Best Foot Forward

Hi and welcome!  The card I'm showing you today is one I've prepared for the MFT 2016 Superstar Card Contest. Based on the outstanding cards that won last year, I'm not holding my breath, but you've gotta be in to win and MFT is my favorite stamp brand!

I decided to stick with what I enjoy and like seeing and that is emboss resist, ink blending and Copic coloring.  I used a lot of masking in this card and also a fun technique where you stamp onto a whole panel then cut away the vertical strips top and bottom of the image.  This probably has a name but I don't know what it is :)

To make my card, I first cut some masks for the gorgeous Delicate Pretty Poppies set, which is my favorite non-Birdie Brown MFT set.  I then stamped the images onto a panel of X-Press It cardstock, masking as I went.  The images were then colored with Copics and I very carefully cut away a panel at the top and bottom of the colored images, using my craft knife.  When I got to where the flowers were, I fussy cut around them with my scissors.  Finally, I stamped a birthday sentiment in the bottom left corner and die-cut the panel with Blueprints 25  The centers of the poppies were colored with clear Wink of Stella for some subtle shimmer.

On the card base, I masked off a strip and white embossed the Sheet Music Background stamp.  I then blended several Distress Inks over the panel in an ombre fashion with the darkest (Carved Pumpkin) at the bottom and the lightest (Squeezed Lemonade) at the top.  The top panel was then adhered to the card base using foam tape and I placed some clear sequins around the floral image.

Thanks for visiting.  This card took an inordinate amount of time to make but I'm really happy with the result and regardless whether I get a shout out or not, it's time well spent.

I'm also linking up to Seize The Birthday who have a frames theme - I like to think I've framed the flowers although not in the traditional way; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Work It Wednesday both have a Stamp It theme, and Just Add Ink have Just Add 'P' (P for poppies).

Products used:

Stamps:  Delicate Pretty Poppies, The Whole Herd, Sheet Music Background (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Black Licorice Hybrid, Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Carved Pumpkin
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Blueprints 29
Accessories:  White EP, Copics, Sequins

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Just Add Ink.

Inspired Hello

Hi, I'm thrilled to be joining the team at Inspired By All The Little Things as a Challenge Creator.  As part of the challenge, I get to invite a fellow card-maker to join us for the week and create a card using the inspiration photo I chose.  For my first guest, I invited a fellow Kiwi, Karen Davis, who makes the most spectacular cards.  If you're not familiar with her work, I really urge you to check out her blog.

I also made a card using the inspiration photo and here it is:

I have to say that I really like this card.  I was so happy with how the flowers came out - although in the photo above they are a little out of focus as the camera wanted to focus on the gold foil.  I was inspired by the black and white striped wall as well as the gold and peach colors and the vase of flowers on the desk.  The flowers were stamped, colored and die-cut and adhered to a white panel.  On top of that, I applied gold foil to a "hello" die-cut.  The card base was stamped (several times thanks to Misti!) with the Wide Stripes background stampe by SSS.  Lastly the white panel was popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.  I do hope you'll check out the challenge and be inspired  to make a card by some element/s in the photo.  Be sure to check out the fabulous cards made by the Design Team as well!  And finally, thanks so much to Karen for being my first guest.  I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful work.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wide Stripes (SSS), From All of Us (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Jet Black Archival

Cardstock:  White, Toner paper, X-Press It

Dies:  From All of Us (CB), Painted Hello (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Gold Foil, Mini Minc

Cheers

Karren

Balloon Birthday

Hi and welcome back to Fusion Card Challenge!  After a long break, we're back and raring to go and with some new faces as well!  Check out our new look and new challenge:

I went with the sketch this time but did pull a few elements from the photo - predominantly the green and black colors.  I had some fun with alchohol inks and created a beautiful panel using some soft and pale colors.  I've had alcohol inks for years and years and doing the recent Creative Chemistry course has re-activated my interest in this medium.

My card is pretty self-explanatory.  I used some stitched dies to frame the inked piece and die-cut a balloon and sponged the left hand side for some dimension.  The sentiment is white embossed and comes from the MFT set The Whole Herd - I think this is one of my favorite birthday sentiment stamps.

Thanks for visiting.  Check out what the rest of the DT have created for this challenge by clicking on their names below.

Becca Cruger
Betty J
Carol Mayne
Jeanne Jachna
Linda Callahan
Lyndal Higgins 
Michelle Leone

Michelle Lupton
Michelle Williams

Products used:

Stamps:  The Whole Herd (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Surf  Blue (SSS) Alcohol Inks (Aqua, Citrus, Cool Peri, Juniper, Peach Bellini, Silver)

Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), Green Apple, Surf Blue (SSS), Black, Alcohol Ink Cardstock (Ranger)

Dies:  Balloon Bash (PTI), Basic Stitch Lines, Blueprints 23, Stitched Fishtail Flags (MFT), Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil Inkers)

Accessories:  White EP

Cheers

Karren

Ghost Car

Hi!  I'm back with a fun sketch by the fabulous Jen Brum for Freshly Made Sketches.

Told you it was fun, didn't I?  For my card, I went with a masculine card as I needed another card for Father's Day which was last Sunday here in New Zealand.

I had fun playing with some Yupo paper and alcohol ink and created two different backgrounds using the same piece of Yupo and the same main colors - Pesto and Espresso Alcohol Inks.  I really wanted to try the Alcohol Ink Resist technique that Tim shared in Creative Chemistry 103 but the darkest inks I had were Pesto and Espress.  I created a background using just those two inks.  However, I re-used a felt square and it had previously had blending solution on it, so my background wasn't as "smooth" as it should be.  I carried on regardless, because, well it's fun to experiment :)

After that was dry, I cut the piece of Yupo into two and put one aside.  On the other piece, I stamped the car using Jet Black Archival and then removed the ink as per the technique.  I didn't use a solid enough stamp and the resist image was indistinguishable, so I went and stamped the car again, this time slightly offsetting the image - creating the ghost image.  I really like the effect!  It looks 3D to me.

With the second panel, I added some Copper Mixative and then ran it through my Big Shot with a clock embosssing folder.  I then lightly sponged some Viridian archival ink over the raised bits and then rubbed off with a paper towel - again creating a resist.

I used pierced circle and rectangle frame dies to frame the two panels and used a Desert Storm card base to keep with the vintage-y look.

Thanks for visiting.  The FMS DT have some beautiful cards to inspire you, as they do every week, so be sure to check them out.

I'm linking this card up to the current challenge at Just Us Girls which has a  Travel theme.

Products used:

Stamps:  Travel Way (Tim Holtz), KIS:  Father (PTI)

Ink:  Versamark, Jet Black Archival, Viridian Archival, Pesto, Espress Alcohol Inks, Copper Mixative

Cardstock:  Desert Storm, Black, Yupo

Dies:  Circle Pierced Frames, Rectangle Perced Frames, Blueprints 6 (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Renaissance EF (Couture Creations)

Cheers

Karren

Birthday Triangles

Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be Guest Designer at my favorite color challenge, Color Throwdown, for the month of September.  And here is the first color swatch of the month:

I am so drawn to the inspiration photo and took my cue from there to come up with my card.

I die-cut the Triangle Screen die from MFT in white, Hawaiian Shores and Daffodil Delight.  I adhered the white frame to a Soft Stone card base and then randomly dropped in the aqua and yellow triangles where I felt like with no rhyme nor reason :)  When I thought I had enough, I stopped and stamped the sentiment using Label Love and adhered that with foam tape.  I finished the card with some clear droplets.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous inspiration for you so be sure to check them out.

Amy Rohl Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders   

Broni Holcombe   

Jodi Collins 

Lisa Henke 

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put   

Vickie Zimmer 

Wanda Cullen

Products used:

Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew)

Ink:  Jet Black Archival

Cardstock:  White, Soft Stone, Hawaiian Shores (PTI), Daffodil Delight (SU)

Dies:  Triangle Screen (MFT)

Accessories:  4mm Droplets (PPP), Clear EP

Cheers

Karren

Tentacle Birthday

The stencil I used on my card today is called Tentacles - hence my blog post title.  However, when I saw it, I didn't see tentacles but instead a gorgeous pattern and I just had to have it.  Today is its first outing.

This stencil is by Brett Weldele and sold through Stampers Anonymous.  I bought three of these a couple of weeks ago from a local online store and I just love them.  I used the first one the other day on this card.

Anyway, onto the card, which I made to cover a few challenges:  the sketch at MFT, the colors from Color Throwdown, the Anything Goes theme at SSS and the birthday themes at City Crafter and Seize the Birthday (no toppings).

I chose distress inks as close to the bright blue, green and yellow in the CTD palette
 and went to town with my stencil brushes and the stencil onto a piece of white cardstock.  Once I was happy with the inking, I adhered some Poppy cardstock strips down each side and mounted it onto a white card base.  The "amazing" word is stacked three high and adhered to the stenciled piece.  I white embossed the rest of the sentiment and popped the pieces up on foam tape.  Then I went scrounging for some red enamel dots and found my last three!

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Amazing (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, black, Poppy (MFT)
Dies:  Doubly Amazing (MFT)
Accessories:  Tentacles Stencil (Stampers Anonymous), Enamel Dots, White EP

Cheers
Karren

Father's Day

This Sunday is Father's Day here in New Zealand and I wanted to make a special card for my father.  I decided to go with the Mojo Monday Tall & Skinny sketch and combined that with the stitching challenge at Simon Says Stamp, the "no designer paper" theme at Sweet Stampin' and the "F" challenge at Cardz for Guyz.

I used a new stencil and my new stencil brushes to make the blue and green panels.  Once I'd finished brushing ink onto them, I stamped some of the splatters from Distressed Patterns using silver ink before cutting them to size..  My card base is 7" x 4" and I adhered the blue panels top and bottom, leaving a blank spot in the middle.  The green panel was matted onto a black backing and the sentiment was white-embossed onto a strip die-cut with a die from Blueprints 6.  For tha flag, I used a strip of vellum and clear-embossed the silver splatters to tie it into the rest of the card.  I then stitched the vellum and the blue panels onto the card base.

The words were die-cut from Little Letters dies and positioned in the bottom right corner of the green panel - and yes the 'love' is slightly crooked :)

That pretty much sums up my card.  Thanks for visiting and I hope my dad will like this.

Products used:

Stamps:  Distressed Patterns (MFT), KIS:  Father (PTI)
Ink:  Versamark, Hero Arts Silver, Broken China, Twisted Citron Distress Inks
Cardstock:  Black, watercolor, vellum
Dies:  Little Letters, Blueprints 6 (MFT)
Accessories:  Clear EP, Scribbles Stencil (Stampers Anonymous), sewing machine

Cheers
Karren