Red and White Christmas

Welcome to another challenge from the team at Merry Monday!  This week, Lori is challenging us to use red and white on our Christmas cards.

I had an idea in my head that I wanted a red watercolored background with large font "Merry Christmas" embossed in white.  But, do you know what single color red watercoloring looks like?  Try a crime scene photograph of blood splatter LOL.  I had to re-work my plan so decided to tone it down a bit, pick a more pinky-red ink, some watercolor stamps, and came up with this card.

I stamped the paint images from Watercolor Wonder using Hot Lips ink from SSS.  I then die-cut three of the merry die cut and stacked them together.  The sentiment was stamped in black ink underneath.  A few red enamel dots any my card was finished.

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the red and white creations from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Watercolor Wonder, Wet Paint Holiday (PTI)
Ink:  Hot Lips (SSS), Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White
Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die, Enamel Dots

Cheers
Karren

The Lighthouse

It's time for another Paper Players challenge and this week Sandy has a fun color challenge!  

As soon as I saw those colors, my mind immediately went to a nautical theme and there it stayed!

I started my card by stamping the lighthouse from Guiding Light and fussy cutting it out.  For some reason my Real Red inkpad is looking a bit nasty and stamped all splotchy.  I'm calling that the "weathered look" LOL.  

I then cut a strip of white cardstock and sponged it with Pool Party and Island Indigo ink.  I placed a mask near the top to get the horizon line.  I then stamped what I *think* are rocks at the bottom of the panel.  I dug out my old Up, Up & Away set from SU to get the seagulls image.  

Then I went searching for a sentiment to fit in the gap.  I found Sending Happy Thoughts and it also had the diagonal stripe stamp which went perfectly with the stripes on the lighthouse.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some wonderful cards using this color combo, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Guiding Light (WPlus9), Up, Up & Away (SU), Sending Happy Thoughts (SSS)

Ink:  Real Red, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White

Cheers

Karren

Butterfly Parade

Hi, I'm back with another post today!  I've had some fun in my craft room today and churned out a couple of cards for challenges as well as my usual DT cards, which will feature during the week.

This card uses the inspiration pic from Card Concept and the butterflies code word at Addicted to CAS.

As soon as I saw the picture at Card Concept, I immediately was drawn to the rainbow and white color scheme and knew what I wanted to create.  I made a card in the Clean and Graphic style:

I started with a Fog card case, die-cut with a stitched rectangle die.  I then die-cut the Butterfly Drift die in white and rainbow colors.  When I adhered the butterflies to the card base, the full butterflies were only stuck down in the middle so their wings can sit up.  For the largest butterfly, I put a body and antenna on using the Leavenworth Trio die by Memory Box - a perfect fit!

I wanted a scripty sentiment to mimic the butterflies' flight so used Signature Greetings by PTI.  All the butterflies were colored with clear Wink of Stella for some shimmer.

Thanks for visiting.  

Products used:

Stamps:  Signature Greetings (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Fog, Schoolhouse Red, Orange Peel, Sunshine, Green Apple, Audrey Blue, Island Blue, Blue Violet (SSS), White

Accessories:  Butterfly Drift (SSS), Leavenworth Trio (Memory Box), Wink of Stella, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangle die

Cheers

Karren

Hashtag Birthday

Hi and welcome!  I made a card this morning using the colors from this week's Color Throwdown challenge as well as the last sketch from Deconstructed Sketch.  I love Jen's sketches and find them beautifully balanced and interesting.  My CAS style sometimes struggles with them, but I try and play along occasionally.  I'm also adding this card to a new-to-me challenge blog, City Crafter Challenge Blog, who are looking for tags (Thanks, Samra for the heads up!)

I'm still practicing with my Zig Clean Color Brush Pens and last night I watched a video fom Michelle Short which I found really helpful with my coloring.  So I immediately went into my craft room and started coloring.  This time I used a paintbrush rather than a water pen and it went so much better.

Once I'd finished coloring, I left it overnight.  This morning when I came back to it, I knew I wanted to use it with this sketch.  Coincidentally the colors of hot pink and lime green were part of the line-up at Color Throwdown, so I immediately had the color scheme for my card!

The card base is Neenah Desert Storm and the gray panel was die cut with the cross stitch pattern from Blueprints 20.  The Green Apple panel was stamped with a very old Hero Arts script stamp.  The sentiment comes from a NBUS set called #Hashtags by Tim Holtz.  Both the sentiment and the tag are popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Fresh Flowers (Clearly Besotted), #Hashtags (Stampers Anonymous), Italian Poetry Background (Hero Arts)
Ink:  Versamark, Green Apple (SSS)
Cardstock:  Desert Storm, Slate (SSS), Green Apple (SSS), Watercolor 
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 (MFT), Tag Builder Blueprints 1 (MFT), Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens, Twine

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got the random pick at Color Throwdown.

Sending Hugs

It's time for another fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and this week the Queen of Color Combos, Amy O'Neill, is our hostess.  Here's her sketch.

For my card, I wanted to use a lime green and white color combo so, along with the sketch, that was my starting point.  From there, it was like pulling teeth to get a completed card!  I won't go into how many versions and how much cardstock I wasted, but I finally got a card finished.

I think my problem with this card stemmed from the oval.  A bit like Jen B's aversion to circles, I'm not a fan of ovals and I struggled with how to use the oval in the sketch.  In the end, I went with emboss resist and a Stampers Anonymous collage stamp and framed it in black.  Framing in black makes everything better, in my opinion :)

The dots down the left hand side are white-embossed onto Lucky Limeade cardstock and the sentiment is also white-embossed onto black cardstock.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have dished up some wonderful inspiration for you as usual so be sure to head over to the blog and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Anonymous Collage (Stampers Anonymous), Basic Borders (Mama Elephant), Friendship Messages (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark, Lucky Limeade (SU)

Cardstock:  White, black, Lucky Limeade

Accessories:  White EP, Clear EP, Oval Nestabilities

Cheers

Karren

Lavender Christmas

Hi!  It's time for another Merry Monday challenge and this week, Kristie wants to see a tag on our Christmas cards.

I went for a very simple, tried and true layout for my card as I was running out of time!

I stamped and colored the wee snowman from Polar Pals and cut him out with the matching die. I then die-cut the sentiment from some Lavender cardstock.  The tag die is from Reverse Confetti and I cut two of those - stacking one behind the other.

Down the left hand side, I adhered a panel of Lavender stamped with the diagonal lines stamp from Basic Borders and then a thin strip of Blue Violet cardstock.

The sentiment and the snowman were both colored with Wink of Stella to give a nice shimmer to them.

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Polar Pals, Basic Borders (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lavender (SSS)
Cardstock:  White, Lavender, Blue Violet (SSS)
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (SSS), Polar Pals die (Mama Elephant), Copics, Wink of Stella, Tag Me die (Reverse Confetti)

Cheers
Karren

Seagull Roost

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another challenge from The Paper Players and this week Joanne is challenging us to come up with a masculine card.

I used to make  masculine cards all the time but have found that I don't make them very often now.  I think it's because I'm still trying to find some clear/unmounted masculine stamps that aren't cutesy.  I love the cutesy look but I don't think the recipients of my masculine cards would agree!  If you know of any manufacturers of realistic, masculine-type images, please let me know in the comments so I can check them out.

Anyway, back to my card.  I decided to combine both the inspiration pic and the sketch at Fusion Card Challenge with the ombre theme at Friday Mashup to come up with this card.

The image I watercolored is an old, old PSX stamp.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and got some more practice with my Zig Real Brush Pens.  I remembered to dry the cardstock before changing colors this time and had less of a bleeding problem.  

For the ombre background, I took a sheet of white cardstock and sponged on Pool Party, Island Indigo and Night of Navy ink.  And yes, I did rub too hard and bent the cardstock - right where you can see it!  Embrace the imperfections, I keep telling myself :)

I die-cut the fishtail flag out of the card base and adhered it to a black layer before sticking it back on the cardbase.  This way the ombre look flows through both the base and the banner.  

A metal embellishment I've had for at least 10 years finishes off the card.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some wonderful projects for you and welcome to the three new members, Amy, Lisa and Jodi.

Products used:

Stamps:  G2891 (PSX)

Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger), Pool Party, Island Indigo, Night of Navy (SU)

Cardstock:  Watercolor, White, Black

Accessories:  Zig Real Brush Pens, Blueprints 21 (MFT), shell embellishment (unknown)

Cheers

Karren