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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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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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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Toadstool Notes

Hi, I'm here with my not-very-clean card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess is Cecile Ribon.  This card started out when I found a roll of collage tissue paper in my stash.  I decided to have a play and make a panel with scrunched up tissue paper, adhered to cardstock and then spritzed and ink-blended to vintage it up a little.  I then got caught up in the moment and it turned into my FMS card.  Apologies to the team for the vintage-y, distressed appearance. 

I found the toadstools already ink-blended and assembled so then I created the clipboard, which is just so cute and fun!  I made the clip of the clipboard by spritzing a piece of Desert Storm cardstock with Antiqued Bronze distress spray stain and letting it dry.  It gave it a nice, aged metallic look without using foil cardstock.

The vellum was torn on three sides to match the sketch and I added a sentiment which was stamped with black onto white then I clear heat-embossed over the whole thing to give it a true Dymo tape look.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some wonderful (cleaner) cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Faded Type, Mini Muse (Tim Holtz), Winter Herbarium (The Greetery), Best Sentiments (Altenew)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Hickory Smoke, Gathered Twigs, Old Paper Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Versamark

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, White, Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Vellum, Tissue Wrap (Tim Holtz), Off the Grid patterned paper (MFT)

Dies: Vault Noteworthy (Tim Holtz), Botanicals toadstood Garden (The Greetery)

Accessories: Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Spray, Scorched Timber, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Clear Embossing Powder.

Cheers

Karren

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Butterfly Love

Hi and welcome to the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Jen Brum.  I used the sketch to make a soft butterfly card.

The background text is a BetterPress plate inked up with soft brown ink.  I then die-cut the postage edge frame and adhered it to a white card base.

The butterflies were hot foiled, stenciled and die-cut and I chose three for the sketch (one more than the sketch but I like odd numbers). 

I finished with a sentiment chosen to cover as much of the horizontal panel as possible.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT's cards - they're gorgeous!

Products used:

Stamps: On The Line: Succulents (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Warm Linen (Altenew), Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Dried Marigod, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Alabaster (Spellbinders)

Dies: Small Butterflies hot foil and die (Pink Fresh Studio), Post Edge Expression Press Plate (Spellbinders), Postal Frames (The Greetery)

Accessories: Satin Pewter hot foil

Cheers

Karren

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Mouse Love

Hi all and welcome!  It's time for another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Verena Shapiro.

I wasn't going to buy these dies even though they are so goddamned cute, because I thought they would have limited use and my craft room is already too full!  But then I caved and they arrived last week.  I made this card straightaway, keeping the mice in black, white and grey and just adding a pop of colour with the chocolate box.

The kraft cardstock is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder to add a bit of interest, but I deliberately wanted to keep everything neutral apart from the chocolates, so no scene in the background.  The oval was the perfect size for the sketch and provides some grounding for the mice.

I finished with a simple sentiment.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: #Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Aged Mahogany Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Black, Fog (SSS), Dove (C&9), Neutral Kraft Stock (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Classic Mouse Duo, Classic Mouse Love (Spellbinders), Oval Shadows (MFT)

Accessories: Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Thinking of Cosmos

Hi! It's Freshly Made Sketches time and this week our hostess is Kim Singdahlsen.  I went from memory when making my card and sort of got my angled panels at the wrong angle but I hope you can still sort of see the sketch!

I have been waiting for these Garden Cosmos dies to come back in stock for a long time and snapped them up as soon as I got the notification from my NZ retailer, Krafters Cart.  They are just gorgeous and I'm so pleased with them.  I die-cut everything with white cardstock and did some ink-blending on all the pieces, going for a soft apricot look to the flowers.

The angled strips were cut, then stamped then embossed before being added to a white card base for a white-on-white look.  If you've been following me for any length of time, you might have known that I really struggle with angled panels so this sketch was a bit of a challenge, but by keeping it tone-on-tone, it was easier to work with.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Assorted Greetings (Gina K Designs)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Apricot Frost, Citronella (Altenew), Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink

Cardstock: White

Dies: Craft-a-Flower: Garden Cosmos (Altenew)

Accessories: Burlap Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), Tea Party Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Star

Hi and welcome back!  It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is  Jen Mitchell.  Jen gave us a square sketch which is always a fun change.

I dug out some NBUS dies from MFT Stamps for my card and paired them with some patterned paper and some ink-blending to come up with my card.

It's all fairly self-explanatory so not much to say about the card this week.  I arranged all the die-cut and ink-blended elements together and adhered them to the card base after adding the patterned paper and a strip of red cardstock.  Finally I added a simple sentiment.

Thanks for looking.  The design team, as always, have created some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this card up to the Addicted to CAS challenge which has a prompt of "food".  

Products used:

Stamps: Movie Night (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Scattered Straw, Lost Shadow, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Poppy (Spellbinders), Paradise (Hero Arts), Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn), Floor to Ceiling Patterned Paper (MFT)

Dies: Movie Icons (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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Dramatic Strawberries

Hi, I'm here with my card for this week's challenge over at  Freshly Made Sketches where our sketch hostess is Jen Timko.  I decided to play with some NBUS dies from Honey Bee stamps and went with a dramatic dark green background to showcase them.

I die-cut the strawberries, leaves and flowers from various coloured cardstock then added some shading with a bit of ink-blending.  For the background I embossed a card panel with the Molded Frame embossing folder to mimic the additional layer in the sketch.  I then die-cut some embossed circles from the same green cardstock and adhered to the embossed panel.

After adding the strawberries, I went looking for a sentiment and found this one already foiled, so score!

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Ink:  Green Opal, Lemon Ice, Mid Yellow, Dark Chocolate (Altenew)

Cardstock: Forest, Pomegranate (Spellbinders), Jalapeno Popper (MFT), Reindeer Moss (Altenew), Harvest Gold (PTI), White 

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Strawberries (Honey Bee Stamps), Embossed Circles (Kat Scrappiness), You Are Everything BetterPress (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Molded Frame Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

Cheers

Karren

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Leafy Birthday

The team at Freshly Made Sketches is back with another sketch and this week our hostess is Judy Rozema.  This card was fairly simple for me to pull together as the leaves were already stamped, stenciled and die-cut.

I decided I wanted the big oval to be some form of foliage so I went through my One Note app and came across this set.  When I pulled it out, I found the already prepared images, so it was a no-brainer!  I chose matching cardstock which I embossed with the Leafy embossing folder.  I then stamped the sentiment onto a strip of white cardstock and matted the bottom with black.

Finally I finished with some black enamel dots and a single heart.

Thanks for visiting!  Please head over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Propagation Garden Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Mountain Mist, Lagoon (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Lagoon (Altenew)

Dies: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS)

Accessories: Friendship Leafy Cluster Stencils (SSS), Leafy Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Essential Black & White Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Coral Poinsettia

Hi and welcome to our first challenge of 2026 over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Amy O'Neill.  Despite making hardly any Christmas cards in the lead-up to Christmas, I decided to make a Christmas card in January - go figure!

I started with a kraft panel on a white card base onto which I stamped the sentiment before embossing with the Subtle EF.  I then stamped a background stamp using white ink onto Oceanside cardstock and die-cut it with a torn edges die.  I also die-cut a small strip of Coral cardstock as a border.

The flowers and leaves were die-cut with light and darker cardstocks and adhered together.  I then went over the edges with some Distress Grit Paste to mimic snow.  I finished with some yellow Nuvo Drops for the flower centres.  I used the leftover elements for the inside of the card.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Christmas Background (MFT), Poinsettia Bouquets (WPlus9)

Ink: Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Versafine Onyx Black, Canyon Clay, Eucalyptus (Altenew)

Cardstock: Kraft, White, Oceanside, Sage, Coral (Spellbinders), Coral Crush (MFT), Lagoon (Altenew)

Dies: Torn Edges (MFT), Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz)

Accessories: Distress Grit Paste, Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops, Subtle EF.

Cheers

Karren

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28

Welcome to our last challenge of 2025 over at Freshly Made Sketches. Our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia and I used her sketch to make a birthday card for my son, who would have been 28 on 17 December (yesterday for me as this post goes live).  I still make him a birthday card to celebrate each birthday and this year, I made a card to resemble his car, which was his pride and joy.  He painted it himself and wanted to be a car painter.  

To make the card, I first stamped the Papillon stamp onto the black panel with Versamark for a subtle watermark effect, but it didn't even show up in the final card or the photos.  I applied some gilding flakes to a white panel and then ripped it diagonally to match Matthew's car.  I then die-cut the rectangle frame from the panel and mounted it onto another slightly larger black rectangle before putting it onto a card base.

I used the same technique for the numbers but put the gilding flakes at the top, added a smaller black panel and the stamped sentiment.

Here is a photo of Matthew's car after he had painted it and then at his funeral where we invited everyone to write a message in Sharpie over the gold paint.  That car is treasured as are the messages.

Thanks for visiting and please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.  This challenge will be open for longer and we'll be back in January with a new year of sketch challenges.

Products used:

Stamps: #Hashtag, Papillon (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Versamark

Cardstock: Black, White

Dies: A2 Rectangle Stax (MFT), By The Numbers (PTI)

Accessories: Gilding Flakes (Nuvo)

Cheers

Karren

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Poinsettia

Hi and welcome to our second-to-last challenge of the year over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Michele Ferguson.

I went with a Christmas card because I couldn't think of anything other than a big flower for the circle image (my creativity is on hiatus at the moment).

The flower was stamped, stenciled and die-cut before being layered onto a dark green background.  For the banner, I went with vellum and really wanted to actually stitch it onto the card but was just too lazy to pull out the sewing machine! Hence the stitched dies - so much easier!

I finished with some gold gems in the centre of the flower and on the banner to hide some little dots of glue.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Lumberjack Plaid, Aged Mahogany, Saltwater Taffy, Worn Lipstick Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Vellum, Forest (Spellbinders)

Dies: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design), Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax, Blueprints 25 (MFT)

Accessories: Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe), Back to Basics Gem Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Skating Christmas

Welcome to the new challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where this week I am the sketch hostess.  I had no idea what I would make when I came up with the sketch and it took a while to figure something out but finally came up with this card.

The sled and floral arrangement were made using coloured cardstock and ink-blending.  After I put the pieces together, I set it aside and worked on the background.  The patterned paper was a little bit too dark for the softer look I was going for so I painted over the panel with some diluted white gesso to soften it.  The top of the panel was die-cut using the linen side of the PTI cover plate.  I stamped the sentiment and added a thin mint strip to separate the two panels.

After adding the die-cut elements, I finished with some pearls to match the coral tones of the poinsettia.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by our design team and meet our super-talented two new design team members.

Products used:

Stamps: Star Snowflake Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Brushed Corduroy, Abandoned Coral, Lost Shadow, Bundled Sage, Fossilized Amber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Kraft, Coral Crush (MFT), Fog (SSS), Rouge (Altenew), Mint (Spellbinders), Silver Matte Foil, Christmas 2025 Backdrops (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Winter Welcome Sled (Spellbinders), Linen & Canvas (PTI)

Accessories: Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps), white Gesso

Cheers

Karren

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Thinking Of

Hi and welcome!  Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Cecile Ribon.  She gave us an image that tends towards Christmas, but I didn't want to make a Christmas card, so turned it into a floral instead.

Both the floral and the sentiment are NBUS stamp sets for me so it was good to use them.  I stamped and die-cut the images and set them aside to work on the background.  I die-cut a double square frame and backed it with some patterned paper that I'd spattered with gold.  I did the same spattering on the white panel but used some scraps of paper to mask off the top left and bottom right so the gold was contained in a diagonal.

I didn't add any embellishments as I thought the gold was enough.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow, Warm Sunshine, Caramel Toffee (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose)

Dies: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps), Nesting Square Dies (Waffle Flower)

Accessories: Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp)

Cheers

Karren

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