NEW CATALOGUE IS HERE!!

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Stamps that are retiring to Tahiti, that’s today’s first task; I’ll need to go through and work out which Workshops are no longer current and file them elsewhere on the computer.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. 🙂

Till Next Time!! xx

Techie Tuesday ~ Texture Paste

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. 🙂

Till Next Time!! xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Challenge

Ooops, apologies for being a week late on my Self Imposed Scrap Challenge. My focus has been on re-arranging and re-organising, and it appears it’s paid off!! Yippee!! 🙂

Today I’ve been more creative than I’ve been for the last couple of weeks…and yet, my Crafty Play Zone is still clean & tidy! Either I’m really sick (no comment…lol) or my plans have worked and this set up is certainly more conducive to my keeping everything tidy. I’ll go with Option 2 this time I think.

So today, after making up some cards, attempting to make a Ladybird Invite (I’ll work on that one some more tomorrow….not quite right yet) I then picked out some photos to do a Page with. The photos I chose are from last year…wow, actually nearly a year ago now…when we first took out the latest go-kart (Victor) to the track with our Housemate and The Man’s cousin. Was nice to have a few of our friends drop by for support and cheering throughout the morning we were trackside too. Great memories. Normally makes for a great Page right?

I knew I wanted to do some stencilling on this one, so I pulled out the Chevron Stencil and used Manganese Blue and Aquamarine Archival Ink Pads to Ink Blend up the Page. Now that I like!! I then spritzed some water on the Stencil and ‘Ghosted’ the inked up side of the Stencil onto the Page….hmmm, was nervous about doing it…looked ok, but didn’t convince me.

I then tore up strips of Pool SB Essentials from my Scrap Stash and coloured with Chipped Sapphire and Blueprint Sketch Distress Paints before spritzing with water. Nup, not right for this project. Hmmm, next idea.

I love the shade of blue with Blueprint Sketch Distress Paint…and The Man’s fave colour is Blue. Which got me to thinking of using the Stencil again with some Distress Paint and…..Texture Paste! I’ve never actually mixed these two mediums before so was a little…nah not at all….very curious to see how this blend would work out. For the most part…WOW!!

While the Texture Paste was still damp I sprinkled some White Embossing Powder over the top in small sections and let it sit like that for 15 minutes before using my Heat Tool to set the Embossing Powder. Yes, the Texture Paste did ‘puff’ a little, but compared to other times I’ve done this technique this remained pretty flat and true to the Stencil.

After mounting the photos on the soon to be retired Denim SB Paper and rounding only two of the corners on the photos and the matting, add a little more Ink Blending on the SB Paper I was ready to pull it altogether and wrap it up.

I’m quite happy with the end result. Actually I’m really happy with the end result. I found the Scrap Album I did up for The Man’s 30th Birthday pressie (nearly a decade ago now) and wow….I’m not ashamed of those Pages, but I’m sure not about to show them off to the World at large either. 😉

So that’s my Self Imposed (Late) Scrap Challenge wrapped up for this round. I’ll kick off the next Page before the weekend. I’ve already picked out a photo of my Great Grandparents I want to use and I’m looking forward to using. It was taken at their 50th Wedding Anniversary I believe. So that’s my next Challenge Page to focus on. 😀

Till Next Time!! xx

The Week that Was

Wow, Friday already! Where on earth did this week go? Actually, where did July go? I’m sure I didn’t sleep through a few days on end anywhere in there…would’ve loved to, but pretty confident I didn’t.

How was your week? Did you tick everything off your To Do List that you’d planned, or did Life throw you a curveball along the way?

I planned on having a lot more done this week, I just can’t seem to figure out what happened to throw that all in the air. Oh well, onward and upward. 🙂 No use crying over spilt milk….do cry over spilt Glossy Accents! Not that I’ve spilt any…or cried over it yet.

I have managed to make up some more Samples this week, setting aside all the Cards at least for the Online Market I’m hosting on Wednesday night (Aussie Time) and arranged a revolving door Event for friends to join in making Christmas Cards for our Troops to send home to their loved ones this Festive Season. So I’ve managed to pop a few ticks on that To Do List…I just can’t seem to shake the feeling it just doesn’t feel enough.

Hope you enjoy the slides of this week’s creations and misadventures…actually not too sure on adding the misadventures only as I’m not sure any of the photos survived. 😉

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Have an awesome Weekend full of smiles and peace. Happy Crafting!!

Till Next Time!! xx

 

Here’s to being back on your feet…

I love quirky Cards, and when it comes to Get Well Soon ones, the quirkier the better. Not that I have anything against the flowers and ribbons everyone seems to give, or the ‘Naughty Dr/Nurse’ humour that sells by the truckloads. They’re all pretty awesome, but I love something that’s a little more personal, individual and quirky.

And when I saw today’s Card Inspiration on Pinterest (again…lol) I knew I had to make one using Kaszazz products. I needed to “Kaszazzify” it! 😀 And considering yesterday I was playing around with my Jungle Friends Turtle Stamp and my AIAMs, unintentionally or subconsciously, I was setting myself up for today.

My Version

Pinterest Inspiration

I’ve used SB Essentials Keylime for the ‘grass’ (p. 188 in the online catalogue) and trimmed down to my 1cm score line so I had a) a cutting to point and b) somewhere to adhere my 6mm Super Tape to. I then used my Bone Scorer to add some curl to some of the blades. I’ve also used our Magic Mount to the back of the fussy cut Turtle so he had some dimension and height to him over the blades of grass.

My background (which I’ve been sitting on for nearly a month!) was created using our Clouds & Waves Stencil with Manganese Blue & Aquamarine Archival Ink Pads with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink Pad ink blended to create some interest.

All in all, this Card fits the bill….quirky, fun and bright. For a Get Well Soon Card, I think this ticks all the boxes. If you’d like to make this Card yourself, or purchase any of the products I’ve used, please drop me a line. Would love to hear from you.

Till Next Time!! xx

How To ~ Distress Paints

 

Hi ya! Wow I really am outta the swing of things this week…hehehe. Keeping us all on our toes though, which is never a really bad thing. Or is it?

This isn’t even close to the draft I made up yesterday…I’m winging it! This Post has come about though as I was trying to come up with some ideas last night and kept coming up empty. Well, for what I was attempting to focus on I was empty…ideas a plenty for everything else I wasn’t meant to be considering! Typical. But I got to thinking; “How am I meant to make the most out of my (limited) Distress Paints?”

Thursday night’s uninspired Play while I was trying to work this Distress Paint out.

I’ve got some here, and apart from the very basic dab here, dab there stuff, I’ve never really seen much on how to use these to their fullest. And considering Kaszazz has just released another 12 Colours…I gotta get the hang of these! Well, until I did a Google search this morning! I even wrote myself a note last night to look up this How To this morning in case I forgot about it while I was sleeping.

Again I love Google for finding stuff out super quick and with minimal effort. And of course the YouTube listings started with The ‘Distress’ Man himself, Tim Holtz. Ok, who else would be able to ‘instruct’ me as well as Mr Holtz? Hmmm….I’ll get back to ya on that one. 😉 And after watching only two of his clips, I’m super excited!! Enough at least to go and play while making a cuppa and forgetting to make my cuppa!!

The fact that his CHA Clip includes the Glitter Rock Candy is almost perfect, as during last night’s play I actually used some on the Blueprint Sketch Distress Paint I’d applied to my Plastic Alice Stamp (I’d stamped her on a plastic sheet first.) Which had me thinking, this really was meant to be today’s Post instead of the draft I’d done up yesterday.

Without further ado, here’s the links that have inspired me to now go out and create some awesome, outta this world Father’s Day cards!!

Have an awesome, Crafty Friday ahead!! And an inspired Weekend too.

Till Next Time!! xx

5 Days of Pink

Four down, one to go but thankfully knowing how crazy this week was going to be (it’s lived up to it!) I actually made all my Pink Cards up on Monday for the 5 Day Card Challenge on Facebook. 🙂

Yep, butterflies feature heavily on these Cards…everyone in The Clan is not in the least bit surprised either….oooh butterfly. 😉

It’s been great to see so many unique ideas coming through on the Group for Pink Cards, though there are a lot focusing on New Baby, which is a little boring for me. Not that I don’t enjoy Baby Cards, but it’s ‘safe’ in a way. Or am I being too pedantic yet again?

These have all been a heap of fun to make up, and I love them all for different reasons. I’ve used some of the Moment by Moment Card Decks for most of these, used my own Card Map Design for one (YAY me!!) and even did a YouTube tutorial for one of the backgrounds! Wow, it has been a crazy week!! Is this what the World is in for when I get a few nights good sleeping in? 😀 😀

Which do you like?

Till Next Time!! xx

10 Sketch Maps for a Rainy Day

I’m glad I’ve discovered the Crafty Side of life post Google and Pinterest because it’s certainly super easy to be inspired after a few strokes on a keyboard.

Here’s 10 Sketch Maps that are certainly on my To Do list. 🙂

 

Which ones do you like?

Till Next Time!! xx

30 Workshops in 6 weeks

I like a challenge as much as the next person….sometimes. Other times I’ve really gotta wonder what my Big Ideas have really gotten me into. This morning, I’m a mixture of both….excitement and “Oh My Goodness WHAT ON EARTH AM I DOING?!?!?!?”

I’ve set the date to go into the Markets to peddle my wares so to speak..which is FANTASTIC!! Now to work out the finer details, like Public Liability Insurance (sorted), Co Consultants to help out on the Stall (sorted), Products to sell (sorting….lol) and Displays…..no brackets for this one; so not sorted!

I went through all the current Kaszazz Workshops last night to work out which ones I have supplies here for already that I can do up as Samples for future Classes. Turns out there’s 30 from over 400. Little drop, big ocean…but we all start somewhere. Actually considering up until the last few months, I’ve never really been focused on Workshops, just what I like and what works for upcoming Classes, I’m quite surprised with my own progress.

So now I have about 6 weeks to come up with as many Samples from the 30 Workshops that I possibly can. Actually, I’ll work out today how many I’ve already done up which will make my life a fraction easier. Just a fraction mind. 😉

On top of the Samples for my upcoming Father’s Day Online Party, Cards & Boxes to sell at aforementioned Market, personal Family & Friends Birthday Cards….The Man’s party invites. Ahhh, no rest for the wicked right. 😉

So today it starts….am about to sit down and work out which ones I can get cracking on today. The sooner the 30 are done up, the sooner I can focus on everything else including finding my halo and sanity somewhere along the way.

Fingers crossed.

Till Next Time!! xx

 

Bayside Bliss Page

I surprised myself over the recent weekend by doing not one, but two Scrap Pages in one day! I think I’m starting to get the hang of this! I’d set myself the added Challenge of not using any Stamps on either of the pages…just to see how tricky it would be to come up with a design that works.

Having to make the choice as to which Page to feature in this Post I put it to the vote on my Facebook Page and this one is the popular choice!

I know one of our Cousin’s loves this photo, which has me thinking she’s a little biased with her vote…lol. It certainly brings back memories of a great weekend away with her and the family.

To create this Page I’ve used Kaszazz‘s SB Essentials 12×12 Cardstock in White and Pool. The White I trimmed down to measure 11×11″ and then used my Paper Distress Tool to rough up the edges for some texture.

I’ve also used Iced Spruce and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink  Pads for the background on my SB Essentials White Page. I inked the Stamp Block directly and spritzed before ‘smearing’ (very technical term right there!) the inky Block over the cardstock. I love this Technique as you can add as little or as much as you like until you feel it’s ‘Just Right’.

To get the droplets I added more water to the Stamp Block to make the Ink very runny and then hovered over the Page while the Ink dripped. Bit risky as you just never know how much is going to drip down…but thankfully the gamble paid off….this time.

I also used the Hessian Stencil and sponged a combination of the two Distress Ink colours before applying a little more water via the Mini Spritzer. I then flipped the Stencil over and pressed down to ‘stamp’ the residue Ink on the Page. Honestly that was the only Stamping I did for this Page…does that still keep to the rules?

For the photo, well I knew I wanted to cut it into strips which is why I’d printed it out as an 8×5″ photo. To begin with, that was the only part of the Page I knew exactly what I wanted. It took a few hours for the ideas to flow for the rest of it, which had me a little worried to begin with.

But I’m loving the end result. A little journaling around the edges and 3 teeny tiny white buttons added and I was happy to call it a day on this Page. Any more and it would’ve been too much I think.

I love the ‘washed out’ look to the background, I think it adds to the feel of the overall Page without detracting from the photo at all.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. And did I technically live up to the ‘No Stamping’ by using the opposite side of the Stencil?

Till Next Time!! xx