Birthday Garland

Hi!  Our French friend, Cecile Ribon, has a wonderful sketch for us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Check it out:

I took it rather literally and created a birthday card using a gorgeous garland die from Altenew.

I cut the die in both green gingham patterned paper and pink cardstock, and on both I lightly sponged some co-ordinating ink on the edges of the die-cut to create a bit of dimension.  Speaking of dimension, the gold foil sentiment is popped up on fun foam and the black strips have been spritzed with Distress Resist Spray, which results in a fun look against the black cardstock.  Here are a few closer shots so you can see what I did.

That's it from me today!  The design team have created gorgeous cards and we also welcome Tracey McNeely as our guest for April, so head on over to the challenge blog and feast your eyes.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Ink:  Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry Distress
Cardstock:  White, Black, Gold Foil, Bubblegum, Farm Fresh  Gingham (MFT)
Dies:  Leafy Garland Die (Altenew), Happy Birthday (SSS)
Accessories:  Distress Resist Spray, Nuvo Crystal Drops

Cheers

Karren

Bunny Wreath

I'm back with a card for the latest challenge at Fusion!  Check out this fun sketch and beautiful inspiration photo:

I decided to create a fusion this time and was inspired by the flowers, the wreath, the colors and, of course, the sketch.

A year or so back, I stamped a whole heap of these adorable flowers and leaves from SugarPea Designs in many different SSS inks.  I die-cut them all and tucked them in with the stamps.  I've now made three different cards using these and having them pre-stamped and cut makes the job so much quicker!  The gingham paper is from MFT and adhered to a white card base.  I then used foam tape to adhere the angled panels on top.  The wreath was adhered with a mixture of liquid glue and foam tape.  A thanks sentiment finishes the card.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have created some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out and come join us in the gallery.

I'm linking this card up to the Anything Goes challenges at Simon Says Stamp and Retro Rubber (I've had these SPD sets since mid-2016).

Stamps:  Funky Wreath Spring Addition, Funky Wreath All Seasons (SPD)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Doll Pink, Dark Chocolate, Hollyhock, Hotlips, Jellybean, Twinkling Tutu, Willow, Beanstalk, Lemon Chiffon, Duckling, Apricot, Teeny Bikini

Cardstock:  White, Farm Fresh Gingham (MFT)

Dies:  Funky Wreath Spring Addition, Funky Wreath All Seasons (SPD)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Retro Rubber Challenge.

Hello Flowers

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Jen Brum and she has a fabulous sketch for us to play with:

I was a bit loose with the sketch and used elements rather than panels to define the layout.  I hope you can see the sketch in my card.

As soon as I saw Jen's sketch, I knew I wanted to use a die-cut word for the horizontal panel and then I decided to use my NBUS Painted Flowers set (which I didn't even want when it first came out but after seeing all the gorgeous cards using it, I had to have it!).

I chose to use the beautiful colors at the MFT Color Challenge, which also worked well for the current challenge at Just Us Girls.   From the photo at JUGS, I was inspired mostly by the right-hand photo with the pretty flowers and colors.

I used inks for the Peach, Coral and Gray colors and used some Blue Breeze cardstock for the Hello die-cut.  The flowers were positioned behind the word for the most part and the "friend" word was stamped in gray ink.  I finished the card with some confetti.

Thanks for visiting!  The FMS DT have some gorgeous cards using Jen's sketch so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Painted Flowers, Label Maker Sentiments (MFT)
Ink:  PInk Pearl, Coral Bliss, Limestone, Silver Stone (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Blue Breeze (MFT)
Dies:  Big Hello
Accessories:  Sparkling Clear Confetti

Cheers
Karren

Mandala

Hi and welcome!  I'm back with another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Kim Singdahlsen.  Her sketch is a goodie - and I can't wait to see how everyone interprets it.

I decided to use some emboss resist and bright colors to define the circular shape on the sketch.

I've been wanting this Mandala stamp for ages and whenever I was placing an order at SSS, it was out of stock.  I finally managed to grab it last month and this is its first outing.  I white embossed it onto a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock and then sponged Distress Oxide inks over the top, fading out towards the top right corner.

The sentiment is from another NBUS set and white embossed onto black.  The panel was die-cut with a stitched frame die and then added to a white card base with fun foam between the layers.  I finished the card with some Sparkling Clear Confetti.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have come up with some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm linking this up to the ink technique challenge at Work It Wednesday.

Products used:

Stamps:  Mandala (SugarPea Designs), Yay for You (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey Distress Oxide
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  White EP, Sparkling Clear Confetti

Cheers
Karren

Easter Baby

Hi and welcome!  This morning I made this card using the sketch at MFT Stamps, the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink and the Easter-Inspired challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

From the JAI photo (congrats on 400 challenges, by the way!), I was inspired by the pastel colours of the eggs and the speckles so I tried to replcate that in my alcohol ink panel.  I chose my lightest colours of alcohol ink as well as Copper Mixative and went to town on a panel of Alcohol Ink cardstock.  When it was dry, I spritzed it with some Distress Resist Spray and once that was dry, I lightly went over the whole panel with Micro Glaze.

I die-cut the sentiment with copper foil cardstock as well as the strip down the left hand side.  And because the photo (and Spring in general) puts me in mind of babies and new life, I decided to add a new baby sentiment, white-embossed on black.

Here's a close-up of the texture created by the Distress Resist Spray.  This stuff is really cool!

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Yay for You (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Alcohol Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Copper, Alcohol Ink Cardstock

Dies:  So Many Yays (MFT)

Accessories:  Nuvo Jewel Drops, Distress Resist Spray

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.

New Adventure

 Welcome to my blog!  I'm here with a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess this week is Linda Callahan.  I'm also playing along with the MFT Color Challenge.  Check out Linda's sketch!

I was influenced by Linda's own card when I sat down to make my card.  While it's hard to see in the photo, I created a scene with the diamond shape, fading out the colors towards the edges.

I then stamped, colored and die-cut the sweet little girl image and adhered her with foam tape to the sponged and die-cut panel.  I added a sentiment and then glued that down to a white card base.  Finally, I finished the card by adding a yellow Nuvo Jewel Drop to the flower on her hat.

Thanks for visiting!  Head on over and check out what the rest of the DT have done with this fun sketch.

Edited to add:  Thanks to Barb for reminding me this fit with the challenge at Addicted to CAS.  I never gave a thought to the fact it had "luck" in the sentiment! 

Products used:

Stamps:  Adventure is Calling (MFT)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron Distress Inks, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Adventure is Calling, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Jewel Drops