Craft Roulette #168

I loved the spin of the wheel this week and it gave me the perfect opportunity to stamp up my new Mama Elephant stamp set; I have had my eyes on this set (Flower Friends), Flower Shower and Rainy Days forever and ever. Finally I got them  all last week so was dying to play with them. The first thing I discovered the stamp I used is not a chicken, it's a KANGAROO, which is too, too funny. I really thought it was a beak on his face but then thought why has it got bunny ears and whoo it also has a tail. So I was really confused by now and had to go to the Mama Elephant site to see what it really was. A chicken wearing an orange daisy would have been even more perfect but the wee roo is adorable too.

This week's spin of the wheel gave us these parameters to work with:

I have added gold gel pen to the bee's stripes plus gold embossed my sentiment. I have Copic coloured up my images. I used a post it note as a mask for my grassy area which is created with Twisted Citron distress oxide ink and I thought about sponging the sky but settled on some clouds with a Lawn Fawn die and their Pearlescent vellum paper which I love. I also love that the pearly sheen means you don't see the wee glue drop or mini foam square behind it either. This week I loved Mary's funn shaker card and the evil chicken card that the guest Maymay created, so it is well worth checking out HERE.

✿ Karen ✿

Summer lovin'

This is the name of Jenn Shurkus AKA Creative Chick's latest online class. I was lucky and I took the class actually LIVE this weekend. Lucky or mad as it kicked off at my 3am but it is so helpful being able to ask questions as the class is happening. Though saying that Jenn is really awesome at getting back to you quickly if you do have a question and you're just doing it as a virtual class.

Jenn was working with the following Lawn Fawn sets: Mermaid for You, Duh-Nuh, On the Beach, So Jelly and You are Sublime. I don't have all these sets so I ended up using Mermaid for You, On the Beach, Ocean Shell-fies and Seahorsin' Around. I also didn't have the exact cover plate die she used and used my dotted scallop one from PFS and I had a different sun die than she used but everything worked out great and the star of the show as always is the cute Copic coloured images. Jenn does an amazing job of teaching you how to colour up small cute images for cards EASILY and even though I maybe using different images than she was (Seas the Day card) I just coloured up the different image with the same colours to get a "rainbow".

I also learnt that I was using the wrong Ranger cardstock for my backgrounds as I was struggling to get a smooth blend. Using Distress Oxides it wouldn't matter what cardstock you are using they blend like butter on everything but Jenn wanted to use dye inks as cleaner and not milky (like the sea should be). I persevered with what I had prepped and blended on for the class as with all the elements on top you don't really notice. This was my first go using my inks which were comparable in colour to the Lawn Fawn inks Jenn was using and I hated it, it was on the smooth side of my Ranger Distress Watercolour paper.

In the break I flipped it over changed out the pink ink and tried again it was better but  still not loving it, but it is what I did end up using after blending in more pink and lilac ink.

Anyhow Jenn took one look at my pictures and said you're using the wrong cardstock it's not watercolour paper I use Ranger Heavy Cardstock. Scratching my head now and lo an behold I do have some in my stash (surprise, surprise) but never used (surprise, surprise). I haven't tried blending on it yet but it is really smooth to touch.

I should have been using the cardstock on the LHS but it is interesting how their properties are identical and to be honest I assumed (wrongly) they were the same thing because of that and thought it was just different packaging and I'd never got around to opening it to cut into 1/4s for projects/classes.

This is Jenn's class sneak peek and her colours are so vibrant (they always are) so looking forward to having a go on the right card for the bonus cards I have yet to make.

As always this was another great class and it is interesting to see what others in class have substituted for the class too but here's some close ups of the cards I KReated to finish of with, I hope you all have a fabulous day and the sun continues to shine for us in Aotearoa.

Thanks for popping in for some Summer lovin'.

✿ Karen ✿

New Stampin' Up! catalogue has launched

I had a fabulous Sunday at the Gordonton Hall on Sunday with 2 of the local Waikato demos Rayleen Baker (from Gordonton) and Irene Wardlaw (from Te Awamatu). These two ladies always have amazing cards with lots of fancy folds. It's a really relaxed day, we take our own lunch and get pampered with everything else being handed to us to create with. 

I'll just post the cards in maybe my favourite order, the first has to be the Lemon-Lime Twist card with the Zany Zoo DSP. I was devastated when they retired Lemon Lime Twist (it was an in-colour) as I love lime green, and when younger a lot of my clothes were lime green. I was still a demo when it retired and I was one of many demos who used to regularly chant in demo forums "bring back lemon lime twist".

Isn't this just fun and I love the "theatre" the Zany Zoo dies also has as part of the die set. These images all come from the DSP, some of them are coloured, some of them you colour up yourself. Some have matching dies, some do not and you have to fussy cut out. We have coloured up the images with SU! watercolor pencils, I used to own both sets but when I stepped down again last year I gave away my sets to the 2 ladies I attended the crafting day with but I was really happy how easily it was to colour them up with the watercolor pencil and a blender.

This card uses the Cheerful Daisies bundle and daisies are my favourite flower but I personally found the die cuts tricky to get out and would like to try the set with a metal shim before I bought the set but I loved learning how to make a curtain fold as an accent, it really is a stunning card.

Now the following cards are not really my vibe but I like the folds a lot, I just don't like fussy flowers or darkish cards.

I'm not sure what kind of fold you call this and I don't think Rayleen or Irene knew what it was but it was pretty fab and I actually surprised myself how much I loved the DSP we were working with. It's called Countryside Inn and a mixture of blues to white with wee small animals on it, mine has a wee bird, but I saw foxes and bunnies on other papers. The stamp set was Seasonal Branches.

The next card is a pretty cool design and I know they're trying to show of the new in-colours released this year but I personally don't like the colours and the motorcycle doesn't stand out enough IMO but it is a cool die as was the In-colour Lustre Specialty paper, which I was nearly tempted to buy as so luxurious looking.

Colours in my motorcycle are Boho Blue and the background card is Pebbled Path.

Last but not least this was amazing, a "seagull" card, it was so easy to put together but also so hard thinking back. The "wings" wrap around the front of the card too. We've used Petal Park stamp set and Inked Botanicals DSP.

Well what a fabulous day, lots of crafting done, introduced to what's new with SU!, lots of gossip and I learnt some new techniques. If you'd like to know more please contact Rayleen or Irene directly to attend a class, a home workshop or a future event. I have linked their names to their e-mail addresses I hope, in the first paragraph.

✿ Karen ✿