Poinsettia

Hi and welcome to our second-to-last challenge of the year over at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Michele Ferguson.

I went with a Christmas card because I couldn't think of anything other than a big flower for the circle image (my creativity is on hiatus at the moment).

The flower was stamped, stenciled and die-cut before being layered onto a dark green background.  For the banner, I went with vellum and really wanted to actually stitch it onto the card but was just too lazy to pull out the sewing machine! Hence the stitched dies - so much easier!

I finished with some gold gems in the centre of the flower and on the banner to hide some little dots of glue.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versamark, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Lumberjack Plaid, Aged Mahogany, Saltwater Taffy, Worn Lipstick Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Vellum, Forest (Spellbinders)

Dies: Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Design), Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax, Blueprints 25 (MFT)

Accessories: Gilded Embossing Powder (Brutus Monroe), Back to Basics Gem Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

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Snowy Plaid

Hi and welcome!  I'm here with a card for the latest Tic Tac Toe Challenge where I've gone down the left column with Texture/White/Plaid.

I added the Altenew Layered Plaid cover plate to a blue background and then added some hand-cut snow drifts on top.  The snowman was assembled using various colours of cardstock and the Honey Bee Stamps Build a Snowman die set.

Finally, I added the sentiment and called it done.  Thanks so much for visiting.  Head on over to the challenge blog and have a go yourself!

Products used:

Stamps: An Arctic Christmas (SSS)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Salvaged Patina Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Black, Sno Cone, Summer Splash, Blu Raspberry, Hot Fudge (MFT)

Dies: Layered Plaid A & B (Altenew), Build a Snowman (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Orange Copic Marker

Cheers

Karren

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Skating Christmas

Welcome to the new challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where this week I am the sketch hostess.  I had no idea what I would make when I came up with the sketch and it took a while to figure something out but finally came up with this card.

The sled and floral arrangement were made using coloured cardstock and ink-blending.  After I put the pieces together, I set it aside and worked on the background.  The patterned paper was a little bit too dark for the softer look I was going for so I painted over the panel with some diluted white gesso to soften it.  The top of the panel was die-cut using the linen side of the PTI cover plate.  I stamped the sentiment and added a thin mint strip to separate the two panels.

After adding the die-cut elements, I finished with some pearls to match the coral tones of the poinsettia.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by our design team and meet our super-talented two new design team members.

Products used:

Stamps: Star Snowflake Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Brushed Corduroy, Abandoned Coral, Lost Shadow, Bundled Sage, Fossilized Amber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Kraft, Coral Crush (MFT), Fog (SSS), Rouge (Altenew), Mint (Spellbinders), Silver Matte Foil, Christmas 2025 Backdrops (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Winter Welcome Sled (Spellbinders), Linen & Canvas (PTI)

Accessories: Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps), white Gesso

Cheers

Karren

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Floral Book

Hi and welcome.  I carved out a bit of time today to make a card specifically for the final Color Throwdown challenge.  I haven't played along in challenges for several years now, but when I was a regular challenge player, Color Throwdown was always one I tried to create for.  I'm sorry to see the challenge go, but totally understand.    

Anyway, onto my card.  I wanted to try and create with softer versions of the challenge colours.  So I went with a vanilla-yellow colour, a soft orange and a minty green.  I added some ink to brighten up the colours some.

I decided to use an old die-set from SugarPea Designs which I have always loved.  I created the "book" using Acorn and Ivory cardstock and then worked on the floral arrangement and glasses.  I wanted the background to look a bit bookish too, so lightly stamped a text background with Fog ink.  I then spritzed it with Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz for some splatter and sparkle.  The floral arrangement was spritzed with clear shimmer spray.

The whole background was dry-embossed with the Subtle EF and I finished with a couple of random flowers on the background.

I'm also playing along with Time Out Challenge where I have chosen all of the options except Movie.  When I saw the challenge and decided to make a book, the "corners" option reminded me of turning the corner down to mark the page (not that I have ever done that - it makes my eye twitch just thinking about it!).

Thanks for visiting. And special thanks to the Color Throwdown team for all the wonderful inspiration over the years.

Products used:

Stamps: You Matter (SSS), Many Thanks (Altenew)

Ink: Fog (SSS), Obsidian (Altenew), Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio, Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Black, Vanilla Cream, Minty Mint (Altenew), Summer Sunrise (PTI), Acorn (Spellbinders), Ivory (Gina K)

Dies: Open Book (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories: Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU), Clear Shimmer Spray (Tsukineko)

Cheers

Karren

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Thinking Of

Hi and welcome!  Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Cecile Ribon.  She gave us an image that tends towards Christmas, but I didn't want to make a Christmas card, so turned it into a floral instead.

Both the floral and the sentiment are NBUS stamp sets for me so it was good to use them.  I stamped and die-cut the images and set them aside to work on the background.  I die-cut a double square frame and backed it with some patterned paper that I'd spattered with gold.  I did the same spattering on the white panel but used some scraps of paper to mask off the top left and bottom right so the gold was contained in a diagonal.

I didn't add any embellishments as I thought the gold was enough.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Burnt Red, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow, Warm Sunshine, Caramel Toffee (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, One of a Kind patterned paper (Paper Rose)

Dies: Garden Treasure (Altenew), Get Well Soon (Honey Bee Stamps), Nesting Square Dies (Waffle Flower)

Accessories: Gold Color Shine (Heidi Swapp)

Cheers

Karren

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Tool Birthday

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jen Brum and rather than make a Christmas card, I decided to make a masculine birthday card with some new-to-me dies from Honey Bee Stamps.

I've said it before, but I'm a sucker for anything miniature and these are just so cute!  I cut them out using Milwaukee tool brand colours because my daughter's boyfriend is a builder and uses Milwaukee tools so I had him in mind while making it.

The red frame is placed over top of an embossed panel and I then arranged the tools and a white heat-embossed sentiment.

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

And in other news, even though I've been card-making for almost 25 years, I had never put together a cardstock swatch, so after watching a live by Amy Rysavy, I decided to swatch out my cardstock where I have more than 2 sheets of the same brand/colour.  These rings hold MFT, Altenew, Spellbinders, Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp and PTI (not all the colours for all the brands, of course!).  I haven't swatched my assortment packs of Concord & 9th, Simon Says Stamp, MFT or PTI because I have less than 2 sheets of a colour but this is probably enough to be going on with.  Amusingly, I have multiple companies with the exact same shade.  The photo below makes my colour-loving heart happy. I only wish it wasn't so expensive to ship cardstock to New Zealand or I'd have it all... I created the labels with my Niimbot labelling machine and the tag die is from SugarPea Designs (no longer in business).

Products used:

Stamps: Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versamark

Cardstock: White, Fog (SSS), Red Hot, Cement Gray, Steel Gray (MFT), Silver matte foil

Dies: Pierced Rectangle Frames, Pierced Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Lovely Layers: Woodworking, Lovely Layers: Pegboard Garage Tools (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Wood Plank Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), White EP

Cheers

Karren

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Work of Heart

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch designer over at Freshly Made Sketches is Verena Shapiro and she has a classic sketch for us.  I used it to create a card for my daughter who is coming up to the end of her first year of high school teaching and it's been a tough year for her.

I started with the stamped images which I then stenciled and die-cut.  From there I embossed a Jalapeno Popper panel to provide some texture and adhered it to a white card base.  Two strips of patterned paper onto a white panel were used as per the sketch and I then stamped the sentiment before arranging the stamped images.

I finished with some enamel dots and called it done.  Thanks for visiting.  Please head over and check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Awesome to the Core (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.), Versafine Onyx Black, Heartbeat, Mossy Meadow, Green Opal, Milk Chocolate (Altenew), Antique Linen Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Jalapeno Popper (MFT), B&W Stripes (MFT), Freebie patterned paper (Honey Bee Stamps)

Dies: Awesome to the Core (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Awesome to the Core Stencils (Honey Bee Stamps), Tropical Forest Enamel Dots (Altenew), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

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