Tulips

Welcome to another fabulous Fusion challenge!  Today we have a fun Spring/Easter themed photo and a versatile sketch for you to play along with.

I created a fusion with my card and focused on the flowers in the photo to create this card.

The flowers are a digi from Power Poppy that I colored during the last Daily Marker 30-day coloring challenge.  I die-cut the image with a pierced square die and matted it onto a black panel.  I then die-cut a pierced flag from vellum and adhered that, using an enamel dot to hide the glue.

On the Soft Stone card base, I dry-embossed two rectangle dies to create a frame.  I then used a stitched die to add a pattern to the top and bottom of the Smoke panel.  Finally, I colored the tulips with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some fabulous inspiration for you, so I hope you check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Just For You (PTI), Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher Digi (Power Poppy)

Ink:  Intense Black (SSS)

Cardstock:  X-Press It, Soft Stone (PTI), Smoke, Slate (SSS), Vellum

Dies:  Pierced Square Stax, Basic Stitch Lines (MFT), Rectangle Infinity Dies (Hero Arts)

Accessories:  Copics, Enamel Dot, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Rainy Friends

Hi and welcome to another fabulous challenge at Just Add Ink.  This week, I suggested the theme of...

And here is my card:

I used the adorable Hero Arts images and after masking and sponging a corner of the card base (a tip from Jennifer McGuire), I added the sentiment, cloud and rain.  The bear and dog were die-cut and added last.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Be sure to check out the fabulous critter cards made by the rest of the design team.

Floral Heart

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day!  This week our hostess is the talented Kim Singdahlsen and she has a fabulous sketch for us:

Now, first things first.  I got the sketch backwards and put my circular element on the right hand side instead of the left.  Doh!  No excuse!

I decided to play along in the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and used this cute coffee bean heart by SugarPea Designs.  To bring in the Spring theme, I added some flowers and stenciling in Spring-like colors.

The stenciling was done using white embossing paste and two colors of ink - Lemon Zing and Blue Violet.  The flowers were stamped using Altenew inks and then die-cut.  The sentiment comes from a Verve set.

I filmed the process as I was making the card.  You can watch it below or head on over to YouTube.

I'm also linking this up to Work It Wednesday, where the theme is Spring.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Vintage Flowers (Altenew), Caffeine Addict (SugarPea Designs), Better with You (Verve)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Blue Violet, Lemon Zing (SSS), Warm Sunshine, Buttercream Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields, Deep Iris, Espresso (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Vintage Flowers (Altenew)

Accessories:  Zig Zag Dots Stencil (SSS), White Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi)

Cheers

Karren

Cool Penguin

Hi!  I made this card on the weekend using the sketch and colors from MFT, as well as the melt cue word at CASology and the seaside code word at Addicted to CAS.

I started by creating a circle mask for the sun and used the negative of the mask to sponge Carved Pumpkin distress ink into the circle.  I then removed the negative and attached the positive mask and sponged Peacock Feathers for the "sea" and Antique Linen for the "sand".  My white gel pen was put to good use creating some waves and foam along the shoreline.  Once I was finished with the background, I carefully cut around the sun as per the sketch, before adhering the panel onto a white top-folding card base.

Then penguin and ball were stamped and colored with Copics before being die-cut with the co-ordinating dies.  I white-embossed the sentiment and die-cut it with a flag die before adding it to the card base.  The penguin and ball are popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Cheers

Karren

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

A Blog Hop for Lesley

Hi and welcome to this very special blog post.  We are having a blog hop for Lesley Croghan!  Now I'm sure most of you know Lesley - creator of gorgeous cards and fabulous challenges.  Lesley offered me a spot on my first ever design team, Merry Monday, then a spot on the SugarPea Designs Challenge Team, then a spot on Fusion and a spot on Inspired by all the Little Things.  So I have a lot to thank Lesley for.

Lesley and Corey, along with Rolley and Penney (their furbabies) are having a baby girl and we want to show them how happy we are for them.  A group of us each made a card and sent it to the wonderful Lori Turner and she collated everything and sent it on to Lesley.

Here is the card I made:

I was looking through my stamps for a suitable image for a baby card when I saw this wood-mounted Penny Black stamp I have had for years.  It just seemed perfect to me, so I stamped and colored it with Copics.

Once that was finished, I worked on the card base.  I adhered some watercolor wash patterned paper down the right hand side of the card base and then a scalloped border die-cut.  The die-cut sentiment is from Paper Smooches and foiled in gold.  Here are a couple of photos from different angles.

I even decorated the inside of this card, which is unheard of for me 😊

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please head on over to Lori's blog and see all the other cards created for this special occasion.  And don't forget to leave Lesley some love and good wishes on her blog, too.

Huge thanks to Lori for organising this and to Nance for the fabulous blog badge.

Cheers

Karren

Hydrangea Hello

It's time for another fun challenge at Just Add Ink and this week, we have a color challenge for you.

Aren't these fun colors?  I don't have the Stampin' Up colors so went with some Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers and Worn Lipstick and I think they came out pretty close!

I started by doing some ink-blending onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock with the two inks.  I went over the line where they joined several times to give a seamless blend.  Once I was happy, I flicked some water onto the panel and set it aside to dry.  I did happen to find some Smoky Slate cardstock, so used that for my card base and also for the die-cut hello, which was painted with clear sparkle pen.

Once the inked panel was dry, I white-embossed the Mondo Hydrangea stamp onto the bottom left corner and heat set it.  Using fun foam, I adhered that panel onto the card base and then used spray adhesive for the sentiment.

I did happen to film a video while I was making this card and you can see it by clicking here or by watching below.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team and have a go yourself.  Remember, if you don't have the exact colors, a close match will also work.

Cheers

Karren

Fireside Chair

Welcome to another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where this week our hostess is the lovely, witty and talented Dirty Girl Linda Callahan.

I love wide-open, CAS sketches like this one and knew immediately what I was going to make:

Yes, a newspaper-reading squirrel!  How cute is that!

I flipped the sketch so my chair was facing into the fireplace, but other than that I stuck to the sketch.  The fireplace was stamped directly onto a pierced white panel and colored with Copics.  The sentiment was stamped underneath the fireplace.  The chair and squirrel were stamped on scraps and cut with the co-ordinating dies.  I then cut a slit in the chair so I could tuck the squirrel into the seat which was then popped up on foam tape before being added to the panel.  

The panel was then adhered to a white top-folding card base and my card was done!

This is such a wide-open sketch that I predict we'll get a full gallery this week, so head on over and check it out.  While you're there, take a look at the fabulous cards created by the design team.

I'm linking this card up to the CAS challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Thanks for visiting.

Bokeh Bunny

Hi and welcome!  I made the card I'm showing today on the weekend, using the latest sketch from MFT and the colors from Just Us Girls.

I created the bokeh background using distress inks in pinks and purples and then went over the top with the SSS Bokeh Lights stencil and white pigment ink, before setting it aside.  The overlay was cut from vellum using a stitched cloud die.  I stamped and colored the bunny with Copic markers and adhered him to the vellum with foam tape.  The sentiment and little banners were adhered with liquid glue.  I dotted some more liquid glue behind those elements to adhere my vellum to the bokeh panel.  After mounting it onto a white top-folding card base, I finished with some clear sequins.

Thanks for visiting!  I also created a video of this card which you can watch below or over on YouTube.

Cheers
Karren

Green Umbrellas

Hi and welcome!  I took some time yesterday to make a card for a few challenges.

I used the colors from Color Throwdown, the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the Bit o' Green challenge at Simon Says Stamp, as well as being inspired by Jenny's gorgeous card at Time Out.  I should probably explain how I was inspired by Jenny's card though, as it might not be obvious.  My cloud is her branch and my umbrellas are her birdhouses.  As well as that, the spring theme brought to mind March showers, hence the umbrella theme.  And, I've just realised I put the sentiment in the wrong spot for the sketch, so apologies to the CTS girls!

I stamped and Copic-colored my umbrellas onto a panel of white cardstock, and then gold-embossed the sentiment.  I die-cut a cloud shape and adhered that to the top left corner before mounting the whole panel onto a gold mat.  I then added some fun foam to the back and adhered it to a black top-folding card base.  To finish off the card, I added some tiny clear sequins to mimic raindrops.  I probably spent more time positioning the sequins than the rest of the card put together!  I took about 5 off the card and hopefully the less-is-more philosophy works 😃

Thanks for visiting!

Cheers
Karren

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