Starry Christmas

Welcome back for another Merry Monday challenge.  This week, Lori has challenged us to use stars on our cards.  

So without further waffle, here's my card for the challenge.

I didn't get a lot of time to make anything this weekend, so my card is necessarily CAS.  I found the only star stamp I have that's not in storage, which was Christmas Classics and clear embossed it onto Whisper White using Midnight Muse ink.  I then cut out each star (because all my punches are in storage!) and adhered to a Midnight Muse panel using dimensionals.  The greeting was going to be white embossed, but I actually liked the watermark look of tone-on-tone, so I left it as it was.

Thanks for looking.  Head on over to the challenge blog to check out the rest of the DT inspiration.  There's some mighty nice star cards appearing this week :)

Products used:

Stamps:  Christmas Classics, Joy to the World (SU)
Ink:  Midnight Muse
Cardstock:  Midnight Muse, Whisper White
Accessories:  Clear EP, Basic Rhinestones

Cheers
Karren

Ampersand Thanks

Welcome back to Freshly Made Sketches, where Jen Brum has designed a fun sketch with lots of little elements.

I love this sketch and decided to have a bit of fun with it. 

 I punched out 8 circles using my 3/4" circle punch and 8 circles using my 1/2" circle punch.  The bottom layer is from Modern Medley and the top layer from Soho Subway and Epic Day.

To add a bit of interest to the Pool Party layer, I embossed the panel with the Ampersand EF.  The sentiment comes from Another Thank You.  I pulled the ends of the Calypso Coral Baker's Twine between my fingernails to curl the ends.

Thanks for visiting.  If you haven't checked out the Freshly Made Sketches blog, go and check out the amazing samples from the rest of the DT.

Products used:

Stamps:  Another Thank You
Ink:  Island Indigo
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Pool Party, Modern Medley DSP, Epic Day DSP, Soho Subway DSP
Accessories:  Ampersand EF, Neutrals and Regals Candy Dots, Calypso Coral Baker's Twine

Cheers
Karren

Love Tag

I'm off work this week as my boys go back to school next week after the long summer holiday and there's lots to get sorted before then.  Anyway, the upside is that I get more stamping time and get to play along in some challenges I don't usually get time for.

This card is for The Paper Players sketch challenge and the inspiration photo at Just Us Girls.

This card is all SU apart from the tag which I cut with my Silhouette.  The card base is embossed with the Pretty Prints EF.  I cut into some retired DSP called More Amore for the heart DSP and the laser cut heart.  

The sentiment on the heart is white-embossed.  The music DSP is from Modern Medley.  With the tag open, this is what you see:

Pool Party and Real Red hearts were white-embossed then cut with the Hearts a Flutter framelit.  I tied some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine around the tag and it's far enough from the red heart to not be noticeable that it's a different color.  I cut two arrows from the Label Card Thinlits and cut them to appear as if it was one arrow going through the heart.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Hearts a Flutter, Well-Scripted
Ink:  Basic Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Crumb Cake, More Amore DSP, Modern Medley DSP, Real Red, Pool Party
Accessories:  Label Card Thinlits, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Pretty Prints EF, White EP, Basic Pearls, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Silhouette

Flyin' High

This is my second post today.  Scroll down for my Valerie card.

I was pondering the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and had the thought to flip the sketch upside down and use balloons for the images.  At that point, the card came together pretty quickly.  I used the colors from Pals Paper Arts and the Birthday/Twine theme from Friday Mashup.  I decided to go SUO with this card as I haven't shown many SU cards on my blog lately.

I started with a Soft Sky card base and stamped the sentiment in Real Red.  I then stamped the balloons in Soft Sky.  I then poked a hole under each balloon and through the 'h' in Birthday and threaded some white baker's twine through the holes.  BTW, this took me longer than making the whole card LOL.  I tied little bows and used glue dots to adhere them under the balloons.

The whole Whisper White panel is popped up on dimensionals.  And here's a shot of the very simple inside (so far I've stuck to my crafting resolution of finishing the inside when I actually make the card).

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Up Up and Away, Sassy Salutations
Ink:  Real Red, Soft Sky
Cardstock:  Soft Sky, Whisper White
Accessories:  White Baker's Twine

Cheers
Karren

Coastal Shells

I'm so excited!  Guess what?  I've been asked to be a guest designer for four months at Freshly Made Sketches!  FMS is the first challenge I ever entered and it's the first challenge I make time for each week.  I love the sketches and I love the talents of the DT and now I'm one of them.  I only hope I can at least try to meet their level of skill each week.

My first DT card is a very versatile sketch from Jen Mitchell.  I spent ages on this card - wanting to make it really good so I don't get fired LOL.  In the end, I went with a trick that never fails - layer with black for an instant wow!

I had some pre-stamped and partly colored images from By the Seashore, so I finished colouring them with markers and a blender pen and cut them out.  The sentiment was chosen because it was one of the few that fit nicely in the space available.  I adhered some Coastal Cabana ruffled ribbon using Sticky Strip.  Here's a close-up of the starfish and shells.  I colored them with Wisteria Wonder and Calypso Coral as well as Pool Party and Baked Brown Sugar to add a bit of interest.  I also colored the dots on the starfish with the white chalk marker.

Thanks for looking.  Check out the rest of the DT samples - they're gorgeous as usual!  I'm looking forward to see all the entries.

Products used.

Stamps:  By the Seashore, Delightful Dozen
Ink:  Black Stazon, Baked Brown Sugar
Cardstock:  Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Basic Black
Accessories:  Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral, Baked Brown Sugar, Pool Party markers, square nesties, Coastal Cabana ruffled ribbon, chalk marker

Just Beachy

It's been a while since I participated in the challenges over at SUO Challenges, so I thought I'd put that top of my list today.

The challenge is Colors of January.  For me, that means summer, beaches, sand, surf - I'm sure you get the idea...:)

So, here's the card I created depicting my colors of January.  This card is quite similar to one I made back in July 2012.  I just added a bit more to this one:

I'm not 100% happy with this card.  I think it would have looked better if the sponged strip was wider and the tag was only sponged to match the strip, if you can understand that?  Anyway, I wasn't going to do it again, so this is it.

I masked off a strip on a Whisper White card base then cut a Whisper White tag and temporarily adhered it over the mask and into the area to be sponged.  I sponged River Rock and Crumb Cake for the sand, Pool Party for the ocean and Baja Breeze for the horizon.  I dotted white gel pen to imitate waves.  The shells were stamped onto some Shimmery White paper and colored with markers and inkpads.  

I used several colors on these shells which come from a very old set called Stipple Shells.  I started with a base of River Rock, then added Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party and Crisp Cantaloupe.

The tag is layered onto another Whisper White piece then popped up on dimensionals.  The sentiment comes from Express Yourself, although I did do some surgery and cut off the "always" at the beginning.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Stipple Shells, Up & Away, Express Yourself
Ink:  River Rock, Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Baja Breeze, Basic Black
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Shimmery White
Accessories:  sponges, white gel pen, linen thread

Edited to Add:  This card was a Top Pick at SUO Challenges.

Cheers
Karren

Nice Day for a White Wedding

Well, now that Billy Idol is running through my head, a workmate is getting married on January 4.  I've blogged about her before here.  To cut a long story short, Anthea lost the use of her legs in a horse-riding accident about 7 years ago.  Last year, she represented New Zealand at the Paralympics as an equestrian.  She really is amazing and won't let her disability stop her from doing pretty much anything.  Here's a card I made to send her. I'm also entering this card into the Less is More challenge which is to choose a past challenge.  I chose Week 87  Love & Marriage.

This card is heavily influenced by the beautiful card made by Sandy Mathis for a recent Paper Players challenge.  I stamped the wedding dress from Love & Laughter in Versamark and white-embossed it before cutting it out.  I also white-embossed the sentiment from Border Banter.  The heart was stamped in Strawberry Slush then punched out using the owl punch.

The lattice die and window frame framelit look is not new as I've seen it around before and I really like the look.

This is a really simple but elegant card and I hope Anthea and Aaron like it.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:  

Stamps:  Love & Laughter, Border Banter
Ink:  Versamark, Strawberry Slush
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Accessories:  Lattice Die, Window Frames Framelit, Basic Pearls, Owl Punch

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

Scandinavian Mitten

It's Merry Monday time again and this week the challenge is to make a card using mittens.

I didn't think I had any mitten stamps and wasn't feeling up to making a shaped card, so I looked through my stamp inventory and actually found several stamps featuring mittens.  I chose to go with Scandinavian Season, which is NBUS (hangs head in shame as it retired a few years ago)

This is a very clean and simple card.  The mitten and the greeting are stamped in Midnight Muse and embossed in Clear EP.  There is a very fine Midnight Muse frame around the Whisper White and that is all layered onto a Whisper White card base.

I really like the simplicity and white space on this card.

Head on over to Lesley's blog to see what other mitten creations the DT have come up with.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Scandinavian Season; Christmas Greetings
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Midnight Muse
Ink:  Midnight Muse
Accessories:  Clear EP

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

Chalkboard Joy

And I'm back with another Merry Monday card.  This week we are using one of my favorite techniques - chalkboard!

I wanted to use a large sentiment on my card, so turned to my Joy to the World set.  Love the size of the sentiments in this set!  

When I was looking through my sets for something to complement the sentiment, I found the perfect image - a globe ornament from the old hostess set Peaceful Season.

Check out the other chalkboard projects made by the rest of the DT.  If you don't know how to do the Chalkboard Technique, here's a quick step-by-step:

1.  White emboss images onto black cardstock
2.  Once the embossing dries, gently sponge white ink over the black cardstock to give the impression of chalkboard dust
3.  Use a chalk marker or white pencil to add additional details if desired.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Joy to the World; Peaceful Season
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Cherry Cobbler; Basic Black; Season of Style DSP
Ink:  Versamark; White
Accessories:  White EP; Chalk Marker; sponge; Designer Builder Brads; Large Scallop Framelit; Lacy Brocade EF

Cheers
Karren 

White Christmas

This week's challenge at Merry Monday is to create an all-white or all-ivory Christmas card.  How can that not be classy and elegant???

Just look at the beautiful inspiration photo that Lesley chose:

As soon as I saw the challenge details, I knew I wanted to do some white-on-white embossing and produce a very CAS but elegant card.  This doesn't show up in the photo quite as nicely as in real life but I hope you get the idea.

I white-embossed the tree from Christmas Lodge onto a panel of Whisper White cardstock.  I then stamped the sentiment from Contempo Christmas in Crumb Cake ink.  I rounded one corner and added some white Baker's Twine before adhering to the card base using dimensionals.  Here's a close up of the embossing.

You'll just have to trust me when I say this looks better IRL :)

Check out the other DT cards and have a go at the challenge.

Products used:

Stamps:  Christmas Lodge; Contempo Christmas
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Ink:  Versamark; Crumb Cake
Accessories:  White EP; White Baker's Twine; Basic Pearls

Cheers
Karren

Silver Greetings

I spent the whole of yesterday (in between loads of laundry) making Christmas cards, which I'll post in a couple of weeks.  This morning, I thought I'd have a break from Christmas cards and decided to check out the challenges and ended up making, you guessed it, a Christmas card!

This card is for the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink and the Dynamic Duos challenge.  I love circle elements on cards so I had to play along with Just Add Ink this week.

I used a set called Peaceful Season for the sentiment and holly, both of which are silver embossed on black.  The card base is embossed using the Lacy Brocade EF then spritzed with Silver Smooch Spritz.  The DSP is from a Halloween pack called Ghostly Greetings.  I had to dust off my Circle Scissor to cut all the circles, which were layered onto Smoky Slate cardstock.  

I finished off the card with some silver ribbon and one of the Frosted Finishes embellishments.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Peaceful Season
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Ghostly Greetings DSP
Accessories:  Frosted Finishes Embellishments, Silver Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Smooch Spritz, Lacy Brocade EF

Edited to Add:  This card got top honours at Just Add Ink.

Cheers
Karren

Ombre Chevrons

I struggled with this week's Freshly Made Sketch challenge.  I finally ended up with a card but the ombre sponging creates an annoying effect of making the layers look crooked.  Check it out.

See what I mean?  Those chevrons are on straight, trust me, but they look all crooked.  Anyway, there's nothing I can do about it now.  To get the ombre effect, I sponged Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango and Cajun Craze ink onto Whisper White cardstock.  I then punched out chevrons and used the negative punch-out for this card.   The Whisper White layer is popped up on dimensionals onto the Tangerine Tango card base.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  A Dozen Thoughts

Ink:  Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze, Basic Black

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango

Accessories:  Chevron Punch, sponge

Cheers

Karren

He's Making a List...

Welcome back to another Merry Monday!  Today's challenge is a fun one, not to mention pretty simple - Use Santa on your Card.

For my card, I used the set Santa's List.  I love the Santa, but I've found him challenging to color and have look at least a bit natural :)  This time I tried a different method and I'm quite happy with the result:

I stamped him onto Watercolor Paper using Brown Stazon stamped off once.  That gave me a lighter image that made it easier to colour with inkpads and blender pens.  Once I had the image colored using that method, I went over the shadowed areas with a marker then blended using the blender pen.  I used a touch of Crumb Cake ink on his fur and Sahara Sand on his beard.  His skin was colored using Blush Blossom and a touch of Pool Party colored his eyes.

I used an older Fusion sketch for the layout and tried to mimic my team-mate LeAnne for the shabby bow.

Thanks for looking.  Now go check your stash for a Santa image and play along!

Products used:

Stamps:  Santa's List
Cardstock: Crumb Cake; Early Espresso; Cherry Cobbler; Watercolor Paper
Ink:  Early Espresso; Brown Stazon; Cherry Cobbler; Sahara Sand; Crumb Cake; Pool Party; Blush Blossom
Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon; Neutrals Button; Linen Thread; square nesties

Cheers
Karren

Grunge For You

We're planning some renovations around our home to tie in with earthquake repairs which we're hoping to have done before next winter, so I'm a bit distracted at the moment - choosing paint colors; carpet colors; tile colors etc etc.  But I have to say it's fun!  When we built our house 14 years ago, it was the ultimate shopping experience  - and I love shopping :)

Anyway, I did sneak into the craft room for a while this morning and made a card to cover three challenges - Just Add Ink which is Just Add Grunge; Create with Connie & Mary's color challenge and the sketch at Pals Paper Arts.

Raspberry Ripple and Soft Sky look so pretty together.  I grunged up both colors as well as the DSP using Gorgeous Grunge.  Then I wanted to put a flower on the card but didn't want it to look too pretty, being as it was a grunge card of course!  So I made my own flower using Hemp Twine and a Designer Builder Brad.  The center of the brad is also grunged-up Soft Sky cardstock.

Here's a close-up:

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge; Great Friend
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple; Soft Sky; Crumb Cake
Cardstock:  Soft Sky; Raspberry Ripple; Modern Medley DSP
Accessories:  Hemp Twine; Designer Builder Brads

Edited to Add:  This card was chosen as an Artists Pick at Pals Paper Arts.

Cheers
Karren

Leaf Text

I got up early this morning (Sunday) and instead of folding laundry, I decided to make a card (not much of a debate with myself over that decision, I might add).  I combined challenges from Create with Connie & Mary; Dynamic Duos and Friday Mashup to come up with this card:

Firstly, I need to apologise to the Dynamic Duos team.  I saw the challenge this morning and went off to make my card.  However, I thought the challenge was Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black.  I really, really wanted to use Tangerine Tango, but told myself "No, stick to the challenge colors" doh!  I do think this card would look better in Tangerine Tango but it is what it is.  That'll teach me that at my age, I really should write things down rather than rely on my memory!

Anyway, onto the card.  I finger-walked the Dictionary stamp onto Very Vanilla cardstock, using Crumb Cake ink.  I then over-stamped with a couple of the spatter stamps from Gorgeous Grunge.  The circular panel was made by stamping the leaf from Faith in Nature (after I mounted it - NBUS!) in Black Stazon onto watercolor paper.  I then dripped water onto the paper and swirled Pumpkin Pie ink over until I was happy with the result.  Once it was dry, I lightly sponged the edge in Crumb Cake ink and mounted it onto a scrap of Faux Suede Pumpkin Pie cardstock that I'd had in my scrap folder forever.

I wrapped some Early Espresso Baker's Twine around the vanilla layer (oh how I wish that came in black!) and then stamped and cut the sentiment to fit under it.

I don't know if leaving the circle over the edge of the card is quirky or dorky, but decided to leave it as it is.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Faith in Nature; Gorgeous Grunge; Dictionary
Ink:  Black Stazon; Pumpkin Pie; Crumb Cake
Cardstock:  Basic Black; Very Vanilla; Pumpkin Pie; Watercolor Paper
Accessories:  Early Espresso Bakers Twine; sponge

Cheers
Karren

Mama Card

As mentioned in my earlier post today where I showed my Papa and Baby cards, here is my Mama card.

Again I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, but I'm not linking it up as it's too similar to my earlier cards.  This time I used the colors from Color Throwdown and because it's more of a feminine card, a few embellishments were in order, hence the Candy Dots.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge; Off the Grid; Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Smoky Slate
Ink:  Daffodil Delight; Tangerine Tango; Smoky Slate; Basic Black
Accessories:  Candy Dots

Edited to Add:  This card was mentioned on Color Throwdown Featured Stamper post. Cheers
Karren