Big Thanks

Hi!  I made this card late last night and while the background came together quickly, the front panel took a bit longer as I couldn't decide what to put in it.  This is version 3.0:

I used Linda's sketch at Pals Paper Arts and the current challenge at Pinterest Inspired Challenge.  I wanted a long narrow front panel but couldn't find anything appropriate to fit, so ended up with this sentiment and lots of white space :)

For my background panel, I took a piece of watercolor paper and white embossed the Worn Grid stamp from Unity.  I then used Sonja's controlled watercolor technique to apply ink.  I used several distress inks, trying to match the colors of the inspiration picture.  Once it was dry, it looked a bit patchy so I went over the whole thing with Tumbled Glass ink to give it some cohesion, then went round the edges with Vintage Photo ink before die-cutting it with an angled die.

I layered that onto a black card base and put another thin strip of black on the bottom panel to match the sketch.  The sentiment was stamped with High Dive ink and layered onto a black panel.  I finished with some dark grey enamel dots.

I'm also entering this into Stampin' Royalty's Card for Guys challenge.  This is my second entry there.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Worn Grid (Unity), Big Thanks (CAS-ual Fridays)
Ink:  Versamark, High Dive, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, Hickory Smoke, Vintage Photo
Cardstock:  Black, white, watercolor
Dies:  Blueprints 18
Accessories:  White EP, enamel dots

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Pals Paper Arts.

Oriental Happiness

Hi, I had so much fun making this card!  The theme at The Male Room is "Oriental" and it gave me the opportunity to pull out some unmounted plates I've had since the early 2000's from a stamp company called Non Sequitur.  I'm also linking to the "Cards for Guys" challenge at Stampin' Royalty.

I started by making the vertical panel by sponging various distress inks onto a piece of white cardstock.  I then used the Crocodile stencil and Pumice Stone ink to add a bit of interest, before flicking some water onto the panel.  Once I was happy with the result, I sponged Vintage Photo around the edges before stamping the Asian Text image three times down the panel, using my Misti for placement.

The panel was then layered onto some black cardstock and then onto a Neenah Desert Storm card base.  I then went looking for an Asian-looking sentiment and found the Ori Kami set by Altenew.  I stamped the sentiment onto the card base using black ink then stamped the bird onto a piece of white card onto which I'd smooshed Blueprint Sketch ink and then flicked water on.  I fussy cut the bird and adhered him using foam tape.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Oriental Love Letters plate (Non Sequitur), Ori Kami (Altenew)

Ink:  Ranger Archival Black, Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Cardstock:  Desert Storm, white, black

Accessories:  Crocodile stencil (Tim Holtz)

Cheers

Karren

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at The Male Room.

Dandelion Happiness

Hi and welcome!  It's Saturday here and I've just survived my first three days at work after a 5 month break.  After getting laundry out of the way this morning, I couldn't wait to get into my craft room and do some stamping - my brain was too sore to attempt stamping after work!

I decided to make a very simple card first up.  This card uses the inspiration from Stampin' Royalty and the sketch from Fusion.  I have taken a few liberties with the sketch but I think you can still see the components in my card.

I used the dandelion heads to represent the two circles in the sketch and the sentiment represents the horizontal panel.  My card was layered onto a Pool Party base.  I decided not to put any embellishments on it, thinking it was a nice graphic card that didn't need dressing up any.

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Goldenlocks, Smoke (SSS)

Cardstock:  White, Pool Party

Cheers

Karren

Super Dad

Yesterday I showed you the card I made for my father for Father's Day on Sunday.  Today I'm showing you the card I made for my boys to give to their dad/my DH.

I used the sketch from CAS(e) This Sketch, the Just Add Dad theme from Just Add Ink and the color theme from Stampin' Royalty to use black and white with a pop of color and came up with this card:

I stamped the buildings along the bottom of the card base using Fog ink.  Super Dad was colored with Copics.  The flag is meant to represent a dark night sky and I masked off a circle before sponging Pumice Stone and Black Soot ink in an ombre style.  I then removed the mask and lightly sponged whatever yellow ink was still on my yellow mini ink blending foam LOL.  Here's a close-up:

Thanks for visiting.

Products used:

Stamps:  Super (Paper Smooches)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Fog (SSS), Black Soot, Pumice Stone Distress Inks, a mystery yellow
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Xpress-it
Accessories:  Spellbinders Circle Dies, Copic Markers, MFT Fishtail Flag Stax dies

Cheers
Karren

Circle Hello

Thanks for visiting me today.  This is my second "meh" card (refer to yesterday's post for my first one).  I made this card to cover three challenges - The Friday Mashup to use sequins and/or make a hello card; Stampin' Royalty who have a gorgeous inspiration photo and a new-to-me challenge called Keep it Simple who have challenged us to use turquoise.  I hope Bermuda Bay is turquoise-y enough.

For my card I cut the Circle Parade die out of both Bermuda Bay and Daffodil Delight cardstock.  I then adhered the Bermuda Bay negative die to a Whisper White card base and very carefully stuck the Daffodil Delight outline into the negative space.  That bit was messy - it's very hard to glue those tiny little pieces :)

The hello die was cut from Whisper White cardstock then I used some silver sequins to finish off the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Circle Parade die (SSS), Hello die (Paper Smooches), silver sequins

Cheers
Karren

The Dust of Everyday Life

After a bit of a stressful week, I made it into my craft room today to make a couple of cards.  This card uses the fab colors from Color Throwdown and the cue word "Paint" from CASology.  I'm also linking this up to Stampin' Royalty as it's a CAS card.

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life"  I love this saying.  This stamp is very old and made by Hampton Art Stamps.  I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Whisper White and then over-stamped the paint splatter images from Grunge Me in both Tangerine Tango and So Saffron.  I layered that panel onto a piece of Tangerine Tango after rounding the top left corner.

The inside mimics the front:

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Art Soul (Hampton Art Stamps), Grunge Me (PTI)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango
Accessories:  Corner Chomper

Edited to Add:  This card got a shout out at Color Throwdown.

Cheers
Karren

Best Day Evah

(This is my second post today so if you get this via email, please scroll down for my CTMH card.)

I'm back with a card that uses the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors from Stampin' Royalty.  

This is a very simple card although it took two attempts because the first time I smudged the red ink!  This card is fairly self-explanatory so I won't go into any detail.

Thanks for looking.  

Products used:

Stamps:  Tiny Triangles (PTI), Slang Gang (Paper Smooches)
Ink:  Real Red, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Vellum
Accessories:  Regals Candy Dots

Cheers
Karren

Dotty Day

Today's card is my homework for Day 1 of the Online Card Class on Stencils.  But instead of using my newly-bought stencils, I ended up cutting my own with my Silhouette.  Oh, the irony!

I used the colors from Stampin' Royalty's challenge and the sketch from Nacho Average Challenges - both challenges I haven't played along with for a while.

The Silhouette file was one I bought from the online library and I think it is called Random Dots.  I just cut it out of some cardstock, although I do note that Silhouette have just introduced stencil material, which is pretty cool.

I sponged over the stencil in Tangerine Tango, Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz.  I then stamped the sentiment from Avery Elle in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I wasn't going to put any sequins on there, but I sort of splodged the 'y' in 'day' so I had to try and cover it up LOL.

I layered that onto Sahara Sand then onto the card base.  And continuing with my resolution of finishing the insides of my cards when I make them, I did some simple stencilling on the inside as well.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Oh Happy Day (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Kelly Purkey Sequins, Silhouette 

Edited to Add:  This card was a top pick at Stampin' Royalty and at Nacho Average Challenges.

Cheers
Karren

Tulip Thanks

This is my second post today, so if you receive notifications by email, scroll down for my money holder.

For this card, I combined the colors from Stampin' Royalty with the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch.

I stamped the tulip from Backyard Basics three times onto Whisper White cardstock and colored them very lightly with Stampin' Write markers.  I then cut them using the matching framelits and tied them together with white baker's twine.  I stamped one of the Thank You's from Another Thank You onto the card base and adhered the tulips and called it done.

Thanks for looking.

Products used: 

Stamps:  Backyard Basics, Another Thank You
Ink:  Basic Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Gumball Green, Real Red markers, Backyard Basics Framelits, White Baker's Twine

Cheers
Karren

Bermuda Christmas

Today was the first time I've stamped in two weeks!  (My Merry Monday DT cards were made a while ago).  It's bizarre but even though stamping relaxes me, it's the first thing I walk away from when things get stressful.  The stress is nothing major just the usual Christmas stress combined with insurance/earthquake repair stresses.  Working for a courier company means that the lead-up to Christmas is never peaceful and even though I don't work in the day-to-day operational areas, it's still a cray-cray time LOL.

Anyway, enough about my life.  It took a few attempts to get a card I was sort of happy with but here it is.

I went all multi-challenge with this card - combining the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches with the fun colors at ColourQ plus the snowflake challenge at Stampin' Royalty and the non-traditional Christmas challenge at SUO Challenges.  Phew!

I was inspired by the ColourQ DT - many of whom made Christmas cards with these colors, so I dug out some snowflake sets and my inkpads and stamped away.  I stamped snowflakes from both Snowflake Soiree and Serene Snowflakes onto a Whisper White panel using Lucky Limeade, Real Red and Pool Party ink.  I layered that onto a Real Red panel and then onto the Bermuda Bay card base, which I'd embossed with Northern Flurries EF.  

Not my best card, but not the worst either.  Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Snowflake Soiree, Serene Snowflakes, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Real Red, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Real Red, Bermuda Bay

Accessories:  Frosted Finishes Embellishments, Northern Flurry EF

Cheers

Karren

Misty Tango

As soon as I saw the cool sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week, I wanted to use Gorgeous Grunge and make a masculine card.  I love square cards and I cards with images off the edge!  This sketch is a match made in heaven!  In fact I love this sketch so much I made two cards - not intentionally - but my first card looked too big so I made a sized-down version as well.

I combined the sketch with the colors at Stampin' Royalty and the Masculine theme at SUO Challenges.

Here's the Papa card - he's 5" square.  I stamped Off the Grid in Basic Gray stamped off twice, then over-stamped with various images from Gorgeous Grunge in Marina Mist and Tangerine Tango.  The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes is stamped in Basic Black.  Now here's the Baby version.

I actually like the proportions of the baby card a bit better.  This card is 4 1/8" square.  Here's a photo of them both together.  I think I might go make a Mama card now using this week's colors from Color Throwdown LOL.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Off the Grid; Gorgeous Grunge
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Basic Black
Ink:  Basic Gray; Basic Black; Marina Mist; Tangerine Tango

Cheers
Karren

The Owl and the Pussycat

The challenge this week at Paper Players is to make a CAS card for kids.  I combined that with the inspiration challenge at Stampin' Royalty to come up with this quick card.

I stuck to the colors in the inspiration photo and the Owl and the Pussycat covers off the kids part.  This is another really old stamp from Imagina Clarity in the UK.  I used one of their images for a Christmas card here.

This time I kept my coloring to a minimum using just a touch of color in each of the characters.  The main image was back with some Basic Gray cardstock then some dyed Daffodil Delight seam binding was tied around before being stuck to the card base using dimensionals.

This card uses the same layout as yesterday's card, but I really love this layout for CAS cards and have been using it a bit lately.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Imagina Clarity (UK)
Cardstock:  Basic Gray; Whisper White
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories:  Copic markers; Seam Binding Ribbon

Dad's Day by the Seashore

I wasn't planning on stamping this weekend - I'd decided to have the weekend off, but then the courier delivered my new catty pre-order this morning and, well, I got the urge to stamp!

This card covers the sketch challenge this week at Freshly Made Sketches and the masculine challenge at Stampin' Royalty.

My card uses the new Baked Brown Sugar color as well as Soho Subway DSP and Epic Day Washi Tape.  The shells were stamped on Shimmery White cardstock and colored using Crumb Cake ink refill and a blender pen.  They were popped up on dimensionals onto the Very Vanilla panel which was stamped with a sentiment from Delightful Dozen. Several flags were cut from the Soho Subway DS and rolled slightly to flick outwards.  

I used some washi tape to cover the line where I had to stamp Netting twice to cover the Baked Brown Sugar layer.  Some Early Espresso twine and a Brushed Bronze button.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  By the Seashore; Delightful Dozen; Netting
Cardstock:  Basic Black; Baked Brown Sugar; Very Vanilla; Soho Subway DSP
Ink:  Crumb Cake; Black Stazon; Baked Brown Sugar
Accessories:  Epic Day Washi Tape; Early Espresso Baker's Twine; Brushed Bronze Button; 

Cheers
Karren

Edited to Add:  This card was chosen as a Top Pick at Stampin' Royalty.

Oh Hello, Starfruit

This card was a real challenge for me - a card using Summer Starfruit as one of the main colors does not come naturally to me.  I know there are a lot of people out there that like it, but it just hurts my eyes LOL.

Anyway, a challenge isn't a challenge without doing something different, so I went with the colors from Pals Paper Arts, the sketch from Fab Friday and the Celebrating Mom theme from Stampin' Royalty and this is the result:

I kept a lot of white space on this card to try and tone down the starfruit - not sure if it worked.  I do like the pattern in the Sycamore Street DSP so I used that and then used markers to color the chevron image from Oh Hello.  Again I used a Designer Builder Brad for my embellishment.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Oh Hello; Delightful Dozen
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Summer Starfruit; Lucky Limeade
Ink:  
Accessories:  Summer Starfruit; Lucky Limeade; Pool Party markers; Designer Builder Brads; SAB 2012 ribbon; Crop-a-dile; 1/2" circle punch


Edited to Add:  This card was chosen as a Fab Fave at Fab Friday and earned the PPA Pick Badge and was a Goddess Pick at Stampin' Royalty!  Woot, woot!

Cheers
Karren