For the love of Pandas

I've always loved Pandas:

I very much enjoyed the the movie, Kung Fu Panda, and look forward to seeing its recently released sequel:

I also love punch art so I set about trying to create a punch art panda. I noticed that Pandas are quite round and not often clean. I pulled out my collection of punches; ovals, eggs, circles, balloons and after much fussing, not to mention some hand-cutting, I had a Panda! Many thanks to my friend Fran Turner who loaned her Bamboo embossing folder to me, making my Panda happily placed in a bamboo bush. Thanks also to my friend Kathryn Keith for her little dragonfly stamp which finished the card off perfectly.

Lastly, I couldn't resist sharing this photo with those of us who are old enough to remember Kiss (with thanks to Michelle Tondi for reminding me about this picture):

Thanks for indulging my love of Pandas (I hope to visit China one day to see them in their homeland), and hope you got a smile from it.

Love from Crafty Kim

Inspired by Asia

Australia has much to thank Asia for. Who doesn't enjoy their local Asian restaurant? I could eat Thai almost every night. And many of us have holidayed in parts of Asia. There's no doubt that my life is better for the influence of Asian friends.

This influence extends to paper-craft. For starters, I've never met a Japanese paper I didn't like. And I love the various Asian doll stamps. I've used both in the above card. This particular Japanese paper has been speaking to me for some time. So I finally relented and bought it. I love the colours, and I've used the same colours to colour up the doll. I've also used an embossing folder to give the dark green card a textured finish in the form of blossoms. I know it's a bit hard to see in this photo - the legacy of photos taken too late at night.

I've got a couple more Asian cards to share and as usual, loads more ideas! In the interim, I wanted to share this great tutorial for punch art Japanese dolls from Kirsteen. Here's a sample of what she has created:

Please check it out...

Love from Crafty Kim

A Pink Hippo Card

Remember this card? Well I re-fashioned it to suit my niece for her 3rd birthday.

The pink, grey and green colour works well and I used a loopy edge border punch and a number embossing folder to add some fun. Had to add the die-cut "3" because like all three year olds, she is very proud to reach this milestone (she wants to catch up to my son, her 9 year old cousin).

And, her Mum, being a keen cake decorator made her this lovely purple and orange Dora cake:


Looks too good to eat!

Hope you're sneaking in some craft in this rainy weather. Hoping you don't have to go out all weekend.

Love from Crafty Kim

Punch Art Runner Card

Last year, we made an exciting discovery: my son can run long distances and quite quickly at that. Not sure where this talent originated - not with me. I've done my fair share of running for fitness in days gone by, as has Ashley's father, but neither of us are fast.

When a small boy ran towards the finish line after his first 2.5km school cross-country run, ahead of many other runners, a nearby school mother poked me and said "is that your boy?". I said that I doubted it and glanced briefly in the direction of the field. And there he was...concentrating hard, almost out of puff and plenty red in the face - check out his expressions in other race pictures below. He went on to compete at the next level of competition, against boys from other schools.

Later in the year, he had a try at shorter distances, 100m and 200m sprints, where he did similarly well. I soon found myself with other tired parents at Little Athletics on Friday nights. The friendly salesman at the local shoe store introduced me to shoes I never knew he needed!

I made the above card to encourage him and to let him know how proud I am of his efforts. I was inspired by Michelle Hoffman. I matched the colours to his school athletic uniform. I've used mostly the Stampin' Up! Word Window punch but also the Tag punch and some circles. The Sun also uses a Star punch.



Anyway, just another idea for kids' cards. When I finally get a chance (working full-time at the moment so not much crafting happening), I'm going to try making a footy player card along the same lines so please stay tuned.

Love from Crafty Kim

Well Wishes for a Brave Friend

I made this card recently for a friend who faced major surgery and its associated pain / lack of mobility all while juggling her work, other health issues and care of two young kids. Not for the "faint of heart". In my estimation, she's done really well and will soon be back to a new normal.

For her card, I fancied making use of my new-ish Owl Punch. The possibilities for this punch are seemingly endless and for inspiration, I went straight to the queen of owl-punching, Kerry Bunting. What Kerry hasn't done with the owl punch probably isn't worth doing (but then again, I may have to retract that claim if she comes up with more great ideas).

I particularly like the little doctor's noteboard with its mini-clip. Another reference to the doctor's notepad is the border punch on the left. It's a bit hard to see but I've used my BigShot and an embossing folder to create a textured, cream-coloured background.

Thanks again to Kerry for her bounty of ideas and to you for stopping by.

Love from Crafty Kim

Punch Art Animal Cards

I do love my animals and my punches so....punch art animal cards are a natural outcome of this. Above is my lady bug card, with thanks to my friend Frances for her gift of the black rick-rack (ribbon) - the card wasn't the same without it.

And with Easter on the horizon, I got busy and made this:

And possibly my favourite card of this batch was this one:

With thanks to another Kim (Score) for the hippo inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by, I'll be back with more soon so please visit again soon.

Love from Crafty Kim

Clowning Around

This is the card I made for my youngest nephew's first birthday. In keeping with the circus theme for his party. And look at the wonderful cake his clever and talented Mum made:

The bar for family birthday cakes has been raised hugely....really had to get my cake-making act together for Ashley's 9th birthday.

And while on things circus, Ashley attended another circus-themed party in December. It was held at a circus school in Hornsby. Pretty impressive. I was in a mad rush to make this card and to me it needs more colouring-in but I remember that day I was packing to go away on holidays, Christmas shopping, setting up the house/pets for my Mum to mind, attending a carols-by-candelight service at St James Anglican Church in Turramurra ahead of driving 5 hours up the Coast in the evening (and of course, my husband had already gone) so this was as good as it got:

If you want to see a truly fabulous card made with this same stamp, please visit one of my favourite card-makers, Paula Tracy, with her pencils. Here's a sneaky peek but click on the picture to see the whole card and visit Paula. Be sure to leave her a comment.

Well I'm enjoying having time to post this week. But I'm due to make cards for my next class and it's only one down, two to go at this stage but better get back to it before school is out.

Thanks for dropping by,

Love from Crafty Kim

A Happy Discovery

I'm bursting with excitement...I've long been an admirer of Debra Clark - Punch Art Queen and author of three books on the subject. This chick was well ahead of the game when I discovered her work nearly 8 years ago.

And now I have just found her in cyber land. Happy dance here. I just have to share and encourage you punch art enthusiasts (put a punch in your hand and you'll be addicted) to go visit her for loads of inspiration and instructions.

If you visit, please show your appreciation with comment love.

And, for those animal lovers out there, Deb loves dogs too. She's a perfect paper-crafter.

Don't delay, please go visit HERE.

Love from Crafty Kim