Row of Buildings

Hi and welcome!  Jen Brum is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she gave us a row of circles to play with.  I turned the circles into buildings and came up with this card:

I've been enjoying playing with layering die-cuts and ink-blending lately, so these were all cut from white cardstock and ink-blended with mostly neutral colours to try and give a cohesive look.  I used a mini-slimline card base and die-cut a smaller panel from a nesting die set.  Onto that panel I lightly ink-blended Speckled Egg distress ink, fading it into white to mimic snow.  I then spritzed shimmer spray on the panel before adding the buildings and sentiment.  I then used foam tape to add it to the card base.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.  This is our last challenge for 2024 so it will stay open over the holiday period, giving you plenty of time to play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cozy Christmas (Mama Elephant)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Speckled Egg Distress Ink, Limestone, Silver Stone, Evening Gray, Industrial Diamond, Pure Graphite, Burnt Red, Mahogany Bark, Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Winter Village (Honey Bee), Mini Slimline Layers (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Shimmer Spray

Cheers

Karren

 

Gingerbread

 Hi and welcome.  This week for the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge I went down through the centre with Fun Fold-Gingerbread-Any Holiday to come up with this bridge card:

I'm not much of a fun-fold card-maker but these bridge cards are pretty easy, so that's what I started with. I added some plaid patterned paper and set it aside to work on my gingerbread men and sentiment.

I stamped, Copic-coloured and cut the gingerbread men and then white-embossed a sentiment onto a panel of Sno Cone cardstock before die-cutting it with a fancy rectangle die.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Gingerbread Cookies (Mama Elephant), Star Snowflake Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, So Cone (MFT), Perfectly Plaid Winter (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  Hemstitch Rectangle (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Plate of Cookies

 Hi it's time for another challenge from the team at Fusion and we have a Christmas theme going on this time.  I decided to focus solely on the gingerbread cookies and the sketch to come up with this card.

 

The plate of cookies and gingerbread man were stamped and coloured a year ago, so I can't remember which colours I used. I cut the images using my Scan n Cut and went to work on the rest of the card.  The card base is white and over that I added a piece of patterned paper to sort of look like a benchtop.  I white-embossed the sentiment onto Desert Storm cardstock and matted that onto a piece of cardstock to match the tea colour in the scarf of one of the gingerbread men.

The plate and extra gingerbread man was adhered with foam tape and I called it done!

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and check out the wonderful cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Gingerbread Cookies (Mama Elephant), Winter Village (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K,) Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Desert Storm, X-Press It, Adriatic (Hero Arts), Floor to Ceiling Patterned Paper (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Circle of Congrats

Hi, here I am again with a card for Freshly Made Sketches and this week I am the sketch hostess.  This is the simple sketch I came up with.

To match the simple sketch, I created a simple card.

A lot of the subtlety in this card is lost in the photo, so I'll give you a brief description.  The white layer was dry embossed with the Subtle embossing folder before being die-cut with an embossed edge rectangle die.  I used a smaller embossed edge rectangle die for the pink patterned paper strip.

The congratulations circle die was die-cut 3 times and stacked before being spritzed with shimmer spray.

After I put the card together, I decided to add a stamped sentiment so carefully stamped inside the stacked die-cut using my Misti.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Obsidian (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Watercolor Wash Brights, Black & White Strips (MFT)
Dies:  Congratulations Circle Frame (MFT), Embossed Edge Rectanges (Kat Scrappiness)
Accessories:  Subtle EF (SU), Shimmer Spray

Congrats

It's time for another Fusion challenge and here are the details.

I played with the sketch this time and used the green from the photo to come up with this card.

I used a stencil and some glitter paste to create the mandala.  While it was drying, I stamped and die-cut the sentiment and embossed the second part of the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

I finished the card with some irridescent crystals.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some great cards using the challenge so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Obsidian (Altenew), Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Congrats (Mama Elephant), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Seafoam Glitter Paste (BoBunny), Captivating Mandala Stencil (MFT), Irridescent Crystals (Studio Katya)

Cheers
Karren

Oh Baby!

I hope this blog post title doesn't attract the wrong kind of reader... 😄  It's Freshly Made Sketches time and this week I'm the challenge hostess.  And here is my sketch:

I had the oh-so-brilliant idea to use acetate for the vertical panel, but never gave a thought to the fact I was using balloons for the three elements and most balloons have strings.  I tried drawing strings with a Multiliner pen so they ended up "tied" to the letters in the embossed sentiment but they just looked dorky when the card was opened.  So rubbing alcohol to the rescue and I rubbed those strings away!  Now my balloons are just floating away and have no strings...  

The gingham paper was white embossed with the "congrats" and then adhered to the inside of the card base so that it is visible through the acetate.  In keeping with the sketch, I added a thin strip of green cardstock down the right hand side of the acetate.  Here's a photo of the card standing up so you can get an idea of how the patterned paper and acetate work.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out how the rest of the design team have used my sketch.  You'll be so glad you did!

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round, Celebration Balloons (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Acetate, Green Apple (SSS), Homespun Gingham (MFT)

Dies:  Celebration Balloons (ME)

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Copper Jug

Hi!  This week at Just Add Ink we have a photo inspiration for you and fair to say, I did a literal translation for my card:

The jug was embossed with Rose Gold EP and then die-cut.  The flowers were all stamped in grays with a touch of yellow and the brick wall behind the jug was sponged in gray inks as well.  The brick wall panel was cut narrower than a card front and then popped up on foam tape onto a Soft Stone top folding card.  I then added a white embossed sentiment on Slate cardstock before adding the jug and flowers.

And here is the inspiration photo for you.  Is it not gorgeous?

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous inspiration for you so head on over and check them out.

I'm going to link this up to the Anything Goes theme at The Flower Challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sweet Havana (Mama Elephant), KIS: Just Because (PTI)

Ink:  Smoke, Fog, Dusty Sage, Evergreeen, Stone, Lemon Zing (SSS), Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Slate (SSS)

Dies:  Sweet Havana (Mama Elephant)

Accessories:  Rose Gold EP (SSS), White EP, English Brick Wall Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Green Heart

Welcome!  I made this card on the weekend and thought I'd better get it on my blog before the various challenges closed :)  Lately, the blogging part of this hobby has been left until the last minute - must be a bit more disciplined!

Anyways, I made this card using the sketch at MFT, the colors from The Heart Desires and the masculine theme at Simon Says Stamp.

From the latest MFT release, the things I fell in love with most were the Color Drop stamps and dies.  So, when I got the chance to buy these, I jumped on them and had to use them as soon as they arrived.  I decided to make two hearts from two different green cardstocks, layering one on top of the other.  I also popped the right hand side up on foam to add some interest.  The card base is a soft gray color and then I added a black fishtail flag frame.  The sentiment and word die are from Mama Elephant and I just love the white embossing on the red strip - such a bright pop of color!

I think this card would be suitable for a teenage boy (or girl, for that matter) - the colors are young and fun.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), Limelight, Poppy, Gumdrop Green (MFT), Black
Dies:  Stitched Fishtail Frames, Color Drop Stax (MFT), Congrats (Mama Elephant)
Accessories:  White EP

Cheers
Karren

Kleenex Birthday

The team at Just Add Ink have come up with another fun Just Choose Two challenge and this week you get to choose from metallics, circles and balloons.

I went with metallics and circles and came up with this card, which I made for my father's 84th birthday which was the other day.

When I was grocery shopping about a month ago, I saw a Kleenex box that really caught my eye, so I bought it with the intention of using the pattern and colors to make a card.  Here is the box in question.  I hope you can see how I was inspired (ie copied almost exactly!)

I had to wait a couple of weeks because I needed to order a pigment ink pad to sponge on the base color and then over-stamp with the circles.  I bought Brown Sugar by Mama Elephant and I think it worked really well.  As well as the Brown Sugar ink, I also used Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink, stamped off.  Once I'd sponged the Brown Sugar ink onto some Bristol Smooth cardstock, I overstamped with various sized solid circle stamps by SSS in both the Brown Sugar and Vintage Photo inks.  Once the panel was dry, I gold embossed more solid circles as well as some outline ones, before die-cutting the panel with a stitched edge die.

In keeping with the inspiration, I wanted a big, white sentiment so chose this Mama Elephant birthday word and paired it with a Clearly Besotted stamp that I had to perform some surgery on.  Finally, and for something a bit different, I adhered it to the top-right hand corner of a white card base.  I am so pleased at how this card came out and I hope my dad will like it.

Thanks so much for visiting!  The rest of the design team have come up with some wonderful cards using this challenge, so head on over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Lots of Dots (SSS), Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Versamark, Brown Sugar (Mama Elephant), Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink

Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth

Dies: Blueprints 15 (MFT), Birthday (Mama Elephant)

Accessories:  Gold EP

Cheers

Karren

Rainbow Score

It's my turn to host over at Inspired By All The Little Things and this month, I chose a rainbow-themed inspiration photo.

Isn't this fabulous?  As for choosing my guest, well, that was easy.  Someone who loves rainbows and music?  None other than the fabulous Michelle Lupton.  And I really urge you to head on over to her blog and check out the card she made for the challenge - it is stunning!

For my card, I wanted to keep with the rainbow and music theme, so dug around my dies until I found this one from Memory Box:

I die-cut it out of the card base then again from a panel of Bristol Smooth that I'd inked up in rainbow colors.  I then used the Inlaid Die-cutting technique and popped the colored die back into the negative space on the card base.  In keeping with the music theme, I created my own sentiment using an alphabet stamp set.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some gorgeous cards for you to check out and I hope you'll be inspired by either the colors or the image or something else that sparks your creativity.  I'd love to see you in the gallery.

Cheers

Karren

Doggy Love

So, I made this card on the weekend, but I missed the deadline for one of the challenges I made it for because I forgot to blog it!  Luckily, there are lots of fun challenges out there at the moment looking for love or pet themes so I'm adding this card to those challenges at the bottom of my post.

I dry-embossed my card base using two rectangle dies and then did some ink-smooshing with Hickory Smoke distress ink.  The cute little dog was colored with Copics and I added Glossy Accents to the red heart and his nose.  The sentiment is white-embossed onto black and die-cut with a flag die before being adhered to the card base.  The dog is popped up on foam tape.

And that's my card!  I've been enjoying making Valentine's cards this year - although here in New Zealand we don't tend to give them to anyone other than our significant other and my boys will scoff if I give them one because they're "too old" for "lovey-dovey cr@p".  But maybe, just maybe, I'll give them all to Pete next Tuesday, because who says that one is enough 😃

These are the challenges I'm linking to (click on the graphic to be taken to the challenge):

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Addicted to CAS and Addicted to Stamps and More

Thankful Leaves

Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be back as GD with the Time Out Challenge team for our mid-challenge reminder post.

And we are inspired with words for this challenge.

'Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart'

For my card, I used some more NBUS (the Calli Letters sets).  Although in 90% of cases, my NBUS becomes OBUS (Once Before Used Schtuff), these letter sets were so easy to use and I love the font, so I'm sure to use them again.

I masked off a panel across my card and sponged on Distress Inks.  After removing the masks, I stamped an image from the Penny Black Lush and Lavish set - overstamping several times to get a good, rich impression.  Then I stamped the letters and by the way, I only practiced once on a scrap of paper - these really are easy if you look straight down on them as you're stamping.

I finished off the panel with some rainstones and a die-cut frame before popping it up on a white card base with some foam tape.

Thanks for visiting and thanks also to the Time Out team who have made me feel so welcome.  Be sure to check out their cards.

Products used:

Stamps:  Lush and Lavish (Penny Black), Calli Letters, Calli Letters Upper (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon 

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Wonky Stitched Rectangles (MFT)

Accessories:  Rainstones (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

Yappy Birthday

It's time for another fabulous challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week my friend, Linda, is the hostess.  And this is the versatile sketch she has come up with.

I had so many ideas running around my head with this card, but in the end I couldn't help but make a dog card, knowing that Linda is a dog-person :)  These dogs just crack me up!

I've had this set for a while but this is its first outing.  I stamped, colored and die-cut the dog, as well as the popped up eyes/eyebrows and nose which I coated in Glossy Accents.  For the horizontal panels, I sponged in to resemble a wall and floor with the skirting board in between.  To be honest, that wasn't my intention - it was meant to be sky and ground but I wanted to stay true to the sketch so left a gap between.  Then it just looked like a wall and floor so that's what I'm going with :)

The sentiment is from Playful Pups by Mama Elephant.

Thanks for visiting!  The DT have some gorgeous cards to inspire you so please check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mini Crazy Cats & Dogs (Tim Holtz), Playful Pups (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Versafine Onyx Black, Broken China, Antique Linen Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Mini Crazy Cats & Dogs (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:  Copic Markers, Glossy Accents

Cheers

Karren