Reality vs Imagination

Hi and welcome. Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Verena Shapiro.  I didn't exactly stay clean with my card but I didn't distress it too much so I hope it passes muster.

This card started with the Whirl Butterflies dies.  I thought I would die-cut them in white and then ink-blend, but somewhere along the line I pulled out multiple distress sprays and the grunge began...   While the butterflies were drying, I grabbed the April 2026 card kit from SSS and trimmed a strip of patterned paper over which I added some rub-ons from the same kit.  

I took a full panel of Teal Cave cardstock and embossed it with the Distress Mix EF.  Once that was done, I lightly swiped over the raised pattern with white ink.  Once the butterflies were dry, I went around the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink, then I had the idea to add some foundry wax around the edges so all the elements got that treatment.  I started adhering the various panels to the card.  The thin strip was a leftover from the Distress Spray panel.  

Originally I was going to use three butterflies but then started wondering about the sentiment and thought the centre would make a great spot for that.  I hunted out a sentiment to go with the card's look and stamped and clear-embossed it onto another piece of patterned paper from the same card kit.  I die-cut with a circle die and adhered it to a black cardstock circle for stability.  I then added some Walnut Stain ink and foundry wax.  I finished with some enamel dots and an enamel heart.  Below is a photo of the spray stains I had out - which ones I used for this card, I have no idea!

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some gorgeous (and cleaner) cards so please check them out.

Products used:

Stamps: Warehouse District (Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Walnut Stain Distress Ink, various Distress Spray Stains, Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain

Cardstock: White, Teal Cave (Altenew), Beautifully Imperfect patterned paper (Spellbinders)

Dies: Circle Infinity Dies (Hero Arts), Whirl Butterflies (SSS)

Accessories:  Fresh Start Rub-Ons (49 & Market), Statue Foundry Wax (Tim Holtz), Clear EP, Distress Mix Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), black enamel dots and heart

Cheers

Karren

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Latte Heart

Hi all and welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches . Our sketch hostess this week is Kim Singdahlsen and she has given us lots of squares!

When I first saw this sketch I admit to being a bit stumped, but then I received an assorted pack of new Lawn Fawn cardstock in gorgeous pastel colours and decided to use all five in my card.

I die-cut them with a rounded square die and laid them out as best I could using the eyeball method!  Onto an extra square I stamped a sentiment from Mini Messages and More by MFT Stamps and popped it up on the card base to make it stand out a bit.  I then added a Copic-coloured hand holding a coffee cup with embossed "foam"; a pair of glasses and a heart.

I made this card several weeks ago and I'm trying to remember how I got the foam around the cup.  I *think* I lightly rubbed my embossing pad around the edge of the "coffee" circle then added white embossing powder.  I know the heart is from the Oh Frappe set by Ellen Hutson.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the wonderful ways the rest of the design team have interpreted the sketch.

I'm linking this up to the Feminine challenge at The Paper Players.  I think the soft colours give off a definite feminine vibe.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mini Messages & More (MFT), Oh Frappe (Essentials by Ellen)

Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Versamark, Ginger Root, Umber Shadow, Sea Glass (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, X-Press It, Macaron Assorted Pack (Lawn Fawn), silver matte foil

Dies:  Nesting Rounded Squares (Lifestyle Crafts), Creature Comforts, Crafty Hands (MFT)

Accessories: White EP, Copics

Cheers

Karren

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Daisy Border

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made using the sketch over at Card Challenges, the colours at Color Hues of blue and yellow and the birthday theme at Addicted to CAS.

I started with a Lemon Tart card base and added a white frame cut from the Gift Box Cover-Up die which I adhered using foam tape.  I used the same die to cut another panel from Lemon Tart, stamped the sentiment on one of them and then adhered the stitched panels inside the popped-up frame.

The flowers were cut from Desert Night cardstock to which I added a bit of ink-blending in the centre using the same ink.  The flower centres were cut from some lemon polka-dot patterned paper.  The leaves were die-cut from some Dew Drops cardstock which is a pale blue/pool colour and again I added some shading with the same colour ink.

I arranged the flowers down the left hand side of the card and called it done.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Mini Messages & More (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Desert Night, Dew Drops (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Lemon Tart (PTI), Desert Night, Dew Drops (Altenew), Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots Pastels patterned paper (MFT)

Dies: Gift Box Cover-Up, Upsy Daisy (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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Coffee and Reality

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by our other Camp Mum Jen Mitchell.  I decided to use a NBUS coffee die set for my card.

I die-cut and assembled the coffee maker and the cup and set it aside.  For the background, I embossed a dark brown square panel and onto that I adhered some patterned paper with coffee splats on it and then a stenciled newspaper panel.

The sentiment comes from a sticker set by Tim Holtz that has some fantastically snarky sentiments.  I don't know when I would use most of these but, boy they make me smile - I love me some snark!

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

Products used:

Ink: Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide, Scorched Timber, Aged Mahogany, Frayed Burlap Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Dark Chocolate, Heartbeat (Altenew), Black, Hot Fudge (MFT), Silver Mirror Foil, Vellum, Graph Paper Garden patterned paper (Aall & Create)

Dies: Lovely Layers: French Press (Honey Bee Stamps), Rounded Rectangles (Hero Arts)

Accessories: Distress Mix Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Small Talk Snarky stickers (Tim Holtz), Daily News stencil (Stamperia)

Cheers

Karren

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Explore Tag

Hi, it's a holiday here in NZ today (Monday), so I spent some time in my craft room, getting messy and inky venturing into the mixed media space, where I don't go very often.  I based my card on the sketch at The Paper Players and the masculine theme at Krafty Chicks.

While I love clean cards, I really enjoyed putting this together.  I started with the tag using a piece of Aall & Create patterned paper to cut the tag from.  Once the tag was cut I added stamping, ink-blending, splatter, rub-ons and stenciling to the tag.  The rub-ons ended up getting covered up by the layers on top, but they're there.

I went to a craft show here in Christchurch, New Zealand last weekend and bought some supplies I normally wouldn't.  But seeing things in real life makes all the difference.  Of the things I bought was some patterned paper by 3Quarter Designs - a NZ-based company.  The papers are gorgeous (the strip down the left hand side and the fussy-cut elements on top of the tag come from the same paper pack).  

To add more interest to the left-hand strip, I scrunched up some collage tissue paper, lightly rubbed Vintage Photo ink over it then flattened it out a bit before adhering it behind the patterned paper strip.  The original tissue paper strip was longer than the card base so rather than cutting off the excess, I gathered it while the glue was wet to give some extra texture and dimension.  The Desert Storm panel was dry embossed with the Airmail Vault embossing folder and then I lightly rubbed some white ink over the top, before blending some Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain ink around the edges.

Once the stenciling on the tag was dry, I assembled all the pieces, adding a die-cut leaf sprig and some corrugated cardboard.  I adhered it to the kraft panel and then stapled a word I cut with a sentiment strip die from the tag's patterned paper using a Tiny Attacher.  Finally I adhered it all to a white card base.

Thanks for visiting.  This was a fun project and I can see more of this in my future...

Products used:

Stamps: Sign Here (Spellbinders), A Little Artsy (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Neenah Desert Storm, Eclectic Clockwork (3Quarter Designs), Graph Paper Garden (Aall & Create), Archives Collage Paper (Tim Holtz), corrugated cardboard

Dies: Stitched Traditional Tag Stax (MFT), Tags A Lot (Mama Elephant) [for the reinforcer], Bloom Colorize (Tim Holtz)

Accessories: Opaque Grit Paste (Tim Holtz), black splatter (SSS), White Gloss Acrylic Spray (Dina Wakely), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), Vault Airmail Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), 755 Street Stencil (13@rts)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout-out at Paper Players.

Handmade Hugs

Hi and welcome.  Today's card was made using the colours at Card Challenges as well as the sketch at Just Add Ink and the stencil challenge at Just Us Girls.

I started by stamping the flowers and leaves with various Distress Oxide Inks and then die-cut them all.  Onto a white card base, I stenciled the Chicken Wire stencil using Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  The Oceanside panel (which looks navy but is actually a dark, dark teal colour) was die-cut with the stitched border then an inside/out stitched circle to create an opening.

I added the Oceanside panel onto the card base then arranged the flowers, popping them up with foam tape.  The sentiment was white heat-embossed and tucked into the flower and stretched across to the outer edge of the card.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Painted Prints, Lots of Hugs (MFT)

Ink: Versamark, Scattered Straw Distress Ink, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Saltwater Taffy, Fired Brick, Lumberjack Plaid, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Oceanside (Spellbinders)

Dies: Painted Prints, Blueprints 25, Inside/Out Stitched Circle Stax

Accessories: White EP, Chicken Wire Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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Pink Makup Bag

Hi and welcome.  I took some time today to make a card for the latest challenge at Seize the Birthday which is Primarily Pink, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is Make it Feminine featuring Paper Rose Studio products.  I made this card below and the patterned paper strip along the bottom is from Paper Rose Studio's One of a Kind paper pack.  I spritzed it with Distress Spritz and changed it from white to pink to match the rest of the card.

I assembled all the die cut elements using a mix of ink-blending and coloured cardstock.  I then arranged them and adhered them together.  The card base was embossed with the Plaster embossing folder which is a tongue-in-cheek nod to those who plaster on their make-up 😉

While assembling the various elements I added a thin strip of gold foil cardstock to tie everything together.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Antique linen, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Gold Matte Foil, Vellum, Blush (Lawn Fawn), Bubblegum (MFT), Warm Sunshine (Altenew), Tutu, Fruit Punch, Alabaster (Spellbinders), One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose Studio

Dies: Lovely Layers: Makeup Add-On, Lovely Layers: Zipper Bag (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Plaster embossing folder (Spellbinders), Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry Distress Spritz

Cheers

Karren

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