Big Thanks

Hi!  I made this card late last night and while the background came together quickly, the front panel took a bit longer as I couldn't decide what to put in it.  This is version 3.0:

I used Linda's sketch at Pals Paper Arts and the current challenge at Pinterest Inspired Challenge.  I wanted a long narrow front panel but couldn't find anything appropriate to fit, so ended up with this sentiment and lots of white space :)

For my background panel, I took a piece of watercolor paper and white embossed the Worn Grid stamp from Unity.  I then used Sonja's controlled watercolor technique to apply ink.  I used several distress inks, trying to match the colors of the inspiration picture.  Once it was dry, it looked a bit patchy so I went over the whole thing with Tumbled Glass ink to give it some cohesion, then went round the edges with Vintage Photo ink before die-cutting it with an angled die.

I layered that onto a black card base and put another thin strip of black on the bottom panel to match the sketch.  The sentiment was stamped with High Dive ink and layered onto a black panel.  I finished with some dark grey enamel dots.

I'm also entering this into Stampin' Royalty's Card for Guys challenge.  This is my second entry there.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Worn Grid (Unity), Big Thanks (CAS-ual Fridays)
Ink:  Versamark, High Dive, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Hickory Smoke, Vintage Photo
Cardstock:  Black, white, watercolor
Dies:  Blueprints 18
Accessories:  White EP, enamel dots

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Pals Paper Arts.

Dandelion Dreams

Hi! It's the start of a three day weekend here as we're celebrating ANZAC Day today, where we commemorate those who were killed in war and honour returned servicemen and women.  The day falls on the 25th of April, but in terms of public holidays it has been Mondayised and so this year we get Monday off work. 

To start the weekend (and after housework, of course), I made a card for a couple of challenges that I haven't had a chance to play in for a while.  The ombre cue word at CASology is particularly appealing as I love the ombre look.  I combined that with the colors at Color Throwdown and the sketch at Pals Paper Arts - although I did take the sketch a bit liberally :) 

I created an ombre panel by sponging with Lemon Chiffon, Goldenlocks and Sunshine inks, going from light to dark.  I then used my Misti to stamp the dandelion heads on both the ombre panel and the card base and getting them in exactly the right place!  Gotta love the Misti!  I used a Copic Multiliner to draw the stems as the ones that come with the set weren't long enough.  I flicked some water onto the panel to give a bit of added interest as well.

I layered the ombre panel onto some black card and then onto the card base.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger), Lemon Chiffon, Goldenlocks, Sunshine (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Accessories:  sponge, water, Copic multiliner

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got top honors at CASology and a shout-out at Color Throwdown.

Merry and Bright

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday!  Today's challenge comes to us from Kristie and her challenge is to use turquoise, lime and white.  

For my card, I used the sketch at Pals Paper Arts and came up with a very CAS card:

The photo looks a bit dull but this is really quite bright IRL.  The word "merry" was die-cut three times from white card and once from Audrey Blue then stacked together and colored with clear Wink of Stella.  I then stamped the "& bright" with Green Apple ink.  I positioned a few sequins with rhinestone centers and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have used these colors to make some gorgeous cards, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wet Paint Holiday (PTI)

Ink:  Green Apple (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Audrey Blue (SSS)

Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (PTI), sequins, rhinestones, Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Brighter Days

Today's card uses the colors from Pals Paper Arts and the Light cue word from CASology.  I'm also entering this into the current One Layer Simplicity challenge (thanks, Ardyth, for the heads up).

To make my card, I masked off a panel and sponged Wisteria Wonder at the top and Night of Navy at the bottom.  I then stamped the silhouette stamps in Jet Black Archival ink after removing the masks.  I put the masks back on then flicked some silver alcohol ink onto the card to give a lovely silvery look.  The sentiment was silver embossed and looks crooked in the photo but it really isn't :)

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Larger Than Life (PTI), April Showers (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Night of Navy, Jet Black Archival, Versamark, Silver Alcohol Ink

Cardstock:  White

Accessories:  Silver EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at CASology.

Gingham Christmas

Hi!  I should be sick of making Christmas cards, but still I keep churning them out - even though I don't need any more this year!  

This card is for the Candy Cane theme at Curtain Call, as well as the challenge at Fusion (this time I'm using the inspiration pic).  I also used the sketch from Pals Paper Arts.

The gingham panel down the left hand side is a stenciled piece using the Gingham stencil from SSS and some white embossing paste I colored red.  The white panel has several die cut "merry" words layered onto it.  The banner is white embossed and has a little twine bow.  

And that's it!  Thanks for visiting.  I hope your Christmas preparations are winding down and you are getting the chance to relax.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wet Paint Holiday (PTI)

Ink:  Versamark, Real Red

Cardstock:  Real Red, white

Accessories:  Wet Paint Holiday die, white EP, MFT Fishtail Flag die, Gingham Stencil (SSS), Embossing Paste, twine

Cheers

Karren

Sparkly Snowflakes

I took some time this morning to make a card using the colors from Pals Paper Arts, the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the "sparkle" challenge at Just Us Girls.

I just want to say for the record, that I hate working with glitter :)  I cracked open my Heat & Stick powder for this card and it was so old that it was all lumpy.  Between that and accidentally turning on my heat gun before putting excess glitter back in the container, I had glitter and powder everywhere!  It was so bad, I had to stop in the middle of making this card and vacuum the floor!  Here's a couple of close-up shots so you can hopefully see the glittery snowflakes.

Anyway, back to the card.  I sponged Soft Sky, Pool Party and Bermuda Bay ink in ombre fashion onto some watercolor paper.  I then die-cut some snowflakes and glittered them (make is sound so easy, doesn't it!).  The sentiment is white embossed and the whole watercolor panel is popped up on foam tape.  Some random sequins finish off the card.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Winter Wonderland (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Versamark, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay

Cardstock:  White, Watercolor

Accessories:  Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Heat & Stick powder, white EP, Eliza die (SSS), Lindeman and Rizza dies (Memory Box), sequins

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was a pick at Pals Paper Arts and CAS(E) This Sketch.

Snowflake Sparkle

Hi and welcome!  The card I'm showing you today feels like version 3,263.  I had an idea in my head for the sketch at Pals Paper Arts and the tic-tac-toe challenge at Paper Players but it wasn't coming together how I imagined.  In the end, I had to adapt my plan, ditch the vellum and Irridescent Ice EP and start again.  I finally came up with this after an embarrassing amount of time and after checking out the Addicted to CAS challenge word which is Dots.  I'm hoping circles count as dots :)

I love white on white, so chose White, Snowflake and Glitter on the tic-tac-toe board.  I cut snowflakes using various SSS and Memory Box dies and adhered them to circles of silver glitter paper.  They were then popped up on foam tape onto a white card base.  

The sentiment was embossed with pewter EP and cut with a banner die.  It was also popped up on foam tape and bits of the snowflakes above and below were positioned over the top of the banner.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  In the Meadow (PTI)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Silver Glitter Paper

Accessories:  Circle Nestabilities, Pewter EP, Rizza die (Memory Box), Elize, Faceted, Maryanne, Melody dies (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was a top pick at Pals Paper Arts.

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

Wish Big

It's Sunday night here and I haven't had a lot of time to stamp this weekend.  I did manage to squeeze in half an hour earlier this evening to make a quick card using the sketch at Pals Paper Arts and the colors at Colour Me.

I chose to use a stencil cut with my Silhouette for the horizontal panel.  I masked the top and bottom of the card base with some torn paper then sponged Pink Pirouette ink over the stencil.  The banner was cut using the banner framelits then stamped with a very, very juicy Strawberry Slush inkpad.  The banner was layered onto a piece of Strawberry Slush cardstock and trimmed very close.

Finally, I cut two stars in Pool Party and Strawberry Slush from the Lil Inkers Stitched Stars dies.  I placed a candy dot in each and mounted them using Dimensionals.

Thanks for checking out my very CAS card.

Products used:

Stamps:  Word Play
Ink:  Strawberry Slush, Pink Pirouette
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, Pool Party
Accessories:  Lil Inkers Stitched Stars die, Subtles Candy Dots, Banner Framelits, Stencil cut from Silhouette Cameo

Cheers
Karren

Hi and Hello

We are into our last weekend living in our garage - yahoo!  All the earthquake repair work has been completed and now we're just waiting for new carpet and vinyl to be laid during this week and we can move back into our house!  It hasn't been as painful as I thought as our garage is pretty big and we have split it into "rooms" but I'll be glad to get back to normal.

Anyway, last weekend we bought a new TV and home theatre system.  Because my sons have the patience of gnats, everything had to be set up immediately and consequently I find myself without a power point to plug in my Ott-lite, so crafting and photographing this weekend was done under fluorescents!  Apologies for the photo you're about to see...

This card uses the colors from Pals Paper Arts and the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  

I had to take this photo on my laptop keyboard, which makes for a different sort of background!  I used the Trifecta stamp set from Mama Elephant to stamps some triangles in a pattern roughly matching the sketch.  I used Bermuda Bay and Real Red ink and in some places, I over-stamped to give a third, darker color.  The die cuts are stacked three layers high and covered with Wink of Stella, so nice and shimmery IRL.  A Crumb Cake card base finishes off the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Trifecta (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Real Red
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Real Red, Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  word dies (Paper Smooches), Wink of Stella

Cheers
Karren

Purple Dots

This is my second post for today.  If you receive this via email, be sure to scroll down for my Celebrate Blue card.

My second card made on the weekend incorporates three different challenges - Friday Mashup to use polka dots, the sketch from Pals Paper Arts and the colours from ColourQ.

I used a new-to-me set from Verve called Lean on Me.  I first stamped the flower in Memento Angel Pink ink then colored using my Copics.  Once that was finished, I stamped over the image in Versamark and white-embossed.  This is a trick from Jennifer McGuire.

The leaves were die-cut from Xpress-it cardstock, then roughly colored using Copics.  To match the flower, I took my Versamarker pen and outlined them before white-embossing.

The rest of the card is fairly self-explanatory. 

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Lean on Me, Party Time (Verve)
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Angel Pink
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant, Xpress-it, Subtles DSP, Regals DSP, Vellum cardstock
Accessories:  White EP, Elizabeth Dies, Tag die (PTI), American Crafts Twine, Pointed Flowers Die (Verve)

Edited to Add:  This card got a Shout Out at both Friday Mashup, ColourQ and Pals Paper Arts.

Cheers
Karren

Stacked Birthday

Hi everyone and welcome.  Today's card is a combination of challenges as well as a technique I've wanted to try for some time and finally manage to fit it in today.  The challenges I'm entering are:  Friday Mashup to use triangles or hexagons, ColourQ's color challenge and the sketch from Pals Paper Arts.

The technique I wanted to try is stacked die-cuts (or whatever it's called!).  I colored a scrap of Xpress-it with three Copic markers as close to Apricot Appeal, Peach Parfait and Summer Starfruit, then I cut the piece with the Birthday die cut from PTI.  I then stacked 5 other plain white die cuts to build up the thickness of the layer.  The "happy" was cut with my Cameo and the loops at the bottom were cut and hooked around the "birthday".  Both words were covered with Wink of Stella for a subtle glimmer.

I randomly stamped some triangles from Geometrical onto a Whisper White panel using Apricot Appeal, Peach Parfait and Summer Starfuit ink.

The white panels were layered onto Always Artichoke and some candy dots finished the card.

Here's a peek of the inside:

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Geometrical (SU)
Ink:  Peach Parfait, Apricot Appeal, Summer Starfruit
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Accessories:  Birthday die (PTI), Wink of Stella pen, copic markers, Silhouette Cameo, Regals Candy Dots

Edited to Add:  This card was a pick at Friday Mashup and at ColourQ.

Cheers
Karren