Chevron Birthday

It's Sunday evening here and I had a wee bit of time today to make a card for a few challenges.  This card uses the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments, the colors from Fab Friday and the chevron theme from Seize the Birthday.

I dry embossed part of the card base using the Chevron EF then white embossed pieces of Real Red and Coastal Cabana cardstock using Positively Chevron and white EP.  I cut a panel of Whisper White and rounded opposite corners.  I then stamped the sentiment using Real Red.  I already had the "birthday" die cut on my table so decided to put that to good use.

I tied some red twine around the card but it still looked like it was missing something so I randomly placed some Candy Dots on the card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI), Shenanigans (CASual Fridays), Positively Chevron (SU)
Ink:  Real Red, Versamark
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots, White EP, Circle Nesties, American Crafts Twine, birthday die (PTI), Chevron EF (SU)

Cheers
Karren

Love Birds

Coming up is a reasonably quick card I made for both the inspiration photo challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments and the Die Cut challenge at Addicted to CAS.

I hope this passes at Addicted to CAS because it's not strictly die cuts, but rather cut files using my Silhouette Cameo.

I cut the file in both Early Espresso and Raspberry Ripple then cut out the birds in Raspberry Ripple and adhered them over the top of the Early Espresso die cut.  I sponged all the pieces to give a bit more dimension.  The sentiment is another cut file.  The card base is Very Vanilla and the main image panel is popped up on dimensionals.

I couldn't lighten the photo without losing definition so apologies for the darkness.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso
Accessories:  Silhouette Cameo

Admit One

I'm now on my Christmas break and don't have to go back to work until January 3rd - yahoo!  So what's a girl to do but stamp?  

I made a card that is a bit of a departure from my usual style - it's glittery and colorful!

This card is for the sketch challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments and the Friday Mashup challenge.  I mashed it up this week and used both the colors (Gumball Green, Bermuda Bay, Real Red and Crumb Cake) as well as blinging it up.  Here's a close-up of the bling:

The Crumb Cake card base was scored using my diagonal scoring plate then dots of Dazzling Details were added at each scored intersection.  The stamps come from the Free Spirits set by Paper Smooches and the inside of the glass was painted with Dazzling Details as well.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Free Spirits (Paper Smooches)
Ink:  Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Gumball Green, Real Red
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Thoroughly Modern DSP, Brights DSP Stack
Accessories:  Free Spirits dies, Dazzling Details, Ticket Duo Punch, Simply Scored

Edited to Add:  This card was an Artist Pick at Hand Stamped Sentiments and a Glamette Award at Friday Mashup.

Cheers
Karren

Bundle of Joy

Here's a card I made which covers three challenges:  SUO Challenges (welcome, baby); Dynamic Duos color challenge and the sketch challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I used a single stamp called Bringing Baby and stamped it in Stazon onto Shimmery White cardstock.  I then lightly colored it using Primrose Petals; Blushing Bride and Smokey Slate markers.  I cut it out using an oval framelit.  The background layer is Primrose Petals Core'dinations, run through with the Needlepoint Border EF and lightly sanded.  The retired Blushing Bride pleated ribbon was stuck down using Sticky Strip but still manages to look crooked LOL.  Some Primrose Petals ribbon is folded behind the stamped image.  A button from Twitterpated and a tiny Baker's twine bow finish the embellishments.  The sentiment comes from the retired set Little Angel.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Bringing Baby; Little Angel
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Shimmery White; Primrose Petals Core'dinations
Ink:  Black Stazon; Primrose Petals
Accessories:  Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals, Smokey Slate markers; oval framelits; Needlepoint Border EF; Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon; Primrose Petals ribbon; Twitterpated button; white baker's twine.

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

Cheers
Karren

E-Cut Thanks

When you look at my card below, the most obvious thing is the "thanks".  I haven't yet got the word thinlits but really wanted to have a die-cut word as my main image on the card.  So I spent Friday evening trolling the internet looking for a loopy, cursive font to give me the look I was after.  Couldn't find anything I liked, so on Saturday morning, I grabbed my Basic Black marker and a piece of white cardstock and hand-wrote my own sentiment.  I then scanned it into my Silhouette software and printed out the thanks you see below.  The possibilities are endless!  I really must spend some more time with my Cameo...

I used the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments and the 1-2-3 challenge at Friday Mashup.

The 1-2-3 elements I used on my card are:

1 stamp (butterfly from Thanks for Caring)

2 embellishments (ribbon and candy dots)

3 patterned papers (Modern Medley x 2 and In Color Stack)

1. Create a project with using "A-B-C (use elements on your projects starting with the letters A, B, C). "
2. Create a project using a "1-2-3 card recipe (1 embellishment, 2 Stamp Sets, 3 Colors) ."
3. Or Mash it Up and create a project "A-B-C & a 1,2,3 card recipe. "

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Thanks for Caring

Cardstock:  Basic Black; Very Vanilla; Raspberry Ripple; Modern Medley DSP; 2012-14 In Color DSP

Ink:  Raspberry Ripple

Accessories:  Circle Nesties; Silhouette Cameo; Raspberry Ripple Ribbon; Neutrals Candy Dots

Cheers

Karren

Modern Birthday

This card is very similar to my last card in terms of layout and "CAS-ness".  I followed the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments, used new stamps and new DSP and came up with this card.

I just received the gorgeous Modern Medley DSP and wanted to showcase the beautiful graphic patterns.  I also used a new-to-me Papertrey Ink set called Wonderful Words: Birthday with matching die.  My new Big Shot magnetic platform arrived last week and today was my first chance to use it.  Can I just say - wow!  So worth the $NZ84!  

The "birthday" is popped up on tiny little slivers of dimensionals, as is the "happy" circle.  I quite like the simplicity of this card - it would make a great masculine card.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Wonderful Words:  Birthday
Cardstock:  Very Vanilla; Modern Medley DSP
Ink:  Basic Black; Coastal Cabana

Cheers
Karren

Primrose Garden

I pulled out Secret Garden and its matching framelits for this card today.  My card uses the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I stamped my flower images and colored them with Copics before deciding on my color scheme - doh!  Turns out the big flowers matched Primrose Petals quite nicely so that became my card base and some Print Poetry DSP tied in the yellow flowers.  One of my favorite embossing folders, Needlepoint Border, was used to add some interest to the card base.

Thanks for looking.

Products used:

Stamps:  Secret Garden; Tiny Tags
Cardstock:  Primrose Petals; Whisper White; Print Poetry DSP
Ink:  Primrose Petals; Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  Copics; Secret Garden Framelits; MFT Fishtail Flags; Corner Chomper; Needlepoint Border EF

Cheers
Karren

Swirly Mother's Day

Today is the last day of my week's holiday.  I haven't been in my stamp room as often as I would have liked, but have had a good week with my boys.

Here's a card I made using the sketch challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments, the Anything Sizzix challenge at SUO Challenges and the color challenge at Color Throwdown.

My Big Shot got quite the workout with this card.  I used the Honeycomb EF; the Scribble Swirl  Sizzlet; the Floral Fusion Sizzlet and the large Scallops Framelit.

To mimic the oval shape in the sketch, I paper pierced three ovals.  The DSP comes from a really old pack called Spring Showers.  When I look at the grunged sheets in this pack, I realise Stampin' Up! was ahead of their time with this paper!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Something to Celebrate
Cardstock:  Whisper White; Spring Flowers DSP; Blush Blossom; Certainly Celery
Ink:  Basic Gray
Accessories:  Scribble Swirl Sizzlet; Floral Fusion Sizzlet; Large Scallops Framelit; Honeycomb EF; White Baker's Twine; Occasions Paper Piercing Pack; Basic Jewels; Jumbo Jewels

Cheers
Karren

Secret Garden Get Well Card

I combined the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches with the color challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments to come up with this card.  I haven't had a chance to play with the HSS challenges for what seems like forever, so it was good to get to use these gorgeous colors together.

I white-embossed several flowers from Secret Garden onto Crumb Cake cardstock.  I then "colored" them in with white ink and over-colored with Daffodil Delight and Island Indigo ink.  (I still don't know what this technique is called, so if anyone knows it's name, please let me know LOL).

The rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory, so here are the challenge details:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Secret Garden; Delightful Dozen
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake; Brights DSP; 2011-13 In Color DSP; Island Indigo
Ink:  Island Indigo; Lucky Limeade; Daffodil Delight; Versamark
Accessories:  White EP; Secret Garden Framelits; Oval Framelits; Daffodil Delight Satin Ribbon; 2011-13 In Color Brads

Edited to Add:  This card was chosen as an HSS Artist Pick card this week.

Cheers
Karren

CAS Valentine

This is my second post today.  I had to have another go at the CAS Valentine challenge over at SUO Challenges.  This time I used the inspiration photo from Hand Stamped Sentiments as well.

I took my inspiration from the expanse of white and the small pockets of red to come up with these cards for my two sons (although the oldest will probably go "eww" because it's not cool to get a valentine from your mum when you're 15 LOL):

Can't get much more CAS than these!  I used the heart stamps and framelits from Hearts a Flutter and the sentiment from Well-Scripted.  The hearts are popped up on dimensionals.  A rhinestone on each heart finishes off the cards.

Here's the inspiration photo:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter; Well-Scripted
Cardstock:  Whisper White
Ink:  Real Red
Accessories:  Hearts a Flutter Framelits; Basic Rhinestones; Dimensionals

Edited to Add:  This was a top 3 pick over at SUO Challenges.  Thanks guys!

Cheers
Karren

Flower in Pool Party

I love the colors in the challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week - Pool Party; Primrose Petals and Basic Black.  I matched these colors with the sketch challenge at Retro Sketches and came up with this:

My flower has been spritzed with shimmer mist which makes it all sparkly IRL.  My branches are black, which is a bit odd in nature, but hey we'll just pretend it's normal LOL.  The flower is one I've seen around the internet a few times.  Not sure who came up with the original idea but it uses the Fancy Flower Punch; the 5-Petal Punch and the Boho Blossoms Punch.

Thanks for looking.  It's back to work for me tomorrow, so I'll be back to only being able to stamp on the weekends - boo hoo.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated):

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake; Basic Black; Primrose Petals; Pool Party; 2011-13 In Color DSP; 2012-14 In Color DSP

Ink:  Basic Black

Accessories:  Fancy Flower Punch; 5-Petal Punch; Boho Blossoms Punch; Fancy Fan EF; McGill Branch Punch; Corner Rounder; In Color Brads

Cheers

Karren

Monochromatic Christmas

This card covers three separate challenges this week:  Freshly Made Sketches; ColorQ and the monochromatic challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I haven't been able to play along at Hand Stamped Sentiments for ages, so it was serendipitous that the color challenge at ColorQ also met the criteria at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

Both my ornaments are embossed in clear over Midnight Muse or Cool Caribbean ink.  It's hard to see in the photo but above each little scallop is a tiny little pearl which I colored in a pale blue color.  The music notes are inked in Midnight Muse onto the card base.  The DSP layer is Pacific Point.

Here are the challenges:

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes; More Merry Messages

Cardstock:  Midnight Muse; Tempting Turquoise; Whisper White; Brights DSP

Ink:  Midnight Muse; Cool Caribbean; Versamark; Tempting Turquoise

Accessories:  Holiday Ornaments Framelits; Music Notes Wheel; Whisper White ribbon; Adorning Accents die and folder

Cheers

Karren

Milestone Birthday

My older sister is celebrating a milestone birthday next week.  I won't tell you how old she is, because that just wouldn't be right (but check out the card...LOL).

I decided to do something a little more detailed than I usually do, so I used the Mojo Monday sketch as my inspiration.  I can't remember the last time I produced a card with so many layers!  I also used the inked embossing folder technique again, so I'm linking to Hand Stamped Sentiments as well.  That technique really provides another level to embossed panels.

I used my favorite DSP in the new SU catalog - Fan Fair.  Love that paper!  The sentiment is from the Made For You set, which has such a cool font.  I only wish there were more stamps in the set!

Happy Birthday for the 27th, Jannene!

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:  Made for You

Cardstock:  Pink Pirouette; Basic Black; Whisper White; Fan Fair DSP

Ink:  Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die; Lacy Brocade EF; Basic Pearls; Riding Hood Red Grosgrain Ribbon; other doily die; circle nesties; corner rounder

Cheers

Karren

Cherish Friendship

This is my first time using this lovely stamp set, Cherish Friendship.  I combined several challenges in producing this card:  the sketch challenge at iSpy Sketches; the chevron challenge at Just Add Ink; the color challenge at Color Me Beautiful and the inked embossing folder challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

The sketch is actually rectangular but I changed it to a square card as the chair image is actually quite large.  I watercolored the image using markers and blender pens and managed to get in all the colors in the challenge.    The chevron layers were inked in their matching colors using a brayer then run through the embossing folder.  I made sure to line up the chevrons between both layers.

To finish the card off, I attached a button to the bottom right hand corner.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps:  Cherish Friendship

Cardstock:  Soft Suede; Perfect Plum; Old Olive; Watercolor Paper

Ink:  Black Stazon

Accessories:  Soft Suede, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, River Rock, Baja Breeze, Going Grey markers; blender pen; circle nesties; Chevron EF; brayer; bronze button; linen thread

Cheers

Karren

Halloween Kid

Today marks the beginning of a 5 day weekend for me - yay!  Having said that, I have a whole heap of chores to do and I've just found out the insurer is planning on digging up our driveway and path tomorrow as a result of the earthquake damage from Sep 10 and Feb 11, so it's going to be headache material around here, methinks!

Anyway, while it's quiet I managed to make a card for the sketch challenge at Fab Friday and the theme challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

We don't celebrate Halloween, but this cute kid just needs to be stamped and colored.

I used the color coach for colors that worked with Pumpkin Pie and it gave me Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso.  I substituted Basic Black for the Espresso and I quite like the contrast.  

I colored my girl with markers and blender pen then cut out and mounted onto a Basic Black layer.  Once I had the banners and stamped image on the card, I decided to add some little rolled roses and leaves as embellishments.

Thanks for looking.

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated):

Stamps:  Greeting Card Kids

Cardstock:  Basic Black; Watercolor Paper; Daffodil Delight; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive

Ink:  Black Stazon

Accessories:  Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Going Grey, Blush Blossom markers; 1 1/4" circle punch; Basic Pearls, Little Leaves Sizzlet; circle nesties; MFT Fishtail Flags

Cheers

Karren

Muted Sympathy

This card came about via a very long-winded process.  I wanted to try the technique challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments which is crayon rubbed embossing.  But, I didn't have any white crayons, so pulled out a gray crayon and proceeded with that.  After rubbing the crayon onto the Very Vanilla cardstock, I thought the gray crayon might work with the color challenge at Fab Friday - So Saffron; Sahara Sand and Basic Gray.  Then I thought I'd kill three birds with one stone and use the embossed panels in this week's Freshly Made Sketch challenge.  So a three-fer!  That doesn't happen often and it's a bonus when it does LOL.

I had the idea to use a sentiment in the center circle so went looking through my sets.  This set, Thanks for Caring, was perfect for the muted colors.

Apart from the bow, this card came together reasonably quickly.  I am definitely bow-challenged.  This one looks okay if you close one eye and squint through the other LMAO.  I moistened the tails to make them crinkly.

Here are the three challenges I used for today's card:

The crayon rubbed embossing is fun and easy, so if you haven't tried it yet, I urge you to have a go.

Thanks for looking:

Products Used (all Stampin' Up!):

Stamps:  Thanks for Caring

Cardstock:  Basic Gray; Very Vanilla

Ink:  So Saffron; Sahara Sand

Accessories:  So Saffron; Basic Gray markers; Circle Scissor; Finial Press EF; crayon; brayer; Very Vanilla Seam Binding.

Edited to add:  This card was an Artist Pick over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Thanks, guys!

Cheers

Karren