it's weekend sketch challenge time!

Happy Friday! Today is Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge and this one is fantastic! This sketch is perfect for a single image card and can be done in a snap. Part of the Big Brown Truck delivery the other day was the set Nursery Necessities and the Nursery Letters jumbo wheel and today I got to play around with them a little bit. I chose to do a square version of the challenge to be a little different from my usual A2 size (5-1/2 x 4-1/4). The base is 4-1/4 x 8-1/2 so saffron. I layered the 4-1/8 x 3-1/8 piece of so saffron prints designer paper on a 4-1/8 x 4-1/8 piece of certainly celery. I took my bashful blue (1-7/8 x 4-1/8) and used versamark ink on the Nursery Letters wheel to get a subtle background. I stamped 'rock-a-bye-baby' in black Staz-on ink on a piece of 2-1/2 x 2-1/4 whisper white. The boat is stamped in bashful blue, certainly celery and so saffron and I just cut out the pieces I needed to make the boat so colorful. DID YOU KNOW??? The 1-1/4" circle punch frames out the bottom of the boat perfectly!!! That was a fun discovery. I don't know about you, but when I try to cut out something curvy, it looks pretty crazy. Now I can cheat and have a nice smooth line. I popped each piece of the boat up on a pop up dot and did the same with the framed rectangle. The brads are from the soft subtles collection and the ribbon is apricot grosgrain. I think you'll be seeing a whole lot more of this sketch from me, loved it! Have a great weekend everyone - see you Monday.
~Karen

just peeking

I have another spring card for you today - seems like I stamp in themes lately. This card comes from a featured stamper challenge at splitcoaststampers. The idea is you copy the featured stamper's card from their gallery, only changing a few things (at least 2). Here is the card I copied or CASE'd. I didn't change much at all, just the colors and sentiment. What I love about her card is the flower is just peeking into the picture. If you are looking for inspiration, try a featured stamper challenge to get those creative vibes going. By the way, this week's featured stamper is Mary Jo Albright and her cards are gorgeous! Love all her stuff. She's always featured in Stampin' Up! magazines.
The card base is Papertrey's stampers select white - now this is THE best white cardstock to use as a card base. It's very thick, not at all flimsy, and holds the ink just great. Plus, you can either order it in already cut and scored cardstock (including envelopes) or as an 8-1/2 x 11 paper pack. Ok, enough of the promo - ha! You may recognize the soft sky prints designer paper and I love how much it complements the Pick a Petal stamp set. Love those polka dots! The HB (happy birthday) stamp is from It's Your Birthday. I used a rhinestone brad to hold the flower accent in place and the ribbon is chocolate grosgrain.


On a side note, does anyone know how to set up a blog to open a new window when you click on a link? Not that I want to hold you hostage at my blog or anything, hee! Thanks for stopping by!


~Karen

new stamps!

My doorbell rang yesterday afternoon and I was extremely excited because it was Mr. Brown with my new stamps and paper!! I finally ordered some fun new things from the Occasions mini catalog and boy am I happy! First of all, the new Afternoon Tea paper is devine. I absolutely love it and it's so much better in real life than in the catalog. Second, as a demonstrator I can order some things in bulk, so I took advantage and ordered some rub-ons, die cuts, and these cute little flower slides that are part of a new hodgepodge hardware kit that is styled silver. Very cute! I had to my new toys in today's card. The card base is standard 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 soft sky and I layered chocolate chip and a piece of Afternoon Tea on top. The thick strip across the middle of the card is groovy guava, scalloped of course, and then the other side of the designer paper. I slid chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon through the flower slide and attached the ribbon underneath the chocolate chip layer (I didn't attach the main panel of the card to the soft sky cardstock until I was finished). To create an aged look on the flower stems, I stamped them in chocolate chip and then stamped it off on a scrap piece of paper. Then I inked the stamp in wild wasabi and you can still see a faint tint of the chocolate. I stamped the flowers again in groovy guava and cut the blooms out and popped them up with a dimensional. The 3 brads up top are from the antique brads package. Oh, I did sponge chocolate chip ink around all of the papers to keep the aged theme going. The stamp set is Live your Dream, which coordinates with the Afternoon Tea designer paper. Today I'll have to dream up a card or project with those fantastic rub-ons!

~Karen

something new to try

I have always wanted to try to make a card using the joy fold, and I finally did today - yea for me! Ok, just patting myself on the back here. I was intimidated by it, truthfully, but you know what? It's a piece of cake really. Thank goodness for coordinating patterned paper because that is what made this a very easy card. I got out my packet of Spring Fling designer paper and took out the patterns that I wanted to use and there you have it - just pick the coordinating cardstock. My card base is so saffron and the card middle is certainly celery. I used my 3/4" circle punch and an EK Success flower punch to make a little clasp for the card to fold underneath. To tie the ribbon around the card, I cut a slit in the fold of the paper and slid the ribbon right through it. The inside sentiment is from Cheery Chat (retired) and I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to center the Happy Birthday and then the sentiment over the top of it. It's difficult to see in this teeny tiny picture though. Happy Birthday is stamped in so saffron and I used black Staz-On for the sentiment. I wanted to have the Happy Birthday as a subtle background. If you would like to try out a joy fold card, the tutorial is here.
~Karen

a beautiful weekend

We had an amazing weekend here - the weather was simply beautiful and we were able to enjoy the sunshine. Spring is right around the corner! I took my daughter to Target on Saturday and bought a snorkel for the pool this summer. She's been wearing it around the house pretty much ever since. It's so funny the way her little face gets all squished up in the mask. We found some other goggles and my son joined in on the fun. By the time they were finished swimming around the family room, Andrew's goggles were so foggy he could barely see out of them. Avery has already asked to wear them in the bathtub -that's gotta be fun, errr... It's going to be a long wait until the end of May when our neighborhood pool opens.

I did find some time to stamp and I hopped over to Beate Johns' blog for her weekend sketch challenge. If you've been reading my blog, you know I love Beate's challenges and try to do them every week. So much fun and very handy when you hit a creative wall. I will say that this one was right up my alley and I had to do 2 cards (I'll post them in my splitcoast gallery later today). This card is made with the Fall Flowers designer paper - I love all the patterns in this packet! So soft and fun. The card base is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 sahara sand cardstock and I layered really rust and soft sky together after I scalloped the edge of the soft sky. The flower is from So Many Scallops and I punched out the middle with the 1" circle punch and then punched out the flower with the scallop punch. The build-a-brad in the middle is made from the same striped paper on the side of the main panel and I placed a 3/4" circle in old olive underneath it to give it a little pop. I couldn't find a sentiment I like for this card, so we'll just call it an 'all occasion' card and move on, ha! I'm starting to regret selling some of my retired stamp sets now! There are some that I really could use, but I got a little bit out of control thinking I *needed* more room in my stamping space. What was I thinking?!
~Karen

ribbons and buttons and brads, oh my!

I was looking though my scraps of designer paper today and came across this great paper from a past mini catalog and thought I'd use it for this week's sketch challenge over at splitcoaststampers. This card was done with paper all from one package - I believe this paper is in the new catalog, but the colors are different (and some of the designs) and it's called Fall Flowers. Another favorite of mine. The card base is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 bashful blue cardstock and I layered close to cocoa on it. I cut out a flower from the paper and attached it to the sentiment (from Hugs & Wishes) with an antique copper brad. The 3 buttons are from the neutrals collection and I just used white thread with them and attached them with glue dots. This was a fun sketch to work on. Have a great weekend everyone!

~Karen

springtime thanks

I have a simple card to show you today and the layout is very similar to yesterday's post, oops! I guess I really like it or maybe I just want to show you how you can get different looks from the same layout just by tweaking it a little bit - yeah, that's what I was thinking! I started off with a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 piece of textured groovy guava cardstock and then layered a piece of textured soft sky and whisper white (which I scalloped - surprised?) and on top of that a piece of soft sky prints designer paper. Yes, I back to the prints paper again! I can't help myself. What am I going to do if it's retiring this summer?! I used the scallop, 1-3/8", and 1-1/4" punches for the sentiment, which is from Taggers Dozen. The ribbon is groovy guava double stitched grosgrain. Thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

pumpkin butterfly

Who thought pumpkin pie would look good on a spring card? Love this color combo. I was perusing through the March issue of Creating Keepsakes and I found a fantastic card by Jennifer McGuire and thought I'd CASE it. Her adorable card is on page 49 if you are wanting to check it out. Jennifer used a 'friendship' rub-on that overlapped the different layers of the card and I thought this was such a great look. Too bad I don't have any rub-ons yet. So I decided to try out a faux rub-on look with Staz-On ink. To create this look I really inked up my flourish with black Staz-On and pressed really hard where the stamp extended over the layer of paper to avoid a huge gap in the image. There is a teeny gap there, but you can barely see it. I did the same thing with the butterfly and then stamped it again in pumpkin pie and cut it out to pop it up. The card base is soft sky (4-1/4 x 5-1/2) and I layered old olive, pumpkin pie, and a designer paper from SU that I can't remember. Did it have Spring in the name? Sorry about that. It was retired so long ago. I created the scalloped edge with my small corner rounder and added apricot grosgrain ribbon along the top. The stamp set is Priceless and I absolutely love this set - it's a must-have you know. Another spring card to go along with my wishing-it-was-spring mood. Today was actually very warm and not windy, so we got to play outside for a bit. Poor kids are full of cabin fever these days. Spring will be here soon though! Enjoy your Wednesday.
~Karen

bold butterfly

Did you all check out Beate's weekend sketch challenge this week? I am always amazed at the tallent from these challenges! Yesterday I finally found some time to stamp, although I don't know how that happened because it seems like we were running errands forever. I think I'm seriously addicted to this Prints paper and I'm not at all likely to give it up any time soon. Might have to buy me some more colors! I had it set in my head to use the retired set, Bold Butterfly for this challenge and so that is the reason the butterfly is hanging off the side of the paper - I had to make it work! The card base is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 almost amethyst and so the obvious choice here was almost amethyst prints paper cut down to 4-1/8 x 4-3/4. The ribbon is retired amethyst stitched grosgrain. I guess I'm in a very purple mood today. Still wishing for spring... I stamped the bold butterfly in almost amethyst and then stamped the outline in lovely lilac craft ink so I could add heat and stick powder, heat it, and then add dazzling diamonds glitter. I wish there was a better way to show off how sparkly this is, but you'll have to use your imagination I guess. I used my 1/2" circle punch to cut out the half circles and then used a glue dot to place the buttons inside. The butterfly image is popped up on dimensionals. Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Karen

A little brad crazy

It's Monday and that means Mojo Monday over at Poetic Artistry. Now, if you've hopped over there and looked at her sketch and then looked at my card you probably noticed that mine doesn't match. Yeah... I intended to follow the sketch, but it wasn't working out with the gigantic K and kindness defintion I had already stamped, so I nixed it and added a bagillion antique brass brads instead of another paper layer there. I still like the card though and now I get to have another go at mojo monday, so it's all good! Here's the details - I used pretty in pink for my card base and layered purely pomegranate and berry bliss designer paper. The middle strip is purely pomegranate and berry bliss again, but the other side. Can you even see the pink polka dots on the paper? It's pretty light in this photo - dang this camera! Ok, maybe it's just my lack of good lighting in my home. The ribbon is purely pomegranate double stitched grosgrain (just got another spool of it - love it!) The stamp set is from last year's simply sent kit called Just K. I got it because it had the K in it and thought it would be a good monogram for me. Anyway, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the definition and K just so and added the brads. Did I go too crazy? Nah. Stay tuned, I'll try this sketch again for another day.
~Karen

my valentine

I felt bad for not having something Valentine's-y to post yesterday and with all the parties yesterday and our little family night out for pizza, I didn't have time to stamp. Soooo... here is a scrapbook page I did for my 6x6 desktop calendar this year. This handsome little guy is Andrew and this is his 1-year-old picture (his birthday is in February), but now he's 2! The page base is chocolate chip and I layered ruby red and a strip of designer paper from last year's winter mini catalog, and I can't remember the name of it for the life of me. The heart is from Priceless.

On another note... My husband and I are huge Lost fans and I'm so happy this show is finally back on the air! Did anyone see last night's episode? I won't spoil anything, but all I can say is WHAT?!! That show....

ETA: The font on the heart tag is called Marissa from Creative Keepsakes. I think it was from a CD, but it's been so long I can't remember.

Have a great weekend everyone.

~Karen

ready for spring!

We have had the windiest winter this year and it's driving me nuts. Maybe the Wyoming wind is dropping down to Colorado... Spring, where are you?! So on that note I decided to do a card that will cheer me up - all spring colors here! The 4-1/4 square base is Sage Shadow and I rubbed the card along the edge of my white craft pad. The designer paper is Spring Fling (see the theme here?) and the stamp set is a hostess set, Sweet Dreams. I think I'll use this card for Easter. The flowers are inked in Bordering Blue, Pretty In Pink and So Saffron and the frame is So Saffron as well. The stems are Sage Shadow - not a color I use a bunch, so this was different for me today. I added the pink grosgrain ribbon to add something to the bottom corner, kind of as an afterthought. This card is my try at this week's sketch challenge over at SCS.

Yes, I realize today is Valentine's day and I should post something so cute and lovely and lovey-dovey, but I ran out of ideas. I knew that would happen. Tonight we're having family night as our Valentine's Day date, so I'm really looking forward to that. Have a happy Valentine's Day!

~Karen

sweet one

Still getting samples for Sale-A-Bration completed and this one is one of my favorites so far. You know why? Yes, you guessed it - because it has the scallop punch and a scalloped edge all in the same card! I'm not sure when my obsession with scallops will end, but you know it will when the next fun new thing comes out. I broke open my pack of Spring Fling designer paper and thought it would be cute for a baby card. My card is 4-1/4 square again and the base is So Saffron and I slipped a piece of whisper white underneath the Spring Fling papers to make that layer thicker and then it would be easier to pop up with dimensionals. I used So Saffron eyelets along the bottom of the card - had to try out the Cropodile and get those perfectly lined up eyelets and the best part about it.... no hammering! Yes, I completed all these eyelets while my little ones slept this afternoon. The ribbon is apricot grosgrain. Well, off to stamp some more. My husband is watching the Nuggets play and snuggling the baby, so I have me some free time!
~Karen

Birthday Whimsy

I have finally been able to make a card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge - gee it's only Tuesday! For this challenge I wanted to make something with the FREE Sale-a-bration sets and I chose Birthday Whimsy. This is a fun set! I couldn't decide between the presents or the balloons, but the gifts won out in the end. I made a swap with this color scheme for the 2005 SU convention and I love these colors together - pumkpin pie, bashful blue, real red, and certainly celery. I think I got the idea from a Stampin' Success. Anyway... I scalloped the pumpin pie background with my corner rounder and added certainly celery prints paper and bashful blue stitched grosgrain (retired). The background stamp is Polka Dot and I stamped each gift on whisper white cardstock and then again in versamark on the colored cardstock, clear embossed them, and popped them up with stampin dimensionals. Fun little birthday card that is bright and cheery I'd say. I think this one will be for my nephew who turns the magical age of 5 tomorrow. Sweetie. The house is quiet, so I think I'll steal away to read for bit. ahhhh.... Thanks for stopping by!
~Karen

so sweet of you

Hello! Just a quick post today - I'm not quite feeling all that great. This is the second card we made on Friday night at my class and I pretty much copied it from the Sale-a-bration brochure. I needed something quick and easy and this was it! The stamp set is So Many Scallops and each stamp coordinates with the scallop punch. The card size is 4-1/4 square and I used Groovy Guava textured cardstock as well as the prints paper and the ribbon is double stitched soft sky. Fun! I used the word window punch and the thanks from another SAB set Lots of Thoughts.

Have a great Monday!

~Karen

Valentine's stamp camp

TGIF! Tonight I had my first stamp camp since Katie was born and it was so much fun. I love getting together with my friends and of course eating all the gooey brownies! We made these fun milk boxes and two cards. Here is the first card we made - it's just a sweet little valentine card. I used the heart out of Little Pieces for the center of the build-a-brad. I finally ordered some neutrals textured cardstock and used the white here. I love the dimension it gives a card or scrapbook page. I'll have to post some pages I've done with it too and I have to say that I'm loving these build a brads! I just got them yesterday and had to think of a way to use it quick for my camp and I'm glad I did, they were a hit. The patterned paper is Berry Bliss and of course, gotta have the scallop punch again. I'll post the other card we did later - I'm so behind in my stamping that I don't have anything else to post yet, so I'll stall here and make it my weekend cliffhanger. Beate has another weekend sketch challenge too, so I'm going to cruise on over there and work on that tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday and I can sleep in for a bit, right? My hubby loves to get up with the kids and make them breakfast and bring the baby to me - am I lucky or what!? Love you babe!

Cutie Pie

I thought I'd try out a card using only patterned paper and no stamping today and I love how this one turned out! Sometimes I surprise myself, ha! This card is based on today's sketch challenge and this sketch is going to be one of my favorites - simple and fun. I grabbed my packet of Cutie Pie double sided paper and immediately wanted to use the big flower prints, but when I played with the sketch, the flowers were too big. After trying out other paper in the pack, I really kept coming back to the flowers and so to solve my "too big" problem, I just let the big flower escape out of the box. I love how much it makes the card pop! I needed a fun little accent panel to go underneath the flower, so I pulled out my Certainly Celery Prints paper (I know, I use it all the time, but it's the best!) and thought the polka-dots were fun and perfect and matched the dots in the lower strip. I added Barely Banana brads to give the naked corner a little something and spaced them evenly by using my paper piercing template.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

Catching up

Hello and happy Monday! Anyone watch the Superbowl yesterday? I guess we still get to hear that cork pop out of the champagne bottle in Miami every time an undefeated team loses. I wasn't really rooting for either team, but it turned out to be an exciting game in the last quarter. Hopefully the Broncos will be better next year and at least make the playoffs. Sheesh.

OK! I'm trying to catch up on my splitcoast challenges here and so far I'm just to last Wednesday's sketch challenge. I thought this was going to be a quick and easy card, but I just couldn't make up my mind on anything and kept messing with it. Needless to say, I got to bed late last night (or is it early this morning?) I thought I'd use some more of the Fall Flowers double sided paper that I used in my last post and the flowers on the smaller panel just screamed out "use the In the Spotlight hostess set!" So I did. When I finished this card it reminded me of all the boho style sets in the catalog. Might just have to get some of those now because they would go so well with the jumbo eyelets! The faux stitching is made with my Really Rust stampin write marker and I thought it added a fun little touch. I've never used anything but my while gel pen for stitching before, so I'm glad to step out of the box. The birthday sentiment is from Hugs & Wishes. Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your day!

~Karen

happy day

I have been so busy this week and today is the first day I've gotten around to making cards since this past weekend. It's late and the house is quiet, so I'm going to post while I have the chance. This little number was inspired by Beate's weekend sketch challenge - love those! I thought I'd try something different with the designer paper and punches and use the negative image. First I punched the flower in Really Rust and then I used my 1-1/4" square punch around the flower. I place the patterned paper underneath. What do you think? This is the first time I've used this size card, 6-1/2 x 3-1/4 and I like this size! I'll have to order me some envelopes to fit it. Not really sure I like all the brads and to be honest, this is the first time I've used these shiny copper ones. I'm not a big fan, but they seem to match the rust paper somewhat. The ribbon is Soft Sky double stitched grosgrain and the sentiment is from Taggers Dozen. The paper is Fall Flowers and I'm going to need to get more of that pack of paper too! I use it all the time.
Well, it's late, so I'll sign off. Have a great weekend and I'll see you back here Monday.
~Karen