Sakura Frames

Hi!  My card for the latest Fusion challenge is nothing like I imagined when I created the graphic!  But it came about when I got my hands on the Mondo Sakura stamp set and these square frame dies. 

I also decided the flower looked like it needed to be watercolored, so I got out my Zigs and splashed some color on, deliberately trying for a loose look because me and watercolors don't have a close relationship and I find them hard to use 😄

Anyway, once I was finished I went completely wild and flicked white paint over the image and also some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.  I set it aside to dry and die-cut the black frames and adhered them together in a random fashion.  

Once the panel was dry, I stamped the sentiment and die-cut it with a wonky rectangle die.  I glued it down to a white top-folding card base, added the frames and called it done!  Definitely not my usual style, but I quite like it for a change!

Thanks for visiting!  The DT have some wonderful interpretations of the challenge that are so clever and fun so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mondo Sakura (Essentials by Ellen)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Hickory Smoke Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Wonky Stitched Rectangles, Mini Square Shaker Window & Frame (MFT)

Accessories:  Zig Pens, Unicorn Spray (Hero Arts)

Cheers

Karren

Birth-Yay

This week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches is courtesy of Judy Rozema and it's a good 'un! 

I decided to play along with the Color Challenge at MFT Stamps and came up with this card, using a NBUS set, Birth-Yay.

I stamped and colored these images and die-cut them with the co-ordinating dies.  I then arranged them on a Grout Gray stitched circle.  I spent an inordinate amount of time going through all my patterned paper trying to find some in the challenge colors and this is what I came up with.  Stitched Fishtail Flag dies cut the patterned paper and also a sentiment strip.  

All the elements were added to a white panel and that was popped up on craft foam onto the white card base, to which I'd added a strip of Limelight patterned paper.

To finish, I colored the cake, hat and horns with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm also linking this up to Seize the Birthday.  As there are no presents on my card, I'm playing along with the Anything Goes part of the challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Birth-Yay (MFT)
Ink:  Amalgam
Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray, X-Press It, Party Patterns, Bundle of Blossoms (MFT)
Dies:  Birth-Yay, Inside/Out Stitched Circles, Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Gray Rose

Hi and welcome!  Today's card is for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess is Narelle Farrugia.  Check out her fun sketch:

I made this card for a crafty friend who has suffered a loss.  I thought the gray roses provided a sombre note while the single yellow note added a touch of colour and hope.

I used Vintage Roses and the new Add-On set to create my flowers and foliage, using both the Rock Collection and Summer Afternoon ink sets by Altenew.  After I arranged the elements and adhered them to a Grout Gray stitched circle, I added the grouping to a white card base.

The sentiment was white embossed onto a black stip and added with foam tape.

I didn't add any embellishments because I didn't want it to look glitzy.

Head on over and check out the rest of the design team's cards - they're all gorgeous!

I'm adding this card to the CAS Plants challenge at Paper Players.

Products used:

Stamps:  Vintage Roses & Add-On (Altenew), More Essential Sentiments (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Rock Collection, Summer Afternoon (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Grout Gray
Dies:  Vintage Roses (Altenew), Inside/Out Stitched Circles (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP

Cheers
Karren

Hedgie Friends

It's time for a new Fusion challenge and check out our adorable inspiration photo:

Foolishly, I was looking at the sketch from the last challenge instead of this one, so by default I'm only playing with the photo this time😬

I struggle with coloring hedgehogs, but I persevered and came up with this one, which is semi-acceptable if you close one eye and squint through the other!  I made a little scene for him with some toadstools and acorn on a field of grass.  The Watercolor Wash patterned paper is fabulous for scene-building if you don't want to color up a scene.

I don't have a photo of the Copics I used, as the acorn and toadstools were colored earlier and I don't know what colors I used.  The hedgie was colored with markers in the E40s.

Thanks for visiting.  I'm linking this up to the stitching challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Products used:

Stamps:  Happy Hedgehogs (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Watercolor Wash (MFT)

Dies:  Happy Hedgehogs, Inside/Out Stitched Circles, Grass Border, Stitched Basic Edges (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White Gel Pen

Cheers

Karren

Heart Happy

Hi and welcome yet again!  My blog hasn't been this busy in months 😄Today's card is for the latest sketch challenge at MFT Stamps, as well as the Color challenge at CASology - my card represents variations on a color, and the Anything Goes challenge at The Male Room.

Now, I was working from memory and sort of got the sentiment in the wrong place, but I hope that it's close enough to be acceptable.  To make this card, I die-cut several different-sized circles from a panel of white cardstock.  Behind those cut-outs, I added various pieces of cardstock in an ombre pattern.  I then adhered the panel to a white top-folding card base.

The 'because' word is stacked three high and added above the stamped sentiment.  A very simple card!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Because You (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Tropical Teal, Blu Raspberry, Summer Splash, Berrylicious, Sno Cone (MFT)

Dies:  Infinity Circle Dies (Hero Arts), Because (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Letters

Hey, thanks for dropping by!  I'm the sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I hope you like the sketch I came up with.

I took a few liberties with my own sketch and increased the number of elements along the horizontal.

This is not at all what I had in mind when I sat down to make my card, but I saw this patterned paper in my drawer and decided to go with a note-writing theme.  I went hunting for some envelope dies and cut these from Coral Crush and Persimmon cardstock.  I then went around the "seams" with light gray Copic markers to add some shading.  I adhered them all together in a row and added foam tape before adding them to the card front.

The "thanks" is from a NBUS die and I love the fun font.

A very simple card.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have made some gorgeous cards using my sketch so I hope you'll go check them out.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Coral Crush, Persimmon (MFT), Salvage District (Prima Marketing)

Dies:  Mailbox, Simple Thanks (MFT)

Accessories:  Copic Markers (C1, C00, 0)

Cheers

Karren

Stars

Hi!  I'm at the start of a week off work (yay!) and hoping I can spend some considerable time in my craft room.  So today, I made a card using the sketch at MFT Stamps.  I was inspired by MFT's own packaging because earlier today I'd been putting away some new stamps and the black and white stripe with the pink really made me want to create 😄 Apologies for the glare in the photos - I took them with my phone rather than my camera and the colors are so in-your-face!

Anyways, I cut a strip of Black & White patterned paper off-centre on a white card base, then added two slivers of gold foil cardstock.  The "stars" word is stacked three high and covered with clear sparkle pen.  The sentiment was embossed with Melon Mambo EP onto a black strip and added with foam tape.

To finish the card, I added some stars which were also covered with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting.

I'm also linking this up to the bold letters challenge at Just Us Girls and the word challenge at Time Out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Written in the Stars (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Ripe Raspberry, B&W Strips (MFT), Gold Foil
Dies:  Shining Stars, Pierced Star Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Floral Silhouette

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches is brought to us by Cecile Ribon and she's given us a wonderful and unique sketch.

I stayed pretty true to the sketch and came up with this card.

The flags were die-cut from cardstock to give an ombre look and I used tape to tape all three together before stamping the sentiment over the top.  The flowers were white embossed onto black and then die-cut with the matching dies.  I arranged three of the sprigs and adhered them together before adding them to the card base.

And that's it!  Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll head over to the challenge blog and check out the gorgeous cards made by the design team.


Products used:

Stamps:  Flower Silhouettes (MFT), Assorted Greetings (Gina K. Designs)
Ink:  Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Summer Splash, Blu Raspberry, Tropical Teal, Black Licorice (MFT)
Dies:  Flower Silhouettes, Jumbo Fishtail Flags (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP

Cheers
Karren

Butterfly Hello

It's time for another challenge from the Fusion team and this time we have a gorgeous butterfly inspiration for you.  Of course, if butterflies aren't your thing, there's plenty else to inspire!  Butterflies aren't really my thing, but I decided to go that route and came up with this fusion.

I've had this Painted Butterflies set since it was first released and I've hardly ever used it!  I decided to pull it out for today's card because there is a range of different sized butterflies which would work well for the card I had in mind.  I stamped the butterflies in oranges and aquas with the aqua ones stamped directly to the card base and the orange one stamped on a scrap then fussy-cut.

I adhered a strip of woodgrain patterned paper to mimic the door in the photo and then stamped my sentiment before adhering the large butterfly with foam tape.

And that's it!  Pretty simple!  

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll head over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Painted Butterflies (Altenew)
Ink:  Jet Black, Dew Drops, Aqualicious, Sunray, Chamomile (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Wood & Notebook Basics (Snap Basics)
Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Circular Birthday

Hi!  I'm here with a card using the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Jen Brum and I love her sketch!

The only thing I changed in the sketch was moving the circular element from the right hand side to the left - and that was because that's the way my edge die worked.

I used Platinum Embossing Powder and the Leaf Canopy set to cover a panel of After Midnight cardstock.  Once it was all embossed, I went back in with the solid leaf image and Versamark ink for a watermark effect.  I adhered the panel to a white top-folding card base and then die-cut another white panel for the angled piece.

The sentiment was also embossed using Platinum Embossing Powder and then die-cut with a circle die.  It and the white panel were popped up on foam tape.

And that's it!  Pretty simple!  Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this up to a couple of challenges:  Addicted to CAS have a contrast challenge and Seize the Birthday have a texture challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Leaf Canopy (Altenew), Roundabout Additions (Reverse Confetti)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, After Midnight (MFT)

Dies:  Stitched Scallop Basic Edges (MFT),  Infinity Circle Dies (Hero Arts)

Accessories:  Platinum EP (Ranger)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Seize the Birthday.