Up in the Air

Hi and welcome!  I've been trying to spend a couple of hours in my craft room each day while I'm off work and this is today's effort:

I made this using the sketch at MFT Stamps.  The ink-blended panel was created by blending various distress inks onto a sheet of Bristol Smooth.  I spritzed some water on the panel and set it aside to dry.  The die-cut grid cover-up was adhered with thin strips of foam tape.  I stamped, colored and die-cut the balloon, clouds and dog and white embossed the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

I arranged all the elements onto the card front then used my tape runner to attach it to a white top-folding card base before adding some Crystal Glaze to the dog's nose and black glaze pen to his eyes.

Thanks for visiting.

I'm also linking this up to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Products used:

Stamps:  Up in the Air (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire Distre Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Strathmore Bristol Smooth
Dies:  Up in the Air, Square Grid Cover Up (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Little Things Sequins

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was featured in the MFT You've Been Spotted post.

How You Bean

Hi and welcome back!  Today's card was made using the current sketch at Sunday Stamps and the theme at Lawn Fawnatics (use your favorite Lawn Fawn set).

I have wanted this set with the cute little faces for as long as it's been out.  I bought it earlier this year and there it sat, in my NBUS box, until today!  So the fact that I finally got to use it makes this my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp set 😄

I stamped and colored the images then added Nuvo Crystal Glaze over the whole jar and set it aside to dry.  I then took some Perfectly Plaid patterned paper and die-cut it with a rectangle stitched die.  The sentiment was white-embossed onto black and cut with a stitched flag banner die.  I added a little green jellybean to the right hand side for some extra interest and colored him with clear sparkle pen.  To make the jar look round, I added foam tape to the centre only and used my tape runner down the sides.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  How You Bean (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Perfectly Plaid
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax, Stitched Sentiment Strips (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Crystal Glaze, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

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

Gray Celebration

Hi!  As promised yesterday, here is the other card I made.  It's my DH's birthday today (Christmas Eve) and I decided I'd better get to making him a birthday card!  As soon as I saw the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch I knew I wanted to do some ink blending.  I did consider the retiform technique but wanted to keep it as CAS as possible.  I also used lots of stars from different Blueprints sets to play along in the MFT Blueprints Challenge.  And finally, I'm entering this card into The Male Room challenge (Christmas/December celebrations).

I lightly ruled off the boxes using a pencil and ruler to match the sketch then chose a heap of gray inks and Post-It tape to mask off each box before blending ink into the opening.  I left a small white gap between each box (which was really so I could go back and erase my pencil marks, but I like the look nonetheless).

The sentiment is stacked three high for dimension and stability.  The stars come from various MFT Blueprints sets and were cut from SSS cardstock to match the inks.  I did add a tiny bit of shimmer pen to some of the stars to lift the card a bit but other than that, there was no other embellishing.

Thanks for visiting today and every other time you've visited me here.  Have a wonderful Christmas.  I'll be back in a couple of days hopefully with another card.

Products used:

Ink:  Slate, Smoke, Stone, Fossil, Fog (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Slate Smoke, Stone, Fog (SSS)

Dies:  Blueprints 15, 18, 19. 25, Celebrate (MFT)

Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at CAS(E) This Sketch and The Male Room

Kindness in Pink

Hi and welcome!  I am so happy to be on a two-week break from work!  The last 6 months have been so, so busy to the point where I wasn't enjoying crafting very much.  I'm hoping that having a short break from work will rejuvenate me and allow me some time to get back to enjoying stamping.

Yesterday was my first day off work and, apart from doing some minor tidying up in the craft room, I spent most of the day binge-watching Netflix in a kind of mindless way.  Today, I decided to get back to normal and after laundry and a bit of gardening, I went into the craft room and produced two cards which aren't too horrible.

Here's the second one I made, which was made using the sketch at MFT, the Gah!Pink challenge at Shopping Our Stash (a new-to-me challenge) and CASology, who have a cue word of Kindness this week.

I cut four Stiched  Mod Squares from the smallest die in the set, using four different pink MFT cardstocks.  I was determined to create a "kindness" sentiment from my MFT supplies, so had to do some manipulating of the sentiments in the Geometric Greenery set to get the "Thank you for being so" part.  I have nothing from MFT that says "kind" or "kindness" so Bottlecap Letters dies to the rescue!  Slanted Sentiment Strips is probably my most used die and here it is again, both in white and for the gold offset.  To keep the stitched theme going, I die-cut the top and bottom edges with the straight die from Stitched Basic Edges.

Once I was happy with the sentiment, I went to work on the card base.  I layered a white, stitched die-cut panel to a white card base and then gold embossed some spatters from the Distressed Patterns set.  I arranged the pink squares and then added the two different parts to the sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'll be back tomorrow with the first of the two cards I made today.

Products used:

Stamps:  Distressed Patterns, Geometric Greenery (MFT)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Gold, Bubblegum, Ripe Raspberry, Pink Lemonade, Cotton Candy (MFT)
Dies:  Stitched Mod Squares, Slanted Sentiment Strips, Bottlecap Letters, Stitched Basic Edges, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Gold EP

Cheers
Karren

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

Elf

Hi and welcome to the last Freshly Made Sketch challenge of 2017.  And our sketch hostess seeing the year out is the one-and-only Linda Callahan.  She has come up with an easy and fun sketch for us.

I am so over Christmas cards, yet I made another one!

I stamped and colored this older image from WPlus9 and cut it with my Scan n Cut.  Card-making isn't coming easy to me at the moment - I'm so busy at work that I have no mojo, no ideas and not much works out the first time round - so I went as simple as I could with this card.  I used score lines to depict the vertical panel and stamped the sentiment around the heel of the stocking.  The elf and stocking are popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the DT.  This challenge is open until 8 January, so there's plenty of time to play along.

Stamps:  Merriest Wishes (WPlus9), Christmas Message (Hero Arts)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Score Board

Cheers

Karren

Twenty

So, here's the thing.  My oldest child turns 20 this weekend and I don't know how on earth that happened so quickly!  I can remember him being born at 5lb 3oz and having to stay in the NICU for 7 days and I had to stay with him.  Luckily we were both discharged on Christmas Eve afternoon, which is also his father's birthday.  Then, in the blink of an eye, he's considerably taller than me, talks with a deep voice, has a beard and does drift-racing as a hobby. 

I thought today's sketch designed by the fabulous Jen Mitchell at Freshly Made Sketches was perfect for a no-nonsense, masculine birthday card for Matthew, who will probably skip the outside of the card in his rush to see how much money is inside 😬

And here is my card.

As you can see, I went with a rectangular card rather than the square card in Jen's sketch.  The reason for that is because I completely spaced on the square part when I was planning my card! The card base is white and onto that I layered a Cement Gray stitched panel.  The Steel Gray background die-cut is from Reverse Confetti and I did a bit of sneaky surgery by adding an extension under the horizontal panels to have it fit the sketch more.
 

The two horizontal panels are both stitched and the sentiment is from the Avery Elle Party Animal set.  I was looking for a no-fuss sentiment that would also fit nicely in the black panel and that one fit the bill.  As a pop of color against all the neutrals, I went for Tropical Teal for the numbers, die-cutting them from PTI's By The Numbers set.  They are popped up on foam tape.  No embellishments, no sparkle, nothing else went onto this card.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have created some gorgeous cards so please head on over and check them out.

I'm linking this up to CASology who have a cue word of "gray" this week, as well as The Male Room who are looking for December Celebrations.

Products used:

Stamps:  Party Animal (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black, Stone Gray, Cement Gray, Steel Gray, Tropical Teal (MFT)
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax, Blueprints 20, Blueprints 28 (MFT), Straight Stripes Pretty Panels (Reverse Confetti), By the Numbers (PTI)
Accessories:  White EP

Cheers
Karren

All Wrapped Up

Hi!  It's time for our last Fusion challenge of the year.  I can't believe we are so close to 2018.  Is time moving faster or am I just getting older? 😄

I went really literal with this challenge, creating a fusion to come up with this card:

I used the gorgeous Memory Box Poinsettia Ribbon die and with some judicious die-cutting, I managed to get the horizontal strip of "ribbon" too.  I filled the center of the flower with some Blueberry cardstock, then colored that with clear sparkle pen.  The sentiment is silver embossed and I finished the card with some clear Nuvo Crystal Drops.

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous cards for your to check out so head on over!  I hope you'll find time to play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merriest Wishes (WPlus9)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Blueberry (MFT), Silver Foil
Dies:  Poinsettia Ribbon (Memory Box)
Accessories:  Nuvo Crystal Drops, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, silver EP

Cheers
Karren

Wishing You Joy

Hi all and welcome!  Man, isn't it a busy time of year?  I am so ready for a couple of weeks off work at Christmas.  In the meantime, we have another fabulous sketch for you over at Freshly Made Sketches.  And this week, our hostess is the super-clever and talented Jennifer Timko.  And here is her gorgeous sketch.

Oh, I do love me a sketch with a big open space like this!  Had time permitted, I would have created a Copic-colored scene, but alas, I haven't had time to do any coloring for the last couple of weeks - maybe this weekend, fingers crossed.  I went to my second-favorite way to use up a wide open space - ink blending:

I took a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock and blended on Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio and Twisted Citron inks.  Once I'd finished, I flicked on some water and set it aside to dry.  On my card base, I stamped MFT's diagonal stripes background stamp in Versafine Onyx Black ink and worked on my sentiment.  The 'joy' was die-cut from toner paper and run through my Minc Mini with silver foil.  The rest of the sentiment was white-embossed onto black and die-cut with a slanted sentiment strip.

By this time, my ink-blended panel was dry, so I white-embossed some snowflakes before die-cutting it with a stitched rectangle stax die.  The panel was adhered to the card base with some fun foam in between and I finished by gluing down the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have put this fabulous sketch to good use - so head on over and check out the gorgeous cards.

I'm linking this card to the Anything Goes challenges at Southern Girls; HLS Christmas Challenge and Muse Christmas Challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Diagonal Stripes BG (MFT), Lots of Snowflakes (SSS), Joy Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Ink:  Versamark, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth, Toner Paper
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Joy (MFT), Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP, Silver Foil, Minc Mini, White EP

Cheers
Karren

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

Christmas is coming

Hi!  I'm back with a card using the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our sketch hostess is the lovely and talented Amy O'Neill.  Here is Amy's sketch:

As did a couple of the other girls in the design team, I chose to use snowflakes for my "stars".  This is a pretty simple card and I took a leaf from my teamie, Jen's card from last week.  She inlaid her circular element and I decided to do some dry-embossing to represent the oval panel. 

The Fog stitched panel was dry-embossed with the oval then adhered to a white top-folding card base.  The snowflakes were cut from white glitter paper and added to the card.  I then added a pale blue Nuvo Jewel Drop to each snowflake.  The sentiment has three white layers and one black layer to add dimension.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out the fabulous creations made by the rest of the design team.

I'm linking this to the challenge at AAA Cards where they are celebrating Christmas.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Fog, Black, White Glitter
Dies:  Let it Snowflake Too, Merry Christmas, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Stitched Ovals (Lil Inkers)
Accessories:  Nuvo Jew Drops

Cheers
Karren

Believe

Hi, it's hard to believe but it's time for another Fusion challenge!  This time we've gone for a red Christmas theme in our photo and a versatile, yet CAS sketch.

I created a fusion to come up with this card:

The card base is Slate and into the part visible through the oval, I liberally spritzed some Glitter Dust which give a gorgeous shimmer in real life.  The plaid pattern is the beautiful Concord & 9th Plaid Background, which I stamped onto Fog cardstock using Schoolhouse Red ink.  I then used Liquid Platinum EP to add the lines, but the observant amongst you will notice I completed neglected to add the horizontal lines - doh!

The little critters are from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.  The "believe" is embossed using Liquid Platinim EP onto white then die-cut and the rest of the sentiment is white-embossed onto black.  The whole plaid panel is popped up on foam tape.

And that's it from me today!  Be sure to check out the gorgeous creations by the design team and I hope you have time to join us.

Products used:

Stamps:  Believe (SSS), Plaid Background (C&9th), Winter Time Fun (Hero Arts)
Ink:  Versamark, Schoolhouse Red (SSS), Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT)
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Fog, Slate, Black
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Stitched Ovals (Lil Inkers), Believe (SSS), Winter Time Fun (Hero Arts)
Accessories:  Copics, Liquid Platinum EP (Ranger), White Sharpie pen, Glitter Dust

Cheers
Karren

Hellebores

Hi!  It's time for another challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches and this week my Aussie mate, Narelle Farrugia, is our hostess and she has come up with a fun, multi-layered sketch.

I went off on a sketch-tangent a little bit, but I hope you can still see the sketch in my card.

I have just bought the Hellebore Builder stamp set by WPlus9 and followed Dawn's fabulous video tutorial about lining these images up and stamping many at one time.  I tried lots of different color combos and ended up with a big pile of stamped and die-cut hellebores.  I chose these white ones for today's card and arranged them into a little bouquet, along with some stamped leaves. 

On a white card base I stenciled over more NBUS, Hero Art's Spiral Stencil.  While that was drying, I worked on my sentiment.  The word "Merry" was white embossed onto some Fog cardstock and die-cut with the Slanted Sentiment Strip die and the word "Christmas" from the Christmas Tag die set by WPlus9 was cut from silver foil.

I put all the elements together to come up with this card.  I didn't add any embellishments because I liked the card just as it was 😊

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

I'm linking this card up to the CAS challenge at Addicted to Stamps and also the Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Hellebore Builder (WP9), Christmas (SSS)
Ink:  Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Barely Beige, Fog (SSS), Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades (Altenew), Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Fog, Silver Foil
Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT), Hellebore Builder, Christmas Tag (WP9)
Accessories:  Spiral Stencil (Hero Arts), Embossing Paste, White EP

Cheers
Karren

Birthday Bouquet

Hi, I'm here with a card I made on Friday - the last day of my week off work 😢 I made this card using both the sketch and colors at MFT Stamps.  I'm also linking this up to Sweet Stampin' who are celebrating their 8th anniversary - which is such an amazing milestone!

I stamped the three smallest images from Plentiful Petals using colors as close to the challenge colors as I had.  I then die-cut them and arranged them in a bouquet and held them in place with Press n Seal while I worked on the remainder of my card.

Black cardstock was used to die-cut some layered leaves and also the pierced square frame.  I white-embossed the sentiment onto a strip of black and adhered it to the frame before adhering to a white card base.  Then it was time to position the flowers and adhere them in place.  I went over the centers of the flowers with clear sparkle pen.  Finally a few clear sequins to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting!  Back to work for me, tomorrow...

Products used:

Stamps:  Plentiful Petals, Get Down to Business (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Blue Violet (SSS), Warm Sunshine, Orange Cream (Altenew), Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT)
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Plentiful Petals, Pierced Square Frames, Slanted Sentiment Strips, Layered Leaves (MFT)
Accessories:  Sparkling Clear Sequins, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren