Circles and Leaves

Hi and welcome!  Today is the first time since I finished work for the holiday break that I've actually wanted to make a card.  It really irritates me that when I get the opportunity to make cards every day, I don't want to!  Of course, it does take time to decompress after the working year and this is day 8 so I guess about a week to unwind and relax is normal. 

Anyway, onto today's card.  I was scrolling through Pinterest and was drawn to a print I found there and that gave me the impetus to actually go into my craft room and start creating.  This is the result:

I started with a gray panel and using a circle stencil and some circle masks I die-cut from stencil material, I stenciled the background.  On some of the circles, before removing the stencil, I would flick on some gold, black and/or white ink.  Once it was dry, I die-cut it with a stitched rectangle die and adhered it to a white card base.

For the foliage, I die-cut various leaves from both black and gold cardstock and arranged them onto the card panel.  The large black leaf die is popped up on foam tape.  The sentiment was hot-foiled in gold onto black and popped up with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.  I am going to link this card to the All Occasions challenge at Krafty Chicks as well as the Anything Goes stencil challenge at Happy Little Stampers (so sorry to see they are going on an indefinite break - but totally understand.  Running a challenge is hard work - let alone running several).

Products used:

Ink:  Eucalyptus, Green Opal, Lemonade Stand, Caramel Toffee, Mangrove Root (Altenew), Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Black, Cement Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Infinity Circles (Hero Arts), Standard Circles, Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil, Sealed Botanical Sprigs (Spellbinders), Tattered Leaves (SSS), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Basic Shapes - Circles Stencil (MFT), Gold hot foil, Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), White Acrylic Paint.

Cheers

Karren

Floral Corner

Hi all!  This is only the second card I've had time to make this week for fun!  My week off work has ended up primarily being spent running around after a puppy - a cute puppy nonetheless but not what I planned!

Anyway, I snuck into my craft room to come up with this card for a few challenges.  Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies, Seize the Birthday Anything Goes, Addicted to CAS Dies Only, Krafty Chicks CAS and Color Throwdown.

I've been playing with the NBUS Build-a-Wreath die set from Spellbinders.  I die-cut the various images from white cardstock and used distress inks and blender brushes to add colour to all the components.  I then arranged them into a pleasing design and adhered the elements together.  You can't see in the photos but I spritzed all the flowers and foliage with clear shimmer spray.

Onto a white cardbase I added a die-cut frame then the floral arrangement.  Finally, I tucked a hot foiled sentiment into the bouquet and called it done.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Ink:  Forest Moss, Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Ground Espresso Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Build-a-Wreath, Hexi Gem Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders), Nesting Rectangle Frames (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Shimmer Spray, Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

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

Teal Typewriter

 

Welcome to the latest Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  This week I went with Tearing-Free-Just Because to come up with this card.

I've been experimenting with different colour schemes and thought I'd try teal, gray and a mustardy colour.  I white-embossed the background stamp and ink-blended over the top with Fossilized Amber distress ink, then I used the Torn Paper Edges die to "tear" it.  I added a torn strip of teal behind it and mounted that onto a dark gray card base.

I then die-cut and assembled the typewriter, adding a sentiment from a Woodware stamp set.  I finished with an enamel heart in teal.  I also used the left-over pieces to decorate the inside and stamped a sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'm linking this up to the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies challenge.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Vintage Typewriter (Woodware)m KIS: Just Because (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Fossilized Amber Distress Oxidem Versamark

Cardstock:  Eiffel Tower, Whip Cream (MFT), Bristol Smooth, Peacock, Stardust (C9)

Dies:  Typewriter, Torn Paper Edges (MFT)

Accessories:  Enamel Heart, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Just a Little Note

 Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where hostess Jennifer Timko has given us an oval to play with.

For some reason, I am not a fan of ovals - probably because I can never get them straight.  I decided to work with some products from The Greetery and create an almost one-layer card featuring a sort-of oval shape.  The original stencils create an arch design, so to make it look more like an oval, I stenciled and stamped the left-hand of the card then flipped the stencils to mirror image the right-hand side.

Once I was finished stenciling and stamping, I selectively stamped part of the arched sentiment and did some subtle ink-blending to define the shape more.  I finished with a die-cut and stacked sentiment.

Please be sure to check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

I'm linking this up to Happy Little Stampers stencil challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Floral Arches, Arched Sentiments (The Greetery)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Matcha, Sage (Catherine Pooler), Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Aged Mahogany, Old Paper Distress Inks, Fossilized Amber, Brushed Corduroy, Ground Espresso Distress Oxide Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Hello Poe Script (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories:  Floral Arches Stencils (The Greetery)

Cheers

Karren

Singing Trio

 Hi and welcome to another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where this week our hostess is Judy Rozema.  Here's the card I made with her great sketch:

I am trying to take a leaf out of Jen, my fellow teamie's, book and keep up with making Christmas cards throughout the year.  January and February I have absolutely no interest in making another Christmas card, but come March I need to get back into it.  I thought the circles in the sketch would work for these cute carolling kittens so set to work Copic-colouring them and cutting them out with my Scan n Cut.

I hot-foiled a sentiment with gold foil and went to work on setting the scene.  I wanted to keep my card CAS, so only stamped some pavement for them to "stand" on - which also worked fabulously with the sketch.  Finally, I added my kittens with some foam tape and called it done.

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

I'm linking this up to the Christmas challenge at Krafty Chicks and the Anything Goes Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Products used:

Stamps:  Carol Kitten (Gerda Steiner), On The Ground (SSS)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Twilight (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Holiday Florals Background Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copics, Gold hot foil, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Krafty Chicks and Happy Little Stampers

Mistletoe and Berries

 Hi!  I had some time this weekend to make a few cards just for the fun of it and to play along in a few challenges and here is the first one.  I used the colours from Color Throwdown, the Christmas theme from Krafty Chicks and the Stencil and Christmas challenges from Happy Little Stampers.

This week was quite an exciting week as a few Black Friday orders arrived here in New Zealand, including an order from The Greetery, so I set to work with the Mistletoe Arches stamp and stencil and die sets to come up with this card.  

The mistletoe stencil was stenciled using three colours of green and two colour of red before being die-cut.  On the white card base, I used the arch stencil to sponge on some gold pigment ink, which unfortunately looks dirty in the photos, but it has a nice sheen in real life.  The sentiment was stamped in black ink and the Merry Christmas was gold embossed and die-cut.  I stacked it three deep to make it stand out a bit more.

Finally I added White Blizzard Nuvo Drops to each of the berries and popped the mistletoe up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Arched Holiday Sentiments (The Greetery)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Matcha, Sage, Spruce, Rouge, Peppermint Scrub (Catherine Pooler), Antique Gold (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Arched Holiday Sentiments (The Greetery), Mistletoe Arches (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Gilded EP (Brutus Monroe), Mistletoe Arches Stencils (The Greetery), White Blizzard Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Color Throwdown and Happy Little Stampers.

25

 Hi and welcome!  As I mentioned earlier in the week, I have had this week off work and as well as catching up with a few friends, I spent a bit of time stamping and it was wonderful!  Today is Saturday and Monday I'm back to work so I wanted to play along in a last few challenges before then.

This card evolved over the course of a few hours and as I was part-way through making it, I thought it would make a perfect birthday card for my late son, Matthew, who would be 25 next month.  I was firstly inspired by the latest Tic Tac Toe challenge and my eye was drawn to the word "Rust" and I immediately decided I wanted to try and re-create the rust patina on old cars.  Matthew loved cars and I know he'll love this card, even though there isn't a car on it.

To create the background, I went back to an old video of mine where I showed a technique I'd learned about 15 years ago, now.  Here's a link if you want to see how I made the background and here's how the background looked once it was finished.  I started with a panel of black cardstock and added Distress Paints in the following order (the video will make more sense of what I'm about to write):  Antiqued Bronze, Twisted Citron (spritzed), Antiqued Bronze, Broken China (spritzed), Cracked Pistachio (spritzed), Antiqued Bronze (sparingly).

From there, I had to decide how to use the panel and I came up with the idea of adding leaves down the left hand side, the number 25 to represent how old he would be and an inlaid metallic frame.  The leaves were die-cut from distress inked panels that were in my stash so I don't know the colours.  Once I'd cut them, I added some Foundry Wax in both Mined and Gilded to the edges and heat set it.  

Two of the leaves were die-cut from a failed hot-foiled panel where I'd tried to use the solid hot foil plate after foiling a whole lot of sentiments.  It was a failure but I kept the panel because I could use the back.  However, I decided to use the front and I love how it came out.  There's a photo of what's left of the panel and a close-up of the leaves I cut from that panel.  I even left the letters in.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I have to say I absolutely love this card, and not only because of what and who it represents.  I'm a CAS card-maker so to dabble in these different products is unusual for me.

I'm also linking this card to the Many of Something challenge at Seize the Birthday (my second entry), the Four Seasons Fall challenge, Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Rust/Free/Any Shape Die) and the Happy Little Stampers Birthday and Dies Challenges.

Products used:

Stamps:  Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, various Distress and Distress Oxide inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Rose Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Nesting Rectangle Frames (Waffle Flower), By the Numbers (PTI), Leaves Die (Impression Obsession), Fall Foliage (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:  Distress Paint (Antiqued Bronze, Twisted Citron, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio), Foundry Wax (Mined, Gilded), Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Seize the Birthday and Tic-Tac-Toe

Many Arches

Hi and welcome!  I'm at the beginning of a week off work and I have no plans but to relax, create and maybe catch up with a few friends - my idea of a perfect holiday!

This first card was made using the colours from The Paper Players and the Many of Something theme at Seize the Birthday.  I have many arches and used many blues in my masculine birthday card.

I silver hot-foiled the Geo Arches hot foil plate onto some white cardstock and then used the co-ordinating stencils to colour it.  Believe it or not, this has about 6 different blues on it!  I wasn't happy with the combo originally so went over a couple of stencils again with different blues.  I ended up with Prize Ribbon, Faded Jeans and Uncharted Mariner.

I die-cut it with a rectangle stax die and matted that onto silver foil before adding it to a black card base.  The sentiment was already hot-foiled with the same silver foil so it was easy to add some foam tape and adhere it to the card.

I'm also linking this card to the Happy Little Stampers Stencil and Birthday challenges.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Ink:  Prize Ribbon, Faded Jeans, Uncharted Mariner Distress Inks

Cardstock:  Black, Silver Foil, White

Dies:   Geo Arches Hot Foil Plate (Pink Fresh), Happy Birthday Hot Foil Plate and Die (Waffle Flower), Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Geo Arches Stencils (Pink Fresh), Silver Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

 Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at The Paper Players.

Plaid Poinsettia

Hi all!  Today was a public holiday as a memorial day for Queen Elizabeth II and I spent some of the day in my craft room making a card for a few challenges.  I chose the sketch from The Paper Players, the Christmas metallic challenge from Happy Little Stampers, the Christmas in September challenge at Sweet Stampin' and the current Tic Tac Toe challenge where I pretty much played with every square except Splatters!  But I'll go with Foliage/Plaid/Berries

I stamped and stenciled the wreath before die-cutting it but then wasn't happy with the colours I'd used. This wreath was already done and in the stamp packet, so I decided to use that as it had more traditional Christmas colours.  The hot-foiled plaid background was also already done so you'd think this card would have been quick to put together, wouldn't you? Ha!  Not for me as I second- and third-guess every step.

 

The sentiment was silver-embossed on black cardstock and die-cut with the co-ordinating die before I put all the elements together on a Cranberry Cocktail card base, which matched the berries.  I added some yellow Nuvo drops to the centres of the poinsettias and Copic-coloured some pearls to try and match the cranberry colour.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K Designs), Versamark, various Altenew inks for the stenciling

Cardstock:  Cranberry Cocktail, Black Licorice (MFT), White

Dies:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9), Triple Line Diamond Hot Foil Plate (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Poinsettia stencil (Pink Fresh Studio), Silver EP, Silver Hot Foil, Pearls, Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren