Beachy Birthday

Hi! Today's card is for Seize the Birthday (animals), Just Add Ink (stencils and/or dies), and the sketch at Card Challenges.

I started by stamping the girl and the turtle onto X-Press It paper.  Once dry, I coloured them in quickly with Copics.  I then took the Beach Scene Builder dies and die-cut them all from white cardstock.  I then ink-blended all the layers.  On the sand layer I stamped some "specks" with Antique Linen ink and a stamp; on the sea layer, I used a waves stencil and on the sky layer, I used a cloud stencil.  Then on both the sand and sea layers I added dots with a white gel pen.

I wasn't 100% happy with the palm tree leaves so went over them with a dark green Copic marker to try and improve the look.  Not much better, but it'll do.

I then adhered all the elements together and added a birthday sentiment.  I went over the sun with a clear sparkle pen. 

Thanks for visiting.

I just realised that the animal should be the focal point at Seize the Birthday.  If my turtle isn't focal point enough, then I'll link this to the Anything Goes challenge.

Products used:

Stamps: Polynesian Paradise, Birdie Brown Greetings Galore, Distressed Patterns (MFT)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K), Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Tattered Rose, Saltwater Taffy, Walnut Stain, Pine Needles, Rustic Wilderness, Speckled Egg, Salvaged Patina, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, X-Press It

Dies: Polynesian Paradise, Beach Scene Builder (MFT)

Accessories: Copics, white gel pen, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Micro Cloud Stencil, Waves Stencil (MFT)

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.

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.

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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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

Santa Paws

Welcome to the newest sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  I thought it was about time I started on some Christmas cards, although, if things go like last year, I won't send any out.  I find it hard to celebrate Christmas and last year I gave myself permission to not celebrate it.

Anyway, onto the card.  I was pressed for time, so found this pre-coloured image (badly coloured I might add!) and decided that was going to be the focal point for my card.  Onto a white card base, I stamped the Holly Jolly background stamp with Morning Frost ink, then added a panel of vellum to soften the stamping.  I chose three colours of cardstock to match the dog image and die-cut with a Wonky Rectangles die.  Onto the red panel I white heat-embossed the sentiment.

I finished with some ruby red pearls and called it done.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Happy Pawlidays (MFT), Holly Jolly Background (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Morning Frost (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Stone Gray, Wild Cherry (MFT), Dove (C+9), vellum

Dies: Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Ruby Red Pearls (Pretty Pink Posh)

Cheers

Karren

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Mermazing

Hi and welcome.  Today's sketch artist over at Freshly Made Sketches is Amy O'Neill and this card was made as a tribute to MFT Stamps who announced last week they are closing down after almost 20 years in business.  

My stock of MFT stamps, dies, cardstock, stencils and patterned papers is more than any other single company.  Back when I was doing a lot more card-making and Copic colouring, I couldn't get enough of MFT - especially Birdie Brown images.  It also helped that their international shipping was probably the cheapest and the fastest, so it was a given that every new release and new kit, I was there waiting with bated breath to place an order.  I am sorry that MFT is closing its doors, but I can understand the reasons and wish nothing but the best for Kim - the owner.

My card was made using mostly MFT products.  I started by ink-blending some Distress Inks onto a panel of white cardstock, then using the Ray of Light stencil to create the ocean light effect.  Over top of the ink, I added some Sparkle Texture Paste to give a shimmery finish.  While that was drying, I stamped and Copic coloured the mermaid and fish.  

 

The porthole was die-cut and stacked three high.  I also added some acetate to the back to give the impression of a window.  I added the fish and mermaid and set it aside to work on the card base.  

As soon as the stenciling was dry, I die-cut with a rectangle die to allow room to stamp the sentiment on the bottom right of a white card base.  After adhering the stenciled panel, I added the porthole and mermaid and called it done.  

It's not totally in keeping with the sketch, but I sort of figure the "rays" can be the cardstock strips on the sketch - maybe, perhaps....

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mermazing, Gill Friends (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Mermazing, Ocean View Porthole (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Sparkle Texture Paste, Ray of Light Stencil (MFT), white gel pen, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Charcuterie

Hi all.  It's been a long time since I've made a card just for fun, but we had a long weekend here in New Zealand and rather than do boring stuff like doing some winter gardening,  I decided to spend a whole day in my craft room.  That turned into a day and a half, but it was good to just play with no design team commitments.  I decided to play along in a couple of challenges with my card today.  The Honey Bee Stamps Buzzworthy Challenges FB group has a monthly card contest and this month's challenge is Father's Day.  Father's Day isn't until September here but I bought this set specifically for my DH so I thought it was time to put it to use and get ahead of the game!

I'm also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More who are looking for die-cuts this challenge.  Everything apart from the patterned paper was cut with dies.

I hadn't done any Copic colouring for a long time so that was my plan this weekend.  I coloured up a sunflower which will be in an upcoming DT post and then had fun colouring all these images, using about a million different Copic markers.  Once coloured, I worked on the cutting board which was die-cut and then ink-blended with Distress inks.  I arranged the food onto the cutting board and adhered it all with liquid glue then used foam tape to add the board to the card base.  I tucked in a few pieces to the side of the cutting board and added the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting!

 Products used:

Stamps:  So Char-CUTE-rie, To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Gingham (Echo Park)

Dies:  So Char-CUTE-rie, Cutting Board, To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  Copics

Tea Party

 Hi!  I'm here with my card for the CASE It Instagram hop where we choose a card that inspires us on Insta and create our version of it.  I was inspired by Debra James' card which I've added below and came up with this card using similar elements:

I bought the stamp set especially for this challenge because I just loved Debra's card so much but didn't want to copy it too slavishly.  I went with a different colour combo and stencils but kept a lot of Debra's original ideas.

Here is Debra's card that inspired me.  Isn't it fabulous?

Thanks for visiting!  The whole hop list is over on Instagram.  The link to my IG is in the sidebar.

Products used:

Stamps:  Par-tea (SSS)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Amalgam (Gina K), Volcano Lake, Lagoon (Altenew

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Volcano Lake, Lagoon (Altenew), B&W Stripes (MFT)

Dies:  Par-tea (SSS), Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Letter & Number Stencil (Stamperia)

Cheers

Karren

Bird Birthday

 Hi!  It's time for another Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and this time I went down the right vertical column with Patterned Paper-Birds or Chicks-Stencil to come up with this birthday card.

The card base is stenciled with a cloud stencil before adding a couple of pieces of patterned paper.  The images were stamped, Copic-coloured and die-cut.  I added them with foam tape.  Finally I stamped a birthday sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Chicks (MFT), Bubble Over (Spellbinders)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Speckled Egg Distress Ink

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

Dies:  Birthday Chicks (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White Gel Pen, Mini Cloud Edges Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren