Postage Birthday

Hi, it's time for another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our sketch hostess is Michelle Langley.  I took the general layout of her sketch to make this card using postage collage products.

After stenciling the images and die-cutting, I arranged them to as closely match the sketch as I could.  I then worked on the vertical panels.  Firstly I sprayed two panels with Distress Spray Stain then I went over both panels with Distress Spritz.  This card is so sparkly in real life.

I finished with a bold birthday sentiment.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Mixed Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Salvaged Patina, Chipped Sapphire, Saltwater Taffy, Fossilized Amber, Ground Espresso, Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks

Cardstock: White

Dies: Postage Collage Cupcake Die, Postage Collage Die

Accessories:  Postage Collage Blocks Stencil, Cupcake Stencil, Cupcake Die and Stencil, Spun Sugar, Chipped Sapphire Distress Spray Stain, Saltwater Taffy, Uncharted Mariner Distress Spritz

Cheers

Karren

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Envelopes

Hi!  It's Freshly Made Sketches day and our hostess this week is Donna Mikasa.  She has a fun grid design for us and here's what I made:

Okay, so I didn't remember the sketch properly and put my sentiment in the wrong place, but hopefully that's okay!  I was too lazy to do any maths to make all the images fit perfectly in a grid pattern, so deliberately went a bit haphazard.  I die-cut the envelopes from various cardstocks to match some of the colours in a Colour Cube card.  

I added some mini seals and enamel hearts then stamped, die-cut and stacked the sentiment.  The envelopes are popped up on foam tape.  And that's it!  A pretty simple card.

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over and check out the wonderful cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne

Cardstock: White, Blush (Lawn Fawn), Stone Grey (MFT), Misty Morning (Altenew)

Dies: Postage Collage Envelopes, Postage Collage Mini Seals (Waffle Flower

Accessories: Enamel hearts

Cheers

Karren

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Magnolia Birthday

Hi and welcome!  It's Good Friday and a public holiday here in New Zealand, so what better than to get into the craft room?  I decided to make a card using the latest sketch over at Card Challenges, as well as the tic-tac-toe challenge at Paper Players and the birthday challenge at Krafty Chicks.  Because of time zones and full-time working, I don't often get to play with Paper Players so try and grab the opportunity when I can.  I went with the left diagonal with Die-cut/Flowers/Layers to come up with this card:

I coloured up the magnolia a few weeks ago when I was doing a bit of Copic-colouring so I don't know what colours I used, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found it already coloured and die-cut!  That formed the basis for my card, so I matched the flower colours with various cardstock colours and die-cut them from both a strips die and a stitched ric-rac die.  I layered the ric-rac over the strips and adhered them to a white card base that I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.

I then adhered the white-embossed sentiment to the flower with liquid glue and added foam tape behind both before adding to the card.  Some clear shimmer pen to the centre of the flower added a bit of sparkle and I decided not to add any further embellishments.  

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Magnolia Blossoms, Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark

Cardstock: White, Black, X-Press It, Blush, Coral Bliss (Altenew), Bellini, Wildberry, Crimson (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Magnolia Blossoms, Stitched Ric Rac (MFT), Slim Stripes (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories: Copics, White EP, Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout out at Paper Players and Krafty Chicks.

Sticky Note

Hi all and welcome to another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our sketch hostess this week is Judy Rozema and here is the card I made.

As soon as I saw the torn edge, I thought stationery so that’s the route I took. I created two sticky notes and a torn edge and adhered them to an embossed background. I finished with some silver foil paper clips and a bold sentiment - albeit in the wrong place!

Thanks so much for visiting. The design team have some gorgeous cards so I hope you’ll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps: Take Note (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne

Cardstock: White, Stone Gray (MFT), Misty Morning (Altenew), Peach Sorbet, Terracotta (Spellbinders) Mist (Lawn Fawn), Off The Grid patterned paper (MFT), Silver mirror foil

Dies: Push Pin Notes (Spellbinders), Notebook Edge (MFT), Notebook Journal Card (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories: Distress Mix Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

Cheers

Karren

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The Desk

Hi!  This card uses the colors at this week's Card Challenge.  When I first saw the colours, my mind went blank, but then I started scrolling through my MFT products and came across the various office die sets and decided to give it a go!  Confession:  all these products have never been used, even though I purchased the kit when it was released so... hangs head in shame... but pleased they finally got used because they are fun!

I created the "office" using various dies from three different sets.  The "wall" is stenciled with a small brick stencil and Lost Shadow Distress Ink.  The "floor" and the computer screen are patterned paper. I used the challenge colours as closely as possible, although the desk may be a bit too brown.  Once I'd assembled all the die-cuts I went looking for a sentiment and found this one (also never used) and thought it worked well with the office theme.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Sticky Note Sentiments (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Lucky Clover, Lost Shadow, Scorched Timber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Celestial, Beeswax, Truffle, Teal Topaz (Spellbinders), Floor to Ceiling patterned paper (MFT), One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose)

Dies: At My Desk, Office Greenery, Around the Water Cooler (MFT)

Accessories: Salvaged Brick Stencil (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Peony Sympathy

Welcome to a new challenge over at Tic Tac Toe.  I played with the centre column: Colouring Technique (stencils)/Dies/Sympathy to come up with this card.

I used some postage collage dies, stamps and stencils for my main image and backed that onto an embossed panel cut from a very dark purple cardstock. After I stenciled the background I left the stencil in place and spritzed on some Broken China Distress Spritz to give a bit of shine and interest.

The sentiment was already hot-foiled so I stacked it three deep and added it to the card front.  I stamped a sympathy sentiment on the inside of the card.

Thanks for visiting.  Head on over to Tic Tac Toe and play along!

Products used:

Stamps: Nesting Postage (Waffle Flower), Moments of Grace (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Celestial Mist, Glacier Iris, Dreamy Periwinkle, Reindeer Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Glacier Iris, Andromeda (Altenew)

Dies: Nesting Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), Here For You hot foil and dies (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories: Nesting Postage Collage Peony Stencils, Broken China Distress Spritz, Black Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

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Floral Bucket

It's Freshly Made Sketches day and our hostess this week is Amy O'Neill.  I made this card using some NBUS which just arrived a week or so ago.

I was planning on putting the bucket of flowers onto a vellum oval, but I decided to leave it as is, so my card doesn't toally match the sketch, but close enough, I think.  The die-cut elements were cut from coloured cardstock and then ink-blended for added dimension.  After I assembled all the pieces, I set to work on my background.  Onto a card-sized panel of patterned grid paper, I roughly stamped a text stamp, deliberately missing bits.  I adhered that to the card base then added a strip of woodgrain for the "ground" for my bucket to stand on.

I then went through my pre-foiled sentiments and found this simple birthday sentiment.

Thanks for visiting! The design team have some gorgeous cards as usual, so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps: Handwritten (Simon Hurley)

Ink: Tea Dye, Walnut Stain, Hickory Smoke, Shaded Lilac, Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral, Evergreen Bough, Rustic Wildnerness Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Olive, Rouge, Pastel Sunrise (Altenew), Cement Gray (MFT), Lavender (Lawn Fawn), Wood & Notebook (Snap Basics)

Dies:Wildflower Bucket (SSS) Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Copper hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Magnolia

Hi and welcome!  I made this card using the sketch over at Card Challenges, but it also fits the theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as well as CAS on Friday and Addicted to CAS.  For both of these challenges, I hope my card is CAS enough.

I don't colour anywhere near as often as I used to and I don't know why.  So today, I thought I'd make myself colour and guess what?  Once I started, I really enjoyed it!  I coloured up this magnolia using Copics and die-cut it with the co-ordinating die.  In keeping with the sketch, I lightly stenciled a circle shape onto the card base using the English Brick Wall stencil and Lost Shadow Distress Ink.

For the bottom panel, I embossed a strip of Pink Lemonade cardstock with the Subtle EF and then adhered it to a strip of lightweight vellum and then onto some black & white striped patterned paper.  The vellum softened the boldness of the black and white in keeping with the rest of the card.  Finally I stamped the sentiment and added some pearls to match the pink of the magnolia flowers.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Magnolia Blossoms, More Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versafine Clair Nocturne, Lost Shadow Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, X-Press-It, Pink Lemonade, Black & White Stripes (MFT), vellum

Dies: Magnolia Blossoms (MFT)

Accessories: Copics, English Brick Wall Stencil (MFT), Holiday Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout-out at Addicted to CAS and CAS on Friday.

Whisking

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Narelle Farrugia.  I went a touch rogue but did sort of include all the elements of the sketch - just in different shapes!

As soon as I saw the Spellbinders baking series by Tina Smith, I wanted it.  You know me and anything miniature...  This is the first card I've made with it.  I stuck to a fairly limited colour scheme and assembled the die-cut elements.  The background is the embossing folder which I lightly inked with white ink.

I arranged the die-cut elements to match the sketch as closely as I could (the mixer and beaters are the top two circles, the cord is the foliage (albeit on the wrong side); the mixing bowl is the third circle; the measuring cups are the bottom circle and the cookies are the foliage at the bottom) 😄

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out how the rest of the DT stuck more closely to the sketch than me!

I'm playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More's Birthday challenge

Products used:

Stamps: Sugared Expressions (Spellbinders)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Hazelnut (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, In The Buff, Eiffel Tower (MFT), Bellini (Spellbinders), Guava (Lawn Fawn), silver mirror foil

Dies: Magic Mixer, Measure Mates (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Confection Companions Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Corner Chomper

Cheers

Karren

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Birthday Circles

Hi, I'm here with my card for this week's colour challenge over at Card Challenges. I'm also playing along with the current Inskpirational challenge, where I was inspired by the repeating circles in the top right image and pastel colours in the bottom right image.  

The challenge colours threw me for a bit until I re-read the blog post and decided to pastel-ise the colours a bit more.  So I found softer tones of the challenge colours and then used a MFT circle stencil to stencil them onto the left hand side of a white panel.  I deliberately softened the ink-blending as I got near the top of each circle to add to the feel.  Once I'd finished with the circles I stamped some mini splatters onto each circle, using the stencil for the smaller circles to keep the splatter inside the ink-blending.  

I then stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set and mounted it onto a mat in a cardstock colour that most closely matched the pink ink.  Because I like the look of the black against the soft colours, I added some black enamel dots and a black enamel heart.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Mini Messages & More (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Saltwater Taffy, Broken China, Shaded Lilac, Evergreen Bough Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Dahlia (Spellbinders)

Dies: A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax 1 & 2 (MFT)

Accessories: Basic Shapes: Circles stencil (MFT), Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

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Flower Barrel

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Michele Ferguson.  I was originally going to create an arch as in the sketch but then found this NBUS die set from Spellbinders and thought the barrel would be a great substitute.

I went with a dark background and embossed it with a brick embossing folder before adhering the panel to a card base.  I then added a kraft coloured pierced frame.  All the die-cut elements for the focal point were die-cut with white cardstock and ink-blended with Altenew inks or Distress Inks.  The foliage was already ink-blended and I have no idea what inks I used!

After arranging the flowers and foliage, I found a pre-foiled sentiment and decided that this card would make a suitable sympathy card.

As an afterthought - I was just previewing this post before publishing and I looked at the card with the sympathy sentiment and immediately thought "body in a barrel" along the lines of my favourite TV serial killer Dexter, so maybe I need to replace the sentiment with something a little more appropriate 😱😁

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some gorgeous cards so please check them out.

Products used:

Ink: Orange Sorbet, Apricot Frost, Canyon Clay, Pastel Sunrise, Mocha, various green inks (Altenew), Scorched Timber, Gathered Twigs Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Dark Chocolate (Altenew), Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn)

Dies: Rustic Garden, Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders), Chocolate Flowers (Altenew), Lovely Layers: Mini Fall Florals (Honey Bee Stamps), Pierced Rectangle Frames (MFT)

Accessories:  Gold hot foil, Rustic Brick Wall EF (Honey Bee Stamps), shimmer spray

Cheers

Karren

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High Top Birthday

Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses the sketch over at Card Challenges as well as the Green/Gold colour combo at Color Hues, the green die challenge at Just Us Girls and the stencils or dies challenge at Just Add Ink, where I used dies but not stencils.

Seeing the new Spellbinders club dies reminded me I had this die set from many years ago, so out it came and I had fun making some green, slightly grubby high-tops.  I die-cut the elements, added some ink-blending to dirty them up and put them together.  I used gold for the eyelets and the stars and then I also added some white thread for the laces.

I embossed a black panel with the Quilted embossing folder and adhered that to a white card base.  I then added a thin strip of gold foil and the sentiment.  Finally I propped up the shoes with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Be Original, Birdie Brown Greetings Galore (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Morning Frost, Reindeer Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Reindeer Moss (Altenew) Matte Gold Foil

Dies: All-Star High Top (MFT)

Accessories: White twine, Quilted Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Just Us Girls and Color Hues

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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