Hello Friend

Hi!  Today's card was made using the inspiration photo from Inspired By All The Little Things and I'm also playing along with the Make Your Own Background challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  I was also inspired by the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch - flipping the sketch to a landscape orientation.

I created my own woodgrain background by scoring some white cardstock, then rubbing various distress inks over the panel.  Once it was dry, I die-cut it with a stitched die and adhered it to a white card base.

I glued some fun foam behind some gold foil cardstock and some Sno Cone cardstock then die-cut the sentiments.  The flowers were stamped with Altenew inks and die-cut.  The bottom flower was adhered directly to the woodgrain and the top flower was popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Painted Flowers (Altenew)

Ink:  Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Bamboo, Parror (Altenew), Antique Linen, Old Paper, Pumice Stone Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Gold Foil, Sno Cone (MFT)

Dies:  Thanks & Hello, Friend, Blueprints 25 (MFT), Painted Flowers (Altenew)

Accessories:  Craft Foam

Cheers

Karren

A Box of Celebration

Hi and welcome!  I'm back with a card for the latest from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Amy O'Neill and she has a wonderful sketch for us:

I had some fun with this sketch and came up with a bright and cheerful birthday card.

I stamped the box onto Desert Storm cardstock and cut it with my Scan n Cut.  I then shaded the sides of the box with a Copic marker.  I also cut a slit across the top of the box and creased the edge to give it some dimension.  I colored the wrapping papers with various Copics and again used my Scan n Cut to cut them out.  After arranging the papers inside the "box", I used some foam tape to pop up through the centre of the box and adhered it to the card base over some patterned paper.

The sentiment was die-cut after coloring a piece of white cardstock with Copic markers in an ombre fashion.  The rest of the sentiment came from a PTI set.  

Thanks for visiting!  Please head on over to check out the cards by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Celebration Box (Honey Bee Stamps), Wet Paint (PTI)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid

Cardstock:  White, Desert Storm, X-Press It, Fresh Gingham (MFT)

Dies:  Celebrate (Neat n Tangled)

Accessories:  Copics, Corner Chomper, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Mermaid

Hi!  I'm back with another card for the MFT Creative Olympics - this one for the Crafty Biathlon.  I also used the current MFT sketch.  As I made a shaker card, I'm also playing along with Inkspirational who are looking for an aperture card.

For the first part of the biathlon, I chose to do some Emboss Resist, using Balloon Strings background stamp and distress inks.  I white-embossed the stamp onto both the card base and a card-front sized panel of white cardstock.  On both pieces, I masked of the top and bottom before stamping and ink-blending.  The bottom piece I masked a bit lower down so that there would be no white areas show through the opening.  Once I was finished, I removed the masking tape.  I die-cut the stitched dome die from the extra cardstock and the stitched dome frame from a scrap of white cardstock.

I put the shaker components together and adhered it to the card front with some sequins in the opening.  The little mermaid was colored with Copics and I also stamped some sea foliage to put behind her.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Balloon Strings, Mermazing (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, Olive (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Mermazing, Stitched Dome Stax, Stitched Dome Frames (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Sequins, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Skatin' by Christmas

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for four different challenges - CAS(E) This Sketch, Merry Monday, the Freestyle challenge at MFT's Creative Olympics and The Male Room.

On a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock I blended a mix of Distress Inks and Distress Oxide inks in an ombre fashion.  Once that was done, I went over the panel again - this time with the Drifts & Hills stencil and the Mini Cloud Edges stencil.  I then spritzed some water over the panel and set it aside to dry.

The polar bear was stamped onto X-Press It cardstock and colored with Copics.  After die-cutting it, I arranged it with a white-embossed sentiment and adhered it with foam tape onto the sponged panel.  Both layers were then added to a white top-folding card base.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Polar Bear Pals, Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Versamark

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

Dies:  Polar Bear Pals, Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Drifts & Hills Stencil, Mini Cloud Edges Stencil

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at CAS(E) This Skeetch

Spring Bouquet

Welcome to another challenge from Fusion!  Today we have a beautiful Spring-themed photo inspiration and a fun sketch.

I chose to stick with the photo this time, although I did take elements of the sketch and add them to my card.

I colored up a whole heap of images from the Spring Flowers set and die-cut them with the matching dies.  I then arranged them in a bouquet, trying to mimic the photo with the layout of the foliage and flowers.  My trusty Press n Seal came to the rescue, holding the bouquet in place while I worked on the rest of the card.

What is hard to see in the photo is the background on the gray cardstock panels.  I stamped a tiny scripty background stamp onto the gray with Perfect Medium ink then brushed over Pink Gumball Perfect Pearls.  It gives a lovely pink shimmer.  I cut a sliver of the gray and added it to the card base slightly under the main layer, just for some added interest.  I then positioned the flowers and the extra little dots before stamping the sentiment and adding the final die-cut "you". 

The "you" and all the flowers were painted with clear sparkle pen.  Here's a photo where you can hopefully see the Perfect Pearls shimmer a bit better:

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have made some gorgeous cards, so I hope you'll head on over and check them out.  I'm linking this up to the Use a Die-Cut challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Products used:

Stamps:  Spring Flowers, You Matter (SSS), Pretty Poppies (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Steel Gray (MFT)
Dies:  Spring Flowers, You Matter (SSS)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Pink Gumball Perfect Pearls

Cheers
Karren

Thoughtful Peony

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Narelle Farrugia.

I was in the mood to do some coloring so got out a NBUS stamp set and my Copics and Prismacolors and came up with this card.

For the background, I blended some SSS inks onto a piece of Bristol Smooth and then flicked on some white acrylic paint.  Once it was dry, I die-cut it with a Stitched Mod Square Stax die.  A white-embossed sentiment and a black and white striped strip of patterned paper and the card was done.

Thanks for visiting!  The rest of the DT have made some gorgeous cards, so head on over and check them out.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Modern Peonies, Modern Petunias (WPlus9)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark, Duckling, Apricot, Rosie Cheeks (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth, X-Press It, Black & White Stripes (MFT)

Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips, Stitched Mod Square Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolors, White Acrylic Paint

Cheers

Karren

Sunny Bunnies

Hi and welcome!  Today's card is for three MFT challenges - the color challenge, the sketch challenge and the first Creative Olympics challenge. 

The Creative Olympics challenge is to use three different MFT stamp sets on one card.  This card actually uses four different sets:  Somebunny I Love, Beach Bunnies, Snuggle Bunnies and Somebunny.

I started with a white card base and added a panel of pale pink Watercolor Wash patterned paper onto the centre.  I then adhered the outer frame of the Blueprints 27 frame die and popped up the inner frame with foam tape.  I had to add an extra centre strip for the bottom opening as I needed it to match the sketch.

The bunnies and bear were colored with Copics, using the Color Challenge colors then die-cut with the matching dies.  I arranged them into the openings.

Finally, I die-cut a vellum heart and adhered the sentiment strip over the top before adding that to the card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Somebunny I Love, Beach Bunnies, Snuggle Bunnies, Somebunny (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Vellum, Watercolor Wash Patterned Paper

Dies:  Somebunny I Love, Beach Bunnies, Snuggle Bunnies, Somebunny, Blueprints 27, Blueprints 30

Accessories:  Copics

Cheers

Karren

Always and Forever

Hi all!  This week it's my turn to host over at Freshly Made Sketches and here is my sketch.

It's a bit different but I just love color-blocked cards and this layout is perfect for that!  Having said that, I ended up not doing a color-blocked card, but rather an ombre card instead.

To create my frame, I took one of the dies from Blueprints 27 and did some partial die-cutting to get the look I wanted.  Here's what the die looked like originally (the window die):

So instead of the 3 squares, I only wanted one rectangle.  It didn't matter too much about the top square because I knew the sentiment would cover it up, but I carefully die-cut around the bottom two squares.  I did end up with a couple of horizontal stitch lines, but I couldn't avoid that.

To fill in the panels, I blended some distress inks onto some Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock and spritzed a Perfect Pearls/water mist over the top before cutting the panel down the middle .  I turned one strip upside down so the red tones were at the top and adhered them behind the window frame.  I then added some foam tape behind the frame and adhered it to a white top-folding card base.  The sentiment was white embossed and die-cut with a Stitched Fishtail Flag die.  I die-cut a heart from some leftover sponging and added that to the banner before covering it with Nuvo Crystal Glaze.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll head on over to the FMS blog and see how the rest of the DT interpreted my sketch - they are amazing!

I'm linking this up to AAA Cards, Paper Players and Just Us Girls, who all have Love/Valentine themed challenges running and Sunday Stamps who have a color challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Lots to Say (Reverse Confetti)

Ink:  Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Candied Apple Distress Inks, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Blueprints 27, Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Perfect Pearls, Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Just Us Girls

Hog Heaven

Hi and welcome!  This is the first card I've made just for fun in quite a few weeks and it felt good!

Today (Tuesday) is a holiday here in New Zealand, so while it was weird to have one day at work, then one day off and tomorrow we have to go back to work for three more days, I'll take that over five days work any time 😄

I wanted to play along with MFT's sketch this week, so started with that, then went looking for some MFT stamps to play with.  I really felt like coloring so out came Green Pastures - I love coloring this little cowgirl.  I paired her with Hog Heaven to come up with this card.

I stamped, colored and die-cut all the elements and set them aside to work on the card base.  After die-cutting the opening from a panel of white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink in such a position that the cowgirl can be "standing" on it, to ground her.

I adhered that to a white top-folding card base with foam tape after adding a piece of gingham patterned paper behind the opening, and then added the colored images.  Finally, I added some black gel pen to the eyes.

I'm also playing along in a few other challenges:  Just Add Ink "Romance", Sweet Stampin' "Anything but a Birthday", Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes and Cupcake Inspirations "Love"

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Hog Heaven, Green Pastures (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Fresh Gingham (MFT)
Dies:  Green Pastures, Hog Heaven, Jumbo Peek-a-Boo Circle Window (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Sweet Stampin' and Just Add Inkhttp://just-add-ink.blogspot.co.nz/2018/02/just-add-ink-394winners.html