Keryn Campbell: our first NZSU tutorial

Many thanks to  Keryn Campbell for putting her hand up & being our FIRST guest designer.

Now I asked Keryn to share with us all a bit about herself as well as provide the tutorial & here's her reply:

Partner of Dave, mum to Lachlan (9) and Cameron (6); and lucky her she works from home doing something she loves. Born in Tawa, Wellington and after living away in other places has been back in Tawa for the last eight years.

Keryn started cardmaking approximately 12 years ago at a Krafty Kids party where she saw heat embossing being demonstrated. She signed up as a demonstrator in July 2007.  She still loves doing workshops and classes, both for the creative and the social side of being a demonstrator.  One of the best parts of it is Keryn's Krew (her team) which have allowed her to build some fantastic social and business relationships with the members.

She's been a member of the Daring Cardmakers design team since it started in October 2006 as the first card dare blog.  The Daring Cardmakers Blog has no company or product affiliations so we have complete freedom to use whatever product we like to complete the dares.

When she has a free moment she is relearning to play her clarinet after neglecting it horribly since leaving college and is a member of the Tawa based Aspire Music Performance Academy mostly playing Swing Jazz as part of it's development band.

Without further ado Keryn shares with us all how to create a faux bow using the jumbo grommets:

The tutorial uses the jumbo grommets found in the current Stampin’ Up!® Summer Mini Catalogue available only until 31 March 2010.

She personally find bows incredibly difficult to tie nicely (tell me about it!).  This technique gives the look of a bow without having to actually tie one.

The trick to getting away with not tying an actual bow is to have another decorative way of holding the ribbon together.  She's used Jumbo Grommets but comments you could use designer brads or any other embellishment that will get the job done.

Step 1: - Cut ribbon to a length slightly longer than double the size of your finished bow.  I want my bow to be approx 5cms long so have cut my ribbon at 12cms.  Make sure the ribbon chosen is slightly wider than the diameter of your chosen embellishment. She's used chocolate chip 1” double stitched grosgrain ribbon.

Step 2: - Stick ends of the bow together to form a loop.  I just used my Snail Tape Runner and placed one end over the other.  It only needs to hold into the grommet is attached.  I wouldn’t use sellotape as it would be another layer to have to force the brad through.

Step 3 – Gently push the prongs on the brad through the centre of the ribbon loop.

Step 4 – Use the side of a bone folder flatten the prongs.

Step 5 – to use my embellishment on a card I have cut a square of Windsor Knot Designer Series Paper and stuck the ends of my strip of ribbon to the back of paper.

Step 6 – Position your faux bow over the ribbon using Sticky Strip or other strong adhesive.

Step 7 – I finished my card by mounting my embellished DSP on a layer of Chocolate Chip cardstock and on to a Sage Shadow card base.  Your can use any greeting to finish it off.  I’ve chosen to use initials using the Big Deal Stamp Set and Chocolate Chip Classic Ink.

What a great start so if you'd like to download a copy of Keryn's tutorial click HERE

If you'd like to be our 2nd guest designer do contact me I'd love to hear from you and if you'd like to have a go at making Keryn's bows & sharing with us all  please link your creation with Mr Linky below (ALL welcome). Closing time 9pm next Thursday 18th March - until then happy stampin'