Abstract Birthday

Hi, just a quick post from me as it's late and I need to get this published!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jennifer Timko and it leaves pretty much everything up to the creator, which is fabulous!  I went with a cover plate foil plate and stencils to make this birthday card.

The cover plate was foiled in silver foil onto white and then I used various Distress Inks to colour through the stencils.  I cut it down and matted it onto a black panel.  The sentiment was also silver foiled - this time onto black and die-cut before being adhered with foam tape.

Here is the colour inspiration which came from the Colour Cubes.

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

Products used:

Ink: Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold, Saltwater Taffy, Worn Lipstick, Dusty Concord Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black

Dies: Abstract Background press plate (Alex Syberia Design), Modest Greetings 1 (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories: Silver hot foil, Abstract Background stencils

Cheers

Karren

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Leaf Fragments

Welcome to a new challenge over at Tic-Tac-Toe. I went with the left diagonal - fall colours - leaves - metallics to come up with this card using some NBUS dies and embossing folder.

I added Vintage Photo distress ink to the embossing folder before embossing to give it some added interest and then adhered the panel onto a card base.  The leaves were created using various distress inks and ink-smooshing before putting them through the Foliage embossing folder (saw this trick on a Tim live recently and loved it!).

The metallic component comes from the thin frame and the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Ink: Vintage Photo, Crackling Campfire, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Fossilized Amber Distress Inks

Cardstock: Truffle (Spellbinders), Copper Foil, Watercolour paper

Dies: Vault Leaves & Sticks (Tim Holtz), A2 Thin Frames (SSS), Hello Poe Script (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories: Cracked Leather Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), Foliage Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

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Snowman Scarf

Hi! Today's Freshly Made Sketches card layout was designed by Jen Mitchell.  I wanted to use a NBUS die so made what is probably my second Christmas card of the year.

I die-cut the snowman elements - added a bit of ink-blending to the snowman and his hat and then assembled.  I mounted it onto two gray panels die-cut with a torn edges die.  I couldn't figure out what to use for the horizontal panel in the sketch so decided to go with negative space instead.

I finished with a simple sentiment and called it done!

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

Products used:

Stamps: Curio Labels (The Greetery)

Ink: Moon Rock (Altenew), Salvaged Patina, Gathered Twigs Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Moon Rock, Sand Dunes, Rouge (Altenew), Pebble (C+9), Acorn (Spellbinders)

Dies: Sweet Snowman (Spellbinders), Torn Paper Edges (MFT)

Accessories: Copic Markers (110, R20)

Cheers

Karren

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Halloween Shelf

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Kim Singdahlsen. I decided to make a very rare for me Halloween card - purely because I'd just received this Tim Holtz die set and wanted to use it.

On a kraft card base I embossed my new favourite embossing folder - Cracked Leather.  I added some Frayed Burlap distress ink to both the folder and then around the edges of the embossed panel.  The rectangle was die-cut with wonky stitched die from some patterned paper and then I lightly sanded to expose some of the white core.  I die-cut the shelf and all the shelf elements from white and ink-blended with various inks before popping up with foam tape on to the patterned paper.

For the vertical panel, I decided to use some mummy cloth and seam binding ribbon.  Unfortunately I used liquid glue and it showed through the ribbbon, but I've decided to embrace the imperfection to quote Tim.  Next time I'll use double-sided tape.  To cover up the worst of the glue I added a black glitter spider - which was huge for me because I *hate* spiders! The sentiment was white-embossed onto black and cut out with a sentiment strip die.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Fang-Tastic Friends (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Fossilized Amber, Frayed Burlap, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Lost Shadow, Ground Espresso, Weathered Wood Distress Inks, Dark Night (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Fine Linen (PTI), Vintage patterned paper (Scrapbook.com), Black glitter cardstock (Spellbinders)

Dies: Vault Side Order Laboratory (Tim Holtz), Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories: White EP, Cracked Leather Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), Mummy Cloth, Seam Binding Ribbon

Cheers

Karren

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Mushroom Mail

Hi and welcome.  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Donna Mikasa.  For the triangle element on the sketch, I went with an envelope which is sort of triangular.

I stenciled with some crackle paste on the background panel.  While that was drying, I went to work on the envelope and its contents.  The envelope was die-cut from patterned paper and all the elements inside were leftovers from a previous project here.  Once the stenciled panel was dry, I cut a section from it and layered some thin slivers of black cardstock on each end.

The front of the kraft card base was embossed with my new favourite embossing folder - Cracked Leather - which gives a subtle impression to lift a plain card base.  I finished with a twine bow on the sentiment label.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Envelope of Wonder Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Ink: Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Lumberjack Plaid, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, Caramel Toffee (Altenew), Black, White, Salvage District patterned paper (Prima)

Dies: Autumn Wonder (Spellbinders), Labels Eight (Spellbinders), Signed & Sealed (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Linen Thread, Crackle Paste Opaque (Tim Holtz), Old Pages stencil (Finnabair), Cracked Leather Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

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Farm Friend

Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Judy Rozema and is a fun one with lots of ways to go.  I went with a scene card, leaving the top part as the sky.

I die-cut everything from white cardstock and ink-blended with Distress Inks.  The sentiment was already foiled and didn't look right in the same position as on the sketch so I took a bit of artistic licence and moved it.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Ink: Scattered Straw, Rustic Wilderness, Lost Shadow, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg, Peeled Paint, Scorched Timber, Forest Moss, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Fired Brick, Uncharted Mariner, Gathered Twigs Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies: On the Farm (Honey Bee Stamps), Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait (Lawn Fawn), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Die (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

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Good Things

It's time for another challenger over at Tic Tac Toe and this time I went down the left column:  Woodgrain/Ink-blending/Metal Embellishment.

The woodgrain came from a Tim Holtz live that I watched and had to immediately order and replicate.   I had it sitting in the embossing folder waiting for the time to use it and so this card was fairly easy to pull together.  

I used Stamperia Gardens of Time patterned paper and ephemera for the rest of the card.  The tag was die-cut twice and stacked, slightly offset.  I also added some screw head brads for the metal element.

On all the pieces, except the ephemera, I added some ink-blending with Walnut Stain distress ink.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Cardstock:Dark Chocolate (Altenew), Gardens of Time Junk Journal and patterned paper (Stamperia)

Dies: Tag Sale #5 (PTI)

Accessories: Screw head brads, baker's twine, Lumber EF (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

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Focus

Hi all and thanks for dropping by.  I am the sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and, fair to say, my card is nothing like I imagined when I designed the sketch!  

This die set was in my NBUS box.  I had placed quite a few orders that didn't arrive until after my husband passed, so they sat untouched for several weeks before I felt up to organising them.  Slowly, I am starting to use them and I thought the sketch would work for this die set.

Onto a Velvet card panel, I stenciled with some coloured grit paste and a text-y stencil.  While that was drying, I set about making the View-Master reel.  I die-cut the reel from Desert Storm cardstock and a black base, then die-cut individual images from patterned paper.  The sentiment was embossed with embossing glaze and die-cut before being added to the centre of the reel.

I did add some light ink-blending around the outside of the reel to age it a bit.

The film strips were die-cut with black and haphazardly placed onto the stenciled panel to sort-of mimic the sketch.  I added the reel with foam tape and called it done.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll play along.  Make sure you check out how the rest of the DT have interpreted the sketch.

Products used:

Stamps: Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)

Ink: Versamark, Frayed Burlap Distress Ink

Cardstock: Black, Desert Storm, Velvet (Altenew), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Vault Picture Show (Tim Holtz), Artful Palette (SSS)

Accessories: 755 Street stencil (13@rts), Distress Grit Paste, Aged Mahogany Distress Spray Stain

Cheers

Karren

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Columbine

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with a card for today's Freshly Made Sketches challenge where our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  I decided to use a NBUS die set to make this card.

This die set has a matching stamp set and cleverly, there are three separate floral die sets that work with the same stamp set, so of course I had to buy all three!  I created the flowers, adding the stamped portions as well as some light ink-blending.  I then used a stylus tool to provide a bit of shape to the various pieces. 

The background die is also NBUS and I stacked it two high to give a bit more dimension.  The foiled sentiment was already made so I just had to adhere it to the card and call it done.

Thanks for visiting! Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team - most of which seemed to have a floral thing going!

Products used:

Stamps: Flower Centres 3 (Elizabeth Craft Design)

Ink: Alpine Aster, Crystal Violet, Indigo Skies, Parrot, Maple Yellow (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Sour Apple, Daffodil, Wild Wisteria, Purple Rain (MFT)

Dies: Columbine (Elizabeth Craft Design), Decorative Lattice, Hexi-Gem Sentiments hot foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Copper hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Hydrangea Love

Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Michele Ferguson, and in a turn-up for the books, I actually mostly stuck to the sketch!  The last couple of weeks I've worked from memory and mis-sized elements or missed layers altogether!

In fact when I saw the sketch, I knew exactly what products would work for it.  I had bought this Stamperia die set a couple of months ago, but hadn't used it yet, so the notebook edge, torn rectangle and flowers worked perfectly.

I used watercolour paper and smooshed distress inks to colour the flowers and leaves, then set them aside to dry.  Once dry, I spritzed with distress spritz and again left to dry.  After that, I die-cut the flowers and leaves and ink-blended around the edges.  The rectangle panel was die-cut from patterned paper and ink-blended around the edges with Frayed Burlap distress ink.  For the notebook paper, I stamped onto white cardstock with both the notebook stamp and a crackle stamp. After die-cutting, I went over the panel with Antique Linen distress ink to age it up a bit.

The Good Reading BG stamp was stamped onto Desert Storm cardstock with Frayed Burlap DOX and then ink-blended around the edges before splattering with some Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain.

I finished with a pre-foiled sentiment and some blue pearls in the centres of the flowers.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Good Reading BG, Crackle BG (SSS), Notebook Paper (MFT)

Ink: Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness, Salvaged Patina, Broken China, Uncharted Mariner Distress Inks, Broken China, Lost Shadow, Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Inks

Cardstock: White, Desert Storm, watercolour, Traces of Time patterned paper (Aall & Create)

Dies: Notes & Flowers (Stamperia), Essential Sentiments II (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Sweet & Spooky Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps), Gold hot foil, Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain, Uncharted Mariner and Rustic Wilderness Distress Spritz

Cheers

Karren

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Strawberry Thanks

Hi and welcome to another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is  Cecile Ribon.

I was a bit rushed for time with this card so I went looking for some already prepared die-cut pieces and found a few leftover strawberries from this post.  I had to do some jiggery-poke with the diamond die because it was designed for an A2 card, not a square card, so I extended the sides a bit to make it fit.  Although looking at the sketch, it appears I have completely missed a layer - doh!

I wasn't thrilled with how bright the Teal Cave cardstock looked against the strawberries and as I wasn't going to finagle with the diamond die again, I went over both panels with some Uncharted Mariner distress ink to darken it up.  The Paper Bag card base was embossed with an embossing folder to add some interest to the diamond cut-out and I embossed the sentiment with Scorched Timber Embossing Glaze.

At this point in time, I decided the diamond panels were a bit splotchy so I covered that up by stamping over the top with a background text stamp and Uncharted Mariner Distress Oxide ink - taking care to not give complete coverage.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Good Reading BG (SSS), Written Words (C&9)

Ink:  Versamark, Uncharted Mariner Distress Ink and Distress Oxide Ink

Cardstock:  Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Teal Cave (Altenew)

Dies:  Halfsies Diamond (The Greetery), Written Words (C&9)

Accessories: Scorched Timber Embossing Glaze, Herringbone Decor EF (Spellbiders)

Cheers

Karren

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Butterfly Note

Welcome to a new board over at Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  This time I went with the right diagonal - insects/gems/free to come up with this card.

Onto a white card base I added the teal cover plate.  I then used foam squares to pop up the pre-foiled and stenciled butterflies.  In keeping with the challenge, I added black gems for their bodies.

Finally I finished with a die-cut and stacked sentiment cut from dark blue cardstock.  A pretty simple and quick-to-make card.  

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you head on over to the challenge and give it a go.

Products used:

Ink: Blue Suede Shoes, Dress Blues, Sea Glass, Utown, All that Jazz, Daydream Black Jack (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock: White, Teal Cave, Desert Night (Altenew)

Dies: Striped Sentiment Strip (MFT), Just a Note Posh Script (Memory Box), Small Butterflies hot foil and dies (Pink Fresh)

Accessories: Silver hot foil, Small Butterflies stencils (Pink Fresh), Black Gem Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Cosmos Celebration

Hi!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jen Brum.  I used it to make a birthday card for my youngest sister.

I die-cut and ink-blended some Altenew cosmos flowers and set them aside while I worked on the background.  Onto a Rouge panel, I dry embossed a brick embossing folder and adhered it to a white card base.  I then cut a white panel into two angled pieces and, after hot foiling the sentiment, I attached a thin strip of gold foil to each angled edge.

The angled panels were adhered with foam tape and then I arranged the flowers and leaves.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Ink:  Apricot Frost, Citronella (Altenew), Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Rouge (Altenew), Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Garden Cosmos (Altenew), Celebrate hot foil (Pink Fresh)

Accessories: Gold hot foil, Rustic Brick Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Little One

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Verena Shapiro.  I went through my box of NBUS and decided these geese would work well for the circles in the sketch.

I die-cut the geese bodies and wings from white cardstock and the smaller elements from coloured cardstock.  I added a bit of light grey shading to the geese before assembling them.  

I added an embossed panel cut from Mist cardstock and adhered to a white card base.  A strip of gingham patterned paper was added for the "ground" and I added a sentiment onto a strip of Lemon Tart cardstock.

Thanks for visiting! The DT have some fabulous cards so please check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Lost Shadow, Scattered Straw Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Lemon Tart (PTI), Mist (Lawn Fawn), Carrot (Spellbinders), Gingham patterned paper (Echo Park)

Dies:  Silly Goose (The Greetery)

Accessories: Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Best Ever

Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Kim Singdahlsen.  Originally I was going to use butterflies for the circular elements but couldn't get them to look right, so veered off on a tangent and went with gears for a masculine card.

I embossed onto a panel of kraft cardstock and went over the embossed areas lightly with white ink.  The gears were cut from watercolour cardstock and then spritzed with various distress spray stains.  I arranged the gears onto the kraft panel and adhered them down.  

 

The sentiment was stamped, embossed and die-cut before being added to the panel.  I then added it all to a black card base and called it done.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards created by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Dad Squared (The Greetery)

Ink: Versamark, Unicorn White (Hero Arts)

Cardstock: Black, Kraft (MFT), Watercolour paper

Dies: Dad Squared (The Greetery), Vault Watch Gears (Tim Holtz)

Accessories: Timeless Type EF (SU), Black Soot, Antique Bronze, Tarnished Brass, Brushed Pewter Distress Spray Stains, eyelets

Cheers

Karren

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Citrus Christmas

Hi and welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess this week is Jen Mitchell.  Turns out I mis-interpreted Jen's sketch from the final design so do as I say, not as I do this week... 

I wasn't planning on making a Christmas card when I pulled out these Dried Citrus Slices dies but that's what happened.

I started by creating the citrus slices, which I was intending to use for the scallop element on the sketch.  From there it just morhped into a Christmas card, with ephemera tags, die-cut holly sprig and vintage-looking patterned paper.  I added some ink-blending round the edges of the embossed panel and the patterned paper, but didn't do any distressing in keeping with the clean theme at FMS.

Thanks so much for visiting and to everyone who left heartfelt comments on my post from last week, thank you.  It meant a lot.

Please check out the fabulous cards from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Curio Labels (The Greetery)

Ink: Walnut Stain DOX, Walnut Stain, Forest Moss, Aged Mahogany, Festive Berries, Pine Needles, Rustic Wilderness, Antique Linen, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Desert Storm, Christmas Backdrops patterned paper (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Bigger Botanicals Holly 1, Dried Citrus Slices (The Greetery)

Accessories: Burlap EF (Honey Bee Stamps), Sepia Serenity Ephemera (Aall & Create)

Cheers

Karren

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