Playing Cards

Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be playing cards today with my friend from across the world, Michele Ferguson.  Michele invited me to play cards with her and the guideline for this challenge was to celebrate National OLD Stuff Day! and play with stamps older than 5 years.  I immediately thought of my poor, neglected wood-mounted stamps that I started collecting back in circa 2001 when I first started stamping.  And what fun it was to go through those drawers and decide what I was going to use.  I ended up using three wood-mounted stamps to make this card.

So my first challenge in making this card was finding my Stamp-a-majig because the Misti wasn't going to work 😆  Once I found it, I stamped the background stamp multiple times on a panel of X-Press It cardstock using London Fog Memento ink (Copic-friendly).  I then stamped the bucket of tulips over the top and coloured with my Copics.

The final stamp was the Penny Black sentiment.  I die-cut the panel with a postage frame die and foam-mounted it onto a Fog cardbase that I'd run through my die-cutting machine with the Subtle embossing folder.  I finished with some soft gray enamel dots.

Thanks so much for visiting and a huge thanks to Michele for inviting me to play cards with her.  I'm heading over to her blog now to check out her card.  And you never know, Michele, one day we might be able to play cards in person!

Products used:

Stamps:  Bucket of Tulips K-1695 (PSX from 2001), Manuscript Background H2141 (Hero Arts from 2001), Thank You 2421F (Penny Black from 2002)

Ink:  London Fog (Memento), Amalgam (Gina K), Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Fog (SSS), X-Press It

Dies:  Postal Frames (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Copics, Enamel Dots, Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

 

Red, Red Roses

Welcome!  I'm back with another card for the reminder post at The Flower Challenge, who are celebrating their 1st Anniversary!  This month I am one of the Guest Designers (and in very good company, I might add!)

For my favorite flower, I again chose the rose and this time pulled out a very, very old PSX botanical stamp called Hybrid Rose.

I stamped it onto X-Press It cardstock and colored it with Copic markers.  Once I'd finished coloring, I lightly shaded around the image with a pale blue Copic.  As it is quite a formal image, I added a bit of levity to the card by using a higgledy-piggledy sentiment.  The dark gray frame was cut with the Park Avenue die and I fussy-cut around one of the roses so it overhangs the frame slightly.

The sentiment was popped up on foam tape, but the rest of the card is pretty flat, so easy for mailing.

I'm linking this up to Seize the Birthday, who have an Anything Goes challenge as well as Inspired By All The Little Things, where the deep red flowers, green foliage and dark gray (navy?) dress all look so beautiful together.

Products used:

Stamps:  K-1636 (PSX), Label Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Intense Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Whtie, X-Press It, Slate (SSS)

Dies:  Park Avenue (Mama Elephant), Label Sentiments (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics

Cheers

Karren

Ancient Poinsettia

Welcome to the reminder post at The Flower Challenge where this month we're looking for you to use your older floral stamps, dies or stencils.

Once again I went back into my wood-mounted stamps drawers and came up with another really old PSX stamp.

I stamped the poinsettia in Versamark ink and gold-embossed it before coloring it with my Zigs.  I lightly stenciled onto a white card base with Antique Linen ink and then chose another really old Penny Black stamp for the sentiment.  Once the flower was dry, I fussy-cut it and adhered it to the card base.

Thanks for visiting!  The Design Team have some more gorgeous floral cards to inspire you and I hope you get time to play.

Products used:

Stamps:  G3341 Poinsettia (PSX),Celebrate the Season (Penny Black)

Ink:  Antique Linen Distress, Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, watercolor

Accessories:  Scribble Script stencil (Donna Downey) Gold EP, Zig markers

Cheers

Karren

Bucket of Tulips

Hi and welcome to the third challenge at The Flower Challenge.  This month we are challenging you to use an older stamp to create your floral card.

For me, my older stamps are from the early 2000's when I first discovered stamping.  I don't get rid of my stamps so I went to my floral wood-mounted stamps and came up with an old and beautiful PSX stamp.

I stamped the image onto a panel of X-Press It cardstock and colored it with my Copics.  I then trimmed the sides so I could have strips of lime cardstock.  The sentiment was stamped and cut out as it is actually a speech bubble so I cut the speech part off.

Thanks for dropping by!  The rest of the design team have some floral beauties using their older stamps so please check them out.  And have a go yourself - the challenge is open until the 20th this month to allow the DT a break over Christmas.

Products used:

Stamps:  K1695 Tulips (PSX), So to Speak (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Black Soot Archival

Cardstock:  White, X-Press it: Limelight (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics

Cheers

Karren

Seagull Roost

Hi and welcome!  It's time for another challenge from The Paper Players and this week Joanne is challenging us to come up with a masculine card.

I used to make  masculine cards all the time but have found that I don't make them very often now.  I think it's because I'm still trying to find some clear/unmounted masculine stamps that aren't cutesy.  I love the cutesy look but I don't think the recipients of my masculine cards would agree!  If you know of any manufacturers of realistic, masculine-type images, please let me know in the comments so I can check them out.

Anyway, back to my card.  I decided to combine both the inspiration pic and the sketch at Fusion Card Challenge with the ombre theme at Friday Mashup to come up with this card.

The image I watercolored is an old, old PSX stamp.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and got some more practice with my Zig Real Brush Pens.  I remembered to dry the cardstock before changing colors this time and had less of a bleeding problem.  

For the ombre background, I took a sheet of white cardstock and sponged on Pool Party, Island Indigo and Night of Navy ink.  And yes, I did rub too hard and bent the cardstock - right where you can see it!  Embrace the imperfections, I keep telling myself :)

I die-cut the fishtail flag out of the card base and adhered it to a black layer before sticking it back on the cardbase.  This way the ombre look flows through both the base and the banner.  

A metal embellishment I've had for at least 10 years finishes off the card.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some wonderful projects for you and welcome to the three new members, Amy, Lisa and Jodi.

Products used:

Stamps:  G2891 (PSX)

Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger), Pool Party, Island Indigo, Night of Navy (SU)

Cardstock:  Watercolor, White, Black

Accessories:  Zig Real Brush Pens, Blueprints 21 (MFT), shell embellishment (unknown)

Cheers

Karren

New York City

Hi!  I'm sneaking in a card for a couple of challenges before my Paper Players DT post goes live in a few hours.

This card was made for the Sunset color theme challenge at Less is More, as well as the Something Old, Something New challenge at Sweet Stampin' Challenge and the Vintage cue word at CASology.

The "something old" for Sweet Stampin' and "vintage" for CASology comes from this stamp.  In today's world of monthly stamp releases and our demands for new! new! new! this stamp is positively vintage as I've had it for at least 12 years!  It was manufactured by a wonderful stamp company called PSX who are no longer in business but have some of the best stamps ever!

Now don't get me wrong, I love new and regularly have new schtuff winging its way to my house, but I still love some of these older images and this one in particular.

I stamped the image in black and clear embossed it before sponging on Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and my "something new" Abandoned Coral distress inks.  Once I was happy with the blending, I cut the image out. I then took a piece of card, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and cut a vertical panel out of it, over which I adhered the New York City image.  The top-folding card base was sponged with the same colors in the same area as the cut-out in the top panel is.  

I used foam tape to adhere the panel to the card base.

Thanks for visiting.  It was fun pulling out this old image and getting it inky again.

Products used:

Stamps:  K3156 PXS from The Montage Collection
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral (Distress)
Cardstock:  White
Accessories:  Clear EP

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was chosen at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

One Day at a Time

Today's card uses the current sketch from Retro Sketches, the colors from ColourQ and the challenge to use a crimper as well as old stamps from Retro Rubber Challenge.

I started with a white card base and added a crimped panel in Crumb Cake.  While my crimper doesn't live on my desk anymore, it does live close by as I use it when making flowers like the one I used on this card.  I crimp the cardstock in both directions to break the fibers in the paper and that makes it easier to squish up and re-shape.

The stamp I used on this card is a very old PSX one that I've had for probably 10 years.  I stamped it on a white panel using Jet Black Archival ink (love the coverage with that ink!).  To keep the card from looking too heavy, I used open leaves die-cut with Old Olive cardstock.  And because I really, really despise Rich Razzleberry, I used as little as I could and it appears in the form of the brad in the center of the flower and three Candy Dots :)

And yes, if you look closely enough, you can see white Mono Multi glue in the center of the flower which must have squished through from the back when I glued it down.  The glue hadn't dried when I took the photo and I didn't notice!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Masterpiece (PSX)

Ink:  Archival Jet Black

Cardstock:  White, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Old Olive

Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots, Brights Brad, Crimper, Lorelei Leaf Outline (Poppy Stamps), Scallop Circle Nestabilities

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Retro Rubber Challenge.

And I Ran...

So, in thinking of a title for this post, my first thought was A Flock of Seagulls (you'll see why in a minute).  That immediately made me think of the 80's band of the same name and from there to their hit song "I Ran", hence the title of this post :)  And for anyone wanting a blast from the past, here's a link to the official video on YouTube.  You're welcome ;)

Anyway, enough blathering.  Here's this week's sketch for Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jen Mitchell, the Queen of the Clean Splatter :)

And, just so you can make sense of that first paragraph, here's my card:

This is an old image from PSX which I just adore. I colored it with Copics, even using the colorless blender to move some color - which actually worked this time!  The panel was mounted onto Pool Party cardstock then onto the card base.  The sentiment is from Verve and the little baby starfish behind the sentiment is from WPlus9.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out the Freshly Made Sketches blog and see the wonderful samples from the rest of the amazing design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  PSX G2891, Happy Hello (Verve), Guiding Light (WPlus9)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Dark Chocolate, Goldenlocks (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Pool Party

Accessories:  Copics, circle punches

Cheers

Karren

Beachy Scene

It's Monday morning here and I have two days off work - yahoo!  It's the school holidays here in New Zealand and it's also my son's 12th birthday tomorrow, so I'm spending a couple of days with him.  For his birthday dinner, he wants to cook a three course meal a la "My Kitchen Rules", so we're also getting ready for that.

Anyway, I took some time this morning to make a card which covers several challenges:  Addicted to CAS, CASology and The Paper Players.

I created a beachy scene using an old PSX stamp as my focal point.  After I stamped the image in Memento ink, I masked off all but the sand and sponged Crumb Cake and River Rock before using my Color Spritzer to spritz some Crumb Cake ink.

I then masked off and sponged Pool Party ink for the sea.  I put some white gel pen dots in the "sea" to mimic waves.  For the sky, I cut some cloud dies out of Eclipse paper and sponged Baja Breeze ink.  The I used the reverse mask to lightly sponge some Soft Sky ink around the inside edges of the clouds.  Lastly I stamped some birds (which I envisage are lazily floating in the sky - hence using the CASology key word).

Thanks for visiting.  This was a fun and relaxing card to make.

Products used:

Stamps:  Near the Sea (PSX), Up Up and Away (SU)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Baja Breeze, River Rock, Soft Sky
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Color Spritzer, Crumb Cake Marker, Flat Bottom Clouds (MFT), White Gel Pen, Eclipse Masking Paper

Cheers
Karren

Strawberries

This is my second post today.  Scroll down for my hedgie card.  

I have several of these old style PSX stamps and I thought it would be fun to color one using Copics.  I used this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch.

The stamp has words around the outside, but I cut them off, leaving a frame with some of the elements outside the frame.  I stuck the image onto Whisper White cardstock, stamped a simple greeting and called it done.

Here's a close-up of the image.

This card is destined for a friend who is going through a tough time at the moment.  

Thanks for looking.

Edited for Cindi, who left a comment querying the colors used:  Below is a photo of the Copics I used for coloring. Hope this helps.

Products used:

Stamps:  PSX Strawberry stamp; A Dozen Thoughts
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Copic Markers

Cheers
Karren

PSX Snowman

The challenge this week at Merry Monday is to use a snowman on your card - not too difficult when making Christmas cards, right?

I pulled out another old, old stamp to make my card.  This one is from PSX - one of my favorite stamp companies of all time.  I have many, many PSX stamps and will never get rid of them!

This snowman is particularly cute, with his scarf waving in the breeze and his birdie friends come for a visit.  I stamped Mr Snowman then masked him using Eclipse Masking Tape.  I then used more masks to sponge some snowy hills.  At the top I stamped the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree in Smokey Slate stamped off.  I then sponged some Soft Sky ink for the sky.  

After I removed Mr Snowman's mask, I colored him using inkpads and a blender pen.  There's not a lot of shading going on because the paper is not designed for laying down too much color.  I popped Mr Snowman up on dimensionals and layered him onto a Soft Sky base.  I then stamped a couple of tags and punched them out using the retired Jewellery Tag punch.  A tiny little Baker's Twine bow finished off the card.

Thanks for looking.  Have you checked out the rest of the Design Team's snowmen cards?  Such talent!  

Products used:

Stamps:  Snowman (PSX); Lovely as a Tree; Tiny Tags
Cardstock:  Soft Sky; Whisper White
Ink:  Black Stazon; Soft Sky; Real Red; Old Olive; Marina Mist; Smokey Slate
Accessories;  Jewellery Tag Punch; Blender Pen; Sponges; White Bakers Twine

Near the Sea

As part of my organisation of my stamp room the other day, I also made some space to bring my non-SU stamps out of storage.  It was fun to take a glance through the drawers and when it came to the nautical theme at Curtain Call, I went to my "marine" drawer first and found a really old PSX stamp that I've probably had for 10 years and it's never seen ink! So I suppose this card qualifies for Darnell's NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) ha ha.

I used the sketch from Friday Mashup but flipped it 90 degrees.  

I kept the beautiful stamp as the main feature of this card, stamping it on watercolor paper and then wetting the paper quite a bit before coloring with Crumb Cake and Pool Party ink.  The DSP is from Epic Day and the charm is another something I've had for at least 10 years.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  PSX
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake; Epic Day DSP; Watercolor Paper
Ink:  Black Stazon; Crumb Cake; Pool Party
Accessories:  Linen Thread; Lighthouse charm from stash

Cheers
Karren