Grateful Heart

Hi! My Simon Says Stamp February card kit arrived on Friday and I couldn't wait to have a play with it.  This was my first month subscribing to the kit, but I fell in love with the Artful Palette stencils and dies and had to have it.

I also happened to get around to watching Tim Holtz' latest live and he showcased the kit and the patterned papers.  I took one of his ideas and covered some strips of the patterned paper with packing tape to give a tile look.

I'm normally a CAS card-maker but my roots are in the collage-type of cardmaking from the late 90s, early 00's so it was fun to revisit.  I also dug out some really old embellishments for this card.

I started with a panel of TH kraft cardstock which I embossed with an Altenew clocks/gears embossing folder.  Once that was finished, I ink-blended round the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and then went over various parts with a Stamperia stencil and the same ink.  I then added a bit of Black Soot to the edges before splattering on some Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  I then set it aside to dry.

After adding packing tape to some strips of cardstock, I chose my stencil and die-cut various pieces.  For the sentiment, I stamped on some Pencil Eraser cardstock with Walnut Stain DOX ink before die-cutting and then adding some Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges.  All the die-cuts apart from the sentiment are adhered straight to the embossed panel.  The sentiment is popped up on foam squares from the kit.

The big round embellishment started out silver so I added some alcohol ink to it to colour it up, more in line with the rest of the card.  The butterflies were die-cut from a scrap of leftover Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain sprayed cardstock and I added some tiny vintage pearls to the centre before popping up their wings.

Thanks for visiting!  This took me all afternoon but it was so much fun just getting messy and playing.

Products used:

Stamps:  Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: Kraft (Tim Holtz), Pencil Eraser (Lawn Fawn), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Artful Palette (SSS)

Accessories: Traces of Yesterday Embossing Folder (Altenew), Daily News stencil (Stamperia), Teakwood alcohol ink, Rose Gold Mixative, Black Soot Distress Stain Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), expoxy rose, large grommett, Warm Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Butterfly Love

Hi and welcome to the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Jen Brum.  I used the sketch to make a soft butterfly card.

The background text is a BetterPress plate inked up with soft brown ink.  I then die-cut the postage edge frame and adhered it to a white card base.

The butterflies were hot foiled, stenciled and die-cut and I chose three for the sketch (one more than the sketch but I like odd numbers). 

I finished with a sentiment chosen to cover as much of the horizontal panel as possible.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT's cards - they're gorgeous!

Products used:

Stamps: On The Line: Succulents (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Warm Linen (Altenew), Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Dried Marigod, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Alabaster (Spellbinders)

Dies: Small Butterflies hot foil and die (Pink Fresh Studio), Post Edge Expression Press Plate (Spellbinders), Postal Frames (The Greetery)

Accessories: Satin Pewter hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Heart of Gold

Hi!  I found a little bit of time on Sunday to make a card for the latest challenge at MFT Card Challenges, where they have some lovely Spring colours.  As we're nearing the end of summer here in New Zealand, I didn't go with a Spring theme but used the colours for some emboss-resist with my favourite background stamp - Roses All Over.

When I opened up my stamp packet, I already had these three strips embossed onto white, so I just had to do some ink-blending.  I couldn't find an ink colour to match the first colour in the challenge so went with the next three colours and used my closest cardstock approximation for the strip under the sentiment.

I also white heat-embossed the Romantic Script background stamp onto my white card base for some subtle texture.

Finally I finished with some enamel dots and a couple of enamel hearts.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Roses All Over, Romantic Script, Essential Sentiments (MFT

Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Wisteria, Aloe Vera, Pool (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Something Blue (MFT)

Dies: Vertical Stitched Strips (MFT), 

Accessories: White EP, corner rounder, enamel dots and hearts (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Mouse Love

Hi all and welcome!  It's time for another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Verena Shapiro.

I wasn't going to buy these dies even though they are so goddamned cute, because I thought they would have limited use and my craft room is already too full!  But then I caved and they arrived last week.  I made this card straightaway, keeping the mice in black, white and grey and just adding a pop of colour with the chocolate box.

The kraft cardstock is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder to add a bit of interest, but I deliberately wanted to keep everything neutral apart from the chocolates, so no scene in the background.  The oval was the perfect size for the sketch and provides some grounding for the mice.

I finished with a simple sentiment.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: #Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Aged Mahogany Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Black, Fog (SSS), Dove (C&9), Neutral Kraft Stock (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Classic Mouse Duo, Classic Mouse Love (Spellbinders), Oval Shadows (MFT)

Accessories: Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Flowering Column

Hi and welcome! Another card made during my long weekend! This time for the Altenew Inspiration Challenge.  I had to pull out my new-favourite flower dies again and make this card.

After die-cutting everything from white, I did some ink-blending in the challenge colours before arranging in a vertical arrangement.  Onto a white card base, I added a panel of Morning Frost cardstock backed by a thin strip of rose gold matte foil (to bring in another element from the photo).

I adhered all the elements down and then stamped the greeting, finally finishing with some enamel dots.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose (Altenew)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Apricot Frost, Coastal Haze, Misty Harbor, Morning Frost, Evening Gray (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Morning Frost (Altenew), Rose Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Craft A Flower: Garden Cosmos (Altenew)

Accessories: Tea Party Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Birthday Letter

Hi and welcome!  It's a long weekend here in New Zealand as it is our national holiday today, Waitangi Day.  I took some time to make a card for some challenges.  I'm so happy that MFT Stamps have started up their card challenges so I had to play along with the first challenge, which is a sketch.  Even though MFT Stamps has closed its shop doors, I will continue to use their products, partly because I have more MFT in my craft room than anything else, but also because I love their products.  

I am also playing along with the hearts die challenge at Just Us Girls, the birthday challenge at Krafty Chicks and the pink and red challenge at Color Hues. 

All the stamps and dies on this card are MFT Stamps.  I started by making the little envelope and letter and then I found an already coloured hand so had to incorporate that.  I adhered it all to a vellum pierced heart die and set it aside.  The pink background was stamped with the Romantic Script background stamp using pink ink.  

Onto a white card base, I embossed the bottom portion with the Subtle embossing folder and then added the pink panel.  I put some liquid glue behind the vellum where it wouldn't show and added that.

Finally I white heat embossed the sentiment and adhered that, making sure it covered up the edge of the hand so it wasn't floating in mid-air 😄.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Romantic Script, Mini Messages & More, Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Dusty Pink (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Vellum, Blush, Dahlia (Spellbinders), red scrap

Dies: Paper Goods, Crafty Hands, Pierced Heart Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout out at Card Challenges (MFT) and Color Hues.

Thinking of Cosmos

Hi! It's Freshly Made Sketches time and this week our hostess is Kim Singdahlsen.  I went from memory when making my card and sort of got my angled panels at the wrong angle but I hope you can still sort of see the sketch!

I have been waiting for these Garden Cosmos dies to come back in stock for a long time and snapped them up as soon as I got the notification from my NZ retailer, Krafters Cart.  They are just gorgeous and I'm so pleased with them.  I die-cut everything with white cardstock and did some ink-blending on all the pieces, going for a soft apricot look to the flowers.

The angled strips were cut, then stamped then embossed before being added to a white card base for a white-on-white look.  If you've been following me for any length of time, you might have known that I really struggle with angled panels so this sketch was a bit of a challenge, but by keeping it tone-on-tone, it was easier to work with.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Assorted Greetings (Gina K Designs)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Apricot Frost, Citronella (Altenew), Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink

Cardstock: White

Dies: Craft-a-Flower: Garden Cosmos (Altenew)

Accessories: Burlap Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), Tea Party Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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