Sending Sunshine

It's Fusion challenge day!  Check out the new graphic:

I stuck with the photo this time and went for a predominantly die-cut card using an older stamp and die set from WPlus9.

I used Soft Stone, White and Summer Sunrise cardstocks and the card came together quite quickly.  On both the sun and the word "sunshine" I colored with clear sparkle pen, then clear-embossed over the die-cuts to give them some dimension and shine.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have used the sketch and/or photo in amazing ways, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sending Sunshine (WP9)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  Soft Stone, Summer Sunrise (PTI), White

Dies:  Sunshine Layers (WP9)

Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Clear EP

Cheers
Karren

Colorful Monsters

Hi all!  I'm back with a card featuring this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess who came up with this gorgeous sketch is our other talented Camp Mother, Jennifer Timko.  Jennifer and Jen (last week's hostess) keep this challenge running smoothly even though they both have busy lives outside of crafting.  They are amazing and I'm grateful for them both!

Now I absolutely love sketches with circles and circle frames even more so!  I decided to create a card that I could enter into Lawn Fawnatic's current challenge, focusing on the colors in their inspiration photo.  I'm also linking up to Addicted to Stamps & More's Anything Goes challenge.

I stamped and Copic-colored these adorable images from Monster Mash and cut them with the matching dies.  For the sentiment strip, I used a piece of woodgrain patterned paper die-cut with the woodgrain die from Blueprints 17 before white-embossing the sentiment.  Onto a white card base, I added a pierced rectangle layer and then a pierced circle frame die-cut.  The monsters and sentiment strip are popped up on foam tape.  I finished the card with some Nuvo Crystal Drops and a bit of Glossy Accents on the one-eyed monster.

I did take a photo of the Copics I used to color each of these monsters but the focus was off, so if you want to know any of the color combos, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to head over to the FMS blog and see what the rest of the design team did with this cool sketch.

Products used:

Stamps:  Monster Mash (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Soft Stone, X-Press It, Wood & Notebook Basics (Simple Stories)
Dies:  Blueprints 21, Blueprints 17, Pierced Circle Frames (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Crystal Drops, Glossy Accents

Cheers
Karren

Just Saying Hello

Hi and welcome!  This card uses the negative panel left over from yesterday's card (although if truth be told, I created this panel first and used the leftover positive die-cuts for yesterday's card!)  I used the Hello theme at Inkspirational, the die-cuts theme at CAS on Friday and the sketch from MFT.

I ink-blended a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock with distress inks, then spritzed it with Perfect Pearls mist.  I then die-cut the scalloped edge and the Hello and popped the panel up on a Soft Stone card base using foam tape.  I then used black cardstock to die-cut the individual letters for the rest of the sentiment.  I finished the card with some Nuvo Glitter Drops and then painted inside the negative letter space with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Ink:  Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink
Cardstock:  Bristol Smooth, Black, Soft Stone
Dies:  Big Hello, Stitched Scallop Basic Edges, Little Lower Case Letters (MFT)
Accessories:  Nuvo Glitter Drops, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Perfect Pearls

Cheers
Karren

Big Hello

Hi, this is a quick post because I need to get my entry into CASology before the challenge closes.  It's been an age since I played there and I didnt want to let another week go by.

Pretty obviously, the "big" in this card is the Hello, which is actually called Big Hello.  It was inked with distress inks and spritzed with Perfect Pearls mist before being stacked on top of 3 white layers.  The stripes are my NBUS and are gold-embossed.  A pretty simple card.

I'm also entering over at Darnell's NBUS challenge, Inkspirational's Hello challenge and CAS(E) This Sketch.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  You & Me (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers

Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Big Hello (MFT)

Accessories:  Gold EP, Perfect Pearls

Cheers

Karren

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

On the Moon

So, here's the thing.  I made this card last weekend, but then decided not to enter it in the Innovation category of the MFT Card Design Superstar challenge, because there's nothing terribly innovative about it and I don't usually make cards like this, so there's the uncertainty factor 😄

But today's the last day and I have umm-ed and ahh-ed now for four days and finally decided 'what the heck'.  Got nothing to lose, so here goes.

This card was a bear to photograph.  As the front panel is shorter than the back, it couldn't stand up nicely, so it's actually leaning back against the back of my light box.  Here's the front of the card:

Nothing to see here, folks!  But wait,  what is that hole-y crater-filled piece?  Why, it's the moon's surface - created with distress inks, Distressed Patterns stamps set and the Oval Shadows dies.  The top layer is popped up on foam tape and the bottom layer is colored a bit darker to indicate they are craters.

When you open the card, this is what you see:

Yep, the adorable little astronaut from Space Explorer is on an action wobbler (which you can't see in action, of course) above the moon.  The galaxy background was created with Brushos with white paint flicked over the top once it was dry.  I then over-stamped with the stars from Somebunny I Love using silver ink.  The astronaut and planet were colored with Copic markers and as I said earlier, the astronaut is on an action wobbler.

So that's it!  For better or worse, I'm entering this card.  There are some absolutely amazing cards in all three categories and it's been fun and challenging to push myself.  If nothing else, I've got two cards I'm quite proud of to give away.

Ironically, my usual style is CAS and that is the category I didn't enter!  I had an idea in my head and tried it out last night, but it wouldn't work.  Stamping after a long day at work is never a good idea for me.

Thanks so much for visiting.  If you haven't already, please head over to MFT and check out the wonderful entries (not to mention their fabulous products!) 

I'm going to link this up to Simon Says Stamp's Pop It Up challenge (action wobbler) and the Balloons challenge at Seize the Birthday.

Products used:

Stamps:  Space Explorer, Distressed Patterns, Interactive Labels, Somebunny I Love (MFT)

Ink:  Intense Black, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone Distress Inks, Antique Linen Distress Oxide, silver

Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth, X-Press It, watercolor paper

Dies:  Oval Shadows, Stitched Cloud Edges

Accessories:  Copics, white acrylic paint, Brushos

Cheers

Karren

Always a Good Idea

Welcome to another fabulous sketch from the Freshly Made Sketches team!  This week our hostess is one of our very capable and talented Camp Mothers - Jen Mitchell.

I decided to make a card with a coffee theme and link it up to the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.  As well, the colors work well with the Autumn colors theme at AAA Cards.

Autumn puts me in mind of rain, so I pulled out the adorable Rainy Day set by Newton's Nook and did some Copic coloring and paper piecing.  To further add to the autumn theme, I added a pumpking from the Fall Fox set by SugarPea Designs and a coffee cup from the Newton Loves Coffee set.  The patterned paper comes from CTMH and the ombre paper in the background has a nice, warm feel to it.  I added a bit of gray shading to the paper-pieced umbrella and called the card done!

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous cards, so head on over and check them out!

Products used:

Stamps:  Rainy Day, Newton Loves Coffee (Newton's Nook), Fall Fox (SugarPea Designs)

Ink:  Intense Black

Cardstock:  Desert Storm, X-Press It, Cats & Bats, Happy Times (CTMH)

Dies:  Rainy Day, Newton Loves Coffee (Newton's Nook), Fall Fox (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories:  Copics

Cheers

Karren

Polka Dot Cup

Hi and welcome!  I'm back with a card for the latest Fusion Challenge.  Check it out:

I was inspired by the pink polka dot cup with the gold edging and the white table and this is what I came up with:

This is a NBUS set called Newton Loves Coffee and has such adorable images.  I chose this image because of the polka dot cup and colored it up to match the photo.  After die-cutting it out, I adhered it to a white panel I'd die-cut with a cross-stitch edge.  That panel was then adhered to a gold foil panel onto which I placed some fun foam. 

I hunted through all my cardstock to find a pink that matched the cup and the closest match was MFT's Bubblegum, so that became my card base.

All in all, a pretty simple card!  Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to head on over to check out the fabulous creations made by the rest of the design team.

I'm linking this up to the Clean and Simple challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Products used:

Stamps:  Newton Loves Coffee (Newtons Nook)
Ink:  Intense Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, gold foil, Bubblegum, X-Press It
Dies:  Newton Loves Coffee (NN), Basic Stitch Lines (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pens

Cheers
Karren

Floral Birthday

I'm back with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is our talented friend, Amy O'Neill.

I just love this sketch!  So much room for interpretation.  I decided to use the background for a big image and came up with this card:

This image was stamped and colored with Copics and then cut out with my Scan n Cut and adhered to a white square card.  I die-cut a vellum slanted sentiment strip and overlaid that with a silver-embossed black slanted sentiment strip.  The 'you' is die-cut from silver foil cardstock and added with liquid glue.

And that's my card for this week!  Head on over and check out how the rest of the DT have used this sketch and I hope you give it a go yourself!

Products used:

Stamps:  Make a Wish (Clearly Besotted) You Matter (SSS)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Vellum, Silver Foil

Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT), You (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Black Glaze Pen, Silver EP (Ranger), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

More Than I Can Bear

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for a few challenges, not least the MFT 2017 Card Superstar Contest!  I decided to throw my hat in the ring and after a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided this card fits the Coloring category best.  Which is probably the most fiercely contested category as there are some absolutely amazing colorists out there.  But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained 😃  The other challenges I'm entering are Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge to Stamp It; CAS on Sunday who are looking for coloring and my second entry for AAA Cards, whose theme is Creatures Great or Small.

So this card took me an age to create!  I had a sketch drawn out on scrap paper which gave me the basic layout.  I wanted a night sky behind the scallop circle frame so sponged some Distress Oxide and Distress Inks onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock, keeping the lighter color in the center and circling out to the darker colors.  I then flicked on some water drops and some shimmer spray and set it aside to dry.  I die-cut a panel with the stitched frame in Blueprints 13 and also cut a circle using a Pierced Circle die.  The scallop frame was adhered over the top.  I took a piece of heat-resistant acetate and white-embossed the sentiment and adhered that to the back of the circle cut-out.

Once the ink-blended panel was dry, I adhered some silver star confetti randomly onto the panel then attached it to the front panel with liquid glue.

All the images were colored with Copics and the bears were dabbed with Coloreless Blender on a piece of towel to give some texture to their fur.  All the images were then cut with my Scan n Cut.  I do have the dies for the Happy Hedgehogs set, but not for the Birthday Bears so had to keep all the cutting consistent.  Just for interest's sake, there are 18 individual leaves - colored to look like autumn leaves, 5 mushrooms and 2 acorns around the 2 bears 😃I went around the outside of each cut image with a black marker and also added Black Glaze pen to the bears' eyes.  The two acorns and the two bears are all popped up on foam tape,  The rest of the images are adhered directly to the card.

Thanks for visiting. 

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bears, Happy Hedgehogs, Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Black Licorice Hybrid, Chipped Sapphire Distress, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, Broken China Distress Oxide

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Acetate, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Blueprints 13, Stitched Circle Scallop Frame, Pierced Circle Stax

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Star Confetti, Navy and Silver Shimmer Spritz, White Gel Pen, Black Glaze Pen

Cheers

Karren

Black Tutu

Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be guesting over at Inkspirational for their photo inspiration challenge and check out the gorgeous photo:

Is this not beautiful?  So many elements to choose from!  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to focus on the black silhousetted dancer and the sepia music background.

I used the April 2017 Hero Arts kit for the tutu and colored it with a dark gray Copic marker before adding some Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen.  Once I'd die-cut the images, I set them aside and worked on my background.  The music background was white embossed onto some Bristol Smooth cardstock and then I sponged on some Brown Sugar pigment ink.  The panel was cut with a stitched die and then layered onto a black scalloped panel using foam tape.

I arranged the tutus down the left hand side and then added a stacked sentiment die.  The whole thing was then adhered to a white top-folding card base.

I'd like to thank the team at Inkspirational for inviting me to join them.  Be sure to head on over and check out their fabulous cards.

Products used:

Stamps:  My Monthly Hero April 2017 (Hero Arts), Sheet Music Background (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Black Soot Archival, Brown Sugar (Mama Elephant)
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  MMH (Hero Arts), Inside Out Stitched Rectangles (MFT), Scalloped Dies (Neat & Tangled), Fancy Words (Reverse Confetti)
Accessories:  White EP, Copic (C9), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Doggy Love

The Freshly Made Sketches team is back with another fabulous sketch - this time from my hilarious and super-talented Australian friend Narelle.  Narelle has a super fun and versatile sketch for us.

I moved my panel down the card front a bit but pretty much stuck to the sketch.

This adorable image comes from You Have My Heart by MFT and I picked it up in their recent retirement sale, so it's NBUS.  I stamped and colored the girl and her dog and paper-pieced her dress.  It's hard to see in the photo, but I added some gray Copic shading on her dress.  After I'd die-cut the image I decided to mount it onto a circle die-cut, so in hindsight I probably should have just stamped it onto the circle in the first place 😄  I extended the grass and added some clouds with Tumbled Glass ink and the Mini Cloud stencil.

The horizontal panel was created using the same patterned paper with a black border top and bottom.  I also white-embossed the sentiment onto a black panel and die-cut with a Blueprints die.  As a finishing touch, I added the bone to show that the wee dog is more focussed on his mistress than his bone (unlike our dog, who lives for food!)

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous inspiration using the sketch, so I hope you pop over and check them out.

I'm entering this card into the AAA Cards Challenge, where they are looking for creatures, great or small.

Products used:

Stamps:  You Have My Heart (MFT)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Black, Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  You Have My Heart, Blueprints 24, Double Stitched Circle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Mini Cloud Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren