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.

Handmade Hugs

Hi and welcome.  Today's card was made using the colours at Card Challenges as well as the sketch at Just Add Ink and the stencil challenge at Just Us Girls.

I started by stamping the flowers and leaves with various Distress Oxide Inks and then die-cut them all.  Onto a white card base, I stenciled the Chicken Wire stencil using Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  The Oceanside panel (which looks navy but is actually a dark, dark teal colour) was die-cut with the stitched border then an inside/out stitched circle to create an opening.

I added the Oceanside panel onto the card base then arranged the flowers, popping them up with foam tape.  The sentiment was white heat-embossed and tucked into the flower and stretched across to the outer edge of the card.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Painted Prints, Lots of Hugs (MFT)

Ink: Versamark, Scattered Straw Distress Ink, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Saltwater Taffy, Fired Brick, Lumberjack Plaid, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Oceanside (Spellbinders)

Dies: Painted Prints, Blueprints 25, Inside/Out Stitched Circle Stax

Accessories: White EP, Chicken Wire Stencil (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

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Postage Birthday

Hi, it's time for another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our sketch hostess is Michelle Langley.  I took the general layout of her sketch to make this card using postage collage products.

After stenciling the images and die-cutting, I arranged them to as closely match the sketch as I could.  I then worked on the vertical panels.  Firstly I sprayed two panels with Distress Spray Stain then I went over both panels with Distress Spritz.  This card is so sparkly in real life.

I finished with a bold birthday sentiment.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Mixed Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Salvaged Patina, Chipped Sapphire, Saltwater Taffy, Fossilized Amber, Ground Espresso, Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks

Cardstock: White

Dies: Postage Collage Cupcake Die, Postage Collage Die

Accessories:  Postage Collage Blocks Stencil, Cupcake Stencil, Cupcake Die and Stencil, Spun Sugar, Chipped Sapphire Distress Spray Stain, Saltwater Taffy, Uncharted Mariner Distress Spritz

Cheers

Karren

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The Desk

Hi!  This card uses the colors at this week's Card Challenge.  When I first saw the colours, my mind went blank, but then I started scrolling through my MFT products and came across the various office die sets and decided to give it a go!  Confession:  all these products have never been used, even though I purchased the kit when it was released so... hangs head in shame... but pleased they finally got used because they are fun!

I created the "office" using various dies from three different sets.  The "wall" is stenciled with a small brick stencil and Lost Shadow Distress Ink.  The "floor" and the computer screen are patterned paper. I used the challenge colours as closely as possible, although the desk may be a bit too brown.  Once I'd assembled all the die-cuts I went looking for a sentiment and found this one (also never used) and thought it worked well with the office theme.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Sticky Note Sentiments (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne, Lucky Clover, Lost Shadow, Scorched Timber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Celestial, Beeswax, Truffle, Teal Topaz (Spellbinders), Floor to Ceiling patterned paper (MFT), One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose)

Dies: At My Desk, Office Greenery, Around the Water Cooler (MFT)

Accessories: Salvaged Brick Stencil (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Peony Sympathy

Welcome to a new challenge over at Tic Tac Toe.  I played with the centre column: Colouring Technique (stencils)/Dies/Sympathy to come up with this card.

I used some postage collage dies, stamps and stencils for my main image and backed that onto an embossed panel cut from a very dark purple cardstock. After I stenciled the background I left the stencil in place and spritzed on some Broken China Distress Spritz to give a bit of shine and interest.

The sentiment was already hot-foiled so I stacked it three deep and added it to the card front.  I stamped a sympathy sentiment on the inside of the card.

Thanks for visiting.  Head on over to Tic Tac Toe and play along!

Products used:

Stamps: Nesting Postage (Waffle Flower), Moments of Grace (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Celestial Mist, Glacier Iris, Dreamy Periwinkle, Reindeer Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Glacier Iris, Andromeda (Altenew)

Dies: Nesting Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), Here For You hot foil and dies (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories: Nesting Postage Collage Peony Stencils, Broken China Distress Spritz, Black Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

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Magnolia

Hi and welcome!  I made this card using the sketch over at Card Challenges, but it also fits the theme at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge as well as CAS on Friday and Addicted to CAS.  For both of these challenges, I hope my card is CAS enough.

I don't colour anywhere near as often as I used to and I don't know why.  So today, I thought I'd make myself colour and guess what?  Once I started, I really enjoyed it!  I coloured up this magnolia using Copics and die-cut it with the co-ordinating die.  In keeping with the sketch, I lightly stenciled a circle shape onto the card base using the English Brick Wall stencil and Lost Shadow Distress Ink.

For the bottom panel, I embossed a strip of Pink Lemonade cardstock with the Subtle EF and then adhered it to a strip of lightweight vellum and then onto some black & white striped patterned paper.  The vellum softened the boldness of the black and white in keeping with the rest of the card.  Finally I stamped the sentiment and added some pearls to match the pink of the magnolia flowers.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Magnolia Blossoms, More Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versafine Clair Nocturne, Lost Shadow Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, X-Press-It, Pink Lemonade, Black & White Stripes (MFT), vellum

Dies: Magnolia Blossoms (MFT)

Accessories: Copics, English Brick Wall Stencil (MFT), Holiday Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add: This card got a shout-out at Addicted to CAS and CAS on Friday.

Birthday Circles

Hi, I'm here with my card for this week's colour challenge over at Card Challenges. I'm also playing along with the current Inskpirational challenge, where I was inspired by the repeating circles in the top right image and pastel colours in the bottom right image.  

The challenge colours threw me for a bit until I re-read the blog post and decided to pastel-ise the colours a bit more.  So I found softer tones of the challenge colours and then used a MFT circle stencil to stencil them onto the left hand side of a white panel.  I deliberately softened the ink-blending as I got near the top of each circle to add to the feel.  Once I'd finished with the circles I stamped some mini splatters onto each circle, using the stencil for the smaller circles to keep the splatter inside the ink-blending.  

I then stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set and mounted it onto a mat in a cardstock colour that most closely matched the pink ink.  Because I like the look of the black against the soft colours, I added some black enamel dots and a black enamel heart.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Mini Messages & More (MFT)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Saltwater Taffy, Broken China, Shaded Lilac, Evergreen Bough Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Dahlia (Spellbinders)

Dies: A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax 1 & 2 (MFT)

Accessories: Basic Shapes: Circles stencil (MFT), Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

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Up In The Air

A quick post tonight as I managed to sneak in a little bit of time to make a card for the MFT Card Challenges sketch which closes in a few hours.  I'm also joining in with Seize the Birthday Anything Goes (as I wouldn't call this card CAS).  I did take a few liberties with the sketch but you can sort of see it!

I haven't done any Copic colouring for quite some time so I'm quite rusty.  Nevertheless, I quickly coloured up these images and die-cut them.  Onto a white panel I used a couple of stencils and some distress ink to create a background.  I then matted that panel onto a Wild Cherry panel and then onto a white card base.

I added the coloured images with foam tape and finished with some yellow enamel dots.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Up In The Air (MFT)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Rustic Wilderness, Tumbled Glass Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Wild Cherry (MFT), X-Press It

Dies: Up In The Air, A2 Rectangle Stax 1 & 2 (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Grassy Edges stencil, Micro Cloud Edges stencil (MFT), yellow enamel dots

Cheers

Karren

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Grateful Heart

Hi! My Simon Says Stamp February card kit arrived on Friday and I couldn't wait to have a play with it.  This was my first month subscribing to the kit, but I fell in love with the Artful Palette stencils and dies and had to have it.

I also happened to get around to watching Tim Holtz' latest live and he showcased the kit and the patterned papers.  I took one of his ideas and covered some strips of the patterned paper with packing tape to give a tile look.

I'm normally a CAS card-maker but my roots are in the collage-type of cardmaking from the late 90s, early 00's so it was fun to revisit.  I also dug out some really old embellishments for this card.

I started with a panel of TH kraft cardstock which I embossed with an Altenew clocks/gears embossing folder.  Once that was finished, I ink-blended round the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and then went over various parts with a Stamperia stencil and the same ink.  I then added a bit of Black Soot to the edges before splattering on some Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  I then set it aside to dry.

After adding packing tape to some strips of cardstock, I chose my stencil and die-cut various pieces.  For the sentiment, I stamped on some Pencil Eraser cardstock with Walnut Stain DOX ink before die-cutting and then adding some Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges.  All the die-cuts apart from the sentiment are adhered straight to the embossed panel.  The sentiment is popped up on foam squares from the kit.

The big round embellishment started out silver so I added some alcohol ink to it to colour it up, more in line with the rest of the card.  The butterflies were die-cut from a scrap of leftover Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain sprayed cardstock and I added some tiny vintage pearls to the centre before popping up their wings.

Thanks for visiting!  This took me all afternoon but it was so much fun just getting messy and playing.

Products used:

Stamps:  Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: Kraft (Tim Holtz), Pencil Eraser (Lawn Fawn), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Artful Palette (SSS)

Accessories: Traces of Yesterday Embossing Folder (Altenew), Daily News stencil (Stamperia), Teakwood alcohol ink, Rose Gold Mixative, Black Soot Distress Stain Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), expoxy rose, large grommett, Warm Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

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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Bluebird

Hi and welcome!  I'm trying to spend more time in my craft room this year to try and bring back some of the joy in the hobby that disappeared when my son passed in 2019.  Today, I made a card for a few challenges, which I used to do every week, but now do so very rarely.  This card is for Addicted to Stamps & More (Any Occasion), Time Out Challenges Favourite Technique (stenciling and ink-blending), Krafty Chicks Masculine Challenge and Just Us Girls Stencil Challenge.

Any New Zealanders reading this post will hopefully recognise my inspiration for this Valentine card for my husband.  For those that don't recognise it, this is a play on one of the most popular potato chip brands (see photo of packet below).  He loves potato chips so buying this die and stencil set from Hero Arts was a no-brainer.  I die-cut the elements from white cardstock and used Distress Inks to colour them.  I went looking through my stash for a penguin and did some masking to remove the cocktail glass this one was holding up.  I then filled in the gap with a black Copic pen (although in hindsight I didn't need to because the chip covered it up anyway).

I took the "originals" from the chip pack and added the sentiment (although I wish I had white-embossed it now, but never mind).  

On the card base, I stenciled over the Geo Leaves stencil with Distress Grit Paste and once dry I assembled all the elements.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps: Penguins In Paradise, Be Original (MFT), Peony Memories (The Ton)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K), Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Tea Dye, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Fired Brick, Festive Berries Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, X-Press It

Dies: Snack Attack (Hero Arts), Penguins In Paradise (MFT)

Accessories: Geo Leaves stencil (SSS), Distress Grit Paste, Copics

Cheers

Karren

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Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Just Us Girls and Krafty Chicks