You Can Do It

Hi!  Today's card was made especially for Becca's Hop to Stop to raise awareness for victims of domestic abuse.  I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp's Totally Resistible Challenge.

Becca is asking us to make a card with purple on it, and this is my card:

I started with a panel of watercolor paper and white embossed the butterfly from Tim Holtz' Perspective Mixed Media set.  Over top of that I white embossed the You Matter background stamp.  Then I set to with Dusty Concord and Wilted Violet Distress Inks.  Around the edges I rubbed in some Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress Crayons.

I die-cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die and adhered it to a white card base.

I've been waiting and waiting for the You die-cut that matches the You Matter stamp set to come back into stock, so while I wait, I decided to scan the stamped image and cut it with my Silhouette.   And yes, I do see the irony.  I really should use my Silhouette more :)  The rest of the sentiment was white-embossed onto black.  I finished the card with some Wink of Stella and clear sequins.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  You Matter, You Matter Background (SSS), Perspective (Tim Holtz)

Ink:  Versamark, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord Distress Inks, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot Distress Crayons

Cardstock:  White, Watercolor, Black

Dies:  Blueprints 11 (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Clear Sequins

Cheers

Karren

Petals

Hi and welcome to the mid-challenge post for The Flower Challenge.  Can I just say that the Design Team are all thrilled with how well-received this challenge has been.  I mean, we all love flower stamps, but to know that so many other people do too, and want to join in the fun, is fabulous!

For my card today, I went back to my NBUS box and pulled out Painted Petals.  I used Tracey's fabulous card at Muse as my inspiration and originally wanted to have several flowers on my card, but they were so big, it just didn't work.  So I ended up with this:

I stuck with bright colors and a similar layout to Tracey's with the flowers covering the top left portion of the card base and the black sentiment in bottom right.  I used Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold and Canyon Clay inks for the flower and Spring Moss for the leaves.  Once I'd die-cut the flower and leaves and arranged them onto the card base, I realised I could stamp some of the tiny flowers as well so stamped those in Hibiscus Burst.

Finally, I painted the big flower and the centre of the smaller flowers with Wink of Stella.

Thanks for visiting.  Check out the fabulous floral creations by the Design Team and remember, there is still 10 days to go in the Anything Goes challenge, so what's stopping you?

Products used:

Stamps:  Painted Petals (PTI)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold, Canyon Clay, Spring Moss

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Painted Petals

Accessories:  Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Retro Wreath

Hi and welcome!  Today's post features a Christmas card that I made using the sketch at MFT, the retro/vintage theme at Merry Monday and the colors from Color Throwdown.

I think olive, aqua and gray are quite retro colors for a Christmas card, so I hope this passes muster at Merry Monday.

I die-cut three of the wreath shapes and glued them together.   I then randomly placed groupings of tiny little aqua stars.  Once I'd die-cut the bow, I went over some parts with a matching Copic marker to give it some definiton and shading.

The sentiment is stacked three high and it, plus the stars are all liberally coated in Wink of Stella for a lovely shimmer.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse (PTI), Smoke (SSS)
Dies:  Merry Christmas, Winter Wreath, Blueprints 11 (MFT)
Accessories:  Wink of Stella, Copic Marker BG45

Cheers
Karren

Green and Gray

Hi and welcome!  Today I am thrilled to tell you that I've been invited to be a Guest Designer over at Just Add Ink.  I really enjoy JAI's challenges and join in whenever I can so I'm looking forward to the next three months!

Our challenge this week is......

I went down a rather boring route and used green and gray to come up with this card:

I started by masking off a panel on a sheet of watercolor cardstock and sponging all four of Altenew's grey inks in an ombre fashion.  Before I removed the masks, I spritzed with a Perfect Pearls mist, then I die-cut the panel with a stitched die and mounted it onto a white card base.

I then die-cut some foliage using various green and gray cardstock.  Once I had them positioned how I wanted, I adhered them to the card base.  Finally, I die-cut the Big Hello die from Slate cardstock and adhered it with foam tape.

All up, I used four gray inks, three gray cardstock colors and three green cardstock colors, so I think I'm good to go with the challenge brief this week :)

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the design team and have a go at Just Adding G.

Products used:

Inks:  Warm Grays (Altenew)

Cardstock:  Watercolor, Slate, Smoke, Fog (SSS), Cactus, Jellybean Green (MFT), Ripe Avocado (PTI)

Dies:  Blueprints 25, Big Hello, Layered Leaves (MFT), Chloe Stem (Memory Box), Fall Foliage (Tim Holtz), Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Dies)

Accessories:  Perfect Pearls

Birthday Band

Hi and welcome!  It's Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day and this week, Rita is our hostess and here is her fabulous, layered sketch.

I have to admit to a moment of panic when I saw the sketch - all those layers!  But when I broke it down into elements, it became much easier to come up with a card.

This is another NBUS set, so one more checked off :)  The images were colored with Copics and arranged onto the white-embossed banner as their "ground".  The two layers behind are both patterned paper and for the flag, I used vellum.  The wee heart was die-cut from Blueprints 29.

I have to say I feel a bit sorry for the first wee bunny having the second bunny blasting into his ear :)

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have created some gorgeous cards using Rita's sketch so pop on over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Strike Up The Band (MFT), Celebrate (Neat & Tangled)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Pure Poppy (PTI), vellem, Watercolor Wash (MFT), Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  Strike Up The Band (MFT), Pierced Square Stax (MFT), Pierced Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Blueprints 29 (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, white EP

Cheers

Karren

Sweet Birthday

Hi!  Today's card was created using the sketch from Retro Sketches, the Inkspirational Challenge to use 5 or more stamps, the Anything Goes Challenge at Seize the Birthday and the Anything Goes with Dies at HLS.

This card clears out 2 more sets from my box of NBUS - I'm now down to cough, 32 cough unused stamp sets!  Luckily I don't treat dies as NBUS or I'd be totally overwhelmed ha ha!

This card uses Baked With Love and Sprinkled With Joy by Lawn Fawn.  I just love these images and wanted to use them in a card, but didn't really feel like creating a "kitchen" on my card.  So I used the sentiment banner as the counter-top and that was much less work :)  The images were stamped, Copic-colored and die-cut and then arranged the elements and popped them up with the sentiment banner on foam tape.

The card base is a 5" square Soft Stone base and on top of that I used a white panel die-cut with a stitched die.  

All in all, I used 9 individual images, including the sentiment!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Baked With Love, Sprinkled With Joy (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark
Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), White, X-Press It
Dies:  Baked With Love, Sprinkled With Joy (Lawn Fawn), Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Stitched Mats Square (Lil' Inkers)
Accessories:  White EP, Copic Markers

Cheers
Karren

Brighter Days

Hi and welcome!  I'm hostess today over at Inspired By All The Little Things and here is the inspiration I chose for this week's challenge.

For my guest, I invited Barb Ghigliotty (Barb Ghig), who I'm sure many of you know.  Barb creates gorgeous CAS cards and is very generous and supportive in the stamping community.

I really loved the colors in this picture as well as the cascade of umbrellas.  So I decided to try and re-create the look as best I could and this is what I came up with.

I sponged various Distress Inks down the left side of a white panel to try and mimic the colors in the photo.  I then stamped and masked the umbrellas using black ink.  I cut the panel into two separate panels and popped the center piece up on foam tape to add interest.  The sentiment is embossed with Antique Gold EP.  I thought I was done at that point and put the card aside.  However, when I looked at it again the next day, it looked boring!  So I white embossed umbrellas onto vellum and colored the backs with Copics.  I then die-cut them and glued them over the black umbrellas and was much happier with the result.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team and my guest, Barb, have created gorgeous cards to inspire you, so please check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  April Showers (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Versarmark, Mermaid Lagoon, Broken China, Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce, Cracked Pistachio, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, watercolor

Dies:  Blueprints 24, Blueprints 25

Accessories:  Antique Gold EP (SSS), Perfect Pearls Mist

Cheers

Karren