Souper Cool

Hi and welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  Jen Mitchell is this week's hostess and here is her sketch:

For some reason I really struggled with Jen's sketch - nothing wrong with the sketch, it was the card-maker who wasn't in the zone!  In the end, I went through my stamp sets looking for pre-coloured images that I could use and came up with this card - not a favourite but it'll do.

I think I've mentioned here on my blog that since losing my son in June, I've really struggled with both card-making and coloring - both of these things should be therapeutic but my mind just can't focus for long enough to make it enjoyable.  I tried doing some Copic coloring over the Christmas break and gave up after an hour or so.  I truly hope that one day the pleasure I got from card-making and coloring will come back and I can enjoy it again.  So, in my desire for a colored image, I found one that I colored way back when this stamp set first came out.

Because this was colored so long ago, I can't tell you what Copics I used, sorry.  For the square panel, I clear embossed some of the smaller images from the set and quickly colored them with a cream Prismacolor pencil before die-cutting with an embossed edge die.  I die-cut another panel from Banana Split cardstock to match the image and offset that behind the Blueberry panel.

I gave the chef a sentiment to stand on to ground him somewhat.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the wonderful cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Recipe for Happiness (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Blueberry, Banana Split (MFT), X-Press It

Dies:  Recipe for Happiness (MFT), Embossed Edge Squares (Kat Scrappiness)

Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolor Pencil, Clear EP

Cheers

Karren

Love You. Mean It.

Today's Freshly Made Sketch was designed by Jennifer Timko and it's a versatile one:

I didn't have a lot of motivation when I sat down to make my card, so pulled out an alcohol-inked piece of Yupo and designed my card around that.

The piece of Yupo was adhered to a white square card base.  I then cut a slightly smaller square panel and die-cut the mandala die from the centre.  I also die-cut it and additional two times from white card and once from silver sparkle paper.  I added the negative panel to the card base with foam tape, then sprayed the mandala with adhesive and added that in the gap.

The sentiment is white-embossed onto black and underneath it I added a scrap of the Yupo paper.  All very simple.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Alcohol Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Silver Sparkle (MFT), Yupo

Dies:  Magical Mandala (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP

Cheers

Karren

Congrats

It's time for another Fusion challenge and here are the details.

I played with the sketch this time and used the green from the photo to come up with this card.

I used a stencil and some glitter paste to create the mandala.  While it was drying, I stamped and die-cut the sentiment and embossed the second part of the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

I finished the card with some irridescent crystals.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some great cards using the challenge so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Congrats All Round (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Obsidian (Altenew), Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Congrats (Mama Elephant), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Seafoam Glitter Paste (BoBunny), Captivating Mandala Stencil (MFT), Irridescent Crystals (Studio Katya)

Cheers
Karren

Sparkly Celebration

I'm here with sketch number 419 from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our sketch hostess this week is Lee Ann Barrett and here is her sketch:

I had a desire for something other than a white card base this week, so came up with this card, which is probably going to be for my mother's birthday next month.

The card base and angled panel is After Midnight cardstock from MFT.  I clear-embossed the Kaleidoscope background onto the angled panel and then sponged some Chipped Sapphire distress ink around the edges.  I also sponged around the card base edges as well.

I matted the panel onto a Silver Sparkle panel and used foam tape to adhere it to the card base.

The sentiment is stacked three high and the stamped sentiment was cut with an angled panel to mimic the main sketch.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Kaleidoscope BG (SSS), Celebrate (Neat & Tangled)
Ink:  Versamark, Obsidian (Altenew), Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink
Cardstock:  White, Silver Sparkle, After Midnight (MFT)
Dies:  Celebrate (MFT)
Accessories:  Clear EP

Cheers
Karren

Time to be Awesome

It's time for another fun challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where Jacquie Southas is our hostess this week.  Here is her sketch:

My youngest is moving out of home in a couple of weeks.  Yes, the timing is not great and I don't want her to leave, but we're not going to stop her as she is craving independence.  So, on the day she moves out, I'll give her this card:

I deliberately chose this Neat & Tangled set for Sarah’s card because this was the set I used when Matthew left home the first time 3 1/2 years ago.  Here's a link to the card I made for Matthew. 

Apologies for the poor photography - I think my camera focused on the silver and dulled everything else.  The card base is white and I added a strip of black embossed with the Weathered Embossing Folder.  I die-cut another white panel as well as some silver cardstock with a stitched border die and used foam tape beind the panel to pop it up. 

I stamped some stars and the first part of the sentiment onto this panel and then used a silver die-cut with the black shadow and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some wonderful cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Awesome (Neat & Tangled)

Ink:  Obsidian, Cloudy Night (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Silver

Dies:  Stitched Basic Edges (MFT), Awesome (N&T)

Accessories:  Weathered EF (Taylored Expressions)

Coppery Hello

Welcome to another year of Fusion challenges.  We've got an updated challenge graphic and a new team member, so I hope you'll head on over and check out who we are fortunate enough to add to our team.

I created a fusion this time, by flipping the sketch on its side and playing with the colors in the photo.

Onto a white die-cut panel, I stenciled over a mandala stencil with Smoked Hickory ink - concentrating heavier color on the left and fading out towards the right.  I then flicked on some bronze mica spray and some black distress paint and set it aside to dry.

The leaves were die-cut from copper cardstock and added, along with the sentiment, when the panel was dry.  I used some craft foam to pop it up on the white card base.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some wonderful cards for our first challenge of the year so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Assorted Greetings (Gina K Designs)
Ink:  Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, Obsidian (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Bristol Smooth, Copper
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax 2 (MFT), Layering Leaves (Concord & 9th)
Accessories:  Captivating Mandala Stencil (MFT), Antiqued Bronze Distress Mica Spray, Black Soot Distress Paint

Cheers
Karren

Plank Bouquet

Hi and welcome to another year of challenges from the team at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our first sketch was designed by Judy Rozema.

I white-embossed the Plank background stamp onto both a white panel and a panel of Bristol Smooth and die-cut them both with a stitched rectangle die.  Onto the Bristol Smooth piece, I ink-blended various green distress inks then lightly spritzed with Perfect Pearls mist.

The flowers were stamped with Altenew inks and cut with my Scan n Cut.  I die-cut the sentiment die and arranged all the elements onto a white card base, before finishing with some enamel dots.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Blossoms (Scrapbook.com), Plank (SSS)
Ink:  Versamark, Dew Drops, Aqualicious, Teal Cave, Chamomile, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen (Altenew), Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn Distress Inks
Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax 2 (MFT) Thanks Jotted Script (Memory Box)
Accessories:  White EP, Enamel Dots, Perfect Pearls Mist

Cheers
Karren