Yellow Flowers

Welcome to the latest challenge from the Tic-Tac-Toe team. I designed the board for this challenge.  I went right column with Thinking Of You - Foliage - Die Cuts to come up with this card.

I stamped and stenciled the image then die-cut it using the co-ordinating die.  I also die-cut the square out of the centre. I added some additional colour to the flowers and leaves with Copic markers.  After stamping the sentiment, I die-cut that as well.  

Onto a Lemon Tart card base which I'd embossed with the Subtle embossing folder, I added the focal image and sentiment with foam tape.  I finished with some yellow enamel dots.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll join us!

Products used:

Stamps:  Squared Spring Florals (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Memento London Fog, Versafine Onyx Black, Moon Rock, Misty Sage, Mossy Meadow, Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Fresh Lemon (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Lemon Tart (PTI)

Dies:  Squared Spring Florals (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  Subtle EF (SU), Copics, Enamel Dots

Cheers

Karren

 

Except Young Again...

 Hi and welcome!  Linda Callahan is our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches and, knowing her as I do, I think she'll get a laugh out of the sentiment on my card.

Now, before I start, yes my card is flipped and the reason is solely because I must have turned my die-cut panel upside down before working on the rest my card.  Doh!  

To make my card, I took a panel of freebie patterned paper and adhered it to a white card base.  I then took a word window die and die-cut three openings to (originally) match the sketch out of a panel of Coral Crush cardstock.  I then lined up the sentiment stamps with the openings and stamped them onto the patterned paper.

I wanted to add some drama so added slim strips of black to peek out from each opening.  I then spattered on some white ink and some gold ink before adhering the panels together.  In hindsight, I sort of wish I didn't do the spattering, but too late now. Finally I finished with some enamel dots and a heart.  I like the serious look of the sentiment and then there's the last line...

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Mini Messages: Sassy Birthday (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Black, Coral Crush (MFT) Freebie patterned paper

Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Word Window (MFT)

Accessories:  Black enamel dots, Gold Shimmer Spray (Heidi Swapp), Unicorn White Ink Spray (Hero Arts)

Interlocking CASE

Hi and welcome.  Today I'm playing along in a CASE It blog hop over on Instagram.  I thought I would post here too because this is where I keep the record of all my cards.  But I encourage you to head over to Instagram and check out the other cards in the hop.  The hop starts with Nancy and I am the last stop on the hop. For my case, I have had this card by JJ Bolton saved in my IG for a few years now. Originally I was going to do cardstock strip weaving but my cardstock strips were a little too wide for the cover die I chose, so I ended up doing inlaid die-cutting which took way longer, but I like the result. I also didn't use bright colours like the inspiration card but went with more muted tones.

I did stick with the circle element in the centre but added my die-cut flower to the bottom left rather than the top of the circle.

Here is JJ Bolton's card that inspired me.  I hope you can see the inspiration.  

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps: Poppy Wishes (The Ton)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pastel Sunrise, Limestone (Altenew)

Cardstock: White, Eiffel Tower (MFT), Pastel Sunrise (Altenew), Dove (C&9

Dies: Interlocking (Penny Black), Embossed Edge Circle (Kat Scrappiness), Lovely Layers: Mini Holiday Florals (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Anenome

 Hi!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jacquie Southas and I have to admit I played "Stretch the Sketch" a tad to come up with my card.

I had had this embossing folder for quite some time (at least a year I think) and had never used it.  Then I saw there were co-ordinating stencils, so bought them and when they arrived, I wanted to use them both straight away (go figure!)  I thought that the curves and the leaves at the bottom of the image sort of looked a bit like the sketch so decided to go for it.  I stenciled and embossed the image and then die-cut with the co-ordinating die.  I then partially die-cut the bottom of the die from some white cardstock and dry-embossed that with the Burlap EF before adhering behind the florals.  This makes the image stand out a bit more.

The card base was a panel of Eiffel Tower which was also embossed with the same Burlap folder.  I adhered the image with foam tape and added a pre-foiled sentiment.

Thanks for visiting!  The design team have stuck to the sketch way better than me this week so please head over and check them out.

Products used:

Ink:  Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Misty Moor, Marshland, Moon Rock (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Eiffel Tower (MFT)

Dies:  Fancy Sentiment Strips BetterPress & die (Spellbeinders)

Accessories:  Japanese Anenome Embossing Folder, Die and Stencils (Lisa Horton), Burlap Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Just a Note

Today's card was made using the sketch designed by Judy Rozema over at Freshly Made Sketches.  At first I thought I would do scallop layers but then I remembered this NBUS die and thought it would work okay.  

It was pretty simple to pull this card together.  The die also adds the "lines" on the paper so I cut 3 panels and arranged them onto a Mint card base that had been embossed with the Burlap embossing folder.  The sentiment was stamped onto the same Mint paper and die-cut and I finished with some silver foil die-cut paper clips.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Take Note (SSS)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  White, Mint (CTMH), silver foil

Dies:  Take Note (SSS), A2 Ripped Notebook (Picket Fence), Notebook Journal Card (SugarPea Designs)

Accessories:  Burlap EF (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

 

Floral Stump

 Hi and welcome! Today’s sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Narelle Farrugia. I am still on my Honey Bee die kick so pulled out some more NBUS for this card.

All the die-cut elements were cut from white cardstock and ink-blended with Altenew inks. Once I had finished the ink-blending, I arranged the elements to sort of match the sketch. I wanted a background so chose this cover plate and cut it from white and adhered it to the card base, before adding the die-cuts.

The hot-foiled sentiment was already prepared so I added it with foam tape and called it done. 

Thanks for visiting. The design team gave some fabulous cards so please check them out.

Products used:

Ink:  Misty Morning, Nimbus, Evergreen, Eucalyptus, Mountain Mist, Buttercream, Maple Yellow, Hazelnut, Dark Chocolate

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Slice & Stump, Lovely Layers: Mini Holiday Florals (Honey Bee Stamps), Rocks Glass (Catherine Pooler), Hexi Gem Sentiments Hot Foil & Die (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Purple Anenome

 Hi and welcome!  I am the sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and I added a few more layers than I usually do to my sketch.  

I got a whole lot of Honey Bee Stamps products during the Black Friday sales and I have been trying to work through them over the small amounts of time I've had to create lately.  This anenome flower was made using white cardstock and Altenew inks.  Once it was put together (minus the centre) I spattered it with gold colour shine and white acrylic paint.  I then spattered the centre elements with Black Soot ink before assembling.  

The card base was stenciled with white embossing paste (got a thing for stenciling at the moment!) and then I chose some pattered paper and copper foil to add the layers.

I finished with a copper hot foiled sentiment.  Thanks for visiting.  Head on over and see how the rest of the team interpreted my sketch and I hope you'll have a go yourself.

Products used:

Ink:  Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultraviolet, Andromeda, Yellow Ochre, Olive, Moss (Altenew), Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Watercolor Wash, B&W Stripes (MFT), Copper foil

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Anenome (Honey Bee Stamps), Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copper hot foil, Shabby Rose Stencil (Stamperia), White Embossing Paste, White Acrylic Spray, Gold Color Shine

Cheers

Karren

Do Not Adjust Your Set

Hi and welcome!  Today is my last day of my holiday break and I'm back at work on Monday.  Today is also the first chance I've had to make a card just for fun.  The Honey Bee Stamps Buzzworthy Challenge FB group is asking us to recreate a favourite card from 2024 using Honey Bee Stamps products.  My card I chose is this one from February 2024. To be honest, I wouldn't call it my favourite because it's got colours that really make my eye twitch (magenta and fuschia are not my favourite colours!) but I like the layout and the stripes as well as the die so I decided to recreate it using the absence of colour - which corresponded with the current challenge at Color Throwdown.  As it also predominately uses dies, I'm also linking up to Just Us Girls die challenge.

 

I cut strips of cardstock in various shades of gray and also black and adhered them onto some double-sided adhesive paper.  Onto a white card base I stenciled over the Salvaged Brick stencil with white embossing paste and set it aside to dry.  I then created the cherry blossom using the same gray cardstocks as the strips.  I added a touch of gray shading where I thought it was needed and finished with a liberal spritz of shimmer spray to feminise it a bit.

The sentiment was stamped and die-cut and added to a Soft Stone die-cut circle.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  On The Line - Succulents (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Morning Frost (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Soft Stone (PTI), Cement Gray, Gravel Gray, Steel Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Cherry Blossom, On The Line - Succulents (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  Salvaged Brick Stencil (Honey Bee Stamps), Embossing Paste, Shimmer Spray

Cheers

Karren

Floral Boots

Hi and welcome to the first Freshly Made Sketch challenge of 2025, where our hostess this week is Cecile Ribon.

I wanted to play with some NBUS dies I bought in the Black Friday sales, so came up with this card (hopefully you can still see the sketch...)

I worked on the die-cuts first, cutting everything except the black elements from white cardstock and ink-blending to add colour.  For the boots, I cut around the toes to take away the pointed witch's boot and to try and make them look more "normal".  I bought this set for the florals but it's nice to get use out of the other elements as well.

Once all the die-cutting and ink-blending was finished, I arranged the elements and used Press n Seal to keep it all intact while I worked on the card base. 

Onto a 4.75" square Fog card base I stenciled Distress Grit Paste over the Coffee Break stencil, deliberately not going to the edges of the card panel.  Once that was dry, I adhered the arrangement onto the card base and then added a white-embossed sentiment.

Thanks for visiting.  Head on over to the blog to check out the wonderful cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)

Ink:  Versamark, Grape Agate, Plum, Pure Graphite, Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss, Heart Beat, Vineyard Berry, Butternut, Pumpkin Pie, Yellow Ochre, Limestone, Jade, Eucalyptus (Altenew), Ground Espresso, Scorched Timber Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Fog (SSS)

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Mini Fall Florals, Lovely Layers:  Mini Holiday Florals, To The Wise One (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  White EP, Coffee Break stencil (Stamperia), Distress Grit Paste (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

 

Row of Buildings

Hi and welcome!  Jen Brum is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she gave us a row of circles to play with.  I turned the circles into buildings and came up with this card:

I've been enjoying playing with layering die-cuts and ink-blending lately, so these were all cut from white cardstock and ink-blended with mostly neutral colours to try and give a cohesive look.  I used a mini-slimline card base and die-cut a smaller panel from a nesting die set.  Onto that panel I lightly ink-blended Speckled Egg distress ink, fading it into white to mimic snow.  I then spritzed shimmer spray on the panel before adding the buildings and sentiment.  I then used foam tape to add it to the card base.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.  This is our last challenge for 2024 so it will stay open over the holiday period, giving you plenty of time to play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cozy Christmas (Mama Elephant)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Speckled Egg Distress Ink, Limestone, Silver Stone, Evening Gray, Industrial Diamond, Pure Graphite, Burnt Red, Mahogany Bark, Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Winter Village (Honey Bee), Mini Slimline Layers (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Shimmer Spray

Cheers

Karren

 

27

Hi!  Welcome to my blog. Our sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Kim Singdahlsen.  I used her great sketch to create a card for my son, whose birthday is in a couple of weeks. If he was still with us he would be 27 years old this year.  This is the 6th birthday since he passed suddenly 😢.   

I used the Shiplap die by The Greetery for both the white panels in the background and for the numbers.  The number panel was a leftover piece from a previous session where I ink-blended the panel with Distress Oxide inks before die-cutting.  I then adhered the shiplap back onto a sheet of copy paper before die-cutting with the numbers.  I stacked the numbers with two black die-cuts as well for dimension.

The white shiplap was adhered to the patterned paper with foam tape and I finished with a simple sentiment - not really birthday-ish but true.

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

Products Used:

Stamps:  Squared Spring Florals (Honey Bee)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo Distress Oxide

Cardstock:  White, Black, Grain & Grunge Patterned Paper (Honey Bee)

Dies:  Shiplap (The Greetery), By the Numbers (PTI)

Cheers

Karren

Case Me a Pinecone

 Hi, I'm so pleased that Michelle Lupton is again doing her Case Me A Christmas Card series after having to take a break from organising it last year.  I'm delighted she has asked me to play along again.  I chose this card to CASE and was inspired by the following elements:

• the slimline size
• the foliage in a curve down the left hand side
• the big bold sentiment in gold on vellum
• the two tone geometric background

And here's my card (I'll post the card I cased down below).

I started with a white slimline card base (full slimline size) and added a cream die-cut striped cover plate.  I also cut the cover plate in kraft and filled in the stripes with kraft strips.  I then set that aside while I worked on the pinecones and foliage.

I die-cut the base of the pinecones in Milk Chocolate and the top in Hot Fudge.  I wanted to add some interest to the base layer so spritzed it with Crooked Broomstick and Fallen Acorn mica sprays.  Once they were dry, it looked a bit bright, so I inked over the top with Ground Espresso Distress Ink to tone it down.  I also spritzed the pine needles with Tree Lot mica spray after sponging the edges with Green Onyx ink.  On the sage foliage, I added some Wintergreen ink but it was too similar to the cardstock colour so near impossible to see.

Once everything was dry, I arranged it into a curve and adhered it to the card base.  The sentiment was heat-embossed on vellum and die-cut and adhered with a mix of liquid glue and tiny slivers of foam tape.  Finally, I finished with some gold pearls.

Here's Michelle's card that I chose to case.  I hope you can see how I was inspired.

 

Thanks to Michelle for inviting me again.  I am excited to see which of my cards she chose to case.  I haven't made many cards this year, so the pickings are slim...  Here is a link to the card Michelle created based on one of mine.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Christmas Duo (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Wintergreen (Catherine Pooler), Ground Espresso Distress Ink, Green Onyx (Altenew)

Cardstock;  White, Whip Cream, Kraft, Hot Fudge, Milk Chocolate (MFT), Pinefeather (PTI), Sage (Spellbinders), Vellum

Dies:  Slimline Short Strips (The Ton), Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery (Honey Bee Stamps), Merry Christmas Duo (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Tree Lot, Crooked Broomstick, Fallen Acorn Mica Sprays, Antique Gold EP, Champagne pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Rainbow of Happiness

 Today’s card uses Cecile’s sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and I was stumped at first then thought of a deconstructed rainbow so that’s what I went with.

To avoid too many clashing colours, I kept the other elements neutral. The sentiment comes from an old SugarPea Designs stamp set.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Whatever the Weather (SugarPea Designs)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Lost Shadow Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray, Wild Cherry, Coral Crush, Banana Split, Limelight, Blueberry, Lavender Fields (MFT), Paradise (Hero Arts)

Dies:  Lovely Layers: April Showers (Honey Bee Designs)

Accessories:  Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Friendship Boots

 Hi!  I'm here with a card for the latest Tic-Tac-ToeTic-Tac-Toe challenge and this time, I went right down the left column with Layers-Die-cut-Patterned Paper to come up with this card.

These dies are just new to me and I decided to make a fun card using polka dot paper.  To be honest, I pretty much bought this die set for the flowers but the rest of it isn't bad!

I did some ink-blending to add a bit of dimension and shading and used a pre-foiled sentiment.  Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Ink:  Mustard Seed, Kitsch Flamingo, Rusty Hinge, Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, Forest Moss Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Black, Party Patterns (MFT), various coloured cardstock scraps

Dies:  Lovely Layers: April Showers (Honey Bee Stamps), Hexi Gem Sentiments Hot Foil and Dies (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold hot foil

Cheers

Karren

Got Thyme?

 Hi!  It's time for another Freshly Made Sketch Challenge and this week I am the sketch hostess.  I designed a simple sketch with a grouping of three elements.  For my own card, I flipped the sketch to come up with this:

This was not what I envisaged when I designed the sketch, but I had just received these new dies from Honey Bee Stamps and thought they would work well.  I used a combination of patterned paper, coloured cardstock, with added ink blending, and metallic cardstock with the dies.  The background was die-cut with an older The Greetery die and adhered to a white card base.  I then added some patterned paper for the "floor".  Before I added the pots, I heat embossed the sentiment with copper embossing powder to match the signs.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips (Altenew)

Ink:  Versamark, Moss, Parrot, Olive, Grass Field (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Avocade, Artichoke (C+9), New Leaf (PTI), Steel Gray, Cement Gray (MFT), Copper Metallic, Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee)

Dies:  Lovely Layers: Herb Garden (Honey Bee Stamps), Herringbone Parquet (The Greetery)

Accessories:  Copper Embossing Powder (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Fishing

 Hi and welcome.  Today's card is for the latest Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge  where I went right down the centre with Slimline-Stenciling-Fishing to come up with this masculine card.

I stenciled the circles onto a mini-slimline card base and then added the stamped, Copic-coloured and die-cut elements.  Finally I finished with a stamped sentiment and called it done!

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll have time to play along!

Products used:

Stamps:  Fishing Legend (Honey Bee Stamps)

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

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Fishing Legend (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories:  Fading Circles (SSS), Copics

Cheers

Karren