Always Remember

Here's a sympathy card I made recently. It's a simple lay-out to suit the mood of the moment. I used a couple of techniques, one called Baby Wipe Technique which takes baby wipes and reinkers to create the coloured background (a bit simpler than brayering but a similar end result). Then I took a solid stamp and did some "silhouette" stamping.

I made a few backgrounds while I had the baby wipe all inked up so you might see another card along a similar theme some time in future.

Thanks for visiting.

Love from Crafty Kim

More Big Shot Techniques

Well, I thought I'd better pop-in to share some cards and let you know that I'm still breathing. Not crafting much due to never-ending work and there are times when I feel I should just pack away my craft stuff and give it all up. However, I recently embraced sleep deprivation and put together some cards using my Big Shot. There seems to be no limit on techniques to try with this machine.

In the card above, I've used dry embossing through the Big Shot combined with heat embossing. I also stripe-embossed the satin ribbon in the Big Shot (with thanks to Angela Sargeant for this idea). I tried the "faux suede" technique (basically de-laminating cardstock into thinner layers with a rough surface by tearing, along with some scrunching and sponge-inking) and cut out the flower petals and leaves. A die-cut "Hi" finished it off but a stamped greeting would have done the job too.

Did you know you can emboss aluminium foil? Thanks to Clare McIllhattan for this idea. Clare's foil was smoother than mine...must get a tip on "how-to smooth" from Clare. And you can cut and emboss fabric with the Big Shot. Picture me in a local needlecraft store feeling like a fish-outta-water. Imagine the look I got when I told the saleslady (aka superb needle crafter) that I was going to cut up her lovely pink fabric into scraps and die-cut it into a butterfly for a card:



I sure do admire the works of needle-crafters. I just can't do it myself. Each to their own I say.

Next is a card front that has been what I term selectively embossed. I managed to leave the centre panel of the card un-embossed ready for stamping. Quite tricky but once I got the hang of it, I was away. I finished up stamping a solid daisy in white ink and using my pencils to add colour (termed "Black Magic" colouring within some circles).



Do you like the frame around the main image? I used two nesting dies through the machine at same time and dry embossed them afterwards to get the grooves in the frame. I snuck a little green "faux bow" in there too.

Anyway, hope you found this interesting. I'm currently helping my cherub with a school project and the best thing about it is using my alphabet die-cuts to make the poster title (I know, I'm easily amused).

Thanks for looking. Please get in contact if you have any questions.

Love from Crafty Kim

Sending Sunshine

The very wet weather Sydney experienced last week prompted me to post this card which is intended as a Get Well Card. I like the sentiment "Under the Weather? Sending you Sunshine" and set about finding images / elements for a card to match.

I love umbrella stamps, check these out at Keesh's blog HERE, HERE and HERE. The whole rain/shower/weather has lots of scope.

Here's what I came up with (above). I used a technique called Paper Piecing which is very easy and spares you a bit of colouring-in if you're short of markers or not inclined to colour. You stamp the image onto some decorative paper and then cut out a section of the image, gluing it onto the same stamped image which has been stamped on plain card stock. On my card, both the rain coat and gum boots have been coloured this way. It reminds me of paper doll dress-ups that I played with as a young girl.

I was lucky to find some weather-themed paper as a background and I have a sun-shaped die which allowed me to decorate the card inside as follows:


I sent this card off to Pat, a fellow crafter who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has undergone two surgeries recently. It is especially hard for Pat as she and her husband are the main carers of their young grandson. We're all hoping she bounces back fast and fully as her work here is not yet done!

Thanks for visiting and I'm looking forward to sharing craft again with you soon.

Love from Crafty Kim

Vellum Well Wishes

I designed this card at the request of my friend Dianne for some more ideas for using vellum. I do love Vellum but its transparency makes it tricky to stick down without adhesive showing so it is also a design challenge. In this card, the adhesive is hiding behind the ribbon.

The flowers are stamped and embossed in white on the vellum layer and the Always Artichoke leaves have been die-cut and stuck to the white matt.

A simple greeting and some rhinestones finishe it off. There's lots of nasty viruses going around so any number of friends qualify for this card but another friend, Carolyne, has ongoing health issues to persist with and I sent this to let her know I'm thinking of her.

Hope you're all keeping warm, it' been very frosty in Sydney-town. We have a cold house which is cool in summer but it never really warms up in winter before the day cools again.

Love from Crafty Kim

Skateboard Dude

Here is another boy card I made. I've used a draggin' stamp technique I learnt from the very talented Renée Van Stralen over in Canada land. Make sure you go and visit her hugely inspiring web site, she's one of my favourite stampers ever. She has posted some very helpful tutorials too.

It took a few practice draggin' runs to get the look I wanted but I was really happy with this card in the end. I wouldn't have thought to put purple and orange together with brown (I copied the colour scheme), but I think it works. I was also happy to find a home for these fancy paper clips from my stash.

Hope the coming week goes well for you. Thanks for visiting my corner of the papercraft world.

Love from Crafty Kim

Clear Acetate Cards

The electricity supply for Sydney's north west has been out since the wee hours of this morning until now. How reliant we are on it for warmth and food supply. My son and I had a game of chess while keeping warm with blankets and eating Madeira cake for breakfast. We didn't have to rush out of the house as Ashley's swimming lesson was cancelled, again due to lack of power.

Back to the cards. Last month I challenged myself to use acetate in cards and teach a class. Above is one resulting card. There are so many techniques using acetate that I had trouble narrowing it down to three in the end.

Can you see I've used that old dinosaur, mulberry paper, in the card above? It's been so long since I got it out of my paper file. But it has lovely whispy edges. And do you like the glittery flower? I laser-printed a digital stamp from my PC onto one side of the acetate and then applied glitter to the reverse. I glued the image glitter-side-down to the backing card, containing the glitter meaning it won't fall off in its travels over time. As you can see from above, acetate embosses well in the Big Shot or Cuttlebug. It is hard to cut though, you need nice sharp dies and plenty of pressure. But here's the result:

Each petal has been cut from yellow card and then another layer of embossed acetate has been placed over the top.

Lastly, we stamped on acetate. Can be a little tricky as acetate is slippery but I find Staz-On good because it is a sticky ink and it also stays-on (most dye inks will not dry and therefore smear). Solid/silhouette style stamps work well. I've used a very old daisy stamp that I still love many years after first seeing it.


To add some texture and dimension, I layered the acetate over embossed card which had been sponged lightly. Acetate is like vellum, you can't apply adhesive without seeing through it so you need to fix it down with brads or eyelets. I've used my new "dog bone" punch for the sentiment piece.

Thanks for looking, have a good day.

Love from Crafty Kim

The Embossing Class Cards Revealed

Just popping in quickly to show you in more detail the cards we made at my embossing class last month.

Here they are. The first one uses white embossing on vellum:


This second one uses a technique called emboss resist and also has a faux metal embellishment.


This last one (which looks better in real life - was rushing when I photographed), uses clear embossing and bleach.


Thanks to everyone who attended. I had a great night catching up with friends while we crafted. Hopefully you learnt something in the process :)

I have another class coming up at the end of this month, focusing on Flowers for Mum. But if you don't need Mother's Day cards, we will use different greetings to make birthday or get well or whatever cards take your fancy. I'll post more about it soon.

Love from Crafty Kim

Scalloped Edge Medallion Cards

Well after that flurry of recent posts, I suddenly went quiet. I thought I'd better get back to Christmas since it's not far away. This is one of the techniques I demonstrated at our Christmas Craft Day. Using a scallop border punch (which is very popular so many of you will already own one), I made the medallion-style matting for the greeting. It is VERY easy and you can learn how to do this here.

You can also rotate the square so that it is a diamond, as shown below in a card created by Kirrily Matthews:

(Card design and photography with thanks to Kirrily Matthews)

Both of these cards also use the Square Scallop Punch as well which you can currently receive FREE with qualifying orders, for more details, please click here.

Of course, you can put anything on the scalloped medallion, circles or squares with greetings or images. It's up to you now.

Love KimT

Down at the Farm

During the recent school holidays, my son and I were invited to stay at a hobby farm in the Southern Highlands. It grows hazelnuts for sale at local markets as well running a few head of Dorper sheep. They also keeps chooks (which produce eggs with yolks the colour of Summer Sun) and grows a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Their jam is much sought after and was a big hit at the recent Christmas Craft Day.

I made this card as thanks for our farm stay which was full of such fun as performing sheep pedicures, spotlighting nocturnal animals, camping in a tent, riding motorbikes and swimming in the dam (that was Toby Beagle's favourite activity). I've used Thoughts and Prayers stamp set with the Faux Woodgrain Technique but this time I made the background look like floor boards. The card design is almost an exact CASE of a card made by Marelle Taylor which I loved as soon as I set eyes on it. Thanks for the idea Marelle. Notice the corners of the main image panel? I used the eyelet border punch as a corner punch - don't you love it when you get many uses from one tool?

Here are a few happy snaps from the weekend:

The Two Helmet Heads, Ashley and his friend

Ashley with Dorper Lamb

Toby Beagle enjoying a swim in and shake near the dam

It all ended well but we got a bit of a fright on Sunday morning when Toby Beagle ate some rat poison (buried deep under a stack of wood). But thanks to some quick action and a Moss Vale vet, no harm was done. Not sure how welcome Norty Dog is to visit again...

Love from Crafty Kim

Faux Woodgrain Birthday Card for Andrew

I thought I would take a brief respite from Christmas cards, we'll be seeing plenty of these in the next month. Back in August I made this card for my friend Andrew.

I used a technique called Faux Woodgrain which is great for male cards. If you'd like to learn how to do this (it's VERY easy), please click HERE for a YouTube tutorial from Dawn Griffith. In her tutorial, Dawn shows you how to make the woodgrain look like timber floorboards by drawing in brown lines:

The technique of swiping the ink pad directly onto paper is quite handy when you don't have any other suitable background options. And this technique can be applied to other colours too, I recently saw it done in blue tones which gave a "denim" look to the background of the card:

(Card and photography courtesy of Sharon Arkley, with thanks)

For Andrew's card, I used images from Loads of Love. Notice how I "grounded" the image so it doesn't look as if it is floating. I then decided to use some twine, a brad and double-sided foam adhesive to make the image look like it was a picture frame hanging on a wall.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Love from Crafty Kim

Belated Happy Birthday to Leanne

I made this card for my good friend and Africa travel partner, Leanne, who celebrated her birthday last month. It's taken me this long to catch up and present her with a card and gift. It's a little sad when our lives get busy and take us in different directions but she's often on my mind.

I borrowed Fifth Avenue Floral from to make the card. I set myself a challenge of using colours I wouldn't normally reach for. It also helped that the card stock was sitting on my desk, remaining from earlier card-making. It was only afterwards that I questioned whether there is such a thing as a blue rose. I'm sure it's possible with all the genetic engineering in horticulture but personally, I haven't spied one.

To get the textured background, I stamped the flowers in Versamark on Brilliant Blue card stock and then clear heat embossed them. For the main image, I wanted an embossed (raised) image to help me stay within the lines when water-colouring. But I also wanted the flower to be Brilliant Blue in colour. Nearly all of the Stampin' Up! inks available in Australia are dye inks and they dry very quickly which is not helpful when you want the ink to dry slowly enough to coat it with an embossing power. Fortunately there is a workaround by inking the stamp in Versamark first, then Brilliant Blue dye ink followed quickly with clear embossing powder and heating. You can see this technique demonstrated via an online video here.

I created two embossed Brilliant Blue roses on watercolour paper so that I could colour and cut them out for a layered effect:


The top layer is smaller than the bottom layer, paper-tole style I guess, but only two layers and much quicker than multiple layers. The pretty lace border punch has been applied to Gable Green cardstock, and a greeting stamped in Brilliant Blue. A bit of sponging and it was done after decorating an envelope to match.

I'm really keen on this set, it first caught my eye when the queen of watercolouring, Alisa Tilsner, made the following card (click on the preview to go to Alisa's website and view the full card):

(With thanks to Alisa for her inspiring work)

Bye for now,

Love from Crafty Kim

Happy Mother's Day & Alisa's Creation

(Creation and Photo Courtesy of the Very Talented Alisa Tilsner, with THANKS)

Firstly, Happy Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mums out there. I thought I'd leave aside the emotive motherhood quotes and try a few funny quotes about mothers:

A mother forgives us all our faults, not to mention one or two we don't even have ~Robert Brault

It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it ~ From the television show The Golden Girls

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after ~ Peter De Vries

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly ~ Ambrose Bierce

Hope you got a smile from these.

Now onto the card above. Continuing on with the Convention-themed posts, this card I spied on Alisa Tilsner's bag not long after reaching Canberra. I had hoped to score one of her Convention swaps but alas, I was too late to trade. But luckily she posted this beautiful card on her website so for more details, please visit her there.

I have long admired Alisa's water-colouring. She is one of the most highly-regarded water-colouring artists in the paper-crafting realm. And she generously shared some of her skills with us at Convention in 2008. To view her water-colouring demonstration, please click here. Thanks again to Alisa for sharing her creativity and expertise.

The flower stamp above is from Fifth Avenue Florals which I have just ordered for my own collection so please stay tuned for more cards made using this set. At Convention, I also purchased an Umbrella featuring the stamp set, how cool is this:


A close up of the images follows:


Looking outside, I might even get a chance to use mine tomorrow.

Well that's it from me today. I'll be back to show you the card my son Ashley made for me for Mother's Day. But my life is very full of non-crafty distractions right now so thanks in advance for your patience.

Love from Crafty Kim

My Stampin' Convention Swap Card

Everything about this card and this post is quick. I would love to have made 50+ grand cards to swap with other Convention attendees but the night before Convention came and reality set in.

So, I set to work with Pocket Silhouettes to make the above card. I made several variations of it, both in terms of the featured image (there being four to choose from in the stamp set) and colour (shown above is Mellow Moss and Perfect Plum). Apart from using the Scallop Edge Punch, I've stamped off to get the lighter coloured flower stalks and sponged nearly every edge. I thought "Friend to Friend" was particularly appropriate given that I was distributing these cards to other paper-craft enthusiasts.

Pocket Silhouettes a great little set, so easy and so fast. Also great for Silhouette Cards. What do I mean by Silhouette Cards? I learnt all about them from Pam Morgan who is the Vice-President of Demonstrator Support with Stampin' Up! in the USA. For my fellow Beagle dog lovers out there, Pam is also the proud owner of Louie, a 9 year old Beagle dog (it seems Beagles the world over are given to naughty behaviour). She is also a huge fan of Arnotts Tim Tam biscuits and travelled home on Sunday with a large supply of several varieties. Her son had requested a didgeridoo as his souvenir from Australia but she had to break the news to him that it wouldn't fit into either her luggage or budget. Anyway, back to the cards, she showed several ways to add light and shadow to cards and I'll be sharing this knowledge with you in upcoming posts.

At Convention there was a swapping frenzy and by the end I had received a large number of swap cards in return and I'll be featuring some of these in upcoming days on my website, including a couple more using this same set, Pocket Silhouettes. I hasten to add that many of the card creators put much more effort into their swaps than I did so you're in for a treat.

'til then, hope you're squeezing some crafting into your week.

Love from Crafty Kim

Grab these items while they last

A quick story about this card made by a friend for my son, Ashley, on the occasion of his 7th birthday. My friend's son, Ciaran, and Ashley decided they would like to become cousins ("Mum tell the government that we are now cousins" said Ashley). What Ashley hadn't considered was that making Ciaran his cousin, also made Ciaran's 3 year old sister, Lillian, his cousin. It took a bit of persuasion but an "alright" was finally reached. My friend was then wondering if Ashley realised that he had made her an Aunty (for the first time too). So she gave him this birthday card which in amongst the chaos of a birthday party, sailed right over his head. But I got the message, and after some explanation, Ashley now has a new Aunty.

The reason for including this cute punch art card on my blog is to highlight the stamp set, Wonderful Favourites, page 119 of the main Stampin' Up! catalogue. It currently retails for $39.95 but this price was an printing error in the current catalogue (which SU! decided to honour for the sales period of April 2008 to March 2009). From the 1 April 2009, it will be more like $77.95. So, if this set takes your fancy, please purchase it before the end of March 2009.

And on the subject of disappearing items, now is the time to stock up on all the In-Colour items before they disappear. I'm specifically referring to:

Purely Pomegranate
Blue Bayou
River Rock
Soft Sky
Groovy Guava
Wild Wasabi

Ink Pad ($9.95) & Re-inker ($4.95)
A4 card stock, single colour ($10.50)
A4 card stock, variety ($14.50)
12 x 12 card stock, variety ($17.25)
12 x 12 textured card stock, variety ($21.95)
Double-stitched ribbon, 13.7m ($16.95)

Back with more soon.

Love from Crafty Kim

Stampin' Up! Markers Promotion Extended

(Photo and creation courtesy of Michelle Dyson)

Remember this post? Well the good news is that the Stampin' Up! Single Marker Promotion has been extended until the 14 December 2008.

My friend and fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Michelle Dyson, has made colour selection very easy with her post called Bakers Dozen.

And thank you also to Leonie Schroder for compiling the following Marker Information Sheet which I've then "added my 2c worth to":

Marker Facts:
The Stampin’ Write Markers are water-based dye ink and come with two marking tips. The arkers with two tips are commonly referred to as "Dual Tip" markers, with one end having a durable, flexible nylon brush tip that provides broad coverage for general usage such as inking up a stamp, and another smaller end with a fine tip for coloring in tight spots of outline images or for hand-lettering.

The Stampin’ Write Markers offer exclusive coordinating colour families. All 48 colours come in card stock, ink pads, watercolour crayons and markers.

They are sold in colour family sets of 12 which include Soft Subtles, Earth Elements, Bold Brights, and Rich Regals. They also come as a complete set of 48.

These markers are odourless, acid-free, xylene-free, non-toxic.

Storing Markers:
Stampin’ Write Markers should be stored so that they lie horizontally. This way both ends will have an even distribution of inks to the tips.

Techniques to try:
• The markers work well with the blender pens. You can use markers instead of watercolour pencils. Stamp image in black. Outline the inside of your image with the markers and use the blender pens to pull the colors around. Or touch the tip of the blender pen to the tip of the brush end and color with that. Gives a lighter version of the color. It is much more subtle than colouring the whole design with the marker.

• Make a colour palette by coloring with markers on a piece of acetate and colour with a blender pen or waterbrush.

• Line the inside of your stamped image with the markers and use a wet paintbrush, or Aqua Painter to pull the colours around. This gives a lighter version of the colour and is much more subtle than colouring the whole thing with the marker. Looks like you used watercolors to paint it.

• Markers allow you to omit apart of the stamp. Just use them to ink up the part of the image you want to see once stamped.

• You can match the marker color with a paper color without having to purchase the matching stamp pad separately.

• You can colour in a stamp with multiple marker colours and then huff on it (note the technical term “huff” . . . meaning breathe heavily onto the stamp so that moisture from your breath re-moistens the ink on the stamp.) Then stamp on your card stock. In the example below, part of the stamp has been inked in Certainly Celery and part of it in Regal Rose:

(Photo and creation courtesy of Jayne Mercer)

• Use your markers to do the "Thumping Technique". Thumping is not what you do to your husband when he asks a dumb stamping question although this might have merit at times. Rather, thumping consists of inking up a solid stamp with a light-coloured ink. Grab two contrasting markers and open them to their brush tips. Hold the markers as you would drumsticks and thump away onto your stamp. If desired, you can add several more colours. When finished, reactivate the ink by "huffing." Stamp and enjoy.

• When you emboss on vellum and color in the design on the back of the vellum using markers, it looks like stained glass!

• Markers are great for colouring directly onto glossy cardstock.

(Photo and creation courtesy of Michelle Dyson)

• Ink up in a lighter colour and use a darker, same tone marker to "shade" on the rubber before stamping. In the example below, the stamp has been inked up in River Rock and then edged in Always Artichoke. This gives a similar result as rolling the stamp edges with an ink pad.

(Photo and creation courtesy of Marelle Taylor)

• Use the markers on Paper Clay after it is dry. Stamp your image, allow it to dry and then use the markers to colour in the image. This is useful when you are making Paper Clay ornaments, jewellery, etc.

• Use markers to write a personalized message or for journaling in your scrapbooks.

• Use markers to add shadow to a computer printed greeting by just highlighting on one side of the type (such as to the right of each letter.)

• Use the markers to draw lines or shapes on a brayer, and then run the brayer over your cardstock. You can make some great tortoise shell, leopard or gemstone looks on glossy card stock.

• Use markers to colour white ribbon to match your card. You can now have 48 colours of grosgrain with just a couple swipes of the markers. Be sure to have a piece of paper underneath as you color on top of it and rubber gloves might be an idea too. In the example below a white taffeta ribbon has been dyed with a Rose Red marker:

(Photo and creation courtesy of Marelle Taylor)

• Use fine tip to highlight/outline inside edge of panel cards. Cut edge of cardstock with decorative shears and colour edge by using side of marker.

• Use a Bordering Blue marker to show "shadow" around a portion of image. The example below is from my previous post.


• Use on sponge to add colour to stamped images or create specialty backgrounds.

• Use brush tip to make hearts, butterflies, leaves, flowers, raindrops and watermelon seeds.

• Use the markers to fix "mistakes". If your stamped image isn't complete, use a coordinating marker to draw the incomplete lines.

• Emboss with them. Ink the stamp using Versamark then colour on your stamp with the markers. Stamp and emboss with clear embossing powder.


Well that was L O N G but hopefully you've got some new ideas for using marker pens. If you don't have any markers yet, you really can't be without them. Please contact me on 0402 347 010 or email me before 9pm Sunday 14 December to take up this offer.

I'll try to come back later and edit this post to put some pictures in amongst the above notes so it is clearer.

Have a good day.

Love from Crafty Kim

Single Markers are Available Now for a Limited Time

Just posting to let you know about this great promotion from Stampin' Up!, running from the 10 until the 30 November 2008.

Stampin' Up! Marker Pens are usually available in sets only; there are 5 sets in total, one for each of the colour families of Bold Brights, Earth Elements, Rich Regals and Soft Subtles plus Neutrals. But now, you can buy individual markers.

The individual markers are available for $4.95 each which is competitive with the pricing of the SU! marker multipacks as well as other marker brands. The advantage of SU! markers over other brands is that they match the SU! card stock, ink pads, and embellishments. My personal experience with using SU! markers to colour directly onto stamps before "huffing" on the rubber and stamping the image onto card stock is that they don't dry too fast on the stamp and the image is very clear, with no patches of missing colour. This gives you time to successfully colour up more detailed stamps with 2 or 3 colours.

If you don't buy anything else, consider buying Bordering Blue or Almost Amethyst to outline your water-coloured image. This is very easy to do and while subtle, it makes your image "pop" out of the page. It is a little tricky to demonstrate using photographs, it is much easier to see the difference between an outline and no outline around the image "in the flesh" but here's the type of outline I'm referring to:

While you're at it, get yourself some SU! Watercolour Paper. It's a bit like your cooking being improved by a high quality frying pan. Your watercolouring will be greatly improved by the use of watercolour paper. I find it hard to use anything else now. Here's the whole card:

(Inspired by Makeesha Byl's Inkspirations)

I've got plenty of other tips on using SU! markers which I'll be including, along with my favourite marker colours, in my November newsletter (due out later this week). Please send me an email if now if you would like to subscribe to my newsletter.

And do yourself one last favour, head over to the website of Alisa Tilsner, a very talented Australian paper-crafter famous for her "colouring in", for her tutorial on using markers.

Bye for now,

Love from Crafty Kim

Welcome Nathan James

It's been a busy few days but I finally got to making a baby card. My beautiful friend, Kathryn, has been blessed with a gorgeous boy, her third son. Big brothers Thomas and Benjamin are thrilled with their new brother. Ben, is especially proud to be a big brother for the first time after nearly five years of being the little brother.

In the words of Don Herold..."Babies are such a nice way to start people". I couldn't agree more.

The starting point for this card was Bashful Blue. I looked at my trusty Colour Wheel and found that it teams well with Brilliant Blue. I tried teaming the blues up with Barely Banana and it wasn't in any way offensive but it was hardly eye catching. All by myself, I came up with Pumpkin Pie instead (with apologies to Michelle Dyson who has an aversion to orange). But what else? I'm thinking green but what green? So I went for a visit to Stampin' Up! Colour Combos site and plugged in the colours in use. Back came Whisper White (obviously), Gable Green and Wild Wasabi. I do like Wild Wasabi but I love the soft freshness of Gable Green.

I was away...I love giraffes and have a few of them in my collection. I decided to use the little giraffe from Little Hellos and use the Spotlight Technique. I just coloured the giraffe with an orange pencil since Brilliant Blue smudges if you try to water colour or use a blender pen on the image. I used the corner rounder punch to create a scalloped edge and then the 1/8 inch circle punch to add the holes to the scallops. I love the new Silver Hodge Podge from the Spring Mini Catalogue so I framed the words "baby boy" from Everyday Flexible Phrases with silver. I couldn't leave my ribbon reel in its home so Pumpkin narrow grosgrain was threaded behind the silver frame. I used my favourite pad, Versamark, with Itty Bitty Backgrounds to stamp the Gable Green base card.

So, if you're ever faced with a colour dilemma, be sure to solve it by visiting the Colour Combo site. There's always a link to it on this web site, on the right under "Places I like to visit".

I have been working on a Christmas novelty item today and bought some Pascalls Columbines for the purpose. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the project due to a shortage of the lollies. It seems the manufacturers put less in the bag than they once did ;)

So I'll be back right after I've re-stocked the Columbine supply.

Love from Crafty Kim

P.S. Note to my lovely friend Suzanne, also a recently appointed mother of three boys, if you're reading this. I know baby Matthew is older than baby Nathan and I still owe you a visit and a card. You're not forgotten. Thanks for your patience.

French Wheelin' and More Handy Tips

I've been wanting to show you paper-craft examples using the various sets that are part of the current Stampin' Up! Free Wheelin' Promotion. The only problem is I haven't had much time to get inspired and create. So it occurs to me that there is no need to "re-invent the wheel". Here's a card I have CASE'd from Michelle Pauly. It show cases the Carte Postale stamp set and the Leaves A La Carte jumbo wheel perfectly:


The colours are Whisper White, Basic Black and Certainly Celery. For the main panel, the Leaves A La Carte wheel has firstly been inked up in Celery before being over-stamped with the wheel inked up in Whisper White. It is quite busy but works because the colours are subtle.

The white panel beneath the main panel has been wheeled with Certainly Celery only and a scalloped edge added using the Slit Punch. This is a really neat technique, if you'd like to learn more, have a look at this online tutorial from Julia Stainton.

A row of paper piercing using a piercing tool and the Mat Pack tops the card. I've used narrow Black grosgrain ribbon to embellish. Speaking of ribbon, do you hate it when it frays? I know I do. It's less likely to happen with a card that isn't handled much but for scrapbook pages, I like to prevent my ribbons from fraying. The first step is to have a really sharp pair of snips, dedicated to cutting ribbons only (that means paper never goes near the blades - except when my desk is really messy and I can't find my paper snips). This gives you a clean, neat edge to start with. Then I take to the end of the ribbon with a naked flame and very carefully melt the fibres at the end of the ribbon. You only want to do this gently, slowly and briefly:


Please don't set your ribbon or card on fire. And keep the matches or lighter away from the kiddies. And if you borrowed your husband's BBQ lighter, remember to return it. Did I mention it may not work on all ribbons? I depends on what the ribbon is made of so if you're planning to do this, please experiment with the ribbon first.

Remember, if you like what you see above, you can buy the Carte Postale stamp set before the 30 September 2008, and receive the Leaves A La Carte jumbo wheel for free.

I've got lots of other cards to make....my dear friend Kathryn had a baby boy (Nathan) recently so a welcome card is currently formulating in my head. Please stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting,

Love from Crafty Kim

Another Show Demo - Chalk Board Technique with a Difference

Here is a card made with a technique that Teneale Williams was demonstrating at the August Stitches and Craft Show. Chalk Board is a really simple technique using Stampin’ Pastels (chalks) and White Pigment Ink.

First you stamp the Baroque Motifs image in white ink on to dark cardstock (Chocolate Chip, Night of Navy or Black work best). Load a sponge dauber with chalk, in this case I used the Brocade Blue Pastel. Then bounce the dauber over the stamped image, being careful not to rub or wipe. Brush the excess chalk off using a dry paint brush. This leaves the flourish and swirls a light blue colour, rather than stark white.

The small flower from Baroque Motifs was then stamped in Whisper White Ink. And here's the difference from conventional chalk board: using a Brilliant Blue Watercolour Pencil, I've coloured the centre of the flowers and I have also toned the edge of the Flourish using the pencil to add “light and shade”. It is amazing how much better the card looks with this extra touch.

Finally a greeting from the It's Your Birthday stamp set was stamped in Whisper White Ink. Worth mentioning here is that the white ink, being a pigment ink rather than a dye ink, takes some time to dry so be careful not to smudge it. A Brocade Blue Wide Grosgrain Ribbon was added to embellish the card and add dimension. Otherwise, it is a single layer card - so easy and quick to make.

Other suggested colour combinations to try are Chocolate Chip card with Regal Rose chalk and ribbon or Black card with Old Olive chalk and ribbon.

At the Show we had a special Chalk Board Kit available for purchase and I am offering this special to those of you who weren’t at the show or missed the Demonstration.

Chalk Board Show Special
“Baroque Motifs” Stamp Set (P. 98 of Main Catalogue)
Stampin’ Pastels 51 colours (P. 150 of Main Catalogue)
Whisper White Ink pad (P. 129 of Main Catalogue)
Pack of 12 Sponge Daubers (P. 150 of Main Catalogue)

Total (includes Shipping and Handling) $120 which is a saving of $10.

Purchase price also includes step-by-step Chalk Board instructions (with pictures), a sample card and further stamp usage ideas.

Please email me at ktonnet@bigpond.net.au if you want to take up this offer.

Thanks for visiting and reading.

Love from Crafty Kim

A Variation on the Faux Tearing Technique

Here's another card that makes use of the Faux Tearing technique. Except this one hasn't been made with a large background stamp. Instead, a two-step stamp set called Wild Rose has been used.

I originally received this card from Kerri Hunter. The faux tear has been made using Night of Navy Ink sponged lightly across the card, using the torn edge of a piece of paper as a guide (see instructions in this post). Then the outline of a small Rose stamp was inked up in Night of Navy ink. But before it was stamped on the card front multiple times, it was stamped off on a scrap piece of paper first, to make the final stamped image much lighter in colour.

The feature rose and leaves in the bottom right corner of the card front have been stamped using the conventional two-step stamping approach; that is the solid small Rose image has been lightly stamped first and then the small outline Rose image has been stamped over the top, with the aid of a stamp positioner, the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. To get the leaves looking like they are behind the flower, masking has been used. A greeting completes the card. Worth noting is that this card has no layers but it is still very effective.

If you would like to know more about either faux tearing or masking, please add your name to my newsletter distribution list by emailing me at ktonnet@bigpond.net.au In my newsletter, I share lots of stamping tips and techniques.

Thanks for looking.

Love from Crafty Kim