Plaid Stamping

Evening All,
Well after a long day of coughing and sniffing on the couch watching stamping videos I dragged myself to my office and played around with some of the cool techniques I saw. One of the techniques that caught my eye was plaid stamping. Here is the link to one of the great videos. And here is my interpretation:

 

I wanted some fun bright colors so I used Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo for my inks. I used the flower from Betsy's Blossom and Loving thoughts. A little grosgrain ribbon and candy dot in the center and I was done, Cheered me up! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Thanks Karin

Freshly Made Inspiration

Evening All,
Thought I would share a card I had a few minutes to make today. I actually have need of a few sympathy cards and was at a loss as to where I should start. Those are always the toughest to make. So I sought a little inspiration over at Freshly Made Sketches and they did not disappoint. Here is their sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

 

I actually had some of these pieces already cut and were just set aside and thought they worked perfectly for this sketch. I used Loving Thoughts as my sentiment and Comfort Cafe  as the DP. Glad I clicked on over for the sketch, as it made a tough task a little easier.
Have a great night!!

More Monkeying Around!

Evening All,
With this horrible rain I had some time tonight to complete another card for my June Stamp Club. I had gone on over to A La Monkey Blogspot and they had another great sketch:

How cute is that??!! And of course I would recognize the elephant from the Disney Jungle Cruise!! After checking out all of the inspiration cards here is what I came up with:

I have been having a lot of fun with the new Betsy's Bloom stamp set! I love the versatility! I was "hoping" that this looked like fireworks!!?? I used the new "in-color" for 2012-2014 "Midnight Muse" for the panels, layered it on a piece of Melon Mambo and Heat Embossed the Bloom in White and Melon Mambo. Did you notice the banner? I really LOVE the new Bitty Banner Framelits! Especially since I can fit many of my favorite sentiments in it from the Loving Thoughts set. I am SUPER excited that it carried over to the new catalog!! Anyway thanks for stopping by!

Karin

Things you have to do....

Hi Everyone,
I have a bunch of cards that I need to send out for a few different occasions, but the most important one is a sympathy card for a wonderful co-worker. I think these are the most important ones you send, as it really shows you care and that your thinking about them. I find these the most difficult to come up with so I went on over to Try Stamping on Tuesday and they had another great sketch:

Now I needed a color palette. I had gone on over to the Paper Players and they had just the thing:

                     

I thought this mix was perfect for the tone I wanted. Here is what I came up with:

I had rotated it onto its side so I could set up the sentiment the way I wanted. I used the Loving Thoughts set and colored each word separately so I could set the words above each other versus next two each other. I had also used the Thoughts and Prayers set for the floral piece behind the sentiment.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karin

Demonstration Card

Hi All,
Finally had a chance to finish this card. I needed a demonstration card for an upcoming workshop and was fresh out of inspiration for how to layout the card. So I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and this was their great sketch:

I loved the look! Here is what I came up with:

Sorry the photos are still less then stellar. The camera "issue" is on the "list". Anyway I used the Simply Soft hostess set and Loving Thoughts for the sentiment. I really love the soft colors of the Everyday Enchantment DP and it worked great with the technique of layering the blues on the flower. Thanks for stopping by!
Karin



Two for one!!

Evening All,
Had a chance to try out a new challenge (to me that is) AND liked the clean design so much that I decided to make this card my second card in my upcoming stamp a stack. I had found the clean and simple blog challenge this past weekend and noted the recent sketch challenge:

Here was my take on it:

Here is what I used:
Paper :Whisper White and Basic Black
Ink: Staz on Black and Daffodil Delight
Stamp sets: Loving Thoughts and Just Believe
I used a simple masking technique to make the sun. Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Less is More Week 56

Hi All,
I am excited once again to participate in the Less is More challenge of the week. This weeks challenge was "Don't Scrap it". Their challenge was to use your scraps on a Clean and Simple card. This was right up my alley for a class I was preparing using the Loving Thoughts stamp set. I pointedly used only scraps that I had in my collection. Here are the cards I came up with:

I think I am finally getting a handle on the clean and simple look :)
Thanks for looking!
Karin

Freshly Made Sketches #22 & Our Creative Corner

Hi All,
I had a little ambition last night so I completed another challenge (or two!!). I went on over to freshly Made Sketches and Jen had another great sketch:

I loved the clean lines of this sketch. I had also gone over to Our Creative Corner and they had a great theme with a twist.They challenged us to make a project for our "Best friend" but it must include a flower. I needed a card for one of my oldest and dearest friend. She is a editer at a local newspaper and three of her piece were nominated for awards. She won an award and placed top three on the other articles and their design!!! Yeah Ang!!  So I mashed up all the requirements and here is what I came up with:

I have been dying to try out "bleaching" and thought it would add great contrast to the soft look of the Everyday Enchantment. It took me a few tries to not "over soak" the stamp with bleach. After a few tries I finally got the "right" amount. The one thing I will say is that if you try this make sure to wash off your stamp and then condition it with the cleaner to keep the stamp from breaking down. Here is the rest of what I used:
Paper: Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Everyday Enchantment
Stamp set: Fresh Vintage Stamp Set and Loving Thoughts
Ink: Crumb Cake and Poppy Parade
Punches: Large oval and smaller oval (retired)
Other Big Shot Lattice folder
Thanks for stopping by!
Karin



Another Late Night Post!

Evening All!
I am on a role with my late night posting, not sure if that is a good thing!! Anyway I started this card yesterday after I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and checked out their very cool sketch:

Their challenge included the theme of "Seeing Double" where you use any medium for the two vertical stripes. Here is what I came up with:

I tried to keep with the "Double" theme and used two main colors: Calypso Coral and Pool Party. Here is what I used:
Stamp Sets: Take it To Heart, Loving Thoughts, Triple Treat Flower
Paper: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Naturals Ivory and Every Enchantment DP
Ink: Pool Party and Calypso Coral
Punches: Five Petal Flower and Fancy Flower
Other: Sticky Back Large Pearls, Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Pool Party Seam Binding

Hope you got to bed early!!!
Karin



New Challenge...for me!

Hi All

Finally had a few minutes to post a card I did for a challenge that is new to me. I have been checking out all the cool samples on Stamping 411 Blog and thought I would take a "crack" at it. Here is there latest challenge:

One of the best parts of this challenge is that they included the measurements:

Base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"

Layer 2: 4 x 5 1/4"
Layer 3: 4" x 1 1/2"
Layer 4: 2 1/2" x 2 1/4"
Layer 5: 2 3/8" x 2 1/8"
Here is my take on it:

I really loved how it came together! Please email me for further details! Have to run out to the horses...again! :)
Thanks for stopping by
Karin



Less is More Week 52

Evening All,
Well feeling more human and trying to not panic about all the "stuff" I have to do to play catch up! Ugh so anyway I figured whats one more night?? Right??!! So, anyway went on over to Less is More and they had a great challenge:

They requested that the card be

• rectangular
• in landscape orientation
• with the band remaining in a vertical position 

As it's a very simple sketch,  we would like it to remain as is without any rotation of either the card or the vertical band.

 Simple sketches are not so simple for me, so I felt that this would be a great challenge for me. Here is what I came up with:

I really like how it came out! I am very proud of myself :) It was SOOO hard not to add a few butterflies or a ribbon!! LOL!! Here is what I used:
Paper: Naturals Ivory and Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft and Classic Ink
Stamps: Sunflower and Loving Thoughts
Tools: Watercolor pencils and Gamsol (love how it brightens the color!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karin

Friday Mashup #43

Hi All,
Had a great opportunity to complete one of my favorite challenges this weekend: The Friday Mash Up. Here was their challenge:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Something NEW in your stash". (Stamps, ribbon, pretty paper...anything!)
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "using the Sketch & something NEW in your stash".

I chose to "Mash it Up" with the DP, Ribbon and Stamp Sets I recently received. Here is what I came up with:



A great friend of mine gave me the beautiful Vanilla Ribbon and I had not had a chance to use it!! Here is what I used:
Paper: Everyday Enchantment, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and River Rock
Stamp Set: Loving Thoughts and Take it to Heart
Tools: Blender Pens, Big Shot
Embellishments: Lucky Limeade Organza Ribbon, Vanilla Ribbon, Dimensional's and Lattice Folder
Punches Small Oval and Decorative Label

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good Monday!
Karin

Freshly Made Sketches #19

Morning All,
Can't believe how fast weekends fly by! I am working really hard to carve out time at least 4-5 days a week to make a card, complete a challenge, etc. So far I am right on track! For today's card I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and Jen Mitchell had a great sketch:

And here is what I came up with:

Here is what I used:

Paper: Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory, Calypso Coral and Everyday Elegance DP

Ink: Pool Party and Crumb cake (for distressing)

Punch: Curly Label

Stamp Sets: Loving Thoughts (so so beautiful!)

Embellishments: Pool Party Seam Binding, Everyday Elegance Brads and Sticky Back Pearls, Big Shot and Top Note Die (you run it through as you would normally do then take that shape and turn it horizontally and run it through again. That gives you this awesome shape!!).

I chose not to distress the base layer of Naturals Ivory as I liked the contrast with the DP and the sentiment. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Karin

PPA 127

Evening All,
Well I decided that after a tough afternoon I would "allow" myself the chance to make a card for a friend who is expecting her first child. I was in need of a sketch so I went on over to Pals Paper Arts and they had another great sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

I spent a little time cutting out a few of the images after coloring them and "popping" them up on dimensionals, Here is a close up look:

I really like the Packed for Everything bundle in the new mini! It has an option for everything! Here are the supplies I used:
Stamps: Packed For Everything and Loving Thoughts
Paper: Whisper white, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizazz DP and Concord Crush DP
Ink: Staz on Black
Markers: Close to Cocoa (retired), Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Pear Pizazz, Concord Crush and Wisteria Wonder
Embellishments: Big Shot and Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon
Punched: Corner Rounder and Scallop Oval
Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Freshly Made Sketches #18

Evening All,
Dinner is taking to long to cook so I decided to make a card. Sadly I am in need of a few sympathy cards and I always seem to have a hard time starting those. For inspiration I headed on over to Freshly Made Blogspot and they did not disappoint. Linda Callahan designed a great sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

Here is what I used:

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black and DP that retired ages ago and I did not keep the title!!

Ink: Basic Black

Stamp Sets: Loving Thoughts and Elements of Style

Embellishments: Basic Black Satin Ribbon, Heat Tool and Black Embossing Powder

Happy Friday and GO PATS!

Karin

Less is More #47 and continued sneak peek!

Hi all,
Well procrastinating doing some work this morning and thought I would make a card for a challenge. I went on over to the Less is More Blog and their clean and simple challenge was to use "Just One Word".
Here is what I came up with:

As you can see I am still on my gold embossing "kick!" Love the stuff! I used my Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, colored the center of the flowers with my versa marker and heat embossed with Gold embossing powder. I then used one of the great choices from the soon to be released "Loving Thoughts" stamp set in gold and finally added the last bits of the beautiful gold ribbon my friend gave to me. Thanks for checking out my entry. I hope you are enjoying your week!
Karin

Friday Mash up #38 & sneak peeek!

Hi All,
Hope you all enjoyed your holiday! Its funny you clean and cook for hours than you have to do it again a few days later to clean up the Christmas "hurricane" that went through! However I do love all the get togethers! Once I cleared a path :) to my craft room I decided to check out the Friday Mash Up challenge of the week. Here is what they have for us:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".
2. Or Make a project using "Watercoloring".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch & Watercoloring" .

I choose to "Mash it up" with watercoloring and that great sketch. Here is what I came up with:

I liked it so much that I am planning on doing this card for my January Stamp Club. Here is my recipe:

Stamps:           Flower Fest, Take it to Heart and Loving Thoughts

Cardstock:        Pear Pizzazz – half sheet

                        Naturals for the Top Note 5 x 3 ½”

                        Pretty in Pink 1” x 4 ¼”   

                        Pear Pizzazz .5” x 4 ¼”

                       

Ink:                  Basic Black and Staz on Black

Embellishments: Linen thread, water color wonders crayons in Pretty in Pink and Bravo Burgundy, Big Shot and Top Note Diez

Tools: Blender Pens

Techniques: Run the naturals card stock through the Big Shot with the Top Note,

stamp the rose image from the Flower Fest stamp set in Staz on and color it

LIGHTLY with Bravo Burgundy and Pretty in Pink crayons. Blend with the blender

pens going slightly outside the lines for a water color effect. Stamp the Banner from

the Take it to heart set with the sentiment inside, cut out and mount .

Karin

Hope your having a great week!