Thursday, 22 January 2026

Dramatic Strawberries


Hi, I'm here with my card for this week's challenge over at  Freshly Made Sketches where our sketch hostess is Jen Timko.  I decided to play with some NBUS dies from Honey Bee stamps and went with a dramatic dark green background to showcase them.


I die-cut the strawberries, leaves and flowers from various coloured cardstock then added some shading with a bit of ink-blending.  For the background I embossed a card panel with the Molded Frame embossing folder to mimic the additional layer in the sketch.  I then die-cut some embossed circles from the same green cardstock and adhered to the embossed panel.


After adding the strawberries, I went looking for a sentiment and found this one already foiled, so score!

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.






Products used:

Ink:  Green Opal, Lemon Ice, Mid Yellow, Dark Chocolate (Altenew)
Cardstock: Forest, Pomegranate (Spellbinders), Jalapeno Popper (MFT), Reindeer Moss (Altenew), Harvest Gold (PTI), White 
Dies:  Lovely Layers: Strawberries (Honey Bee Stamps), Embossed Circles (Kat Scrappiness), You Are Everything BetterPress (Spellbinders)
Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Molded Frame Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 15 January 2026

Leafy Birthday

The team at Freshly Made Sketches is back with another sketch and this week our hostess is Judy Rozema.  This card was fairly simple for me to pull together as the leaves were already stamped, stenciled and die-cut.



I decided I wanted the big oval to be some form of foliage so I went through my One Note app and came across this set.  When I pulled it out, I found the already prepared images, so it was a no-brainer!  I chose matching cardstock which I embossed with the Leafy embossing folder.  I then stamped the sentiment onto a strip of white cardstock and matted the bottom with black.


Finally I finished with some black enamel dots and a single heart.
Thanks for visiting!  Please head over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Propagation Garden Sentiments (Spellbinders)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Mountain Mist, Lagoon (Altenew)
Cardstock: White, Black, Lagoon (Altenew)
Dies: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS)
Accessories: Friendship Leafy Cluster Stencils (SSS), Leafy Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Essential Black & White Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 8 January 2026

Coral Poinsettia

Hi and welcome to our first challenge of 2026 over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Amy O'Neill.  Despite making hardly any Christmas cards in the lead-up to Christmas, I decided to make a Christmas card in January - go figure!


I started with a kraft panel on a white card base onto which I stamped the sentiment before embossing with the Subtle EF.  I then stamped a background stamp using white ink onto Oceanside cardstock and die-cut it with a torn edges die.  I also die-cut a small strip of Coral cardstock as a border.


The flowers and leaves were die-cut with light and darker cardstocks and adhered together.  I then went over the edges with some Distress Grit Paste to mimic snow.  I finished with some yellow Nuvo Drops for the flower centres.  I used the leftover elements for the inside of the card.






Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.



Products used:

Stamps: Christmas Background (MFT), Poinsettia Bouquets (WPlus9)
Ink: Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Versafine Onyx Black, Canyon Clay, Eucalyptus (Altenew)
Cardstock: Kraft, White, Oceanside, Sage, Coral (Spellbinders), Coral Crush (MFT), Lagoon (Altenew)
Dies: Torn Edges (MFT), Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz)
Accessories: Distress Grit Paste, Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops, Subtle EF.

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 1 January 2026

White Poinsettia

Hi and welcome!  It's New Year's Day here in New Zealand and it's raining so a perfect time to get into the craft room just for fun.  For the first time in I don't know how long, I made a card for a couple of challenges.  I made a Clean and Simple card for the Addicted to CAS - Christmas challenge and as soon as I saw the inspiration photo at The Card Concept I was immediately drawn to the white and the glass in the kitchen so I drew on that inspiration for this card


I went with a white on white card with little touches of gold.  I hot-foiled the brushstroke stripe onto the card base and then hot-foiled a sentiment using the same gold foil.   I die-cut the sentiment and stacked it three deep so it stood out from the card base.


The flower and leaves were die-cut from vellum and white brushed metallic cardstock.  The glass I was inspired by is created using the "see-through" top layer of the die-cut and the vellum base layer.  After adhering the two elements together I added some tiny gold pearls to the centre.  I didn't add any other embellishments.

Thanks for visiting!





Products used:

Cardstock: White, Vellum, Brushed Metallic Antique Assortment (Spellbinders)
Dies: Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz), Foiled Brushstrokes & Stripes, Glimmery Christmas Flora (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Gold Hot Foil, Pastel Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers
Karren

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