Christmas Plaid

It's Merry Monday time again and this week Wendy has challenged us to use pinecones, greenery and plaid ribbon on our cards.

Now I don't own any plaid ribbon at all, so rather than buy some, I decided to sponge my own plaid.  It's not exactly a ribbon, but I hope it'll pass muster.

I've made a few plaid pieces in the last few days and this one was made with Distress Inks.  In hindsight, that wasn't a good idea because the distress inks stay wet for longer, so after sponging each stripe, I had to heat set before placing the mask down for the next color!  I also think the SU inks gave a much crisper and defined line between the colors.  Oh well, live and learn :)

The colors I used for the plaid were Festive Berries, Iced Spruce and Vintage Photo.  I die-cut and stamped the little pinecone from PTI's Peaceful Pinecones set.  The white panel is actually inlaid into the card base, making this a one layer card apart from the die-cut.  The reason for that is because no way on earth was I going to sponge a whole card front, so I cut out the centre panel before sponging!

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you have time to check out the rest of the design team's creations.

Products used:

Stamps:  Peaceful Pinecones, Signature Christmas (PTI)
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU), Vintage Photo, Festive Berries, Iced Spruce (Ranger)
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Peaceful Pinecones die, Lil Inkers Stitched Mats Rectangles, Always Artichoke and Early Espresso markers

Cheers
Karren

Plaid Birthday

Here's another card featuring some of the plaid I sponged the other day.  I'm entering this in this week's CASology challenge which is "stripes".  This pattern involved sponging many, many stripes so I hope it meets the criteria.

I adhered a strip of the plaid pattern to a white linen cardbase, then stamped the sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  A few candy dots in matching colors finished off this CAS masculine card.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  The Big, the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Summer Starfruit, Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock:  White Linen, Whisper White
Accessories:  Brights and Regal Candy Dots

Cheers
Karren

Congrats

For my second post today, I decided to follow along with a couple of the DTGD challenges at Splitcoaststampers.  These two challenges are from Bridget and Betty and here is my card:

I stenciled the card base using a Memory Box stencil and then cut a tag from vellum.  Onto that tag, I carefully adhered a leaf cut from acetate.  The felt flower and leaves came from an old Stampin' Up kit that I'd never opened.  The Congrats was made using a Dymo label maker.  The tag is popped up on dimensionals and some pretty pink baker's twine finishes it all off.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Vellum, Acetate
Accessories:  American Crafts Baker's Twine, SU felt flowers, Dymo Label Maker, Memory Box Lorelei leaves die, PTI tag die, Memory Box stencil

Cheers
Karren

It's Your Day

Today's card is my first attempt at sponging my own plaid.  I first saw it in an Online Card Class a few months ago but haven't had the time to try it out.  As soon as I saw the ColourQ inspiration pic, I knew my time had come to give it a go!  I used the sketch from Verve as well as I decided it had been a while since I'd made a layered card.

Believe it or not, I did start out making a clean card but it ended up looking a bit vintage and distressed.  I stamped my balloons and colored them with Copics then because the plaid panel looked old, I decided to vintage-up my main image.  I stamped a mask for the balloons then merrily stamped and sponged around them, ending up by rubbing a bit of Gesso in the corners with my fingers.

Here's a close-up of the stamped plaid, which took quite a while as I stupidly sponged almost a half sheet of cardstock!  I sponged with Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit and Tempting Turquoise and I love how I ended up with some green squares!

I'm also entering this in the following Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at Splitcoaststampers:

DTGD14SusieAustralia
DTGD14IlinaCrouse
DTGD14~Fee~
DTGD14cathymac

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Party Time (Verve), Dictionary (SU)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone Distress inks, Summer Starfruit, Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Tempting Turquoise (SU), Versamark
Cardstock:  Early Espresso, Island Indigo, Whisper White, Xpress-it
Accessories:  White EP, Lil Inkers Stacked Mats Circles, Copics, Gesso, Linen Thread

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was showcased on the Viva la Verve website plus it got a shout-out at ColourQ.

Deepest Sympathy in Gold

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day!  Today our hostess is Jen Mitchell.  Jen is a very talented card-maker and is also very, very funny!  Often, I'll literally laugh out loud at a comment she has left for me.  If you haven't checked out her blog, head on over.

Anyway, Jen's sketch this week is for a square card.  I kept mine rectangle because I need to post this card away and I don't know what it's like in the US, but posting square cards here in NZ is pretty expensive!

Unfortunately I have need of a sympathy card for an ex-workmate who lost his father-in-law.  I wanted to keep my card somber and masculine so came up with this.

I used a Crumb Cake card base and the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP.  I love this sentiment from Verve and it is my go-to sympathy stamp now.  I wanted to put some embellishments other than the ribbon but didn't have anything gold apart from sequins and thought that would look a bit too celebratory which is not what this card's about.  In the end, I left it pretty plain.

I'm also entering this in Heather's Dare to Get Dirty Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers. DTGD14HousesBuildofCards

If you haven't already, please check out the rest of the design team cards and welcome the very talented Kim Singdahlsen to our little group.  She is joining us as guest designer for August.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Deepest Sympathy (Verve)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Mocha Morning Specialty

Accessories:  Gold EP, Corner Rounder, Black Hemp Twine, Lil Inkers Stitched Mats Rectangles

Cheers

Karren

Sledding Rabbit

We're back to our normal scheduled programming on Merry Monday this week!  Thanks to everyone who joined in celebrating LeAnne's birthday last week.  Our challenge is to use skis, skates or a sled on your card.

After much thought, I ended up going with an image from Merry Crittermas and came up with this card:

I stamped the rabbit down near the bottom of a strip of Xpress-it cardstock then colored with Copics.  After stamping the sentiment, I mounted it onto a larger panel of Island Indigo then onto a white cardbase.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you've seen the wonderful cards made by my team-mates.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Crittermas (SU)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock:  Xpress-it, Island Indigo

Accessories:  Doodlebug Enamel Dots, Copic Markers

Cheers

Karren

Watercolor Grid

Hi and thanks for visiting my blog.  I signed up to Online Card Classes Watercolor for Cardmakers last weekend as part of their flash sale and this is the first card I made from Day 1.

This is sort of a combination of the techniques I learned in OCC and the Bokeh Made Easy technique that Dawn Woleslagle posted on her blog.  I don't think I quite got the bokeh right, but I'll work on it!

I white embossed a grid stamp onto watercolor paper then colored with watercolor paints, trying to match the colors from this week's Color Throwdown challenge.  Once I was happy with the colors and the panel was dry, I sponged white ink using circle masks to try and get a bokeh effect.  Once it was dry, I adhered it to my card base using dimensionals.

I cut the thank you from a new Spellbinders die and added some enamel dots in greens and blues to finish off the card.

I'm also entering this into Splitcoaststampers Dare to Get Dirty Challenge - CassieT's challenge as well as AAA Cards watercolor challenge.

Quite a few of my Freshly Made Sketch DT pals also signed up for the Watercolor class and I can't wait to see what they produce - hint, hint girls :)

Products used:

Stamps:  Hero Arts Grid Background
Ink:  Whisper White, Versamark
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Watercolor
Accessories:  Watercolor paints, Doodlebug Enamel Dots, Spellbinders Inspire dies, white EP

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Color Throwdown.