Happy Mail

Hi and welcome!  Today I have some exciting news!  I've been asked to join the new Challenge Team at SugarPea Designs!  SugarPea Designs have the cutest images and some fabulous dies and I'm looking forward to my six-month stint on the team.  Speaking of team, you won't believe the talent that is on this team:

Brandi Hall 

Claire Broadwater

Deanne Kay
Jeanne Jachna
Laura Jane

Lee Ann Barrett

Lesley Croghan

Mackie Robertson

Amazing talent, right?  Now, onto how this challenge is going to work.  Each week a new sketch will be posted and you will have until the end of the month to play along.  You can make a card for one sketch or all of them - it's up to you!  At the end of the month, the Main Winner and Sweet Picks will be chosen plus one random winner will win a $25 gift certificate to the SugarPea Designs store.  Better yet, if that randomly chosen card uses SugarPea Designs product, the prize is bumped up to $75!

As an introduction, we have all made a card using SugarPea products.  And this is mine:

Is this not the cutest image?  He is from the set called Happy Mail.  I stamped and colored him with Copics before fussy-cutting him.  I used the Notebook Journal Card Die for the white layer and some Slate cardstock on an angle behind that.  The card base is embossed with a stripes embossing folder.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll come back next week for our first sketch challenge - it's a goodie!

Products used:

Stamps:  Happy Mail 

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Slate, X-Press It

Dies:  Notebook Journal Card die

Accessories:  Stripes embossing folder, Copics

Cheers

Karren

Giraffe Buddies

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for the sketch challenge at WPlus9 as well as the color challenge at ColourQ and the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

I've had this Party Animal set since it was released in June and for some reason, I have been totally intimidated by it and scared to color those giraffes!  In the end, and as part of my mission to reduce my NBUS, I bit the bullet and this is the result.

I stamped both giraffes in the set and just decided to color them, without paying much attention to shading.  After they were colored and die-cut, I focused on the card base.  I took a panel of Desert Storm cardstock and die-cut it with Blueprints 24 and the new Homespun Stitched Lines die.  This mimics the shape in the sketch.  I stamped the sentiment then positioned the giraffes, with the standing giraffe popped up on foam tape.  I placed some sequins to represent some of the circles in the sketch and my card was done.

Thanks for visiting.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Party Animal (WP9)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, Desert Storm, X-Press It
Dies;  Homespun Stitched Lines, Blueprints 24 (MFT), Party Animal (WP9)
Accessories:  Copics, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Cheers
Karren

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

Silver Stripes

Hi!  It's time for another fabulous challenge from Fusion Card Challenge and this week we have the most gorgeous inspiration photo and a fun sketch.  Check this out:

I chose to work with the photo this week, focusing on the aqua, white and silver color scheme.

True confession time - I actually made this card a few weeks ago for a couple of challenges that were current at the time, but when I'd finished it, I realised it worked for this challenge, so I held it back.

I used a diagonal stripes stencil and smooshed Versarmark ink onto it before embossing with silver embossing powder.  I die-cut two snowflakes, one from silver foil paper and one from Maliblue cardstock.  The sentiment is white embossed onto a black banner and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins finished the card.

Thanks for visiting.  Be sure to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Polar Pals (Mama Elephant)
Ink:  Veresamark
Cardstock:  White, Silver Foil, Black, Maliblue
Dies:  Elize, Abby (SSS) Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  PPP Sequins, White EP, Stripes Stencil (MFT)

Cheers
Karren

Merry Christmoose

Hi and welcome to Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day!  This week, our hostess is the super-talented Jennifer Timko and she has come up with the sort of sketch that I lurve :)

In the last few months, I've been keeping my new stamp sets in a separate container until I use them, rather than file them with all my other stamp sets.  This is to encourage me to ink them up!  The box is getting a bit full, so I'm happy to have taken Merry Christmoose for a spin today!

I started with a white card base and cut another panel to layer on top using my Blueprints 21 die. Onto that panel, I lightly sponged some Tumbled Glass ink behind where the moose would sit.  I colored the moose and cushions with Copics and die-cut them before adhering them with foam tape.  The sentiment was stamped and die-cut with a pierced banner.  Some Pretty Pink Posh sequins finished off the card.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have made some incredible cards using this sketch so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Christmoose (MFT)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Merry Christmoose (MFT), Blueprints 21 (MFT), Pierced Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Sequins

Cheers

Karren

Holly Jolly

Hi and welcome!  Today's card is yet another Christmas card - which, considering I've been making them all year and have enough, is a bit ironic!  But I can't help it!  Seeing all the fabulous Christmas cards around blogland at the moment and all the gorgeous new sets has inspired me.

The image on this card, even though it's new to me, is from last Christmas, I think.  I wanted to make a card for the latest Tag You're It challenge and I was intrigued by the sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.  This card also fits the Christmas theme at Simon Says Stamp.

I wanted to keep the polka dot theme and the holly theme from Tracey's tag so I used some polka dot paper on the card base.  I stamped and colored the gorgeous holly leaves from Hero Arts and positioned them onto a small tag cut with one of MFT's pierced tags.  The berries are painted with clear Wink of Stella to give them a shimmer.  I had to hunt for a sentiment small enough to fit in the space left after placing the holly on and finally found this sentiment in the Build a Snowman set by SSS.

A small twine knot just to show the tag is actually a tag :) and the card was finished.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Holly Jolly (Hero Arts), Build a Snowman (SSS)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, SU patterned paper, Riding Hood Red (SU), X-Press It

Dies:  Holly (Hero Arts), Pierced Tag Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Wink of Stella, Baker's Twine

Cheers

Karren

Caribbean Snowflakes

Hi!  Today's card was made for the current Muse challenge, as well as  the Thanks/Thanksgiving theme at Simon Says Stamp, the inspiration pic challenges at City Crafter and The Challenge and the snow/white theme at Simply Create Too.

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in NZ, so I've gone with a general thanks card.  I used the blue/white colors in the inspiration photos and from Anita's gorgeous card I was inspired by the white on white layers, the layout, and the tag with the hearts.  In my case, I used a die-cut snowflake.

My snowflakes were stamped with Caribbean Blue ink and I also smooshed some onto some white card for the layers above and below the snowflakes.  The snowflake panel and the die-cut snowflake were spritzed with a Perfect Pearls/water mix.  Everything on this card happens to be Simon Says Stamp product, apart from the twine, which is from Lawn Fawn.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Lots of Snowflakes (SSS), Tiny Tags Words (SSS)

Ink:  Caribbean Blue (SSS)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Maryanne die (SSS), Tiny Tags (SSS)

Accessories:  Perfect Pearls, Lawn Fawn twine

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Muse Card Challenge.

Fox in the Snow

It's time for another fabulous sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week, our hostess is our newly-crowned Artisan Amy O'Neill!  Such a well-deserved achievement!  Amy has a very versatile sketch for us - as you'll see from the DT cards!

For my card, I had the idea in my head that the two horizontal panels were going to be snowbanks and I built my card around that.

I die-cut a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock using Blueprints 21 and sponged Tumbled Glass on it - keeping it heavier on the bottom and fading away at the top.  I then spritzed the panel with a Perfect Pearls and water mix which gives it a gorgeous shimmer in real life.  I then took a pierced rectangle die and cut the middle out of the panel, before arranging the snowbank die cuts on both the main panel and the cut-out piece.  The birch trees were stamped, die-cut and very lightly colored with Copics.  The fox was stamped, Copic colored and cut and then it was time to put it all together.  

Because the birch trees overlapped the cut-out center, I didn't have to mat the center panel and just moved it over a fraction of an inch to the right to cover the hole, after popping it up on foam tape.  A bit of shading under the fox and the card was finished.

Thanks for visiting.  As I said earlier, the rest of the design team have used this sketch in wonderful and versatile ways, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Joy to the Woods (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Tumbled Glass Distress, Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Joy to the Woods, Blueprints 21 (MFT), Pierced Rectangle Stax (MFT), Stitched Slopes and Hills (SSS)
Accessories:  Perfect Pearls, Copics

Cheers
Karren