Thursday, 24 September 2026

Mushroom Mail

Hi and welcome.  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Donna Mikasa.  For the triangle element on the sketch, I went with an envelope which is sort of triangular.


I stenciled with some crackle paste on the background panel.  While that was drying, I went to work on the envelope and its contents.  The envelope was die-cut from patterned paper and all the elements inside were leftovers from a previous project here.  Once the stenciled panel was dry, I cut a section from it and layered some thin slivers of black cardstock on each end.


The front of the kraft card base was embossed with my new favourite embossing folder - Cracked Leather - which gives a subtle impression to lift a plain card base.  I finished with a twine bow on the sentiment label.

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


Products used:

Stamps:  Envelope of Wonder Sentiments (Spellbinders)
Ink: Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Lumberjack Plaid, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, Caramel Toffee (Altenew), Black, White, Salvage District patterned paper (Prima)
Dies: Autumn Wonder (Spellbinders), Labels Eight (Spellbinders), Signed & Sealed (The Greetery)
Accessories:  Linen Thread, Crackle Paste Opaque (Tim Holtz), Old Pages stencil (Finnabair), Cracked Leather Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 17 September 2026

Farm Friend


Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Judy Rozema and is a fun one with lots of ways to go.  I went with a scene card, leaving the top part as the sky.



I die-cut everything from white cardstock and ink-blended with Distress Inks.  The sentiment was already foiled and didn't look right in the same position as on the sketch so I took a bit of artistic licence and moved it.






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


Products used:

Ink: Scattered Straw, Rustic Wilderness, Lost Shadow, Rusty Hinge, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg, Peeled Paint, Scorched Timber, Forest Moss, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Fired Brick, Uncharted Mariner, Gathered Twigs Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies: On the Farm (Honey Bee Stamps), Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait (Lawn Fawn), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Die (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Gold Hot Foil

Cheers
Karren

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Friday, 11 September 2026

Good Things

It's time for another challenger over at Tic Tac Toe and this time I went down the left column:  Woodgrain/Ink-blending/Metal Embellishment.


The woodgrain came from a Tim Holtz live that I watched and had to immediately order and replicate.   I had it sitting in the embossing folder waiting for the time to use it and so this card was fairly easy to pull together.  

I used Stamperia Gardens of Time patterned paper and ephemera for the rest of the card.  The tag was die-cut twice and stacked, slightly offset.  I also added some screw head brads for the metal element.

On all the pieces, except the ephemera, I added some ink-blending with Walnut Stain distress ink.


Thanks for visiting!





Products used:

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Cardstock:Dark Chocolate (Altenew), Gardens of Time Junk Journal and patterned paper (Stamperia)
Dies: Tag Sale #5 (PTI)
Accessories: Screw head brads, baker's twine, Lumber EF (Tim Holtz)

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 10 September 2026

Focus

Hi all and thanks for dropping by.  I am the sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and, fair to say, my card is nothing like I imagined when I designed the sketch!  


This die set was in my NBUS box.  I had placed quite a few orders that didn't arrive until after my husband passed, so they sat untouched for several weeks before I felt up to organising them.  Slowly, I am starting to use them and I thought the sketch would work for this die set.

Onto a Velvet card panel, I stenciled with some coloured grit paste and a text-y stencil.  While that was drying, I set about making the View-Master reel.  I die-cut the reel from Desert Storm cardstock and a black base, then die-cut individual images from patterned paper.  The sentiment was embossed with embossing glaze and die-cut before being added to the centre of the reel.


I did add some light ink-blending around the outside of the reel to age it a bit.

The film strips were die-cut with black and haphazardly placed onto the stenciled panel to sort-of mimic the sketch.  I added the reel with foam tape and called it done.


Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll play along.  Make sure you check out how the rest of the DT have interpreted the sketch.










Products used:

Stamps: Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)
Ink: Versamark, Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Cardstock: Black, Desert Storm, Velvet (Altenew), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)
Dies: Vault Picture Show (Tim Holtz), Artful Palette (SSS)
Accessories: 755 Street stencil (13@rts), Distress Grit Paste, Aged Mahogany Distress Spray Stain

Cheers
Karren

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Thursday, 3 September 2026

Columbine

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with a card for today's Freshly Made Sketches challenge where our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  I decided to use a NBUS die set to make this card.


This die set has a matching stamp set and cleverly, there are three separate floral die sets that work with the same stamp set, so of course I had to buy all three!  I created the flowers, adding the stamped portions as well as some light ink-blending.  I then used a stylus tool to provide a bit of shape to the various pieces. 


The background die is also NBUS and I stacked it two high to give a bit more dimension.  The foiled sentiment was already made so I just had to adhere it to the card and call it done.

Thanks for visiting! Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team - most of which seemed to have a floral thing going!





Products used:

Stamps: Flower Centres 3 (Elizabeth Craft Design)
Ink: Alpine Aster, Crystal Violet, Indigo Skies, Parrot, Maple Yellow (Altenew)
Cardstock: White, Sour Apple, Daffodil, Wild Wisteria, Purple Rain (MFT)
Dies: Columbine (Elizabeth Craft Design), Decorative Lattice, Hexi-Gem Sentiments hot foil (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Copper hot foil

Cheers
Karren

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