Birthday Cow

Hi

I'm closing in on the end of my weekend and I've got a card to post for a couple of current challenges.  This uses the sketch at MFT Stamps and the "farm" theme at CASology.  I'm also linking to the challenge at The Male Room (Little Boys) and the Favourite Things challenge at Shopping our Stash.  My favourite things are, without a doubt, My Favorite Things stamps and dies 😄

I created a wee farm scene on my stitched tag, using Watercolor Wash patterned paper.  Oh how I love that paper - it's perfect when you don't want to use plain cardstock but you also don't want to use a busy pattern that detracts from the focal point.

I stamped, colored and die-cut the cow and put him (her!) aside so I could create the background.  I die-cut the tag from white cardstock and then from the blue and green patterned paper.  I also cut the green piece with the hill die from the Spring Scene Builder die set, and some clouds with the pale blue patterned paper.  There is no brown in the paper pack so I used Hot Fudge cardstock for the fence.  

I arranged the elements onto the tag and adhered them in place.  I added some "grass" along the bottom before adding the cow.  I was originally going to add a sentiment strip under the fence, but thought it would look too crowded, so added the sentiment along the bottom, which doesn't strictly follow the sketch, but hopefully it's allowed 😄

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products Used:

Stamps:  The Whole Herd (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Hot Fudge, Watercolor Wash (MFT)
Dies:  The Whole Herd, Tag Builder Blueprints 3, Spring Scene Builder (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics

Cheers
Karren

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

Coral Fusion

Welcome!  I'm here with another challenge from Fusion and we have a beautiful summery inspiration pic for those of you just coming into summer.  And for those of us just coming into winter, I hope the photo makes you feel a bit warmer 😃

I created a fusion again this challenge and got out one of my favorite big floral images and did some coloring.

I started with a 3-color blend for the flowers but couldn't get enough contrast so then brought in N2 to add to the shade areas.  Once I was finished coloring with Copics, I got out some Prismacolor pencils and deepened the areas of shade and also added a bit of white highlighting.

I fussy-cut around the bottom of the lowest flower and tucked a scalloped border behind the flower.  Both these panels were adhered to a matching card base.  The sentiment was white-embossed onto vellum and die-cut with a stitched die.  To make it stand out more, I added a black die-cut flag behind the flower then glued the vellum on top of the flower.  Unfortunately a bit of glue seeped out behind the letters, but by the time I noticed, it was dry and there was nothing I could do.  Hopefully the recipient doesn't notice, whoever that may be!  

I'm linking this card up to a few challenges:  Shopping Our Stash (April Showers bring May Flowers), The Paper Players (CAS Blooms), The Card Concept (Floral Centrepiece - I guess my card is clean and layered) and CAS on Friday (Birthday Card)

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Make a Wish, Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Memento London Fog, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Coral Crush, X-Press It, Black, Vellum
Dies:  Stitched Scallop Edges, Blueprints 2, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolors, White EP, White Gel Pen

Cheers
Karren

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

Alcohol Ink Birthday

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another fabulous sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Narelle Farrugia.  And here is Narelle's wonderful sketch.

For my card, I went with a masculine birthday card.

I took a leftover piece of alchol-inked Yupo (left over from this card) and die-cut it with a stitched circle die.  I then die-cut a black circle using the same die.  Onto the black circle I spritzed some Distress Resist Spray then sprinked on some Pewter Perfect Pearl powder.  In the photo it just looks splotchy, but in real life, it has texture and shimmer.

I finished the card with a slanted sentiment strip cut in both black and white and a simple "happy birthday" message.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the rest of the design team's cards - they're fabulous as always!

I'm linking this up to Shopping Our Stash who are looking for masculine cards.

Products used:

Stamps:  KIS:  Happy Birthday (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Alcohol Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Yupo

Dies:  Inside/Out Stitched Circles, Slanted Sentiment Strips, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Distress Resist Spray, Pewter Perfect Pearls, Clear EP

Cheers

Karren

Rainy Day

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with another challenge for Fusion and this time we have an adorable photo inspiration and/or an interesting sketch.

I went with the photo for my card and created a rainy day scene that involves critters rather than people.

I used the Drifts and Hills stencil to lightly sponge a sky and ground and then stamped the raindrop background stamp with Barely Blue ink.  The critters were stamped colored and die-cut and the sentiment is white-embossed onto a strip of black cardstock.  The wee dog is popped up on foam tape and slightly lower than the rest of the animals so he looks to be closer.  That way, the fact he is so big compared to the bear and elephant doesn't look too out of place 😃

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some fabulous cards so head on over and check them out.  I'm linking this up to the challenge at Shopping Our Stash to "put a bird on it" and the Pets theme challenge at Cupcake Inspirations.  I'm also entering this into A Blog Named Hero because this set is without a doubt my favorite Hero Arts set.

Products used:

Stamps:  Fun in the Rain (Hero Arts), Falling Rain (SSS), Sweet Sentiments (Clearly Besotted), Distressed Patterns (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Barely Blue (SSS), Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It

Dies:  Fun in the Rain (Hero Arts), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Cupcake Inspirations.

Kindness in Pink

Hi and welcome!  I am so happy to be on a two-week break from work!  The last 6 months have been so, so busy to the point where I wasn't enjoying crafting very much.  I'm hoping that having a short break from work will rejuvenate me and allow me some time to get back to enjoying stamping.

Yesterday was my first day off work and, apart from doing some minor tidying up in the craft room, I spent most of the day binge-watching Netflix in a kind of mindless way.  Today, I decided to get back to normal and after laundry and a bit of gardening, I went into the craft room and produced two cards which aren't too horrible.

Here's the second one I made, which was made using the sketch at MFT, the Gah!Pink challenge at Shopping Our Stash (a new-to-me challenge) and CASology, who have a cue word of Kindness this week.

I cut four Stiched  Mod Squares from the smallest die in the set, using four different pink MFT cardstocks.  I was determined to create a "kindness" sentiment from my MFT supplies, so had to do some manipulating of the sentiments in the Geometric Greenery set to get the "Thank you for being so" part.  I have nothing from MFT that says "kind" or "kindness" so Bottlecap Letters dies to the rescue!  Slanted Sentiment Strips is probably my most used die and here it is again, both in white and for the gold offset.  To keep the stitched theme going, I die-cut the top and bottom edges with the straight die from Stitched Basic Edges.

Once I was happy with the sentiment, I went to work on the card base.  I layered a white, stitched die-cut panel to a white card base and then gold embossed some spatters from the Distressed Patterns set.  I arranged the pink squares and then added the two different parts to the sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'll be back tomorrow with the first of the two cards I made today.

Products used:

Stamps:  Distressed Patterns, Geometric Greenery (MFT)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Gold, Bubblegum, Ripe Raspberry, Pink Lemonade, Cotton Candy (MFT)
Dies:  Stitched Mod Squares, Slanted Sentiment Strips, Bottlecap Letters, Stitched Basic Edges, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Gold EP

Cheers
Karren

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