I am loving the New Kaszazz Catalogue…I’m also loving all the new Workshops and Projects for the FREE Make & Takes that have been created by some of the very talented Consultants across Australia.
Today I’m planning on featuring the New Make & Take Projects with you. These are the FREE Projects we do at Markets, Festivals, Events and for our own Open Houses. These are a great way for people to come along and discover they CAN craft. 🙂
Which is your favourite? Which one/s leap out at you for your attention?
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I’m asking as I’ve got no idea just yet as to a fave…they’re all just too cute and adorable and too perfect to pick one. Ahhh, First World Problem. 🙂
It’s Techie Tuesday again….I love this time of the week, I really do. I did promise in the Holly BackgroundPost that I would share with you How To create these stunning backgrounds yourself and this is it! 😀
First up, I’ll admit I did some Prep Work the night before by spritzing my Cards with a mix of Perfect Pearls and Water. I wanted a more ‘shimmery’ look for this Post. Mission accomplished. Without further ado, let’s craft!!
Perfect Pearls Spritzed over for a shimmery effect.
**Warning; this is a very photo heavy Post, so please bear with me if it’s taking longer to load than usual. There’s way too much background noise around the neighbourhood to do a video this time.**
Trim your Cardstock to a little larger than the size you require for your Card. All shall be revealed very shortly. You’ll want to trim an extra piece of Card (I’ve used White Cardstock) and attach with Glossy Accents or Super Tape so you have a thicker base.
Select the Dies you wish to use for your Background. This time I’ve chosen the two smaller Stars from the Stars Die Set byKaszazz. Crank your Stack through your preferred Die Cutting & Embossing Machine. For my Ezy Press it’s the Pink Base Plate with the Blue Cutting Plate. * I know these Dies love to cut through, which is what I’m attempting to avoid; to aid in preventing this I’ve used a scrap of SB Paper over the top.
Don’t panic if your Dies are cutting through your Card Stack; we’ll fix that up very shortly and no one will be able to tell this has happened. Trust me…I asked The Man if he could see anything amiss with all 3 Cards I’ve created with this Technique, and he didn’t believe me that something was…until I showed him some photos. 😉 Move your Dies to another position on your Card and Repeat the Previous Step until you’re happy with the coverage and positions.
Now to reattach your Jigsaw pieces (the pieces that cut through). I’ve used Glossy Accents as I’m attaching Card to Card. I also wanted to ensure my pieces were going to remain where they should be. Be generous, side spillage is fine as we’re trimming edges down before too long. 😉 Attach your ‘Backing Base’ Card and smooth out for an even cover.
Once you’re confident your glue has dried, flip your design so the back is facing you and trim your edges to fit your chosen size Card. This is the easiest way to trim the edges without ‘gathering’ any bits of Card along the way. It’s taken a few attempts for me to work out this step. Worth every attempt. Trim off any stragglers with your scissors for a neater appearance.
Now the fun part….DECORATE!!! I’ve added some Silver Edged Ribbon to the first Card as I wanted a more simple look. For the Card I made for this Post, I wanted to have a little more fun. I’ve Ink Blended the edges with Aquamarine Archival Ink (helps to hide any little straggly bits that escaped the scissors!) as well as Ink Blended the edges of my SB Paper Stars prior to using Magic Mount Foam to place them over the matching Stars. Because of the extra dimension I decided to use Super Tape to attach the Backing to the Card Base. The choice is always yours where this is concerned.
I’ve had a blast making these Cards. For my second one I’ve done some Heat Embossing on Vellum for my sentiment; the Shooting Star in Silver and Clear Embossing Powder over my Aquamarine Archival sentiment. Just for something a little fancy. I was considering adding a rhinestone brad, mine all have aged brass for the edge which just wouldn’t work this time, so I Heat Embossed that as well in the Silver. It wasn’t until I was moving everything around that I decided that’s a bit OTT, thankfully!!! But it can be done in case you were wondering.
I’m already planning some Cards using the New Leaf Die Kaszazz released with the New Catalogue over the weekend. I think that Die, and either of the New Flourish Dies (Small & Large) would look amazing as a Background done in this Technique. I’ll have to order them and find out with some trial and error….now do I tell The Man I’m in urgent need of supplies or do I wait till my supplies are actually diminished? Oooh, I’ll behave and wait, it’ll be worth it. 😀
Hope this has been easy to follow, and that you enjoy using this Technique for your Card Backgrounds and Scrap Layouts.
It’s been a HUGE weekend in the Kaszazz World…Team Training Days (TTD) on both Saturday & Sunday depending on where you live, New Products released as happens at every TTD and the NEW 2016-2017 Catalogue was released!!
I’ve had a quick look through an online version and I have to admit I’m super dooper impressed with all the new products…so on trend with many of them. I’m also impressed with the price changes; I’m pretty sure the Dies have all dropped in price!! 😀
Now it’s time to stash away my Stamps that are retiring to Tahiti, that’s today’s first task; I’ll need to go through and work out which Workshops are no longer current and file them elsewhere on the computer. I enjoy having the Retired Workshops to refer to down the track, and this way I’ve also got a copy of the Instructions. 🙂
Do you do that with older Workshops/Classes? File them away so you’ve got them for rainy days?
Over the next week or two I’ll be sharing plenty of the Catalogue items and the new Workshops as they come to light. It’s soooo exciting!!!
What do you think? What jumps out and grabs you right out of your seat? What doesn’t?
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Let me know in the comments as I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.
Devouring my coffee and the New Catalogue in one go. 🙂
While I was skimming through YouTube last weekend I stumbled across a Tutorial showing different uses for Nesting Dies which intrigued me just a little.
So this week I made it my mission to ‘attempt’ a few of the Techniques that were shared. And I’ve got to say, I’m impressed.
Today I’m sharing with you a different Christmas Card using my Holly Die as the Background.
I’ll share the Technique with you on the next Techie Tuesday. It’s certainly easier than I thought. It also opens up a world of possibilities for all the Dies that are in my Collection.
Till then, big weekend ahead in the Kaszazz World with the release of our newest Catalogue and Project Book which means our Retiring Products are heading to Tahiti as of tonight. Also means heaps to share with you next week!! 🍹🍹
I’ve been super excited with this Techie Tuesday post. I know I’ve covered Texture Paste before, and I still love doing that Technique with the Embossing Powder (I’ll update that one soon too!); for this week, I’ve tried something I saw on a Post from Tim Holtz over the weekend where Texture Paste had been used with Distress Glitter. I was in love instantly!
Then I was thinking; “That’s great on plain Texture Paste, but what would it look like with some colour added?” So I tried it…and fall in love some more. I’m really thinking this is going to be awesome for some of the Christmas Cards I’ve still to make for this year.
I’ve had to force myself to stay off Instagram so the end result is still ‘fresh’ for many of you. I have snuck a peek on my Facebook Group of the steps I’ve taken which I’ll share with you now. Fingers crossed this will inspire you to give this Technique a try as well.
Start with your fresh Texture Paste and plop a dollop on your Non Stick Craft Mat. It’s really up to you as to how much you use. I was rather generous for this Post as I’m planning on using this for a few card backgrounds and features, so the more the merrier.
I’ve added a few drips of Polished Jade Dylusions Ink Spray before mixing it in with the Paste. If you want a full colour, mix your colour in well, if you’d like more of a marble effect with some of the white showing through, only blend it a little. The choice is yours.
Next I added another dollop of Distress Glitter to my….ummm, well…mess is about the only term I can use to be honest, but it’s such a fun mess. 🙂 Repeat the mixing process with your Distress Glitter until you feel it’s all in there and pretty evenly mixed in. You may be thinking by now that this is a huge FAIL as it won’t appear too sparkly while you’re looking at your lump of mess. Have faith…all shall be revealed.
Secure your chosen Stencil and apply your Texture Paste mix. Even now, while you’re spreading the Texture Paste on your Stencil, you’ll probably be thinking “Yeah right, like this is working….where’s my sparkle??” I know I was thinking that at this point. It wasn’t until I removed my Stencil and moved my card that I noticed it was in there. Set aside to allow the Texture Paste to dry naturally. If you’re in a hurry, use a Heat Tool to hurry things along; I was more than happy to let Nature take it’s course this time around.
You’ll see when your Texture Paste is dry more Distress Glitter showing through. It’s subtle for the most part, until you move the card around into different light, then you’ll see why I’m besotted with this Technique. Not that there’s anything wrong with coloured Texture Paste. It is pretty awesome on it’s own truth be told. The Glitter just adds that extra touch of whimsy.
One big Tip when it comes to trimming your card piece, and I learnt this one by trial and error. Turn your card so the Texture Paste is underneath. Trying to trim with the Paste facing you is possible, messy, frustrating and great for dulling your blade. A world easier to just flip it over and do it upside down. 🙂 Pinkie promise.
I wanted to do a Card that would wow you with the placement of this awesome Technique..fingers crossed this does the above steps some justice.
This Brickwork Stencil just begs to be used as a chimney with Christmas Stockings and Baubles handing from it on either Christmas Cards or a Christmas Scrap Layout. That may be for another Post. 😉 I’ve used the Winter Wonderland Stamps from Kaszazz to add a semi traditional feel. Overall I’m quite happy with the end result. And am now looking forward to making up some more Cards with the same Technique.
What do you think? Is this a Technique you’d love to try yourself? Or have you already done this? Please share your photos if you’ve done this, or are about to jump in feet first (like I did) and do this for the first time as well. 🙂
I love scrolling through Pinterest, as many of us do, and seeing so many different card making styles and designs. And then I get confused; there can be too much of a good thing.
Which got me thinking; “What were the predicted trends for this year?” Kaszazzdoes a great amount of research on this, and they certainly provide us Consultants plenty of inspiration and beautiful products. And I love how majority of the Workshops are actually designed by Consultants. Which are pretty much on trend.
I’ve been reviewing some of the clips from CHA over the weekend and a number of the predicted trends are certainly still going strong. I’ve even started to enjoy one or two of them! 😀 Others well, hmm, haven’t seen too much of.
Here’s a few of the ones that I’ve come across. Would love to hear your thoughts on these as well. 🙂
1/ Colouring In ~ There’s no doubt this is still HUGE!! I am starting to understand the appeal to be honest. And I am loving the latest Colouring Pads and Kits from Kaszazz. I find it interesting to see the preferred medium is markers. For me, my Watercolour Pencils are easier to work with, and can be just as vibrant. So I’m a little surprised with Markers being so popular for this one.
2/ Rose Gold ~ There’s no doubt metallics are BIG right now. And I for one adore them!!! Then again, I am a girl who loves her Bling, so there’s really no surprise there. But Rose Gold? I’m certainly seeing it in the stores for jewellery and accessories. I just haven’t seen it as much in cards and scrapping. Or are we a little slower here in BrisVegas?
3/Journals ~ How awesome is this Trend?? To see so many starting to record what I’d still call a diary, to me is brilliant! I do love the Journal Pages and Art that has been flooding the net this year. Very inspiring.
4/ Watercolour ~ Yay!! I do love this one, and now that I’ve worked out how to do it to suit my own quirkiness, love, love, love!! 😀 The washed out looks that can be created to me is just calming and peaceful. I’m preferring this a lot more than ombre, though I still love a good ombre, more for nails though. 😉
5/ Fun Folds ~ When I mentioned this one to The Man over the weekend he laughed. Not because he disagrees; more because a) he knew what I was talking about and b) he’s seen how ‘fun’ these can really be behind the scenes. And looking through my photos from this year I can certainly see why he laughed. I’ve certainly stepped outside my own comfort zones and skill sets and attempted more and more Fun Fold cards as the year has gone on. What would be your fave Fun Fold to create?
6/ Patterns ~ Almost a no brainer. For me, I love Chevron and Tribal patterns 🙂 It’s great to see Cards with more and more Patterns coming through, especially when teamed with bold, bright colours. Which patterns have caught your eye this year?
7/ Build Up Stamp Sets ~ Multi Layering Stamps to build up an image certainly creates some stunning Stamped Images. I actually don’t have any of these, not quite sure why not. Kaszazz does do a few 2 Step Stamps, none have happened to find their way to my Crafty Play Zone. Hmm, may have to work on that. For those of you awesome readers who have used Build Up Stamps, what do you think?
All in all, there’s some fantastic elements out there you’re sure to find a trend to make your own and enjoy. Would love to hear what you think of these and of any other trends you’ve come across this year. Anyone brave enough to make a prediction for 2017?
This week for Techie Tuesday I wanted to have some fun…some very messy, get down and dirty kinda fun. With a touch of glam thrown in for good measure. And this is where you now find me. 🙂
I saw a few clips last week while I was laid up that featured so many of the different colour palettes for Perfect Pearls by Ranger. And I love them!! Which got me to thinking about adding my own colour to suit whatever it is I want them to suit.
Previously on other Projects I’ve applied Perfect Pearls directly to freshly stamped images to create a softer, shimmery tint to my image, blended in with watercolour pencils for the same effect and the oldie but goodie, mixed in my Mini Mister Bottle with water to create a very shimmery spray.
Until today, I’ve never tried to colour Perfect Pearls with re-inkers, so this was my challenge for this Techie Tuesday Post. Goals were to see a) Can it be done? & b) How effective is the end result? I can safely say….NAILED IT!!
I’ve used only a smidge of Perfect Pearls on the end of a spatula, added a smidge of a smidge to a tiny plastic container (for my Archival Re-Inker) and separated the rest of the smidge into two hills. One for the beautiful and rich, Fired Brick; the other for my all time fave Distress Colour, Squeezed Lemonade.
For each smidge I’ve only added one teeny drop from the dropper. Archival’s Manganese Blue is in the container to save cleaning up later. A fair bit easier than working on cleaning it all off my Craft Mat I can assure you. If you want it darker, simply add more colour; lighter, add more Perfect Pearls.
To colour my stamped image (done earlier on watercolour card with Stayz On Jet Black) I’ve used a slightly damp, fine paintbrush to pick up some of the Manganese Blue Pearls and colour. Because the Archival Inks don’t react with water as the Distress Inks do, I’m doing this one first and foremost. It did appear to dry rather quickly too, which helps.
I’ve then spritzed water over the entire watercolour card prior to using another fine paintbrush (this time rather wet) to swirl the remaining colours around on their own. I’ve then spritzed some water onto my Craft Mat and ‘combined’ (loosely used) my two Distress Colours together.
Because of the added moisture, when I applied my Squeezed Lemonade and Fired Brick PP’s to my card, there is a fair amount of….hmmm seepage sounds ugh, bleeding? It ran pretty much, which is fine as I was planning on Fussy Cutting the image at the end. If you’re not into Fussy Cutting, I advise you skip the spritzing of the card and just keep your brush damp, not wet.
With a very wet brush, I was able to blend all my colours on the image once I’d finished adding my Pearly Inks…the end result has honestly won me over in a big way.
**When cleaning up afterwards, I’ve found using some Stamp Cleaner works a treat on the tips of my brush that’s been dipped and swirled in the Archival Blends. I kind of ‘massage’ it through the bristles, being gentle and mindful of the brush itself. After the massage, then I swirl in around in a glass of water to rinse and spin so to speak….ooh sounds more like a session at the Day Spa! J Lucky Brush! 😉
As always, if there’s any of the Kaszazz Products you’d like to Order for your own Crafty Play Time, please send me a Private Message, or email and I’ll be in touch. Oooh and I will ask for your forgiveness with the quality of the video. I’m not brilliant at painting while standing up, but was the only way I could manage it today.
Now over to you…have you tried this? Are you now thinking of trying it? Any other hints or tips you’d love to share with me about Perfect Pearls? I’d love to hear from you and certainly learn some more great techniques for my next Crafty Play Time!
I was originally going to do a Post today about Easel Fold Cards and the variety of styles there are for one of my favourite Folding Styles.
And then I was thinking, well that’s more of a Style than a Technique, but to make them you really need to have the Techniques right with measuring and scoring. So….today I’m covering one of the Basic Techniques you’ll use for either Cardmaking or Scrapping.
Now there are different ways you can Score your Cards & Papers. I use the Paper Trimmer from Kaszazz for trimming and scoring, and that works well for me. I’ve never used a Scoring Board, though I can see the appeal. Personally, I love using my Paper Trimmer. But that’s me. 😉
Scoring is important, especially for the Easel Cards. Scored Lines over just folding looks far more professional and ‘finished’. This is true for Cards, Gift Boxes, Embellishments…anything that requires a crisp, sharp fold.
A bone folder, bonefolder, or folding bone is a dull-edged hand toolused to fold and crease material in crafts such as bookbinding,[1][2]cardmaking,[3]origami,[4] and other paper crafts that require a sharp crease or fold.
To Score, you can use a blunt knife if you are just starting out..but a Bone Folder is certainly a Tool you’ll want to be investing in sooner than later. It just makes life so much easier as well as giving your work the finished, professional look setting your Craft into the ‘Handmade’ over ‘Homemade’ category.
Jim, from The Gentleman Crafter has a few quick videos showing different Bone Folders and Scoring that I thought I’d share with you today. 🙂 Great Tip on how to not ‘break’ your Card or Paper when you fold from a Score too. 🙂
Hope these help you with your Techniques, especially if you’re just starting out in Papercraft. I can honestly say, the right Tools and Techniques makes my Crafting Life soooo much easier and enjoyable. 🙂
Not long now till Father’s Day and time to really knuckle down and work out how to create the perfect Card for Dad.
And that’s where a lot of us get stuck isn’t it.
So how to overcome it?
I’ve actually been going through my stash of Cardmaking magazines to help out with this one….great tip if you’ve got a few around the home. There’s some wonderful suggestions and great layouts to use for inspiration.
Start with thinking about Dad…do you want to include some of the elements of his life in the Card? His job, interests and hobbies? Does he like fishing? Golf? With his job, are there elements you can use to decorate the front of his Card? Is he a Tech Wiz?
Does Dad have a favourite quote or saying he uses regularly you could emboss or stamp?
Is he a frustrated traveller? Into camping or caravaning? Does he have a ‘thing’ for planes, trains or (without sounding like a movie title!) cars? Loves his books and history?
Then start thinking about the colours Dad likes. Is he a more nautical style of guy, or naturals and woodsy colours?
Started coming up with ideas yet?
In our Clan we have such a variety of interests where the menfolk are concerned. For my Brother and a Nephew or three, AFL is a big thing, and they have a Team they are passionate supporters of which makes it pretty easy to come up with ideas for their Cards.
3 Star Guy Cards
My Father-In-Law (the awesome-est on the Planet I might add) he’s very ‘handy’ and enjoys the horse racing side of life. So for him, it’s pretty simple to come up with an idea or ten as well. It’s more a case of culling the ideas until the right one is left.
Of course these elements can be used all year round for any occasion. Simply hange the sentiment you stamp on the front for a Birthday, Congratulations, Retirement or Get Well Soon style Card.
I’ve just finished off a Retirement Card for my FIL as he’s official ‘First Day of the Rest of Your Life’ is tomorrow.
Hopefully this has helped to inspire you to go out and create the Perfect Card for your Dad before Father’s Day. Or inspire you to create some amazing Birthday Cards for the guys in your World.
Another awesome Blogger on here (PaperPuff) recently posted about one of her most popular, Pinned cards and her wonderment at the reaction people have had to it.
Which raises the question…what makes for a great Pin?
When you’re on Pinterest what appeals to you? Do you search for a particular subject or just browse and see what catches your eye?
I’m honestly a mixture of both. More times than not I’m actually using the search function to find Pins relating to my current interests. An example of this is over the weekend when The Man asked me to find some ideas for him to create for me re: Craft Storage. He’d kept coming across images that had the little “Pin It” button and wanted to know what the heck was going on in with ‘The Net’ and what on earth is this Pin stuff? Shows how much he hasn’t listened over the years when I’ve been yapping on about Pinterest this and that….lol. Honestly, can’t blame him…hehehehe.
So I showed him just how amazing Pinterest really is for finding inspiration and getting ideas on prices at the same time. One of the searches we undertook was for DIY Craft Storage and the amount of information that opened up on the laptop before our very eyes had him looking like Aladdin the first time he entered the Cave. 🙂
But it made me think again on what makes for a great Pin? What is it about certain Pins that get them re-pinned so many more times than others? Is it the keywords, tags and phrases used in the description? You’d think that would have a fair bit to do with it. But then you have to have a decent image as well to back it all up right?
With cardmaking, what makes it so popular for repins? Is this the measure we should be considering when making cards for markets and events to sell to the public? Does it really give us a temperature gauge of public needs/desires?
My little ‘experiment’ are these two cards I made up for Christmas. I know how popular the Christmas hashtag is….unless you want to loose yourself in Pinterest for an entire afternoon you’ll need to add more in your Search Bar than just Christmas….unless the plan is to loose an afternoon in Pinterest in which case….Christmas it is! 😀
I’ve used the same basic design and the same SB Paper by Kaszazz. I have changed the embellishments I’ve used this time. I am thinking of making up another two cards with everything the mirror image except changing the SB Paper I use. Hmmm, worth considering.
I’ve used the same Tags for both Pins, popped them in the same Board and done them at the same time as much as you possibly can with Pinterest. 🙂 Now to sit back and wait….and wait….and lose an afternoon in Pinterest while I’m at it. All in the name of research of course. 😉
Hmmm, worth considering.
CraftyCAN 