Leafy Cluster

 Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches is from Narelle Farrugia and it played right into my current fondness of stenciling/vintage-looking cards.

Because the purpose of Freshly Made Sketches is clean cards, I didn't distress any elements but tried to give a vintage-y look with ink-blending and stamping onto Desert Storm cardstock.  The foliage is a stamp, die and stencil combo from Simon Says Stamp that I bought in the Black Friday sales but hadn't used until now.  It was quick and easy to put together.

The hot-foiled sentiment was from my already-foiled stash which seems to be my go-to lately when I'm in a time crunch with my card-making (all the time, it seems!)

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and check out the wonderful new cards made by our design team - and meet our new team member!

Products used:

Stamps:  Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Vintage Ephemera, Scripted Backgrounds (WPlus9), Distressed Patterns (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Rocky Shore, Swamp Green, Oak Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Desert Storm (Neenah), Black

Dies:  Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Postal Frames (The Greetery), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Die (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Friendship Leafy Cluster stencils (SSS), Gold hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Bird Birthday

 Hi!  It's time for another Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and this time I went down the right vertical column with Patterned Paper-Birds or Chicks-Stencil to come up with this birthday card.

The card base is stenciled with a cloud stencil before adding a couple of pieces of patterned paper.  The images were stamped, Copic-coloured and die-cut.  I added them with foam tape.  Finally I stamped a birthday sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Chicks (MFT), Bubble Over (Spellbinders)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Speckled Egg Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Homespun Gingham, Watercolor Wash Brights (MFT)

Dies:  Birthday Chicks (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White Gel Pen, Mini Cloud Edges Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Herbs

 Hi all and welcome!  I am the sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I decided I wanted a banner in the sketch, so that's what I did.  My card is for my dad's upcoming 92nd birthday.  He loves his vegetable garden so this was as close as I could get.  He'll get a laugh out of the fact that I used "thyme" for one of my labels, given his age 😂

I die-cut all the herb elements with white cardstock expect for the bucket base.  I then ink-blended and adhered all the layers.  Once finished, I set then aside and went to work on the rest of the card.  The banner is cut from woodgrain cardstock and popped up with foam tape onto a stenciled background.  The horizontal strip is cut from the same copper foil as the herb labels.

For the oval, I stenciled over the oval lining up the stencil so it matches the card base underneath.  I finished with a pre-foiled sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the DT cards and have a go yourself.

Products used:

Ink:  Espresso, Limestone, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow, Swamp Green, Oak Moss, Silver Stone, Industrial Diamond (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Milk Chocolate (MFT), Grunge & Grain patterned paper (Honey Bee Stamps), Copper Matte Foil, Silver Matte Foil

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Herb Garden (Honey Bee Stamps), Fishtail Flag Layer Stax (MFT), Essential Stylish Ovals, Everyday Sentiments II (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copper hot foil, Daily News Coffee & Chocolate stencil (Stamperia)

Cheers

Karren

Copper Bricks

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with my card for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge where Cecile Ribon is our hostess.  I was absent last week but back with this card: 

Time was again short so I had to to something quick.  Washi tape foliage and a stenciled background made this card pretty easy to put together.  The stenciling was done with Lunar Paste and it has a lovely sheen to it which you can see in the second photo.

The sentiment was put in the wrong place (doh!) because I wasn't paying attention so I hope Cecile will forgive me 😁

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

Products Used:

Stamps:  Written Words (Concord & 9th)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Floral Shadow (Altenew) Watercolor Wash Freeform (MFT), Written Words (Concord & 9th)

Accessories:  Teal Shadow Washi (Altenew), Copper Lunar Paste, Salvaged Brick stencil (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Sunflowers

Hi and welcome!  I've been absent from the blog for a bit because I've been busy packing up my daughter's house as it has been sold.  She has already moved to a new city for her job, so it fell mostly to myself and my husband to pack up her house.  Fun times!

Anyway, as I'm filling in at The Flower Challenge, it's time for our reminder post and the challenge this month is to add circles with your flowers.  I went the easy route with washi tape to come up with this card:

I die-cut the trio shaker circle die into a panel of Grout Gray cardstock that I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  I then added the frame to each circle and adhered some sunflower washi tape.  I stamped the sentiment onto a white panel and added that.  

 

The whole panel was then popped up with foam tape on a white card base so the white peeks through the circles.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards by the rest of the design team and don't forget we have some prizes this month!

Products used:

Stamps:  Sunflowers (Pink Fresh Studio)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Circle Trio Shaker (MFT), Sunflowers (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories:  Sunflowers Washi (Pink Fresh Studio), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Blended Circles

 Hi and welcome! Our sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches is Kim Singdahlsen and while I missed a couple of layers, I stuck pretty close to the sketch.

I stenciled onto the white card base with embossing paste and once that was dry, I used a circle stencil and some distress inks to ink-blend through the stencil. Once finished, I took a damp paper towel and rubbed over the ink to reveal the white stenciling.

I finished with a new stamp and die set for the sentiment that I did a bit of ink-blending on, and some black enamel dots for a bit of drama.

Thanks for visiting. Please check out the wonderful cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Written Words (C+9)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey Distress Inks

Cardstock: White

Dies:  Written Words (C+9)

Accessories:  Masking Circles (Taylored Expressions), Daily News: Coffee & Chocolate (Stamperia), White Embossing Paste, Clear Embossing Powder, Black Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

Circle Flowers

 Hi all!  A surprise post from me today.  As some of you know, I administer The Flower Challenge blog and due to injury within our design team, I am stepping in to fill the gap for the next few months.  This month's challenge is to Add Circles and because it's our 100th challenge, some of the design team have prizes on offer, so I urge you to head over to the challenge and check it out.

My card is fairly simple.  A tone-on-tone stenciled background (which includes some circle shapes); a die-cut and stacked circle frame and a small floral arrangement.  The flowers and leaves were left over from a previous card so all I had to do was arrange them.

I finished with a sympathy sentiment and some matching pearls.  

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Assorted Greetings (Gina K.)

Ink:  Limestone, Industrial Diamond, Eucalyptus, Pastel Sunrise, Coral Bliss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  Jellybean Green (MFT), Soft Stone (PTI), Steel Gray, Coral Crush, Peach Bellini (MFT), Ocean Tides (PTI)

Dies:  Circle Loops (SSS), Be Bold Blooms (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Geometric Grid Stencil (Aall & Create), Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren