A real CRAFTY card!

Gosh this card was so fun to create!

It truly is a work of art. This is another card from Jenn Shurkus 2024 Creative Art Retreat. In our kit we received the stamped images and sentiments as well as our Distress watercolor paper. These were from a Honey Bee set called Crafty, we received in our kit the dies from a set called Lovely Layers: Paint and Palette to create our artist palette.

I did a lot of the fun bits for this card last year and as I recall we ink blended on the Distress card stock with our Distress ink pads and blending brushes and then we added more layers on top with the corresponding or a darker Distress watercolor pencil. We added the layer on top by wetting the pencil in our water pot letting it get soupy and then scribbling a line on a cello bag which we made into a U and smooshed down on top of the "matching" colour below. Dry with heat gun and repeat with next colour. It really made a fun background with so much interest. We also watercoloured in the palette and the "paint spots" using the Distress watercolor pencils. Then added a double layer of Glossy accents.

I'm going to have another go at recreating this card but will use the wee artist mouse we received in our 

kit from CCC as I couldn't justify buying a stamp set and die with paint brushes and paint tubes but I definitely want to practice creating the background like this plus make another palette!

Thanks for popping in (3 cards to go now I think from this kit)...

✿Karen✿

My first Tic Tac Toe board

It's my turn to design the board for Tic Tac Toe Challenges and my prompt for this week was to use Fall on the board and then the rest was up to me. Now living in the Southern Hemisphere I always struggle with Fall challenges as we don't celebrate the season fall/autumn at all or send cards to celebrate it's arrival, if anything we'd send a sympathy card.

I do love seeing the leaves on the trees change colour but they almost turn brown over night and just fall off and make a mess. So to cut a long story short I added Spring as an option to my square with Fall.

So if you live down under I hope you can play along with me and make a "Spring" card. I've chosen the left hand column to play along with Spring/Embossing/Layers.

I've actually stopped watching Jennifer McGuire videos as she makes me buy stuff and Honey Bees last Spring release was no exception, I bought most of it including the Lovely Layers : Dogwood dies and until now haven't used them, but aren't they gorgeous. I've added a Sweet Birdie (SP) in Spring-like colours (to be honest I just grabbed scraps that I liked the colour of and Spring-like). I've used Glacier card stock for my background to make the diecuts have a contrast behind, as it adds a hint of blue.

Supply List:

Stamps: Tweet Sentiments (SP)

Ink: Warm Buff (PFS)

Paper: Glacier (SP), Persimmon (SP), Rainforest (SP), Lemongrass (C9), Honeysuckle (C9), Pink Lemonade (C9), Harbor (C9), Soft Suede (SU!), white and black scraps, Neenah Solar White #110

Dies: Lovely Layers: Dogwood (HB), Sweet Birdie (SP), Stitched Banner stacklets (TE)

Other: Cloudy Day EF (SU!), foam squares (SP)
Challenges: TTTC#256

Well I hope you can join in with my very first Tic Tac Toe board; when I was creating it I tried to imagine me making a card using any line and I had ideas for all but I had to make a SPRING card to justify buying something after watching Jennifer McGuire creating with the new release at that time.

Thanks for popping in.

✿Karen✿

I'm going to the Beach with TTTC

We have a fun challenge board at Tic Tac Toe Challenges this week, so many possibilities but I chose to go with  the bottom line of Beach, Dies and Blue.

I've used the fab die Flip Flop Builder (HB) to create my flip flops which we call jandals in New Zealand. Some patterned paper and viola all done and its so fun and cheerful, just what I need to dream about as its the middle of Winter down under.

I'm also going to play along with Simon Says Stamps Monday challenge wanting a little bit of sparkle or shine.

Supply List:

Stamps: Flippin' Fabulous (HB)

Ink: Sand Dune (Versafine)

Paper: Wheat (C9), Sand, Surf & Sky DSP (MFT), Essential Glitter cardstock : Color Sampler (PFS), Neenah Solar White

Dies: Flip Flop Builder (HB), Master Layout 2 (GKD), Stitched Hillside borders (LF)

Other: 2mm foam squares (SP)
Challenges: TTTC #254, SSSM

✿Karen✿

Life is Better at the Beach

This was another fab class where we watercoloured stamped images and die cut pieces to make a sandcastle using our Distress Inks. The sand castle bits were die cut out of Distress Watercolor paper.

I've never done anything like this before and it certainly was an eye opener as to how fun, fab and fast it all was to put together. The Sand Castle Builder dies are from Honey Bee Stamps. I think they maybe from a year ago as I bought a pair of flip flop dies at that time and the stamped images come from a set Flippin' Fabulous and are sized to work perfectly with the sand castle. We received in our kit the sand castle dies plus the stamped and die-cut sentiments and shells. Glitter has been added with Matte Collage medium from Ranger and then Distress Rock Candy sprinkled on and left to dry for an hour or so. 

We've used Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso ink I'm going to have a go with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. I also forgot to add a piece of textured cardstock behind the door but I actually think it looks rather cool looking at my ink blended ocean.

✿ Karen ✿

I was challenged by this colour palette

I really like the colours in this weeks Just Add Ink colour challenge but I was totally stumped on how I could use them in a card. It's been great seeing all the inspiration from the DT and some of the entrants and have pinned some cool ideas for future but it still wasn't helping ME to create a card with the colours.

To be honest I nearly gave up but pleased I thought let's have a go with one of my new stencils I bought from the Spring release for Honey Bee Stamps a few months ago. It's a very cool 6" x 6" stencil set which is totally clear so it is very easy to line up. In the set there are 4 stencils large flowers, small flowers, stems and leaves. I added a darker green to the mix so the stems looked different. A simple banner die from an old set and viola a bright, cheery card which has not a lot of white space and NO PINK to be seen!!

One of the great things I like about doing challenges apart from being challenged is I try and make sure I use something new I bought to (a) work out how it works and (b) to justify why I had to buy it, so I'll also enter my card at the Never-Before Used-Stauf challenge.

Supply List:

Stamps: Oh Hey (banner die and sentiment - C9)

Ink: Parakeet Party (SU!), Granny Apple Green (SU!), Tahitian Tide (SU!), Sunshine (PFS), Versamark

Paper: Tahitian Tide, Neenah Solar White 110#, Lavinia Multifarious

Other: Folk Art Daisy stencils (HB), Blending Brushes (TE), A2 Layer dies (WF), white EP

Challenges: JAI #654, NBUS #50

Thanks for popping in.

EDITED 1/6/23: Absolutely surprised and delighted that I was chosen by the JAI team. You all made my day for your lovely kind words.

"Fabulous stenciling and a simple Sentiment banner to keep the focus on the background"

"Wow - the colours and stencil are the perfect match"

"Love her background- it’s perfect!"

✿ Karen ✿

Take 2 with the ink drops paper

I had a left over card base and my first embossed word (which hadn't stamped that fab as "new") and thought I would make another card using the Craft Consortium Ink Drops paper; this time using "Ocean".

These papers are a dreamy paint pour with gold. I like the green with a hint of blue as it is much more dramatic. My first card I made for a colour throwdown to use dusky pinks so had to use my "Rose" paper and you can see the blog post HERE which has a lot more information.

But really happy with both cards and even this one made with the left over scraps/rejects is much better than horrible!!

And the 2 cards together:

This is a really cool card design of Jennifer McGuire's and could be modified for all sorts of DSP and ephemera to whip up cards easily. I'm not sure which Ink Drops DSP Jennifer used but she has a lot more colours in her papers so I'm wondering if it is "Vivid" but they are sensational papers in real life, so keep your eyes peeled at your local craft stores for any of the range.

✿ Karen ✿

She did it again....

I was Jen-enabled by Jennifer McGuire to buy some of the new Honey Bee spring release after seeing one of her fabulous videos, if you want to see the cards she created you can check out her blog post HERE.

The Color Throwdown have the most dreamy colours as their challenge this week but I don't really own any dull or dusky pink inks which is why I had a lightbulb moment going I have some Rose Ink Drops DSP in my stash and then I can use those goodies that Jen "made me buy".

I have used a different DSP and embossing folder from her card but I do love the clean lines of this card and it should brighten up a friend's letterbox as winter is approaching real fast in NZ.

Supply List:

Stamps: Big Time Kindness (HB)

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Rose Ink Drops (Craft Consortium), Neenah White #110, Gold Opulent (Sizzix)

Dies: Big Time Kindness (HB), Lovely Layers : Springtime Greenery (HB)
Other: Orange Peel Quilt EF (SP), 1mm stamping foam squares (SP), WOW metallic rich pale gold EP

Challenges: CTD #740

For Kiwis and maybe Aussies this is a new paper to me and the mirror gold is a shiny bright gold and only recently discovered by moi. It's normal price in NZ is approx. $40 at Spotlight but I picked it up  for $28 when it was on special; along with the Ivory and you get 50 sheets/10 of each. This is phenomenal value and it die cuts really easily.

Talking about opulent there are some real dreamy and opulent cards the DT team have created as inspiration and there is still a few days to join in with this challenge.

✿ Karen ✿

Always on my Mind

This was the name of the Honey Bees stamp set and matching 4-piece stencil set we received for our mini class. I have to be honest this was a stamp set that didn't excite me a lot when I saw it. It seemed fussy and a bit old-fashioned to me. But had some lovely sentiments and fonts. Until I watched the class video I didn't realise what we received with the stamp set was a 4-piece stencil for colouring the square floral border stamp either

The stencil is really sturdy and not flimsy so I was really impressed with that. We had 3 cards to make but card 1 and 3 were essentially the same just with different colours and sentiments so I made card 3 as happy "spring-like colours".

Supply List:
Stamps and stencil: Always on my Mind (HB)
Distress inks: Saltwater Taffy, Salvaged Patina. Twisted Citron (I added this colour to the mix to brighten it all up), Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn

Other: Versamark, Gilded EP (BM), gold gems (HB), mini blending brushes (PFS)

The second card was a bright green and red combo which our teacher Kelley Kohout thought would be a great Christmas card also.

We were supposed to stamp the top of our front panel with our embossing ink and then gold emboss, heat set and then repeat down the bottom with second half. I probably shouldn't have been doing this so late at night as I got the first part right and the second part not exactly lined up, but "it wasn't horrible" so kept on making it. Again I managed to colour through the stencil for the top half OK but the bottom didn't line up and I knew I wasn't seeing well with my light sources but was too late by now. Then to make it even worse my sentiment had a faulty F, I thought it was me the first time and turned it over and tried again with the same result then looked at the stamp and could see it was the problem not me. 

So that's a lesson I have learned the hard way. I have reached out to SCT and they have got back to me already whether they have a spare set somewhere but not holding my breath as 5 months later.

EDITED: OMG what fabulous customer service within an hour my email got sent up to Catherine who has already replied to say a replacement will be sent next week. I think if you haven't done an event with Scrapbook and Cards Today shout yourself one for your birthday, warning they are addictive ;)

Distress inks used : Festive Berries (this is also what has been smooshed on the sentiment strip to colour it up), Candied Apple, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness.

In hindsight after using what I received; I think I was too hasty in not liking the stamp set it's actually very effective and with the right colours stenciled cards always have a bit of WOW - like how did they colour up so well.

#cropandcreatedelivered #SCTbigboxevent

✿ Karen ✿