Hello, Embroidered Blooms

I got a rather nice order from Papertrey Ink this week and it was hard working all week knowing they were sitting waiting to be used LOL.

Finally this afternoon, their time came!  I pulled out Embroidered Blooms and Side by Side Sentiments to make a card for both Freshly Made Sketches and Friday Mashup.

I stamped the 3-step flowers using Crisp Cantaloupe (stamped off); Calypso Coral and Smoky Slate, which was subsequently covered up with Candy Dots.  The sentiment was stamped using Pool Party.

I used the Dotted Scallop Punch for a very delicate border for the main panel.

1. Create a project using the colors "Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral & (Smoky Slate or Soft Suede) ".
2. Create a project with a "Nature Theme".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Nature Themed project using the Challenge Colors".

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Embroidered Blooms; Side by Side Sentiments (PTI)
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Smoky Slate
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe; Calypso Coral; Smoky Slate; Pool Party
Accessories:  Dotted Scallop Border Punch; Neutrals Candy Dots

Cheers
Karren

Cantaloupe Thanks

This card is for the DSP/Color Focus challenge at Creative Crew this month.  

CCREW0713DF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM -- DSP/Color Focus: 
Birthday Basics. If you don't have this DSP, use the colors: Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Crisp Cantaloupe, Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla. 

As the new catty doesn't go live here in New Zealand until 1 July, I had to go with the color option rather than the DSP option.

I used a new hostess set called Simply Sketched and colored it with Crisp Cantaloupe and Gumball Green markers.  I cut it out using an oval framelit.  The background piece is emboss resist, sponged with Crisp Cantaloupe and layered onto a Basic Gray layer.  A button made with the new clay and molds plus a double bow finishes the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Simply Sketched; En Francais
Cardstock:  Crisp Cantaloupe; Very Vanilla; Basic Gray; Watercolor Paper
Ink:  Black Stazon; Basic Gray; Versamark; Crisp Cantaloupe
Accessories:  Gumball Green marker; clay and molds; oval framelits; clear EP; sponge; Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon

Cheers
Karren

Vanilla Slush

I combined the sketch challenge at Create with Connie & Mary with the tic-tac-toe challenge at Friday Mashup to come up with this card:

I chose Flowers, Butterflies, Lace for my card.  Although I have to confess that my butterflies are unfortunately singular as I couldn't work out how to fit more than one on my card without looking contrived.

The lace is from the Artisan Embellishments Kit, which I cut down to make narrower.  Lots of little pearls were used on the flower centers and it was great to use up some of the smallest pearls as they tend to sit unused on the sheets.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Secret Garden; Morning Meadow
Cardstock:  Strawberry Slush; Very Vanilla
Ink:  Strawberry Slush; Old Olive
Accessories:  Delicate Doilies Sizzlet; Secret Garden Framelits; Artisan Embellishment Kit; Basic Pearls; Beautiful Wings Embosslits

Cheers
Karren

Glitter Circles

My second card this weekend didn't turn out quite how I imagined it, but I went with it anyway.  The absolute best thing about this card is the Strawberry Slush layer for the Apothecary Accents diecut.  I cut that layer using my Silhouette Cameo and was so excited when it worked!  I don't like the wide layers on the nesting framelits and now I can cut layers as wide or as narrow as I like.  I tell you, this machine is way cool!

(For anyone who is interested, I die cut the frame in Basic Black cardstock, then scanned it into my PC.  Once I had it in the Silhouette software, I just used the trace and offset functions to make it the size I wanted before I cut it.  This blog helped immensely with the process.)

The inspiration for this card came from the sketch at CAS(e) This Sketch and the inspiration challenge at Just Add Ink, which is the cover of the new SU Annual Catalogue.  I chose the glimmer paper circle banner and the dress color as my inspiration for this card.

I punched a whole lot of gold and silver glimmer paper circles using the 1/2" circle punch and the Itty Bitty circle punch.  I then laid some cotton on the card base and stuck the circles randomly onto the cotton.  A thin sliver of Strawberry Slush and the Apothecary Accents sentiment finish off this CAS card.

Products used:

Stamps:  More Merry Messages
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Silver Glimmer; Gold Glimmer; Strawberry Slush
Ink:  Strawberry Slush
Accessories:  1/2" circle punch; Itty Bitty Circle Punch; cotton; Apothecary Accents framelit; Silhouette Cameo

Cheers
Karren

Grunge Birthday

Well, it's been a couple of dry weeks in terms of my stamping mojo!  Last week, I tried to make my card for the Freshly Made Sketch challenge and after two hours, I realised it just wasn't going to happen so I walked out of the room and didn't go back into it until today.  

I had better luck today, which was fortunate because I had to make a card for my youngest son's 11th birthday which is on Monday.

I used this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and I'm also linking this up to the challenge at SUO Challenges, which is to showcase your favorite accessories.  Well, my favorite accessory is embossing powder.  I love all the different techniques available with embossing powder and this one I've featured is probably my favorite - emboss resist.

I clear-embossed the card base with Sanded background stamp and then stamped several images from Grunge Rock; Clockworks and French Foliage onto Whisper White and embossed them with clear EP.  I sponged over the embossing with different colored inks. The strip under the main image is an off-cut which worked quite nicely for the sketch.  The guitar is embossed in black onto Whisper White and cut out.  Even the sentiment is black-embossed.

Here's a close-up of the embossed card base, which adds some lovely texture to the card:

Here's the sketch I worked from:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Grunge Rock; Clockworks; French Foliage; Sanded
Cardstock:  Basic Black; Whisper White; Lucky Limeade
Ink:  Versamark; Lucky Limeade; Daffodil Delight; Island Indigo
Accessories:  Clear EP; Black EP; Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine; Everyday Enchantment Brad

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was chosen for a Perfect Princess Award at Freshly Made Sketches and a Top 3 Pick at SUO Challenges.

#Merry

I ended up making two different cards, both using the same two challenges this month for Creative Crew.

I liked my first card enough to try again with another non-Christmas stamp set and this is what I came up with:

Here are the challenge details for both challenges:

CCREW0713CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM -- Catalog Focus: Washi tape! I love the new washi tape on P171 of the catalog. Make a holiday card or gift that shows off washi tape!

CCREW0713HF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM -- Holiday Focus: Obviously, it's Christmas! Show your holiday creativity by making a Christmas card using non-Christmas stamps. Use the card sketch on P23 of Celebrando Creatividad.

I'm not as fussed with this one as the last one, but it's okay.  I used the photopolymer set Typeset Alphabet that someone very kindly sent me.  My teenage son was in the room while I was stamping the letters and suggested I go all modern and social-media-like and use a hashtag in front of the Merry LOL.  

Anyway, seeing as I did that, I thought that using the washi tape again would suit the look I was going for.  I had to search hard to find a "Christmas" stamp that wasn't too small - wish I could have found a bigger one, but the challenge was to use non-Christmas sets and to me that includes Christmas sentiment sets.

The apothecary accents framelits were used to create the little side pieces to match the sketch.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Typset Alphabet; Sweet Essentials
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Calypso Coral; Baked Brown Sugar
Ink:  Calypso Coral; Baked Brown Sugar; Basic Gray
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits; Basic Rhinestones; Epic Day Washi Tape; Calypso Coral Baker's Twine

Cheers
Karren

Washi Joy

My first card for this month's Creative Crew challenges combines two of the challenges:

CCREW0713CF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM -- Catalog Focus: Washi tape! I love the new washi tape on P171 of the catalog. Make a holiday card or gift that shows off washi tape!

CCREW0713HF, CreativeCrew, SUO or SUM -- Holiday Focus: Obviously, it's Christmas! Show your holiday creativity by making a Christmas card using non-Christmas stamps. Use the card sketch on P23 of Celebrando Creatividad.

I used the sentiment from the just-retired Word Play set and colored it with Basic Gray and Calypso Coral markers.  I then cut it out using a 1 3/4" circle punch.  The Window Framelits piece is Whisper White cardstock covered in washi tape then cut with the framelit.  The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals.

A strip of the striped washi tape is run down the card base and then the smaller Whisper White piece is raised up on dimensionals.  A Calypso Coral Baker's Twine bow finishes this CAS card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Word Play

Cardstock:  Whisper White

Accessories:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral markers; Epic Day Washi Tape; Calypso Coral Baker's Twine; Window Framelits

Cheers

Karren