Azalea

Hi and welcome!  It's my last weekend before heading back to work, which does not make me a happy camper, but needs must.  I'm planning on getting in as much stamping as I can before Monday morning!

This card was made using the fabulous sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and the photo inspiration at The Card Concept.  I'm also linking to the Start Afresh challenge at Simon Says Stamp as this is the first outing for this Power Poppy set and finally, I'm linking up to the Anything Goes challenge at Seize The Birthday.

I went for a clean and graphic look for my card and was inspired by the white and gold and the gorgeous pink flowers.

I stamped this gorgeous azalea stamp onto a panel of white cardstock and tried to color the flowers white with hints of pink.  Never having tried this before, it was a bit of trial and error, but it came out okay, I think.  Once I was finished coloring, I did some partial die-cutting with a stitched die then fussy cut the bottom of the image.  The sentiment was curved to fit the line of the die-cut.  

On the card base, I gold embossed the Wide Strips background stamp and then adhered the die-cut panel using foam tape.  And that's it!  No embellishments - I just left it as is.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Azalea (Power Poppy). Wide Stripes (SSS), Sweet Little Sentiments (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Versamark

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Basic Stitch Lines 2 (MFT)

Accessories:  Copic Markers, Gold EP (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Caffeinated Owl

Hi and welcome to the first Fusion challenge of the year!  And it's our 3rd anniversary so we've got a very special challenge with some fabulously talented guest designers.  I was thrilled when Michele Ferguson from I Card Everyone agreed to join us as my guest.  Michele is well-known in the card-making world, both from her gorgeous CAS creations and from her very generous support of other stampers.

Here is our inspiration for this challenge:

I was mostly inspired by the photo but also took some elements of the sketch to come up with this card.

I stamped Louie from Purple Onion Designs onto a panel of whit card and colored him with Copics, keeping to the reds and wood tones in the photo.  The sentiment comes from an Art Impressions set and fits perfectly on the panel.  I cut the panel narrower and adhered black strips down each side.

On the white card base, I adhered strips of Schoolhouse Red down each side and then used foam tape to pop the main panel up.  Louie's hat and gloves were painted with a clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting.  Please head on over to the main Fusion blog and check out the incredibly talented guests and DT members and I hope we'll see you in the gallery.

Products used:

Stamps:  Louie (Purple Onion Designs), Girlfriend Blend (Art Impressions)
Ink:  Intense Black (SSS), Black Soot Archival
Cardstock:  White, Black, Schoolhouse Red (SSS)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Blue and Yellow

Hi and welcome to another challenge at The Flower Challenge blog.  This month we're looking for floral cards using blue and yellow.  Of course, being floral, you are also allowed to use a smidge of green for foliage :)

For my card, I went with a new set of dies I'd just received.  When these were first released, I was a bit put-off by the price, but the more I saw them being used, the less the price seemed to bother me!  Then of course, they went out of stock for ages, so I only got my hands on them recently.

I didn't have a yellow cardstock that I really liked, so I created my own by using some Lemon Zing ink and white card.  Once that was done, I die-cut flowers and foliage and arranged them into a corner "bouquet".  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and then adhered down the flowers.

To finish the card, I used some white Nuvo Crystal Drops to make some enamel dots and also a white gel pen to add dots to the centers of the blue die-cuts.

Thanks for visiting.  Head on over and check out what the rest of the design team have come up with and don't forget the challenge stays open until 25 January, so you've plenty of time to play along!

Products used:

Stamps:  Christmas Essentials (SSS)

Ink: Black Soot Archival, Lemon Zing (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Audrey Blue, Green Apple (SSS)

Dies:  Stitched Flowers (MFT), Layering Leaves (Concord & 9th)

Accessories:  White Gel Pen, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen, White Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren

Novel Birthday

Hi and welcome back to the first Freshly Made Sketch of 2017!  This week our hostess is book-lover Linda Callahan.  I hope she likes my card :)

This is another NBUS set but it's only been sitting in the NBUS box for a couple of weeks, so I don't feel so bad.

I stamped the little girl in her chair onto a panel of white cardstock and colored the chair with orange Copics.  Before coloring anything else, I used an old towel and some colorless blender to add a bit of texture to the chair and I think it looks like velvet!  I then finished coloring the rest of the image and adding the sentiment.

The card base is white, but I colored a strip of scrap cardstock with Sunkist ink and adhered that strip onto the card base.  I then used foam tape to add the main image panel and the white panel on the left.  The black strip was cut and colored with clear sparkle pen before also being adhered with foam tape.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have some wonderful cards using Linda's sketch so I hope you'll check them out and have a go yourselves!

Products used:

Stamps:  Our Story (MFT)

Ink:  Intense Black, Sunkist (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Sending Smiles

Hi!  While I've been spending a lot of time in my craft room these Christmas holidays, most of what I've been doing has been for upcoming DT challenges, but I do like to take some time out to make a card for some current challenges and this one was made for the current MFT Sketch Challenge.  And as I'm using a NBUS set, I'm also entering it into Work It Wednesday and SSS Monday Challenge.

I had this idea in my head to use Tweet On You since I first saw the sketch, but it's taken until now to get it onto paper.  It's not totally how I envisaged, but it's okay.  I stamped, colored and cut the images and then created my little scene using some blue Watercolor Wash patterned paper and some die-cut grass.  The little bird represents the small banner in the sketch.  

Then I went looking for a sentiment that would fit and decided on this one from Up and Away.  The background banner is also from Watercolor Wash - I think that's probably my favorite patterned paper at the moment - love it!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Tweet on You (MFT), Up and Away (Mama Elephant)

Ink:  Intense Black (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Green Apple (SSS), Watercolor Wash (MFT)

Dies:  Tweet on You, Vertical Stitched Stripes, Stitched Jumbo Fishtail Flag Stax, Grass Border (MFT), Stitched Rectangle Mats (Lil Inkers)

Accessories:  Copics

Cheers

Karren

Favorites of 2016 Part 2

Thanks for dropping by!  I'm here to show you my personal favorite cards for the second half of 2016.  My first half favorites are here.

I think my favorite part of card-making is coloring - and in particular Copic coloring.  I keep practising trying to improve my skills and keep watching videos of the experts.  It's taken me years of birthday and Christmas presents, but last year I completed my Copic Sketch marker collection.  Now to start on the refills :)

So, here are my favorite cards from the second half of the year.  Click on the photo to be taken to the original blog post if you'd like more information.  Once again, thanks for your visits and your comments and here's to a crafty 2017!

Cheers

Karren

Favorites of 2016 Part 1

Hi

I thought I'd have a look back on my 2016 cards and come up with some favorites to post.  2016 was a great card-making and DT year.  From a design team perspective, I'm coming into my 4th year on the Freshly Made Sketches team - love these girls and love this challenge!  I'm also into my 2nd year on the Fusion Team and have taken over the running of this challenge to give Lesley a chance to focus on her upcoming new arrival :)  We have a great bunch of talent on the Fusion team and some great challenges coming up.  I also completed my term on the SugarPea Designs Challenge Team halfway through the year.

Then there were the new teams - Inspired By All The Little Things, Just Add Ink and a brand new challenge The Flower Challenge.  All wonderful challenges and the best teamies!  Consequently, being on 5 DTs means a lot of the cards I post are DT cards, but I do try and squeeze in at least one card a week for a challenge or two as I love challenges!

Anyway, here are my favorites for the first half of the year.  Click on the photo to be taken to the original post if you would like more information.  And thanks to everyone for visiting this little old blog and to those who leave comments - mwah!  You are so appreciated.