Merry and Bright

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday!  Today's challenge comes to us from Kristie and her challenge is to use turquoise, lime and white.  

For my card, I used the sketch at Pals Paper Arts and came up with a very CAS card:

The photo looks a bit dull but this is really quite bright IRL.  The word "merry" was die-cut three times from white card and once from Audrey Blue then stacked together and colored with clear Wink of Stella.  I then stamped the "& bright" with Green Apple ink.  I positioned a few sequins with rhinestone centers and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have used these colors to make some gorgeous cards, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wet Paint Holiday (PTI)

Ink:  Green Apple (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Audrey Blue (SSS)

Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (PTI), sequins, rhinestones, Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Birthday Balloons

Hi and welcome!  Today's post will be short and sweet as I've got lots to do!  This card was made using the colors from Color Throwdown and the sketch from Viva la Verve.

I haven't been able to play along at Viva la Verve for months and really wanted to try out this sketch.  I used a tag shape instead of the rectangle and adhered some black card top and bottom as per the sketch.  The balloons were colored with Copics to try and match the colors at Color Throwdown.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Party Time, Poppy Birthday (Verve)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  Black, X-Press It, So Saffron patterned paper

Accessories:  Copics, Tags a Lot die (Mama Elephant), Doodlebug sequins

Cheers

Karren

Card for Laura

Hi and welcome to the latest challenge for The Paper Players.  This week, Claire has given us a tic-tac-toe challenge.

I wanted to make a birthday card for my work colleague Laura, so chose the bottom line:  Flowers/Any shade of Pink/Polka Dots.

My friend Laura has just discovered my blog and she oohs and aahs over my cards and generally makes me feel like a superstar :)  So I wanted to make her a special card with lots of texture for her 20th birthday.  (Her birthday was last Friday, so she'll have the card before she sees this post.)

I colored a flower image from Clearly Besotted with Copics then die-cut it using the matching dies.  Of course it goes without saying that I colored the flowers with my clear Wink of Stella pen!  For the polka dot element, I masked off an area on the card base before coloring some embossing paste with Rose Red ink and using my Tiny Dots stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  The sentiment was stamped using another Clearly Besotted set and both the sentiment panel and the flower are popped up on foam adhesive.  A few pink sequins finishes off this card.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some wonderful cards to inspire you.  I hope you'll have some fun with this tic-tac-toe challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Fresh Flowers, Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Memento Gray Flannel, Archival Black, Rose Red (SU)

Cardstock:  White, X-press It

Accessories:  Embossing Paste, Tiny Dots Stencil (SSS), Copics, Wink of Stella, Fresh Flowers die, sequins

Cheers

Karren

Paris Style

Hi!  Today's card uses the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch as well as the "style" theme at CASology.

I went for a postage stamp look on my card but I didn't have a postage stamp die the right size.  I only had a big huge Mama Elephant one, so I had to do lots of partial die-cutting to try and come up with the right size.  

The stamp I used is a very old one from Hero Arts called Style de Luxe.  The actual stamp does have a postage stamp edge, but I cut that off so I could add a blue layer behind the stamped image.  

I stamped the image twice and colored the lady with Copics before cutting her out.  I stuck her onto the main image with glue dots so she doesn't sit too high.  I then layered that onto some blue card from SSS (Island Blue?) before sticking it down to the postage stamp piece.

I wanted a small one line sentiment so chose the greeting from Poppy Birthday.  Looking at the card now, I'd probably move it all down a bit if I could have a do-over, but that black piece is stuck down with foam tape and ain't budging!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Style de Luxe (Hero Arts), Poppy Birthday (Verve)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:  White, Black, Island Blue (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Wink of Stella, Peek-a-Frame die (Mama Elephant)

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at CASology.

Birthday Cogs

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch for Freshly Made Sketches comes to us from Amy O'Neill, who has the most amazing eye for color!  Check out her sketch:

I have to confess the big panel in the middle had me stumped.  It looks perfect for patterned paper, but I don't ever think to use patterned paper.  In the end, the idea to use some patterned paper finally dawned on me (doh!) and I came up with this card.

I wanted to make a masculine card so chose some paper that had a masculine feel.  Once I had the paper cut, it looked too bare, so I hunted through my dies and came up with this NBUS die that I got a couple of months ago.  I cut it from black cardstock and stuck it to the patterned paper.  

The sentiment comes from my new favorite set Label Love and this time I clear embossed over the top to add some texture to an otherwise un-adorned card.

And that's it for this week!  Be sure to check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of our design team.  

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Label Love

Ink:  Archival Black

Cardstock:  Black, Smoke (SSS), Rosie's Wedding Patterned Paper

Accessories:  Clear EP, Memory Box Steampunk Corner Die

Cheers

Karren

Embossed Trees

Welcome to Merry Monday where Kathy is today challenging us to feature a tree on our Christmas cards.  

My card came together quickly after I found a dry-embossed panel featuring a tree which I'd already stuck behind the die-cut Christmas Frames die.

As the bulk of the card was already completed, all I needed to do was put it on a card base!  I chose a Smoky Slate card base and embossed the tree again on that after die-cutting it with the stitched rectangle die. 

I placed a few silver CTMH sticky-back sequins on the card and was done!  Here's a close-up so you can actually see there are trees on my card :)

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have done marvelous things with this challenge so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate (SU)
Accessories:  Christmas Frames die (SSS), Reindeer Silhouette EF (Couture Creations), sequins (CTMH)

Cheers
Karren

Awesome Day

Our challenge this week at The Paper Players comes from LeAnne and she has a fabulous sketch for us.

I pulled out So 80's and some orange embossing powder for my card and worked from there.

I did a bit of clear-embossing on the card base to break up the black.  On the sentiment panel, I embossed the word "Awesome" first with Tangerine Tango EP, then the "Hope your day is" in white.  Over top of that, I clear embossed the pattern.

I die-cut some tags and threaded some grey twine through them before sticking them down onto the card.  The star stamp was clear-embossed and then cut out.

Thanks for visiting.  I'm linking this to the current challenge at Just Us Girls to use black, white and one other color. Check out how the rest of the design team have used this cool sketch.

Products used:

Stamps:  So 80's (WP9)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Black, White, This n That Epic Day, Night & Day (SU)
Accessories:  Clear EP, White EP, Tangerine Tango EP, twine, Candy Dot, Tiny Tags die (SSS)

Cheers
Karren

Birthday Wishes

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day.  A huge thanks to those of you who had a go with my sketch last week.  The gallery was beautiful and it made it hard to choose a winner!

This week, the lovely fussy-cut queen Narelle is our hostess and she has a wonderful sketch for us.

I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it - there's something about a long vertical panel that really appeals to me - not to mention the circle.  I love circle elements on cards.

I used the current challenge at Seize the Birthday for my card - to focus on the sentiment.  I also wanted to make a masculine card, hence the color scheme.

I started with a Fog cardbase and stamped the diagonal stripes from Basic Borders down the sides.  The patterned paper has some faint writing on it and comes from the Epic Day range from SU.  It was cut with a stitched rectangle die and popped up on foam tape.  The sentiment caused me fits!  Firstly I stamped it in black and struggled to get good coverage.  Once I got one that looked okay, I couldn't line up the circle die properly!  So I cut the circle first then tried stamping on it.  After about 4 tries, I finally got something that worked!  I am waiting on delivery of a MISTI and, believe me, I really needed it when I made this card :)

Instead of the banner, I strung some grey twine around the card and then used some foam tape to place the sentiment on top.  I colored the sentiment with my Wink of Stella.

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out what the rest of the amazing design team have done with this sketch.

Products used:

Stamps:  Basic Borders (Mama Elephant), Roundabout Additions (Reverse Confetti)

Ink:  Archival Black

Cardstock:  Fog (SSS), This n That Epic Day (SU)

Accessories:  Stitched Circles and Rectangles Dies (Lil' Inkers), Grey Twine, Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Row of Gifts

Hi and welcome!  It's Merry Monday Challenge Day and this week, it's my turn to hostess.  I chose a simple challenge - feature gifts on your card.  Easy, right?

I had originally planned to make a row of rainbow gifts but ended up going with a totally neutral card.

I was looking for some cardstock and found some Fog - my favorite neutral!  It was at that point I decided to go with Fog, white and black and came up with this very simple card.

I used a 4 1/2" square card base and adhered the white gifts die-cut along the bottom. I then stamped a very simple sentiment in Archival Black and that was that!

Thanks for visiting.  I would love it if you added a card to our gallery.  In the meantime, check out the wonderful cards from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Holly Berries (SSS)

Ink:  Black Archival

Cardstock: Fog (SSS), white

Accessories:  Brilliant Gifts die (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Distress Flowers

Hi!  It's time for another challenge from The Paper Players and this week Ann is challenging us to make a CAS floral card.  

I had just received some Altenew sets and included in my order was Persian Motifs.  Now, I have to admit that this set intimidates me because there are some absolutely stunning cards out there using this set, not least of which those made by my blogging friend, Marika.

Anyway, I decided to have a go with this set and came up with this watercolored card:

I used distress inks and a paintbrush to color, so it's quite loose with not a lot of shading.  Once I'd finished coloring the sheet of watercolor paper, I then used a curved die to cut it into two.  

I then went looking through my collection for a long but small sentiment and found one in Clearly Besotted's Sweet Little Sentiments set.  I placed it on my stamp press and laid the die next to it.  I then curved the stamp around the die before stamped it onto the card base.

The colored panels are popped up with foam tape to give some added interest.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some CAS beauties to inspire you, so be sure to head over there and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Persian Motifs (Altenew), Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Versamark, Archival Black (Ranger), Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive (Distress)

Cardstock:  White, Watercolor (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:  Stitched Slopes and Hills die (SSS), White EP

Cheers

Karren

Bluebells

It's late Sunday afternoon here in New Zealand and I spent most of the afternoon stamping - a perfect Sunday :)  I decided I wanted to do some Copic coloring as I haven't done much at all since I started work in January and I felt really rusty.  My first attempt will show up down the track as it was a future design team commitment, but this was my second attempt and I'm pleased that the technique was starting to come back.

I used the sketch from Fusion and the colors from Color Throwdown for this card.  What you can't see in the photo is that down each side of the grey panel I have scored two lines 1/4" apart.  This adds a bit of interest as I couldn't figure out how to handle that panel in the sketch.

The flowers were stamped and colored with Copics then cut out using the matching die.  I cut a piece of Blue Violet cardstock as that was the closest match to the colors and white embossed the sentiment.  Looking back at the challenge colors, I got my purples a bit dark, but I hope it is still okay.

To finish off the card, I tied some white baker's twine around the grey panel and curled the ends.

Thanks for visiting.  

Products used:

Stamps:  Fresh Flowers (Clearly Besotted), Strictly Sentiments (WP9)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-press It, Smoky Slate (SU), Blue Violet (SSS)

Accessories:  Fresh Flowers die (CB), Copics, white baker's twine, scoreboard, white EP, corner rounder

Cheers

Karren

Love of Label Love

It's Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day and this week it's my turn to be the hostess.  And here is the sketch I came up with.  I hope you like it!

For my card, I went with the soft colors from the inspiration picture at The Card Concept.  I didn't make a Thinking of You card, so I hope it still meets the criteria.  My card comes under the Clean and Layered category.

It's hard to tell, but my background uses the Bokeh Technique.  I colored a piece of watercolor paper with some light colored Distress Inks, then sponged on some white ink over some circle cut-outs.  I rounded one corner and layered that onto some black.  The sentiment is from Label Love - I've been wanting this set since it came out and now I have it and I love it - hence my blog post title :)  

I colored both the strip of black and the sentiment with Wink of Stella to give it a bit of shimmer.  I then smeared some ink onto a scrap of white cardstock and die-cut some tiny tags.

And that's it!  Thanks for visiting.  Check out what the rest of my amazing design team friends have done with my sketch.  I hope you'll give it a go as well!

Products used:

Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew), Basic Borders (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger), Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar, Milled Lavender, Shabby Shutters (Tim Holtz), Hero Arts Unicorn White

Cardstock:  Watercolor, Black, White

Accessories:  Black Twine, Tiny Tags Dies (SSS), Wink of Stella, Corner Chomper

Cheers

Karren

Blue Snowflakes

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday.  This week our hostess, Debbie, has challenged us to make a blue monochromatic card.

I took inspiration from the background of the graphic above and came up with this card:

I taped down a snowflake stencil to a piece of white card and spritzed it with Heidi Swapp Teal Color Shine.  I quite like the mottled and subtle effect it gave.  I cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die and stuck it to a white card base.

The rest of the card was pretty easy to finish - I stamped the sentiment with Audrey Blue ink and die-cut a couple of snowflakes.  The last step was to finish it off with a Frosted Finishes embellishment.

Thanks for visiting.  Check out the blue beauties created by the rest of the design team.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Winter Wonderland (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Audrey Blue (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Audrey Blue

Accessories:  Heidi Swapp Teal Color Shine, Winter Snowflake Lace Stencil (Memory Box), Rizza, Lindeman dies (Memory Box), Stitched Rectangle die (Lil' Inkers), Frosted Finishes Embellishment (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Hey There, Cupcake

Hey there, cupcake :)  Welcome to The Paper Players challenge, where this week Anne Marie has a color challenge for us.  Check it out:

And here's my card...

I used this week's Fall To Layout for my layout. As well, I had to join in on the 200th challenge at Friday Mashup!  Congrats to the team on 200 challenges!  The two challenges I chose were #89 Heat Embossing and #178 Stitching.

To make my card, I white-embossed both the cupcake and the sentiment onto a Crumb Cake card base.  I then colored the cupcake with Hero Arts Unicorn white ink.  Once it was dry, I lightly colored the image with Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi ink.

The icing on the cupcake started to pill a bit because I worked it too much so I camouflaged that by painting on some Wink of Stella.

For the side panel, I die cut one of the dies from the Speech Trio set. I then got out the sewing machine and stitched it to the card base.  

And that's pretty much it!  Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out how the rest of the design team have used these pretty colors.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cutie Pie (CTMH)

Ink:  Versamark, Hero Arts Unicorn White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron (SU)

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake

Accessories:  White EP, Speech Trio dies (Mama Elephant), Wink of Stella, sewing machine

Cheers

Karren

Long Thank You

I'm back with another card for Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Cindy Hall, who makes the most beautiful cards!

Cindy has a fantastic sketch for us this week - a long card!  Love it!

I decided to take a stamp-free approach to this sketch and came up with this card:

I used the Little Letters dies by Stampin' Up to cut out the word Thank You from white cardstock.  I then discarded the die-cut letters and used the negative.  After cutting the scalloped edge, I popped that layer up with foam tape onto a card base that had some striped paper adhered to it.  A bit of matching twine and the card was done!  Quick and easy!

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some fabulous cards made using this sketch so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Just Add Cake paper

Accessories:  Little Letters dies (SU), Large Scallop die (SU), Yellow Twine

Cheers

Karren