Cowboy Birthday

 Hi!  I had some time today to make a card just for fun, which doesn't happen very often!  I was intrigued by the colours at Color Throwdown so that was my starting point.  From there I decided to use the cute Saddle Up and Celebrate set from MFT Stamps for my card:

I coloured up the images using the CTD colors and die-cut them with the co-ordinating dies.  When contemplating how to have them on a card, I thought the tag theme at CAS on Friday would work well.  So I die-cut a couple of tags and on one, I added some patterned paper to give the images some background.  

I stamped the sentiment on the tag, added some twine and adhered the tags to a cream card base.

I'm also linking this up the the All Occasions challenge at Krafty Chicks and the No Toppings option at Seize the Birthday.

Products used:

Stamps:  Saddle Up & Celebrate, The Whole Herd (MFT)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Whip Cream (MFT), Enchanted Evening (PTI), X-Press It, Spooktacular, Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee Stamps)

Dies:  Saddle Up & Celebrate (MFT), Stitched Traditional Tag Stax (MFT), Tag Sale #3 (for the reinforcer) (PTI)

Accessories:  Copics, Bakers Twine, white gel pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Color Throwdown and Krafty Chicks

Kindness Bouquet

Hi and welcome to another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where our host this week is Jacquie Southas.  Such a fun sketch with lots of room to play.

I had just gotten this set of dies to make this cute bouquet and wanted to test them out, so I created a bouquet using coral tones and assembled it.  I then took a Ripe Persimmon cardbase, added a smaller white panel and three strips of cardstock in Coral Crush and Ripe Persimmon.  On the middle strip, I white-embossed a sentiment,  (In hindsight, I wish I'd moved the sentiment over to the right, but I'm not changing it now!)

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

I'm linking this up to the CAS Blooms challenge at The Paper Players and the Flowers theme at CAS On Friday.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips (Altenew)

Ink:  Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Ripe Persimmon, Coral Crush, Hot Fudge, Jelly Bean (MFT), Simply Chartreuse (PTI), Desert Storm (Neenah)

Dies:  Slanted Sentiment Strips (MFT), Bouquet of Flowers (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  White EP

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at The Paper Players and CAS on Friday

 

Witching You

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge comes to you from the lovely Amy O'Neill. 

I have a confession.  I dislike ovals as much as my teamie, Jen, dislikes circles, so I cheated and used an arch instead of an oval.

We don't even celebrate Halloween here but I couldn't resist this adorable MFT stamp set and took it for its inaugural inking to make this card.  I colored the images with Copics and cut them with my Scan n Cut.  I added some dot detail to one of the sweets then set them aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I masked off an area on my card base and sponged some Distress Oxide inks into the open area.  Once that was dry, I white-embossed the sentiment.  Onto a smaller die-cut panel, I cut out an arch opening and added a stitched arch frame around the opening.  I popped that panel up on foam tape and finally added my colored images.

Finally, I added clear sparkle pen to the pumpkins, hat and the sweets.

Thanks for popping by!  I hope you'll check out the rest of the DT cards as they're gorgeous as always.

I'm linking this up to Southern Girls Critter Crazy challenge, as well as CAS on Friday who are looking for autumn/Halloween cards and CASology with a Scary cue word (not that you can call this critter scary!)

Products used:

Stamps:  Frightfully Sweet (MFT)
Ink:  Extreme Black (MFT), Versamark, Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Wilted Violet Distress Oxide
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Dies:  Stitched Dome Stax, Stitched Doe Frames, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Coral Fusion

Welcome!  I'm here with another challenge from Fusion and we have a beautiful summery inspiration pic for those of you just coming into summer.  And for those of us just coming into winter, I hope the photo makes you feel a bit warmer 😃

I created a fusion again this challenge and got out one of my favorite big floral images and did some coloring.

I started with a 3-color blend for the flowers but couldn't get enough contrast so then brought in N2 to add to the shade areas.  Once I was finished coloring with Copics, I got out some Prismacolor pencils and deepened the areas of shade and also added a bit of white highlighting.

I fussy-cut around the bottom of the lowest flower and tucked a scalloped border behind the flower.  Both these panels were adhered to a matching card base.  The sentiment was white-embossed onto vellum and die-cut with a stitched die.  To make it stand out more, I added a black die-cut flag behind the flower then glued the vellum on top of the flower.  Unfortunately a bit of glue seeped out behind the letters, but by the time I noticed, it was dry and there was nothing I could do.  Hopefully the recipient doesn't notice, whoever that may be!  

I'm linking this card up to a few challenges:  Shopping Our Stash (April Showers bring May Flowers), The Paper Players (CAS Blooms), The Card Concept (Floral Centrepiece - I guess my card is clean and layered) and CAS on Friday (Birthday Card)

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Make a Wish, Say it in Style (Clearly Besotted)
Ink:  Memento London Fog, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Coral Crush, X-Press It, Black, Vellum
Dies:  Stitched Scallop Edges, Blueprints 2, Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolors, White EP, White Gel Pen

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Paper Players.

Alcohol Leaves

Hi!  While I was making some DT cards yesterday, I also took the time to make this card for a few current challenges.  This uses the sketch at MFT Stamps, the celebration with sequins challenges at CAS on Friday, the monochromatic green challenge at Card Concept and the Green challenge at Work It Wednesday.

I started by creating the alcohol ink panel on Yupo paper.  Various greens and blue inks were used as well as silver mixative.  Once I was happy with the result, I stamped on the panel with archival ink and the leaves from Geometric Greenery, then wiped off the ink to create a resist look.  The panel was die-cut with a die from Blueprints 30, which I extended with some partial die-cutting.

The circles were die-cut with Tropical Teal ink and positioned onto a white card base to match the sketch.  I then added the Yupo panel and the black die-cut sentiment.  Finally, some crystal clear confetti and this clean and layered card was done.  In the photo aboe, you can see hints of the silver mixative.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Geometric Greenery (MFT)

Ink:  Archival Veridian, Ranger Alcohol Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Yupo, Tropical Teal (MFT)

Dies:  Blueprints 30, Inside/Out Stitched Circles, Celebratory Greetings (MFT)

Accessories:  Pretty Pink Posh Confetti

Cheers

Karren

Autumn Flowers

Hi and welcome!  It's been a long weekend here in New Zealand - the first in nearly five long winter months!  I spent a chunk of it making cards for upcoming DT challenges, as it's unlikely I'll get to stamp next weekend as the big office move is on!  Anyways, after finishing my DT cards, I took some time to make a card for a few challenges out there at the moment:  Paper Players' sketch, CAS on Friday's flower challenge, CASology's Sorry cue word and Card Concept's autumn love inspiration photo (clean and layered category).

As is pretty obvious from my card, I didn't go with an autumn theme, but instead was inspired by the rich orange-y hues in the photo and the white of the cake.  I stamped these gorgeous layering flowers using Altenew inks and cut them with my Scan n Cut.  The fishtail frame was extended using partial die-cutting to fit the sketch and was cut from Persimmon cardstock.  I used Rose Gold embossing powder on the gorgeous sentiment by Reverse Confetti and die-cut the panel with a stitched rectangle frame.

The flowers, leaf and sentiment panel are all popped up on foam tape.  To finish the card, I added a Copper Penny Nuvo Crystal Drop into the center of each flower.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  My Best Friend (Clearly Besotted/SSS), Lots to Say (Reverse Confetti)
Ink:  Versamark, Bamboo, Parrot, Olive, Sunkissed, Orange Cream, Fire Brick (Altenew)
Cardstock:  White, Black, Persimmon (MFT)
Dies:  Stitched Fishtail frames, A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)
Accessories:  Rose Gold EP, Copper Penny Nuvo Crystal Drops

Cheers
Karren

Just Saying Hello

Hi and welcome!  This card uses the negative panel left over from yesterday's card (although if truth be told, I created this panel first and used the leftover positive die-cuts for yesterday's card!)  I used the Hello theme at Inkspirational, the die-cuts theme at CAS on Friday and the sketch from MFT.

I ink-blended a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock with distress inks, then spritzed it with Perfect Pearls mist.  I then die-cut the scalloped edge and the Hello and popped the panel up on a Soft Stone card base using foam tape.  I then used black cardstock to die-cut the individual letters for the rest of the sentiment.  I finished the card with some Nuvo Glitter Drops and then painted inside the negative letter space with clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Ink:  Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink
Cardstock:  Bristol Smooth, Black, Soft Stone
Dies:  Big Hello, Stitched Scallop Basic Edges, Little Lower Case Letters (MFT)
Accessories:  Nuvo Glitter Drops, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen, Perfect Pearls

Cheers
Karren

More Than I Can Bear

Hi and welcome!  Today's card was made for a few challenges, not least the MFT 2017 Card Superstar Contest!  I decided to throw my hat in the ring and after a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided this card fits the Coloring category best.  Which is probably the most fiercely contested category as there are some absolutely amazing colorists out there.  But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained 😃  The other challenges I'm entering are Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge to Stamp It; CAS on Sunday who are looking for coloring and my second entry for AAA Cards, whose theme is Creatures Great or Small.

So this card took me an age to create!  I had a sketch drawn out on scrap paper which gave me the basic layout.  I wanted a night sky behind the scallop circle frame so sponged some Distress Oxide and Distress Inks onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock, keeping the lighter color in the center and circling out to the darker colors.  I then flicked on some water drops and some shimmer spray and set it aside to dry.  I die-cut a panel with the stitched frame in Blueprints 13 and also cut a circle using a Pierced Circle die.  The scallop frame was adhered over the top.  I took a piece of heat-resistant acetate and white-embossed the sentiment and adhered that to the back of the circle cut-out.

Once the ink-blended panel was dry, I adhered some silver star confetti randomly onto the panel then attached it to the front panel with liquid glue.

All the images were colored with Copics and the bears were dabbed with Coloreless Blender on a piece of towel to give some texture to their fur.  All the images were then cut with my Scan n Cut.  I do have the dies for the Happy Hedgehogs set, but not for the Birthday Bears so had to keep all the cutting consistent.  Just for interest's sake, there are 18 individual leaves - colored to look like autumn leaves, 5 mushrooms and 2 acorns around the 2 bears 😃I went around the outside of each cut image with a black marker and also added Black Glaze pen to the bears' eyes.  The two acorns and the two bears are all popped up on foam tape,  The rest of the images are adhered directly to the card.

Thanks for visiting. 

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bears, Happy Hedgehogs, Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Black Licorice Hybrid, Chipped Sapphire Distress, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, Broken China Distress Oxide

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

Dies:  Blueprints 13, Stitched Circle Scallop Frame, Pierced Circle Stax

Accessories:  Copics, White EP, Star Confetti, Navy and Silver Shimmer Spritz, White Gel Pen, Black Glaze Pen

Cheers

Karren