Holly Coffee

 Hi and welcome!  I'm thrilled to be guest-designing with the Caffeinated Christmas Challenge team this month.  And our theme this month is Coffee and Green.

My card evolved over several hours.  I knew I wanted to use the leaves from the Seasonal Sketch die set and this coffee cup I coloured with Copics, but I couldn't figure out how to tie it together and add the Christmas theme.  But as I was trawling through my Christmas dies, I came across this frame and knew I could make it work.

Once I had all the components, it didn't take much to pull together.  The card base is Whip Cream and I dry embossed it with the Subtle EF.  I adhered the coffee cup and the leaves directly to the frame then popped them all up on foam tape, which looks great in real life but gave some horrible shadows in the photos!

Thanks so much for visiting.  This challenge is being sponsored by Newton's Nook and while I didn't use their products for this card, watch this space...  Just sayin'...

Products used:

Stamps:  Thanks a Latte (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Amalgam (Gina K Designs)

Cardstock:  Whip Cream, Black Licorice, Prickly Pear, Jelly Bean (MFT), X-Press It

Dies:  Seasonal Sketch (Tim Holtz), Holiday Frames (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Tis the Season

Hi and welcome!  I took some time yesterday to make a card and guess what?  It was another Christmas card!  The embossing challenge at Merry Monday hooked me in and I decided to ink up a NBUS set from Lawn Fawn that I thought would languish unused until later in the year when I decided it was time to start making Christmas cards again 😃  As the stamps and die I used are new, I'm also linking up the the Anything New challenge at Sweet Stampin'

I stuck with heat embossing for my card and embossed the stars in Silver Pearl embossing powder which is a really pretty soft silvery-pearl look and I embossed the sentiment in Liquid Platinum embossing powder, which is probably my favorite metallic embossing powder.

I started by blending distress inks onto a panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock for my background.  After that was finished, I set it aside to dry completely before embossing.

These images are from the Winter Village stamp set and I stamped and colored them with Copics, keeping to a red, brown and green color palette.  The "lights" on the trees were embossed with the Silver Pearl EP.  I cut the images with my Scan n Cut and also die-cut the (also NBUS) Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait die from white cardstock and set to work arranging everything.  Once everything was glued onto the die-cut panel, I went back to the background and embossed all the stars, leaving a wee space for the moon.

The sentiment is from another NBUS set by Avery Elle and was used because it fit nicely in the available space!  The whole panel was added to the background with foam tape and then adhered to a white top-fold card base.  The windows and snow on the houses were coated with clear sparkle pen to add a bit of shimmer.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  Winter Village (Lawn Fawn), Merry Mistletoe (Avery Elle)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It, Bristol Smooth

Dies:  Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait (Lawn Fawn)

Accessories:  Copics, Silver Pearl EP (Ranger), Liquid Platinum EP (Ranger), Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Sweet Stampin'

How You Bean

Hi and welcome back!  Today's card was made using the current sketch at Sunday Stamps and the theme at Lawn Fawnatics (use your favorite Lawn Fawn set).

I have wanted this set with the cute little faces for as long as it's been out.  I bought it earlier this year and there it sat, in my NBUS box, until today!  So the fact that I finally got to use it makes this my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp set 😄

I stamped and colored the images then added Nuvo Crystal Glaze over the whole jar and set it aside to dry.  I then took some Perfectly Plaid patterned paper and die-cut it with a rectangle stitched die.  The sentiment was white-embossed onto black and cut with a stitched flag banner die.  I added a little green jellybean to the right hand side for some extra interest and colored him with clear sparkle pen.  To make the jar look round, I added foam tape to the centre only and used my tape runner down the sides.

Thanks for visiting!

Products used:

Stamps:  How You Bean (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (MFT), Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Black, X-Press It, Perfectly Plaid
Dies:  Stitched Rectangle Stax, Stitched Sentiment Strips (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Crystal Glaze, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Sunday Stamps.

Colorful Monsters

Hi all!  I'm back with a card featuring this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess who came up with this gorgeous sketch is our other talented Camp Mother, Jennifer Timko.  Jennifer and Jen (last week's hostess) keep this challenge running smoothly even though they both have busy lives outside of crafting.  They are amazing and I'm grateful for them both!

Now I absolutely love sketches with circles and circle frames even more so!  I decided to create a card that I could enter into Lawn Fawnatic's current challenge, focusing on the colors in their inspiration photo.  I'm also linking up to Addicted to Stamps & More's Anything Goes challenge.

I stamped and Copic-colored these adorable images from Monster Mash and cut them with the matching dies.  For the sentiment strip, I used a piece of woodgrain patterned paper die-cut with the woodgrain die from Blueprints 17 before white-embossing the sentiment.  Onto a white card base, I added a pierced rectangle layer and then a pierced circle frame die-cut.  The monsters and sentiment strip are popped up on foam tape.  I finished the card with some Nuvo Crystal Drops and a bit of Glossy Accents on the one-eyed monster.

I did take a photo of the Copics I used to color each of these monsters but the focus was off, so if you want to know any of the color combos, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to head over to the FMS blog and see what the rest of the design team did with this cool sketch.

Products used:

Stamps:  Monster Mash (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Intense Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  White, Soft Stone, X-Press It, Wood & Notebook Basics (Simple Stories)
Dies:  Blueprints 21, Blueprints 17, Pierced Circle Frames (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Nuvo Crystal Drops, Glossy Accents

Cheers
Karren

Tank You

Hi and welcome to a very special Freshly Made Sketches post!  This week marks our 300th challenge!  Yep, 300 fabulous sketches!  I played along with the challenge regularly since #20 when I joined in my first ever challenge and then was lucky enough to be invited to join the team from #118 and haven't missed a challenge since 😊  I love this challenge and the design team are a wonderful, supportive group of ladies that I love, even though I've never met any of them in person!

Now, enough reminiscing and onto our fabulous 300th sketch.

To celebrate challenge #300, all the cards made by the DT for this challenge are going to be sent to a challenge participant, whose name will be randomly drawn at the end of the challenge.  How fun is that?  Knowing my card was going to actually be sent to someone (shocker!) I felt some added pressure and this is actually the second card I made for the challenge.

I used the adorable Fintastic Friends set by Lawn Fawn and stamped and colored various elements before die-cutting them and arranging them in the fish bowl.  For the background, I white-embossed the Balloon Strings stamp onto Bristol Smooth cardstock and blended Tumbled Glass over the top before die-cutting it with a Blueprints die.  I used the same die and some partial die-cutting to make a smaller rectangle from some patterned paper.  The Thanks word was cut from black cardstock and painted with clear sparkle pen.

So thanks for visiting!  Be sure to head on over to the blog and check out the fabulous creations by the rest of the design team.  And have a go at the sketch - we'd love to see a huge gallery this week.

Products used:

Stamps:  Fintastic Friends (Lawn Fawn), Balloon Strings (MFT)
Ink:  Intense Black (SSS)
Cardstock:  White, Watercolor Wash (MFT), X-Press It
Dies:  Fintastic Friends (LF), Blueprints 10 (MFT)
Accessories:  Copics, Prismacolor Pencils, Triplus Pens, Black Glaze Pen

Cheers
Karren

Baked Goods

Hi and welcome to another Fusion challenge!  I just love the photo inspiration for this challenge which can lead to a chalkboard card or a baking-themed card or a cupcake card, or, or, or :)  The sketch is a simple one which can be flipped as required.

I flipped the sketch and created a fusion using Lawn Fawn images and Distress Oxide inks.

I sponged the distress inks onto a white panel using some masking tape and spritzed some water to add some interest.  The panel was then adhered under a white card base, which I'd die-cut with the stitched interactive windows trio die.  The images where white-embossed onto black and then lightly sponged with distress inks before being added to the card base with foam tape.  I added a sentiment and some Nuvo Jewel Drops and called it done!

Thanks for visiting!  The DT have some gorgeous cards so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Baked With Love, Bun in the Oven (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Versamark, Fossilized Amber, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink

Cardstock:  White, Black

Dies:  Stitched Interactive Window Trio (MFT), Baked With Love, Bun in the Oven (Lawn Fawn)

Accessories:  Nuvo Jewel Drops

Cheers

Karren

Sew Much

Hi!  It's time for another challenge from the team at Just Add Ink.  Check this out:



Yep, Just Add Stitching - real or faux.

I used some stitched dies on my card, but I also went with a sewing theme using these adorable Lawn Fawn stamps.

I stamped, colored and die-cut the images then went over some areas with my Atyou Spica pens for a lovely shimmer.  On the background I used some Nuvo Embellishment Mousse over top of a Quilted Stitch stencil (see more stitching 😃)

Thanks for popping by!  The JAI design team have some wonderful cards using this theme, so head on over and check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Sewn With Love (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versafine Onyx Black, Schoolhouse Red (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, X-Press It

Dies:  Sewn With Love (Lawn Fawn), Blueprints 20 (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Atyou Spica Pens, Nuvo Embellishment Mousse, Quilted Stitch Stencil (Echo Park)

Cheers

Karren

Teddy Christmas

Hi and welcome to another challenge from the team at Just Add Ink!  Today's challenge is a fabulous sketch by teamie Chantell.

I decided to make a Christmas card using this sketch and was inspired by the Muse Christmas Visions challenge.

For my wall, I colored some white embossing paste with Stone ink and applied it over a brick wall stencil, before setting it aside to dry.  I then set to work on my teddy bear and the stack of gifts, coloring both with Copics.  To give the bear some added texture, I used a scrap of towel and some colorless blender over his "fur".

The banners were die-cut and stacked and to ground the teddy, I used a strip of black cardstock for him to sit on.

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team have done.  You'll be impressed, for sure!

And here is Cornelia's Muse card:

Cheers
Karren

Happy Trails

Hi, my card today uses the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches - designed by our own talented Cecile Ribon.

I'm not as good at putting unrelated elements together in a pleasing pattern, like Cecile, so I went another route with the sketch and came up with a little scene.

I've created another video and do you know what the hardest part is?  Trying to keep it down to a reasonable time!  I don't want them to run on and on so try and keep them to the 5-7 minute mark.  That means editing a 40 minute video down to about 7 minutes, which results in either everything sped up to warp speed or stuff edited out.  At the moment I'm leaving in the coloring, but speeding it up a bit and cutting out a lot of the other aspects.  I'd love to know which you'd prefer to see, or if you'd like me to mix it up from video to video.  As an aside, editing the videos shows me exactly how long I sit there not doing anything, trying to make a decision on how to proceed 😀

This is more NBUS and uses Happy Trails by Lawn Fawn, which has been in my NBUS box for months.  It was good to finally use it!  I stamped and colored the images before cutting them out with the matching dies.  I then wanted to make a "road" for the vehicles to sit on so had a quick hunt through my stamps to come up with something resembling a road.  I found this double line stamp from SugarPea Designs and went with it.  In hindsight, it probably would have looked better stamped in white, but so be it.  

I die-cut a circle from some watercolor patterned paper and adhered that to the white card base.  From there I arranged the trees and road and then popped up the vehicles with some foam tape.  The stamped sentiment finished off the card.

Thanks for visiting!  The rest of the design team have some fabulous cards to inspire you so please check them out.

You can watch the video below or over on YouTube.

As the stamp set was NBUS, I'm also linking this to Darnell's challenge.  I'm hoping to do some camouflaged die-cutting before the challenge ends, but in the interim, here's a card that just features NBUS.

Products used:

Stamps:  Happy Trails (Lawn Fawn), Noted (SugarPea Designs)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Smoke

Cardstock:  White, Smoke (SSS), Watercolor Wash (MFT)

Dies:  Happy Trails (LF), Inside Out Stitched Circles (MFT)

Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers

Karren

Smooth Birthday

Hi and welcome to our last Freshly Made Sketch Challenge of the year!  Our hostess is the fabulous Jen Mitchell and she has come up with a square card sketch for us.  As an added bonus, we also have extended the challenge out to 2 January so you have plenty of time to make a card or two 😉

I love square cards and it's been a while since I made one, so this was a fun card to make.  Now, I have to confess that I had the tag with the images on made and waiting to put on another card, so I feel like I cheated a little bit here, but time was against me and I think you can still see the sketch.

Now that I'm done making Christmas cards to send for this year, I'm back to my NBUS mission.  It doesn't seem to be working too well though, because when I started my NBUS mission, I had 39 sets to use.  I've used several but now have 41 NBUS sets!  I blame the Black Friday sales that were going on because I've rarely met a sale I can resist 😃

The images were stamped, colored, die-cut and I added Glossy Accents to the bowl of the blender.  They were popped up onto a sponged tag with foam tape and the sentiment is white-embossed onto black.  The plaid paper was chosen to match the Copic colors and the whole card is 4.25" square.

Thanks so much for visiting this year.  Please check out the fabulous creations made by the rest of the design team and I hope all our FMS players have a wonderful holiday season.

Products used:

Stamps:  So Smooth (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark, Broken China
Cardstock:  White, Black, Perfectly Plaid (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: So Smooth, Tag Me (Reverse Confetti)
Accessories:  Copic Markers, Glossy Accents, Twine, White EP

Cheers
Karren

Sweet Birthday

Hi!  Today's card was created using the sketch from Retro Sketches, the Inkspirational Challenge to use 5 or more stamps, the Anything Goes Challenge at Seize the Birthday and the Anything Goes with Dies at HLS.

This card clears out 2 more sets from my box of NBUS - I'm now down to cough, 32 cough unused stamp sets!  Luckily I don't treat dies as NBUS or I'd be totally overwhelmed ha ha!

This card uses Baked With Love and Sprinkled With Joy by Lawn Fawn.  I just love these images and wanted to use them in a card, but didn't really feel like creating a "kitchen" on my card.  So I used the sentiment banner as the counter-top and that was much less work :)  The images were stamped, Copic-colored and die-cut and then arranged the elements and popped them up with the sentiment banner on foam tape.

The card base is a 5" square Soft Stone base and on top of that I used a white panel die-cut with a stitched die.  

All in all, I used 9 individual images, including the sentiment!

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Baked With Love, Sprinkled With Joy (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid, Versamark
Cardstock:  Soft Stone (PTI), White, X-Press It
Dies:  Baked With Love, Sprinkled With Joy (Lawn Fawn), Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Stitched Mats Square (Lil' Inkers)
Accessories:  White EP, Copic Markers

Cheers
Karren