Bloom and Grow

Hi!  It's a beautiful, still Spring evening here and I've just been outside cutting some roses for inside.  A perfect Friday evening!  

Today's card uses the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, albeit flipped from landscape to portrait.  

I have to admit that I took one or two liberties with the sketch - the vertical panel is wider on my card and the horizontal panels are flowers and a sentiment!  I hope the DT can still see the sketch :)

The background watercolored panel is layered behind the card base using foam tape to give added dimension.  The flowers were stamped on the card base and then the vertical panel was cut around it, a la Maile Belles.  The centers of the flowers were painted with clear Wink of Stella to give a nice, subtle shimmer.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Bloom & Grow (Verve)

Ink:  Soft Navy, Maliblue(?) (SSS), Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:  White, watercolor

Accessories:  watercolor paints, sequins, rhinestones, Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Dreamy

Hi!  Today's card was made using the fabulous sketch at The Paper Players and the colors at Color Throwdown.  As this is a birthday card and I used washi tape, I'm also entering this at Seize the Birthday.

I inked the head of my Penny Black flower in Goldenlocks ink then used a Wild Honey distress marker to add some darker shading near the base.  I inked the stem in Black Soot.  I then used a piece of washi tape for the vertical panel.  

Audrey Blue was the blue used for the layer and the sentiment and some homemade enamel dots finished this very CAS card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Dreamy (Penny Black), Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Goldenlocks, Audrey Blue (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Audrey Blue

Accessories:  Wild Honey, Black Soot distress markers, enamel dots, corner chomper, Epic Day washi tape (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Color Throwdown, Seize the Birthday and Paper Players.

Girly Card

I was not in a very creative frame of mind when I made this card and wrote this post, hence the lame title :)  I spent the weekend looking for a new car and test-driving several.  Talk about exhausting!  I haven't found a car yet, but at least I've narrowed down the list to the make and model that I want.  And of course now I have to endure all the phone calls from the car dealers trying to get me to buy their car!

Anyway, onto my card.  This week at Freshly Made Sketches, the very talented Rita Wright is our hostess.  You need to check out her blog - she is now on the Prickley Pear Design Team and is creating some wonderful cards using their images.

Check out this cool sketch - lots of layers!  I have to admit I struggled a bit with this one as I don't generally put a lot of layers on my cards and I very rarely use patterned paper, but I felt it needed some patterned paper, so dug through my hoards and came up with this card:

One of my young nieces is having a birthday next month so I thought I'd make a girly card that would appeal to an 8-year old (or maybe she's 9 - I lose track!)

I started with a Melon Mambo card base and then layered on some Pink Pirouette patterned paper and plain cardstock.  I took inspiration from Narelle's card last week and made my very first shaker card!  I know - where have I been!  I put sequins and some Dazzling Diamonds inside.  Apart from that sequin getting stuck to the foam tape at the top, I'm quite pleased with it.  I also took inspiration from fellow teamie, Jennifer Timko and embossed my butterfly on vellum - so I suppose you could say this was a real team effort :)

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you have checked out the rest of the design team's cards - they're amazing as usual!

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI), Papillon Potpourri (SU)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  Melon Mambo, White, Subtles DSP, acetate

Accessories:  Sequins, butterfly punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Sequins, Rhinestones, Stitched Mats Rectangles, Circle Nesties, Melon Mambo EP.

Christmas Frame

It's Merry Monday challenge day and this week Lesley is our challenge hostess and she is asking for dry embossing, snowflakes and neutral colors.

I went crisp and clean with my card and came up with this:

It's hard to see in the photo, but the white panel behind the gray frame is dry embossed with the Northern Flurries embossing folder.  I also tucked a little piece of black cardstock behind the word "Christmas" to make it pop.  The whole panel is popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.  If you haven't already, please check out the gorgeous cards created by the rest of the design team.  And make a special trip by LeAnne's blog as this is her last challenge with the Merry Monday team.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Smoky Slate (SU)

Accessories:  Holiday Frames die (SSS), Northern Flurries EF (SU), white baker's twine

Cheers

Karren

Shiny Trees

Today's card was made for the challenge at The Paper Players, who are asking for a CAS card using silver or gold.  Now I mis-read those simple instructions and used silver and gold, so I hope my card still qualifies :)

I used the Winter Trees die cut with both silver and gold foil paper to create this shiny row of trees.  I mounted it using tiny little bits of foam tape so it's sitting off the card base.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted and the third time in two days I've used this versatile set!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:  White, Silver, Gold

Accessories:  Winter Trees die (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a mention at Paper Players.

And I Ran...

So, in thinking of a title for this post, my first thought was A Flock of Seagulls (you'll see why in a minute).  That immediately made me think of the 80's band of the same name and from there to their hit song "I Ran", hence the title of this post :)  And for anyone wanting a blast from the past, here's a link to the official video on YouTube.  You're welcome ;)

Anyway, enough blathering.  Here's this week's sketch for Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jen Mitchell, the Queen of the Clean Splatter :)

And, just so you can make sense of that first paragraph, here's my card:

This is an old image from PSX which I just adore. I colored it with Copics, even using the colorless blender to move some color - which actually worked this time!  The panel was mounted onto Pool Party cardstock then onto the card base.  The sentiment is from Verve and the little baby starfish behind the sentiment is from WPlus9.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out the Freshly Made Sketches blog and see the wonderful samples from the rest of the amazing design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  PSX G2891, Happy Hello (Verve), Guiding Light (WPlus9)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Dark Chocolate, Goldenlocks (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Pool Party

Accessories:  Copics, circle punches

Cheers

Karren

Hedgie Baby

Hi and welcome back to my second post today.  This card is for the current challenge at Less is More, who are asking for a Little Creatures card.

I had to do a bit of searching to find any little creatures in my stash, but finally came up with this old Penny Black stamp of a baby hedgehog and thought it would suffice.

This is effectively a one layer card as the frame is inlaid using the frames die from Simon Says Stamp.  I didn't have any lemon cardstock so colored the frame outline using the Lemon Chiffon inkpad.

I stamped and colored the hedgie using Copics then put all the card pieces back into the card base.  A few enamel dots finished off the card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  In a Nutshell (Penny Black), Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Lemon Chiffon (SSS)
Cardstock:  White
Accessories:  Copic Markers, Enamel Dots

Cheers
Karren

Candy Girl

Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses a free digi plus instructions provided by Marianne Walker.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to try coloring this cute girl!  I'm entering this card into several challenges:  Addicted to Stamps & More are looking for holiday cards; Digi Sketch Challenge have a cool sketch, AAA Cards and Sweet Stamping are both looking for Halloween cards, and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge features the colors I used to color my image.  Phew - that's a lot of challenges :)

I printed out the digi image and followed Marianne's instructions on how to color her.  I then die-cut the image using a stitched mats square die.  The scallops down the right hand side were cut with a scallop nestie and the sentiment is white-embossed onto a black card base.

Some home-made enamel dots finished off the card.

Thanks for visiting.



Products used:

Stamps:  Free Digi from Marianne Walker, Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Black, gray, X-pressit
Accessories:  Copic markers, enamel dots

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was a winner at Digi Sketch Challenge.

Pink Christmas

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday!  It's getting closer and closer to Christmas, so I hope you're building up your stash of Christmas cards?  This week, Lori has challenged us to use non-traditional colors on our Christmas cards.

For my card, I went with Primrose Petals and Island Indigo against a white backdrop.

I got the Winter Friends set from SSS which has the most adorable images.  I used the snowman and colored him with pink and teal copic markers before painting him with Wink of Stella.

The sentiment was cut from Primrose Petals cardstock.  I used the tiny frame from SSS Frames dies to outline my images.  

Another very CAS card!  Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the fabulous cards from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Winter Friends (SSS)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  White Linen, Xpress-it, Primrose Petals, Island Indigo
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (SSS), Frames die (SSS), Cold Weather Friends dies (SSS), Copic markers, Wink of Stella

Cheers
Karren

Friend

For my second card today, I used the colors from Just Us Girls and the sketch from Pals Paper Arts.

I'm trying to get some Copic practice after completing the recent Online Card Class.  I bought a few digis from Saturated Canary to practice coloring people and this is one I colored tonight using the colors from Just Us Girls.

I went with a purple and black background and some stitched mats to create a bit of interest.  The sentiment was white-embossed on the black panel.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches), Saturated Canary digi

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, X-pressit

Accessories:  Copics, Lil Inkers Stitched Mats Rectangles, white EP

Cheers

Karren

Starry Night

Today's card is my first attempt at a galaxy scene and let's just say you need to squint to see a galaxy in this background :)  But I'm putting it up anyway.

The galaxy theme is this week's challenge at Friday Mashup plus I used the sketch at Mojo Monday - although the proportions are a bit off due to the size of the sentiment.

I created my galaxy using watercolor paints.  I did try another one using distress inks and might use that another day.  After it was dry, I white embossed the sentiment and stars.  I decided the yellow was most prominent so used some Crushed Curry cardstock for the scalloped piece which I scored at the end of each scallop.  I carried the scoring over to the black panel to mimic the sketch.  I wrapped some striped blue twine around the panel before using foam tape to adhere to a white card base.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Make a Wish (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Watercolor, white, black, Crushed Curry
Accessories:  watercolor paints, baker's twine, white EP, large scallops die (SU),score board

Cheers
Karren

Yellow Flowers

Such an original blog post title, wouldn't you agree?  Anyway, welcome to another sketch from the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge.  Today, our very own super-talented Dirty Girl (and past Artisan winner), Jen Timko is our hostess.

Isn't this an elegant sketch?  Here's what I did with it:

This flower was one of my practice ones from the recent Copic Markers for Cardmakers class I took.  I cut it out to use on a card, then had to try and match the colors to cardstock I had!  I ended up using my second-most hated SU color - Garden Green.  For the record, my most hated SU color is Rich Razzleberry - sorry, lovers of Rich Razzleberry and Garden Green :)

Anyway, I couldn't find a matching yellow so decided to make my own by using the Direct to Paper technique with Squeezed Lemonade ink.  Not a bad match!

The sentiment was white embossed and came out a bit blotchy for some reason - maybe my Versamark pad needs re-inking.  The little scallop was cut using the large scallop frame from Simon Says Stamp's frames dies.  The flowers and leaves were painted with Wink of Stella.

So, after all that, thanks for visiting and make sure you check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Flower (Clearly Besotted), Summer Garden (SSS)
Ink:  Versamark, Squeezed Lemonade
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Xpress-it, Garden Green
Accessories:  Copics,Wink of Stella, white EP, Frames die (SSS)

Cheers
Karren

Jug of Flowers

Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses the sketch from Lesley's "The Challenge".  I flipped the sketch and came up with this card:

I used Mama Elephant's Sweet Havana set to stamp this card for a friend, going through a tough time at the moment.  I stamped the jug with Cobblestone ink, then used some gray Copics to give some depth and roundness to the jug.  I stamped the flowers in Lavender and Blue Violet ink, leaving a couple of them without the dotty bits to make it look like they are different flowers.  In hindsight, it just looks like I forgot to stamp the dotty bits!  The leaves were stamped in Beanstalk Green and Green Leaf inks.  

The banner is from the Tags a Lot die set and is bigger than the banner that comes with Sweet Havana, so I could fit the flower as well as the sentiment.  I used Wink of Stella to paint over all the flowers.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sweet Havana (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Blue Violet, Lavender, Green Leaf, Beanstalk Green, Cobblestone (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Fog (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Lil Inkers Circle and Rectangle Stitched Mats dies, Sweet Havana dies (ME), Tags a Lot (ME), Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got top honors at The Challenge.

Dear Santa

Welcome to my Merry Monday post.  Today, LeAnne is challenging us to create a Silent Night aspect to our card.  

I took inspiration from the photo and created this card:

It even has a church in the background LOL.  This is a stamp called Dear Santa by Stamps Happen and is a scene painted by the artist D Morgan.  I've got a couple of her scenes which have been made into rubber stamps and they are gorgeous!

For this image, I stamped and clear-embossed before coloring with distress inks.  I put little dabs of distress paint onto the trees to depict snow and when the piece was dry, I painted over the whole thing with Wink of Stella.  I think the scene looks incredibly peaceful and quiet.  Here's a close up:

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the beautiful inspiration from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Dear Santa (Stamps Happen)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, various Distress Inks
Cardstock:  Midnight Muse, Watercolor paper
Accessories:  Clear EP, Wink of Stella, Picket Fence Distress Paint

Cheers
Karren

Bright Stars

Hi and welcome!  Today's card features some inlaid die-cutting and uses the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the colors from Color Throwdown as well as Anything Goes theme at Seize the Birthday.

The colors aren't as bright as they are IRL, but I used some new inks I bought from Simon Says Stamp.  Because I don't have the matching cardstock as yet, I inked up some white card with the challenge colors before die-cutting with the Star Parade die, also from SSS.

This card could work in either portrait or landscape position.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)

Inks:  Sunshine, Burnt Orange, Green Apple, Blue Violet (SSS) Versafine Black Onyx

Cardstock:  White

Accessories:  Star Parade die (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a mention at Color Throwdown.

Bokeh Hello

Today is Freshly Made Sketch Challenge day and that means a cool sketch for you to try.  This week, the lovely and talented Amy O'Neill is our sketch hostess and she has come up with a fabulous sketch, just made for patterned paper:

Of course, being someone who collects patterned paper, but never actually uses it, I went in a different direction:

I made my own background using the bokeh effect and watercolors.  I splashed on some greens and yellows onto watercolor paper and when it was dry, I sponged over using white ink and a circle stencil.  The die-cut sentiment has been sitting on my desk since March!  Yes, March!  I don't often keep UFOs as I tend to either finish the project or turf it, but this was made for a previous sketch and ended up not being used.  It's a stacked die cut using Pool Party, Gumall Green and Daffodil Delight cardstock, so it was perfect for this card.  The double bow represents the star shape in the sketch.  The die cut has been liberally painted with Wink of Stella for a lovely shimmer.

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you've seen the rest of the amazing offerings from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Ink:  Hero Arts Unicorn
Cardstock:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, watercolor
Accessories:  Enamel Dots, Big Hello die (SSS), yellow twine, Wink of Stella