Skating Christmas

Welcome to the new challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where this week I am the sketch hostess.  I had no idea what I would make when I came up with the sketch and it took a while to figure something out but finally came up with this card.

The sled and floral arrangement were made using coloured cardstock and ink-blending.  After I put the pieces together, I set it aside and worked on the background.  The patterned paper was a little bit too dark for the softer look I was going for so I painted over the panel with some diluted white gesso to soften it.  The top of the panel was die-cut using the linen side of the PTI cover plate.  I stamped the sentiment and added a thin mint strip to separate the two panels.

After adding the die-cut elements, I finished with some pearls to match the coral tones of the poinsettia.

Thanks for visiting.  Please check out the fabulous cards made by our design team and meet our super-talented two new design team members.

Products used:

Stamps: Star Snowflake Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Obsidian (Altenew), Brushed Corduroy, Abandoned Coral, Lost Shadow, Bundled Sage, Fossilized Amber Distress Inks

Cardstock: White, Kraft, Coral Crush (MFT), Fog (SSS), Rouge (Altenew), Mint (Spellbinders), Silver Matte Foil, Christmas 2025 Backdrops (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Winter Welcome Sled (Spellbinders), Linen & Canvas (PTI)

Accessories: Pastel Pearls (Honey Bee Stamps), white Gesso

Cheers

Karren

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Tool Birthday

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch from the team at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Jen Brum and rather than make a Christmas card, I decided to make a masculine birthday card with some new-to-me dies from Honey Bee Stamps.

I've said it before, but I'm a sucker for anything miniature and these are just so cute!  I cut them out using Milwaukee tool brand colours because my daughter's boyfriend is a builder and uses Milwaukee tools so I had him in mind while making it.

The red frame is placed over top of an embossed panel and I then arranged the tools and a white heat-embossed sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting.  The design team have created gorgeous cards as usual, so I hope you'll check them out.

And in other news, even though I've been card-making for almost 25 years, I had never put together a cardstock swatch, so after watching a live by Amy Rysavy, I decided to swatch out my cardstock where I have more than 2 sheets of the same brand/colour.  These rings hold MFT, Altenew, Spellbinders, Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp and PTI (not all the colours for all the brands, of course!).  I haven't swatched my assortment packs of Concord & 9th, Simon Says Stamp, MFT or PTI because I have less than 2 sheets of a colour but this is probably enough to be going on with.  Amusingly, I have multiple companies with the exact same shade.  The photo below makes my colour-loving heart happy. I only wish it wasn't so expensive to ship cardstock to New Zealand or I'd have it all... I created the labels with my Niimbot labelling machine and the tag die is from SugarPea Designs (no longer in business).

Products used:

Stamps: Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versamark

Cardstock: White, Fog (SSS), Red Hot, Cement Gray, Steel Gray (MFT), Silver matte foil

Dies: Pierced Rectangle Frames, Pierced Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT), Lovely Layers: Woodworking, Lovely Layers: Pegboard Garage Tools (Honey Bee Stamps)

Accessories: Wood Plank Embossing Folder (Honey Bee Stamps), White EP

Cheers

Karren

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Mushy Hello

Hi and welcome to our newest challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches where our sketch hostess this week is Linda Callahan. Linda gave us a fun sketch which we can take in so many different directions.  I saw the sketch and immediately thought of my Tri Peek a Boo window dies from MFT and I'd also just seen a card featuring mushrooms so my card was born.

All of the mushroom and foliage elements were die-cut from white cardstock and ink-blended (hence the sentiment).  I arranged them into three separate groupings and went to work on my card base.  The gingham paper was die-cut using the peek a book window border part of the die and a panel of Neenah Desert Storm was cut using the circle part of the die.  I added some more gingham paper behind the circles for added interest.

Before adding the foliage and mushrooms, I stamped the sentiment then adhered everything down.  I finished with some brown enamel dots and a heart.

Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you'll check out the rest of the design team's fabulous cards.

Products used:

Stamps: Sealed Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs, Lumberjack Plaid, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks

Cardstock: Neenah Desert Storm, Gingham patterned paper (Echo Park)

Dies: Envelope of Wonder, Autumn Wonder (Spellbinders), Stitched Tri Peek a Boo Window (MFT)

Accessories: Dessert Dreams Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

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Torn Hodgepodge

Hello and welcome!  Our sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches is Michele Ferguson and I went a tad rogue with my interpretation, letting Distress Spray Stains  and white embossing define the sketch elements.

After being on my wishlist for months, I finally purchased the Hodgepodge stamp by Tim Holtz.  I absolutely adore collage stamps, which goes back to the early 2000's but don't often incorporate them into my mostly clean stamping style these days.  But I had to have Hodgepodge and the week it arrived, I put it to use on this sketch.

I was originally going to do ink-blending so started out with some Bristol Smooth cardstock, but then veered to spray stains so the paper choice probably wasn't best but it worked.  I white heat-embossed the stamp onto the paper, then created a stencil from some torn paper edge dies and some stencil plastic.  Once the stencils were in place, I went to town with all the sprays you can see in the product list below!  Before removing the stencils, I flicked on some foundry wax and heated it for some added shine.

I had a week bit of ink seep under the stencil but a strategically placed sentiment fixed that problem.

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

Products used:

Stamps: Hodgepodge (Tim Holtz)

Ink: Versamark, Black Soot Distress Ink

Cardstock: White, Bristol Smooth, Black, Gold Kraft Stock

Dies: Outlined Hello (Waffle Flower), Torn Paper Edges (MFT)

Accessories:  Distress Spray Stains: Crackling Campfire, Rusty Hinge, Tumbled Glass, Gathered Twigs, Weatherwed Wood, Bundled Sage, Scorched Timber. Distress Oxide Spray: Salvaged Patina. Distress Spritz: Rusty Hinge, Hickory Smoke. Gilded Foundry Wax, White EP, Stencil plastic

Cheers

Karren

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Letters

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Narelle Farrugia and I went with a postage theme.

I die-cut some envelopes and ink-blended with distress inks.  On the background panel I did some partial die-cutting to get the shape I wanted and then stamped various postage images with pale gray ink.  I finished with a stamped and die-cut sentiment and a wee faux wax seal.

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

 

Products used:

Stamps:  Sealed Sentiments, Postage Collage, Postage Collage Royal Mail (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Morning Frost (Altenew), Saltwater Taffy, Salvaged Patina, Shaded Lilac Distress Inks

Cardstock:  White, Bellini (Spellbinders), Fog (SSS)

Dies:  Postage Collage Envelopes Die, Sealed Sentiments (Waffle Flower), Postage Edge Rectangles (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Clay heart

Cheers

Karren

Stitched Birthday

 Hi and welcome! Jen Brum is the hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I had the perfect die for it!

This MFT cover die was ideal for the sketch and I paired it with some NBUS dies from Waffle Flower. Most of the dies were cut with white card stock and ink-blended with various Altenew inks. The scissors, pins and safety pins were die-cut with silver mirror cardstock.

I finished with a hot-foiled sentiment. I sort of got my scale wrong for the top panel, but you can almost see the sketch!

The design team have some gorgeous cards so I hope you’ll check them out.

Products used:

Ink:  Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Pastel Sunrise, Dusty Rose, Limestone (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Fog (SSS), Silver Mirror

Dies:  Notions, Sew Fun (Waffle Flower, You Are Everything Sentiments (Spellbinders), Stitched Cover-Up Horizontal (MFT)

Accessories:  Silver Hot Foil

Blocked Birthday

  Welcome to my blog where today we have a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our sketch hostess this week is Judy Rozema and she came up with a fun sketch.  My first thought was the old-school retiform technique using masking and stamping, but that just sounded like too much work so I went with simple colour blocking - letting the gorgeous new Spellbinders cardstock do all the work.

 

After choosing my cardstock with the help of the Colour Cube, I cut it out and pieced it together to cover a card front.  I then ran it through my Betterpress with my new Alex Syberia plate to provide some subtle texture.  I didn't use any ink, just pressure.  I added some thin slivers of white cardstock to separate the colours and adhered it to a card base.

I then went hunting for a sentiment and found this already-foiled sentiment.  I like the boldness against the pastel cardstock background so decided to use it.  I finished with some enamel dots in the three cardstock colours.

Thanks for visiting!  Please head over and check out the fabulous cards made by the design team and meet our newest team member - who I am sure will be known to most of you... 😉

Products used:

Cardstock:  White, Black, Bellini, Waterfall, Seaside (Spellbinders)

Dies:  Abstract Background Press Plate (Alex Syberia), Happy Birthday Hot Foil (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Gold Hot Foil, Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Cheers

Karren

Row of Buildings

Hi and welcome!  Jen Brum is our sketch hostess this week over at Freshly Made Sketches and she gave us a row of circles to play with.  I turned the circles into buildings and came up with this card:

I've been enjoying playing with layering die-cuts and ink-blending lately, so these were all cut from white cardstock and ink-blended with mostly neutral colours to try and give a cohesive look.  I used a mini-slimline card base and die-cut a smaller panel from a nesting die set.  Onto that panel I lightly ink-blended Speckled Egg distress ink, fading it into white to mimic snow.  I then spritzed shimmer spray on the panel before adding the buildings and sentiment.  I then used foam tape to add it to the card base.

Thanks for visiting!  Please check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.  This is our last challenge for 2024 so it will stay open over the holiday period, giving you plenty of time to play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Cozy Christmas (Mama Elephant)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Speckled Egg Distress Ink, Limestone, Silver Stone, Evening Gray, Industrial Diamond, Pure Graphite, Burnt Red, Mahogany Bark, Sand Dunes, Rocky Shore, Moss (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White

Dies:  Winter Village (Honey Bee), Mini Slimline Layers (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Shimmer Spray

Cheers

Karren

 

Pastel Trees

Hi and welcome!  Today's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Linda Callahan and I used it to make a non-traditional Christmas card. 

This die set is an old one from MFT that actually cuts the tree as negative space, but I snipped the decorations away from the tree to give me the tree base and then added white die-cuts over the top of the three pastel-coloured trees.

In keeping with the sketch, I used my scoreboard to add lines above and below the stamped sentiment.  All in all, this was a pretty simply card to make.  What can't be seen in the photo is the clear shimmer pen on the white ornaments and stars.

Thanks for visiting me.  Please make sure you check out the fabulous cards made by the rest of the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Christmas Duo (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Cardstock:  Pink Lemonade, Coral Crush (MFT), Mist (Hero Arts), White

Dies:  Christmas Tree Window (MFT)

Accessories:  Clear Sparkle Pen

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

Case Me a Pinecone

 Hi, I'm so pleased that Michelle Lupton is again doing her Case Me A Christmas Card series after having to take a break from organising it last year.  I'm delighted she has asked me to play along again.  I chose this card to CASE and was inspired by the following elements:

• the slimline size
• the foliage in a curve down the left hand side
• the big bold sentiment in gold on vellum
• the two tone geometric background

And here's my card (I'll post the card I cased down below).

I started with a white slimline card base (full slimline size) and added a cream die-cut striped cover plate.  I also cut the cover plate in kraft and filled in the stripes with kraft strips.  I then set that aside while I worked on the pinecones and foliage.

I die-cut the base of the pinecones in Milk Chocolate and the top in Hot Fudge.  I wanted to add some interest to the base layer so spritzed it with Crooked Broomstick and Fallen Acorn mica sprays.  Once they were dry, it looked a bit bright, so I inked over the top with Ground Espresso Distress Ink to tone it down.  I also spritzed the pine needles with Tree Lot mica spray after sponging the edges with Green Onyx ink.  On the sage foliage, I added some Wintergreen ink but it was too similar to the cardstock colour so near impossible to see.

Once everything was dry, I arranged it into a curve and adhered it to the card base.  The sentiment was heat-embossed on vellum and die-cut and adhered with a mix of liquid glue and tiny slivers of foam tape.  Finally, I finished with some gold pearls.

Here's Michelle's card that I chose to case.  I hope you can see how I was inspired.

 

Thanks to Michelle for inviting me again.  I am excited to see which of my cards she chose to case.  I haven't made many cards this year, so the pickings are slim...  Here is a link to the card Michelle created based on one of mine.

Products used:

Stamps:  Merry Christmas Duo (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Wintergreen (Catherine Pooler), Ground Espresso Distress Ink, Green Onyx (Altenew)

Cardstock;  White, Whip Cream, Kraft, Hot Fudge, Milk Chocolate (MFT), Pinefeather (PTI), Sage (Spellbinders), Vellum

Dies:  Slimline Short Strips (The Ton), Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery (Honey Bee Stamps), Merry Christmas Duo (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  Tree Lot, Crooked Broomstick, Fallen Acorn Mica Sprays, Antique Gold EP, Champagne pearls (Honey Bee Stamps)

Cheers

Karren

Postage Flowers

 

Hi and welcome!  Today is Freshly Made Sketch Challenge Day and our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  As soon as I saw her sketch, I saw postage stamps and that's the direction I took.

This is part of an earlier stenciled panel that I first used on this card.  I used the Postage Collage die to select three pieces to die-cut and then added the additional postage-style stamps on them.  The card base is white and onto that I added a Pastel Sunrise panel I'd stamped with the same colour ink and the Crackle background stamp.  I used this stamp on the stenciled piece as well so this ties it together somewhat.

To finish the card, I stacked a BetterPress sentiment three deep and called it done.

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), Crackle Background (SSS

Ink:  Rose Quartz, Peach Parfait, Purple Wine, Orange Cream, Sunkissed, Fire Brick, Mocha, Sea Forest, Marshland, Misty Moor, Puffy Heart, Mangrove Root, Cosmic Berry, Pastel Sunrise, Obsidian Black (Altenew), Lost Shadow Distress Ink

Cardstock:  White, Pastel Sunrise (Altenew)

Dies:  Postage Collage (Waffle Flower, Here For You Sentiments BetterPress and Hot Foil (PinkFresh)

Accessories:  Charming Delight Stencils (Altenew), Subtle EF (SU)

Cheers

Karren

Rectangles and Leaves

Hi and welcome!  It's my turn to design the board over at Tic-Tac-Toe and I chose something that should be easy to work with - hopefully!  I ended up incorporating every element in my card today. 

The rectangle panels were ink-blended then embossed with a leafy embossing folder before being arranged onto a white card base.  The leaves were assembled using black and gold foil cardstock.  Finally the sentiment was heat-embossed and die-cut.

I finished with some shiny drops.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you'll play along.

Products used:

Stamps:  Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Emerald (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Black, Rose Gold Foil

Dies:  Fall Leaves, Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower), Double Stitched Rectangle Stax (MFT)

Accessories:  Leafy EF (Spellbinders, Champagne Clear Drops (Pink Fresh)

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

Postage Thanks

Hi and welcome. Our sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches is Amy O’Neill. I immediately saw postage in the sketch and went to work with a new stencil set and the Postage Collage due from Waffle Flower.

I was guided by the Colour Cubes for my colour combo and used Altenew inks. Once stenciled, I cut the due apart and arranged the elements onto a larger postage die panel.  After stamping a sentiment I adhered the panel to a white card base and called it done.
 

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

Products used:

Stamps:  Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), Sentiment Strips (Altenew)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black, Bamboo, Parrot, Mocha, Espresso, Wisteria, Hydrangea, Andromeda, Ultramarine, Azurite, Citrus Burst, Fresh Lemon, Pale Mauve, Amethyst, Silver Sage (Altenew)

Cardstock:  White, Grout Gray (MFT)

Dies:  Postage Collage (Waffle Flower), Postage Edge Rectangles (Spellbinders)

Accessories:  Postage Collage Blocks Stencil, Wild Flower Stencil (Waffle Flower)

Cheers

Karren

Flower Cart

    Hi all and welcome to my blog.  Today's card is for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches where our sketch hostess is Jen Mitchell.

I flipped the topmost panel to the other side to fit better with my die-cut but other than that, I stuck pretty closely to the sketch.  This is the first time I'd put together this flower cart die and it was pretty easy.  The card base is kraft and I added some patterned paper and some thin slivers of Forest cardstock top and bottom to help define the layers.

The sentiment was white heat-embossed onto the same Forest cardstock and added to complete the card.  

Thanks so much for visiting.  Please head over and check out the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Products used:

Stamps:  Elegant Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Ink:  Versamark, Rocky Shore, Jade, Coral Bliss, Industrial Diamond, Volcano Lake (Altenew)

Cardstock:  Neenah Desert Storm, Velvet Rose, Forest (Spellbinders), Amarena Cherry, Gravel Gray, Hot Fudge (MFT), Guava (Lawn Fawn), Ocean Tides (PTI), Grain & Grunge (Honey Bee Stamps)

Dies:  Market Cart Builder (Honey Bee Stamps), Elegant Sentiment (Waffle Flower)

Accessories:  White EP

Cheers

Karren