Project 88: KennyK cards and challenge

A while back I posted about a naming challenge over at KennyK and I am delighted to say that Ginger Gem was a winner!

This week's challenge from the KennyK blog was to use one of their teenage images so I  used her as my feature. Really simple card to be honest, maybe not a challenge-worthy card but she makes me smile. And as it's been so hot and sunny here lately I thought I'd make a summer card for Claire as part of our card exchange that we do as penpals now that she's like a gazillion miles away.

My parents gave me the summer tape (We R Memory Keepers if you're interested) which is a real challenge to use but I thought she was cheerful enough to make it work. For reference: This is an A5 card as "summer" doesn't fit on A6. Thus it being a bit of a challenge. 

The backing paper is from a Martha Stewart punch pad and because of the big glittery dots I don't always have the right card. I added some punched and pressed flowers and bling to add some texture. Very pleased with the result even if it is a bit simple.

Actually that isn't quite fair as KennyK cards require a lot of hand-coloring and as a result they take more effort than even a complicated Mojo layout card or something. Anyway, I digress.

I thought I'd show a few more here as I've been coloring these stamps for the last week while I was on vacation and wanted to make sure I showed off some of the effort!

 

This one is a 4th themed card for my friend Jules - she sent me a load of 4th of July goodies and I thought I'd give her a card back to say thanks! Admittedly she'll get it weeks late but it's the thought that counts, right? The stickers are from the set she gave me and the greeting is a hand-colored digi stamp greeting from Claire. Backing paper is from this month's LittleClaire club.

The next two are for two of my colleagues who have birthdays this month. It's funny, when I joined the company 10 months ago (holy cow! feels like years!) there was one other female employee. We have grown and grown and now ther are 6 besides me. More chances to make cards! Both feature colors that remind me of the recipients though obviously they're a bit more glam than I usually see them.

For the green "blonde bombshell" on the right I added some bling to her earrings and added the flower on the right to balance it out. I wanted the super close cut so I went over the outline in a sharpie to make it easier to cut. I chose purple in the background to help give it some depth. I didn't really have space for a greeting. Oh well.

The "showgirl" on the right is on a blue glitter strip against a paper that I have honestly never liked but really spoke to me here. I love it. I used random little glitter blobs aroundt he greeting to add some texture. Love both of them.

Finally is a card made well in advance of my wedding anniversary. I made the cupid purple as that was our wedding color. I love purple and grey together, I think it's a great combo. Instead of a greeting I just used gold letters to spell out "3 years" though you can't see that, nor can you see the fact that I glittered her wings and the heart arrows.

So a holiday full of coloring has paid off I think!

Project 87: Celebrating 300 mojo challenges

I have been crafting seriously for about 2 years now and from the beginning Claire has pointed me toward blog challenges that are flexible, fun and genuinely inspiring. Mojo is one of my favourites for layouts because even when it looks a bit complicated it is a good challenge to try and test your skills and push your kit to the limit.

I found the challenge this week a bit busy but as they are celebrating their 300th blog challenge I wanted to get involved.

The headline is my entry and the image above is my card following the sketch I kept the background simple though now I'm wishing I had embossed the salmon card. Oh well. I used the scallop punch to get the circle and added the little banner to the button-topped flower to be true to the sketch.

All of the papers are Boho Chic by First Edition Papers, which I got in a bumper ordering spree at Craft Superstore.

I will be posting loads this week so please come back - I know I've gone a bit quiet as I went on vacation to Scotland for a week (lovely, if a bit rainy and windy!) but I took some stamps with me to color so I could hit the ground running when I came back. I have about 3 posts' worth I think so that shuld fill up the week!

Project 86: A Manchester Christening Card

So you may be wondering why the post is not just "a Christening card" and has "Manchester" as a qualifier. Well I'll tell you.

My friend Han asked me to make a card to make a card appropriate that takes into consideration the following criteria:

• Christening card for a little boy with the initials OOB (feels like a breach of his privacy to reveal his name as he's less than 6 months old)
• The couple live in Manchester and she writes for the Manchester branch of a national paper 
• The mom is a Manchester United fan 
• The dad is a Manchester City fan (I don't understand how they can live in the same house either)

Weirdly I don't have a "Happy Christening" greeting, or whatever you say on these cards. So I kept it simple and didn't put a greeting on it. I mean, the cross says it all, right?

I used red for the backing for Man U and then embossed a Man City blue card for the next layer. I thought it looked a bit severe so I used the blue gingham to bring back that baby-ness with the cross on top. I put his initials on it in gold (with the red for Manu again) so that it would be further personalised.

I put the stars on to balance out the layout but given the occassion, maybe they represent the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Maybe I can get away with that being intentional?

I don't think I'm going to have a surge of Christening cards but I'm pleased with this one as a first go.

I have more cards planned this week...let's hope work doesn't keep me too late so I can get to them!

Project 85: Card set for the boss's wife

I work for a great company. We're a small agency and the two owners are fantastic at what they do, which makes it a great environment. Yes, it's still work. Yes, I groan as my alarm goes off in the morning. But working for this pair really is a joy.

We have our company bbq this weekend at the house of one of our owners. I really like his wife, who, let's be honest, is probably the one running around frantic now getting everything ready. We were told not to bring anything food or drink wise but my mother taught me the value of the hostess gift and I'm hoping this relatively tiny offering won't go amiss.

I saw this post on pinterest and thought it would be very occassion appropriate. The headline shot is my take on the card. Black and white is a safe combo and always looks modern. And with only one little pop of color you don't have to worry about guessing someone's preferences if you don't really know.

I decided to change the design a little bit from the original post by leaving out the greeting - I don't know her well enough to know if she's a serial note writer and without a greeting she can regift these if needed!

Here's the full set: 

I decided also to use different colors across all of them, with fun mismatching ribbons but use the same type of flowers to tie it all back together.

I embossed photo paper to gie it the glossy shine and then topped off the flowers with a pearl to mimic that shine and keep it classy.

The scallop behind the flower is die-cut rather than punched - my scallop punch was just that litlte bit too small and I didn't like the bubbly-scallops, I wanted something smaller and tighter like the die.

Gosh. I sound like a right prat there - criticising the volume of the scallop petals. There was a time very very recently that I wouldn't have even known the difference and would have been cutting those by hand.

Finally I used my little bubbly scallop border punch to give it that color lift at the bottom.

Considering I went from nothing to a set of 4 in an hour I'd call this a success. A glass of wine to celebrate I think...

Project 84: Kenny K birthday and wedding cards

As the previous post was all about a Kenny K challenge I thought I should do a post featuring their stamps.

So here are three different stamps, one used two ways.

The headline card I left greeting-free. I really wanted to show off the 50s-style dress and thought a big ribbon would offset the whole thing. I used a spotty paper to tie in with her spotty dress. I glittered some of the spots but I’m not sure you can see that.

Really loved working with this stamp.

Next is a different take on that stamp, making it a birthday card for a friend. I used these colors specifically as they were her wedding colors. Again, the spotted paper ties in to her dress.

This one is a 20s style girl for another friend’s birthday. I’m purposely not using names as they sometimes stop by the ol’ blog. I loved the detail on this stamp, she’s so cute. I blinged up some of her jewels as well but again I’m not sure that’s visible here. 

Final Kenny K card is a wedding card for one of O’s former colleagues who are getting married this summer. I colored their hair to match the actual couples and then blinged up her dress with glitter and her bouquet with some bling. I used that same lattice punch for the double ring effect and then embossed the backing paper to make it more formal.

This last card isn’t a Kenny K (obviously) but as I made it this weekend I thought I might as well show it off. It’s for my friend Dave who just announced his engagement. I just got this heart ngratulations Dave!

Kenny K naming challenge

Claire introduced me to Kenny K a few months ago and I've loved looking through their designs. They are quirky and modern and outrageous and I just love them.

So when I saw the challenge to name some of their new characters I wanted to play along.

What do you think?

1. Daisy Darling (she looks like Daisy Duke, no?) 

2. Marvelous Marisella

3. Ginger Gem

4. Really Rochelle

5.  Frankie Fierce

Ok the last two are embarassingly named after The Saturdays. But I love a good girl group!

Now I'm in the mood to go buy some more Kenny K....

Project 83: Girly stamps and not a birthday or thank you card in sight

Following up from yesterday, I had time to do a few more cards in my Father’s Day production line. All included a bit of fun with stamps and I thought I'd go for more interesting greetings than usual birthday and thank yous. 

The headline card is a card I made for my friend Hannah. She gave me this Big Ben stamp and I’m still smitten with it. I used a cool red and white paper that I’ve been saving for best and thought this was a good occasion. I used the bright blue to balance out the red. The greeting is a digital stamp that I coloured the shadow and added the little post-mark stamp to make it a bit retro.

Next is a Little Claire stamped card that I used to make an engagement card for my cousin. She’s got a bit of punk still in her from when we were teenagers and so I used the pink zebra paper to make it a bit edgy. I glittered some of the flowers and hearts to keep that special-occasion vibe.

This card is another Little Claire stamp and greeting set, from this month’s club newsletter. This one is for my friend Beth who has a special love of butterflies and all things pink. I used bright and light pink papers. I originally coloured the whole butterfly in but I thought it was too much so I re-stamped it and then just coloured and glittered some accents. The Martha punch and candies balance it out I think. 

Finally I made a set of hedgehog cards for my sister after she saw this post. I coloured them in, glittered it and used corresponding gingham papers for the background with a variety of greetings.

Very busy weekend as you can see!

And if you haven’t gotten around to it – order your Father’s Day cards now!