Poinsettia Christmas

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday where this week, Deanne is challenging us to make a red and green Christmas card. 

Now that sounds pretty simple, right?  I mean, red and green are the traditional Christmas colors so how hard can it be?  Well, let's just say that this card you're about to see is my third attempt!  The first two were not very nice and pretty much unsalvageable...

I used the current sketch at Fab Friday and started with a base of Schoolhouse Red.  I then cut a black panel and rounded opposite corners.  The Crumb Cake banner was embossed with the Wicker Weave embossing folder and finally I put together a poinsettia using Spellbinders Poinsettia dies.  Because of the restrictions of the color challenge, I used pearls for the center.

All in all, a pretty average card but it's another Christmas card for the stash so can't complain :)

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some wonderful inspiration for you and I hope you'll join the challenge this week.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Schoolhouse Red (SSS), Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Basic Black (SU)
Accessories:  Spellbinders Poinsettia die, MFT Fishtail Flag Stax, Wicker Weave EF (Cuttlebug), Corner Rounder, pearls

Cheers
Karren

Dragonfly

This week's challenge at The Paper Players comes from Laurie, who is challenging us to Think Spring.  Now where I live, we're heading into Autumn, but I can imagine Spring no problem :)

I decided to go with some orange and yellow tones for my card, to create the feeling of warmth.

I sponged Tangelo Twist and Daffodil Delight ink over the Diamond Circles Stencil.  Once I was happy with the coverage, I then stamped the sentiment in black ink.  The dragonfly die was cut from both Tangelo Twist and black cardstock.  I finished off the card with some sequins and called it done!

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some wonderful Spring inspiration for you so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Beautiful Butterflies (PTI)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangelo Twist, Daffodil Delight (SU)

Cardstock:  White, Tangelo Twist, Black

Accessories:  Dragonfly die (Clearly Besotted), Snowdrift Sequins (SSS), Diamond Circles Stencil (SSS)

Cheers

Karren

Blue Birthday

Hi and welcome to my blog.  I had some fun today creating, both for design team commitments and for fun.  Here is my "for fun" card, which uses the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, the birthday theme from ShowCASE Your Style and the masculine theme at Seize the Birthday.

I started out with a card base of Neenah Solar White 110lb (just got some and love it for card bases!).  I then took a panel of Whisper White and placed a stencil on top before sponging over it using several blue inks from SSS.  I tried to keep the center lighter and the edges darkest.  Once I was happy with my sponging, I cut the panel in two and adhered it to the card base.

The "Happy" was stamped using archival ink directly onto the stenciled panel and the birthday die is three layers stacked, which was then clear embossed a couple of times to create a raised and shiny finish.

All in all, quite a simple card suitable for a male.

Thanks so much for visiting.  

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI)
Ink:  Sea Glass, Surf Blue, Audrey Blue (SSS) Archival Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White, Whisper White
Accessories:  Birthday die (PTI), Clear EP, Ring Cluster Stencil (SSS)

Cheers
Karren

Flying By

Hi and welcome!  It's Freshly Made Sketch day and that means a fabulous new sketch for you to try.  This week our hostess is the very talented and sweet Jen Brum and look - there's not a circle in sight :)

This whole working full-time business is seriously eating into both my crafting time and my blog-visiting time!  I only get to stamp on the weekend now and each week, it feels as if I'm a beginner!  My first card of the week usually takes twice as long and never ends up looking how I envisaged.  As for visiting blogs, I apologise for not leaving as many comments as I used to.  Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll find a routine that works.  Not working for five months has totally spoiled me :)

For my card, I went with a set I've had for a while but hadn't used.  It's a cute little set by Lawn Fawn called Flying By.  I stamped the paper planes onto X-press It cardstock and colored them with Copics.  I then cut them out before popping them up with foam tape onto a white panel.  At the top of the white panel, I adhered a little strip of Sunshine cardstock.  

The Bermuda Bay panel is debossed with the clouds embossing folder and the sentiment is white embossed.

That's about it for this card.  Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out the rest of the design team's cards - they're amazing as always.

Products used:

Stamps:  Flying By (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Bermuda Bay (SU), Sunshine (SSS), X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangle dies, Twine, White EP, clouds EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Purple Stars

Welcome back for a Merry Monday card!  Today's challenge comes to us from Bonnie and her challenge is to use stars on our cards.

My card didn't end up as it started and I had a few false starts with it, but finally got something I was reasonably happy with.

I decided to go with a purple card base for my card and silver embossed the greeting in the bottom left corner.  I then die cut the stars using the Stars Parade die and silver glitter paper.  I stuck that on a slight angle onto a black panel which had been cut with a curvy edge die.  A tiny strip of silver glitter paper at the top and a few sequins and rhinestones and my card was done!

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some beautiful star cards so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Rubber Stampede

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  Elegant Eggplant (SU), black, silver glitter

Accessories:  sequins, rhinestones, Stars Parade die (SSS), silver EP, Curved Die (Spellbinders)

Cheers

Karren

Vellum Bunch

Today's Paper Players challenge comes to you by Sandy and she has a fabulous sketch for you to try.  Check it out!

I went with a grey and black card and added a touch of vellum.

The card base is Basic Gray and I then used a negative circle die cut as a mask and stenciled some Basic Gray colored embossing paste in the center.  While that was drying, I created a little bouquet using vellum and black cardstock.  I used Memory Box Chloe Stem die and Elizabeth Dies Curvy Leaves.  Once I was happy with the arrangement I tied it together with a little piece of yellow twine.

The sentiment is from Say it in Style by Clearly Besotted - one of my favorite sentiment sets.

Thanks so much for visiting and be sure to check out how the rest of the design team have interpreted this sketch.  I hope you'll give it a go.

Products used:

Stamps:  Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Basic Gray, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Basic Gray, Vellum, Black, White

Accessories:  Embossing Paste, Burlap Stencil (Tim Holtz), Chloe Stem (Memory Box), Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Dies), Circle Nestabilities, Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Stitched Rectangle die (Lil' Inkers)

Cheers

Karren

Garland for You

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketches!  This week, Cindy Lovell is our hostess - she who got me hooked on Clearly Besotted stamps with her insane talent - and she has a fun sketch for us.

Again, I went with my new Reverse Confetti dies to come up with this card:

I started with a white card base then cut the Circle Garland die out of black and also out of Tangerine Tango.  For the Tango piece I kept the negative and cut it to fit the bottom of the card base.  I slightly offset the black positive die cut to add a bit of a white border around the bottom.  

The circle element starts with a black die cut circle, then a vellum stitched circle.  I then cut the "for you" from Tag Me Too out of Audrey Blue cardstock and stuck it onto the vellum.  I artfully arranged (aka slapped down) some silver thread before popping up the circle element with foam tape.  I colored both the words and circle garland die with Wink of Stella.

And that's it!  The rest of the design team have some wonderful cards to inspire you so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Tangerine Tango (SU), Audrey Blue (SSS) black, white

Accessories:  Circle Garland, Tag Me Too (Reverse Confetti), Wink of Stella, silver thread, Stitched Rectangle die, Stitched Circle Die (Lil' Inkers)

Cheers

Karren