New Home

Hi and welcome!  I'm here today with my card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our sketch hostess this week is Kim Singdahlsen.  Her sketch was perfect for a card I needed to make for my daughter.

Some of you will know that our daughter has moved to Blenheim (about 4 1/2 hours drive from us at the top of the South Island of New Zealand).  She is in her first year of teaching high school in Design and Visual Communications as well as Automotive.  She finally moved into her new home up there a couple of weeks ago and this was the card I made for her to celebrate that.

I created a panel of pink stripes onto a gray card base and onto that I adhered a little house and trees I made using Honey Bee Stamps dies.  I had to do a bit of swapping out between their various house die sets to get windows that more closely resemble hers. I also snipped off some pieces around the roofline. I then took a white panel, die-cut a heart from the centre and stamped a sentiment, before using foam tape to adhere over the die-cut image.

Thanks so much for visiting!  The design team have some gorgeous cards using the sketch so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  New Home (WP9)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Cloudy Night, Charcoal Suit, Espresso, Volcano Lake, Mountain Mist, Lagoon (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Cement Gray (MFT), Cream (SSS), Sweet Pea, Carnation (C&9), Blush, Tutu, Chiffon (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Spring Cottages, Summer Cabin (Honey Bee Stamps), Infinity Hearts (Hero Arts) 

Leafy Cluster

 Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches is from Narelle Farrugia and it played right into my current fondness of stenciling/vintage-looking cards.

Because the purpose of Freshly Made Sketches is clean cards, I didn't distress any elements but tried to give a vintage-y look with ink-blending and stamping onto Desert Storm cardstock.  The foliage is a stamp, die and stencil combo from Simon Says Stamp that I bought in the Black Friday sales but hadn't used until now.  It was quick and easy to put together.

The hot-foiled sentiment was from my already-foiled stash which seems to be my go-to lately when I'm in a time crunch with my card-making (all the time, it seems!)

Thanks for visiting.  Please head over to the challenge blog and check out the wonderful new cards made by our design team - and meet our new team member!

Products used:

Stamps:  Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Vintage Ephemera, Scripted Backgrounds (WPlus9), Distressed Patterns (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Rocky Shore, Swamp Green, Oak Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Desert Storm (Neenah), Black

Dies:  Friendship Leafy Cluster (SSS), Postal Frames (The Greetery), Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Die (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Friendship Leafy Cluster stencils (SSS), Gold hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Colour Blocked Poinsettia

Hi and welcome!  I'm the sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and I went back to my roots for my sketch - colour blocking!  Way back in the late 90's/early 2000's when I started stamping, I was particularly drawn to colour-blocked cards.  So decided to come up with a sketch that has a colour-blocked look.

I also decided to make a Christmas card and luckily, I had all of the floral images and sentiment already stamped and embossed so I really just had to work on the background.  I temporarily taped the three panels together and, using my Stampwheel, stamped over all three panels with a background stamp and Versamark ink, several times.  I then carefully removed the red layer and re-stamped, then removed the green layer and re-stamped to ensure good coverage.  Once that dried, I re-assembled it and adhered it to a card base.

From there it was a simple matter to add the floral elements and the sentiment.  I finished with some pearls.

Thanks for visiting.  I'm keen to see how the rest of the DT interpreted my sketch, so please head on over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia Wishes, Berry Branches (The Ton), Christmas Background (MFT), Poinsettia Bouquets (WPlus9)

Ink:  Versamark, rouge, Crimson, Velvet, Forest Glades, Evergreen, Espresso (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Amarena Cherry, Jalapeno Popper, Kraft (MFT)

Dies:  Poinsettia Wishes, Berry Branches (The Ton)

Accessories:  Platinum EP, Holiday Pearl Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

 

Purple Flowers

 Hi and welcome to a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Narelle Farrigia. I took a very slight deviation from her sketch to come up with my card.

Thanks to fellow teamie Jen Brum, I had to add the Be Bold Bloom dies to my collection and this is their first outing.  I created an arrangement that sort of looks like the sketch and adhered it to a die-cut dome.  Onto a white card base I added a panel due-cut with the Stitched Ironworks due for some added interest. 

I then hot-foiled a sentiment onto black card and die-cut it with a stitched die.

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you’ll check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Purple Rain, Lavender Fields, Jellybean Green (MFT), Sage (Lawn Fawn)

Dies:  Be Bold Blooms, More Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders), Stitched Dome Stax, Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Stitched Ironworks BG (WPlus9)

Accessories:  Silver hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Plaid Poinsettia

Hi all!  Today was a public holiday as a memorial day for Queen Elizabeth II and I spent some of the day in my craft room making a card for a few challenges.  I chose the sketch from The Paper Players, the Christmas metallic challenge from Happy Little Stampers, the Christmas in September challenge at Sweet Stampin' and the current Tic Tac Toe challenge where I pretty much played with every square except Splatters!  But I'll go with Foliage/Plaid/Berries

I stamped and stenciled the wreath before die-cutting it but then wasn't happy with the colours I'd used. This wreath was already done and in the stamp packet, so I decided to use that as it had more traditional Christmas colours.  The hot-foiled plaid background was also already done so you'd think this card would have been quick to put together, wouldn't you? Ha!  Not for me as I second- and third-guess every step.

 

The sentiment was silver-embossed on black cardstock and die-cut with the co-ordinating die before I put all the elements together on a Cranberry Cocktail card base, which matched the berries.  I added some yellow Nuvo drops to the centres of the poinsettias and Copic-coloured some pearls to try and match the cranberry colour.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K Designs), Versamark, various Altenew inks for the stenciling

Cardstock:  Cranberry Cocktail, Black Licorice (MFT), White

Dies:  Poinsettia (Pink Fresh Studio), Poinsettia Bouquet (WPlus9), Triple Line Diamond Hot Foil Plate (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Poinsettia stencil (Pink Fresh Studio), Silver EP, Silver Hot Foil, Pearls, Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops

Cheers

Karren

Flamazing Day

Hi and welcome to a new challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where this week our hostess is Kim Singdahlsen.  Kim's sketch has a big open space and I used it to create a scene.

I made this card for friends of mine who have also lost a child.  Flamingoes have a special meaning for them and I wanted to give them something to smile at.  I created the background with distress inks and then coloured the trees and flamingo with Copics before cutting them out with my Scan n Cut.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Flock Yeah (WPlus9), Let's Flamingle (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Antique Linen, Salty Ocean, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Bristol Smooth

Accessories:  Copics, Shimmer Spray, White EP

Cheers

Karren

 

Rosy Friend

Hi!  It's a long weekend here in New Zealand and I took the extra day to get in a card for a few current challenges.  I'm playing along with the colours at Color Throwdown, the Friends theme at Just Us Girls, the sketch at Sunday Stamps and the challenge at Tic Tac Toe (flowers, purple or pink, CAS).  I'm not sure if this card qualifies as pink as the colours look really red in the photos and the pink has sort of been a bit lost, so fingers crossed!

 

I saw the recent video by Jennifer McGuire on creating a jig for layered stamps and I wanted to give it a go, so chose a stamp set with reasonably small images.  I stamped the roses in pinks and reds and because I couldn't use greens for my leaves, I went with kraft coloured leaves and I think it adds a nice, neutral addition.  The palest pink didn't show in my roses after stamping the other layers so I brought in some extra pink in one of the layers.  I also backed the "friend" die-cut with pink under the kraft which provides some interest when looking from the side.

The sketch has a horizontal sentiment strip with a layer underneath.  To try and mimic that, I added a black off-set shadow to my word die.

Finally I finished the card with some enamel dots and some clear sparkle pen on the word die-cut.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Rose Builder (WPlus9), Happy Day (MFT)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Red Cosmos, Coffee Break (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black Licorice, Kraft, Pink Lemonade (MFT)

Dies:  Rose Builder (WPlus9), Friend Duo, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Enamel Dots (Altenew), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Tic Tac Toe, Sunday Stamps and Color Throwdown.

Embossed Foliage

Welcome to the latest Freshly Made Sketch challenge, where our hostess this week is Judy Rozema. 

I happened to catch the tail-end of a live by Dawn Woleslagle from WPlus9 in their Facebook group a few weeks ago and was blown away by the card she was putting together using the Rose Builder and Hellebore stamp sets and some silver-embossed foliage.  Unfortunately I can't link to it as you need to be a member of the FB group to be able to view it.  I was so impressed I immediately wanted to create something similar and this is the result:

It's hard to see in the photo, but all the foliage is silver-embossed.  I used various sets to get the leaves I wanted.  The hellebore were already stamped and in my stash so I can't remember which inks I used but they would have been Altenew grays.  

The patterned paper is from Whimsy Stamps Blurry Flurries pack and I just love all the patterns in this pack - so much so that I bought two packs last year.

The sentiment is from MFT stamps and is white-embossed onto black.  Finally I finished with some sparkling clear confetti.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Rose Builder, Hellebore Builder (WPlus9), Peaceful Pinecones (PTI), Christmas Essentials (SSS), Snow Globe Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Pink Pearl, Rouge, Coral Bliss, Crimson (Alt), Versamark, Various Grays (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Blurry Flurries (Whimsy Stamps)

Dies:  Rose Builder, Hellebore Builder (WPlus9), Peaceful Pinecones (PTI), Christmas Essentials (SSS), Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  White EP, Sparkling Sand EP (Wow), Sparkling Clear Confetti (PPP)

Cheers

Karren

Yellow Door

 

Welcome to the newest Fusion challenge.  I went very literal with this challenge and created a yellow door!

These images all come from a stamp set by WPlus 9 and I added some scored lines to the pale gray card base to mimic linear boards.

My Copic coloring is terribly rusty as I haven't done any for weeks, but it is what it is!

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll check out what the rest of the DT has come up with.

Products used:

New Home (WPlus9)

Ink:  London Fog

Cardstock:  XPress-It, Grout Gray (MFT)

Dies:  New Home (WP9)

Accessories:  Copics, Atyou Spica Pens, Scoring Board

Cheers

Karren

Sending Hugs

Hi and welcome.  This is the last Fusion challenge of the year and here is our fun graphic:

As I'm not sending Christmas cards this year, I chose to focus solely on the sketch and made another card to send to a grieving mother.

I masked off a rectangle on a white card base and blended some gray inks, heavier in the bottom right and fading off to the top left.  Before removing the mask, I spritzed the panel with Perfect Pearls spray.

I stamped the roses and leaves using Altenew inks and die-cut them before arranging them in a bouquet to match the sketch.  The sentiment was stamped onto the card base before adhering the roses.  The smallest rose in the centre was popped up on foam tape.  All the roses were painted with clear sparkle pen.

I finished the card with some confetti.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the DT cards and have time to play along with us.

Products used:

Stamps:  Rose Builder (WPlus9), Sketched Flowers (SSS)
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Limestone, Silver Stone, Industrial Diamond, Sunray, Chamomile, Snapdragon, Marigold, Green Fields, Shadow Creek (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White
Dies:  Rose Builder (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Perfect Pearls Spray, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Sparkling Clear Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh)

Brick Wall Bouquet

Welcome to challenge day at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Lee Ann Barrett and she has a great sketch for us.

I went with a celebration card and came up with this:

If these flowers look familiar, it's because I colored them up at the same time as I did the image I used on this card a few weeks ago.  I added a white brick wall die-cut for added interest in the background and made the sentiment bold to stand out.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Hello and Thanks (WPlus9)

Ink:  Amalgam

Cardstock:  Grout Gray, Black Licorice (MFT), X-Press It

Dies:  Brick Wall (MFT), Simply Celebrate (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Tiny Bouquet

My closest DT neighbour is our hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Check out Narelle's wonderful sketch:

Due to a smudge I needed to cover up, I had to move my elements down the card a bit, but you can still see the sketch.

I have been trying a bit of retail therapy to re-kindle my desire to stamp and got an order from WPlus9 last week.  I stamped the flowers and did some simple Copic coloring before cutting them out with my Scan N Cut.  The background was die-cut with a cover die and the strips behind the sentiment are Watercolor Wash patterned paper - to match the flower colors.

A very simple card with a little pop of color.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll check out the gorgeous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Hello and Thanks (WPlus9), Bitty Thanks and Gratitude (MFT)
Ink:  Amalgam, Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Watercolor Wash Brights (MFT)
Dies:  Blueprints 8 (MFT), Stitched Ironworks (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Flamingo Queen

Hi and welcome!  Today's Freshly Made Sketch Challenge comes to us from one of our newer teamies, Judy Rozema and she has a great one for us:

I needed a birthday card for my niece so used the sketch to come up with this fun card.

I stamped and colored the images with Copics, before cutting them out with my Scan n Cut.  I white embossed the sentiment onto a strip of black and added that to a white top-folding card base.  I then tucked the palm trees behind the black panel and popped up the flamingo on foam tape.  I finished the card with a few sequins and clear sparkle pen on the crown and beak.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Flock Yeah! (WPlus9)

Ink:  Amalgam, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Sequins, White EP

Cheers

Karren

Plaid Birthday

Hello!  Thanks for popping by!  Today's card is for the current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches - designed by none-other than our co-Camp Mum Jen Mitchell.  Jen has got a very interesting sketch for us with lots of room for interpretation.

I decided that those angled panels would be good for a die-cut sentiment, so I went hunting through my dies to find two big dies that say "happy birthday". 

I also wanted to do some stenciling with embossing paste in the background.  I love my stencils but I mostly use them with ink-blending so I wanted to get out the embossing paste and add a touch of color to it.  I filmed the making of this card if you're interested - link down below.

So I colored my embossing paste with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and then appied it over the Plaid #1 stencil from Carta Bella to a panel of white cardstock cut with a stitched die down one side.  Once that was dry, I added the die-cut sentiment and popped the whole panel up on craft foam for some added dimension.  No embellishments as this is a masculine card.  

All in all, a very quick card (for me!) . You can watch the video over on YouTube or below.

Products used:

Ink:  Hickory Smoke Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Black, Cement Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Happy Trio, Happy Birthday (WPlus9) Basic Stitch Lines  (MFT)

Accessories:  Embossing Paste