Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?

 It's Friday, and another week in lockdown ticks by.  

There's no question that this long spell of minimising activities has been made easier because of my card making community.  I have been very fortunate to have a group of people join me on zoom each week, and we've chatted and laughed at everything from the ridiculousness of the world right now to the state of our hair!!   There's no doubt that I am inspired by each of you, so thank you!

I've also been very spoiled with a lot of happy mail.  Yes.  The card makers dream is to receive handmade cards that they didn't make themselves!!  Here's my display.  You may recognise a card you've made and sent to me.  And I'm truly grateful and blessed to have you in my life.  

Please share where you get your inspiration from.  Leave a comment below, and let's brighten eachother's day.

Here's cheers to seeing you in person in the not too distant future.

Retiring Soon!

Hurry Hurry Hurry!   Don't miss out.   These gorgeous (if I do say so myself) card samples are all made using retiring products.  Do you see something you just can't live without?  THEN CALL ME TO ORDER IT TODAY!

Retiring Products on this card; Bugs & Kisses Stamp Set & Sweet & Sour Specialty Designer Series Paper.

Retiring products on this card: Fresh Cuts Stamp Set & Love Letter Designer Series Paper, Designer Label Punch, Photo Corners Punch.

Retiring Products on this card: Friends 24-7 stamp set, Designer Label Punch.

Retiring Products on this card: Friends 24-7.  

Retiring Products on these 2 cards:  Great Friend stamp set, Lap of Luxury Designer Series Paper (on left), Sunny Garden Designer Series Paper (on right), Spiral Punch (already sold out).

Hope you have a super weekend.
Karen

The Value of Swaps

I'm part of a big team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators and most of them are on the Central Coast.  We have a team forum and it's a great place to trade ideas and share techniques and stuff.

From time to time we do a card swap and this month I hosted it.  The brief was to use retiring products so we would each have a stash of ideas to share with our customers.   This is also a great way for me to learn new techniques and provides inspiration for using my own materials in different ways.  

Normally we'd aim to get as many involved as possible and anyone in the group can take part but this swap was particularly time sensitive so we got a group of 4 willing attendees (me included).  Here's the results:

Starting top left and going clockwise:

Debra's card:   Uses Fresh Cuts stamp set in Marina Mist classic ink.  She's also used the Occasional Greetings set for the Happy Birthday.  Don't you love that perfect  bow? 

Nerida's card: Stamp sets here are Friends 24-7 & Sense of Time.    Nerida has combined these two really well using different ink colours - Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso & River Rock (I think).  She's added a touch of class by heat embossing the flourish (from Friends 24-7) in gold.   The Designer Label punch in Crumb Cake cardstock is also retiring.

Linda's card: Razzle Dazzle stamp set & Occasional Greetings are stamped in Pacific Point.  The DSP is Blueberry Crisp and the Designer Label punch is used in Pacific Point cardstock.

My card: I chose Great Friend for my stamp set and the DSP is Sunny Garden.  I've used the Designer Label & Photo Corners punch. The Striped grosgrain ribbon in Certainly Celery will also retire.

So there you have it.  A nice little grouping of swaps using retiring products.   Isn't it amazing that we all chose different stamp sets?   Now I have a couple of new ideas that I want to incorporate into my own cardmaking and lovely keepsakes of stamps & tools that I will really miss.

Happy Friday!
Karen

More distressed cards!

Last night's class was another success with the ladies really getting into the stick and giggle!   Even those outside of their comfort zone!!!  That said, I didn't get a couple of pics, but here are the one's I did get:

Gloria's card

Liz's card

Vicki's card

I should point out that when you do a PaperLady class you have options.   I prepare projects in a way that showcases a technique or a particular product.  However, I encourage creativity at whatever level people are comfortable with.  That means that you can shake up the project to customise it for your own needs, likes and preferences.   I do however make no apology for stretching your skills and in fact I hope that happens regularly so you can explore the many possibilities that our paper crafts have to offer.

That said, my own preference when attending a class is to copy the original project - why?   Well, I really like to make sure I get it.  That way, I can take it home and will remember what I learned more easily.  I also struggle to develop my own ideas when I'm in a group.  That could be because I'm a bit of a chatty crafter so it's harder to multi-task! 

Bottom line?  Come to a class, learn a bit, do a bit, chat a bit and have tons of fun!  But take home the project you want - the copied version or your version.

Happy distressing....kit, that is!
Karen

Distressing Essentials (DE)

No, I'm not talking about what you need to be distressed!  There's no distress while we're crafting thank you - or at least there shouldn't be!  However, if you have the kit from SU called Distressing Essentials, you will have all you need to create beautiful aged projects that lend themselves to all sorts of occasions.

With the masculine card presenting a constant challenge for me (sorry boys, I mean that in a nice way), this weeks class was an opportunity to see how to get a grown up male look without a lot of fuss but also without it being "boring" and plain.  Cue the DE kit.  There's the fantastic colour spots - 4 of them in mahogany, tea, charcoal & blue; a flat rubber stamp for blending and smudging colour; a large sanding block & an emery board with different grades of roughness from fine to gritty to give texture and soften stamped images or paper patterns; and 3 shaped metal files for sanding in tight spots like chipboard letters and around the inside edges of punched holes.    

So after a demo of the possibilities I threw the challenge to the ladies to create a distressed card for a special male.   Heres what they did:

Avril's card

Avril used the rubber stamp to smoosh ink onto the envelope.

Joey stamped onto the DSP.  The vintage trinkets are perfect on the crimped piece.

Laurel made the most of the pattern on the DSP and it goes really well with the sponging on around the stamped image.

Sadie's inked, torn and sponged to get this gorgeous effect.   The raspberries just speak for themselves.

Susie has layer upon layer to add texture.  She has stamped onto twill tape and used the ink spots to "dirty" up the clean twill so it fits nicely with the other elements. The chipboard letter has been covered in paper, stamped & filed - genius!

Tracy's card has nice texture created by the tearing of the layers, scrunching the paper and using the files to rough up the edges.

Isn't it lovely to see how you can all take the same materials and turn out a bunch of different stuff?  Everyone used the same tools, same DSP (Botanical Gazette) and same stamps.  We did have a lot of greeting stamps available though because I think it's really important that my customers can make a card that suits their needs.  The use of twill tape in place of ribbon & jumbo eyelets with Hemp instead of linen thread also give the end result a more masculine feel.   

Hope you are inspired to go make something!
Cheers
Karen