Thursday, 3 July 2025

Mermazing

Hi and welcome.  Today's sketch artist over at Freshly Made Sketches is Amy O'Neill and this card was made as a tribute to MFT Stamps who announced last week they are closing down after almost 20 years in business.  

My stock of MFT stamps, dies, cardstock, stencils and patterned papers is more than any other single company.  Back when I was doing a lot more card-making and Copic colouring, I couldn't get enough of MFT - especially Birdie Brown images.  It also helped that their international shipping was probably the cheapest and the fastest, so it was a given that every new release and new kit, I was there waiting with bated breath to place an order.  I am sorry that MFT is closing its doors, but I can understand the reasons and wish nothing but the best for Kim - the owner.

My card was made using mostly MFT products.  I started by ink-blending some Distress Inks onto a panel of white cardstock, then using the Ray of Light stencil to create the ocean light effect.  Over top of the ink, I added some Sparkle Texture Paste to give a shimmery finish.  While that was drying, I stamped and Copic coloured the mermaid and fish.  
 

The porthole was die-cut and stacked three high.  I also added some acetate to the back to give the impression of a window.  I added the fish and mermaid and set it aside to work on the card base.  

As soon as the stenciling was dry, I die-cut with a rectangle die to allow room to stamp the sentiment on the bottom right of a white card base.  After adhering the stenciled panel, I added the porthole and mermaid and called it done.  

It's not totally in keeping with the sketch, but I sort of figure the "rays" can be the cardstock strips on the sketch - maybe, perhaps....


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



Products used:

Stamps:  Mermazing, Gill Friends (MFT)
Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Mermazing, Ocean View Porthole (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Sparkle Texture Paste, Ray of Light Stencil (MFT), white gel pen, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren




Thursday, 26 June 2025

Letters

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Narelle Farrugia and I went with a postage theme.


I die-cut some envelopes and ink-blended with distress inks.  On the background panel I did some partial die-cutting to get the shape I wanted and then stamped various postage images with pale gray ink.  I finished with a stamped and die-cut sentiment and a wee faux wax seal.


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




 
Products used:

Stamps:  Sealed Sentiments, Postage Collage, Postage Collage Royal Mail (Waffle Flower)
Ink:  Morning Frost (Altenew), Saltwater Taffy, Salvaged Patina, Shaded Lilac Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, Bellini (Spellbinders), Fog (SSS)
Dies:  Postage Collage Envelopes Die, Sealed Sentiments (Waffle Flower), Postage Edge Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories:  Clay heart

Cheers
Karren


Sunday, 22 June 2025

Charcuterie

Hi all.  It's been a long time since I've made a card just for fun, but we had a long weekend here in New Zealand and rather than do boring stuff like doing some winter gardening,  I decided to spend a whole day in my craft room.  That turned into a day and a half, but it was good to just play with no design team commitments.  I decided to play along in a couple of challenges with my card today.  The Honey Bee Stamps Buzzworthy Challenges FB group has a monthly card contest and this month's challenge is Father's Day.  Father's Day isn't until September here but I bought this set specifically for my DH so I thought it was time to put it to use and get ahead of the game!

I'm also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More who are looking for die-cuts this challenge.  Everything apart from the patterned paper was cut with dies.


I hadn't done any Copic colouring for a long time so that was my plan this weekend.  I coloured up a sunflower which will be in an upcoming DT post and then had fun colouring all these images, using about a million different Copic markers.  Once coloured, I worked on the cutting board which was die-cut and then ink-blended with Distress inks.  I arranged the food onto the cutting board and adhered it all with liquid glue then used foam tape to add the board to the card base.  I tucked in a few pieces to the side of the cutting board and added the sentiment.


Thanks for visiting!







 Products used:

Stamps:  So Char-CUTE-rie, To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)
Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Gingham (Echo Park)
Dies:  So Char-CUTE-rie, Cutting Board, To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)
Accessories:  Copics




Friday, 20 June 2025

Love Hearts

Hi, I'm here with my card for the latest challenge at Tic Tac Toe where this time I went through the centre with CAS, hearts and stripes for this almost white-on-white card (which is notoriously difficult to photograph!)


I die-cut and stacked different sized hearts and adhered them to a white panel.  Onto the card base I added strips of black and white striped paper then popped up the heart panel with foam tape.  I found a pre-foiled sentiment which worked perfectly so added that to the centre.



Finally, I finished with some clear sparkle pen on the hearts and a mini clay heart.

Thanks for visiting!
 


Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black & White Stripes (MFT)
Dies:  Blueprints 32 (MFT), Fall Foliage Sentiments (Honey Bee Stamps)
Accessories:  Copper hot foil, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren




Thursday, 19 June 2025

Best Fishes


Hi!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by our new teamie, Michele Ferguson, and what a great sketch it is!


I decided to play with some new dies from Honey Bee Stamps and created a CAS underwater scene using white cardstock and various Altenew inks.  The sentiment was from an alphabet die set I had that fit in the space.  Of course, given that it was Michele's sketch, I had to have a punny sentiment 😄


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


 
Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Lovely Layers: Fish, Lovely Layers: Aquarium (Honey Bee Stamps), Waves Cover Plate (PTI), Bottlecap Letters (MFT)
Ink:  Amber Burst, Vanilla Cream, Citrus Burst, Maple Yellow, Charcoal Suit, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red (Altenew)
Accessories:  Black Glaze Pen, Enamel Heart (Altenew)

Cheers
Karren



Thursday, 12 June 2025

Be-Leaf

Edited:  I just realised I had my post set to publish next week instead of this week - doh!  Apologies!

Hi and welcome. I’m the sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  I had no card planned when I came up with the sketch and I don’t love my card but it will do.



I bought this propagation collection when Spellbinders had a big sale and this is their first outing. I used a combination of coloured card stock and ink-blending to put together the die-cut elements and patterned paper for the background.


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



Products used:

Stamps:  Propagation Garden Sentiments (Spellbinders)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Green Opal, Forest Glades, Sand Dunes, Dew Drops (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Jalapeno Popper (MFT), Avocade (C&9), Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee Stamps), Gingham Pastel (Echo Park)
Dies:  Propagated Plants, Laboratory Glassware (Spellbinders), Infinity Circle Dies (Hero Arts)

Cheers
Karren


Thursday, 5 June 2025

Pinboard

Hi all, a quick post from me today.  Cecile Ribon is our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches and I went very literal because all I could see in her sketch was a Post-It note.  Luckily I had just received a die that is a pinboard note and pin so this card was pretty easy to put together and as I was pressed for time, it all worked well!


 

The photos are a bit glare-y so it's hard to see but I BetterPressed a script plate onto both the card base and the yellow note, using no ink for the card base and cream ink for the note.  I also added ink around the edges of the note to make it look more dimensional.  The sentiment was BetterPressed and die-cut and the flower was ink-blended with inks to match the pin.



This is a very simple card that came together quickly and definitely won't set the world on fire, but it meets the brief.  Thanks for visiting.  The design team have much more imaginative cards using the sketch so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Ink:  Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Rubellite, Shadow Creek, Vanilla Cream (Altenew, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Vanilla Cream (Altenew)
Dies:  Push Pin Notes, BPOM Post Edge Expressions, LDOM Lock & Key Mailbox (Spellbinders)

Cheers
Karren