Purple Spring

 Hi!  I'm here with my reminder card for the current Flower Challenge which is to use spring colours.  I'm not sure that these purples qualify as spring but it is what it is!

One of my favourite layering stencil sets is Charming Delight by Altenew, so I set to with various ink colours and the stencils and created this floral image.  Using the co-ordinating die, I cut it out and then spritzed it with shimmer spray to give a lovely shimmer to it.

I went with my go-to layout which is a panel down the left hand side of a white card base.  The darker purple strip was created using direct-to-paper and one of the purple ink colours I used.  The sentiment was from a Pink Fresh stamp set.

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

Products Used:

Stamps:  Miss Your Smile (Pink Fresh Studio)

Ink:  Obsidian, Enchanted Garden set, Warm & Cosy Set, Nature's Wonder set (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Proper Pinstripes Pastels (MFT)

Dies:  Charming Delight (Altenew)

Accessories:  Charming Delight stencils (Altenew), shimmer spray

Cheers

Karren

Spring Bouquet

Hi!  It's time for the April challenge over at The Flower Challenge and this time we're asking for spring colours in your floral cards.  Easy, right?

 

Again, I was pressed for time.  The weekends seem to get shorter and shorter, leaving me less time to get into my craft room.  Luckily, Past Me had some already die-cut and ink-blended floral elements so this card didn't take too long to pull together.  Unfortunately, Past Me didn't record the ink colours I used but they would have been Altenew inks.

Past Me also had a panel of pale yellow cardstock that had been run through the die-cutting machine with a linen look cover plate.  I'm 99.9% sure this is a Papertrey Ink plate but I was too lazy to check! I cut an oval from the panel and adhered it to the white card base with foa tape.  I then arranged the flowers and previously hot-foiled sentiment.

I finished with some champagne drops by Pink Fresh.  

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

Products used:

Ink:  Various Altenew inks

Cardstock:  White, Lemon Chiffon (MFT)

Dies:  Fancy Sentiment Strip BetterPress Plate and Die, Foral Spray, Garden Wreath Add-On, Essential Stylish Ovals (Spellbinders), Canvas cover plate (PTI)

Accessories:  Clear Drops: Champagne (Pink Fresh), Gold hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Sunflowers

Hi and welcome!  I've been absent from the blog for a bit because I've been busy packing up my daughter's house as it has been sold.  She has already moved to a new city for her job, so it fell mostly to myself and my husband to pack up her house.  Fun times!

Anyway, as I'm filling in at The Flower Challenge, it's time for our reminder post and the challenge this month is to add circles with your flowers.  I went the easy route with washi tape to come up with this card:

I die-cut the trio shaker circle die into a panel of Grout Gray cardstock that I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder.  I then added the frame to each circle and adhered some sunflower washi tape.  I stamped the sentiment onto a white panel and added that.  

 

The whole panel was then popped up with foam tape on a white card base so the white peeks through the circles.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards by the rest of the design team and don't forget we have some prizes this month!

Products used:

Stamps:  Sunflowers (Pink Fresh Studio)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Circle Trio Shaker (MFT), Sunflowers (Pink Fresh Studio)

Accessories:  Sunflowers Washi (Pink Fresh Studio), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Circle Flowers

 Hi all!  A surprise post from me today.  As some of you know, I administer The Flower Challenge blog and due to injury within our design team, I am stepping in to fill the gap for the next few months.  This month's challenge is to Add Circles and because it's our 100th challenge, some of the design team have prizes on offer, so I urge you to head over to the challenge and check it out.

My card is fairly simple.  A tone-on-tone stenciled background (which includes some circle shapes); a die-cut and stacked circle frame and a small floral arrangement.  The flowers and leaves were left over from a previous card so all I had to do was arrange them.

I finished with a sympathy sentiment and some matching pearls.  

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Assorted Greetings (Gina K.)

Ink:  Limestone, Industrial Diamond, Eucalyptus, Pastel Sunrise, Coral Bliss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  Jellybean Green (MFT), Soft Stone (PTI), Steel Gray, Coral Crush, Peach Bellini (MFT), Ocean Tides (PTI)

Dies:  Circle Loops (SSS), Be Bold Blooms (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Geometric Grid Stencil (Aall & Create), Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Gold Birthday

 Hi all!  I'm here with my card for the reminder challenge over at The Flower Challenge where we are looking for gold in your floral cards.  I decided to add some gold hot foiling as well as gold pigment ink and pearls to my floral card.

These flowers were stamped, coloured with the co-ordinating stencils and die-cut.  I hot-foiled a gold frame onto a white card base and a gold sentiment onto a scrap and die-cut it with a fishtail flag die.  After arranging everything onto the card base, I added some gold pearls and called it done!

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the design team and join in our last challenge of the year.

Products used:

Stamps:  In the Woodland (Altenew)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Water Hyacinth, Alpine Aster, Silver Sage, Jade, Enchanted Gold (Altenew), S'Mores (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  In the Woodland (Altenew), A2 Layers Hot Foil (Waffle Flower), Fancy Sentiment Strips (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  In the Woodland stencils (Altenew), Gold Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Poinsettia

Hi!  I'm late with my post for the newest challenge over at The Flower Challenge where this month we are asking players to use gold.  Here's my card which features gold embossing and gold pearls. 

I actually made this card some weeks ago and then realised last week it would work for this challenge - so win!  I stamped, stenciled and die-cut the flower and added a die-cut cover plate to a white card base.  The sentiment was gold heat-embossed then I went around the edged with darker ink to make it stand out more,

Finally, I finished with some gold pearls.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Designs)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Versamark, Sage, Spruce, Rose Petals, Rouge, Peppermint Scrub, Merlot (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Cranberry Cocktail (MFT)

Dies:  Festive Poinsettia (Alex Syberia Designs), Rock Glass (Catherine Pooler)

Accessories:  Festive Poinsettia Stencils (Alex Syberia Designs), Gold EP, Gold Pearls

Cheers

Karren

Yellow Day

 Hi all!  I'm back with my reminder card for the current challenge over at The Flower Challenge where we are looking for yellow, black and white cards featuring flowers.

I have to admit to really liking this card!  The yellow panel was created with mica stain sprays and adhered to a black panel before adding to my white card base.  The Beautiful Day image was stamped in yellows and light grays before being die-cut with the co-ordinating dies.  Finally the sentiment was stamped, die-cut and stacked.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out what the rest of the design team have created with this colour challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Beautiful Day (Altenew), Love Thanks (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Versafine Onyx Black, Fresh Lemon, Honey Drizzle (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Beautiful Day (Altenew), Love Thanks (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Mica Stain Sprays:  Harvest Moon, Flickering Candle, Frozen Fog

Cheers

Karren

Thinking of White Flowers

 Hi and welcome!  As you may be aware, I have taken over the administration side of The Flower Challenge and have also temporarily stepped in as a designer due to a new member of the team not being able to join us until the new year.  This month's challenge is a colour challenge - Black, White and Yellow.  And here's my card:

I stamped the image in black ink and used pale gray inks with the acoompanying stencil to add a bit of shading.  I then coloured in the background with a yellow Copic marker, using the stippling technique to add more interest.  

I added a hot-foiled sentiment and called it done.

I hope you'll head over to the challenge blog to see the fabulous cards made by the design team and have a go yourself.  The challenge is open until the 25th of November eastern time and I'll be back again mid-month with another card using the same colours.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Miss Your Smile (Pink Fresh)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Pebble, Hoodie (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Hexi-Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Die (Spellbinders), Mini Slimline Layers (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Miss Your Smile Stencils (Pink Fresh), Black Hot Foil, Y15 Copic Marker

Cheers

Karren

Friendly Flowers

 

Hi all and welcome!  TodayI am thrilled to be a Guest Designer at The Flower Challenge where the theme is to add spots or stripes.  And in more great news, I will be taking over running of The Flower Challenge from October, to give Viv and Aileen a well-deserved break after 7 years.  I have fond memories of this challenge, because I helped Aileen set it up at the beginning and I was on the design team for several months before having to step down due to other commitments.

Anyway, onto my card.

This was a stenciled image I had in my stash so this card was reasonably easy to pull together.  I gold hot-foiled the stripes onto a white panel, cut the panel down to fit onto a coral card base and then added the flowers with foam tape.  I made sure to leave enough room for the gold hot-foiled sentiment to fit near the top.

Thanks so much for visiting.  The Flower Challenge DT have some gorgeous cards, so please check them out and have a go yourself.

Products used:

Stamps:  Garden Roses (Pink Fresh Studio)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Martian, Tropical Forest sets (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Coral Crush (MFT), Pitch Black (Hero Arts)

Dies:  Garden Roses (Pink Fresh Studio), Skinny Stripe BG, Hexi-gem Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Garden Roses stencils, Gold Matte Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Peach Flowers

 Hi and welcome.  Today's card is for the latest challenge from the Freshly Made Sketches team and our hostess this week is Jen Mitchell.  Jen has given us a sketch perfect for colour blocking, but that's not what I did!

This card is totally not what I had planned, but after seeing this blog post from Kristina Werner, I had to try my hand at this technique.  I chose some Peach Bellini cardstock and an Altenew stamp and stencil set and set to work.  Once the stamping and stenciling was finished, I cut the panel into four pieces to match the sketch and adhered the pieces to a white card base with foam tape.

I finished the card with an already-foiled sentiment and called it done!

Thanks so much for visiting.  The design team have some fabulous cards so be sure to check them out.

I'm linking this card up to The Flower Challenge where the focus is on background stamping.  I hope this is considered background stamping.  It covers the whole background, so I'm going with yes 😄

Products used:

Stamps:  In the Woodland (Altenew)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.), Unicorn White, Hero Arts, Seafoam, Clay Mask, Polished (Catherine Pooler)

Cardstock:  White, Peach Bellini (MFT)

Dies:  Modest Greetings 1 (Poppy Stamps)

Accessories:  In the Woodland stencils (Altenew), Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Just Because

Welcome to my blog!  It's time for another challenge from the Tic Tac Toe team and this week I chose Flowers - Pink - Word Die to come up with this card:

 

I stamped and Copic-coloured this gorgeous image and then used my Scan n Cut to cut it out.  Onto a white card base I added the Interlocking cover die cut from white cardstock.  The sentiment was also die-cut from white cardstock and stacked three high to make it stand out a bit against the white background.

I added the floral image then the sentiment and finished with some co-ordinating enamel dots.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll give this challenge a try.

I'm entering this in The Flower Challenge who are looking for our latest stamps/dies.  I got this floral stamp set just before Christmas and this is the first time I've used it.

Products used:

Stamps:  Roses With Love (Woodware)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Interlocking (Penny Black), Just Because (Birch Press Design)

Accessories:  Copics, enamel dots

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout-out at The Flower Challenge.

Golden Poinsettia

Hi and welcome!  Here is the second card I made for challenges this weekend.  This card has been made for The Flower Challenge, where Christmas is the theme.  I'm also linking up to the Card Concept challenge with this clean and simple card, focusing on the colours and Christmas theme.  As well, I'm linking this up to Darnell's NBUS challenge because everything but the frame is NBUS.

This is more NBUS - the October club kits from Spellbinders which only arrived this week.  I stamped and Copic-coloured the floral spray and die-cut it with the co-ordinating die.  For the card base, I hot-foiled a frame and a sentiment in matte gold hot foil.  I then popped up the flowers with foam tape and finished with some gold pearls.

It's hard to see in the photos, but for the centres of the flowers I "painted" them with Harvest Moon Mica Spray to give a lovely shine.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wonderful Christmas (Spellbinders)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Wonderful Christmas, Holiday Florals Background (Spellbinders), A2 Layers (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Harvest Moon Mica Spray, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at The Flower Challenge.

 

Hello Sunflower

 Hi! Today’s sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jen Brum and here’s my card.

I am a bit over making Christmas cards so decided to put a NBUS stamp set to work. I stamped and Copic-coloured this beautiful sunflower stamp. I kept the rest of the card fairly clean with an embossing folder to add a bit of interest.

The sentiment is hot-foiled to add a bit of shine.  A few enamel dots as embellishments and my card was done.

Thanks so much for visiting. Please check out the gorgeous work by the rest of the design team.

I'm linking this up to The Flower Challenge where they are looking for embellishments.

Products used:
Stamps:  Hello Sunflower (Spellbinders)
Ink: Amalgam (Gina K.)
Cardstock:  White, Daffodil (MFT), X-Press It

Dies:  Modern Greetings 1 (Poppystamps)

Accessories:  Copics, Origami Folds Embossing Folder (Spellbinders), Gold Hot Foil, Enamel Dots

cheers

Karren

Pastel Bouquet

 Hi!  I actually made this card last weekend for a couple of challenges and completely forgot to post it!  Luckily three of the four challenges I made it for are still open!  So I'm going to link this up the The Flower Challenge who are looking for a heart with the usual flowers, Happy Little Stampers' Stencil challenge and Seize the Birthday's Spring challenge.

For my card, I firstly stenciled the background with a heart stencil and glitz glitter gel.  While that was drying, I gold embossed then stenciled the floral bouquet.  I went with pastel colours as that was the challenge at the time (since closed), but I like the soft look of these colours together.

When I put the two elements together, it looked a bit bare, so I added a thin black frame to draw the eye in.  I finished with a gold-embossed sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Joyful Bouquet (Pink Fresh), Essential Sentiments (MFT)

Ink:  Versamark, Mint Chocolate, Minty Mint, Lemon Ice, Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Strawberry, Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Joyful Bouquet (Pink Fresh), Fine Frames Cover (Altenew)

Accessories:  Speckled Heart Stencil, Joyful Bouquet Stencils, Glitz Glitter Gel (Gina K.)

Cheers

Karren