Magnolia

 Hi and welcome!  Our sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week is Jennifer Timko and she has given us a classic sketch with lots of options.  A little back story before I post the photo of my card.  I really, really want the new Magnificent Magnolia bundle from Pink Fresh Studio, but I have so many stamps, dies, and stencils I am trying not to buy everything new that I like.  So I went to my stamp inventory, UpNote, and typed in Magnolia.  Do you know I have 6 stamps sets featuring magnolias...?  I chose this one by Altenew because it was layering and meant I didn't have to start colouring from scratch.

After stamping all the layers, I added some extra shading with Copics then die-cut with the co-ordinating die.  For the circle in the background, I used the Window Sphere die which doesn't cut the circle but cuts out all the horizontal strips.  I die-cut it into the card base and then adhered a piece of woodgrain patterned paper behind it.

I popped up the (previously) hot-foiled sentiment and the magnolia with foam tape and added it to the card base.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some wonderful cards using the sketch so please head over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  BAF: Magnolia (Altenew)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K), Strawberry, Dusty Pink, Blush Rose, Misty Moor, Marshland, Espresso (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, black, Wood Textures patterned paper (Craft Consortium)

Dies:  BAF: Magnolia, Window Sphere (Altenew), Hexi-Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold hot foil, Copics

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

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

Tis the Season

Hi and welcome!  As soon as I saw Jen Mitchell's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches I saw a Santa belt and I couldn't unsee it, so just had to go with it!

I did have to re-arrange the sketch layers to fit my vision but I think you can still see the sketch.  This was really simple.  A square gold frame, black strip and red background - both of which were embossed with the Subtle embossing folder to add some fabric-like texture.

The sentiment was already hot-foiled so this was probably the quickest card I've made in months!

Thanks for visiting.  The DT have some fabulous cards so I hope you'll check them out.

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Cherry Crisp (MFT), Gold foil

Dies:  Square nesting dies (Waffle Flower), Holiday Sentiments Series 2 (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Subtle Embossing Folder (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Wedding Card

 Hi!  I'm late posting because we had a long weekend just gone and my days are all out of whack!  But here is my late post using Judy Rozema's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.

For my card, I used some Mintay patterned paper that came free with an order from an online store here in New Zealand called Krafter's Cart.  One side had gorgeous images and the other side had a lovely all over floral pattern.  You can see a snippet of the images in the photo above. I found two mirror images of white flowers and fussy-cut them out.  For the background, I die-cut an oval from pale peach cardstock and embossed it with the SU Subtle embossing folder.  I then framed it with an olive frame cut from the same oval die and the next size up in the nesting set.

The sentiment was already hot-foiled and it fit perfectly between the oval frame and I finished with some clear champagne drops.

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

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Moss (Altenew, Barely Peach (Spellbinders), Patterned Paper by Mintay Papers

Dies:  Essential Modern Ovals, Fancy Sentiments BetterPress and Dies (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Clear Drops: Champagne (Pink Fresh)

Cheers

Karren

Chalkboard Christmas

Hi and welcome.  I'm the sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches and I decided to add to my meagre Christmas card stash with this card. 

Firstly, I inked up one side of an embossing folder with white pigment ink and ran it through with kraft cardstock.  I repeated this a few times to get a good layer of white ink then set it aside to dry.  Once dry, I lightly inked around the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.  Then my plans came unstuck!  I had planned to use some patterned paper my mother gave me a piece of which had scripty Christmas words over a chalkboard-looking background, but I didn't have enough!  So I decided to make my own.  I used a chalk bg stamp first then stamped over that with a text Christmas stamp.  It's not the same but it's okay.

I added the two panels to my card base and included a thin strip of gold foil cardstock at the join.  The tag was hot-foiled and then die-cut and I also die-cut some holly leaves and berries which I added to the tag.  I finished with some twine tied in a bow onto the tag.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please head over and check out what the rest of the DT have done with my sketch.

Products used:

Stamps:  Chalk Background (Hero Arts), Christmas Background (MFT)

Ink:  Cloud White (Altenew), Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Black, Kraft, Amarena Cherry (MFT), Pinefeather (PTI), matte gold foil

Dies:  Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz, Tag Sale #5 (PTI), Christmas Mailbox Greetings Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold hot foil, twine, Holly & Foliage EF (Spellbinders)

Cheers

Karren

Ring Thanks

 Hi all, I'm here with my card for the latest Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  This time, I went down the right hand column with Die-Cut/Thank You/Metallic to come up with this card.

I hot-foiled, stenciled and die-cut the floral image and set it aside while I worked on the other elements.  The card base was enhanced with a corner die placed in the top left and right corners, giving a tone-on-tone effect.  For the sentiment, I die-cut from NBUS Pastel Sunrise cardstock to match the flowers, stacking it three deep before adding it to a matte silver foil shadow.

And that's it.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the fabulous cards made by the design team and have a go yourself.

Products used:

Stamps:  Delighted For You (Pink Fresh)

Ink:  Tropical Forest and Martian Terrain sets (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Matte Silver Foil, Pastel Sunrise (Altenew)

Dies:  Delighted For You press plate and die (Pink Fresh) Ring a Ding Corner (Poppy Stamps), Fancy Thanks (SSS)

Accessories:  Silver hot foil, Delighted For You stencils

Cheers

Karren

Treasured Flowers

Hi, just a quick post from me today, using the latest sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches where our hostess this week is Jennifer Timko.

I used new-to-me products from Pink Fresh to make this soft-looking card. Hot-foiling and layering stencils made this come together pretty easily.

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

Products used:

Ink:  Buttercream, Honey Drizzle, Olive, Moss (Altenew

Cardstock:  White, Lemon Chiffon, Watercolor Wash Brights (MFT), Spooktacular (Honey Bee)

Dies:  Delighted For You Hot Foil (Pink Fresh), Essential Modern Ovals (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

 

Ombre Roses

Hi and welcome!  Judy Rozema is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she has a sketch just perfect for ombre panels, which is exactly what I did!

I white heat-embossed the Roses All Over background stamp onto a white panel and then cut it into three equal strips.  On each strip, I ink-blended some distress ink and then arranged the panels evenly onto a Jalapeno Popper card base.

Both the hot-foiled sentiment and the floral dies were already made so I just arranged them and adhered them to the card base.

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

 

Products used:

Stamps:  Roses All Over (MFT), Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Tattered Rose, Saltwater Taffy, Worn Lipstick Distress Inks, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, Black, Jalapeno Popper, Coral Crush, In the Buff, Peach Bellini (MFT), Cream (SSS), Sage (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Be Bold Blooms, Hexi Gem Sentiments (Spellbinders

Accessories:  White EP, Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Willow Wishes

 Hi and welcome to a new sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches, where our hostess this week is Jen Brum.  I am still not feeling very creative after my break from card-making so this is a pretty simple card - that still took forever to pull together!

I'll just say upfront that I completely missed where the sentiment should go, so just ignore that little error, please.

The background is the result of a foiling mistake where I placed the plate upside down on my Glimmer.  This is the negative and I like the soft, abstract look of this.  But I can't remember what plate I used so I'll never be able to recreate this!  The pussy willows were ink-blended when I was away from home recently and I decided instead of a circle, to use two tags.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have some gorgeous samples to inspire you to play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Envelope of Wonder Sentiments (Spellbinders

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, various Altenew inks

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Botanicuts: Pussy Willow (The Greetery), Tags (Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2023)

Accessories:  Baker's Twine, Pacific Northwest Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Trio of Daisies

 Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Judy Rozema and I immediately saw a trio of flowers so that's what I went with.

I used the NBUS Upsy Daisy die from MFT and cut out multiples of each size.  I then lightly ink-blended some yellow in the centres and pink around the edges before layering them up with foam dots in between the layers.  The leaves and centres were also ink-blended.

They looked a bit plain on the card base so I added some embossing paste over a stencil and also a stacked frame.  The sentiment came from my already-foiled stash.

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

Products used:

Ink:  Frosty Pink, Mountain Mist, Silver Sage, Jade, Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Sand Dunes (Altenew

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Upsy Daisy (MFT), You Are Everything Sentiments BetterPress and Die (Spellbinders, Nesting Rectangle Frames (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Letter & Number Stencil (Stamperia), White Embossing Paste

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

Oval Flowers

 It's time for another challenge from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Jen Brum.  And here's my card:

Can I just say up-front that I am embarrased by this card.  It will probably never see the light of day again 😆  I decided to do some Copic-colouring for the first time time in almost two months and, boy, am I rusty!  I really, really don't like how this image came out but time was against me so it is what it is.  After colouring the image, I used my Scan n Cut to cut it out.  Onto a Peacock card base I added some woodgrain paper I cut with the Torn Edges die.  I then added the coloured image and finished with a pre-hot foiled sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the wonderful cards made by the design team.  And please send good vibes to the universe that I get my missing mojo back soon - it's been months!

Products used:

Stamps:  Stylish Oval Birthday Wishes (Spellbinders)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K.)

Cardstock:  X-Press It, Peacock (C&9), Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee Stamps), White

Dies:  Torn Edges (MFT), Hexi Gem Sentiments Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Copics, Black Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Holly Background

 Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches is Kim Singdahlsen and she has given us some fun angles to play with.  I had just received a new hot foil cover plate with matching stencils so decided to put that to use for another Christmas card for my meagre stash.

After hot-foiling and stenciling, I then cut the panel at an angle and adhered it on top of a strip of gold sparkle cardstock.  I added thin slivers of the same sparkle cardstock to both stenciled pieces.

The sentiment was probably the hardest part because it took an age to find a sentiment die that fit proportionately in the space.  Finally, I decided on this MFT die and stacked it three high before adhering to the card.

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

Products used:

Ink:  Evergreen, Moss, Hunter Green, Green Onyx, Crimson, Rhodolite (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, black, Gold Sparkle (MFT)

Dies:  Glimmer Holly Background Hot Foil (Spellbinders), Merry Christmas (MFT)

Accessories:  Glimmer Holly Background stencils (Spellbinders), Driftwood Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Birthday Wishes

 Hi and welcome.

Linda Callahan is our sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I took a few liberties to come up with this card.

The die-cuts were from a previous crafty session so this card was reasonably simple to put together. 

The gold frame was die-cut using two oval frames stacked together.  I added it to a white card base, arranged the flowers and then added a NBUS hot-foiled sentiment on black.  

As an aside, I placed my first crafty order since January last week, in the hopes that getting new stuff will inspire me.  Fingers crossed!

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

Products used:

Ink:  Sage, Pastel Sunrise, Vanilla Cream, Coral Bliss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Sage (Spellbinders), Coral Crush, Peach Bellini, In the Buff (MFT), Cream (SSS), Matte Gold Foil

Dies:  Be Bold Blooms, Essential Stylish Ovals, You Are Everything Sentimenst BetterPress (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil

Cheers

Karren

Big Things

Hi and welcome to my blog.  Today's card is for the latest challenge at Tic-Tac-Toe where I went with the left-hand column of Stencil-Green-Foliage.

This background panel was a mistake because I put everything upside down on the Glimmer machine so it embossed the cardstock and didn't transfer the silver foil properly.  I kept the panel for months and months because I quite like the look and thought it worked well with this stenciled and hot-foiled leaf.

The sentiment is silver embossed onto black.  I gave this card to my daughter when she ventured into a classroom for the first time on her first placement at a high school as part of her teacher training.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Detailed Leaf (Pink Fresh)

Ink:  Versamark, Sea Shore set (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White Black

Dies:  Detailed Leaf Hot Foil and Die (Pink Fresh), Quadrant Backdrop Hot Foil (Pink Fresh), A2 Rectangle Stax 1 & 2 (MFT)

Accessories:  Silver hot foil, silver embossing powder, Detailed Leaf stencils

Cheers

Karren