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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28

Welcome to our last challenge of 2025 over at Freshly Made Sketches. Our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia and I used her sketch to make a birthday card for my son, who would have been 28 on 17 December (yesterday for me as this post goes live).  I still make him a birthday card to celebrate each birthday and this year, I made a card to resemble his car, which was his pride and joy.  He painted it himself and wanted to be a car painter.  

To make the card, I first stamped the Papillon stamp onto the black panel with Versamark for a subtle watermark effect, but it didn't even show up in the final card or the photos.  I applied some gilding flakes to a white panel and then ripped it diagonally to match Matthew's car.  I then die-cut the rectangle frame from the panel and mounted it onto another slightly larger black rectangle before putting it onto a card base.

I used the same technique for the numbers but put the gilding flakes at the top, added a smaller black panel and the stamped sentiment.

Here is a photo of Matthew's car after he had painted it and then at his funeral where we invited everyone to write a message in Sharpie over the gold paint.  That car is treasured as are the messages.

Thanks for visiting and please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.  This challenge will be open for longer and we'll be back in January with a new year of sketch challenges.

Products used:

Stamps: #Hashtag, Papillon (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Versamark

Cardstock: Black, White

Dies: A2 Rectangle Stax (MFT), By The Numbers (PTI)

Accessories: Gilding Flakes (Nuvo)

Cheers

Karren

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Circle Congrats

Welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where Cecile Ribon is our sketch hostess this week.  I "sort of" stuck to the sketch to come up with this card.

I wasn't sure what to use for the circle element, then thought of a circle sentiment and it sort of grew from there.  I wanted a dark cardbase and found these floral images already stamped (score!) so this card came together pretty quickly.

The dark blue panel was embossed with a Linen cover plate to give it a bit of texture.  I finished with some enamel dots to match the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps: Grouped Fresh Dahlias (The Ton)

Ink: Grass Fields, Tea Party sets (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Dune, Oceanside (Spellbinders)

Dies: Grouped Fresh Dahlias (The Ton), Congrats Circle Frame (MFT), Linen & Canvas plate (PTI)

Accessories: Warm & Cozy Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Best Fishes

Hi!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by our new teamie, Michele Ferguson, and what a great sketch it is!

I decided to play with some new dies from Honey Bee Stamps and created a CAS underwater scene using white cardstock and various Altenew inks.  The sentiment was from an alphabet die set I had that fit in the space.  Of course, given that it was Michele's sketch, I had to have a punny sentiment 😄

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

 

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Fish, Lovely Layers: Aquarium (Honey Bee Stamps), Waves Cover Plate (PTI), Bottlecap Letters (MFT)

Ink:  Amber Burst, Vanilla Cream, Citrus Burst, Maple Yellow, Charcoal Suit, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red (Altenew)

Accessories:  Black Glaze Pen, Enamel Heart (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Spring Bouquet

Hi!  It's time for the April challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this time we're asking for spring colours in your floral cards.  Easy, right?

 

Again, I was pressed for time.  The weekends seem to get shorter and shorter, leaving me less time to get into my craft room.  Luckily, Past Me had some already die-cut and ink-blended floral elements so this card didn't take too long to pull together.  Unfortunately, Past Me didn't record the ink colours I used but they would have been Altenew inks.

Past Me also had a panel of pale yellow cardstock that had been run through the die-cutting machine with a linen look cover plate.  I'm 99.9% sure this is a Papertrey Ink plate but I was too lazy to check! I cut an oval from the panel and adhered it to the white card base with foa tape.  I then arranged the flowers and previously hot-foiled sentiment.

I finished with some champagne drops by Pink Fresh.  

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

Products used:

Ink:  Various Altenew inks

Cardstock:  White, Lemon Chiffon (MFT)

Dies:  Fancy Sentiment Strip BetterPress Plate and Die, Foral Spray, Garden Wreath Add-On, Essential Stylish Ovals (Spellbinders), Canvas cover plate (PTI)

Accessories:  Clear Drops: Champagne (Pink Fresh), Gold hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Masculine 18th

 Just a quick post today as I’m running out of time to get this published.  Today’s card was made for a young man who celebrated his 18th birthday last week. 

Patterned paper, distress mics stains and my favourite number dies meant this card came together fairly quickly.

Linda Callahan is our hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week so pop over and check out the fabulous cards made by the design team. 

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Milk Chocolate (MFT), White, Black, Spooktacular Patterned Paper (Honey Bee Stamps)

Dies:  By The Numbers (PTI), Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Fallen Acorn Mica Stain Spray (Tim Holtz), Tasteful Textile EF (SU), Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Lighthouse

Hi and welcome to the newest challenge from the team at Tic Tac Toe . I chose red-nautical-stripes and a very old stamp set for my card.

I stamped the images and die-cut them. On a white card base I added two strips of patterned paper on the outer edges.  On a smaller panel, I added the sentiment, lighthouse and birds before adhering it to the card base with foam tape.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Guiding Light (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Cranberry Fizz (Catherine Pooler), Lost Shadow Distress Oxide

Cardstock:  White, B&W Stripes (MFT)

Dies:  Guiding Light (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

Mother's Day Bouquet

 Hi and welcome to another challenge from the team at Tic Tac Toe.  This week, I've gone straight down the middle of Rosanne's board with Flower-Dry Emboss-Diagonal to come up with this Mother's Day card for my mum.

Once again, I pulled out the Be Bold Blooms dies - I can totally see how addictive these can become!  I arranged the florals in a pleasing pattern and used Press n Seal to hold it all together while I worked on the rest of the card.  The bottom panel is dry-embossed and cut on a diagonal before being adhered to the card base.  I then gold heat-embossed the sentiment onto a strip of white and adhered that.  I then added a gold foil strip along with the flowers.

I finished with a die-cut gold heart.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the gorgeous creations by the rest of the design team.

Products used:  

Stamps:  KIS:  Mother (PTI)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Dark Indigo (PTI), Lavender Fields, Hot Fudge, Prickly Pear, Jellybean Green (MFT), gold foil

Dies:  Be Bold Blooms (Spellbinders), Blueprints 28 (MFT)

Accessories:  Gilded EP (Brutus Monroe), Four Petal Floral EF (Spellbinders)

Cheers

Karren

90 Years Young

 Hi and welcome!  Cecile Ribon is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she has a fabulous sketch for us to play with.  I needed a 90th birthday card for my father and the sketch was perfect.  As you can see, I took a literal interpretation to come up with my card.

I die-cut the leaves and the 90 from white card stock and ink-blended various green inks onto the die-cuts.  I also die-cut a pierced heart from both white and vellum.  I arranged the leaves both behind and in front of the white heart and adhered everything to the card base.  I then adhered the 90 to the vellum heart and added that to the card front as well.

To finish the front, I white-embossed a sentiment onto black.  I didn't add any embellishments.  For the inside, I added a couple of stamped sentiments, then die-cut another heart from vellum and added a leftover leaf sprig to it.

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

I am linking this up to the CAS challenge at Inkspirational, the Stencil and/or Dies challenge at The Male Room and the Garden theme at Addicted to CAS.

Products Used:

Stamps:  More Essential Sentiments (MFT), Lots to Say (Reverese Confetti)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Wintergreen, Sage, Seafoam, Spruce (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Vellum

Dies:  Pierced Heart Stax (MFT), Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Craft Designs), By The Numbers (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at The Male Room

Purple Hugs

 I'm here with my card for the latest Fusion challenge and this time I've created a fusion of sketch and photo.

I went digging through my patterned paper to find some purples and came up with these.  I would have preferred a darker purple but this was all I had.  I cut them to match the sketch and adhered them to a white card base.  From there, I added thin strips of black cardstock to separate the patterns.

The sentiment die was die-cut three times - twice from purple and once from black.  I off-set the black die-cut slightly to create a shadow.  The secondary sentiment was stamped with black ink and comes from a set by The Ton.

Finally, I finished with some black enamel dots.  Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and check out the fabulous cards made by the DT.

Products used:

Stamps:  Rose Patch (The Ton)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Lavender Fields, Proper Pinstripes, Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots, Watercolor Wash (MFT)

Dies:  Big Hugs (PTI)

Accessories:  Black Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

Roses for You

I'm here with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  Here is her wonderful sketch:

I was planning on using a leaf die for my card, but as I was flipping through my dies, I came across this one that I had never used.

I love the art of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and this die puts me in mind of his work.  I didn't want to go the pink and green route, so decided to go with gray and cranberry for a bit of drama.  The pieces of the die were inlaid and then set aside while I figured out how to finish the card.

I originally thought of adding scored lines rather than a strip of cardstock or patterned paper, but then had the idea to add two strips of black cardstock - further adding to the art deco look.  A simple stamped sentiment, some clear sparkle pen on the "petals" and the card was done.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  KIS:  Just for You (PTI)
Ink:  Obsidian (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Gravel Gray, Cranberry Cocktail (MFT)
Dies:  Rad Roses (Paper Smooches)
Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Leafy Birthday

Hi and welcome.  Here's the latest sketch from the Freshly Made Sketches team where our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.

I am in need of a birthday card for DH, whose birthday is on Christmas Eve.

To make this card, I blended some distres inks onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock.  I then added a stencil and went over again, using slightly more pressure.  Finally I added some flicks of water and die-cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die.

The leaves were die-cut from black cardstock and then flicked with Antiqued Bronze Mica Spray and white gouache before being set aside to dry.  I then stamped and die-cut the sentiment.

The card was easy to put together and makes for a nice masculine card.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT as they have some gorgeous cards as always.

Products used:

Stamps:  KIS Birthday (PTI)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Skeleton Leaves (Tim Holtz)
Accessories:  White Gouache, Antiqued Bronze Mica Spray (Tim Holtz), Scribble Script Stencil (Donna Downey)

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

Balloon Birthday

Hi all!  I'm here with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is the delightful Linda Callahan and she has a very interesting sketch for us:

As soon as I saw Linda's sketch I saw a trio of balloons and nothing would shake the image so that's what I had to go with 😄

I die-cut three balloons from MFT cardstock in similar shades and also the strings from some Black Licorice cardstock.  I sponged some ink onto the right hand side of each balloon and then adhered them to a white top-folding card base.  It was about now that I thought they looked a bit bare, so I grabbed a star stencil and a negative die-cut and masking off all but one of the balloons, I stenciled over the stars with the same color ink.  I repeated this process with the other two balloons and finally added a highlight with white gel pen.  Much better! 

The sentiment is also a die-cut, so this card was pretty simple to put together.  I finished by painting the balloons with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the DT.

Products used:

Ink:  Peach Bellini, Coral Crush, Persimmon (MFT)

Cardstock:  Peach Bellini, Coral Crush, Persimmon, Black Licorice (MFT), White

Dies:  Balloon bash, Balloon Strings (PTI), Block Happy Birthday (MFT)

Accessories:  Classic Star Stencil (Winnie & Walter), White Gel Pen, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren