Patchwork (Waffle Flower)
• distress ink colours - wild honey, fossilized amber, lumberjack plaid, chipped sapphire, brushed corduroy, vintage photo
• other - Big Shot, white and black bakers twine, silver pearl, Dimensionals, wooden vignette tray (Tim Holtz), white pigment ink, sponge dauber, white gel pen

I'm happy with it and hope she will be too. Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers

Kerry

Splattery Goodness Rose

Yesterday I was playing with a layering flower die but once finished I couldn't decide on a card design for it to go on. This morning I woke in the mood for some mixed media, splattery goodness - you all know how much I love getting inky! Here's how it ended up.

My background is a very, very old retired paper from Stampin' Up which has a script writing pattern. I inked over with old paper distress oxide. Over that I stencilled with grit paste and also stamped some splatters with more of the same ink. Once everything was dry, the rose and background received a liberal splattering of watered down white gesso. The last steps were mounting everything and adhering two layers of a sentiment die. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Timeless Textures (Stampin' Up)
• card - Sahara sand, basic black, retired SU designer paper (no idea what it's called, sorry)
• dies - Lovely Layers Rose Honey Cuts (Honey Bee Stamps), love (stash)
• Altenew inks - Green valley minis, Rose Petal minis
• other - blending brushes, Big Shot, fan brush, white gesso, distress grit paste opaque, grime mini stencil (Tim Holtz), spatula, craft foam, old paper distress oxide ink

I hope you've managed some creative endeavour today. Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Love is Love

I was in the mood to create but it was late at night so I couldn't cope with anything too intricate. As luck would have it, I came across two clean and simple challenges I think go perfectly together - CAS on Friday's theme is LOVE and Addicted to CAS has RAINBOW COLOURS - and once an idea popped into my head there would be no rest until I tried it out. Here's my card:

Materials used:

• card - basic black, basic white
• distress oxide inks - candied apple, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mowed lawn, prize ribbon, wilted violet
• other - Gentlemen thinlits (Tim Holtz), Big Shot, blending brushes, hills and drifts stencil (MFT)

I applied my colours on white card using a hills and drifts stencil and I like to think it symbolises love flowing all around us and through us. I then cut my gentleman die twice - one on the front side of the card, the second on the reverse to give me the mirror image. 

I feel it doesn't need a sentiment, so this is indeed a very clean and simple card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept Challenge #189

It's the second challenge of the month over at The Card Concept, so you know what that means - double the inspiration! Here are the two images to choose from:

 

I love option b, which to me has a country farmhouse kind of vibe, so I've taken that together with the hearts and ticking from the fabric as inspiration for my shabby/rustic card.

Love those cork hearts! The cork-look paper has two layers of card behind it to give this embellishment plenty of dimension, which may be difficult to see in the photo. The floral paper, once the edges had been sponged and distressed, was machine stitched - which had the added bonus of anchoring the very narrow strip of beige striped paper over the lace. 

Materials used:

• card - kraft heavystock (Ranger), Golden Days papers (Mintay)
• other - heart punch (SU), button (Buttons Galore), white bakers twine, sewing machine and thread, sponge dauber, vintage photo distress oxide, mini glue dot, lace (Stamperia), Dimensionals, craft foam

Do head over to the Card Concept blog to see the beautiful cards my fellow team-mates have created, and of course we'd love you to be inspired and add your own creation to our gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

Tic Tac Toe Guest Designer

This week I'm guest designer for Tic Tac Toe challenge #196 and here's the challenge board:

I chose the diagonal line from top left - heart, free, die cut - and made a Valentines card.

Materials used:

• card - basic black and smoky slate (Stampin' Up), watercolour, Backdrops (Tim Holtz)
• distress inks - lumberjack plaid, hickory smoke, black soot
• other Tim Holtz products - Tailored thinlits, Gothic stencil, lumberjack plaid embossing glaze, Sentiments label stickers, Sidekick
• other -heat tool, Dimensionals, blending brushes, Country Bouquet punch (SU), R27 copic marker, Versamark ink

For the hearts I first smooshed my Versamark ink pad over the stencil then sprinkled with lumberjack glaze and set it, inked over with the matching distress ink and punched out the hearts after it dried. The die cut pieces were also coloured with distress inks once cut - the pieces from the jacket have to be inked on both sides as you fold back the lapel portions. 

Thanks for calling in. I do hope you'll visit the Tic Tac Toe blog and see the wonderful creations the design team came up with to inspire you.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept - Floral Valentine

It's time for another Card Concept challenge and this time around, love is in the air! Floral Valentine is the theme but of course you can take any aspect of the picture as inspiration.

I've made a clean and layered card inspired by the general theme and the colours.

I began by making the envelope, then stamped, stencilled and cut the flowers and leaves. Once I was happy with the arrangement I worked on my background, continuing the love letter theme by using a postage stamp die and stencilling text (and flowers) on to my pink card. I used transparent texture paste so it would add interest but not steal the spotlight from my focal point. Lastly my die-cut sentiment was added - I cut two of each word from pale pink card and glued them together, then used whatever ink was left on my blending brush from doing the flowers and gently sponged the lower half of the letters for an ombre effect. 

Materials used:

• stamps - Garden Roses (PinkFresh Studios)
• card - very vanilla, pink pirouette, basic black
• Altenew inks - frosty pink, coral berry, ruby red, bamboo, parrot
• dies - Garden Roses die (PFS), Postale envelope die (Tim Holtz), Nesting postage stamps infinity dies (Hero Arts), Love You More Than dies (SU)
• stencils - Garden Roses stencils (PFS), The Flower Garden (Stamperia)
• other - MISTI, Big Shot, dimensionals, craft foam, blending brushes, sponge dauber, transparent gloss texture paste (Ranger)

Pop on over to the Card Concept blog to check out what lovely cards my team mates have created to inspire you, and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kerry

The Card Concept challenge - Love is in the Air

Welcome to The Card Concept challenge #168. Our theme is Love is in the Air and here's our inspiration picture:

For my clean and layered card I was inspired by many of the elements shown - the flowers, heart and colours. 

I often use this little piggie for love or hugs cards because - well, let's face it, he/she is simply adorable. Such a cute little face! Who could possibly resist it? Not me, lol.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hog Heaven (MFT)
• card - basic white, watercolour, mossy meadow, digital floral paper (Etsy), lipstick (Kaisercraft)
• dies - Hog Heaven, Sending Big Hugs (both MFT)
• other - aqua painter, petal pink, mossy meadow and polished pink inks (SU), mounting tape, Big Shot Switch, Dimensionals

This theme is perfect for Valentines but of course you don't need a special day to send a message of love to someone dear to you, so if you end up inspired to create we would love to see it in our gallery. More inspiration can be found from the gorgeous cards my team-mates have made for you, so pop on over to the Card Concept blog to have a look.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Love You - CAS on Friday Challenge #198

Welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge. With Valentines Day just around the corner, naturally our thoughts turn our theme for challenge #198, which is LOVE.

Here's my card:

Materials used:

• card - whisper white, melon mambo, Daffodil Joy designer papers (Nitwit Collections)
• other - triple heart punch, Love You More Than dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, stitched rectangle die, craft foam

Check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire you by following the link above, and we'd certainly LOVE to have you join in our challenge.

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kerry

Piggy Love - CAS on Friday Challenge

Hi all! It's time for another challenge at CAS on Friday so I hope you'll feel inspired to join us.

This week's challenge is #173 and the theme is LOVE.

We're getting close to Feb 14th and not that you need an excuse to declare your love, but it certainly has become traditional to exchange a card and maybe some flowers and/or chocolates. How much more heartfelt is the message when you make your own Valentine?

Here's my clean and simple card:

All I did was blend a bit of granny apple green ink on my small panel to match the card base, trying for an ombre effect and lightening the colour as it moves up. The pig was coloured with a mix of SU Blends and Copic markers and I added some Wink of Stella to the heart for added sparkle. Clear epoxy dots finished it off after adding the white embossed sentiment.

Materials used:

• stamps - Hog Heaven (MFT)
• card - whisper white, granny apple green, basic black
• other - blending brush, Copic Markers, Stampin' Blends, Hog Heaven dies, Big Shot, Dimensionals, craft foam, white embossing powder, heat tool, clear Wink of Stella, clear epoxy dots

I hope you'll visit the blogs of my fellow design team members to see their gorgeous creations, and don't forget to leave us all some comment love!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kez