Coffee

Hi and welcome!  I'm this week's sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches and I decided to add a tag to the sketch.  I love the look of tags, but don't often think to use them so this was my chance.  However, the card I had in mind when I designed the sketch ain't nuttin' like the finished product!

I was playing around with vellum and alcohol inks and did a whole sheet in browns, grays, black and touches of mixative, finishing off with some gold foil I placed down onto the tacky ink.  Once it was dry, I adhered it to a sheet of double-sided adhesive paper and then die-cut a card-based size with a stitched edge die.  That set me on the path to making a coffee-themed card. I adhered that onto a white card base and then added a strip of kraft.  I took a smaller strip of kraft and embossed it with the Burlap embossing folder, edging it with black before adding that to the larger kraft strip.

For the tag, I stamped the sentiment, leaving enough room for the die-cut coffee cup and then added the tag topper and some linen thread.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the FMS blog and see how the DT have interpreted my sketch - they'll be fabulous for sure!

Products used:

Stamps: Teach, Sleep, Repeat (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, various alcohol and alcohol pearl inks, alcohol mixatives (Time Holtz)

Cardstock: White, Black, Ivory (Gina K), Desert Storm (Neenah), Vellum paper

Dies:  Blueprints 25, Stitched Traditional Tag Stax, Die Cuts & Scraps (MFT), Tag Sale 5 (PTI)

Accessories:  Linen thread, Burlap EF (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Colourful Leaves

Hi all!  I'm playing along with this week's colour challenge over at Card Challenges.  I'm trying hard to play along every week to get me back into the swing of challenges and making cards just for the fun of it and not for any DT deadlines.  This week's colours threw me for a bit but when I decided to go for some unrealistic leaves and came up with this card.

I chose the closest match to the challenge colours from cardstock and die-cut multiple leaves using the Leafy Greenery set.  I then arranged them across the top of a white card base and topped it with a previously embossed strip of black cardstock.  I actually got a little glue on the top so to cover that up, I added another strip - this time some yellow. Shhh - I won't tell if you don't 😉

I thought a big, bold sentiment would work with this layout so used the Because die backed with another black die-cut and a yellow one very slightly offset.  I stamped the sentiment because *this world* (rolls eyes) and added some blue pearls to finish.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Because You (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock: White, Black, Beeswax, Carrot, Fern, Cosmic Sky (Spellbinders)

Dies: Leafy Greenery, Because (MFT)

Accessories: Window Slats EF (Altenew), Pacific Northwest Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Tag Wishes

Hi, I’m here with my card for the new challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge. I chose to work with the first column - Circles/Layering/Neutral Colours.

This card was simple to put together. A cover plate, neutral colours and a double tag.

I finished with an enamel heart and some baker’s twine.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Mini Messages & More (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock: Fog, Slate (SSS), Black, White

Dies: Happy Circles Panel Die (Waffle Flower), Tiny Tags (SSS)

Accessories: Enamel Heart (Altenew), Baker's Twine

Cheers

Karren

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Toadstool Notes

Hi, I'm here with my not-very-clean card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess is Cecile Ribon.  This card started out when I found a roll of collage tissue paper in my stash.  I decided to have a play and make a panel with scrunched up tissue paper, adhered to cardstock and then spritzed and ink-blended to vintage it up a little.  I then got caught up in the moment and it turned into my FMS card.  Apologies to the team for the vintage-y, distressed appearance. 

I found the toadstools already ink-blended and assembled so then I created the clipboard, which is just so cute and fun!  I made the clip of the clipboard by spritzing a piece of Desert Storm cardstock with Antiqued Bronze distress spray stain and letting it dry.  It gave it a nice, aged metallic look without using foil cardstock.

The vellum was torn on three sides to match the sketch and I added a sentiment which was stamped with black onto white then I clear heat-embossed over the whole thing to give it a true Dymo tape look.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some wonderful (cleaner) cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Faded Type, Mini Muse (Tim Holtz), Winter Herbarium (The Greetery), Best Sentiments (Altenew)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Hickory Smoke, Gathered Twigs, Old Paper Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Versamark

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, White, Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Vellum, Tissue Wrap (Tim Holtz), Off the Grid patterned paper (MFT)

Dies: Vault Noteworthy (Tim Holtz), Botanicals toadstood Garden (The Greetery)

Accessories: Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Spray, Scorched Timber, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Clear Embossing Powder.

Cheers

Karren

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Up In The Air

A quick post tonight as I managed to sneak in a little bit of time to make a card for the MFT Card Challenges sketch which closes in a few hours.  I'm also joining in with Seize the Birthday Anything Goes (as I wouldn't call this card CAS).  I did take a few liberties with the sketch but you can sort of see it!

I haven't done any Copic colouring for quite some time so I'm quite rusty.  Nevertheless, I quickly coloured up these images and die-cut them.  Onto a white panel I used a couple of stencils and some distress ink to create a background.  I then matted that panel onto a Wild Cherry panel and then onto a white card base.

I added the coloured images with foam tape and finished with some yellow enamel dots.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Up In The Air (MFT)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Rustic Wilderness, Tumbled Glass Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Wild Cherry (MFT), X-Press It

Dies: Up In The Air, A2 Rectangle Stax 1 & 2 (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Grassy Edges stencil, Micro Cloud Edges stencil (MFT), yellow enamel dots

Cheers

Karren

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Grateful Heart

Hi! My Simon Says Stamp February card kit arrived on Friday and I couldn't wait to have a play with it.  This was my first month subscribing to the kit, but I fell in love with the Artful Palette stencils and dies and had to have it.

I also happened to get around to watching Tim Holtz' latest live and he showcased the kit and the patterned papers.  I took one of his ideas and covered some strips of the patterned paper with packing tape to give a tile look.

I'm normally a CAS card-maker but my roots are in the collage-type of cardmaking from the late 90s, early 00's so it was fun to revisit.  I also dug out some really old embellishments for this card.

I started with a panel of TH kraft cardstock which I embossed with an Altenew clocks/gears embossing folder.  Once that was finished, I ink-blended round the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and then went over various parts with a Stamperia stencil and the same ink.  I then added a bit of Black Soot to the edges before splattering on some Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  I then set it aside to dry.

After adding packing tape to some strips of cardstock, I chose my stencil and die-cut various pieces.  For the sentiment, I stamped on some Pencil Eraser cardstock with Walnut Stain DOX ink before die-cutting and then adding some Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges.  All the die-cuts apart from the sentiment are adhered straight to the embossed panel.  The sentiment is popped up on foam squares from the kit.

The big round embellishment started out silver so I added some alcohol ink to it to colour it up, more in line with the rest of the card.  The butterflies were die-cut from a scrap of leftover Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain sprayed cardstock and I added some tiny vintage pearls to the centre before popping up their wings.

Thanks for visiting!  This took me all afternoon but it was so much fun just getting messy and playing.

Products used:

Stamps:  Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: Kraft (Tim Holtz), Pencil Eraser (Lawn Fawn), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Artful Palette (SSS)

Accessories: Traces of Yesterday Embossing Folder (Altenew), Daily News stencil (Stamperia), Teakwood alcohol ink, Rose Gold Mixative, Black Soot Distress Stain Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), expoxy rose, large grommett, Warm Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Butterfly Love

Hi and welcome to the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Jen Brum.  I used the sketch to make a soft butterfly card.

The background text is a BetterPress plate inked up with soft brown ink.  I then die-cut the postage edge frame and adhered it to a white card base.

The butterflies were hot foiled, stenciled and die-cut and I chose three for the sketch (one more than the sketch but I like odd numbers). 

I finished with a sentiment chosen to cover as much of the horizontal panel as possible.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT's cards - they're gorgeous!

Products used:

Stamps: On The Line: Succulents (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Warm Linen (Altenew), Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Dried Marigod, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Alabaster (Spellbinders)

Dies: Small Butterflies hot foil and die (Pink Fresh Studio), Post Edge Expression Press Plate (Spellbinders), Postal Frames (The Greetery)

Accessories: Satin Pewter hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Heart of Gold

Hi!  I found a little bit of time on Sunday to make a card for the latest challenge at MFT Card Challenges, where they have some lovely Spring colours.  As we're nearing the end of summer here in New Zealand, I didn't go with a Spring theme but used the colours for some emboss-resist with my favourite background stamp - Roses All Over.

When I opened up my stamp packet, I already had these three strips embossed onto white, so I just had to do some ink-blending.  I couldn't find an ink colour to match the first colour in the challenge so went with the next three colours and used my closest cardstock approximation for the strip under the sentiment.

I also white heat-embossed the Romantic Script background stamp onto my white card base for some subtle texture.

Finally I finished with some enamel dots and a couple of enamel hearts.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Roses All Over, Romantic Script, Essential Sentiments (MFT

Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Wisteria, Aloe Vera, Pool (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Something Blue (MFT)

Dies: Vertical Stitched Strips (MFT), 

Accessories: White EP, corner rounder, enamel dots and hearts (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Mouse Love

Hi all and welcome!  It's time for another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Verena Shapiro.

I wasn't going to buy these dies even though they are so goddamned cute, because I thought they would have limited use and my craft room is already too full!  But then I caved and they arrived last week.  I made this card straightaway, keeping the mice in black, white and grey and just adding a pop of colour with the chocolate box.

The kraft cardstock is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder to add a bit of interest, but I deliberately wanted to keep everything neutral apart from the chocolates, so no scene in the background.  The oval was the perfect size for the sketch and provides some grounding for the mice.

I finished with a simple sentiment.

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

Products used:

Stamps: #Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Aged Mahogany Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Black, Fog (SSS), Dove (C&9), Neutral Kraft Stock (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Classic Mouse Duo, Classic Mouse Love (Spellbinders), Oval Shadows (MFT)

Accessories: Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Flowering Column

Hi and welcome! Another card made during my long weekend! This time for the Altenew Inspiration Challenge.  I had to pull out my new-favourite flower dies again and make this card.

After die-cutting everything from white, I did some ink-blending in the challenge colours before arranging in a vertical arrangement.  Onto a white card base, I added a panel of Morning Frost cardstock backed by a thin strip of rose gold matte foil (to bring in another element from the photo).

I adhered all the elements down and then stamped the greeting, finally finishing with some enamel dots.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Craft Your Life: Bewitching Rose (Altenew)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Apricot Frost, Coastal Haze, Misty Harbor, Morning Frost, Evening Gray (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Morning Frost (Altenew), Rose Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Craft A Flower: Garden Cosmos (Altenew)

Accessories: Tea Party Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Birthday Letter

Hi and welcome!  It's a long weekend here in New Zealand as it is our national holiday today, Waitangi Day.  I took some time to make a card for some challenges.  I'm so happy that MFT Stamps have started up their card challenges so I had to play along with the first challenge, which is a sketch.  Even though MFT Stamps has closed its shop doors, I will continue to use their products, partly because I have more MFT in my craft room than anything else, but also because I love their products.  

I am also playing along with the hearts die challenge at Just Us Girls, the birthday challenge at Krafty Chicks and the pink and red challenge at Color Hues. 

All the stamps and dies on this card are MFT Stamps.  I started by making the little envelope and letter and then I found an already coloured hand so had to incorporate that.  I adhered it all to a vellum pierced heart die and set it aside.  The pink background was stamped with the Romantic Script background stamp using pink ink.  

Onto a white card base, I embossed the bottom portion with the Subtle embossing folder and then added the pink panel.  I put some liquid glue behind the vellum where it wouldn't show and added that.

Finally I white heat embossed the sentiment and adhered that, making sure it covered up the edge of the hand so it wasn't floating in mid-air 😄.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Romantic Script, Mini Messages & More, Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Dusty Pink (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Vellum, Blush, Dahlia (Spellbinders), red scrap

Dies: Paper Goods, Crafty Hands, Pierced Heart Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout out at Card Challenges (MFT) and Color Hues.

Thinking of Cosmos

Hi! It's Freshly Made Sketches time and this week our hostess is Kim Singdahlsen.  I went from memory when making my card and sort of got my angled panels at the wrong angle but I hope you can still sort of see the sketch!

I have been waiting for these Garden Cosmos dies to come back in stock for a long time and snapped them up as soon as I got the notification from my NZ retailer, Krafters Cart.  They are just gorgeous and I'm so pleased with them.  I die-cut everything with white cardstock and did some ink-blending on all the pieces, going for a soft apricot look to the flowers.

The angled strips were cut, then stamped then embossed before being added to a white card base for a white-on-white look.  If you've been following me for any length of time, you might have known that I really struggle with angled panels so this sketch was a bit of a challenge, but by keeping it tone-on-tone, it was easier to work with.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Assorted Greetings (Gina K Designs)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Apricot Frost, Citronella (Altenew), Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink

Cardstock: White

Dies: Craft-a-Flower: Garden Cosmos (Altenew)

Accessories: Burlap Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), Tea Party Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Star

Hi and welcome back!  It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is  Jen Mitchell.  Jen gave us a square sketch which is always a fun change.

I dug out some NBUS dies from MFT Stamps for my card and paired them with some patterned paper and some ink-blending to come up with my card.

It's all fairly self-explanatory so not much to say about the card this week.  I arranged all the die-cut and ink-blended elements together and adhered them to the card base after adding the patterned paper and a strip of red cardstock.  Finally I added a simple sentiment.

Thanks for looking.  The design team, as always, have created some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this card up to the Addicted to CAS challenge which has a prompt of "food".  

Products used:

Stamps: Movie Night (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Scattered Straw, Lost Shadow, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Poppy (Spellbinders), Paradise (Hero Arts), Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Floor to Ceiling Patterned Paper (MFT)

Dies: Movie Icons (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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Blue Leaves

Here I am back again - two days in a row - that must be a record!  I made this card for the Color Hues blue and white challenge and the Inskpirational shades of blue challenge.

I was drawn to the blue squares in the Inskpirational visual prompt so after embossing and ink-blending my leaves, I decided to go with a postage theme and die-cut pieces with both a rectangle and a square postage edge die set.  I backed both pieces with a Midnight postage edge border and overlapped them for added interest.  I found the Herringbone Parquet panel already die-cut with my Midnight cardstock, so decided to go with a blue-on-blue theme.

Finally, I went looking for a pre-foiled sentiment and found this one which worked perfectly.  The postage images and the sentiment are popped up with foam tape to provide some separation from the background.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Ink:  Uncharted Mariner, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Midnight (C&9)

Dies: Postage Edge Rectangles, Postage Edge Squares (Spellbinders), Herringbone Parquet (The Greetery), Wonderful Sentiments hot foil and dies (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories: Leafy Splendor Embossing Folder and Stencils (Altenew), black hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Bluebird

Hi and welcome!  I'm trying to spend more time in my craft room this year to try and bring back some of the joy in the hobby that disappeared when my son passed in 2019.  Today, I made a card for a few challenges, which I used to do every week, but now do so very rarely.  This card is for Addicted to Stamps & More (Any Occasion), Time Out Challenges Favourite Technique (stenciling and ink-blending), Krafty Chicks Masculine Challenge and Just Us Girls Stencil Challenge.

Any New Zealanders reading this post will hopefully recognise my inspiration for this Valentine card for my husband.  For those that don't recognise it, this is a play on one of the most popular potato chip brands (see photo of packet below).  He loves potato chips so buying this die and stencil set from Hero Arts was a no-brainer.  I die-cut the elements from white cardstock and used Distress Inks to colour them.  I went looking through my stash for a penguin and did some masking to remove the cocktail glass this one was holding up.  I then filled in the gap with a black Copic pen (although in hindsight I didn't need to because the chip covered it up anyway).

I took the "originals" from the chip pack and added the sentiment (although I wish I had white-embossed it now, but never mind).  

On the card base, I stenciled over the Geo Leaves stencil with Distress Grit Paste and once dry I assembled all the elements.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Penguins In Paradise, Be Original (MFT), Peony Memories (The Ton)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K), Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Tea Dye, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Fired Brick, Festive Berries Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, X-Press It

Dies: Snack Attack (Hero Arts), Penguins In Paradise (MFT)

Accessories: Geo Leaves stencil (SSS), Distress Grit Paste, Copics

Cheers

Karren

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