Caffeinated Owl

Hi and welcome to the first Fusion challenge of the year!  And it's our 3rd anniversary so we've got a very special challenge with some fabulously talented guest designers.  I was thrilled when Michele Ferguson from I Card Everyone agreed to join us as my guest.  Michele is well-known in the card-making world, both from her gorgeous CAS creations and from her very generous support of other stampers.

Here is our inspiration for this challenge:

I was mostly inspired by the photo but also took some elements of the sketch to come up with this card.

I stamped Louie from Purple Onion Designs onto a panel of whit card and colored him with Copics, keeping to the reds and wood tones in the photo.  The sentiment comes from an Art Impressions set and fits perfectly on the panel.  I cut the panel narrower and adhered black strips down each side.

On the white card base, I adhered strips of Schoolhouse Red down each side and then used foam tape to pop the main panel up.  Louie's hat and gloves were painted with a clear sparkle pen.

Thanks for visiting.  Please head on over to the main Fusion blog and check out the incredibly talented guests and DT members and I hope we'll see you in the gallery.

Products used:

Stamps:  Louie (Purple Onion Designs), Girlfriend Blend (Art Impressions)
Ink:  Intense Black (SSS), Black Soot Archival
Cardstock:  White, Black, Schoolhouse Red (SSS)
Accessories:  Copics, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Cheers
Karren

Snowman Hats

Welcome to Merry Monday's weekly challenge.  This week, Nina is our hostess and she has a very unique challenge for us - to create a Christmas card with a funky hat on it!

As soon as I thought of funky hats, I thought of the adorable Snowy Trio stamp by Purple Onion, so I went to work and came up with a variation on the stamp.  Check it out:

Instead of stamping all three snowmen, I stamped one plus several of their hats.  If you want to see what the stamp looks like before my cutting and re-arranging, then check out this card.  I then cut out all the pieces and colored them with Copics.  After carefully arranging the hats on top of the snowman I stuck it on to the card base with foam tape.  The sentiment was deliberately kept very plain so as not to detract from the colorful snowman hats.

Thanks for visiting.  The rest of the design team have some very funky hats on their cards, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Snowy Trio (Purple Onion), Christmas (SSS)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  White, X-Press It
Accessories:  Copics

Cheers
Karren

Singin' Snowmen

Today's Merry Monday challenge comes to us from Lori and she is asking us to use carolers or music on our cards.

I've had the Snowy Trio stamp from Purple Onion for nearly a year and hadn't used it, so this was the perfect opportunity to get it out and spend some relaxing time coloring.

I just adore this image!  The snowmen look so joyful and happy!  I stamped the image onto some X-Press It cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black, then spend a good amount of time coloring with my Copics.  The sentiment comes from a cute little Simon Says Stamp set I got from my Merry Monday Secret Santa (Sue) and was stamped using Jet Black Archival ink.

The panel was mounted onto a Coastal Cabana top-folding cardbase and at the last minute, I colored the hats and trees with clear Wink of Stella.  You can see a bit of the shimmer in this next photo:

Here is a photo of the various Copic markers I used in this card.

Thanks for visiting.  The Design Team have some adorable musical cards to entertain you, so be sure to check them out.

Products used:

Stamps:  Snowy Trio (Purple Onion), Christmas (SSS)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Archival Jet Black

Cardstock:  Coastal Cabana, X-Press It

Accessories:  Copic Markers, Wink of Stella

Cheers

Karren

Skating Bunnies

Welcome back for another Merry Monday post.  Today, the lovely Katie has challenged us to use critters on our cards.  Fun, right?  

Photo Source

Critters are so trendy right now in card-making and I couldn't wait to take Cora and Thomas out on a trip to my craft desk and create a little scene with them as the stars :)

I stamped Cora and Thomas onto some white cardstock then masked the top of Cora's head before stamping the pond image over top.  I colored the scene with Copics and used a very simple layout as the image is so big.  The sentiment comes from a Simon Says Stamp/Clearly Besotted collaboration.  I made a tiny little rolled rose from some Rose Red cardstock and a 1/2" circle punch for Cora's hat.

Thanks for visiting.  The Design Team has some wonderful critter cards to inspire you.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cora & Thomas, Pond (Purple Onion), Holly Berries (SSS)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Island Indigo, X-press It, Rose Red
Accessories:  1/2" circle punch, pearl, Copic markers

Cheers
Karren

Cocoa Time

Hi and welcome to Merry Monday.  This week, it's my turn to host the challenge and I've gone for an easy theme, given that Christmas is only 10 days away!  My challenge is to create a winter-themed Christmas card.  Easy, right?

For my card, I decided to create a little scene using some Purple Onion stamps from the Stacey Yacula collection.  

I stamped three separate images onto some X-pressit cardstock and colored them with Copics.  For the record, my little cabin is sinking into the snow on purpose (actually, I didn't realise I'd stamped it crooked until I was coloring it at the very end).

The sentiment comes from PTI's Two Feet Deep set and suited this little scene perfectly.  I kept the layout really simple and just layered the panel onto a 5 1/4" square Early Espresso cardbase.

Thanks for visiting.  The design team have done a great job with my challenge and I hope that you can squeeze in a few minutes to make a card to link up to the gallery.

Products used:

Stamps:  Snow Cabin, Louis, Cocoa Stand (Purple Onion), Two Feet Deep (PTI)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  X-pressit, Early Espresso
Accessories:  Copics

Cheers
Karren

Happy Snowman

When I went into my craft room today, I just didn't feel like stamping :(  So I decided just to do a bit of Copic coloring and see where that took me.

I colored up a beautiful snowman from Purple Onion's Stacey Yacula range and once I was finished, I decided to make him into a card.  I went looking for a suitable sketch as this fella is pretty big!  I found this week's Mojo Monday and went to work.

Isn't this snowman and his little bunny friend just too cute?  I cut each layer with stitched dies.  For the green layer, rather than use green cardstock, I sponged some Green Apple ink around the edges to give some added interest.  For the round element at the bottom, I didn't want to cover up my bunny, so I die-cut a vellum snowflake, punched two tiny holes in it and threaded some green twine through it before tying a little bow.

Looking at the snowflake in the photo, I might paint it with clear Wink of Stella and see if that makes it pop a bit more.

Thanks for visiting.

Products Used:

Stamps:  Warm Hearted (Purple Onion), Christmas Joy (Verve)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Green Apple (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Island Blue (SSS)

Accessories:  Copics, snowflake die (SU), green twine, Lil' Inkers Stitched Mats dies

Cheers
Karren

Vase of Flowers

It's Saturday here and I finally got a chance to stamp again.  I tried the other night but my attempts were pitiful so I gave up.  I struggled a bit today but I had a head start with this card, as I'd already colored the image a week ago so I just had to make it into a card.

I used the sketch at Pals Paper Arts as well as the toppings challenge at Seize the Birthday to add coloring to your birthday card.

Now I feel the need to add a disclaimer here LOL.  I'm very much a beginner when it comes to copics so bear that in mind when you cast your eyes over my card.

This image is actually two stamps from Purple Onion Designs - the jar and the bunch of flowers.  I stamped them onto Xpress-it  cardstock and colored with copics.  I colored this image with no layout nor finished card in mind so it was a nice surprise to find the orange flowers matched Tangerine Tango cardstock.  The tag is another of the die cuts from my Merry Monday Secret Santa, onto which I stamped the sentiment from PTI's Birthday Bash Sentiments set and popped up with dimensionals.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  PTI, Purple Onion Designs
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black
Cardstock:  Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Xpress-it
Accessories:  American Crafts Twine, copic markers, unknown tag die cut

Cheers
Karren