Creative Chemistry Day 1 Inspiration

I’ve been following along with Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry class which has been totally worth every meagre penny.  Not only does Tim go through many of his products and educate you on exactly how they work and why as well as showing you some gorgeous techniques; he also throws in some fantastic little tips here and there which are so simple yet invaluable.  As you can guess I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it!

The class is just about to come to a close (sniff sniff) but I’ve got lifetime access so I can go back and watch any of the videos or download the PDF’s any time I want…forever.  Woo hooo.  If you missed out on this class do not despair – you can take the class anytime and still gain the lifetime access which is pretty awesome.

Anyway I wanted to post some pics of some of my creations after being inspired by Day 1, yep just day 1 stuff so far.  There’s a lot to take in and I didn’t want to rush anything, plus I want to get some of the products that I don’t already own like some Alcohol Inks which I feel a lot more confident about since this class.

This first one was a Brushless Watercolour technique we learnt which looked really pretty.  I used the second generation (stamping again without re-inking) for the next card, I just spritzed some more water on and away I went.

I really love the watercolour look made by stamps, makes me feel pretty darn clever.

Same technique using a solid image stamp.  The next card I may need some help…I’m not sure if I like it better as a landscape or portrait card, what do you think?

This was my own playing around with the other technique from Day 1 called Wrinkle Free Distress.  I used Broken China ink on my craft sheet and spritzed it with Gold Glow Smooch Spritz, can you see the shimmer?  It’s really an elegant effect.  I also customised my card base, there was a lot of black going on so I masked and painted, with the Gold Paint Dabber, a strip along the edge – I’m keen to use this trick again, it looks really nice!

So maybe this class with give me a much needed boost in the creativity department.  I have pretty much finished moving my “craft room” out from the spare room and into the family room, I’m already finding it easier to fit in little blocks of crafty time.

Off to watch some more class vidoes!

xK

Puppy Love

How y’all doin’?  I’ve been watching too many episodes of True Blood methinks!  I started this layout a very long time ago and didn’t really know what I was doing with it so it sat in the UFO pile for a while until I decided enough was enough.

That’s our darling Bella doing what she does best….not much!  You really can’t go past the old pink + purple colour combo

Kris xox

tools/materials {Rock Candy Stickles; rollergraph (retired); Distress Ink; chipboard shapes; Smooch; alpha stickers; scallop punch; cardstock and  sb paper; all products Kaszazz}

Easter Ham Layout

Here is a recent layout I whipped up…

A few years back a friend of ours came to spend Easter with us and brought this massive ham.  I’ve never seen such a big ham in my life.  It almost didn’t fit in our wee fridge!  I wanted to get in the Easter spirit but keep the layout fresh looking and to me pink, blue and yellow really represent Easter.  I’ve been going through my stash like it’s my own scrapbook store and picking out materials that I’ve been hoarding and putting them to use.  I’ve had that aqua felt trim for years so I was rather chuffed to be able to incorporate it here.

Stay tuned for more layouts and projects – I have a few to upload

happy scrappin’

Kris xox

materials {rub-ons; Smooch Spritz; Kaszazz stamps; Distress Ink; felt border; chipboard alpa’s; mini alpha sticker; cardstock}

Vintage gift

Today I want to share some little gifts that helped me snap out of my “winter funk”.  They are instant books and are made from one piece of card stock.  The instructions can be found on the Hero Arts website.  These are so quick and easy it’s almost a crime!  The decorating and embellishment were the longest part of this project.

I’ve used only one ink; vintage photo distress ink and some rub ons from the love and romance range from Kaszazz.  I wanted to make the bazzill card stock look old and worn and the distress ink was perfect to do just that.

After making the first one I decided to make one for each of the girls on my team.  Now that my sister-in-law has re-joined I have four directs and one level two.  It’s amazing to see my team grow after only two years and no serious campaigning from me lol.  Unfortunately some of the girls live quite far away so I don’t get to see them but I wanted everyone to know I think of them often so a little hand-made gift was just the thing.  Oh girls don’t peek if you haven’t received them in the mail yet hee hee.

If you clicked the link above and watched the tutorial you would have seen the book in the clip called How to Make Books by Esther K Smith.  I’d love to get my hands on one of these as I love the idea of making more books.  Also did you hear the instructors accent – what part of America is it from?  It’s really different but way cool.

If you have any links to book making I would love to take a peek, pop them in the comments section please!

Kris

Handmade Christmas Cards and Tree Ornaments

Hiya folks

I finally started making my Christmas cards!  Yes I know I really need to hustle my butt and make more so I can get them posted in time but I wanted to show you what I’ve created so far.

I decided to use up this tan cardstock as it was part of Kaszazz’s Heritage pack that has now been discontinued.  At first I really didn’t know what to do to make this colour work for Christmas but a little gold embossing powder and ta-da!  Embossing really does work wonders and can be used with any colours or stamps designs.  And there is just so many combinations you can create like using coloured embossing powder with a clear ink like perfect medium or using a clear ep on a coloured pigment ink for a totally different look.

I’ve used some frayed burlap distress ink on the edges to soften the starkness of the ivory card and I applied some in the middle too using my ink blending tool.

These two tag ornaments were created for my handmade ornament swap I hosted on swap-bot.  I took the lead from the scallop ornaments I’d made earlier on.  I am loving the distress crackle paint at the moment.  I had quite a few tubs left from my prize at conference back in March so it was great to finally be able to put them to use.

Oh and here’s a great tip for anyone out there with gluggy, dried up tubs of crackle paint: grab a wooden stick (paddle pop style) and add a couple drops of water to your tub and get whippy.  Mix, mix, mix ’til your paint comes back to life.  Make sure to only start with a few drops of water at a time – you don’t want it too thin.  I did this to all my tubs even the ones I thought were destined for the rubbish bin and now they are smooth and lovely once again.

If you need some more ideas for Christmas cards have a look here, here and here!  Oh and I’ve finally started adding photos to my Flickr account so feel free to take a peek.

Kris

Handmade Christmas Decorations

I wanted to share some decorations I made recently.  I had a lot of fun doing these and am rather chuffed with how they came out.  I took some inspiration from Naomi Elliot who featured a Christmas decoration made from the Kaszazz chipboard scallop.  I actually loathed these scallops when they came out as I thought they were pretty useless but now I will eat my words…I love them!  And now I have lots of ideas on how to use them.  Isn’t it funny, sometimes you just need to see something through another persons eyes.

This one I made for my Mum as her favorite colour is blue (sorry for the bluryness).  I love this and am thinking I need to make another one for me to keep!

This shabby chic style pink ornament is the first one I made and I will keep for myself.  I’m thinking of hanging it on the front door perhaps instead of the tradtional wreath, it’s looks nice there!  I love how the black takes the pink from girly girl to classic.

This last one I made in traditional Christmas colours and I am sending it to a swap-bot friend.  The colour is a bit off as I took the photo inside at night

I used all Kaszazz products for these including the new Christmas stamps, design adhesives, glitter, embossing powders, distress crackle paint and distress ink.  I love them all and only wish I had time to make more before the big day!  I’d love to know what you think of my ornaments, so…

So how is your Christmas decorating going?  Do you put up a tree and lights?  Have you made any of your own decorations this year?  I plan on putting our tree up in the next few days as I want to be able to enjoy it for longer this year!  I am also thinking of whipping up some scrapbook paper garlands as they appear to be rather easy…I’ll let you know how that goes ha ha!

cheerio

Kris

Blog Wars – Male Cards }2

Hey there how’s your week travelling?

Today I have for you another male card, this time suitable for a birthday.  All products Kaszazz.

I just love the colours on this card, such a fresh, vibrant combination.  Now if you saw the card I posted Monday you might see some similarities between these two, namely size, shape and brads!  I like the larger square shape cards for men because well they are more blokey that a small card.  And I couldn’t help use the same brads because they matched so perfectly hee hee.  The corners are done by using a small hole punch to nip of the corner, easy peasy but the result is fancy pantsy.  Ok no more red cordial for me.  I’ve aged the patterned paper with walnut ink and the blending tool again and I also worked a little bit of this magic around the corner sections only of the base card (which is whirlpool bazzill by the way).  The patterned paper is from our All Boy range but it is suitable for many different applications – I’m actually going to use it in a workshop at training this weekend for a non male layout so pop back to see that one!

So dear reader what do think about this colour combo – is it right up your alley or would you rather see it in the dumpster?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section

Gotta fly

Kris

Blog Wars – Embossing }#1

Hey there how is your week going?  I’m enjoying my usual Wednesday off just pottering about the house

This week in blog war challenges it’s EMBOSSING oooh how exciting eh?  So far I have only made one card; I hope I’m not challenged out?  I do have some photos of a Kaszazz workshop that I recently made at training and it features some gorgeous embossing so I might share those tomorrow with you.

This card was made using a resist technique with embossing.  I stamped the butterfly with perfect medium first and embossed it with clear ep (embossing powder) onto the white bazzill.  Then I stamped the background over the top with walnut stain distress ink – doesn’t sound right does it doing the backgound second?  I wiped the ink off the embossed image then applied lipstick distress ink using the ink blending tool.  The great thing about this technique is the way the ep resists taking on any actual colour itself so you end up seeing the original colour of the bazill through the image.  Cool huh?  You don’t have to stick with white either; you might like to clear emboss on a pale to medium pink or blue then use the same colour ink but in a darker shade to bring out your image.  The possibilities are endless.  You can also use a coloured ep too!

Once again I hae coloured my own strip of card to match the pink around the butterfly as I didn’t have the perfect shade of cardstock to match.  You just use the ink blending tool to apply the ink.  I love that lil’ thingamie!  You might also like to try applying the ink with a sponge for a mottled effect.  I’ve used my corner rounder with the guide removed to create my own scalloped card (another favorite tool) and faked some stitching with our stitiched stamp.  This stamp comes in a set with four other stich types plus rows of dress makers pins, scallops, safety pins, and buttons.

Ok I’m off to make a present and card for a dear friends birthday coming up on Friday – I won’t be able to post photos ’till the weekend as I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Cheerio

Kris

Blog Wars – metal embellishments } #3

Well today there’s a battle going on, between the sun and the rain that is!  I dare not hang the washing on the line just in case the rain wins.  But I’m not complaining; I’m home with the heater on and in my studio crafting, what could be better?

Here is today’s creation, I’m thinking I should give my projects a title, like a name…this one shall be called Thanks for the Hibiscus!

The card base is our new olive card essentials A5, isn’t it lovely?  The hibiscus has been stamped with walnut distress ink onto some vanilla bazzill that has been treated to some misting (with gold perfect pearls), stamped using script, blended with shabby shutters distress ink then wet, distressed and crumpled.  Phew that vanilla has been through the wringer!  I put a bit of coffee card essentials behind it to add contrast.  And of course the twill is attached with our metal embellishment of the day – a brad.  Under the specially for you it says with thanks in shabby shutters but I think my ink pad needs refilling.

So do you like it?  It’s a bit different, I like the muted tones on this card and the tag feature.  Might make some more of these…one day!  Ok now I’m off to eat my homemade pork and bean soup mmmmm.

Kris

Blog Wars – Christmas

Hello dear readers

This week has skipped past in the blink of eye!  I only made a few projects for the Christmas challenge but I think I might just incorporate a little bit of christmas cheer in next weeks challenge.  All these cards were inspired by the very clever Naomi Elliott.

The first two are flat out scrap lifts of Naomi’s cards, they just looked so pretty I had to make them too.  They are all gold embossed with the ebony and ivory stamp set.  It’s such a great set, I use mine all the time.  The merry christmas and peace love joy are actually two different stamps, I didn’t have the one Naomi used so I improvised.  I think they look magic together.

I’ve got a little bit of a punch theme going on here with the last two…the card on the left was made using the small daisy punch and the new christmas papers and cardstock.  To make sure my wreath wasn’t a wonky shape I traced a circle the size I wanted onto the base card with pencil then attached the daisies on top with glossy accents. I gave it bit of sparkle with dobs of ice stickles on the red flowers.   Sentiment stamped with distress ink and edged around the base card.

The second was made by punching small circles of patterned christmas paper and attaching with glossy accents (gotta love it) in a christmas tree shape.  I used magic mount to pop up a few of the circles and added rhinestones to those.  And what’s a christmas tree without a decoration on top?  Just a tree I suppose…I’ve simply slipped a gold spiral clip over the top of the card and attached a yellow rhinestone for my star.  Then some layered ribbon for the trunk and an embossed sentiment, ta-da!  Easy but effective.

Ok this weekend I’m planning on knocking over some of next months challenges in a marathon ‘making’ session.  Since I will be the host I’d better make sure I participate hee hee.

Have a great weekend all, and those gals heading to stamp camp in Heathcoate…ENJOY!

Kris