Monday, January 28, 2013

The Paper Players Challenge #130

The Paper Players is hosting a sketch challenge this week, so I have a sneak peek of some new Spring Close To My Heart product that will be available on Feb 1st.  I kept it fairly masculine feeling:
 
Patterned papers are Buzz & Bumble; Cardstock is Cocoa & Colonial White; Cocoa grosgrain ribbon; Pewter brads; Sentiment is Scrapbook Sentiments - Poets; Inks are Cocoa & Creme Brulee; all Close To My Heart; Spellbinders label die.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Seize The Birthday #3

It's a feminine week at Seize the Birthday, with a lovely sketch that lends itself beautifully to patterned papers (just how I like it!):
Patterned papers are Traditions by Carta Bella; Cardstock is Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp set is Beautiful You, Verve; American Crafts ribbon; Spellbinders and Cuttlebug dies; Inks are Black and Creme Brulee.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Dynamic Duos #37

We have a lovely neutral colour combo for you this week at Dynamic Duos: the colours are Soft Suede & Crumb Cake.  I decided to do a sympathy card with a bit of tone on tone sponging on a 5 1/2" square card:
The design team has (as always!) some fabulous inspiration for you over at the Dynamic Duos blog, or you can see them listed on my sidebar.  We would love to have you join us this week by linking up your creation.  If you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar (I've used Close To My Heart's Cashmere & Champagne).

Cardstock is Cashmere, Champagne & Black; Inks are Cashmere, Champagne & Black; Stamp sets are Treasure Life, CTMH and Blessings, Verve;
 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Merry Monday!

I am very pleased to be playing along with this week's Merry Monday challenge!  Lesley asked us to do a Christmas card with birds on it... so as you can see, I've CASE'd Allisa's card from the design team this week, as the Pear & Partridge papers are perfect.  I'm using the Sweet Sunday Sketch by Vicki Burdick as my layout:

Patterned papers are Pear & Partridge; Cardstock is Cocoa, Cranberry & Cashmere; Stamp set is Merry & Bright; Inks are Cocoa, Champagne - all CTMH.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Seize the Birthday #2

It is masculine birthday card week at Seize the Birthday... so I've used my October Key Ingredients kit, which is perfect for guy cards:
Patterned papers are Harvest Lane, by Simple Stories; Papers, frame and burlap all Key Ingredients; Buttons, CTMH; Stamp set is Nursery Bash, CTMH; Copic Markers.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Inspired By #58

I have a sneak peak for you today!  If you haven't yet seen the new Close To My Heart Spring/Summer 2013 catalogue... here is a wonderful new stamp set called Focus on a Friend.  A few months ago I got these wonderful little "spectacles" dies from Taylored Expressions, and it wasn't until after I'd ordered a couple of these fun eye chart stamps that I realized how perfect they'd be together.  I've used Laurel's pretty inspirational photo at Inspired By as my colour/pattern inspiration:
The inside sentiment is: "and loves you just the same."
Patterned papers are Pebbles Fresh Goods; Cardstock, paper and ribbons all Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions; Stamp set is Card Chatter - Focus on a Friend, CTMH; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Die is Taylored Expressions.  Clear button and Crystal Blue Waxy Flax, CTMH.

Dynamic Duos #36

This week our colours are Basic Black & Real Red at Dynamic Duos... with a dessert option of a Valentine theme!  I have a real thing for coffee themed cards (I have an entire Pinterest board called Coffee Cards - you can check it out here!)...  so I pulled out my Better With You set from Verve to make 3 little coffee themed valentines.  They're just 4" square, so they fit nicely into a standard envelope:
Be sure to check out the Dynamic Duos blog to see what the other designers have to show you!  You can see their blogs listed on my sidebar.  We would love to have you play along with us, you'll find all the details on the blog.

Patterned paper is A Very Merry Christmas, Echo Park & Dakota, CTMH; Inks are Black, Cranberry and Whisper, CTMH; Cardstock is Black, Slate and White Daisy, CTMH; Copic Markers; Stamp sets are Better With You & Notebook Plain Jane, Verve; Dies are Verve & Spellbinders.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Blue Valentine?

There are a few males in my life who I will be giving valentines to in a few weeks... so in an effort to make something a little more manly, I decided to use this week's colours from The Paper Players challenge #128.  It was all going rather well, until I decided to use some shiny Sassy Strands as a ribbon, and then added three little blue gems to the heart!  Oh well, it may not be the manliest card out there... but it is a valentine after all?  I used Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday sketch #87 quite literally.  The funny thing is that everything on this card (inks/papers/doo-dads) are all retired... always feels good to use up some old stuff:
Patterned papers are Dotty For You; Cardstock is Dutch Blue & Grey Flannel; Ink is Dutch Blue; Stamp set is Card Word Puzzle; Summer Celebrations Sassy Strands & Mini Medley - all CTMH.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Deconstructed Sketch #84

I have a little bit of a Parisian theme happening for this week's Deconstructed Sketch...  I used La Belle Vie workshop on the go stamp set & papers and the Jardin stamp set to put it all together:
 Patterned papers are La Belle Vie; Cardstock is Bamboo, Colonial White & La Belle Vie Mauve; Stamp sets are La Belle Vie WOTG & Jardin; Ink is Black, Bamboo & Desert Sand; Rosette ribbon; Cricut Artiste cartridge - all Close To My Heart; Notebook Plain Jane stamp & Rectangular die, Verve; Tilda Swirl die, Poppy Stamps.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Freshly Made Sketches #68

A fairly quick card today for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I made use of several of the stickers that come with the Basic Grey Marjolaine papers:
Patterned papers & stickers are Marjolaine, Basic Grey; Stamp sets are Words of Wisdom, Verve & Card Word Puzzle, CTMH; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Button brads, CTMH.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Dynamic Duos #35

This week's Dynamic Duo colour combo just said "floral" to me... and I've had this new background die from Taylored Expressions for a few weeks that I thought would make a lovely trellis for a floral type card.  It didn't take long for it all to come together: the leaves and rolled flowers are all cut with my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge, and the tag and background were done with my Cuttlebug.  To give the flowers a little extra dimension, I sponged tone on tone ink on all the petal edges, and faded Creme Brulee ink at the top of the tag, down to Sweet Leaf at the bottom.  It doesn't show up too well in the photo, but I sponged Creme Brulee ink around the edges of the Creme Brulee background panel to give it a little extra depth as well, then covered it with the white trellis.
Here is our amazing colour combo of Certainly Celery & So Saffron:
If you don't have the exact colours, feel free to use something similar, but we ask that you only use the two colours shown (the addition of neutrals like kraft, and skintones is fine).  All the details are shown on the Dynamic Duos blog, where you'll also see the amazing inspiration by our fabulous designers!  Their blogs are also listed on my sidebar.

Cardstock is Creme Brulee, Sweat Leaf, Kraft & White Daisy; Inks are Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf & Desert Sand; Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge; Natural Hemp - all CTMH; Quatre foil die, Taylored Expressions; Sweet Scallop Tag die & stamp, Verve; Sentiment is Bloom & Grow, Verve.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Seize The Birthday Challenge #1

Here is a fun challenge if you're looking for something new... Seize the Birthday is a sketch challenge, that uses the same sketch for 2wks, the first week you're to do a feminine birthday card, and the second week a masculine one.  I love the concept, so hope to play regularly!  The inaugural week is a feminine one, so here's what I came up with:
Here was our sketch:

Patterned papers are Doodle Deux, Prima; Stamp is You're So Sweet Plain Jane, Verve; Vintage oval die & frame stamp, Verve; Key Ingredients kit; Copic Markers

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Deconstructed Sketch #83

I really love this card!  Not only are the October Afternoon Woodland Park papers some of my favourites, but I love this little ballerina!  Back in November, a girlfriend & I took intermediate & advanced Copic lessons from Suzanne Dean - and they were amazing!  This is one of the stamped images that we coloured in the class, so I am very happy to be using her on a card.  I used the lovely Deconstructed Sketch for this week:

Patterned papers are Woodland Park, October Afternoon; Cardstock is Pacifica & Smoothie, CTMH; Oval & Scalloped oval dies, Spellbinders; Large scallop die, Taylored Expressions; Verve sentiment; Copic markers.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Dynamic Duos #34

We have a bright & spunky colour combo for you this week at Dynamic Duos!  Oh, what a welcome change from Christmas colours... I've used Close To My Heart's Pacifica and our retired Watermelon of which I still have a couple of sheets kicking around.  And does anyone remember Sassy Strands?  Well I had an entire package of Summer Celebration Sassy Strands that I had NEVER cut into!  I think they were retired about 5 years ago - pretty funny to be finally using them.  Here's what I came up with:
 
We would love to have you play along this week - we ask that you use just the two colours provided, but neutrals like black, grey, skin tones etc. are welcome.  For all the details and a peek at what the other Dynamos have to show you, check out the Dynamic Duos blog, or you can see their blogs listed on my sidebar.

Patterned paper is Dotty For You; Cardstock is Pacifica, Watermelon, Black & White Daisy; Inks are Grey Flannel & Black; Stamp set is Art Philosophy; Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge; Bitty Sparkles; Watermelon Sassy Strands - all CTMH.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Inspired By #55

When I sat down to make a card based on this week's Inspired By photo... I thought it would be a little more 'artsy' and a little less 'howdy partner' than it turned out!  But I'm not sorry to have another guy birthday card in my stash (might be my only one?)  Here's what it ended up like:
Here is Laurel's photo:

Patterned papers are Sasparilla; Cardstock is Black, Colonial White & Twilight; Ink is Twilight; Stamp set is Happy Birthday - all CTMH; Verve & Taylored Expressions dies; Art Philosophy Cartridge, CTMH.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Karen's Top Twelve for 2012

First, I'd like to thank all of you who stop by regularly or just occassionally to have a look at my blog.  Your comments and encouragement mean the world to me, and are much appreciated.  Best Wishes to all of you for a healthy, happy & crafty New Year.

I've had fun putting a top twelve favourite card list together, since it's made me look at every single card that I posted in 2012!  Some months there are 3 or 4 cards I'd pick as a favourite, (February was by far the hardest month to choose) and others just one...  Here's what I've chosen:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 
Sorry for the awful December photo - that was during our computer repair when I was using a cell phone!  I hope that I can continue to make & post cards throughout the year ahead and do another Top Ten list for 2013.  Have a great day!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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