Copper Leaf

 Hi and welcome to a new sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Cecile Ribon.  I went 100% literal with Cecile's sketch to come up with this card.

 This is another leaf from my play session with mica stain sprays last week.  This time the leaf is from the Greetery, but the way I created it is the same as last week's card.  While the leaf was drying, I cut a 4.5" square white card base and rubbed on some Black Soot Distress Paint and some Silver Metallic Paint Dabber in a random fashion to mimic the sketch.

I finished with a reverse hot-foiled sentiment and some black enamel dots.  I wish you could see this leaf in real life - the mica stain sprays are so gorgeous!

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by our design them.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White

Ink:  Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Dies:  Jumbo Curiosity Buckeye (The Greetery), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Mica Sprays (Burning Ember, Fallen Acorn, Decayed, Tarnished Brass) Silver Metallic Paint Dabber (Ranger), Black Soot Distress Paint, Black Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Flaky Birthday

 It's time for another challenge from the Tic-Tac-Toe team and this week I went for Decorate Envelope-Texture-Blue for my card using gilding flakes.

This card took forever to come together.  Each of the die-cut letters was stacked 4 high using liquid glue and then I added double-sided adhesive that I'd die-cut with the same die and burnished gilding flakes into.  Afterwards, I realised there must have been an easier way, but it was too late by then!  The mat was also burnished with gilding flakes and the blue panel was from a previous session which I actually created a video for some years ago.  The link is below if you're interested.

Here is a side view to see the dimension and below is a closer view where you can see the blue panel better.  The envelope was decorated by using the leftover double-sided adhesive from the sentiment, so that was pretty easy!

And here is a link to the video showing how I made the blue panel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnQOpmD0Arw

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Cardstock:  Black, White, Pre-prepared panel

Dies:  Happy Birthday To You (MFT), Blueprints 14 (MFT)

Accessories:  Nuvo Gilding Flakes, Double Sided Adhesive (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Newspaper Man

It's my turn to be sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  I actually made this card then created the sketch around it.  I was asked by my husband to make a card for one of his customers who was turning 80 and had been a newspaper man his whole adult life.  So this is the card I came up with:

I used this newsprint stamp from Tim Holtz and paired that with a strip of cardstock I'd made using the credit card technique and some distress paint.  I added a strip of black cardstock then went to work on the sentiment.  

I die-cut and stacked the 8 and 0 then rubbed some foundry wax along the bottom of the numbers.  The sentiment was silver-embossed and matted onto black.  As the finishing touch, I also added foundry wax along the edge of the blue panel.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Steampunk (Tim Holtz), Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, pre-prepared credit card technique panel

Dies:  By the Numbers (PTI)

Accessories:  Silver EP, Sterling Foundry Wax

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

Blue Butterflies

Hi all!  It's time for another Fusion challenge and this time we have a gorgeous blue palette featuring butterflies as well as a sketch featuring a big banner.  I chose to play with just the photo this time and made a Mother's Day card for my mum.

This card is pretty much only alcohol ink and hot foiling.  I created a alcohol ink background and die-cut the butterflies from it before using silver foil cardstock for the top, detailed layer.  I adhered them together, slightly off-centre for added interest.  The silver frame and sentiment are hot-foiled.  I added a black shadow banner to the sentiment and finished with some blue enamel dots and a heart.

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

Products used:

Ink:  Tranquil, Envy Alcohol Pearl, Foundry Alloy,  Clover, Aquamarine, Pool, Turquoise, Pitch Black, Mermail Alcohol Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Silver Foil, Yupo

Dies:  Detailed Butterflies Mini (Tim Holtz), Essential Duo Lines Rectangle, More Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Silver Hot Foil, Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Gilded Hello

 Hi and welcome!  Today's Freshly Made Sketch was designed by one of our Camp Mothers, Jennifer Timko and it is really versatile.  I had so many ideas but ended up going with a no-stamping card which let patterned paper, 3D embossing and gilding flakes take centre stage.

The card base is black and onto that I embossed the Tim Holtz Doily 3D embossing folder.  It is really thick and I struggled to find a sandwich that worked to get the really striking 3D effect and I didn't want to risk damaging my Platinum so it's not as pronounced as it could be.  The patterned paper is from the Patina pack from Craft Consortium and I chose a blue-toned paper.  

Down one side of the patterned paper, I adhered some 1/2" score tape then added gilding flakes.  Those suckers fly everywhere, so I was careful to add it while it was all contained in a large container.  I then had the bright idea to gild the sentiment as well.  That was a bit trickier as the secret to gilding is burnishing and I didn't want to damage the delicate die-cut letters.  In hindsight, I should have gilded after I stacked the die-cuts together, but I didn't think of that at the time!  The end result is smoother than it looks in the photo but not as smooth as the strip but I still like the effect.  The important thing is nothing flakes off when you rub it.

I have had gilding flakes for years and never think to use them, so I was happy that a tiny fraction of them was put to use today.

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

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Patina (Craft Consortium)

Dies:  Hello Poe Script (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories:  Gilding Flakes, Doily 3D Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz), Warm Pearls (Honey Bee)

Cheers

Karren

Coffee Time

 

It's time for another challenge from the Fusion team and I took inspiration from both the sketch and photo this time to create a chalkboard-themed card.

The sentiments and images for the background came from multiple stamp sets and after I laid them out in my Misti, I white-embossed them onto black cardstock.  I rubbed on a bit of white pigment ink to give the impression of a chalkbaord and then went to work on the rest of the card.

The cup was already coloured and tucked into my stamp pocket, so that made the job quicker!  I stamped the sentiment with black ink onto a white strip and tucked a piece of vellum behind in line with the sketch.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT cards and play along with us.

I'm playing along with the coffee/tea theme at Cupcake Inspirations Challenge

Products used:

Stamps:  Espresso Yourself, Caffeine Addict (SugarPea Designs), Oh Frappe (Essentials By Ellen), Perfect Blend (Gina K.) Newton Loves Coffee (Newton's Nook), Coffee, Better With You (Verve) Coffee Hour (SSS), Coffee Break (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Unicorn White (Hero Arts), Brown Sugar (Mama Elephant)

Cardstock:  Black, White, Vellum, X-Press It

Accessories:  White EP, Copics (RV66, R59, R56)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Cupcake Inspiration

Shaker Joy

Hi!  Today's card uses Cecile's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches newest challenge and I decided to make a shaker card.  

My original intention was to use the circle in the centre for the shaker element, but then I decided to make my first edge-to-edge shaker card.  

I started by adhering some patterned paper to a square panel and then added some stamp packaging over the top, chucking in some sequins before sealing the fourth edge.  I then adhered that to a white card base.

For the circle element on the sketch, I deviated somewhat and added the word "Joy" in gold foil cardstock.  The "to the world" is hot foiled.  

For the snowflakes I die-cut three different ones from both white glitter cardstock and some deep pink and adhered them together, slightly offset for a shadow effect.

And that's my card.  Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards made by the DT.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Gold Foil, White Glitter, Autumn Rose (PTI), Blurry Flurries (Whimsy Stamps)

Dies:  Let It Snowflake Too, Filled With Joy (MFT), Holiday Sentiment Series 2 (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Sequin Mix (Hero Arts)

Cheers

Karren

Block Leaves

Welcome to the new sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where this week our hostess is Cecile Ribon.  She has come up with a fun sketch for us and here's my card: 

After completing the Crushing on Cardstock class at Online Card Classes, I decided to play with some different cardstock techniques for my three panels.  The top panel is faux suede, the centre panel is embossed with a 3D embossing folder and the bottom panel is a tone-on-tone embossed panel.

The leaf is made from alcohol ink on acetate and die-cut.

Here's a close up of the different cardstock panels.

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some gorgeous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

I'm entering this in the following challenges.

Tic Tac Toe - die-cuts, leaves, CAS. Inskpirational - autumn leaves  Addicted to CAS - leaf

Products used:

Stamps:  Rustic Linen, Many Thanks (Altenew)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Sunkissed (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold (PTI), Tangy Orange (MFT), Acetate

Dies:  Inside/Out Stitched Squares, Stitched Rectangle Stax, Layered Leaves (MFT)

Accessories:  Alcohol Inks (Butterscotch, Lemonade, Honeycomb, Sunset Orange, Statue Alloy); Modern Squares EF (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Tic-Tac-Toe

Shiny Leaves

 Hi!  I'm here with a card for a few challenges:  Just Us Girls want 6 of something on their cards to celebrate their 600th challenge which is an amazing achievement!  Sunday Stamps have a gorgeous colour challenge, although I now see it says the colours must be the primary colours and I think the black card base may disqualify me.   (So I went back to my craft room and made a second card using all the same products but with a cream card base 😄) I played with Sketch Saturday's sketch and, without measuring, am hoping my card fits the Up to One Third challenge at AAA Cards, where I did use the optional twist of leaves.

I started this card by creating the alcohol-inked panel with Yupo paper and various alcohol inks matching the colours at Sunday Stamps.  Once I was finished I die-cut it with a leaf die and also stacked it four deep with three white die-cuts to give it some stability.  

The sentiment was white-embossed onto a strip of Sage Leaf cardstock and added to the card base.

And here is the second card with the cream card base:

I have to say I much prefer the dramatic look of the black card base, but the cream one is pretty, too.

Here's a photo of the alcohol-inked Yupo I had left over after die-cutting my leaf, so you can see the gorgeous colours.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  More Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark; Alcohol Ink (Lemonade, Dandelion, Butterscotch, Valencia, Terra Cotta, Pesto, Statue)

Cardstock:  Black, Whip Cream (MFT), Yupo

Dies:  Skeleton Leaves (Tim Holtz), Stitched Dot Circle (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Sketch Saturday and Sunday Stamps.

Stacked Hexies

 Hi again!  I've been a more frequent blogger these last few weeks and I'm back today with my first post of two.  This post is some more homework from the Crushing on Cardstock class that I joined.  I made a card using one of Kristina Werner's classes as inspiration and came up with this card:

The hexagons were die-cut and outlined with a Fantastix applicator and Enchanted Gold pigment ink.  I then stacked them using glue dots between the layers to keep the total depth down.  Onto the bottom layer I added a black panel with some hexagons stamped in the same gold pigment ink.

The bees were already stamped, coloured and die-cut so it was a simple thing to add them with foam tape.

The sentiment was gold-embossed and I finished with some white pearls.

The bonus day was about organisation, so here is a photo of my coloured cardstock.

I have all my cardstock in file drawers.  Most colours have one shade per file but I'm running out of room so newer acquisitions are put two to a file.  Inside each folder is the cardstock in its original packaging and a L-shaped plastic folder for cut cardstock and scraps.  I put a punched out sample of each colour onto the tag so I can see the shades at a glance.  I have one drawer for coloured cardstock, a second drawer for neutrals and assortment packs of coloured card and a third drawer for patterned paper and specialty cardstock.  The tabs without a manufacturer are my MFT cardstocks because they form the bulk of my collection.

I'm linking this card to the Take Flight theme at Cupcake Inspirations Challenge and the Nature theme at Addicted to CAS because bees are critical to nature and our very survival (even though these are bumblebees but I'm using a bit of artistic licence, here 😄)

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  My Monthly Hero January 2021 (Hero Arts), Assorted Greetings (Gina K Designs)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versamark, Enchanted Gold (Altenew)

Cardstock:  Black, X-Press It, Harvest Gold (PTI), Lemon Tart (PTI), Banana Split (MFT), Lemon Chiffon (MFT)

Dies:  My Monthly Hero (Hero Arts), Hexagon Infinity Dies (Hero Arts)

Accessories:  Copics, Antique Gold EP (SSS), Pearls, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

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