Big Birthday Wishes

 Hi and welcome!  Today (24 December) is my husband's birthday so this morning I thought I'd better get cracking and make him a card!  I bought the MFT food truck kit specifically for him, so I didn't have to think too hard to decide what to use.

I put together the burger, hot dog and taco then had to think about how I wanted to lay them out on the card.  I decided a grid card was a good option so die-cut the gift card cover-up and ink-blended Salvaged Patina ink on the bottom of three of the panels, fading out to white.  On the fourth panel, I stamped the sentiment from Mini Messages and More.  I then adhered the sentiment panel and the food with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.  A lot of challenges are having a break at the moment, but Krafty Chicks have a CAS challenge and The Male Room is Anything Goes so I'm going to add this card to their galleries.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mini Messages & More (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Espresso, Honey Drizzle, Heart Beat, Lettuce Celebrate (Altenew), Salvaged Patina Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Gift Box Cover-Up, Hamburgers & Hot Dogs, Taco Tuesday (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

90 Years Young

 Hi and welcome!  Cecile Ribon is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she has a fabulous sketch for us to play with.  I needed a 90th birthday card for my father and the sketch was perfect.  As you can see, I took a literal interpretation to come up with my card.

I die-cut the leaves and the 90 from white card stock and ink-blended various green inks onto the die-cuts.  I also die-cut a pierced heart from both white and vellum.  I arranged the leaves both behind and in front of the white heart and adhered everything to the card base.  I then adhered the 90 to the vellum heart and added that to the card front as well.

To finish the front, I white-embossed a sentiment onto black.  I didn't add any embellishments.  For the inside, I added a couple of stamped sentiments, then die-cut another heart from vellum and added a leftover leaf sprig to it.

Thanks so much for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous cards, so I hope you'll check them out.

I am linking this up to the CAS challenge at Inkspirational, the Stencil and/or Dies challenge at The Male Room and the Garden theme at Addicted to CAS.

Products Used:

Stamps:  More Essential Sentiments (MFT), Lots to Say (Reverese Confetti)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Wintergreen, Sage, Seafoam, Spruce (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Vellum

Dies:  Pierced Heart Stax (MFT), Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Craft Designs), By The Numbers (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at The Male Room

Embossed Tissue

 Hi and welcome!  Today's Freshly Made Sketch is brought to us by Jacquie Southas and it's a goodie with lots of open space.  I went back to a very old technique that I can't even remember the name of for this card.

The background of this card is Tim Holtz tissue paper which I scrunched up then flattened out again before putting it onto a white panel I had liberally covered with liquid glue.  Creases remained in the tissue paper giving it a vintage yet clean look.  I then took a torn scrap of paper and used it for a mask to smear Versamark ink down the left hand side before adding copper embossing powder and heat-setting.  The creases are very obvious in the embossed area.  I deliberately didn't wipe away excess powder before heat-setting so there are specks of powder on the panel as well, which adds to the vintage look.

Finally I added a thin strip of black cardstock and two embossed sentiment strips and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I am linking this up to the 8th birthday challenge at The Male Room.  Congrats on 8 years!

Products used:

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Birthday Wishes, Greetings & Salutations (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, Tim Holtz Tissue Paper

Dies:  Sentiment Strips (SSS)

Accessories:  Copper EP (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Mousey Note

 Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Linda Callahan and I had such fun making this card.

I started with a Desert Storm card base, which I embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  From there I die-cut the notebook page and stamped the lines with Sea Glass ink.  I then decided to add the wee mouse from Colorado Craft Company and quickly Copic-coloured it because it wasn't stamped onto Copic-friendly paper.  I adhered the notebook page to the card base and then put together the book using the Open Book die set.  The stamping comes from the Special Delivery set which I stamped with Espresso and Grapevine inks.  You will see the sentiment doesn't match the sketch but I didn't have room to put the sentiment at the bottom so had to modify the sketch slightly.

On all the pages and the cover of the book, I sponged some ink to give dimension and on the pages I rolled each side over my finger to round the pages out a bit.  Given that our sketch artist is a retired teacher and librarian, I thought this card was quite fitting for the challenge 😁

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and see wahat the rest of the DT have come up with.

I'm linking this up to the Animals challenge at The Male Room.

Products used:

Stamps:  Special Delivery, Noted (SugarPea Designs), Wishing Happiness (Colorado Craft Company)

Ink:  Espresso, Grapevine, Sea Glass (Altenew), Amalgam (Gina K Designs)

Cardstock:  Neenah Desert Storm, White, Whip Cream, Cranberry Cocktail, Hot Fudge (MFT), Translucent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  Open Book, Notebook Journal Card (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories:  Copics, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Heart Happy

Hi and welcome yet again!  My blog hasn't been this busy in months 😄Today's card is for the latest sketch challenge at MFT Stamps, as well as the Color challenge at CASology - my card represents variations on a color, and the Anything Goes challenge at The Male Room.

Now, I was working from memory and sort of got the sentiment in the wrong place, but I hope that it's close enough to be acceptable.  To make this card, I die-cut several different-sized circles from a panel of white cardstock.  Behind those cut-outs, I added various pieces of cardstock in an ombre pattern.  I then adhered the panel to a white top-folding card base.

The 'because' word is stacked three high and added above the stamped sentiment.  A very simple card!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Because You (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Tropical Teal, Blu Raspberry, Summer Splash, Berrylicious, Sno Cone (MFT)

Dies:  Infinity Circle Dies (Hero Arts), Because (MFT)

Cheers

Karren

Best Dad

Hi everyone!  I'm back with a card for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge where our hostess this week is Lee Ann Barrett.  And what a great, CAS sketch she has for us!

I love sketches like this so my mind was whirring!  Eventually I settled on this card for my father's upcoming 86th birthday.

He'll get a laugh out of the sentiment - not sure how my three sisters will feel though 😃  This has actually photographed darker than it should.  The cogs are dark gray stacked and slightly offset onto black to form a shadow.  These are 5 layers deep.  Once I was finished layering (thank God for spray adhesive!), I put them to one side and worked on the rest of my card.  I embossed two separate sentiments from two different stamp sets onto a strip of black cardstock with Platinum embossing powder.  

I then added a strip of Scor-Tape and burnished on some gilding flakes.  I like that they give an imperfect finish - just right for a masculine card, I think!

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous cards using this sketch, so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this up to the DIY challenge at The Male Room - the cogs put me in mind of a workshop - and also the Southern Girls Challenge, who are looking for projects for or about someone special.  Well, my dad is pretty special to me 💕

Products used:

Stamps:  All About Dad, More Essential Sentiments (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Steel Gray (MFT)
Dies:  Steampunk Corner (Memory Box)
Accessories:  Platinum EP (Ranger), Nuvo Gilding Flakes

Cheers
Karren

Slothy Birthday

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with the latest challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and this week it's my turn to be challenge hostess.  I came up with what I think is an easy sketch - just right for this time of year when everything seems to be rushed and panicked!

My oldest is turning 21 on Monday (how did that happen!?!) He had a thing for sloths a few years ago, so when I saw this Art Impressions stamp set I just had to buy it to use for his birthday card.

Onto a white top-folding card base, I applied some gray embossing paste over the Tap Dance stencil from SSS.  While that was drying, I die-cut a rectangle frame die from Cement Gray cardstock.

I used the image of the sloth hanging upside down from the tree branch as my "star" in the sketch.  I colored the image and cut it out with my Scan n Cut.  Quite serendipitously, the image had a single balloon but my Scan n Cut didn't register the thin string line and cut it off.  I was going to glue it back together, but then had the idea to create my own balloons from dies.  This way, I get the balloon on the card and it also means I didn't have to find somewhere to stamp a sentiment.

I adhered everything onto the card base, popping up the sloth with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT's cards and also join in our DT call.  This is the last week, so have a go!

I'm playing along with a few challenges as well.  Lately, I haven't had the time to do any more than meet my DT commitments, so I'm killing several birds with one stone, so to speak.

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark challenge
The Male Room - Celebrate challenge
Southern Girls Challenge - Anything Goes

Products used:

Stamps:  Slothsome Set (Art Impressions)
Ink:  Amalgam, Hickory Smoke Distress Ink
Cardstock:  White, Black, Tropical Teal, Cement Gray (MFT), X-Press It
Dies:  Pierced Rectangle Frames, Balloon Numbers (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Tap Dance Stencil (MFT), Embossing Paste, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

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

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.

Skatin' by Christmas

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for four different challenges - CAS(E) This Sketch, Merry Monday, the Freestyle challenge at MFT's Creative Olympics and The Male Room.

On a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock I blended a mix of Distress Inks and Distress Oxide inks in an ombre fashion.  Once that was done, I went over the panel again - this time with the Drifts & Hills stencil and the Mini Cloud Edges stencil.  I then spritzed some water over the panel and set it aside to dry.

The polar bear was stamped onto X-Press It cardstock and colored with Copics.  After die-cutting it, I arranged it with a white-embossed sentiment and adhered it with foam tape onto the sponged panel.  Both layers were then added to a white top-folding card base.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Polar Bear Pals, Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth, X-Press It, Black

Dies:  Polar Bear Pals, Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Drifts & Hills Stencil, Mini Cloud Edges Stencil

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at CAS(E) This Skeetch