Polka Dot Cup

Hi and welcome!  I'm back with a card for the latest Fusion Challenge.  Check it out:

I was inspired by the pink polka dot cup with the gold edging and the white table and this is what I came up with:

This is a NBUS set called Newton Loves Coffee and has such adorable images.  I chose this image because of the polka dot cup and colored it up to match the photo.  After die-cutting it out, I adhered it to a white panel I'd die-cut with a cross-stitch edge.  That panel was then adhered to a gold foil panel onto which I placed some fun foam. 

I hunted through all my cardstock to find a pink that matched the cup and the closest match was MFT's Bubblegum, so that became my card base.

All in all, a pretty simple card!  Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to head on over to check out the fabulous creations made by the rest of the design team.

I'm linking this up to the Clean and Simple challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Products used:

Stamps:  Newton Loves Coffee (Newtons Nook)
Ink:  Intense Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, gold foil, Bubblegum, X-Press It
Dies:  Newton Loves Coffee (NN), Basic Stitch Lines (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pens

Cheers
Karren

Floral Birthday

I'm back with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is our talented friend, Amy O'Neill.

I just love this sketch!  So much room for interpretation.  I decided to use the background for a big image and came up with this card:

This image was stamped and colored with Copics and then cut out with my Scan n Cut and adhered to a white square card.  I die-cut a vellum slanted sentiment strip and overlaid that with a silver-embossed black slanted sentiment strip.  The 'you' is die-cut from silver foil cardstock and added with liquid glue.

And that's my card for this week!  Head on over and check out how the rest of the DT have used this sketch and I hope you give it a go yourself!

Products used:

Stamps:  Make a Wish (Clearly Besotted) You Matter (SSS)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Vellum, Silver Foil

Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT), You (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Black Glaze Pen, Silver EP (Ranger), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

More Than I Can Bear

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for a few challenges, not least the MFT 2017 Card Superstar Contest!  I decided to throw my hat in the ring and after a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided this card fits the Coloring category best.  Which is probably the most fiercely contested category as there are some absolutely amazing colorists out there.  But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained 😃  The other challenges I'm entering are Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge to Stamp It; CAS on Sunday who are looking for coloring and my second entry for AAA Cards, whose theme is Creatures Great or Small.

So this card took me an age to create!  I had a sketch drawn out on scrap paper which gave me the basic layout.  I wanted a night sky behind the scallop circle frame so sponged some Distress Oxide and Distress Inks onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock, keeping the lighter color in the center and circling out to the darker colors.  I then flicked on some water drops and some shimmer spray and set it aside to dry.  I die-cut a panel with the stitched frame in Blueprints 13 and also cut a circle using a Pierced Circle die.  The scallop frame was adhered over the top.  I took a piece of heat-resistant acetate and white-embossed the sentiment and adhered that to the back of the circle cut-out.

Once the ink-blended panel was dry, I adhered some silver star confetti randomly onto the panel then attached it to the front panel with liquid glue.

All the images were colored with Copics and the bears were dabbed with Coloreless Blender on a piece of towel to give some texture to their fur.  All the images were then cut with my Scan n Cut.  I do have the dies for the Happy Hedgehogs set, but not for the Birthday Bears so had to keep all the cutting consistent.  Just for interest's sake, there are 18 individual leaves - colored to look like autumn leaves, 5 mushrooms and 2 acorns around the 2 bears 😃I went around the outside of each cut image with a black marker and also added Black Glaze pen to the bears' eyes.  The two acorns and the two bears are all popped up on foam tape,  The rest of the images are adhered directly to the card.

Thanks for visiting. 

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bears, Happy Hedgehogs, Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Black Licorice Hybrid, Chipped Sapphire Distress, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, Broken China Distress Oxide

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Acetate, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Blueprints 13, Stitched Circle Scallop Frame, Pierced Circle Stax

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Star Confetti, Navy and Silver Shimmer Spritz, White Gel Pen, Black Glaze Pen

Cheers

Karren

Black Tutu

Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be guesting over at Inkspirational for their photo inspiration challenge and check out the gorgeous photo:

Is this not beautiful?  So many elements to choose from!  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to focus on the black silhousetted dancer and the sepia music background.

I used the April 2017 Hero Arts kit for the tutu and colored it with a dark gray Copic marker before adding some Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen.  Once I'd die-cut the images, I set them aside and worked on my background.  The music background was white embossed onto some Bristol Smooth cardstock and then I sponged on some Brown Sugar pigment ink.  The panel was cut with a stitched die and then layered onto a black scalloped panel using foam tape.

I arranged the tutus down the left hand side and then added a stacked sentiment die.  The whole thing was then adhered to a white top-folding card base.

I'd like to thank the team at Inkspirational for inviting me to join them.  Be sure to head on over and check out their fabulous cards.

Products used:

Stamps:  My Monthly Hero April 2017 (Hero Arts), Sheet Music Background (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Black Soot Archival, Brown Sugar (Mama Elephant)
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  MMH (Hero Arts), Inside Out Stitched Rectangles (MFT), Scalloped Dies (Neat & Tangled), Fancy Words (Reverse Confetti)
Accessories:  White EP, Copic (C9), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Doggy Love

The Freshly Made Sketches team is back with another fabulous sketch - this time from my hilarious and super-talented Australian friend Narelle.  Narelle has a super fun and versatile sketch for us.

I moved my panel down the card front a bit but pretty much stuck to the sketch.

This adorable image comes from You Have My Heart by MFT and I picked it up in their recent retirement sale, so it's NBUS.  I stamped and colored the girl and her dog and paper-pieced her dress.  It's hard to see in the photo, but I added some gray Copic shading on her dress.  After I'd die-cut the image I decided to mount it onto a circle die-cut, so in hindsight I probably should have just stamped it onto the circle in the first place 😄  I extended the grass and added some clouds with Tumbled Glass ink and the Mini Cloud stencil.

The horizontal panel was created using the same patterned paper with a black border top and bottom.  I also white-embossed the sentiment onto a black panel and die-cut with a Blueprints die.  As a finishing touch, I added the bone to show that the wee dog is more focussed on his mistress than his bone (unlike our dog, who lives for food!)

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous inspiration using the sketch, so I hope you pop over and check them out.

I'm entering this card into the AAA Cards Challenge, where they are looking for creatures, great or small.

Products used:

Stamps:  You Have My Heart (MFT)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  You Have My Heart, Blueprints 24, Double Stitched Circle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Mini Cloud Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Happy Camper

Hi!  I'm back with a card for our latest Fusion challenge - Glamping.  Check out the challenge graphic:

I'm ashamed to say that a caravan is not my idea of a fun holiday - give me a top hotel close to fabulous shops any day... 😃

I'm also (slightly) ashamed to admit I bought this stamp set specifically for this challenge.  After coloring the images and die-cutting them I went hunting for some cardstock to match the aqua color.  The closest match was SU's Coastal Cabana and it's a pretty good match!  The card is pretty self-explanatory and I sort of followed the sketch - just took a few liberties around the circle element.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some fabulous creations so head on over and check them out.

I'm linking this up to the Anything Goes challenges at 4 Crafty Chicks and Simon Says Stamp and the Make Your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Products used:

Stamps:  Glamper Campers (Avery Elle)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Dots & Stripes Neutrals (MFT), Coastal Cabana (SU)

Dies:  Glamper Campers (AE), Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at 4 Crafty Chicks

Oh Baby!

I hope this blog post title doesn't attract the wrong kind of reader... 😄  It's Freshly Made Sketches time and this week I'm the challenge hostess.  And here is my sketch:

I had the oh-so-brilliant idea to use acetate for the vertical panel, but never gave a thought to the fact I was using balloons for the three elements and most balloons have strings.  I tried drawing strings with a Multiliner pen so they ended up "tied" to the letters in the embossed sentiment but they just looked dorky when the card was opened.  So rubbing alcohol to the rescue and I rubbed those strings away!  Now my balloons are just floating away and have no strings...  

The gingham paper was white embossed with the "congrats" and then adhered to the inside of the card base so that it is visible through the acetate.  In keeping with the sketch, I added a thin strip of green cardstock down the right hand side of the acetate.  Here's a photo of the card standing up so you can get an idea of how the patterned paper and acetate work.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out how the rest of the design team have used my sketch.  You'll be so glad you did!

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round, Celebration Balloons (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Acetate, Green Apple (SSS), Homespun Gingham (MFT)

Dies:  Celebration Balloons (ME)

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, White EP

Cheers

Karren