Latte Heart

Hi all and welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches . Our sketch hostess this week is Kim Singdahlsen and she has given us lots of squares!

When I first saw this sketch I admit to being a bit stumped, but then I received an assorted pack of new Lawn Fawn cardstock in gorgeous pastel colours and decided to use all five in my card.

I die-cut them with a rounded square die and laid them out as best I could using the eyeball method!  Onto an extra square I stamped a sentiment from Mini Messages and More by MFT Stamps and popped it up on the card base to make it stand out a bit.  I then added a Copic-coloured hand holding a coffee cup with embossed "foam"; a pair of glasses and a heart.

I made this card several weeks ago and I'm trying to remember how I got the foam around the cup.  I *think* I lightly rubbed my embossing pad around the edge of the "coffee" circle then added white embossing powder.  I know the heart is from the Oh Frappe set by Ellen Hutson.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the wonderful ways the rest of the design team have interpreted the sketch.

I'm linking this up to the Feminine challenge at The Paper Players.  I think the soft colours give off a definite feminine vibe.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mini Messages & More (MFT), Oh Frappe (Essentials by Ellen)

Ink: Versafine Onxy Black, Versamark, Ginger Root, Umber Shadow, Sea Glass (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, X-Press It, Macaron Assorted Pack (Lawn Fawn), silver matte foil

Dies:  Nesting Rounded Squares (Lifestyle Crafts), Creature Comforts, Crafty Hands (MFT)

Accessories: White EP, Copics

Cheers

Karren

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Explore Tag

Hi, it's a holiday here in NZ today (Monday), so I spent some time in my craft room, getting messy and inky venturing into the mixed media space, where I don't go very often.  I based my card on the sketch at The Paper Players and the masculine theme at Krafty Chicks.

While I love clean cards, I really enjoyed putting this together.  I started with the tag using a piece of Aall & Create patterned paper to cut the tag from.  Once the tag was cut I added stamping, ink-blending, splatter, rub-ons and stenciling to the tag.  The rub-ons ended up getting covered up by the layers on top, but they're there.

I went to a craft show here in Christchurch, New Zealand last weekend and bought some supplies I normally wouldn't.  But seeing things in real life makes all the difference.  Of the things I bought was some patterned paper by 3Quarter Designs - a NZ-based company.  The papers are gorgeous (the strip down the left hand side and the fussy-cut elements on top of the tag come from the same paper pack).  

To add more interest to the left-hand strip, I scrunched up some collage tissue paper, lightly rubbed Vintage Photo ink over it then flattened it out a bit before adhering it behind the patterned paper strip.  The original tissue paper strip was longer than the card base so rather than cutting off the excess, I gathered it while the glue was wet to give some extra texture and dimension.  The Desert Storm panel was dry embossed with the Airmail Vault embossing folder and then I lightly rubbed some white ink over the top, before blending some Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain ink around the edges.

Once the stenciling on the tag was dry, I assembled all the pieces, adding a die-cut leaf sprig and some corrugated cardboard.  I adhered it to the kraft panel and then stapled a word I cut with a sentiment strip die from the tag's patterned paper using a Tiny Attacher.  Finally I adhered it all to a white card base.

Thanks for visiting.  This was a fun project and I can see more of this in my future...

Products used:

Stamps: Sign Here (Spellbinders), A Little Artsy (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Neenah Desert Storm, Eclectic Clockwork (3Quarter Designs), Graph Paper Garden (Aall & Create), Archives Collage Paper (Tim Holtz), corrugated cardboard

Dies: Stitched Traditional Tag Stax (MFT), Tags A Lot (Mama Elephant) [for the reinforcer], Bloom Colorize (Tim Holtz)

Accessories: Opaque Grit Paste (Tim Holtz), black splatter (SSS), White Gloss Acrylic Spray (Dina Wakely), Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), Vault Airmail Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), 755 Street Stencil (13@rts)

Cheers

Karren

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

Magnolia Birthday

Hi and welcome!  It's Good Friday and a public holiday here in New Zealand, so what better than to get into the craft room?  I decided to make a card using the latest sketch over at Card Challenges, as well as the tic-tac-toe challenge at Paper Players and the birthday challenge at Krafty Chicks.  Because of time zones and full-time working, I don't often get to play with Paper Players so try and grab the opportunity when I can.  I went with the left diagonal with Die-cut/Flowers/Layers to come up with this card:

I coloured up the magnolia a few weeks ago when I was doing a bit of Copic-colouring so I don't know what colours I used, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found it already coloured and die-cut!  That formed the basis for my card, so I matched the flower colours with various cardstock colours and die-cut them from both a strips die and a stitched ric-rac die.  I layered the ric-rac over the strips and adhered them to a white card base that I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.

I then adhered the white-embossed sentiment to the flower with liquid glue and added foam tape behind both before adding to the card.  Some clear shimmer pen to the centre of the flower added a bit of sparkle and I decided not to add any further embellishments.  

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Magnolia Blossoms, Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark

Cardstock: White, Black, X-Press It, Blush, Coral Bliss (Altenew), Bellini, Wildberry, Crimson (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Magnolia Blossoms, Stitched Ric Rac (MFT), Slim Stripes (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories: Copics, White EP, Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout out at Paper Players and Krafty Chicks.

Oak Note

Welcome!  Today is the last day of my time off work so I've been trying to spend as much time in my craft room as possible the last couple of days.  As well as making a couple of cards for upcoming design team challenges, I also found the time to make a card for some current challenges.  This card uses the sketch at Paper Players as well as the mood board at Just Us Girls.

This card involved a lot of messy play and it was great!  I found a panel of cardstock I'd spritzed with mica sprays last year (using the Halloween 2022 collection).  I wanted to brighten the panel a bit so I added a few yellows and oranges and set it aside to dry.  For the background panel, I ink-blended some Distress Oxide inks and die-cut with the Shiplap Builder die before adding Vintage Photo DOX to the edges of each die-cut.  I adhered all the individual elements to a panel of photocopy paper and then die-cut with a stitched rectangle die.

The kraft panel was embossed with a brick embossing folder after being die-cut with a smaller stitched rectangle die.

Once the mica panel was dry, I die-cut it with the shadow layer of the Oak Leaf die then cut the inner with black cardstock.  The sentiment was die-cut from white and black and adhered together, then it was just a matter of assembly.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Ink:  Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Neenah Desert Storm

Dies:  Oak Leaf (Neat & Tangled), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Shiplap Builder (The Greetery), Just a Note Posh Script (Memory Box)

Accessories:  Brick Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), various Mica Stain Sprays

Cheers

Karren

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

Perfect Time

Hi and welcome!  I'm at the start of a week off work and have great plans of spending time in my craft room.  Maybe not as much time as I had planned when I first booked the leave, because our daughter has gone and got herself a Spoodle puppy, so I'm a fur-grandma and the fur-baby spends a bit of time at our place.  As she's only just 3 months old, she can't be left unattended outside of her crate, so babysitting it is 😄  She's pretty cute though, but with our Dexter being 12, I had forgtten how boisterous and nippy little puppies are.  Here's a photo of mother and puppy on the day she brought her home.

Anyway, onto my card.  I made this card for the challenges at Paper Players (CAS Signs of Autumn), Just Us Girls (Pumpkin), Sweet Stampers (plaid-gingham-tartan) and Sunday Stamps (sketch).

I hope this is CAS enough for The Paper Players.  I tried to keep it clean lined, even though there's not a huge amount of white space.  I started by stamping the background and creating a mask which I used to ink-blend the sky and grass.  I then splattered ink and white gloss paing onto the background, while keeping the various masks in place during each step.  I coloured the tree and bushes and die-cut with a rectangle die.

for the central image, I stamped, Copic-coloured and fussy cut each image.  I also stamped onto some patterned paper and fussy cuty for some paper piecing detail.

I positioned the pumpkins and adhered with liquid glue and added a bit of gray shading.  The little girl was popped up with foam tape and I also added some gray shading to ground her.  The sentiment was white-embossed onto black.

Thanks so much for visiting.  It was so nice to stamp just for fun and not for DT commitments.  Here's hoping I can keep it up for the rest of the week.

Products used:

Stamps:  Fall Friends, Scene Builder (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Broken China Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Plaid Patterned Paper (MFT)

Dies:  Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White Gloss Spray

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at The Paper Players, Sweet Stampin' and Sunday Stamps

Many Arches

Hi and welcome!  I'm at the beginning of a week off work and I have no plans but to relax, create and maybe catch up with a few friends - my idea of a perfect holiday!

This first card was made using the colours from The Paper Players and the Many of Something theme at Seize the Birthday.  I have many arches and used many blues in my masculine birthday card.

I silver hot-foiled the Geo Arches hot foil plate onto some white cardstock and then used the co-ordinating stencils to colour it.  Believe it or not, this has about 6 different blues on it!  I wasn't happy with the combo originally so went over a couple of stencils again with different blues.  I ended up with Prize Ribbon, Faded Jeans and Uncharted Mariner.

I die-cut it with a rectangle stax die and matted that onto silver foil before adding it to a black card base.  The sentiment was already hot-foiled with the same silver foil so it was easy to add some foam tape and adhere it to the card.

I'm also linking this card to the Happy Little Stampers Stencil and Birthday challenges.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Ink:  Prize Ribbon, Faded Jeans, Uncharted Mariner Distress Inks

Cardstock:  Black, Silver Foil, White

Dies:   Geo Arches Hot Foil Plate (Pink Fresh), Happy Birthday Hot Foil Plate and Die (Waffle Flower), Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Geo Arches Stencils (Pink Fresh), Silver Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

 Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at The Paper Players.

Woodsy Hello

 Hi!  It's a Public Holiday here in New Zealand today (Monday), so I had a chance to get into my craft room and make a card for a few challenges - something I don't get a chance to do often enough.

I was drawn to the inspiration photo at Just Us Girls and paired that with the sketch at The Paper Players and the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge where I went with Die-Cut...Twine...Trees/Woods.  I'm hoping that branches count as trees/woods?  

I created a bouquet of branches using a die from Concord & 9th as well as the Botanicuts:  Pussy Willow dies where I coloured the white die-cuts with Copics.  I tied the bunch with some twine and set it aside to work on the rest of my card.  I wanted to keep with the neutral tones of the photo and bring in the woodgrain and foliage as well as a black heart.  Patterned paper matted onto black cardstock worked for  the sketch elements and a hot-foiled and die-cut sentiment was added with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Desert Storm, Wood & Notebook Basics (Snap)

Dies:  Botanicuts:  Pussy Willow (The Greetery), Layering Leaves (Concord & 9th), Fall Foliage Hot Foil Sentiments and dies (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  Twine, Copics, White Hot Foil, Enamel Heart

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Tic-Tac-Toe and Paper Players.

Plaid Poinsettia

Hi all!  Today was a public holiday as a memorial day for Queen Elizabeth II and I spent some of the day in my craft room making a card for a few challenges.  I chose the sketch from The Paper Players, the Christmas metallic challenge from Happy Little Stampers, the Christmas in September challenge at Sweet Stampin' and the current Tic Tac Toe challenge where I pretty much played with every square except Splatters!  But I'll go with Foliage/Plaid/Berries

I stamped and stenciled the wreath before die-cutting it but then wasn't happy with the colours I'd used. This wreath was already done and in the stamp packet, so I decided to use that as it had more traditional Christmas colours.  The hot-foiled plaid background was also already done so you'd think this card would have been quick to put together, wouldn't you? Ha!  Not for me as I second- and third-guess every step.

 

The sentiment was silver-embossed on black cardstock and die-cut with the co-ordinating die before I put all the elements together on a Cranberry Cocktail card base, which matched the berries.  I added some yellow Nuvo drops to the centres of the poinsettias and Copic-coloured some pearls to try and match the cranberry colour.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K Designs), Versamark, various Altenew inks for the stenciling

Cardstock:  Cranberry Cocktail, Black Licorice (MFT), White

Dies:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9), Triple Line Diamond Hot Foil Plate (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Poinsettia stencil (Pink Fresh Studio), Silver EP, Silver Hot Foil, Pearls, Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren

Mimosa

Hi and welcome to another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess is Jennifer Timko.  Jennifer created a lovely, versatile sketch and I used it to create a CAS card.

I decided to play along with the colour challenge at The Paper Players so used only black, white and one other colour (yellow).  I stamped the mimosa image in black and yellow and stacked it three deep for some added dimension.  Onto a white panel, I hot-foiled the frame and sentiment in black and then adhered that to a black card base.

I then used liquid glue to adhere the mimosa branch to the card and called it done!

 Products used:

Stamps:  Mimosa Musings (The Greetery)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.) Citrus Burst, Maple Yellow (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Essential Duo Lines Rectangles, Essential Glimmer Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders), A2 Rectangle Stax (MFT), Mimosa Musings (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Black Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

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

Masked Flowers

 Hi all!  It's a Public Holiday here in New Zealand today so I took the opportunity to make a card for a few challenges.  The Paper Players have a one layer card challenge, Krafty Chicks is All Occasions.  I'm playing along with the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday and I chose Colouring/Flowers/Metallic for Tic Tac Toe.

It's been a while since I made a one layer card and I wanted to give the impression of layers, so I used gold foiling and a masking stencil to achieve that look.  

The card looks a bit meh from this angle so I took lots of photos trying to capture that shine from the gold foil.  To make the card, I firstly stamped the floral image in black ink onto a white card base.  I then used a rectangle mask to make off the outside edges before stenciling through the centre with the co-ordinating layering stencils.  I am hoping layering stencils counts as colouring for the Tic Tac Toe challenge.   I have just succumbed and bought a few Catherine Pooler inks so I tried to find some matching colours for this card.  Now to collect the rest...

Once I was finished with the colouring, I removed the masking stencil and then went looking for something to frame the image.  I found a hot foil frame that fit perfectly so with crossed fingers for no over-foiling, I foiled it onto the image.  I then added the sentiment using the same gold foil.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  In the Woodland (Altenew)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Wintergreen, Sage, Coral Cabana, Tutti Frutti (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Essebtial Duo Lines Rectangles, Essential Glimmer Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Foil, Masking Rectangles Stencil (Taylored Expressions), In the Woodland stencils (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at The Paper Players and Tic Tac Toe