Another Freshly Made Saturday

Morning All,
I wanted to share the last Christmas card that I made as part of my Great Aunt's birthday gift. I have been pushing all my activities to the wire lately as my little guy comes first but I did want to make sure I kept up with the tradition of making all of my Aunts greeting cards. For my inspiration I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and they had another great sketch:

 

Without further adieu here is what I came up with:

 

 

I used a base of Always Artichoke, a layer of Crumb Cake and the last pieces of my Deck the Halls DP that I had squirrel away. I just love the vintage look! I ran the Crumb Cake through the Script EF, punched out an ornament and added a few pearls after "ageing" the edges of the ornament. I hope she likes it! Have a great day!

Karin



Birthday Mojo!

Morning All,
I wanted to share the birthday card that I made for my 102 year old grandmother. I have been slowly working away at her gifts (as I make all of her greeting cards) but I hadn't attempted this special card yet. So I went on over to Mojo Monday and they had another great sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

 

After rotating the sketch I used a base of some Pretty  in Pink I had left over and some of my retired Afternoon Picnic DP that I had (loved the flowers!). I ran the pink panel through my vintage folder and the green panel through my stripes folder. The butterflies were Dies cut with the smaller punched out. A pearl and some crochet ribbon and I was done. I really hope she loves the vintage look!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin  

 

 



Happy Labor Day

Morning All,
Happy Labor Day! I wanted to share a card that I finally finished this morning but started almost a week ago!! I had gone over to Try Stamping on Tuesday and they had this great sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

 

I used a base of Naturals White, with some left over pieces of Howlstooth and Scaringbone retired DP. I stamped the tree from Lovely as a Tree in craft ink and heat embossed it. I used some vanilla ribbon for the bow and pearls for the top right column. At least I have started some of my Fall crafting!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin 

Freshly Made Obsession!

Evening All,
I finally had a chance to finish a card I started the other night. I am still woefully behind on my "Thank You's" so I had decided to check out the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and of course they did not disappoint! Check out their sketch:


I really loved the possibilities. Here is what I came up with:

 

I have been obsessed with this carriage stamp that I borrowed from a friend so I used it again on my cards along with my favorite retired set; Short and Sweet. I used a base of soon to retire Gumball Green, some soon to retire Afternoon Picnic DP, some pearls a button and Bakers twine and I was good to go! Hope you all have a great night!

Karin



Freshly Made Easter

Evening All,
Sorry for the little hiatus! I have been swamped at work and have not had the energy in the evenings to do much!! Anyway I knew that I needed to get a move on with my Easter cards so I began looking for a sketch that would motivate me. Of course I found one over at Freshly Made Sketches! Check out this weeks sketch:

I pulled some of my new toys and here is what I came up with:

 

 

 

I used a mix of old and new with some Cottage Wall retired DP I had with a new Easter set called "Eggstra Spectacular". I really liked the simple sentiment with the back of the bunny. Of course I had to add a pearl for his tail!! I went very monochromatic with Rich Razzleberry. Well off to pack it in! Have a great night!

Karin



Another Freshly Made Sunday

Evening All,
I wanted to share a card I made recently after seeing the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. Check it out here:

 

Here is what I came up with:

 

 

I went a bit rustic and I rotated the sketch. I used a base of Cherry Cobbler with a panel of Crumb Cake on Early Espresso. I punched out the ornament from the Deck the Halls DP I had hoarded. A little Bakers Twine and a sentiment from Short and Sweet and I was done! Simple and fun! Have a great night

Karin



Simple Sunflower

Evening All,
I had a little time tonight to get some stamping done. I wanted a "Fall" like card for the sketch I saw over at Freshly Made Sketches


Here is what I came up with:

 

 

I used a base of Soft Suede and used the Gold Encore ink on my Sunflower background stamp. Such a perfect Fall stamp! Then I used one of my sentiments from my "From the Heart" set in Soft Suede ink on Naturals White cardstock and punched it out with the Apothecary Accents framelit. I then re-inked inked it in Gold and cut out the center and popped it up on dimensionals. A few large pearls and I was set. Have a great night everyone!

Karin 

Pals Paper Arts Challenge

Hi All,
I made it through my first day of the school year and dragged myself home. I decided that I needed a little stamping time and decided to focus on my grandmothers Thanksgiving card so I went on over to Pals Paper Arts for some inspiration and they had it! Check out the sketch:

I loved the look and here is what I came up with:

I used a base of More Mustard, some of the beautiful Spice Cake DP and the Full of Blessings stamp set that I heat embossed in Early Espresso and colored with my blender pens. A few pearls and I was done. Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Use your scraps

Hi All,
Well once again I was able to gather enough energy after work to make another Christmas card for my Great Aunt. This heat and poor air conditioning at work is a killer!! Anyway, I have a pile of scraps I have had put aside that I keep meaning to put together so I made sure I used them and I am very happy that I did! Check it out:

I had this cool oval I punched out of some Holly Berry paper that I thought I would use for "something" and I felt like it worked perfectly for this! I used a base of Cherry Cobbler, a layer of Early Espresso that I heat embossed the tree from the Christmas Lodge on and then added the oval. A little burlap ribbon and a pearl and I was done! Check another one off the list! Have a great night and stay cool!
Karin

June Thank You's

Morning All,
I wanted to share my Thank You card that I made for June:

As you can see I stuck with my beach theme and used the "By the Shore" set again after scoring the base with my Simply Scored to create the wavy sand theme. I added a sentiment from the Petite Pairs set and after cutting out my two shells and adding a little "bling" I was done! Have a great day!
Karin

SAS Happy Birthday

Evening All,
I wanted to share the last of the three cards that I am going to be offering at my upcoming SAS. I put together a "Happy Birthday" card with more of the color combo that I love: Crumb Cake and Night of Navy. I really love all shades of blue and brown together!! Here it is:

I used the Triple Treat Flower, inked it in Crumb Cake and "tapped" my Night of Navy marker on it to give it the two tone variation. I added some of my Blueberry Crisp DP and the perfect little banner an I was done! Hope you have a great night!
Karin

Sanded Butterflie

Evening All
A quick post before I pack it in! Sad to say I am looking forward to a normal routine with a seriously nasty headache that has just not let go for days amongst other things, I am just spent! So I thought I would share one of Stampin Up's new and coolest (well in my opinion!) products! Their stamping system! They have thicker 12x12 cardstock in three colors (Pool Party, Primrose Petals and Rose Red) and new sanding blocks that are super easy to use!! Here is an example of something that only took minutes to put together:

I used the PrimRose Petal paper and ran it through the Beautiful Butterflies Diez,ran them through my Vintage folder, sanded the butterflies, adhered to the Canvas ribbon on a piece of Tea for Two DP, Lucky Limade Cardstock and Primrose Petals Cardstock on the base of Very Vanilla. A few Pearls and I was done. My club loved this! Super fast with a great "WOW" factor!! You will have to try it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

Blooming with Kindness

Evening All,
Thought I would share another care I made for my club last month. I recently took advantage of the single stamp sales that Stampin Up has been offering and purchased the flower from Blooming with Kindness set and absolutely love it!! Check it out:

Awesome flower for embossing. I chose to play with using tone on tone and heat embossed the flower in black on Wisteria Wonder cardstock, then outlined some of the petals with the Wisteria Wonder marker and "popped" some of the petals with the gel pen. I love adding that "punch" of black to the subtles. Its eye catching and elegant. The perfect sentiment from the Pursuit of Happiness, pearls, Bakers Twine and a background of Tea for Two and I was done! Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin 

Two for one!

Hi All,
I finally got a chance to make a card I needed for a friend of mine who recently lost a relative. As usual I was stumped with where to start so I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and they had another awesome sketch:

Now that I had my sketch I needed my colors so I went on over to the Pals Paper Arts and they had a great palette. 

                                                       

Here is what I came up with:

I used the Naturals White as my base, used the Mustard hounds tooth DP from the Howling

and Scaringbone DP (love the versatility!) on a later of Early Espresso. I decided to use the flower and jar from the Perfectly Preserved stamp set and colored each flower with More Mustard and edged it slightly with Cajun Craze. A few pearls on the flowers and I was done. The sentiment came from the Thoughts and Prayers set. Great one to have on hand. Hope you have a great day!

Karin 

Freshly Made Inspiration

Evening All,
Me here with yet another late night post! Haven't had as much time as I would like to spend in my craft room lately so I was happy to take advantage of a little time tonight after a trip to the gym. I had gone on over to Freshly Made Sketches and saw that they were celebrating one year of challenges! Yeah them!! Plus thank you to the wonderful design team for keeping me inspired! This was their post:

I decided to use their 13th sketch which looks like:  

                                     

The three squares reminded me a bit of my friend Linda's card that she did with one of my all time favorite Fall sets "French Foliage"! Check it out, so beautiful!! So anyway I couldn't stop thinking about her main elements so I combined the sketch with her basic theme and here is what I came up with:

I used the French Foliage as well for my main images and the sentiment is from Full of Blessings (so perfect for the card!) and of course I added my Howlstooth and Scaringbone DP with a handful of Pearls thrown in for good measure! Course you will have to excuse my rather large shadow! I didn't realize until now that I was that close!! Anyway I love the effect of the warm Fall colors! Have a great night!

Karin

PPA 141

Hi All,
I wanted to share a card I made today for the Pals Paper Arts Sketch challenge. Here is their great sketch:

And here is what I came up with:

I used another of the wonderful wreaths that I colored on the plane ride to be my center panel. I just love using the Howlstooth and Scaringbone paper for my Thanksgiving cards! I decided that I wanted to pair the H & S DP with some scraps I had saved from the Frostwood Lodge DP. The tree print works perfectly! The base of my card is Very Vanilla with a piece of Chocolate Chip layered on top that was run through the Big Shot with my Lattice Folder. Love all the warmth this card has! Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

Alaskan Mojo!!

Hi All!
I am super excited to be back to my craft room and share my inspiration! You see for the past week I was on an Alaskan Cruise!! I had saved and posted a few cards that I had made prior to the cruise so I hope you enjoyed them all! I had brought a few things to color and cut while I was on the plane and at the hotel, which was fortunate as I was traveling for an almost complete day on either end! Yuck! Before I share my card of the day let me show you one of the wonderful "views" that I had!

That's a shot of the Tracy Arm Fjord. A Fjord is carved out by a glacier. See those pieces of ice floating? 90% of those are under water and I just can't say enough that this picture just doesn't do it justice! So breath taking!
So onto today! I had brought along the wreath from the new stamp set "Full of Blessings"and some markers and my blender pens. Now I needed to use these gorgeous wreaths!! I had gone on over to Mojo Monday and here was their great sketch of the week:

And here is what I came up with:

I rotated the design so that I could get the feel I wanted. I love all the new products from the mini on this card!! The "Full of Blessings" stamp set is so nice when embossed! I used the Early Espresso powder (love that color!) and colored with my Blender pens. I used the Wood Grain folder layering it with a piece of Early Espresso paper and Victorian ribbon. I also used the Howlstooth and Scaringbone DP. So versatile!! This card was so much fun to make! Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

With Sympathy

Hi All,
I wanted to share a card I made for a dear co-worker who unfortunately just recently lost her mother this Summer. As I have stated before Sympathy cards are the most difficult for me to come up with. I was fortunate that the Stampin Queen's came up with another great sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

I used my Thoughts and Prayers set for the sentiment and En Francais for my background. I pulled out the last sheet of my Mellow Moss and layered it with some Close to Cocoa DP. I like the soft look of the card and hope it conveys the right message.

Thanks for stopping by.

Karin

Shadow Box

Hi All, 
I wanted to share my third card that I will be presenting at next week's stamp club. I had been seeing a number of "shadow boxes" on the web and wanted to try my hand at it. Check it out:

Here is a close up:

Using the Simply Scored made this a snap! I am in love with these cards! Here is what I used:

Stamps:           Just Believe

Cardstock:        Naturals White – 4 ¼ x 5 ½

                            Wisteria Wonder – 4 ¼ x 5 ½

                            First Edition – 1 x 5 ½”

Ink:                  Elegant Eggplant

                       

Embellishments: Simply Scored, 2 ½ circle punch, Modern Label punch, 3/18 naturals brads, Silver Foil Smooch Spray and sticky back pearls

Techniques: Score both ends of the cardstock at 4 ½ and 5”,

Stamp the Just  Believe in Elegant Eggplant and then spray with Silver Foil Smooch spray. Punch the circle out of the Wisteria Wonder in the center of the score lines. Adhere the two piece

of cardstock together with sticky Strip. Stamp off the leaves on the the DP and adhere to the front of the card placing the brad in the center. 

Don't forget that next weekend is "tax free" in good ole' taxachusetts! remember you can shop online anytime from my website to take advantage of all the good deals going on right now!

Have a great day!!

Karin

Freshly Made Sketches

Hi All,
I had planned on sharing another card today but unexpectedly needed a sympathy card for a co-worker. As usual these are the toughest for me to plan out so I had gone on over to Freshly Made Sketches for some inspiration and was not disappointed. This is the sketch of the week:

And here is what I came up with:

I used Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy and Naturals White for my cardstock, Not Quite Navy and Crumb Cake for my ink and Just Believe and Thoughts and Prayers for my stamp sets. I hope you can see the "ghosting" technique that I did with the main image. You stamp with your darker color first, then use your Stamp-a-ma-jig and align it slightly to the left to give it a shadow with a lighter color. Finally I used the Color Spritzer Tool to add some Crumb Cake "dots" to the image. Feel free to email with any questions. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Karin