Floral Corner

Hi

I'm here with a card for the current Muse challenge as well as the Stripes challenge at Just Us Girls.  It's been an age since I played along at either of these challenge - my creativity took a long hike and every card I've made for probaby the last 3-4 months has been an effort.  Yesterday, I made three cards and it all flowed a lot better, so fingers crossed my slump is on its way out.  (Just want to say, my slump didn't stop me buying new product...😄)

From the gorgeous Muse card, I took the floral theme, the stripes and the corner arrangement to come up with this card.

I got the Life Is Awesome set by Altenew a few weeks ago and yesterday, I decided to play around with the different layers for each image.  Once I was finished, I cut them with my Scan n Cut, which wasn't successful for some of the images even though I joined all the separate elements with a pencil.  Note to self:  buy the dies for this set 😄

To fix that problem, I stamped the orange flowers directly onto the card panel and then arranged the die-cut flowers around them.  The sentiment was stamped up the left hand side.  I added a strip of black and white striped paper to the left hand side of a white top-folding card base and then the floral panel. 

To finish, I added clear sparkle pen to all the flowers.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Life is Awesome (Altenew), Birdie Brown Greetings Galore (MFT)

Ink:  Extreme Black (MFT), Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Autumn Blaze, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, Heart Beat, Vineyard Berry, Olive, Moss, Cosmic Berry (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black & White Strips (MFT)

Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Polka Dot Baby

Welcome!  I'm here with a very last-minute card for the latest Fusion Challenge.  Let me tell you, I made a card last weekend and it is, without a doubt, the ugliest card in the world!  It is now 4 hours before the new challenge goes live and I sat down and whipped up a card that's not the ugliest card in the world 😄

And here's the challenge graphic:

So I created a fusion of both the sketch and the photo, creating a baby card using similar colors to the photo.  This was quite a simple card to make (luckily - with only 4 hours to go!) . I made use of patterned paper and die-cuts to speed up the process.  The "yay" was die-cut twice - once from Bubblegum cardstock and once from Cement Gray cardstock and layered them slightly offset.

I stamped the sentiment and finished with some sequins in similar colors.

Thanks for visiting!  I'm linking this up to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Dies/Punches challenge at Sweet Stampin'.

Products used:

Stamps:  Yay for You (MFT)

Ink:  Extreme Black

Cardstock:  Whip Cream, Bubblegum, Cement Gray, Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots Pastels (MFT)

Dies:  So Many Yays, Fishtail Flag Stax, Mod Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Sequins (Hero Arts)

Cheers

Karren

Celebrate

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another fun sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is the lovely Jen Brum.

Fun sketch, right?

And here's my card:

I created an alcohol-inked panel on Yupo paper and then die-cut it into 3 shapes using a die from Tag Builder Blueprints 1.  To get one die-cut going in the opposite direction, creating the chevron effect, I die-cut the other side of the paper.

I then positioned the three pieces onto a white card base.  The word "celebrate" was cut from black paper and originally I was going to only use the negative die-cut for my sentiment, but the word got a bit lost against the alcohol ink, so I die-cut it again from silver sparkle paper and inlaid the letters.

A simple card!

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the FMS blog and check out what the rest of the DT have come up with using Jen's sketch.

Products used:

Ink:  Pool, Botanical, Pistachio, Espresso Alcohol Ink

Cardstock:  Yupo, Black, White, Silver Sparkle, Silver Foil

Dies:  Celebratory Greetings, Tag Builder Blueprints 1 (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Here for You

Hi and welcome!  Today's card is for the latest sketch at MFT Stamps.  Normally, I shy away from diagonal panels, but I decided to challenge myself to come up with a card and here it is:

Apologies for the over-exposed photo.  The sun was streaming into my craft room and light tent when I took this photo.

I was also inspired by the autumn tones and pumpkins in the photo challenge at Just Us Girls.

The images were stamped and colored with Copics and then cut out with my Scan n Cut.  Onto a white card base, I adhered the patterned paper, then two panels die-cut with the Stitched Scallop Edges die.  These panels were popped up on foam tape.

The rectangular panel was cut from the Stitched Rectangle Stax die set and the images were then added - some with foam tape and some without.

The sentiment was (very carefully) stamped with Extreme Black ink onto the finished card and at the end, I decided to add some Nuvo Jew Drops in the orange shade.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Fall Friends, Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Extreme Black (MFT)

Cardstock:  White, No Line Coloring (MFT), Farm Fresh Gingham (MFT)

Dies:  Stitched Scallop Edges, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Jewel Drops

Cheers

Karren

Christmas Chimney

Hi!  Long time no post!  I went away last weekend and didn't get any time in the craft room.  Today's card is for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess is the talented Kim Singdahlsen.  Isn't this a great sketch?

I decided to add to my meagre pile of Christmas cards and used a NBUS set by Your Next Stamp.

This is such a cute image and I really enjoyed coloring it with Copics.  Once I was finished, I colored all the snowy areas and snowflakes with clear sparkle pen, as well as the flame on the candle.

The sentiment strip is from black cardstock and white-embossed with a simple Christmas greeting.  The card base is Tropical Teal and used to match the scarf around the mouse's neck.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Mouse Eve (Your Next Stamp), Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark

Cardstock:  Tropical Teal, Black Licorice (MFT), X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Lemons

Hi and welcome!  The latest Fusion challenge is here and it's a good 'un!

I decided to create a fusion and made a card using the sketch and took the lemons from the photo to make them the focal point of my card.

This image is from Vanilla Arts and was offered as part of the Free Digi Club (which is now closed).  With the image came the supply list.  So I used the supply list and the finished photo of the lemons to color these up and I'm pretty pleased with how they came out.  I fussy-cut them and added foam tape to the back.

Onto a white card-base I added a panel of Sour Apple cardstock, which I ran through my Big Shot with the Subtle embossing folder.  A thin strip of black was also added before I adhered the lemons and added the sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Vanilla Arts Digi Stamp, Inspiration Mosaic (Gina K Designs)
Cardstock:  White, Sour Apple, Black Licorice (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolors, Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers
Karren

Balloon Birthday

Hi all!  I'm here with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is the delightful Linda Callahan and she has a very interesting sketch for us:

As soon as I saw Linda's sketch I saw a trio of balloons and nothing would shake the image so that's what I had to go with 😄

I die-cut three balloons from MFT cardstock in similar shades and also the strings from some Black Licorice cardstock.  I sponged some ink onto the right hand side of each balloon and then adhered them to a white top-folding card base.  It was about now that I thought they looked a bit bare, so I grabbed a star stencil and a negative die-cut and masking off all but one of the balloons, I stenciled over the stars with the same color ink.  I repeated this process with the other two balloons and finally added a highlight with white gel pen.  Much better! 

The sentiment is also a die-cut, so this card was pretty simple to put together.  I finished by painting the balloons with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the DT.

Products used:

Ink:  Peach Bellini, Coral Crush, Persimmon (MFT)

Cardstock:  Peach Bellini, Coral Crush, Persimmon, Black Licorice (MFT), White

Dies:  Balloon bash, Balloon Strings (PTI), Block Happy Birthday (MFT)

Accessories:  Classic Star Stencil (Winnie & Walter), White Gel Pen, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Card Chain Challenge - August 2018

Hi!  I'm a bit late posting this but time got away on me this week.  As you may know, the last couple of months I've signed up to the Card Chain Challenge, whereby you actually send the card you make following the challenge criteria to the person who signs up before you in the linky.  Cool idea, huh?

Anyways, this month, I sent a card to Jo in England and this was the card I made:

I followed the sketch, the friendship theme and the stencil technique.  I used the Hero Arts Spiral stencil on some Bristol Smooth cardstock and blended on some distress inks.  Candied Apple, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade.

Once that was done I set it aside to dry and die-cut the "friend" word from both Ripe Persimmon and Black cardstock, offsetting the black one slightly to give a shadow.  The rest of the sentiment was white embossed onto a black strip.

To tell the truth, this is the third stenciled panel I made - the first one smudged and the second one, I cut the angles wrong, so for the third I just glued thin slivers of black cardstock across the panel rather than cut into it again! 

I layered everything onto a black card base and added some black Nuvo crystal drops to finish.

Sending me a card this month was Gail from Norway and she sent me this fabulous card:

Such a beautiful card and a clever take on the sketch!  Here are the challenge details:

Theme:  Lighthouse, Fruit or Friendship

Product/Technique:  Stencils

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Big Ideas (Creative Expressions)

Ink:  Versamark, Candied Apple, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks

Cardstock:  Black, Bristol Smooth, Ripe Persimmon (MFT)

Dies:  Friend Folksy Script (Poppystamps)

Accessories:  Spiral stencil (Hero Arts), Ebony Nuvo Crystal Drops, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Thankful Leaves

Hi all and thanks for dropping by!  I'm here with a card for the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess is our other camp mum, Jen Mitchell.  And check out Jen's fabulous sketch:

I love square cards but don't often think to make them, so this was a perfect opportunity!  I also filmed the making of this card (link below), which is the first video I've made in weeks.  Between a lack of mojo and being sick, it's only now that I'm starting to feel normal again.

My card uses a new-to-me stamp set by Gina K called Stitched Leaves.  Onto a distress inked background, I added the leaves, which were sponged with distress ink before gold-embossing the top layer.  The "thanks" is stacked three high and colored with clear sparkle pen.  The rest of the sentiment is from the same stamp set and embossed with the same Antique Gold embossing powder.

Here are a couple of photos where you can hopefully see the beautiful stitching detail in the stamps.

Thanks for visiting!  The DT have, as always, made some gorgeous cards using the sketch so I hope you'll check them out.

If you want to see the video showing how I made this card, you can click here to go to my YouTube channel or watch below.

Products used:

Stamps:  Stitched Leaves (Gina K)

Ink:  Versamark, Shabby Shutters, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, Bundled Sage, Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Thanks and Hello (MFT), Stitched Mats Square (Lil Inkers)

Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Antique Gold EP (SSS), Morning Dew Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren