2012 in review - October, November & December

Final review post, it has been fun to look back on my work for the year, I can see where life got in the way and my posts were few in some months.  That's just the way it goes some times, I'm sure you will agree.

~oOo~

October

This was me getting myself all confused, I was so distracted with the gorgeous images at the Paper Shelter that I forgot what the challenge theme was!  I printed this image on A4 paper and extended the wall on both edges and made the sign for my granddaughters room.  Except it was an Animal theme and so I added in the butterflies.

Then I also did this which is from Teri at Delicious Doodles, this one Malice, is a cross between Zena Warrior princess and a vixen.

~oOo~

November

This little cutie is the adorable Marci from La La Land and she's a fabulous old fashioned girl.

I really enjoyed going back to making a non copic card and came up with this one, a favourite technique of mine to watercolour flowers.  I have also done a fair few cards where I alter the dies by cutting two or four and extending them.  Like here with the rectangle Marianne die made into a square.

~oOo~

December

Last by not least is December, now not a lot of creating has gone on this month.  This Make it Crafty image was just perfect for an Aussie Christmas.

Thank you for taking my little trip down memory lane.  All the very best for 2013.

Cheers,

Kasey ~ in Oz

2012 in review - July, August & September

Hello again, thanks for taking this little look back at my crafting year with me.  I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.

Here we are at July, and this is an experiment in making my own backgrounds.  LOVE IT!  It totally suited Mod Marci.

Another gorgeous Delicious Doodles image and more playing around with adding texture to hair.  This one also uses some hand made paper die cut I've also used the spritz on the large rose. 

~oOo~

August

August saw the release of these cute little fairies at La La Land, just had to get all of them!  Don't you just love her blue-green hair?

 ~oOo~

September

This little Claire image just needed black and white.  Love the elegant look it has.  This was for a Southern Girls DT inspiration card.

That's July, August and September done and tomorrow till be the final post to show my favourites for October, November and December.

Cheers,

Kasey ~ in Oz

 

2012 in review - April, May & June

Scheduling posts and hoping for the best.  Here are my top pics for April, May and June.  Once again, choosing one was too hard!

~oOo~

April 

This little cutie Birgitta from CC Designs was an image supplied with a copic colouring class I took with Mandi-Lee at Copic Me.   Love how she turned out.  Thanks for the tips Mandi.

Then of course no review would be complete without a Tilda or two!  This one was trying out some colouring techniques I'd learnt from a tutorial on Copic Marker Europe site.

 ~oOo~

May

Around May, I also came across the Fabulous images from Zoe at Make it Crafty.  Oh my!, this was my first attempt at all that hair, I coloured Aleisha and went with a purple theme.  I really like the pale blonde.

Then of course another SC image 'Glinda' had to be coloured in and this one was just for the sheer joy of creating.

~oOo~

June

I just love the way this little baby card turned out.  It's a Meljens Designs image cuddle cloud baby.  So cute!

Then Delicious Doodles images came to my attention and I fell in love!  I've also been supremely lucky to have gained a spot on Teri's design team.  I experimented with different hair colours and love, love, love this one.

 OK so tomorrow will feature July, August and September.  Thanks for checking out my review and I urge you to do it yourself, it's fun looking back on what you have created.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

2012 in review

Hi blog friends, I hope you are enjoying the festive season and for those of your who do celebrate Christmas, I hope you got what you wished for.

I thought I'd take a look back at my creativity of 2012, I was quite surprised when I did take that look back and some months were extremely difficult to only choose one favourite, so there are a few where there is more than one project shown.

I'll post these over the next few days as the posts might be a bit long to be all in one.

Starting with January 2012.

Sweet Pea Fairy post was one that I was pretty darn proud of, still relatively new to colouring with Copics and this one I could see my shading had improved, and this was a pretty good attempt at black hair.

 Also in January, I ventured out to do some scrap pages and this one called Cherub was of my granddaughter at her 2nd birthday party.

~oOo~

In February, I came across the very talented Krista Smith's work over at Saturated Canary and was very lucky to pick up this little one as a freebie, Thank you Krista for your generousity.  Needless to say, I was hooked on her digis!  I think you'll see a few among my favourites in the next few days as I review my crafting year.

~oOo~

Then in March, after I'd been shopping for digi images, a couple more SC images appeared on my blog.  This one was to celebrate being selected to join the Southern Girls Design Team.  The fabulous Gypsy dancer and I was so pleased with how her hair turned out.

I had to include Whispy as well 'All Soft and Feminine', isn't she gorgeous?

So as you can see February and March turned out to be Saturated Canary months!

~oOo~

Hope you're enjoying your festive season, I'll be back tomorrow with April, May and June.

Cheers,

Kasey ~ in Oz

We Wish you a Merry Christmas!

How cute are these carol singers from the Paper Shelter?  This card is one that I gave to my Mum for her to give to my aunt.

Here is a closer view of the image, I put all the Copic markers away then realised that I hadn't written down the colours used!  

Don't you just love the Memory Box die, I added heaps of bling to really make it sparkle, it's been sprayed with a mica spray as well and has a lovely shimmer that the camera just doesn't pick up.

My lovely carol singers are being entered into the following challenges.

Anything Goes  - Traditional Colours  (red and white)
Wags n Whiskers - Anything Goes
The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Merry Christmas!

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Crafty Chicks challenge

Hello everyone, gosh this is such a busy time of year, I've not been too active blogwise, my apologies, I have however made just a few Christmas cards and will post a few today.   I'll do separate posts as I want to link up to a few different challenges and (speaking from experience) it really is easier for the DT when commenting if they're not all in one post.

The fabulous girls at 4 Crafty Chicks gave me the opportunity to guest for them in March and April of this year, I had a fantastic time with them.  I'd like to enter this card in their current challenge, Make your own patterned paper.

I've been playing with my Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays again and came up with this gorgeous blue and silver paper, then I embossed it to create the texture and Love the way it turned out.  Almost no stamping here!  I used watercolour paper as it soaks up the sprays brilliantly.

 
It was really nice to create using different supplies from what I have recently been using and I find the pre done stickers are perfect for adding some bling and shine to Christmas cards.  You'll see some more in my other posts.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Aussie Christmas @ Mad for Markers

Hey there and a big Aussie Hello to you all, it's Kasey here with another inspiration card for you for the Mad for Markers monthly challenge.

It's all about an Aussie Christmas this month, as you know, it's summer here for us at Christmas time so we'd like you to create a project using your Copic Markers that fits the Summer Christmas theme.

 I've used a fabulous image from Make it Crafty, this Aussie Santa has his akubra hat on, his thongs and singlet and shorts and of course you can't forget the shades.  I used glossy accents on them and put some sparkle in his beard too!


I kept the card fairly clean and simple as it will go to a family where the boys outnumber the girls!

As you may be aware, Sammi is closing Mad for Markers Online store, she's got a sale on to clear her remaining stock.

Wishing you a fabulous Christmas!

Cheers,

Kasey ~ in Oz

Anything but a card @ Delicious Doodles this week

Hi everyone,

Are you ready for Christmas, well it's nearly here so get a move on!

I'm posting my DT inspiration project for Delicious Doodles Anything but a card.  Now I'm not big on doing 3d items, not sure why.  I do like playing around with smash books though!

This is Fern the Forest Fairy and she's gorgeous.  I loved colouring her.  I've put her in my copic smash book, this is where I put my favourite colour combos so I can have an easy reference.

Here is a close up for you.  I love her green eyes.

Come join us this week with your projects Anything but a card!

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

No card today, just some sad news

Hi everyone, I'm sorry I have no card for you today, just some sad news.

Sammi is closing her virtual doors at Mad for Markers.  We hope this is only temporary while she has other demands on her time.  The Mad for Markers Monthly Challenge blog will remain open and operating, Sammi has also decided to keep the Store blog open for inspiration.

Sammi is holding a sale to reduce her stock holdings and is offering fabulous prices.  Open to Australian and New Zealand customers only.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Kasey ~ in Oz

Not just any Christmas challenge though, it's an Aussie Christmas at Mad for Markers!  Here in the southern Hemisphere, we don't get snow or cold in December, so we don't want to see cold weather on your Christmas cards, no snow, no snowflakes, no frosty scenes.

Here is another one in the making from me.  Sorry life just seems to be getting in the way around here.

That still leaves lots of sparkle and glitter and bright Christmassy colours.  I've used Christmas Present Luka and he's coloured with my beloved copic markers.  I've used Ranger Ice stickles on his santa hat, it has a lovely shine and shimmer without being too glittery.

Here is a pic of the colours used.
 

I hope you find time to colour up an Aussie Christmas entry and join us for this month's challenge.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

I'm so late!

Delicious Doodles challenge this week is Goth v's Pretty!  I'm so late with my post for the challenge, please accept my apologies.  I won't bore you with all the gory details of my hectic day.

I used Goth Guy from Teri's fabulous range of digi images, I decided that rather than go black with him I'd make him kinda funky and individual.  I love greens and purples together and I actually started this guy with his jacket, I usually do skin then hair when I colour but this time it was the jacket that I started with. 

I've used a sketch from Sketch n Stash as I loved it the minute I saw it. I've added the tear drops covered with crystal effects and glitter and coloured a white ribbon with YG03 which was a pretty good match for the greens I'd used on the card.

Here's a closer shot of the tear drops, they are actually cut outs from the doily die!

Come and join us for Goth v's Pretty challenge at Delicious Doodles.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Sunflowers

Hello everyone, I hope you're colouring up a storm!  The Mad for Markers challenge this month is calling for us to use our Ys and YRs so what better to colour up than Flourishes Sunflower stamps.  Sammi stocks Flourishes stamp sets in her Mad for Markers store.  They really are lovely stamps and really good value when you see how many are in the set.

Sorry I haven't made this up into a card yet.  Just the image, hope you're inspired to enter our challenge this month.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Why didn't I think of that?

Did you ever come across some idea that was so mind blowing, yet so simple?  One of those fantabulous ideas that is sheer genius?

Well, this may not be new to all of you, but it sure was new to me and when I heard about it, I just had one of those 'Duh!' moments and said Why didn't I think of that?

I do sometimes get stamps which are unmounted, just the plain rubber and so I use EZ Mount, that super sticky glued foam pad that sticks so well to your mounting blocks.

Well.....here is my tutorial for mounting these types of rubber stamps.

What you need

 EZ Mount foam
Clear block
double sided tape
StazOn ink
StazOn ink cleaner
unmounted rubber stamps
Pen

 Trim the excess rubber away from the raised image and tack it to your clear block with a strip of double sided tape.

Next peel the thick white backing off the NON GLUED side of your EZ Mount foam.  Lay your foam sheet down on your bench with the non sticky gray side facing up.

 Ink up your stamp with StazOn ink and press it firmly onto the foam.  It's quite soft and sticky so you need to hold the foam when you lift the stamp and block away.  Careful not to smudge your image when doing this.

 Next I trim the stamped image from the sheet, remove the stamp from the block and lay it back over the top of the image, I check the edges to see how well I've lined it all up.

Then using a pen, draw around the edge of the rubber.  Cut along this line, this will help you stick the rubber down in the right spot.

  Peel the printed paper from the EZ Mount and carefully stick your rubber to the sticky side of the foam.  This glue is super strong, so you need to be careful when doing this.

I then trim the excess rubber and foam from around the image so the edges don't pick up ink.  

Be careful when doing this, don't try cutting around curves, make lots of small straight cuts to do your curves.  

Hold your scissors straight so your blades cut vertically and not on an angle.  This will keep the foam edges straight and mean even pressure when you stamp.



Here is the finished stamp, now I can see more easily what the image is and where it is on my block.

I wonder how many of you are now doing the same thing I did, saying.....Gosh, Why didn't I think of that?

Unfortunately I have no idea who came up with this idea.  I'm just glad that crafters share these moments of brilliance!

Until next time.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Southern Girls colour challenge

Hello everyone, welcome to the Southern Girls Colour me Pretty challenge.  We want to see your fabulous creations using Pink and Brown, any shades of Pink and Brown will do!

Check out the awesome inspiration that the Design Team have knocked up for you.  Here's my effort.  I went back to some old favourite techniques and embossed my flowers in white on water colour paper.  Then I used a reinker and an aquabrush to create my layers of colour.  I love how it turned out.

I also made a square frame from my Marianne die, it's a rectangle if cut once, I cut it out 4 times and snipped it with my scissors and then pieced it back together!  Love how thinking outside the box can extend the versatility of your stash.  Oh this is my first use of Washi tape on a card.  I've got it on a journal page, I Love this stuff!

Thanks for dropping by, please leave a note to let me know you were here.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Join Jane for a spot of tea.

Hi all, my lovely blog friend Jane @ Jane's Journal is inviting friends to join her for a virtual cup of tea.  She is celebrating her 200th post and 100th follower!

To mark this occasion, Jane is having a lucky draw of one of her stunning bag charms.  Aside from being a very talented papercrafter, Jane also makes gorgeous jewellery and is quite a way through her training as a silversmith.

Join me in congratulating Jane.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Material Girls!

Hello friends, thank you for stopping in to say hello, please leave me a comment so I know you dropped by.

Today I'm bringing you a DT card for the new Delicious Doodles challenge this week which is to use Material on your project!  I have coloured up Quiet Contemplation, a stunning image by Teri.

I've used some muslin coloured with copics, as this is such a soft fabric, I added some netting behind it so that it gave the muslin some body to stay in a fan shape.

The card base is Blush Blossom and I've used a tiny border of Basic Black both SU card.  Beautiful WOC flowers. The papers are from a DCWV stack called Far East, I've had these papers for such a long time and I love them but like most of the papers I love, it takes a lot for me to actually cut into them.  I've banned myself from buying any more papers until I actually reduce the stash!  

I've even gone as far as cutting a lot of my 12 x 12 papers into 6 x 6 squares as I really do way more card making than scrapping.  I still have my special scrapbooking papers whole, and I will get around to using them......one day!

Hope you are inspired to create a project using fabric.  Come on over and join us!

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

a work in progress

Hello friends, thank you and welcome to my new followers.  This is a quick scheduled page which should appear automagically on my blog. (fingers crossed)

I am doing a two page spread in my smash book listing all my favourite (crafty) things.  I coloured up these gorgeous new Saturated Canary images and I've started my two page spread, this is just a sneak peek!

I've used lots of Yellow here as that's the challenge at Mad for Markers this month to use the Y's and YR's in your collection.  So they are featured here.

Somehow I don't think two pages is gonna cut it.  I have too many favourite stamps and other things I love to use in my craft, maybe I'll have to put a SOME in the title.

 I'm sorry but I can't list all the colours I've used. cause as seen below, this is the creative chaos state of my desk after the colouring session!  which probably isn't too bad, but when I put the pens away, I'd used 45 different copic markers, 5 spica pens and a multiliner!

I hope you find the time to create something fabulous using your Ys and YRs this month and link up to our Mad for Markers challenge.

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

Candy winner!

Hey there, I've drawn the 200 followers candy and the winner is.....

Aussie aNNie!

I'm thrilled for you sweetie, Annie has been a loyal follower for some time now.  She makes some amazing projects and I'm sure the goodies will be put to good use.

AND I want to send a little something to....

Caroline!

 for many reasons, but because you were the first to link up and you make a point of visiting me regularly, for that you should be rewarded!

I have a little something extra, but I'm not going to tell you what it is, you'll just have to wait until it arrives.  OK that should build the suspense!

Annie and Caroline, please email me at kasey.in.oz@gmail.com with your postal addresses and I'll get them posted off to you both.

Thank you for linking up to my candy girls, sorry you all can't win.  Keep on Crafting!

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz

200 followers! It's Candy time

Hello all, it's candy time as promised when my blog reached the milestone of 200 followers this week.  Thank you all so much for that massive compliment.

I've got a little selection of embellishments and pre loved stamps here

Flower and Brad pack (purple)

Blue Rhinestone flourish

Embossed foil birds and flowers

Bella felt flowers

Kaiser brads

KC & Co Clearly Yours alpha

Metal embellishments

Bella Resin Flowers

Stampendous Tree stamp.  (used once)

Sweet Pea Ballerina (used once)

Sweet Pea Fairy (used once)

If you'd like to join my candy, here are a few simple things you need to do...

Enter your Name and Blog Link in the linky below!

Post a copy of my candy to your blog (sidebar is fine)

You don't have to be a follower to enter, however if you like my work, then I'd love it if you followed my blog.

I reserve the right to delete candy only entries.  One entry per person please.

Drawn on Sunday 11 Nov 2012 around 12 noon Aussie time!  This post will stay at  the top of my page until I draw the candy winner.

Just adding and update:  I will post world wide so anyone can enter!

Cheers,
Kasey ~ in Oz
 

A sunny blog award

Hi there lovelies, I'm sharing a post to tell you about a blog award that was just bestowed on me by my lovely blog friend Tammy from Tammy's Scrappin' Corner

How sweet!  so now for the rules of this award

1. Include award logo in blog post.

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you and include a link back to them.

3. Answer 10 questions about yourself, that you have made up yourself. 

4. Nominate 10-12 bloggers and contact them at their blog site to tell them about the award.

OK, part one and two done.

Ten questions that I make up myself....now that's a hard one, this is going to take some time.  

Interview with Kasey ~ in Oz by Kase.

1.  What is your favourite sweet food?

Oh Kase that's easy, dark chocolate, everyone knows Chocolate is in a food group all on it's own!  You know that chocolate releases feel good endorphins it's Sooooooo good for you.

2.  When do you like to craft day or night?

I prefer day time crafting, even with my special magnifying light on my craft desk, daylight makes it easier for my poor old eyes.  LOL  But I've been known to burn the midnight oil as well.

3.  Kasey, we all want to know what is your favourite technique?

Now that's a hard one to answer Kase, there are way too many, don't make me choose!  I love making my own background papers, using emboss resist, shaving cream or stamping and sponging with inks.  But then there is embossing as well.  Oh and colouring with copics, I Lurrrve my Copic markers.   You know what I mean?

4.  What do you like best Kasey, Scrapping, Cards or OTP?

Making Cards is my first love, then scrapping and I'm afraid OTP and 3d items take a back seat.

5.  What's the newest thing you've learnt in your crafting?

The latest tutorial I've followed was for colouring with copic markers, one for colouring hair and another one for colouring folds. There are some amazingly talented artists out there Kase, you should check out the list of fabulously talented girls at the end of this post.

6.  Would you rather be Crafting or Cooking?

Crafting of course, Kase you know I only cook because raw food isn't that appetizing.  I can cook, just not fancy masterchef stuff, I like watching the cooking shows, but can't be bothered with all that fussing around in the kitchen taking up my crafting time!   

7.  If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Now that one is easy.  As you know Kase, I've never been overseas, lived in Australia all our life.  But if I could I'd visit Europe, and yes technically Europe is not a country, but if I went there, I couldn't stop visiting just England, or Scotland or Ireland, with all those other countries so close now could I.  Besides, if I dropped in on Jules and didn't go and visit Birgit, or Pia or Patricia they'd be upset with me!  LOL Oh I wish.....I keep my fingers crossed each lotto draw too.  I'd also love to visit New Zealand,  Hi Tracy and Lou

8.  What do you listen to when you craft?

Oh I have such an eclectic taste in music,  growing up in the 60s and 70s means that music is special for me, I love my rock music too, a little bit of heavy metal, but I really love folk music as well and then I've been know to listen to a bit of classical and some big band tracks as well.  Not too fond of Jazz and don't mind a tiny little bit of Keith (Urban) style country music now and then.  Can't handle hip hop, and crap um I mean Rap but then that's probably my age showing!

9. If you are having a little nip of something, what do you choose?

Ohhh I don't indulge often, when I do, it depends on the occasion as to what I drink. I am partial to a soft Merlot now and then, I like a drop of Tia Maria, on crushed ice, don't add anything else.  A nip of baileys on ice is a nice drop too.  I've been known to enjoy a rum and coke now and then as well.  Don't like beer, that probably comes from the few years working as a barmaid in my much younger years.

10.  When you have time, what do you read?

I love crime novels, I've just finished all of Tara Moss' novels, Oh and I've read the infamous 50 Shades series, it all became a bit ho hum towards the middle of book 2.  I also love fantasy novels, I've read all of David Eddings series two or three times. 

So now you know more than you wanted to about me. Here is my list of crafters and bloggers who I think deserve a blog award.

Caroline, I love her sweet cards, she always drops by with a cheery hello and a lovely comment on my latest cards.

Esther has a gorgeous style in her crafting, I love her out of the box way of using different techniques.

Chris has moved into stitching and does the most exquisite embroidery.  You really need to check it out if you haven't seen her stunning work.

The lovely Jane posts some amazing pictures of her holidays as well as her fabulous jewellery and cards.  Love reading her posts.

Louise is the scrappin' queen of NZ.  LOL well almost, she's also the co owner of Southern Girls and is such a fabulous lady.

Tracy is the other co owner of Southern Girls and is on some fabulous DTs, I'm in awe of Tracy's colouring talent. 

Hazel makes some beautiful cards and is a fellow lover of the colour purple.  Love reading Hazels posts she makes lot and lots of fabulous cards.

Patricia my lovely blog friend in Scotland, she is such a wonderful crafter, her work is stunning and she's now graduated in her grasp of all things technical to post some tutorials on her blog!  Way to go Patricia!

Sweet Sandra, she always stops in to leave a cheery hello and her work is just gorgeous.  You need to go check it out!

Last but certainly not least is my lovely blog friend Wedgie.  She's a cup cake! I drool often when reading her posts, she cooks some amazing sweets and makes some pretty awesome cards.

I also have to add Annie to this list of loyal and talented blog friends, I know that she will be thrilled with it.  

Whew so there you go, I hope these lovely ladies now pass this blog award on to others and I look forward to reading their 10 questions!  LOL that was a lot of fun making up those questions.  I discarded quite a few in the process!

Cheers,

Kasey ~ in Oz