White Poinsettia

Hi and welcome!  It's New Year's Day here in New Zealand and it's raining so a perfect time to get into the craft room just for fun.  For the first time in I don't know how long, I made a card for a couple of challenges.  I made a Clean and Simple card for the Addicted to CAS - Christmas challenge and as soon as I saw the inspiration photo at The Card Concept I was immediately drawn to the white and the glass in the kitchen so I drew on that inspiration for this card

I went with a white on white card with little touches of gold.  I hot-foiled the brushstroke stripe onto the card base and then hot-foiled a sentiment using the same gold foil.   I die-cut the sentiment and stacked it three deep so it stood out from the card base.

The flower and leaves were die-cut from vellum and white brushed metallic cardstock.  The glass I was inspired by is created using the "see-through" top layer of the die-cut and the vellum base layer.  After adhering the two elements together I added some tiny gold pearls to the centre.  I didn't add any other embellishments.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Cardstock: White, Vellum, Brushed Metallic Antique Assortment (Spellbinders)

Dies: Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz), Foiled Brushstrokes & Stripes, Glimmery Christmas Flora (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Gold Hot Foil, Pastel Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

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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Poinsettia

Hi and welcome to our second-to-last challenge of the year over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Michele Ferguson.

I went with a Christmas card because I couldn't think of anything other than a big flower for the circle image (my creativity is on hiatus at the moment).

The flower was stamped, stenciled and die-cut before being layered onto a dark green background.  For the banner, I went with vellum and really wanted to actually stitch it onto the card but was just too lazy to pull out the sewing machine! Hence the stitched dies - so much easier!

I finished with some gold gems in the centre of the flower and on the banner to hide some little dots of glue.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Lumberjack Plaid, Aged Mahogany, Saltwater Taffy, Worn Lipstick Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Vellum, Forest (Spellbinders)

Dies: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design), Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax, Blueprints 25 (MFT)

Accessories: Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe), Back to Basics Gem Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Snowy Plaid

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with a card for the latest Tic Tac Toe Challenge where I've gone down the left column with Texture/White/Plaid.

I added the Altenew Layered Plaid cover plate to a blue background and then added some hand-cut snow drifts on top.  The snowman was assembled using various colours of cardstock and the Honey Bee Stamps Build a Snowman die set.

Finally, I added the sentiment and called it done.  Thanks so much for visiting.  Head on over to the challenge blog and have a go yourself!

Products used:

Stamps: An Arctic Christmas (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Salvaged Patina Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Black, Sno Cone, Summer Splash, Blu Raspberry, Hot Fudge (MFT)

Dies: Layered Plaid A & B (Altenew), Build a Snowman (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Orange Copic Marker

Cheers

Karren

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Skating Christmas

Welcome to the new challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where this week I am the sketch hostess.  I had no idea what I would make when I came up with the sketch and it took a while to figure something out but finally came up with this card.

The sled and floral arrangement were made using coloured cardstock and ink-blending.  After I put the pieces together, I set it aside and worked on the background.  The patterned paper was a little bit too dark for the softer look I was going for so I painted over the panel with some diluted white gesso to soften it.  The top of the panel was die-cut using the linen side of the PTI cover plate.  I stamped the sentiment and added a thin mint strip to separate the two panels.

After adding the die-cut elements, I finished with some pearls to match the coral tones of the poinsettia.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by our design team and meet our super-talented two new design team members.

Products used:

Stamps: Star Snowflake Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Brushed Corduroy, Abandoned Coral, Lost Shadow, Bundled Sage, Fossilized Amber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Kraft, Coral Crush (MFT), Fog (SSS), Rouge (Altenew), Mint (Spellbinders), Silver Matte Foil, Christmas 2025 Backdrops (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Winter Welcome Sled (Spellbinders), Linen & Canvas (PTI)

Accessories: Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps), white Gesso

Cheers

Karren

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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

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Thinking Of

Hi and welcome!  Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Cecile Ribon.  She gave us an image that tends towards Christmas, but I didn't want to make a Christmas card, so turned it into a floral instead.

Both the floral and the sentiment are NBUS stamp sets for me so it was good to use them.  I stamped and die-cut the images and set them aside to work on the background.  I die-cut a double square frame and backed it with some patterned paper that I'd spattered with gold.  I did the same spattering on the white panel but used some scraps of paper to mask off the top left and bottom right so the gold was contained in a diagonal.

I didn't add any embellishments as I thought the gold was enough.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow, Warm Sunshine, Caramel Toffee (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose)

Dies: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps), Nesting Square Dies (Waffle Flower)

Accessories: Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp)

Cheers

Karren

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