Bluebird

Hi and welcome!  I'm trying to spend more time in my craft room this year to try and bring back some of the joy in the hobby that disappeared when my son passed in 2019.  Today, I made a card for a few challenges, which I used to do every week, but now do so very rarely.  This card is for Addicted to Stamps & More (Any Occasion), Time Out Challenges Favourite Technique (stenciling and ink-blending), Krafty Chicks Masculine Challenge and Just Us Girls Stencil Challenge.

Any New Zealanders reading this post will hopefully recognise my inspiration for this Valentine card for my husband.  For those that don't recognise it, this is a play on one of the most popular potato chip brands (see photo of packet below).  He loves potato chips so buying this die and stencil set from Hero Arts was a no-brainer.  I die-cut the elements from white cardstock and used Distress Inks to colour them.  I went looking through my stash for a penguin and did some masking to remove the cocktail glass this one was holding up.  I then filled in the gap with a black Copic pen (although in hindsight I didn't need to because the chip covered it up anyway).

I took the "originals" from the chip pack and added the sentiment (although I wish I had white-embossed it now, but never mind).  

On the card base, I stenciled over the Geo Leaves stencil with Distress Grit Paste and once dry I assembled all the elements.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Penguins In Paradise, Be Original (MFT), Peony Memories (The Ton)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K), Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Tea Dye, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Fired Brick, Festive Berries Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, X-Press It

Dies: Snack Attack (Hero Arts), Penguins In Paradise (MFT)

Accessories: Geo Leaves stencil (SSS), Distress Grit Paste, Copics

Cheers

Karren

If you enjoyed this post and would like an email when I post new content, please follow me

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Just Us Girls and Krafty Chicks

Floral Book

Hi and welcome.  I carved out a bit of time today to make a card specifically for the final Color Throwdown challenge.  I haven't played along in challenges for several years now, but when I was a regular challenge player, Color Throwdown was always one I tried to create for.  I'm sorry to see the challenge go, but totally understand.    

Anyway, onto my card.  I wanted to try and create with softer versions of the challenge colours.  So I went with a vanilla-yellow colour, a soft orange and a minty green.  I added some ink to brighten up the colours some.

I decided to use an old die-set from SugarPea Designs which I have always loved.  I created the "book" using Acorn and Ivory cardstock and then worked on the floral arrangement and glasses.  I wanted the background to look a bit bookish too, so lightly stamped a text background with Fog ink.  I then spritzed it with Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz for some splatter and sparkle.  The floral arrangement was spritzed with clear shimmer spray.

The whole background was dry-embossed with the Subtle EF and I finished with a couple of random flowers on the background.

I'm also playing along with Time Out Challenge where I have chosen all of the options except Movie.  When I saw the challenge and decided to make a book, the "corners" option reminded me of turning the corner down to mark the page (not that I have ever done that - it makes my eye twitch just thinking about it!).

Thanks for visiting. And special thanks to the Color Throwdown team for all the wonderful inspiration over the years.

Products used:

Stamps: You Matter (SSS), Many Thanks (Altenew)

Ink: Fog (SSS), Obsidian (Altenew), Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio, Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Vanilla Cream, Minty Mint (Altenew), Summer Sunrise (PTI), Acorn (Spellbinders), Ivory (Gina K)

Dies: Open Book (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories: Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU), Clear Shimmer Spray (Tsukineko)

Cheers

Karren

If you enjoyed this post and would like an email when I post new content, please follow me

Gilded Leaves

 Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made especially for a few challenges and is the first card I've made that wasn't for a DT commitment for quite some weeks!

I was inspired by the sketch at Just Add Ink, the photo at Inspired By, the colours from Color Hues and the Elegant theme at Time Out Challenges.  (As an aside green and gold were my high school colours so not my favourite combination 😄)

I started with a white card base and then added the white embossed square die-cuts as well as the strip of white which was dry embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  

For the leaves, I die-cut them from two different shades of green and then added Gilded Foundry Wax to the ends before heat-setting.  I arranged those on the card base and then added a stacked black hot-foiled sentiment.  

It was at this point I thought it looked a bit stark, so added two thin slivers of gold foil on either side of the vertical panel.  Finally, I finished with some green enamel dots and a heart.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Gold Foil, Prickly Pear, Jellybean Green (MFT)

Dies:  Leaf Mix (Altenew), Wonderful Sentiments (Pink Fresh), Embossed Squares (Kat Scrappiness)

Accessories:  Black hot foil, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU), Gilded Foundry Wax (Tim Holtz), Enamel Dots (Altenew and WPlus9)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Color Hues.

Snowy Village

 Hi all and welcome!  I'm the sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I hope my sketch will provide a starting point for some amazing cards!  

For my card, I wanted to play with an ink-blended and Perfect Pearls background as well as some new silhouette dies I'd just received.

The background was created with Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Inks and then I brushed on some Blue Patina Perfect Pearls powder before splattering it with white gouache.  After I'd die-cut the black elements, I also splattered on some white gouache.  The snowy hills was die-cut from white cardstock and I stamped one of my favourite Christmas sentiment stamps from Papertrey Ink.

I adhered some of the silhouette elements to the front and back of the snowy hills and some directly to the ink-blended background panel, then I used foam tape to pop up the hills.

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

I'm linking this up to the Christmas creations challenge at Sweet Stampin' and the Winter/Holiday challenge at Time Out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Winter Village (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, yellow scrap

Dies:  Winter Wonderland (Gina K), Stitched Slopes & Hills (SSS)

Accessories:  Blue Patina Perfect Pearls, White Gouache

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Sweet Stampin'

Inky Thanks

    Hi and welcome!  I'm here with my card for the latest challenge at Fusion.  This time I played with the sketch and pulled in the colours from the photo to come up with this card.

I hot-foiled the sentiment onto a white panel and then went to work with lots of alcohol inks to create the panel at the bottom.  Once I was finished, it was a bit bold, so I covered it with vellum to tone it down a bit.  Some strips of embossed cardstock completed the sketch and I finished with some red and white baker's twine.

Here's a photo showing the alcohol-inked panel under the vellum.

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

I'm playing along with the Thankful theme at Time Out Challenges.

Products used:

Ink:  Cranberry Fizz (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Cherry Crisp, Milk Chocolate (MFT), Yupo, Vellum

Dies:  Essential Glimmer Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Alcohol inks (Espresso, Sepia, Caramel, Teakwood, Pebble, Smolder, Statue), Baker's Twine, Espresso Hot Foil

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Time Out Challenges.

Striped Daffs

 Yesterday was ANZAC Day here in New Zealand and I decided to take today off work to make a 4-day weekend.  I had no plans but did get some time in my craft room to make this card using the sketch from The Paper Players, the board from Tic-Tac-Toe (Florals, Patterned Paper and Die-Cuts) and the Spring theme at Time Out Challenges.

When I saw the sketch at Paper Players, I knew I wanted to use black and white striped patterned paper with flowers over the top.  Luckily, I had these flowers already coloured and die-cut, so this card didn't take forever to make, like my cards usually do!

I die-cut the patterned paper with a wonky stitched square die and arranged them on the white card base, with the centre square popped up on foam tape.  The sentiment was die-cut twice from Harvest Gold cardstock and stacked and then I added a black die-cut at the bottom, slightly offsetting for a shadow effect.

It took longer to arrange the flowers than make the rest of the card!  Finally I was happy with the arrangement and added it with a mix of liquid adhesive and foam tape.  I finished with some clear drops.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  In Bloom:  Addie's Garden (Winnie & Walter)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Harvest Gold (PTI), Black & White Strips (MFT)

Dies:  In Bloom:  Addie's Garden (Winnie & Walter), Wonky Stitched Square Stax (MFT), Hello Poe Script (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories:  Copics, Clear Drops

Cheers

Karren

Get Well

   I'm here with my card for the latest challenge at Fusion where I created a fusion of both photo and sketch to come up with this card:

 

I focused on the bookshelf theme and the colours in the photo and coloured up these images from a Birdie Brown set.  Once coloured, I die-cut them with the co-ordinating dies and arranged them on a strip of woodgrain patterned paper.

On the white card base, I dry-embssed a text embossing folder for added interest and finished with a Get Well Soon sentiment, which was white-embssed ont black and die-cut.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the DT and play along.

I'm also playing along with the CAS challenge at Krafty Chicks and the Cute challenge at Time Out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Our Story (MFT), Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Amalgam (Gina K)

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Wood & Notebook Basics (Snap Basics)

Dies:  Our Story (MFT), Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Timeless Type EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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

Jukebox

 Welcome!  Today's card is for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where it is my turn to host.  As usual, I came up with a simple sketch and used the wide open space in the middle to create a small scene for this cute jukebox stamp.

After stamping and Copic-colouring the jukebox, I fussy-cut it out and set it to one side while I created the background.  I stamped one of the images from the On The Ground set and coloured the black squares with Copics.  I then masked off that area and lightly sponged mint ink above that, fading into white.

I then gold-embossed the sentiment and bordered the long edges with gold foil cardstock.  The card base is white, but I added two black strips I'd embossed with the Window Slats embossing folder.  There are no embellishments because I made this for a male.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll play along this week after checking out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

I'm entering this card into Time Out Challenges 8th Birthday challenge as well as Addicted to Stamps and More All Occasions challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Jukebox Jive (SugarPea Designs), On the Ground (SSS)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, 

Cardstock:  White, Black, Gold, X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, Gold EP, Window Slats Embossing Folder (Altenew)

Butterfly Birthday

Hi and welcome.  Today's card is one I put together for a few challenges.  The blue and gray theme at Seize the Birthday, the "New" theme at both Simon Says Stamp and Time Out and the Stamp Act challenge at Krafty Chicks.

My "new" is crafty goodies (of course!).  On this card the NBUS is the Brilliant Butterflies set and the Splatter hot foil plate.  Funny story about the hot foiling.  I put my plate upside down on my Foil Press in error with the result that it debossed the cardstock as well as putting foil where it wasn't meant to go.  I was using an almost transparent gray foil so the effect was really pretty, in my opinion.  Here's the piece before I adhered it to the card base.

I decided it would make a cool background for these fun butterflies that I stamped in blue/teal inks and then coloured the blue parts with a clear sparkle pen.

I finished the card with some strips of patterned paper and solid-colour cardstock down the left hand side and some sentiment strips white-embossed onto gray cardstock.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Brilliant Butterflies, Itty Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink:  Dew Drops, Aqualicious (Altenew), Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Gravel Gray, Black Licorice (MFT), Adriatic (Hero Arts), Modern Neutrals (Waffle Flower), Gray Foil

Dies:  Brilliant Butterflies (MFT), Splatter Hot Foil Plate (Altenew)

Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Seize the Birthday.

 

Leafy Wishes

 Hi!  Here I am for the second time today!  I have been wanting to make a card for the Altenew Year in Review challenge and in doing so, I also created a card for Time Out Challenge, who are looking for "New".  The dies and stamps on this card are all brand new - arrived earlier this week - and this is their first outing.

I have wanted this leaf die set since it was released and finally got it!  I also got the new sentiment stamp set and this is the first time I've used the Fine Frames cover die - even though I've had it since it was released.

I chose cardstock colours that most closely matched the August 2021 inspiration photo and did some die-cutting.  I then put the elements together, offsetting the top layer slightly to add a touch of whimsy.

I did some stamp surgery on the sentiment as it had the word "sweet" in it and I didn't want that for this particular card.

The card was looking a bit bare so I went hunting through my dies and die-cut a frame out of black cardstock and adhered it with liquid glue.  I finished with some matching enamel dots.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips (Altenew)

Ink:  Obsidian (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bubblegum (MFT), Guava (Lawn Fawn), Paradise (Hero Arts)

Dies:  Leaf Mix, Fine Frames Cover (Altenew)

Accessories:  Cherry Blossom, Red Cosmos, Sea Shore Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren