CCMC 232 - Pool White Silver

This week's challenge at Create with Connie & Mary is a color challenge - and what refreshing colors they are:  Pool Party; Whisper White and Silver Glimmer.

I wanted to get as far away from Christmas cards as I could so decided to go for a clean and fresh gift card holder that would be suitable for a birthday or wedding.

I used an old gift card holder as my template, so I don't have a link for you, but there are plenty of them around in blogland if you are interested.

I stamped the vine stamp from Creative Elements onto the front using Pool Party ink.  A little heart punched out of silver glimmer paper finishes the base.  The belly band is also very simple - Whisper White with a layer of Pool Party DSP.  The greeting is from the Apothecary Accents framelits and I paper pierced an oval around the sentiment.  A couple of rhinestones finishes it off.

Thanks for looking.  Head on over to Create with Connie & Mary to see what the rest of the challenge team has come up with and give these colors a go.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Creative Elements; Made for You

Cardstock:  Pool Party; Whisper White; Silver Glimmer Paper; 2011-13 In Color DSP

Ink:  Pool Party

Accessories:  Word Window Punch; 1 1/4" circle punch; small heart punch; Basic Rhinestones

Cheers

Karren

Go Confidently...

I had a bit of time today to do some card-making, so made a card for the Freshly Made Sketch challenge.

I am preparing this blog post on my older son's laptop as my younger son accidentally spilt my mug of green tea over my laptop.  Consequently, I've sent my laptop to rehab to dry out (ie it's on its side on the counter-top) and hope it will boot up and work okay in a couple of days.  So if things look a bit different it's because I don't have any of my normal photo editing programs on this laptop so having to make do.

I took a few liberties with the sketch this week - swapping the circle for an oval and also substituting the Island Indigo brads for the rectangular panel.  The arrow is cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

Here's the sketch:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:  Word Play

Cardstock:  Whisper White; Lucky Limeade; Island Indigo

Ink:  Island Indigo

Accessories:  Daffodil Delight; Island Indigo; Lucky Limeade markers; Chevron EF; Oval Nesties; In Color Brads

Cheers

Karren

Edited to add:  This card was chosen as a Perfect Princess card at Freshly Made Sketches.  Thanks guys!

Chalkboard Birthday

It's been two weeks since I've had a chance to sit down and make a card (my design team card posted the other day was made some weeks ago), but it's my DH's 50th birthday tomorrow (yes, Christmas Eve!) so I thought I'd better make the time to produce a card for him.

A few days ago, I saw the coolest cards on Becky Roberts blog and knew I had to try it for myself using a birthday theme.

There are so many stray embossing specks on this card that under other circumstances, I wouldn't blog it and wouldn't gift it, but I'm fast running out of time.  So we'll just pretend the specks are meant to be there right? LOL.

For all that, this was a fun card to make and without a doubt I used more stamp sets on this card than any I've made before.  I hope Pete likes it.  I started out thinking I could put all my stamps on the biggest clear block and stamp in one hit, but it left big gaps between each image so I had to resort to the single image system.  For each image, I stamped onto my Stamp-a-majig image sheet using Crumb Cake ink, then cleaned the stamp, swiped the cardstock with my embossing buddy and re-stamped using Versarmark.  I heat embossed each image before moving onto the next one.

Once all the images were stamped, I inked up a tissue with Whisper White ink and rubbed it onto different parts of the card.  I then went around the outside with a whitepencil and rule.

Wanna hear something really bad?  Five of these images had to be mounted before I could use them - and all five are retired sets...!!

I'm entering this in this week's Friday Mashup challenge, which is to use heat embossing (big tick!) or a CAS card and I suppose this qualifies although it was anything but clean and simple to produce!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Best Friends Forever; Happiest Birthday Wishes; So Happy for You; Well Scripted; Bring on the Cake; Outlined Occasions; Word Play; Patterned Party; Candy Conversations

Cardstock:  Basic Black; Whisper White

Ink:  Versamark; Whisper White

Accessories:  White EP; White Pencil

Cheers

Karren

CCMC231 - Sketch Challenge

This week at Create with Connie & Mary we have a sketch challenge.  

I stuck pretty faithfully to the sketch and produced what I hope is my last Christmas card for this year!

For this card, I used Watercolor Winter for my stamp set and the beautiful Candlelight Christmas DSP.  The ribbon is Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon which is gathered by pulling a thread down the center.

Thanks for looking.  Now go check out the rest of the challenge team's submissions and give the sketch a try.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Watercolor Winter; More Merry Messages

Cardstock:  Early Espresso; Cherry Cobbler; Very Vanilla; Candlelight Christmas DSP

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler; Lucky Limeade

Accessories:  Two Tags Die; Large Scallops Edgelit and Paper Piercing Pack; Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon; Basic Pearls

CCMC230

Hi and welcome to another challenge for Create with Connie & Mary.  This week it's a color challenge - Very Vanilla and Champagne Glimmer Paper.  Very classy combo!

I decided to skip Christmas for this challenge and head straight onto Valentine's Day.

It's quite hard to tell from the photo, but the bottom heart is cut out of the Very Vanilla layer so you can see through to the Champagne Glimmer paper below.  The vanilla layer is also popped up on dimensionals.  A heart punched from the Full Heart Punch is layered on top again and to finish the card off, I've used some Very Vanilla 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon and a couple of little tags.

Thanks for looking.  Head on over to Create With Connie & Mary and see what the rest of the challenge team has come up with.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Tiny Tags

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla; Champagne Glimmer Paper

Ink:  Basic Black

Accessories:  Hearts Framelits; Full Heart Punch; Tag Punch; Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon

Cheers

Karren

Gears

Here is a very quick and easy CAS card for the sketch challenge at CAS(e) this Sketch.  I used some Tim Holtz dies cut in Basic Gray and the Happy Birthday is embossed in white.  Told you it was quick and easy LOL.

Thanks for looking.

Product used (Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:  Afterthoughts

Cardstock:  Basic Black; Basic Gray

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Tim Holtz Steampunk die; White EP

Cheers

Karren

Monochromatic Christmas

This card covers three separate challenges this week:  Freshly Made Sketches; ColorQ and the monochromatic challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I haven't been able to play along at Hand Stamped Sentiments for ages, so it was serendipitous that the color challenge at ColorQ also met the criteria at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

Both my ornaments are embossed in clear over Midnight Muse or Cool Caribbean ink.  It's hard to see in the photo but above each little scallop is a tiny little pearl which I colored in a pale blue color.  The music notes are inked in Midnight Muse onto the card base.  The DSP layer is Pacific Point.

Here are the challenges:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes; More Merry Messages

Cardstock:  Midnight Muse; Tempting Turquoise; Whisper White; Brights DSP

Ink:  Midnight Muse; Cool Caribbean; Versamark; Tempting Turquoise

Accessories:  Holiday Ornaments Framelits; Music Notes Wheel; Whisper White ribbon; Adorning Accents die and folder

Cheers

Karren

CCMC229 Sketch Challenge

It's time for another sketch challenge over at Create with Connie & Mary and this one has heaps of possibilities.

I decided to go Christmass-y (again!) with my card.  My original intention was to have the large panel a masked/sponged panel but after several attempts where I botched it at the last minute, I gave up on that notion!  Instead I went for a variation on the Triple Time Stamping technique, using only two layers.

The final layers are cut with the Large Scallop Edgelit and paper pierced with the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack.  The Midnight Muse ribbon is gathered at one spot and finished off with some rhinestones.  Rhinestones are also placed in the center of the big snowflakes.  The sentiment is rounded using the oval punch.

Head on over to Create with Connie & Mary to check out the rest of the design team cards and give the sketch a go - it's a fun sketch!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Snowflake Soiree; Winter Memories

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla; Midnight Muse; Silver Glimmer Paper

Ink:  Midnight Muse

Accessories:  Snow Flurry Bigz Die; Midnight Muse ribbon; Large Scallop Edgelit; Essentials Paper Piercing Pack; Rhinestones; Oval Punch

PiP Flower

This card is for the color challenge at Just Add Ink and the sketch challenge at Fab Friday.

The flower is made using paper daisies colored with a Pretty in Pink marker.  I'd been using the Pool Party Seam Binding ribbon so much, I'd completely forgotten about the gorgeous ruffled ribbon, so decided to use it here to provide a more elegant finish.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip; Crumb Cake; Subtles DSP
Ink:  Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Pretty in Pink marker; paper daisies; 2011-13 In Color Brads; Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon;

Cheers
Karren

Blossom Birthday

Today in the Southern Hemisphere, it's my good friend Holly's birthday.  Holly lives in the Northern Hemisphere so her birthday isn't really until tomorrow.  But here is a virtual birthday card for Holly, whether it be today or tomorrow LOL.  Happy Birthday, Holly!

To help with the design of this card, I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the color challenge at Colour Me Beautiful.  Unfortunately, this is the last color challenge from that site.  While I haven't been able to play each week, I've really enjoyed the times I have played.  It's pushed me out of my comfort zone to use more than 2-3 colors per card.  So thanks, girls, for challenging me to try something different.

This card uses all five colors although you may be hard-pressed to see where.  I brayered the EF with Crumb Cake ink before running it though with Sahara Sand cardstock.  IRL it gives a bit more depth to the layer.  The roses are stamped using Primrose Petals stamped off, then Rose Red full strength.  The leaves are using Sahara Sand which has just enough of a green tinge to avoid looking completely weird!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms; Petite Pairs

Cardstock:  Sahara Sand; Very Vanilla; Subtles DSP; 2012-14 In Color DSP

Ink:  Primrose Petals; Rose Red; Crumb Cake; Sahara Sand

Accessories:  Lacy Brocade EF; Basic Pearls; Window Frame Framelits; Brayer

Cheers

Karren