Wednesday 31 August 2016

Hello Bouquet

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this week I am your hostess.  As is my style, I've come up with a CAS sketch for you and a bit of a funny story.  First up, the sketch:


Most times when I design a sketch, I come up with the sketch then try to make a card to fit it.  This time, I came up with the card which was based on using a NBUS stamp by WPlus 9.  A week or so after I'd made the card, I was scrolling through my Pinterest boards.  (I don't know about you but I pin things and rarely go back and look at them!) In one of my boards, I came across a card by Laura Basson from April and realised I'd unwittingly CASEd her card and the layout!  I did try and modify my card somewhat by replacing the black and white striped panel with another piece of patterned paper, which required some delicate surgery, let me tell you.

Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there that this card is very like Laura's but it wasn't a deliberate CASE.



Anyway, on to my card.  I stamped and colored this gorgeous image by WPlus 9 and then fussy cut it out.  After die-cutting the curved edge I adhered the flower onto the white panel, The card base had some patterned paper die-cut to match the curved panel and the white panel was adhered using foam tape - including all the little bits of foliage hanging over the edge.  The sentiment comes from the same set as the flower.


Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the fabulous cards created by the rest of the design team.  As this is a new stamp, I'm entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge.



Products used:

Stamps:  Beautiful Bouquets:  Dahlias (WP9)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Watercolor Wash Patterned Paper (MFT)
Dies:  Stitched Basic Edges (MFT)
Accessories:  Sequins

Cheers
Karren

Sparkly Fish

Hi and welcome to my last post as a member of the SugarPea Designs Challenge Team!  The last 9 months have whizzed by and I've had a ton of fun, but it's time for a new crew to take up the reins and I wish them as much fun as I've had.  Here is the new challenge graphic:


I'm making myself make the odd Christmas card because I am really not in the mood yet, but this adorable Have An Ice Day set is helping :)


When I saw the sketch, I saw an acetate panel so I decided to run with that.  I stamped the cute penguin onto X-Press It cardstock and colored him in with Copics.  I added some Stickles to the little fish.  I stamped, colored and fussy cut the tree and adhered that onto the acetate and white panel.  The sentiment was stamped in Black Stazon ink.




Thanks for visiting!
Here are the guidelines to join in our challenge:

  • Create a new card or project using the sketch provided.
  • SugarPea Designs stamps are NOT required to play along or to win but would be appreciated :)
  • You may rotate/flip the sketch & replace shapes – so long as the original sketch layout is recognizable.
  • Upload to your blog or other Online Gallery using Keyword: SPDMIU13 so that we may check out your beautiful work.
  • One randomly selected winner will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to the SugarPea Designs store. However, if the winning entry features a SugarPea Designs stamp we will increase the prize to $50!
  • We will announce our Main Winner at the end of each month.
  • The more times you play along during the month, the better chance you have of winning!
Be sure to visit the rest of the design team - they have some wonderful inspiration for you:




Products used:

Stamps:  Have an Ice Day (SugarPea Designs)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Black Stazon
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Acetate
Accessories:  Copic Markers, Star Dust Stickles

Cheers
Karren


Friday 26 August 2016

Halloween Fairy

Two fairy cards in one week?  Why, yes there is :)  This fairy is slightly different to the fairies from the other day though:


Not quite as dainty, is she?  I made this card for the challenge at Art Impressions "Too Cute to Spook", the Hip to be Square challenge at Simon Says Stamp, the current challenge at ColourQ and I based my card on the sketch at MFT.

I stamped and colored the fairy onto some X-Press It cardstock and colored some "ground" for her.  I cut the panel with a stitched square die and mounted that onto an Old Olive panel that was 4.75" square.  The sentiment is white embossed onto black and comes from the adorable Which Way is the Candy set by MFT.  Also in that set is the wee frog and I thought the look on his face went so well with my fairy that I stamped and fussy-cut him out before placing him at her feet.


I finished the card by coloring her dress in clear Wink of Stella and her wings and pom-poms in Star Dust Stickles.

Thanks for visiting.



Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Fairy (Art Impressions), Which Way to the Candy (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark
Cardstock:  Old Olive, X-Press It, Black
Dies:  Stitched Squares (Lil Inkers), Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Wink of Stella, Star Dust Stickles, White EP

Cheers
Karren

Thursday 25 August 2016

Framed Silhouette

Hi!  Today's card was made using the beautiful Muse card as my inspiration.  I'm also linking it up to Addicted to CAS who have a cue word of "Silhouette".


I was inspired by Marilyn's warm background, black frame and silhouette images.  I started by sponging a mini layering stencil over white cardstock using various distress inks and then stamped my silhouette image.  I was going to mat that onto black, but saw my pierced rectangle frame dies and decided to go in that direction.  I used a black frame then a white frame, placed at an angle.  I then covered up most of the card and spritzed some Brushed Pewter Mica Spray across the bottom.  It is so beautiful and shimmery IRL.

Once I'd adhered that to a white card base, I sponged a scrap of card with Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral and Carved Pumpkin ink and die-cut the word "hello".  I layered that onto a black die-cut, slightly offsetting it to make it pop a bit more.


Thanks for visiting.



Products used:

Stamps:  Leaf Sprig (Stampendous)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  The Big, the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter), Pierced Rectangle Frames (MFT)
Accessories:  Mini Layering Stencil #14, Brushed Pewter Mica Spray (Tim Holtz)

Cheers
Karren

Wednesday 24 August 2016

Fairy Kisses

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge!  This week, our hostess is the fabulous Cindy Hall over at Pretty Impact (love that blog name!) and she has a layered sketch for us:



I took a few liberties with the sketch this week but if you close one eye and squint through the other, you should be able to see the sketch in my card :)


And if you're going cross-eyed and still can't see the sketch, I used the inside of the oval die-cut for the oval, the outer frame of the die-cut for the rectangular panel and the fairies are the horizontal panels.  Ah, yes, I can imagine you nodding your heads now :)  

I don't usually buy kits as there is generally something in there (like patterned paper) that I'll probably never use.  But when I saw these fairies in the Hero Arts My Monthly Kit, I knew these were the fairies for me.  Hero Arts and PSX were the first stamps I ever bought - in fact my first ever stamp purchase was a Hero Arts stamp called Italian Poetry Background - and I've still got it!  Anyway, back to the card.  I colored the fairies with Copics, put some Star Dust Stickles on their wings and die cut them.  The oval die-cut was cut from a panel of white cardstock and layered onto the card base using foam tape - lots and lots of teeny, tiny pieces of foam tape.  The sentiment was stamped in the cut-out and I positioned the fairies so that one of them was looking at the sentiment.





Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the fabulous creations made by the Design Team - they're sure to inspire you to join in.

Products used:

Stamps:  My Monthly Kit (Midsummer Dream) Hero Arts
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  My Monthly Kit
Accessories:  Copics, Star Dust Stickles

Cheers
Karren




Friday 19 August 2016

Blended Music

Hi!  It's Friday evening and I've had a few minutes to sit down tonight and craft.  I made a card for the current Addicted to CAS challenge with a cue word of Music and I'm also linking up to Seize the Birthday.


I knew I wanted to do an emboss resist background using a sheet music background stamp but I didn't want to use my go-to distress blends of yellow/orange or blue/green.  So I had a look at my Pinterest board and found a beautiful blend by Tammy Tutterow and decided to try that.  I would never have thought to combine pink, blue and green but it looks really fresh and light.

I stuck with a tried and true layout and kept the embellishments really simple - a white-embossed sentiment tag and a few clear sequins.  I framed the background with a thin black mat to keep the light colors from disappearing into the white card base.


Thanks for visiting.



Products used:

Stamps:  Sheet Music Background, The Whole Herd (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Bundled Sage Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, black, watercolor
Dies:  Blueprints 20
Accessories:  White EP, sequins

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Addicted to CAS

Thursday 18 August 2016

Just for Ewe

And here we have my final card for Camp Create - this time for the bonus challenge - Single Layer Savvy.




I created a scene involving a sheep frolicking across a hilly paddock, using the Ewe are the Best set, distress inks and Copic markers.

I started by creating masks for the hills, fence, sheep and the two trees.  I then numbered each mask so I knew in which order to stamp each image.  After doing my stamping, I colored the images with Copic markers before replacing some of the masks so I could sponge the sky and grass.  The grass is a lot darker than I would like because I got one of those annoying circular ink patches on my card and had to add more and more ink to try and cover it up :)



This was a fun challenge for me because I started stamping before die-cutting was around and masking was the only way to create scenes.  It reminded me how much I enjoy masking and how lazy I am because I always use the co-ordinating dies!

Thanks for visiting.  Sorry to bombard you this week with posts.  We'll go back to my normal schedule now :)


Print

Products used:

Stamps:  Ewe are the Best (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Mowed Lawn, Broken China Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Stitched Cloud Edges, Blueprints 29 (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics

Cheers
Karren

Pink Roses

Hi!  I'm back with the last two cards for Camp Create at MFT Stamps.  This post has my card for the shadow stamping challenge and here is my card.


I went with a hot pink card base and the Scribble Roses stamp set.  I stamped the roses and leaves in white ink then went over the top with pink ink.  Originally I tried using the detail stamp in a darker pink ink on the roses but it wouldn't show up enough, so I went with the die-cut overlays.

I finished the card with a sentiment and die from  the Because You set, adding some Wink of Stella to the die-cut.



Thanks for visiting.

Print

Products used:

Stamps:  Scribble Roses, Because You (MFT)
Ink:  Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Hollyhock (SSS), Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Doll Pink (SSS)
Dies:  Because You, Scribble Roses Overlay (MFT)
Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Wednesday 17 August 2016

Awesome Alphabet

Hi and welcome to another challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our fabulous guest designer, Cecile Ribon, is our hostess and she has given us a bold, modern sketch.  Check it out:


Because the sketch was so bold, I decided to go bold with my card.  I broke out my alcohol inks which I haven't used in years and went to town.



First, I took a piece of Alcohol Ink Cardstock and various ink colors and just had some fun creating a pattern.  Once I was happy with the result, I stamped over it with a bold alphabet background stamp, using Jet Black Archival ink and matted onto some black cardstock.  Then I was stumped for what to use for the circular element as the sentiment was already sketched in at the top.  Hmmm!  How about splitting the sentiment? After stamping the first part of the sentiment, I die-cut the alcohol ink panel with the outline Awesome die leaving a gaping hole in my alcohol ink piece!  I filled the hole with a black die-cut Awesome word.  It looks and feels pretty cool in real life.



Thanks for visiting!  The rest of the design team have some wonderful examples to show you so be sure to head over to their blogs and check them out.


Products used:

Stamps:  Awesome (Neat & Tangled), Alphabet Background (SSS)
Ink:  Jet Black Archival, Alcohol Inks (Denim, Butterscotch, Sailboat, Terra Cotta, Pesto Stream, Copper)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Alcohol Ink Cardstock (Ranger)
Dies:  Awesome (Neat & Tangled)

Cheers
Karren


I Chews You


Hi and welcome to another fabulous challenge from SugarPea Designs.  This week we have a vintage themed inspiration photo as well as a gorgeous CAS sketch.



If you follow my blog, it won't surprise you that I followed the sketch!  While I love vintage, I'm not very good at vintage-style cardmaking, so I stuck with what I know and came up with this fun card:


It's Pete's and my 25th anniversary of our engagement this month - yep, we've been engaged for 25 years and never bothered getting married - you can't rush these things :)  Anyway, we're going away for a weekend soon and I plan on giving him this card.  I gave the couple non-zombie skin tones as I didn't want to frighten Pete away haha!


The card is pretty self-explanatory.  I colored the image with Copics and mounted onto a Soft Stone card base adding a thin strip of black top and bottom to frame the image.  The heart comes from the Talk is Chic set and was stamped in Lipstick ink and fussy-cut.  I then colored it with clear Wink of Stella.

Thanks for visiting!
Here are the guidelines to join in our challenge:

  • Create a new card or project using the sketch provided.
  • SugarPea Designs stamps are NOT required to play along or to win but would be appreciated :)
  • You may rotate/flip the sketch & replace shapes – so long as the original sketch layout is recognizable.
  • Upload to your blog or other Online Gallery using Keyword: SPDMIU12 so that we may check out your beautiful work.
  • One randomly selected winner will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to the SugarPea Designs store. However, if the winning entry features a SugarPea Designs stamp we will increase the prize to $50!
  • We will announce our Main Winner at the end of each month.
  • The more times you play along during the month, the better chance you have of winning!
Be sure to visit the rest of the design team - they have some wonderful inspiration for you:




Products used:

Stamps:  Undying LoveTalk is Chic (SugarPea Designs)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Lipstick (SSS)
Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), X-Press It, Black
Accessories:  Copics, Wink of Stella

Cheers
Karren


Tuesday 16 August 2016

Embossed Skyline

And here is my fourth card for Camp Create for the Dry Embossing challenge:


It's hard to tell from the photo but I dry-embossed the Paris Skyline die onto a white card base and then masked it off so I could blend some night-sky colors into the background.  I used Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord and Black Soot inks.  Once I was finished blending, I splattered some water onto the card and finally some white acrylic paint.

I then removed the mask and stamped the sentiment from Adventure is Calling.

I got a great big splat of water on the left hand side so that resulted in me chopping the card from a standard A2 to a 4.25" x 4.25" square card!


Thanks for visiting.  Tomorrow I have a couple of scheduled DT posts, but I'll be back the next day with my final two cards.

Print

Products used:

Stamps:  Adventure is Calling (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Black Soot Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White
Dies:  Paris Skyline (MFT)
Accessories:  White acrylic paint

Cheers
Karren

Heart Beat

Welcome to another post with a Camp Create theme!  Today it's Remarkable Resist and I have created this card for the challenge:



I clear-embossed the images from Keep on Rockin' onto a white card base and then sponged over them with various distress inks, starting with Twisted Citron in the bottom right corner, then Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and finally some Squeezed Lemonade which I sponged over the blue to create another shade of green.


I finished off the card with some lime enamel dots.

And that's it!  Pretty simple!

Thanks for visiting.

Print

Products used:

Stamps:  Keep on Rockin' (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Squeezed Lemonade
Cardstock:  White
Accessories:  Enamel Dots, Clear EP

Cheers
Karren

Monday 15 August 2016

Ab Fab

Hi!  Today is my second post with a Camp Create card and this card is for the Awesome Ombre challenge.


I masked off a panel on a white card base and sponged various distress inks across the panel.  I sponged the same colors in reverse order onto a scrap and cut the "fabulous" die.

I backed the fabulous word onto a black die cut, slighly off-setting it, so it doesn't get lost in the ink blending on the card base.  The word "absolutely" was die-cut from black and positioned on the card base in line with the top of the ink blending.

I finished the card with a few clear sequins.



I'm linking this card over at AAA Cards where they are looking for blending.

Thanks for visiting.

Print


Products used:

Ink:  Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Absolutely Fabulous
Accessories:  Sequins

Cheers
Karren

Shades of Grey

Hi and welcome!  It's Camp Create time and once again, I've tried to make a card for every challenge and I did it!  This is the first of six posts I'll spread out over the week with my cards for each challenge, including the bonus challenge.

This first card is for the Monochromatic Challenge and I went with grey tones to come up with this card.


I started with a Soft Stone card base and lightly sponged Fog ink over the Geometric Grid stencil.  Down the left hand side, I put some Smoke cardstock and I embossed both panels with a stitched rectangle die.

A die-cut fishtail frame was cut from Slate cardstock, then the little black tab was cut from Blueprints 16.  A grey enamel dot was placed off center.

Finally the sentiment was stamped with Smoke ink.





Thanks for visiting.

Print

Products used:

Stamps:  Soda Pop (MFT)
Ink:  Fog, Smoke (SSS)
Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), Smoke, Slate, Black (SSS)
Dies:  Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil Inkers), Stitched Fishtail Frames, Blueprints 16 (MFT)
Accessories:  Geometric Grid stencil (MFT), Enamel Dot

Cheers
Karren