Flower Barrel

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Michele Ferguson.  I was originally going to create an arch as in the sketch but then found this NBUS die set from Spellbinders and thought the barrel would be a great substitute.

I went with a dark background and embossed it with a brick embossing folder before adhering the panel to a card base.  I then added a kraft coloured pierced frame.  All the die-cut elements for the focal point were die-cut with white cardstock and ink-blended with Altenew inks or Distress Inks.  The foliage was already ink-blended and I have no idea what inks I used!

After arranging the flowers and foliage, I found a pre-foiled sentiment and decided that this card would make a suitable sympathy card.

As an afterthought - I was just previewing this post before publishing and I looked at the card with the sympathy sentiment and immediately thought "body in a barrel" along the lines of my favourite TV serial killer Dexter, so maybe I need to replace the sentiment with something a little more appropriate 😱😁

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have created some gorgeous cards so please check them out.

Products used:

Ink: Orange Sorbet, Apricot Frost, Canyon Clay, Pastel Sunrise, Mocha, various green inks (Altenew), Scorched Timber, Gathered Twigs Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Dark Chocolate (Altenew), Paper Bag (Lawn Fawn)

Dies: Rustic Garden, Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders), Chocolate Flowers (Altenew), Lovely Layers: Mini Fall Florals (Honey Bee Stamps), Pierced Rectangle Frames (MFT)

Accessories:  Gold hot foil, Rustic Brick Wall EF (Honey Bee Stamps), shimmer spray

Cheers

Karren

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Grateful Heart

Hi! My Simon Says Stamp February card kit arrived on Friday and I couldn't wait to have a play with it.  This was my first month subscribing to the kit, but I fell in love with the Artful Palette stencils and dies and had to have it.

I also happened to get around to watching Tim Holtz' latest live and he showcased the kit and the patterned papers.  I took one of his ideas and covered some strips of the patterned paper with packing tape to give a tile look.

I'm normally a CAS card-maker but my roots are in the collage-type of cardmaking from the late 90s, early 00's so it was fun to revisit.  I also dug out some really old embellishments for this card.

I started with a panel of TH kraft cardstock which I embossed with an Altenew clocks/gears embossing folder.  Once that was finished, I ink-blended round the edges with Walnut Stain distress ink and then went over various parts with a Stamperia stencil and the same ink.  I then added a bit of Black Soot to the edges before splattering on some Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  I then set it aside to dry.

After adding packing tape to some strips of cardstock, I chose my stencil and die-cut various pieces.  For the sentiment, I stamped on some Pencil Eraser cardstock with Walnut Stain DOX ink before die-cutting and then adding some Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges.  All the die-cuts apart from the sentiment are adhered straight to the embossed panel.  The sentiment is popped up on foam squares from the kit.

The big round embellishment started out silver so I added some alcohol ink to it to colour it up, more in line with the rest of the card.  The butterflies were die-cut from a scrap of leftover Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain sprayed cardstock and I added some tiny vintage pearls to the centre before popping up their wings.

Thanks for visiting!  This took me all afternoon but it was so much fun just getting messy and playing.

Products used:

Stamps:  Be Your Beautiful Self (SSS)

Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Oxide, Walnut Stain, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: Kraft (Tim Holtz), Pencil Eraser (Lawn Fawn), Curated Palette Collection (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Artful Palette (SSS)

Accessories: Traces of Yesterday Embossing Folder (Altenew), Daily News stencil (Stamperia), Teakwood alcohol ink, Rose Gold Mixative, Black Soot Distress Stain Spray, Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain, Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp), expoxy rose, large grommett, Warm Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Heart of Gold

Hi!  I found a little bit of time on Sunday to make a card for the latest challenge at MFT Card Challenges, where they have some lovely Spring colours.  As we're nearing the end of summer here in New Zealand, I didn't go with a Spring theme but used the colours for some emboss-resist with my favourite background stamp - Roses All Over.

When I opened up my stamp packet, I already had these three strips embossed onto white, so I just had to do some ink-blending.  I couldn't find an ink colour to match the first colour in the challenge so went with the next three colours and used my closest cardstock approximation for the strip under the sentiment.

I also white heat-embossed the Romantic Script background stamp onto my white card base for some subtle texture.

Finally I finished with some enamel dots and a couple of enamel hearts.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Roses All Over, Romantic Script, Essential Sentiments (MFT

Ink: Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Wisteria, Aloe Vera, Pool (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Something Blue (MFT)

Dies: Vertical Stitched Strips (MFT), 

Accessories: White EP, corner rounder, enamel dots and hearts (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Leafy Birthday

The team at Freshly Made Sketches is back with another sketch and this week our hostess is Judy Rozema.  This card was fairly simple for me to pull together as the leaves were already stamped, stenciled and die-cut.

I decided I wanted the big oval to be some form of foliage so I went through my One Note app and came across this set.  When I pulled it out, I found the already prepared images, so it was a no-brainer!  I chose matching cardstock which I embossed with the Leafy embossing folder.  I then stamped the sentiment onto a strip of white cardstock and matted the bottom with black.

Finally I finished with some black enamel dots and a single heart.

Thanks for visiting!  Please head over and check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Propagation Garden Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Mountain Mist, Lagoon (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Black, Lagoon (Altenew)

Dies: Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS)

Accessories: Friendship Leafy Cluster Stencils (SSS), Leafy Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Essential Black & White Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Embossed Leaves

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another Tic Tac Toe challenge, and this time I went with the centre column Foliage/Leaves - Free - Thank You to come up with this card.

I've been a bit obsessed lately with Distress Spray Stains so once again I pulled them out to have a play.  I white embossed the Hodge Podge stamp onto watercolour paper then went to town with multiple spray stains and spritzes.  Once I was happy with the result I let the paper dry then die-cut with various leaf shapes.  Before I adhered the black layer on top, I took each leaf and added some foundry wax with my finger before heat-setting.

I embossed a kraft panel with the Burlap embossing folder then added a black frame.  Within the frame I arranged the leaves and a gold foiled thanks sentiment and called it done.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll have time to play along with us.

Products used:

Ink: Versamark, various Distress Spray Stains and Distress Spritz

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, Black, Distress Watercolor Paper (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Fall Leaves, Nesting Rectangle Frames (Waffle Flower), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories: Burlap Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), White Embossing Powder, Gold Hot Foil, Gilded Foundry Wax (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

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Torn Hodgepodge

Hello and welcome!  Our sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches is Michele Ferguson and I went a tad rogue with my interpretation, letting Distress Spray Stains  and white embossing define the sketch elements.

After being on my wishlist for months, I finally purchased the Hodgepodge stamp by Tim Holtz.  I absolutely adore collage stamps, which goes back to the early 2000's but don't often incorporate them into my mostly clean stamping style these days.  But I had to have Hodgepodge and the week it arrived, I put it to use on this sketch.

I was originally going to do ink-blending so started out with some Bristol Smooth cardstock, but then veered to spray stains so the paper choice probably wasn't best but it worked.  I white heat-embossed the stamp onto the paper, then created a stencil from some torn paper edge dies and some stencil plastic.  Once the stencils were in place, I went to town with all the sprays you can see in the product list below!  Before removing the stencils, I flicked on some foundry wax and heated it for some added shine.

I had a week bit of ink seep under the stencil but a strategically placed sentiment fixed that problem.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps: Hodgepodge (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versamark, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Bristol Smooth, Black, Gold Kraft Stock

Dies: Outlined Hello (Waffle Flower), Torn Paper Edges (MFT)

Accessories:  Distress Spray Stains: Crackling Campfire, Rusty Hinge, Tumbled Glass, Gathered Twigs, Weatherwed Wood, Bundled Sage, Scorched Timber. Distress Oxide Spray: Salvaged Patina. Distress Spritz: Rusty Hinge, Hickory Smoke. Gilded Foundry Wax, White EP, Stencil plastic

Cheers

Karren

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Rectangles and Leaves

Hi and welcome!  It's my turn to design the board over at Tic-Tac-Toe and I chose something that should be easy to work with - hopefully!  I ended up incorporating every element in my card today. 

The rectangle panels were ink-blended then embossed with a leafy embossing folder before being arranged onto a white card base.  The leaves were assembled using black and gold foil cardstock.  Finally the sentiment was heat-embossed and die-cut.

I finished with some shiny drops.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Emerald (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Rose Gold Foil

Dies:  Fall Leaves, Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower), Double Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Leafy EF (Spellbinders, Champagne Clear Drops (Pink Fresh)

Cheers

Karren

Ampersand

 Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches is Cecile Ribon and as always, she's given us a fun and unique sketch to play with.  Here's my card:

Originally I was going to do a colour-blocked card, but that evolved into this.  I found the Ampersand dies that I'd never used and through it would work for the centre element.  There is lots of gold embossing in this card and all the floral elements were ink-blended.

Thanks so much for visiting.  The design team have created gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Bitty Thanks and Gratitude (MFT), Confetti Borders (The Ton)

Ink:  Versamark, Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red, Mahogany Bark, Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake, Cloudy Sky, Nimbus (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Indigo (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Sentimental Ampersand (Spellbinders), Sentiment Labels (SSS)

Accessories:  Antique Gold EP (SSS), Clear Drops: Champagne (Pink Fresh)

Cheers

Karren

Leafy Drops

 Hi and welcome!  Jacquie Southas is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she has a great, versatile sketch for us.  I wasn't feeling creative when I went into my craft room to create my card and couldn't decide what I wanted to do, but saw an unused background stamp in my NBUS box and that was the start I needed to make this card.

I gold heat-embossed the Overlapping Drops background stamp onto both black and white cardstock to see which I liked better.  I decided to go with the black for a more dramatic look.  From there I die-cut a circle as well as two smaller circles from gold matte foil cardstock.  The leaf was already made and had been treated with some foundry wax so worked well with the gold theme of the card.

I finished with an already-foiled sentiment and some gold pearls.  

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some fabulous cards so please head over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Overlapping Drops (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Embossed Edge Circles (Kat Scrappiness), Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders), Fall Leaves (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Gilded EP (Brutus Monroe), Foundry Wax (Tim Holtz), Gold Hot Foil, Autumn Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Teal Typewriter

 

Welcome to the latest Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.  This week I went with Tearing-Free-Just Because to come up with this card.

I've been experimenting with different colour schemes and thought I'd try teal, gray and a mustardy colour.  I white-embossed the background stamp and ink-blended over the top with Fossilized Amber distress ink, then I used the Torn Paper Edges die to "tear" it.  I added a torn strip of teal behind it and mounted that onto a dark gray card base.

I then die-cut and assembled the typewriter, adding a sentiment from a Woodware stamp set.  I finished with an enamel heart in teal.  I also used the left-over pieces to decorate the inside and stamped a sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'm linking this up to the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies challenge.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Vintage Typewriter (Woodware)m KIS: Just Because (PTI)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Fossilized Amber Distress Oxidem Versamark

Cardstock:  Eiffel Tower, Whip Cream (MFT), Bristol Smooth, Peacock, Stardust (C9)

Dies:  Typewriter, Torn Paper Edges (MFT)

Accessories:  Enamel Heart, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Par Avion

Hi and welcome to a new challenge from the Tic Tac Toe team.  This week I went with Travel, Die-cut, Antique for my card.

 This background stamp is a very old wood-mounted stamp from a company called Just For Fun.  I don't think they are in business anymore but I have had this since the early 2000's and I think this was the first time I used it!  I white heat-embossed it onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock, then ink-blended with various colours of ink.  Once I was finished, I die-cut it with the largest of the Postal Frames dies then added Vintage Photo ink along the edges to darken them up and splattered some S'Mores ink onto the panel.  I die-cut a black postage edge frame and off-set that slightly before adhering to the cream card base.

I stamped and die-cut the envelope, envelope liner, note and wax seal and added a tiny bit of ink to the edges for an aged look, before adhering it all to the card.  Finally, I added Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the wax seal and left it to dry.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the wonderful cards made by the Design Team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Background Stamp from Just For Fun Stamps, Signed & Sealed (The Greetery)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Ginger, Terracotta, Sand Castle, S'Mores (Catherine Pooler), Antique Linen, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Cardstock:  Bristol Smooth, Black, Whip Cream (MFT)

Dies:  Signed & Sealed, Postal Frames (The Greetery), 

Accessories:  Clear EP, Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Cheers

Karren 

Silver Snowflakes

Welcome to my blog!  Today's card uses the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess this week is Cecile Ribon.  I love Cecile's sketch and used it to create another Christmas card.
 

I white-embossed the snowflakes from the Blizzard stamp set onto a white panel as a background then silver-embossed some of them onto Dark Indigo cardstock and used the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  For the circle element, I decided to use a circle frame die and cut it from matte silver foil.  I then arranged the snowflakes and a stamped and die-cut sentiment before adhering it all down to the white panel with foam tape.

I finished with some matte silver pearls and called it done!

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

I'm linking this up to the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge (December Holiday/Use a Die/Embellishment)

Products used:

Stamps:  Blizzard (Gina K. Designs)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Dark Indigo (PTI), Matte Silver Foil

Dies:  Blizzard, Nesting Circle Frame Dies (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  White EP, Silver EP, Silver Matte Pearls (Pink Fresh Studio)

Cheers

Karren

Rich Poinsettia

Hi all!  I'm here with my third card as guest designer at Just Us Girls challenge and this week is Color Week, where we've been give the colours of red, green and gold.  

I went the very obvious route and created a Christmas card 😄

 

I gold-embossed the background stamp onto white and cut a panel which I then adhered to an Amarena Cherry card base, adding a thin strip of gold matte foil cardstock down the right hand side.  The sentiment was gold-embossed onto the card base and once that was done, I set to work on the poinsettia.

I die-cut the pieces and sponged the edges with Cranberry Fizz ink before splattering on some gold shimmer spray.  Once that was dry, I curled the edges of each petal and glued each piece together before adding some gold pearls to the centre.  For the leaves, I sponged Eucalyptus ink around the edges but didn't splatter them.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team are sure to have some gorgeous cards using this colour combo so head on over and check them out and play along!

Products used:

Stamps:  Outline Winter Floral (SSS), Poinsettia Bouquets (WPlus9)

Ink:  Versamark, Cranberry Fizz, Eucalyptus (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Amarena Cherry, Jellybean Green (MFT), Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Layered Poinsettia (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe), Gold Shimmer Spray, Gold Pearls

Cheers

Karren

You Did It

 Hi!  I had some time yesterday to make a card for a few challenges - which doesn't happen very often!  I was inspired by the gorgeous sketch at Sunday Stamps and for a theme I decided to go with the Tic Tac Toe board and the Just Us Girls Back to School photo inspiration.  I'm also linking up to Krafty Chicks All Occasions where I went with a Congrats card.  For Tic Tac Toe, I started out with Alphabets/Letters-Embossing-Yellow but in the course of making my card, I pretty much brought in everything except gingham!

For my background, I white-embossed a Carabelle image called Notebook onto a panel of Bristol Smooth.  I then ink-blended over it with yellow inks and set it aside to dry.  Once it was dry, I die-cut it with a stitched rectangle die.  For the long vertical element in the sketch, I had the idea to use a notebook page, so I took some patterned paper and die-cut it with the Notebook Edge die before stamping the sentiment.  I also die-cut a paperclip out of silver foil cardstock and adhered that to the notebook and the background panel.  

I was in the mood to do some Copic-colouring and I always love colouring Birdie Brown images, so I pulled out Class Act and set to work.  Once coloured, I cut with my Scan n Cut and adhered to the card.  The black strip was added in keeping with the sketch and also to add some black as I'm a fan of having black somewhere on my cards.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I had so much fun making this card.  Now to carve out more time in my week for stamping for other than design team commitments 😄

Products used:

Stamps:  Class Act (MFT), Notebook (Carabelle)

Ink:  Versamark, Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black, Citrus Burst, Fresh Lemon (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bristol Smooth, X-Press It, Off The Grid (MFT), Silver Foil

Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax, Notebook Edge (MFT), Notebook Journal Card (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories:  Copics, White Embossing Powder

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at Just Us Girls, Sunday Stamps and Tic-Tac-Toe