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).

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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Star

Hi and welcome back!  It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is  Jen Mitchell.  Jen gave us a square sketch which is always a fun change.

I dug out some NBUS dies from MFT Stamps for my card and paired them with some patterned paper and some ink-blending to come up with my card.

It's all fairly self-explanatory so not much to say about the card this week.  I arranged all the die-cut and ink-blended elements together and adhered them to the card base after adding the patterned paper and a strip of red cardstock.  Finally I added a simple sentiment.

Thanks for looking.  The design team, as always, have created some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this card up to the Addicted to CAS challenge which has a prompt of "food".  

Products used:

Stamps: Movie Night (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Scattered Straw, Lost Shadow, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Poppy (Spellbinders), Paradise (Hero Arts), Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Floor to Ceiling Patterned Paper (MFT)

Dies: Movie Icons (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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