Challenge Me a Stencil

Hi and welcome!  I'm here today playing along with Michelle Lupton in her annual Challenge Me a Christmas Card event.  I chose to use stencils in our cards - one of my favourite things to do and as my other favourite thing to do is Copic colouring, I decided to include that as well 😄

I have just bought the Radiating Stars stencil by Neat & Tangled and decided to use that with some distress ink and glimmer paste.  I positioned the stencil off-centre on a panel of white cardstock die-cut with a stitched rectangle die.  I then blended on some Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio and Twisted Citron ink from the bottom left, fading out as I got to the top right.  Once that was finished, I removed and cleaned the stencil before re-positioning it on the panel.  I then took some Moonstone Glimmer Paste and applied a thin layer of that over the stencil.  Once that was done, I set it aside to dry while I worked on the poinsettia.

After I coloured the poinsettia and a couple of leaves, I cut them out with my Scan n Cut and adhered the leaves behind the flower.  I used some Antique Gold EP to emboss the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock which I then die-cut with a stitched fishtail flag die.  I adhered that behind the flower then added both the flower and sentiment to the stenciled panel with foam tape.

Finally, I adhered the whole panel to a white card base and added some glitter drops to the centre of the poinsettia.  Here's another shot of that gorgeous shimmer.

Thanks, Michelle, for inviting me to play along again this year.

If you haven't already, head on over to Michelle's blog and see all her Challenge Me cards.  They're fabulous!

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia Delight (Poppy Stamps), Birdie Brown Greetings Galore (MFT)
Ink:  Amalgam, Versamark, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachiom Peacock Feathers Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black Licorice
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax, Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Radiating Star Stencil (Neat & Tangled), Antique Gold EP, Moonstone Glimmer Paste (Nuvo), White Blizzard Glitter Drops (Nuvo)

Cheers
Karren

Bunny Slope

Hi and welcome!  The team at Freshly Made Sketches have another fun challenge for you and this week our hostess is the delightful and elegant Jen Brum.  Here's the card I made using her fun sketch.

And here is Jen's sketch:

If you're observant you will notice that I got my top and bottom rectangles the wrong way round.  Doh!  Still, I think it's a cute card with this ski-ing bunny.  The images were stamped and colored with Copics and cut out with my Scan n Cut.  The rectangles were die-cut with a rounded rectangle die and I then temporarily adhered them together to stencil the sky.  I die-cut a slope and then carefully die-cut it to fit both rectangles and also continue the flow of the slope.

On top of the slope I added some snow marker for some interest and then I added the colored images - some popped up on foam tape and some directly onto the panels.  To finish the card, I added some white gel pen to his scarf and Crystal Glaze to his goggles.

Thanks so much for visiting!  The DT have some fabulous cards, so be sure to check them out.

I'm linking this up to Cupcake Inspirations Challenge who have a Holiday Card challenge going on.

Products used:

Stamps:  Ready Set Snow, Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam, Broken China Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Rounded Rectangles (Hero Arts), Stitched Snow Drifts (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Snow Maker Pen, Nuvo Crystal Glaze, Mini Cloud Edges Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Cosy Christmas

Hi all and thanks for popping by!  It's time for a new challenge at Fusion and this time we have a wonderful homely inspiration pic or a CAS and fun sketch.


I created a fusion and came up with this card - inspired by the woollens in the photo and the pop of red against the neutrals.

I used a new-to-me set called Cozy Christmas by Concord & 9th and an old-to-me (!) set called Spruce & Sprigs by PTI.  I see that my teamie Jen used the same Spruce & Sprig sets to create her gorgeous card so be sure to check that out on the challenge blog.

The sentiment was white embossed onto some Cherry Crisp cardstock and then adhered onto a Grout Gray panel which was dry-embossed with the Knitted Pattern embossing folder.  I stamped the foliage and berries with MFT inks and arranged them to fit to the right of the sentiment.  Once that was all glued down, the whole panel was adhered to a white top-fold card base.  

I really wanted to color the berries with clear sparkle pen, but I've had an unfortunate accident in the past coloring over red ink with a sparkle pen which caused the ink to bleed, so I left well enough alone.

Here's a close up of the dry embossing.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT cards as they're all beautiful, as always.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cozy Christmas (Concord & 9th), Spruce & Sprigs (PTI)

Ink:  Versamark, Jellybean green, Cherry Crisp (MFT)

Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray, Cherry Crisp (MFT)

Dies:  Spruce & Sprigs (PTI)

Accessories:  White EP, Knitted Pattern EF (Richard Garay)

Cheers

Karren

Snowflakes

Welcome!  It's time for another sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our challenge hostess is Kim Singdahlsen

I sort of went a bit over-sized with a couple of my elements, but I think you can still see the sketch.

The background panel is one I embossed and ink-blended a few weeks ago for another project and ended up going in a different direction.  So this card was reasonably quick to whip up . I die-cut the panel with a Mod Rectangle Stax die and adhered it to a white card base.  The sentiment is embossed with the same gold EP onto Blu Raspberry cardstock.

For the snowflake I also gold-embossed that onto Blu Raspberry and cut it out with the co-ordinating die.  I made a smaller snowflake with vellum and adhered them both together before gluing them both to a gold sparkle circle.  I finished with a clear droplet in the centre.

Thanks for visiting!  The DT have some gorgeous cards, so please head on over and check them out.

I'm playing along with 4 Crafty Chicks Snowflake challenge, as well as Simon Says Stamp All That Glitters is Gold and Southern Girls Inks and Sprays (hope ink-blending counts?)

Products used:

Stamps:  Cool Christmas, Simply Snowflakes (MFT), Outline Snowflakes BG (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark, Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth, Blu Raspberry, Vellum, Gold Sparkle (MFT)

Dies:  Double Stitched Circle Stax, Simply Snowflakes, Mod Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Antique Gold EP, Clear Droplet (Pretty Pink Posh)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Southern Girls.

Daffodil Bouquet

Hi all!  This is a quick post today for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge, where Jennifer Timko is our hostess.

The reason I say this is a quick post is because the bouquet that is front and centre on my card was colored during a previous 30 day coloring challenge and I have no details about the colors I used.

When I saw the sketch, I went looking for inspiration amongst my stamps sets and found this panel colored up and tucked in the pocket behind the stamp set.  So out it came and it helped make quick work of this card.  The sentiment strip is wood card which was in an unopened pack from Stampin' Up from who knows how long ago.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and adhered the bouquet to it with liquid glue.

I then added foam tape to the back of the whole piece and added it to a white card base.  I finished with some green enamel dots, which match the stems much better in real life than they do in the photos,

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous cards as always, so I hope you'll check them out.

I've just got time to sneak this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where they are looking for Thanks/Thanksgiving cards.

Products used:

Stamps:  Daffodils (Power Poppy), Assorted Greetings (Gina K.)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Amalgam

Cardstock:  White, Wood Paper, X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

Wine Aerobics

Hi all and welcome!  I'm here with a card for the latest Fusion challenge called Wine O'Clock.

I created a fusion of sorts and came up with this card:

These images just crack me up! 



I had originally intended to color up a realistic wine image that I have, but when it came time to make the card, I wasn't in a coloring mood so decided to go simple with wine aerobics.  The images are stamped in black ink onto a white card base.  I then added a white embossed sentiment onto some Tangy Orange cardstock, which brings in the color from the photo.  I also added some black and white striped patterned paper and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wine Aerobics (SSS)
Ink:  Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Tangy Orange (MFT), Black & White Strips (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP

Cheers
Karren

Tweet Greetings

Hi and welcome!  We have rolled around to another Wednesday (Thursday for me!) which means it's time for another fab challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is the wonderful Linda Callahan.

As soon as I saw Linda's sketch, I saw the circle as negative space and immediately thought "shaker".  But, as has happened in the past, I'm way too lazy to make a shaker, so I came up with something much simpler.

I actually have a video for this card (first video in ages!), so I hope you'll check it out by scrolling down or over on YouTube.

I started with a piece of Watercolor Wash Brights patterned paper and die-cut the Stitched Dot Circles die, which just cuts little dots in a circle.  I adhered that to a white top-fold card base and then added the frame which was popped up on foam tape.

For the central image, I stamped and colored these adorable birds with Copic markers before adding some white gel pen detail to the hats and scarf.  I also added clear sparkle pen to the white parts on the hats.  I popped the birds and the branch up on foam tape and added it to the card base.  The sentiment comes from the same stamp set.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some wonderful cards using the sketch, so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Tweet Holidays (MFT Stamps)

Ink:  Extreme Black (MFT)

Cardstock:  Smooth White, Watercolor Wash (Brights), X-Press It

Dies:  Stitched Dot Circles (MFT), Park Avenue (Mama Elephant)

Accessories:  Copics, Clear Confetti, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Ho Ho Ho

Welcome and thanks for stopping by!  I'm here with a card using the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this week super-talented Jen Mitchell is our hostess.

I created another Christmas card for the slowly-growing pile and while it isn't obvious, I used score lines for one of the horizontal panels.

I created a little scene on a panel of X-Press It cardstock, using the adorable Birdie Brown Secret Santa set.  I stamped and colored the Santa and tree, then also stamped and colored some gifts which I cut with my Scan n Cut.  I then created a mask for the tree stamp and a mask for the "floor" and stamped the All Lined Up background stamp in Antique Linen ink to look like wallpaper.  After moving the "floor" mask, I sponged Pumice Stone ink to create a floor.

I matted the panel onto a Wild Cherry panel and adhered it to the white card base which I'd already scored (you can see it faintly in the photo above).  The sentiment panel was white-heat embossed and added with liquid glue and finally I added the gifts, popping up the centre one on foam tape.

Finishing touches included adding clear sparkle pen to the ribbons and Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard to the ornaments on the tree.

Thanks so much for visiting.  If you haven't already, please check out the rest of the DT cards - they are fabulous!

I'm going to enter this in the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Products used:

Stamps:  Secret Santa, Lined Up Dots BG (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Wild Cherry (MFT)

Dies:  Sentiment Labels (SSS)

Accessories . Copics, White EP, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Nuvo Glitter Drops White Blizzard, Black Glaze Pen