27

Hi!  Welcome to my blog. Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Kim Singdahlsen.  I used her great sketch to create a card for my son, whose birthday is in a couple of weeks. If he was still with us he would be 27 years old this year.  This is the 6th birthday since he passed suddenly 😢.   

I used the Shiplap die by The Greetery for both the white panels in the background and for the numbers.  The number panel was a leftover piece from a previous session where I ink-blended the panel with Distress Oxide inks before die-cutting.  I then adhered the shiplap back onto a sheet of copy paper before die-cutting with the numbers.  I stacked the numbers with two black die-cuts as well for dimension.

The white shiplap was adhered to the patterned paper with foam tape and I finished with a simple sentiment - not really birthday-ish but true.

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

Products Used:

Stamps:  Squared Spring Florals (Honey Bee)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo Distress Oxide

Cardstock:  White, Black, Grain & Grunge Patterned Paper (Honey Bee)

Dies:  Shiplap (The Greetery), By the Numbers (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

25

 Hi and welcome!  As I mentioned earlier in the week, I have had this week off work and as well as catching up with a few friends, I spent a bit of time stamping and it was wonderful!  Today is Saturday and Monday I'm back to work so I wanted to play along in a last few challenges before then.

This card evolved over the course of a few hours and as I was part-way through making it, I thought it would make a perfect birthday card for my late son, Matthew, who would be 25 next month.  I was firstly inspired by the latest Tic Tac Toe challenge and my eye was drawn to the word "Rust" and I immediately decided I wanted to try and re-create the rust patina on old cars.  Matthew loved cars and I know he'll love this card, even though there isn't a car on it.

To create the background, I went back to an old video of mine where I showed a technique I'd learned about 15 years ago, now.  Here's a link if you want to see how I made the background and here's how the background looked once it was finished.  I started with a panel of black cardstock and added Distress Paints in the following order (the video will make more sense of what I'm about to write):  Antiqued Bronze, Twisted Citron (spritzed), Antiqued Bronze, Broken China (spritzed), Cracked Pistachio (spritzed), Antiqued Bronze (sparingly).

From there, I had to decide how to use the panel and I came up with the idea of adding leaves down the left hand side, the number 25 to represent how old he would be and an inlaid metallic frame.  The leaves were die-cut from distress inked panels that were in my stash so I don't know the colours.  Once I'd cut them, I added some Foundry Wax in both Mined and Gilded to the edges and heat set it.  

Two of the leaves were die-cut from a failed hot-foiled panel where I'd tried to use the solid hot foil plate after foiling a whole lot of sentiments.  It was a failure but I kept the panel because I could use the back.  However, I decided to use the front and I love how it came out.  There's a photo of what's left of the panel and a close-up of the leaves I cut from that panel.  I even left the letters in.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I have to say I absolutely love this card, and not only because of what and who it represents.  I'm a CAS card-maker so to dabble in these different products is unusual for me.

I'm also linking this card to the Many of Something challenge at Seize the Birthday (my second entry), the Four Seasons Fall challenge, Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Rust/Free/Any Shape Die) and the Happy Little Stampers Birthday and Dies Challenges.

Products used:

Stamps:  Bitty Birthday Wishes (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, various Distress and Distress Oxide inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Rose Gold Matte Foil

Dies:  Nesting Rectangle Frames (Waffle Flower), By the Numbers (PTI), Leaves Die (Impression Obsession), Fall Foliage (Tim Holtz)

Accessories:  Distress Paint (Antiqued Bronze, Twisted Citron, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio), Foundry Wax (Mined, Gilded), Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Seize the Birthday and Tic-Tac-Toe

Celebrating My Boy

 Hi and welcome!  Our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches is Narelle Farrugia and she has a great sketch for us.  Here's what I did with it:

I had need of a birthday card for my son, who would have been turning 24 this week.  Even though he's not here anymore, I still make him a birthday card, like I did for nearly all of the 21 years he was here (I started card-making seriously when he was about 4).

Instead of circles, I had the idea to use triangles for the card and then came the challenge of choosing colours.  Originally I went with various shades of gray/blues but it looked too dull, so I pulled out a new Altenew colour, Tanzanite and paired that with Enchanted Gold.

After stamping and die-cutting the triangles, I stamped the sentiment and then covered it with a scrap of paper before flicking on some Enchanted Gold ink and some blue/gold paint.

I arranged the triangles, popping some up with foam tape and then finished the card with some clear droplets.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Triangle Pattern Builder, Art Deco (Neat & Tangled)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Tanzanite, Enchanted Gold (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT), Triangle Pattern Builder (Neat & Tangled)

Accessories:  Clear Droplets

Cheers

Karren

Just Miss You

 Hi and welcome to the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where this week our hostess is Jen Brum.

This post goes live on the second anniversary of my son's passing (in my timezone it's midnight the following morning, but close enough).  The last two years have been the hardest of my life and while I am starting the slow journey of healing, I will never be the same person again.  In the blink of an eye, our family was changed forever, so hug your kids - no matter their age - and tell them you love them as often as you can.  I am so very grateful for the 21 years I had with my Matthew and I know he's still around - just in a different form.

Onto the card.  I made this for Matthew 💕  I coloured up the wee dog to look a bit like our Dexter.  I chose the patterned paper before colouring his bed to match.  I did use a microfibre cloth and some colourless blender to give a fabric pattern to the bed before cutting it with my Scan n Cut.  

I embossed the card base with a lumber 3D embossing folder for some added texture and white-embossed the sentiment.  Both the sentiment and the patterned paper were die-cut with stitched dies.

I moved my dog down the panel a bit from the sketch so he wasn't floating in mid-air but hopefully you can still see the sketch.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  I Just Miss You Puppy (Gerda Steiner Design)

Ink:  Versamark, Amalgam (Gina K)

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Blurry Flurries (Whimsy Stamps)

Dies:  Horizontal Stitched Strips, Vertical Stitched Strips (MFT)

Accessories:  Lumber EF (Tim Holtz), White EP, Copics

Cheers

Karren

Celebration Lily

 Hi and welcome!  I am in the middle of a couple of weeks off work and also in the middle of a DT break, so thought I would make a card for a couple of challenges.  This is the first time I've entered any challenges since losing my son 18 months ago.  Card-making became a chore not an enjoyment and I only stuck at it because I was on a couple of design teams and didn't want to let anyone down.  I also knew that if I stopped stamping I probably wouldn't ever start again and I want that joy to come back.

Anyway, enough maudlin chatter.  I set the intention of doing some colouring while I was off work and this lily was the second image I've coloured in the last week.  I put it onto a card that would fit with the Any Occasion theme at Krafty Chicks and the Sparkle and Shine challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Apologies for the darkness of my photos.  I'm using my iPhone instead of a digital SLR camera and still haven't sorted out the appropriate settings.

This is a slimline card.  Onto a pierced panel in white, I added a silver foil pierced panel and then a navy blue pierced panel I ran through my hot foil machine with the Diamonetta BG and some silver foil.  

The image is a Power Poppy digi and I coloured it with Copics and Prismacolor pencils before cutting it out with my Scan n Cut.  I added it to the card front with foam tape.

I finished the card with a stacked die-cut sentiment using white cardstock and silver foil.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stanps:  Alluring Lily digi (Power Poppy)

Cardstock:  White, Silver Foil. In the Navy (GinaK Designs), X-Press It, Silver Hot Foil

Dies:  Slimline Pierced Nested (The Ton), Celebrate (MFT), Diamonetta BG (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolor Pencils

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout our at Krafty Chicks.

Missed

 Hi and welcome to the last challenge of the year over at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess is Jennifer Timko.

Using Jennifer's sketch I made a card for my angel son, Matthew, who would be 23 today, NZ time.  This is a bit of an odd birthday card, but I can't really wish him a happy birthday and this sentiment sums it all up anyway.

Matthew loves sloths so I have bought several sloth stamps over the last 18 months.  I coloured this one with Copics (very rusty colouring!) and fussy-cut the images.  I adhered some patterned paper onto a black panel and then used foam tape to add the sloth pieces.  The card base is pale gray.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll visit the challenge blog and see the cards made by the rest of the design team.  This challenge is open for a few weeks to give people time to join in over the Christmas period.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sloth Peeker (Impression Obsession), Greetings & Salutations (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versamark

Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), Black Licorice (MFT), X-Press It, Whatever the Weather (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories:  White EP, Copics

Cheers

Karren

Poinsettia Greetings

 Our Freshly Made Sketch this week was designed by Linda Callahan and I love its symmetry.  And, I made a Christmas card!

You may have noticed a Christmas card on my blog last week.  I was invited to play along with my blogging friend Michelle's annual Christmas card challenge.  That was the first Christmas card I have made since June 2019.  In fact the post that went live just a day before my son suddenly passed was a Christmas card.  Naturally enough, I wasn't into celebrating Christmas last year and to be honest, I'm not this year either, but I might make a few cards as I feel like it, but I won't put any pressure on myself.

So back to the card.  In order to try and be a bit more inspired to make Christmas cards, I went shopping.  This card used a couple of sets from The Ton, which I stamped and cut with my Scan n Cut.  I used a piece of pale yellow watercolor wash patterned paper and added some black & white striped strips on either side to match the sketch.  I then arranged my foliage and poinsettia and finished with a white-embossed greeting.

To add a bit of interest, I colored some white pearls with a Copic marker and placed them in the centre of my poinsettia.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous DT cards over on the challenge blog.

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia Wishes, Bountiful Leaves (The Ton), Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Red Sunset, Grass Fields, Pocketful of Sunshine sets (Altenew), Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, B&W Stripes, Watercolor Wash Brights (MFT)

Dies:  Basic Stitch Lines (MFT)

Accessories:  Pearls, Copic Marker, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Card for Matthew

Hi and welcome to our newest challenge at Fusion.  For my card I mainly used the photo but did incorporate a lot of the sketch elements as well.

I made this card for my son, Matthew.  Next Tuesday, it will be a year since he passed and that is a huge thing and will be a hard day to get through.  In so many ways, the last year has dragged as we've had to adapt to deal with this massive loss, but it still feels like yesterday and the shock and horror is still as fresh as it was then.  I have found ways to cope and get through each day, but things will never be the same.  

Onto my card.  I left some elements overhanging the edges because, of course, this card will not be posted.  The butterflies were stamped and colored with Copics and then die-cut.  On the card base, I first stamped and embossed the dot pattern and then as I was assembling the card, I wanted more dots and splatters to mimic the inspiration photo, so I got out some gouache and distress paints and splattered away.

The sentiment was die-cut three times and stacked and adhered to a strip of woodgrain patterned paper matted onto black.  All the butterflies are popped up on foam tape and I didn't add any embellishments.

This card is for you, Matthew.  Love you always, son 💔

Products used:

Stamps:  Butterflies (Avery Elle), Perspective (Tim Holtz)

Ink:  Intense Black (SSS), Versamark

Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), Black Licorice (MFT), X-Press It, Wood & Notebook Basics (Snap)

Dies:  Butterflies (Avery Elle), Missing You (Kat Scrappiness)

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Brusher Pewter Distress Paint, Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint, White Gouache

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

22nd Birthday

Hi all and welcome to the last Freshly Made Sketch Challenge of the year, where our hostess is Amy O'Neill.  And here is Amy's sketch for us:

I had need of a birthday card as my son would have been 22 years old on Tuesday of this week.  I couldn't let the day go by without making him a card - no matter how weird that sounds - so this is the card I came up with.

I used SugarPea Designs You're My Type die set and the sentiment from Yay for You by MFT.  It's really hard finding a birthday sentiment that doesn't mention "Happy" or "Celebrate" so this is a simple statement of fact.  The colors chosen are from Hero Arts - Paradise and Adriatic along with a bit of Cherry Crisp from MFT.

I added clear sparkle pens to the hearts and Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the heart above the "22".

Thanks for visiting.  I'm hoping to spend some time over the next couple of weeks stamping for the fun of it and joining in a few challenges but it will depend how I feel.  Frustratingly, when I'm not stamping, I want to be stamping, but when I can be stamping, I have zero motivation!  I wish you all a peaceful season and to those of you missing someone, I can now truly understand how that feels and I wish I could give you all a hug.

Products used:

Stamps:  Yay for You (MFT)
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black, Cherry Crisp (MFT), Paradise, Adriatic (Hero Arts), Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots (MFT)
Dies:  You're My Type (SugarPea Designs), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, White EP, Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Stars

Hi and welcome.  I am the hostess today over at Freshly Made Sketches and here is my sketch:

Very simple - just the way I like them!  This is the last card I made to send to a grieving mother. 

I created the night sky background with Distress Oxide inks, Perfect Pearls mist and white gouache.  Once the panel was dry, I silver-embossed some stars and then adhered a silver strip to the left hand side for added interest.

I stamped and die-cut the sentiment and adhered it to the front panel then I added foam tape to the whole panel before attaching it to a white card base.  I finished with some sparkling clear confetti.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the challenge blog and see how the rest of the DT interpreted my sketch.


Products used:

Stamps:  Written in the Stars (MFT)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink
Cardstock:  White, Silver, Bristol Smooth
Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT)
Accessories:  White Gouache, Perfect Pearls, Silver EP (Ranger), Sparkling Clear Confetti (PPP)

Legacy Butterfly

Hi all and welcome to my blog.  Today's card uses the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, where Cecile Ribon is our sketch hostess.  And here is her sketch:

As I mentioned last week, I have joined a group of bereaved mothers who are sending cards to other bereaved mothers just to let them know that we understand, we care and we hurt for them as well as for ourselves.  This is one of the cards I made to send.

As soon as I saw Cecile's wonderful sketch I saw ink smooshing for those squiggly lines and that's exactly what I did.  I white-embossed this beautiful butterfly from the Forever in my Heart stamp set and then used acetate and distress inks to smoosh ink over the embossed area.  Once it was dry, I die-cut it with a stitched die and added the sentiment.  I adhered it to a white card base with foam tape and finished off with some black enamel dots.

The inside, which I didn't photograph, has one of the wonderful sentiments from this set, which is perfect for people who have suffered a great loss, especially those who have lost a child.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards from the rest of the DT.

Products used: 

Stamps:  Forever in our Hearts (Pinkfresh Studio)

Ink:  Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Carved Pumpkin, Ripe Persimmon, Fossilized Amber, Mustard Seed Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Clear EP (for sentiment), Black Enamel Dots

Karren

In My Thoughts

Hi and welcome to another sketch from the Freshly Made Sketches team.  Our hostess this week is Jen Brum and here is her wonderful sketch.

I belong to an online grief group for parents who have lost an adult child and one lovely mother has set up a mini-group of people who are interested in sending cards to other grieving parents, so that we get something in the post that's thoughtful and caring.  I think this is a wonderful idea.  The cards will be either bought ones or hand-made as it's not a card-making group.  We are all hurting the worst, most unimaginable kind of hurt and this is a way of acknowledging that hurt and reaching out across the miles.  It also gives me a purpose as I am not celebrating Christmas this year and won't be sending cards.  

Here is the first card I made.  I'm not sure yet who it is going to as I haven't received my list of recipients but I hope whoever it is feels the care and compassion that went into this.

The background was one I prepared a few weeks ago for another card, that I didn't end up using.  So I  spritzed it with Perfect Pearls spray and adhered it to a white card base and then stamped this beautiful sentiment.   I die-cut a white panel with an opening and adhered that over the top with foam tape.

The flowers were stamped with different pink and green inks and die-cut.  I arranged them in a curve onto the card front.  The flowers were colored with a clear sparkle pen.  I didn't add any embellishments because this is probably heading over to the US and I don't want it to arrive damaged.

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and see what the rest of the design team have made - they're all gorgeous, as usual.

Products used:

Stamps:  Painted Flowers (Altenew), Sketched Flowers (SSS)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Spun Sugar, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass, Broken China Distress Oxide Ink, Baby Pink, Fuschia, Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White
Dies:  Vintage Flowers (Altenew), Stitched Rectangle Stax, Inside/Out Stitched Rectangles (MFT)
Accessories:  Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Perfect Pearls Spray

Strength Butterfly

Hi and welcome to another challenge from the Freshly Made Sketches team.  Our hostess this week is Linda Callahan and here is her sketch:

And here is my card using Linda's sketch.

This was not the card I had in mind when I sat down to create but this is how it ended up.  I didn't make it for anyone, but in looking at it, I think maybe I made it for me.  Losing my son has brought me to my knees and I'm struggling to get back up.  I haven't made any Christmas cards and I won't be sending any this year.  I have no desire to celebrate Christmas.  Matthew's birthday is one week before Christmas and I'm already dreading December.

I used my favourite background stamp to white emboss onto a panel and then sponge with Fog ink.  I also splattered some Fog ink onto the panel.  Onto the background I used Fog ink to stamp multiple butterflies.  The orange butterfly is popped up on foam tape.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Papillon (Tim Holtz), Essential Sentiments (MFT), Dream Big (Altenew)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Sunkissed, Orange Cream (Altenew), Fog (SSS)
Cardstock:  White, Black
Dies:  Inside/Out Stitched Squares (MFT)

Cheers
Karren