Butterfly Tag

Welcome!  Today's card was inspired by the colors at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, the sketch at Fab Friday and the birds, bees or butterflies theme at Seize the Birthday.

I was playing around with the SSS challenge colors on a piece of watercolor paper and first I splashed on some Distress Inks using the wet-on-wet technique, before drying with my heat tool.  Then I got out some layering stencils and inked through the Scribble stencil with Chipped Sapphire ink, the Numbered stencil with Hickory Smoke ink and the Measured stencil with Peacock Feathers ink.  Lastly, I spritzed the whole panel with Perfect Pearls shimmer spray before die-cutting with a tag die.  It looks really pretty and almost like it's tie-dyed in real life.

The sentiment was stamped with Archival Black ink using Sending and Wishing set by SSS.  I then adhered a white die-cut butterfly to the tag.  This butterfly was one of a selection kindly sent to me by Barb Ghig and I've been hoarding them for several weeks but decided to actually use one on this card :)

The card base is PTI's Soft Stone and I've debossed the front with the Weathered embossing folder.  A little twine bow and some sequins finish the card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sending and Wishing (SSS)

Ink:  Archival Black, Chipped Sapphire, Scattered Straw, Peacock Feathers, Hickory Smoke

Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), white, watercolor

Dies:  Tag Sale #3 (PTI), Floral & Fauna (Concord & 9th)

Accessories:  Measured, Numbered, Scribbles stencils (Tim Holtz), sequins, Weathered EF (Taylored Expressions), twine

Cheers

Karren

Remember the Now

Hi!  I've got a couple of days off work and what better than to spend some of that time stamping!  I made a card for several challenges that I'd like to show you.  I used the sketch at Fab Friday, the colors from Color Throwdown, the neutrals theme at Card Concept and the buttons theme at Cardz for Guyz.

I went with a different style to my usual CAS and I guess you'd call this Shabby Chic.

I started off by stamping a Paper Artsy collage image onto a sheet of watercolor paper using Grout Grey ink, which made a very, very light impression and was the look I was going for.  I then tore the edges and sponged Antique Linen all over the panel, concentrating on the edges.  The watercolor panel underneath was lightly sponged with Weathered Wood distress ink and I then stamped some first and second generation splatters on using my new CTMH Ink Blot stamp set.  I used an off-cut from that panel for the sentiment, which was stamped in Slate ink as I didn't want a stark black ink on the card.

Pulling it all together, I decided to add some sewing, so I sewed two deliberately wonky lines all around the edges on the Desert Storm base and also stitched the sentiment panel onto the card as well.  I threaded a button with some of the same thread and glued that to the card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Hot Pick 1305 (Paper Artsy), #Hashtags (Stampers Anonymous), Ink Blot (CTMH)

Ink:  Grout Grey (MFT), Slate (SSS), Antique Linen, Weathered Wood (Distress)

Cardstock:  Desert Storm, watercolor

Accessories:  Button, sewing machine

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Card Concept.

Text Feathers

Hi and welcome!  This is my second post today - scroll down to see my first Father's Day card.

This card is for my husband and I used the sketch from Fab Friday, the colors from Colour Me and the inspiration from Muse.

I was inspired by the feathers - especially the ones with text in them and that's what I brought over into my card.  I also tried to keep the detail to the top portion of the card, just like Carol's card.  

I stamped the alphabet background stamp onto white die-cut feathers using Unicorn White ink.  Once that was dry, I smooshed the feathers into an Olive inkpad from SSS.  The white ink resisted the olive ink and gave a nice soft image.  I used the same stamp on the circle frame and also a masked off circle on the card base.

The sentiment was white-embossed onto a black double-ended banner and popped up on foam tape.  I wish the sentiment wasn't on quite such an angle, but I had to keep it in line with the text so it wouldn't look skewed.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Tiny Alphabet Background (SSS), Keep it Simple:  Father (PTI)

Ink:  Olive, Fog (SSS), Unicorn White (HA), Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Fog

Accessories:  Pierced Circle Frames (MFT), Fanciful Feathers die (WP9), Blueprints 2 (MFT), linen thread

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at ColourMe and Fab Friday.

Red and Green Christmas

Hi and welcome to another Merry Monday challenge.  This week, Debbie is our hostess and she wants to see light green, dark green and red on our Christmas cards.

For my card, I pulled out the cute Cozy Christmas set and matching dies.  I used the sketch at Fab Friday.

I stamped and colored the Christmas tree and Santa using Copics.  I didn't color Santa's face because I was sticking to the challenge colors, but I guess living in the North Pole wouldn't give him much chance to catch any sun, so all's good :)

The colored panel was layered onto a Wild Wasabi panel with rounded corner.  The sentiment was stamped onto some vellum and layered on top of a black banner.  To finish off the card, I tied two tiny tingle bells together with some striped baker's twine.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some fabulous cards using these colors so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cozy Christmas (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Archival Black

Cardstock:  White, black, vellum, X-Press It, Wild Wasabi

Accessories:  Cozy Christmas dies, jingle bells, baker's twine, Copics

Cheers

Karren

Fall Leaves

Hi and welcome back to my blog.  Today I have a card I made using the colors from Color Throwdown and the sketch from Fab Friday.  

I hope the leaves are orange enough to meet the criteria at Color Throwdown.  They started out orange but I toned them down using some brown inks.

The card base was stamped with the text stamp from the Papillon set using Crumb Cake ink, then I sponged Smoky Slate ink over a notebook stencil before sponging the edges of the card with Crumb Cake ink.

The leaves were watercolored using various orange-y distress inks before sponging with brown inks.  I popped them up on the card base using dimensional tape then glued on a bow with long tails (for the banner elements in the sketch).

So, in summary, a little bit of a departure from both challenges :)

I used the same stencil on the inside.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Papillon (Stampers Anonymous), Fantastic Foliage (SU)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, various distress inks
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, watercolor
Accessories:  Hemptique black twine, American Crafts stencil

Cheers
Karren

Twinkling Baby

Hi and welcome!  Today's card is for a very special reason.  Mindy, who runs the Fab Friday challenge, had a baby recently and the rest of the Fab Friday team hijacked the planned challenge to do a baby card challenge!  Fun, right?  Mindy had a little boy, so I kept my card in the blue/green spectrum, which also meets the criteria at Just Us Girls this week.

For my card, I dug out my Twinkling H2Os which I've had for many, many years and barely used.  In fact, probably 90% of them have never been used!  To create the background, I first white embossed the image and sentiment onto watercolor paper.  I then wet the paper and dropped on the Twinkling H2Os using a paintbrush.  Look at that shimmer!

I finished the card with some homemade enamel dots which I made using Perler beads.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any locally so had to order online and the minimum size was 6000 beads, so I've got enough for several lifetimes :)

Thanks for visiting.  Congrats to Mindy on your beautiful little boy.

Products used:

Stamps:  Celebrate Baby (SU)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Cool Caribbean, Whisper White, Watercolor Paper
Accessories:  Twinkling H2Os, White EP, Enamel Dots

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was a Fab Fave at Fab Friday.

April Showers

The challenge at Fab Friday this week is to use all five of the new In Colors.  Now this IS a challenge, because (a) I've only just got the new in-colors and (b) I only like one of them yet.  So I decided to make myself use them in the hopes I would like more than just Lost Lagoon!

This card was originally going to be my Freshly Made Sketches DT card until I realised I hadn't followed the sketch.  Doh!

I used a new-to-me set called April Showers from Clearly Besotted.  I've been wanting this set ever since it came out and I love it!

I die cut the umbrella then stamped it with Tangelo Twist, Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow.  I colored the handle with a blender pen and some Mossy Meadow ink.  The sentiment was stamped using Blackberry Bliss ink.  The raindrops use Lost Lagoon as does the die cut tile pattern.  I finished the card with some orange twine.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  April Showers (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Lost Lagoon
Accessories:  April Showers die, American Crafts twine, Piestra Tile Die (Memory Box)

Edited to Add:  This card was a Fab Fave at Fab Friday.

Cheers
Karren

Happy Tag

Hi and welcome back for another Freshly Made Sketch Challenge.  This week the fabulous and talented Jennifer Timko has given us this fantastic sketch.

How versatile is this sketch???

I decided to do a bit of watercoloring with my card this week and came up with this (I flipped the sketch):

The card base is stenciled with translucent embossing paste to add a bit of interest.  To color the tag, I smeared some Crisp Cantaloupe and Summer Starfruit on my craft mat then spritzed with water.  I laid the die-cut watercolor paper into the inky mess and pressed down.  Once the tag dried, I embossed the word "happy" using Pool Party EP then stamped "birthday" using Memento Tuxedo Black.

I cut the little tag hole using Coastal Cabana and tied some Pool Party seam binding ribbon around it.

This card uses the colors from Fab Friday and the tag theme from Seize the Birthday.

If you haven't checked out the divine inspiration from the FMS design team, head on over there now!

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  The Big, the Bold and the Happy (W&W)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crisp Cantaloupe, Summer Starfruit, Versamark
Cardstock:  Coastal Cabana, Watercolor
Accessories:  Pool Party EP, Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon, Tim Holtz Bubble Stencil, Wendy Vecchi Translucent Embossing Paste, Lil Inkers Tag Die

Edited to Add:  This card was one of the Fab Five.

Chevron Birthday

It's Sunday evening here and I had a wee bit of time today to make a card for a few challenges.  This card uses the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments, the colors from Fab Friday and the chevron theme from Seize the Birthday.

I dry embossed part of the card base using the Chevron EF then white embossed pieces of Real Red and Coastal Cabana cardstock using Positively Chevron and white EP.  I cut a panel of Whisper White and rounded opposite corners.  I then stamped the sentiment using Real Red.  I already had the "birthday" die cut on my table so decided to put that to good use.

I tied some red twine around the card but it still looked like it was missing something so I randomly placed some Candy Dots on the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI), Shenanigans (CASual Fridays), Positively Chevron (SU)
Ink:  Real Red, Versamark
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots, White EP, Circle Nesties, American Crafts Twine, birthday die (PTI), Chevron EF (SU)

Cheers
Karren

This Booquet's For You...

Today is the first day of my week long stay-cation.  Unfortunately I had to spend most of this morning with a flood clean-up company as they positioned multiple fans and dehumidifiers around our house to try and dry out the damage from Friday night's burst pipe.  The noise is rather loud and poor wee Dexter-Dog can't go to his room (the laundry) so he's feeling a bit lost.  Tomorrow they'll come back to check how effective the equipment is and hopefully at some stage an insurance assessor will come round and tell us what's going to happen to repair the damage.

Enough of that - it's time for a card.  I made a Halloween card today.  Now I don't celebrate Halloween but I had to buy the sets Best Fiends and Just Between Fiends because I just love the artwork.  Never knew if and when I'd use them, but today they came in handy for this card.

I used the sketch from Create with Connie & Mary; the colors from Fab Friday and the Halloween challenge from Paper Players.

I stamped Count Dracula onto watercolor paper and colored him using markers and blender pen.  I cut him out using an oval framelit.  The card base is clear-embossed using Positively Chevron and the DSP comes from an old pack called Ghostly Greetings - again I had no plans for this paper when I bought it, but I just loved the black and grey striped sheets :)

I used a large oval framelit to cut a piece out of the DSP to frame the main image.  Some linen thread and a brights button finish off the card.  I even decorated the inside because I really love the little bat image in the set:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Best Fiends; Just Between Fiends
Cardstock:  Basic Black; Watercolor Paper; Very Vanilla; Ghostly Greetings DSP
Ink:  Versarmark; Black Stazon
Accessories:  Clear EP; Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Basic Black and Smokey Slate markers; Blender Pen; Linen Thread; Brights Buttons; Ovals Framelits

Cheers
Karren

Dexter's Birthday

Tomorrow is a special day in our house - it's Dexter's 2nd birthday.  Dexter is our Bichon Frise and we love him to bits!  And in completely pathetic fashion, I made Dexter a birthday card.  I really wanted to put a row of doggy chocolates instead of the ribbon, but wasn't sure how to stick them down safely.

I wanted the images in the squares to be off-center and quirky but looking at the photo, they offend my desire for symmetry, so maybe I'll call that an experiment not to be repeated.  The designer paper is from the long-retired but still plentiful (in my craft room) Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP.

I'm entering this card into three challenges:  the sketch challenge at Fab Friday; the tic-tac-toe challenge at Paper Players (birthday; designer paper; ribbon) and the color challenge part of Friday Mashup.

And if you're interested, here is a picture of Dexter.

This is a quick post tonight, because I've just discovered the TV show Breaking Bad and am working my way through the seasons on DVD.  About to commence Season 2 and keen to start watching LOL.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  D is for Dog; Patterned Party
Cardstock:  Early Espresso; Cherry Cobbler; Very Vanilla; Sweet Slumber DSP
Ink:  Early Espresso
Accessories:  Naturally Serif Die; Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding; Cherry Cobbler; So Saffron markers

Cheers
Karren

Hello Tag Card

I got back into my stamp room yesterday afternoon after chasing round looking for new school shoes for my eldest and of course, being a teenage boy, they had to meet his high standards!  Anyway, mission accomplished and hopefully they'll last longer than the pair he's just worn to pieces after 5 months.  So much for buying high quality - a teenager will destroy anything given enough time!  I now completely understand when my mum says that I was always hard on shoes - sorry Mum!

So back to the card.  I have a feeling I went for one too many challenges with this card and I don't know whether I like the end result, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

The sketch came from Freshly Made Sketches but I also used a tag for the main image panel, which fits in with the challenge at Friday Mashup.  Finally, I used the colors from the current Fab Friday challenge.  (As an aside, I fleetingly considered naming this post "The F-Word Challenge" because all the challenges begin with "F" but thought it might be mis-construed and attract the wrong kind of readers LOL).

I used PTI's Embroidered Blooms for this card.  I love, love, love this set.  It's so delicate and pretty.  I stamped the flowers in Crisp Canteloupe and So Saffron and the leaves in Pistachio Pudding onto a tag using a PTI die.  The little embellishments were from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and some black candy dots.  To cover the whole in the top of the tag, I used a small black button and some Crumb Cake baker's twine from the Boutique Boxes kit. Some paper piercing finished off the card.

1. Create a project with a "Tag (as an embellishment on your project or as the project itself )."
2. Create a project using the colors "Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Sky, Primrose Petals & Bermuda Bay".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a project "with a Tag using the color combo above".

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Embroidered Blooms
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake; Very Vanilla; Crisp Canteloupe
Ink:  Pistachio Pudding; Crisp Canteloupe; So Saffron; Basic Black
Accessories:  Crumb Cake Baker's Twine; Neutrals Button; Neutrals Candy Dots; Itty Bitty Punch; Essentials Paper Piercing Pack