Big Ole Bow

Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses Jacquie's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and I have to admit, this sketch had me thinking.  When I first saw it, I immediately wanted to do some form of Mondrian design with dies, but I didn't have the right sizes of dies and it just became too hard, so it was back to the drawing board.  Then I saw the sketch in a whole new light and decided it was perfect for a big bow and that's what I did.

This image is a digi from Power Poppy and I printed it out and coloured it with Copics before die-cutting it to suit the position of the sketch.  Once that was done I gold-embossed the sentiment onto a black tag and added it with white cotton, piercing a tiny hole in the coloured image to hold the cotton.

I didn't add any other embellishments and I think this is the least amount of Copics I have ever used in one sitting!

Thanks for visiting.  Coincidentally, Color Hues are looking for red and black for their current challenge so I'm going to link up there.

Products used:

Stamps:  Big Ole Bow digi stamp (Power Poppy), Tagged Elegance (The Greetery

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  X-Press It, White, Black

Dies:  2022 Holiday Thank You (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Gilded EP (Brutus Monroe, Copics, white cotton

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Color Hues

 

Witches Go Riding

Hi and welcome!  Today I'm thrilled to be a Guest Designer at The Challenge, thanks to my monster card being picked a couple of weeks ago.  This week we have an inspiration picture for you - a very, very cool inspiration pic, I might add!

Now, while I love the picture, I was stumped with this one.  You see, New Zealand doesn't really celebrate Halloween so I haven't got much in the way of Halloween stamps.  Initially I thought of just using the colors and patterns, but then I decided to go digi-shopping and came up with this card.

This is a fun Bugaboo digi stamp and after I printed it onto X-Press It cardstock, I colored the pumpkins and broom with Copics.  I then masked those items and sponged Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord and Black Soot ink onto the background.

The layout was kept pretty simple - I took the stripes from the inspiration pic and added some striped paper to my cardbase and then popped up the image with foam tape.  Some orange enamel dots and I was done.

Thanks so much to Lesley and the team for letting me join in this week!  Be sure to check out all the wonderful creations from the rest of the team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Bugaboo digi
Ink:  Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Black Soot
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Dots & Stripes Neutrals (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Wink of Stella, enamel dots

Cheers
Karren

Angel Christmas

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday.  Lori is our challenge hostess this week and her challenge is to add an angel or cherub onto our card.  

This was definitely a challenge for me as I don't own any angel or cherub stamps!  So I went shopping for a digi image that wasn't traditional and found one from Bugaboo that was pretty cute.

I printed the image along with an adorable sentiment from Hannelie onto X-Press It cardstock and colored it in.  Unfortunately, one of my brown markers splattered some ink and my colorless blender didn't entirely remove it, so let's just pretend that's not there, okay? :)

The card was very simply finished with a stitched die and some sequins.

Thanks for visiting.  Check out the cherubs and angels the rest of the design team have created for you.  They're gorgeous!

Products used:

Stamps:  Digi from Bugaboo, Sentiment from Desert Diva

Cardstock:  X-Press It, Island Blue (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Doodlebug Sequins, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles die

Cheers

Karren

Flowers for You

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day!  Our hostess this week is the talented and funny Linda Callahan and she has come up with a classic sketch for us.

For my card, I used a Copic colored piece I had used for practice.  I'd had it sitting around for a few weeks not sure how to use it when along came this sketch which is perfect!

This young lady is a digi from Saturated Canary and I colored her up in warm and cool grays, along with a touch of pink.  I layered the image onto some Fog cardstock then onto a Basic Gray card base.  The die cut sentiment was cut once from Pink Pirouette and once from Basic Gray and layered slightly off-center.  I made a rolled rose and added a couple of little die cut leaves and the card was done.

Sorry, Linda, but I didn't put the ribbon/twine element on the card - I thought it would look a bit weird cutting through the middle of her head, so I left it out.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you have time to check out the rest of the design team cards - they are gorgeous and varied as always.

Products used:

Stamps:  Digi from Saturated Canary

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:  Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, X-pressit, Fog (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Thanks die (Clearly Besotted), Mini Rolled Rose die (MFT), Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Dies).

Cheers

Karren

Candy Girl

Hi and welcome!  Today's card uses a free digi plus instructions provided by Marianne Walker.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to try coloring this cute girl!  I'm entering this card into several challenges:  Addicted to Stamps & More are looking for holiday cards; Digi Sketch Challenge have a cool sketch, AAA Cards and Sweet Stamping are both looking for Halloween cards, and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge features the colors I used to color my image.  Phew - that's a lot of challenges :)

I printed out the digi image and followed Marianne's instructions on how to color her.  I then die-cut the image using a stitched mats square die.  The scallops down the right hand side were cut with a scallop nestie and the sentiment is white-embossed onto a black card base.

Some home-made enamel dots finished off the card.

Thanks for visiting.



Products used:

Stamps:  Free Digi from Marianne Walker, Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Black, gray, X-pressit
Accessories:  Copic markers, enamel dots

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was a winner at Digi Sketch Challenge.

Friend

For my second card today, I used the colors from Just Us Girls and the sketch from Pals Paper Arts.

I'm trying to get some Copic practice after completing the recent Online Card Class.  I bought a few digis from Saturated Canary to practice coloring people and this is one I colored tonight using the colors from Just Us Girls.

I went with a purple and black background and some stitched mats to create a bit of interest.  The sentiment was white-embossed on the black panel.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches), Saturated Canary digi

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, X-pressit

Accessories:  Copics, Lil Inkers Stitched Mats Rectangles, white EP

Cheers

Karren

Christmas Cupcake

Welcome to another Merry Monday challenge!  This week, Debbie has challenged us to use Christmas inspired food on our cards.

I had bought a cute digital cupcake image some months ago and knew it would be perfect for this challenge.

I used the print and cut feature on my Silhouette to cut out the image then I colored it using Copics.  The red berries were given a coating of Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to give them a bit of sparkle.  I kept the layout very simple, using a strip of Daffodile Delight DSP and a sentiment from Verve.  The inside mimics the card front.

Thanks for visiting.  Head on over to Merry Monday to check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Christmas Joy (Verve)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Daffodil Delight DSP, Xpress-it
Accessories:  Cupcake image (Bugaboo), Copics, Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details

Cheers
Karren

Dad's Birthday

It's time for another Freshly Made Sketch challenge and this week, our lovely hostess is Rita Wright.  Rita has given us a fantastic sketch which has wide open spaces for DSP or stamping or coloring or whatever you want!

I decided to go the coloring route.  My Dad's 81st birthday is next month and as a joke, I bought a digi stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil that I used for his card.

Disclaimer:  My Dad looks nothing like this - he's still young and sprightly and very handsome!

My Dad pretends to be grumpy when we acknowledge his birthday or give him a gift.  It happens every year without fail, so this year, I thought I'd play to that "grumpiness" and make an appropriate card!  I printed Grumpy Old Man onto Xpress-it cardstock and colored him with Copics.  I layered him onto Basic Black and used some DSP for the bottom panel.  Some red twine finishes off the outside.

For the inside, I went a bit cheeky with this:

I left plenty of room at the bottom for a personal note (possibly begging forgiveness for being so cheeky LOL).

Thanks for visiting.  If you haven't checked out the rest of the fabulous cards by the DT, head on over now.  I'd love to see your card in the gallery!

Products used:

Stamps:  Digi stamp by Mo's Digital Pencil, Shenanigans (Casual Fridays)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Real Red, Basic Black, Xpress-it, Brights DSP (retired)
Accessories:  Copics, red twine

Cheers
Karren

Blue Ornament

This week's challenge at Merry Monday is to use an ornament or ornaments on your Christmas card.  This challenge came through at a good time, because I'd just dipped my toe into the digi stamp pool and bought a few digi stamps - one of which was an ornament.  

And here's the card I made.

As well as the digi stamp, I also bought some digi paper.  In fact, I was commenting on a Merry Monday challenge entrant, Janet Kay Bailey and I saw the paper that she used and immediately went to the link in her blog and bought pretty much the whole range!  This paper has very subtle snowflakes on it.

I used a sketch from Retro Sketches from a couple of months ago, which I love and will be sure to use again.  

Aren't the rest of the DT samples fantastic?  If you haven't checked them out, head on over and give the challenge a go.  It's never too early to start on your Christmas cards :)

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Signature Christmas (PTI), Squigglefly Digi Stamp
Ink:  Basic Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point, Blue Christmas (Raspberry Road Designs digi paper)
Accessories:  Copic Markers, Silhouette Cameo

Jolly Old Soul

Don't you just love the new Merry Monday blog?  For this week's challenge we're going traditional Christmas at Merry Monday.  The theme is to use a snowman on your Christmas card.  Pretty easy, right?

I went with a digital image of a snowman from Squigglefly.  I printed him out and colored him with Copics before cutting around him.  The beauty with this image is that there's a lot of shading already on the image so it's not hard to make him good good LOL.  As a finishing touch, I put a dot of Dazzling Details into the center of the poinsettia on his hat.

To showcase him, I stamped the gingham circle from Kind and Cosy on Whisper White and punched out the center.  I stamped the greeting before tying some Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine around the Whisper White than adhered it to the Cherry Cobbler card base using dimensionals.  I then put my snowman in the center also using dimensionals.  A very simple card.

And in keeping with the country theme, he's the inside of the card.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.  I hope you've checked out the rest of the fabulous DT inspiration at Merry Monday.  I look forward to seeing your snowman cards in the gallery :)

Products used:

Stamps:  More Merry Messages, Kind and Cosy, Digi Snowman (Squigglefly)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black
Cardstock:  Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Accessories:  Copic markers, circle nesties, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, Dazzling Details

Cheers
Karren

Valerie

I received my first order of Xpress-it Copic Blending Paper the other day, so I decided to take it for a test drive.  Coincidentally, Mo's Digital Pencil are having a sale at the moment, so I decided that I was destined to buy some more digi stamps :)

I used this week's sketch from Retro Sketches and the colours from ColourQ for my card.  

I have to admit that when I first saw the colors at ColourQ, I thought "no way!".  But then when I chose Valerie to color, I saw the possibility of using all the challenge colors and gave it a go.

I'm not 100% happy with my layout.  I think there's something missing, but I was so focussed in my mind on making a card that matched the definitions at The Card Concept, that I sort of missed the boat a bit.  (This card is not for The Card Concept challenge, I was just testing myself.  I'm hoping to make a card for that challenge over the weekend.)

I colored Valerie in the challenge colors then used nesties to cut her out.  I decided to stick with Basic Gray and Poppy Parade for my main card colors and used the Needlepoint Border EF down either side of the gray panel.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Image:  Valerie by Mo's Digital Pencil
Cardstock:  Basic Gray, Poppy Parade, Xpress-it
Accessories:  Copics, White Baker's Twine, Circle and Scallop Circle Nesties, Needlepoint EF, white brads

Cheers
Karren