Happy Easter Everyone!

Morning All and Happy Easter!!
I thought I would share the Easter cards that I made for my step children. I used some of my Diez to make the basic shapes and had some fun decorating them. Check them out:

 

I used my Oval Die to make the eggs and Top Note Die to make the bunny. I used some of left over DP as they made perfect stripes. Simple and fun! Hope you have a great holiday!

Karin

Another Freshly Made Challenge

Evening All,
After a very LONG week I decided that I should spend a little time crafting to decompress. So I went on over to Freshly Made Sketches and they another fabulous sketch:

I needed a few "Thank You" cards so here is what I came up with:

 

 

I found a few pieces of Baja Breeze that I had "squirreled" away, which went well with the Comfort Café DP. I used one of my all time favorite retired sentiment sets, "Short and Sweet". A little seam binding and I was done. I definitely feel a bit better!

Have a great night!
Karin



Freshly Made Thanksgiving

Evening All,
I wanted to share the Thanksgiving card that I made for my sister. I used the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches :

Here is what I came up with:

 

 

I used River Rock as my base, Spice cake DP and the Labels Framelits for the shape around my sentiment. I stamped off the leaves from Fall Foliage. A little Pool Party Seam binding and I was done. Hope she likes it!

Karin 



freshly made comfort cafe

Evening All,
I wanted to share a card I made for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week. Here is their challenge sketch:

 

And here is my take on it:

 

I used the soon to retire Comfort Cafe DP on a Soft Suede and Midnight Muse base, added a greeting from the Curly Cute set and heat embossed it in Pool Party (So LOVE that that color is staying!!). A little seam binding and I was done! Love how the blues "pop" on the suede. Hope you all like it!
Have a great night!
Karin

SAS Get Well

Hi All,
I wanted to share the second card that we will be doing at my next Stamp a Stack. It is a Get Well card that uses the beautiful set "Thoughts and Prayers". I combined it with the retired DP "Presto Paper" and sponged that with Baja Breeze. Check it out:

I used the Lattice Folder on the cardfront as I loved the look when the grid on the Presto Paper was revealed with the ink. A piece of Baja Breeze Seam Binding and I was done. Don't you love the "pop" of black with the light blue??!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin 

Merry Sunday!

Morning All, 

Up early this morning so I thought I would share another card I am going to have my stampers make for my upcoming stamp a stack. 

I have been on another vintage kick and knew that I wanted to use more of my Deck the Halls DP. I combined the DP with the sleigh from my Open Sleigh set and heat embossed it in pewter. Absolutely love the effect! Added some sponging and Crumb Cake Seam binding and I am good to go! Email with any questions or if your interested in your own stamp a stack! 

Karin

Go Pats!

Perfectly Preseved

Hi All,
I wanted to share a card that I will be making at a "Perfectly Preserved" class I will be offering this Fall. I absolutely LOVE this set and can't wait to show all the different things that can be done with this and the coordinating Cannery Framelits!!

I have seen a few variations of the 3-D jar but I thought I would try it with one of the pears under the vellum peeking through the mason jar. Of course I used my Wood Grain embossing folder for texture and loved this particular piece of the Floral District DP for the mason cover. Top it off with some seam binding and a "Bitty Banner" and its perfect to go with a hand made gift! Love the Fall feel! 

I also wanted to share with you that the "Spooktacular" promotion is extended through September 16th!! Join Stampin Up between now and then and receive $125 worth of product for $99 AND this awesome Halloween project valued up to $60!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

Back to Basics

Hi All,
I wanted to share a quick little card I made for my technique's class that I will be holding on the second Friday of every month. This month I am going to offer some basic technique's that have a card completed in under ten minutes. Here is one of my cards:

I used a Very Vanilla base, added a layer of Soft Suede that I ran through the Vintage Wallpaper Folder and used some of the beautiful Comfort Cafe DP for color. The sentiment is from my Full of Blessings set and I topped it off with a piece of Pool Party seam binding and linen thread. The colors and textures makes it a very "rich" but simple card.
Have a great day!
Karin

Merry Monday...on a Friday

Hi all,
I didn't have a chance to post this card this morning as, what a surprise, I was running late to work thanks to ponies causing havoc to my schedule! Anyway I had gone on over to Always Playing with Paper for their
Merry Monday challenge and they are taking a well deserved vacation this July. However, they challenged us to use a past sketch to enter the contest:

So I had gone through their very cool sketch list (click here) and really liked this sketch:

I really liked the clean and simple layout. Here is what I came up with:

I wanted to have a few options to chose from at my next stamp club by the class sign up list and thought this fit in very well. I just love Dasher and always reach for him when setting up for at least one of my stamp a stack cards!! Well hope its a hit! Would love your comments! Thanks for stopping by!!

Karin

Sneak Peek!!

Hi All,
I received my sneak peek products this week and I spent a few minutes tonight playing with them. I wanted to use my few minutes "wisely" so I figured I would plan for June's stamp club. As I sat down I was wondering about my layout, but my "stampers block" was quickly put aside as I had gone on over to Pals Paper Arts and they had a fantastic sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

The bird and flowers are part of a soon to be released set called "Betsy's Blooms" and the DP is "Floral District", which I am a huge fan of already! I combined the new DP with a set from the Occasion's Mini catty that is being carried over, Loving Thoughts! Such a beautiful set. I stamped off the bird twice after coloring with Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry markers. Can't wait to share more from the upcoming catty!
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

Think Spring and recovery!!

Hi All,
Finally feeling somewhat "normal" again and am off to work, although on crutches, but still moving forward!! Another friend offered to try a workshop in a box and wanted to focus on the stamp set "Herb Expressions". Love that set and yet I have not played nearly enough with it so I was very excited for the opportunity!! I had also been perusing some new challenges (to me) and came across SU only challenges and loved this weeks theme

SUO Challenge #41 – Think Spring (or Autumn?)

The Autumn is for the Aussie visitors!
So anyway here is what I came up with:

I loved the combination of Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip with the added softness of the Victorian lace that lets the Baja Breeze Seam binding "peek" through. I am looking forward to starting my garden and will be adding some of these beautiful herbs so thought this worked perfectly for the SU only challenge! 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



Stampin Queens Challenge

Hi All,
Finally got a chance to do a little crafting for myself. Yesterday was a crafting mini marathon! Today has been a paperwork marathon, definitely not as much fun!! I promised myself I could complete a challenge before moving onto more paperwork! So I went on over to the Stamping Queens challenge. Here is their sketch for the week:

And here is what I came up with:

Here is what I used:
Paper: Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DP
Ink: Early Espresso and Crumb Cake
Stamp Set: Fresh Vintage Stamp Set
Other: Big Shot, Vintage Wall Paper Embossing Folder and Pool Party Seam Binding.

I am such serious trouble when the Everyday Enchantment paper retires!!! I love it!
Thanks for stopping by!
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

Try Stamping on Tuesday #50

Evening All,
Had a few extra minutes today thanks to the great weather making my barn chores easy, so of course I chose to do a challenge card! I went on over to Try Stamping on Tuesday and Jenn had a great sketch (as usual!):

Here is my take on the sketch:

I am starting to like the balance of Soft Suede with brighter colors. I also think it lends itself to use for vintage products. This is what I used:
Stamps: Short and Sweet
Paper: Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory, Pool Party, and Everyday Elegance
Ink: Soft Suede
Embellishments: Everyday Elegance Brads, Big Shot, Tulip Embossing Folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die and Pool Party Seam Binding

Hope your having a great week!
Karin



Fm #41

Hi All,
Slow morning over here! Fun, late night with my stamp club!! Its always a lot of fun, but the discussions last night were somewhat concerned. You see the neighborhood is full of us "animal people" meaning we are "softies" for anything with four legs. So the uproar is that a poor black and white kitty has been around the street all week, going from house to house being fed and hiding in garage's for shelter. He/she is very skittish but stayed on my deck eating some cat food I left for it as we all sat in the kitchen and crafted. I ended up talking my significant other into borrowing a have a heart trap so we can catch it to bring to a local vet to be scanned. I really hope it has a chip!! Fingers crossed!

Well onto the card of the day. I went on over to The Friday Mash Up. Here is this weeks challenge:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a "Thank You" themed Project.
2. Or Make a project "Using Designer/Patterned Paper".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Thank You project with Designer/Patterned Paper".

I chose to "Mash it up". Here is what I came up with:

I hope you can see the gold embossing!! I used soft suede for my base and embossed the Sunflower stamp as background (totally love!!) and then made my band from a layer of pool party and Spice Cake DP (sadly retired). I then used my Kindness Matter stamp set and gold embossed the butterflies, cutting out each one, gold embossed the "Thanks" and layered on pool party seam binding. That is the "it" color for me!!
Have a great day and GO PATS!!!
Karin

ps edited to add a second picture of the card. I think it may be a better shot:

FMS17 & PPA126

 

Evening All,

Well dinner is cooking I thought I would run into my craft room to complete a challenge card. I had gone over to the Pals Paper Arts color challenge earlier in the week and loved the colors:

  

I knew these were the colors that I definitely wanted to use! Next I needed a sketch, so I of course went on over to Freshly Made Sketches  and they did not disappoint! Here is their great sketch:

I combined the two great challenges and here is what I came up with:

I really loved how it came out. I almost added a sentiment but after playing around with it, I thought it looked better as it was. I did a really cool technique on it called "ghosting". It gives the image an almost 3D look. You stamp in a light color (i.e. Baja Breeze), then use your Stamp-a-ma-jig to align the image slightly to the left and stamp again in a darker color (i.e. Not Quite Navy. Not sure if you can tell from the picture but I watermarked the panel in the center with the leaf image. My recipe is as follows:
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Versamark
Stamp Set: Just Believe (I really need to use that more!!)
Ribbon: Baja Breeze Seam Binding.

Hope you are having a great week!
Karin