More thank you cards

I'm really pleased that one of the classes I participated in the weekend the stencil and dies we received were perfect for making more thank you cards. This was probably my favourite class from the event though there is another one that is probably cuter but it's extremely time consuming so Taylored Expressions for the win. Looking at the class albums after the event this class album has twice the number of cards so it was a real winner with the other 3100 people taking part with me worldwide.

Our stencil set we received actually creates 4 card fronts. There are 5 stencils in the set which provides depth and detail and it was all so easy to line up as your stencil is the same size as the card stock and there are little alignment squares on the side which you colour in but trim off at the end.

I didn't take a picture of my stenciling before cutting into 4 card fronts but have "borrowed" one from the album, stenciled by Kristin G beautifully.

If this wasn't enough wow, this is truly where the magic begins and we do all sorts of magical things to the background.

For the card below I have stamped a script stamp on the panel with a white pigment ink . The script really shows up on the inked wings and we have splattered a bit of "blue gold" Gansai Tambi paint as well. Then using 2 rectangle dies cut out a middle panel and then popped up the middle panel with foam tape.

The card below was really fun as we sprayed our backgrounds lightly with Pixie spray and then used a piece of gold foil to stick tiny flecks of gold all over the background. It is really obvious in the 2nd photo below and looks amazing in real life.

Next card is so effective, again the script stamp is stamped on a piece of Kraft card and then we used the die we received with our stencil set and cut out the flower bunch and the wee butterfly from the stenciled panel. Few sparkly gold glitter gems and popped up on foam and all done.

Last card for the moment (until I start playing with different colour combos); we also received with the dies for the set two that cut out the big humming birds. After die cutting them out we then embossed our background panel and added a bit more blue gold paint. The panel was stuck down to the card base and then off set the birds so the dark background could provide a shadow behind the images. The birds are popped up on dimensional foam as well.

This was such an amazing class and stencil set, I would definitely mark it on my wish list when released fully by Taylored Expressions: Create in Quads: Flit & Flutter Layering stencils and dies. And all together:

Taylor was very generous she also provided us with the card stock to make our A2 top folding cards plus four pale blue envelopes, as well as well as a pile of other goodies plus an amazing storage folder which we surely did need as this is such a BIG stencil!

Items I used that were not part of the official class kit as we had to provide "our own": Positive Script Bold Print stamp (HA) and Organic Linen 3D embossing folder (ALT). The glitter drops are all Pinkfresh Studios as are the various sentiments and thanks die apart from the thanks die on the 2 hummingbirds cards is a really old many thanks die (EBE) and I chopped off the many and offset it on some Bermuda Bay (SU!). The sentiment strips Taylor provided to use for the class were lovely but I was on a roll making more thank you cards!

Thanks for popping in.

✿Karen✿

AAA Card Challenge 274: The most challenging sketch ever!

I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone handles the latest sketch at AAA Cards as OMG this one had me totally stumped as all I can see is a mass of blobs and not very pretty at all IMO.

I've taken quite a few liberties with interpreting the sketch and have used a leaf stencil with some pretty and spring-like colours as in the Southern Hemisphere it is now "Spring" but when I had created my leaf cluster I thought to myself that looks like it would make a lovely Sympathy card. I've also flipped the sketch on it's side.

I'm also going to play along with The Paper Players as they have a CAS and Back to Nature challenge happening.

Supply List:

Stamps: Sentiment Staples (TE), Falling for You stencil and clear stamp combo (TE)

Ink (all TE): Sweet Basil, Mint Julep, Pink Champagne, Confetti Cake

Paper: Neenah Solar White
Other: Inside-Out Stitched rectangle die (LF), Blue Gold Gansi Tambi paint

Challenges: AAA#274, PP707

Well I'm pleasantly surprised how much I like my card and I feel like my blobs AKA leaves look rather pretty in their Spring-colours.
✿Karen✿

Working on DOING sketch challenges

I've always struggled with sketch challenges so I have challenged myself to do more "sketches" and if you get them working out it actually makes making your card easier. Going down my wee fav challenge sites on the RHS of my blog this morning I didn't get very far and decided that Color Throwdown's lime, blue and brown challenge would pair nicely with Freshly Made Sketches "sketch" plus Just Add Ink has a Choose Two challenge (stitching and sequins : so I hope my diagonal stripes count as stitching, as I really wanted to play with my new Spellbinder's arched dies)

Looking through my background stash  I found some left overs from my Distress Watercolor pencil class with Jenn Shurkus which you can read about HERE.

So I thought that was a great place to start and today I would make a blue coneflower. I also decided to make it a Sympathy Card as I was unfortunately running low on them in the stash.

I also did some splatters with my no. 2 brush from the Vintage Photo and Peacock Feathers pencil. I love lime green it would be one of my most favourite colours and C9's Sprout is a fab base for the teal blue flower to pop on.

Supply List:

Stamps: Sketchbook Florals (TE), Sketchbook Bouquet (TE), Rough Draft Background (TE), Branching Out (Dylusions)

Ink: Pinecone (Versafine), Nutmeg (C9), Versamark

Distress Watercolor pencils (RNG): Peacock Feathers, Salvaged Patina, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Paper: Distress Watercolor (RNG), Nutmeg (C9), Sprout (C9)

Dies: Make a Wish Arch Labels (SP)

Other: White and clear embossing powders, no 2 and 4 round brushes, Sparkling Crystal Mix (SK)

Challenges: CTD #779, FMS #622, JAI #688

Well that wasn't so scary after all so I'll have to try and do some more sketch challenges, instead of going into "the too hard basket".

Thanks for popping in.

EDITED 14/2/24: Well I wasn't Queen of Clean at Freshly Made Sketches but my card caught Amy's eyes, so a nice surprise for V-day for me, nearly as good as chocolate ;)
4. Amys Choice: Karen has created such a pretty sympathy card! I love the muted bright colors for this type of card, and that background is fabulous!

EDITED 15/2/24: Wow it just goes to show the power of combining challenges I have been nominated as the top pick at Just Add Ink for this challenge. 

Lovely comments from the DT too:

Beautiful card with sweet, delicate details.

Such a beautiful coneflower amongst the elegant and soft details.

Beautiful card. Beautifully coloured and lovely design!

Being noticed in two out of three challenges isn't bad in my opinion ;)

✿Karen✿

Bright and Colourful Birthday cards with Taylor

Ohh its that crazy time of the year when all my virtual events happen, this weekend is what I call my big box event with Scrapbook and Cards Today and they call Crop and Create Delivered (Fall 2023).

My friend Sarah and I tried so hard at the Spring event 6 months ago to do it all and it was too stressful. So we thought this time we're going slow and enjoying the process and it's 6 months until the next one if we decide to do it. This event they have also given each teacher a 2-hour teaching slot to teach their 3 cards and an hour break, so a much more relaxed pace so it maybe possible to do them all. 

Unfortunately I can never do first day as it's babysitting day and now my crafting buddy Sarah is actually quite sick so I maybe going very slow.

There are at least 16 classes plus at least 3 mini classes showing new products plus the finale always with Jennifer McGuire which is card after card ideas she creates mixing up all the products we received from the sponsors / companies involved with the event. So expect me to blogging about the event for awhile.

I'm starting off with the Taylored Expressions cards taught by Taylor herself. The TE class is normally one of my highlights but I was aghast when I saw the colour palate she was teaching. I really like the TE inks and have been shouting myself the inkpads she uses each event to extend my range but this time I worked with what I had and tweaked the colours and used bright colours but not TOO BRIGHT.

We received in our kit from TE the Cake Walk 4-piece stencil, matching dies and coordinating stamp set; at the end of the 4-stage stenciling we had 4 images to work with. As 2 of the images were cake stands we had 3 images after our stenciling to make 3 different cards. She also gave everyone one of her fab embossing buddy tools, which I actually already owned and loved.

I'll share the sneak peek we were provided with which made me grimace. I did not like Cookie Monster, Blue Raspberry and Dragonfruit as a combo.

I decided I would swap the 2 blues for 2 pinks; one light and one bright but not in your face dark pink. Plus I thought we still needed a blue so I was trying to work out which blue was the right tone to go with the inks so I ended up going for Tahitian Tide (SU!). 

I'm actually happy with my cards and they're bright and cheery plus colourful too. The card below we used ink to make a base for the cake stand plus cake to sit upon. The sentiment inside the cake layers  is a one piece sentiment which has been white embossed. My cake stand is to the left as I must have had a bit of blue ink on my finger after blending the base. The gem stickers are Honey Bees Love Letter  and they matched the honeysuckle ink and cardstock I have used IMO. I have to say I don't like how this sentiment stamps the exclamation point. I also have a faulty other sentiment in this set which is sort of cut so my whole stamp set may be faulty but I 'll fill in the form once I've tested all 16 sets to get it replaced.

For the card below we have scored a piece of coloured card stock at 1/4" increments to add a bit of interest plus some Blossom glitter drops on the stand (PFS).

Some simple ink-blending and then splattered with white ink/paint. It almost looks like a sky.

The inside had an interesting fold but I added my wee strip of Pink Lemonade card stock to the wrong edge but I had added a wee circle of Pink Lemonade as I didn't have a big enough stitched circle diecut so it all worked out.

Well in the end that was a nice easy introduction to what is to follow from the "big box".

✿ Karen ✿

Buds and Blossoms

This was the name of our Taylored Expressions class taught by Taylor herself. Sarah and myself when we saw the sneak peeks were like ohhh that looks lovely. Last event we got a tri-stencil that made 3 card fronts, this time we got a red rubber background stamp that was the "twigs" and we stenciled on the buds and the blossoms we also got a wee die set to make some buds to adorn our cards.

We loved the colours so much we actually bought the inks to recreate the cards just like Taylor herself, this was the only class being taught that I purchased the class inks for but I just loved the tone of them. So inks used were Mint Julep (mint), Spearmint (sage - Lost Lagoon from SU! was just about identical when we were doing our swatching and it's "coming back"), Pink Champagne (light pink), Raspberry Sorbet (mauve), Mulled Wine (maroon), Sweet Basil (olive green), Guava (coral), Cherry Pop (red) and black inks.

We also received a very versatile stamp set and matching dies called Sentiment Staples. The rumour is these items will be her next release along with sheets of "twigs" you can foil. We used fine detail gold and silver. I must admit I haven't used silver embossing powder for a very long time and it worked really well with these colours. 

Close up of the cards; card one:

This was supposed to say Congratulations but I used HB as I am desperately short of birthday cards at the mo'. Card two and three we gold embossed a half panel of toffee (kraft) and white card stocks as we didn't have time to blend 2 FULL card panels and the technique worked really well. It was also interesting to see how the inks and embossing looked like on the different bases too.

This was our card kit we received: card stock L>R = Pink Champagne, Sweet Basil and Guava to make our wee buds and blossoms die-cuts. We also received the vellum and kraft card in our card stock bundle.

And the sneak peek of Taylor's cards:

I just adore these cards and it is so easy to make a coloured background with the 4-layer stencils.

#cropandcreatedelivered #SCTbigboxevent

✿ Karen ✿

Trying again with my distress watercolor pencils

Hi everyone, I know after doing this class from comments in the live chat that I was not alone in rushing off and buying the tins of distress pencils when they were released. 

I at least had had one play with them and at the time I wasn't really that impressed. You can see that play in this blog post HERE.

The first playtime Jenn Shurkus aka Creative Chick was recreating a card that Scrapbook and Cards Today had published of hers. My card was cute but I felt it would have been easier to use Copics for colouring and create a background with my Distress Oxides.

Now I have done a few of Jenn's online classes and she is a fab teacher so when she advertised she was going to do a full 5 hour class with the pencils I decided the $30USD was probably money well spent (that's probably about $50 kiwi dollars) so $10/hour, so awesome value and I also have a 31 page booklet/teaching resource to look back at, plus I can visit the videos anytime I want. The class is available forever and if you bought one or all three tins and haven't opened them or struggle to work with them I can certainly recommend this class as a great start (& finish). All the details are on Jenn's website HERE. As we know the pencils weren't cheap though not that expensive so it's money well invested so we do use them

Look at this gorgeous riot of colour for the class sneak peek.

I thought I would do the class live in case I had some questions but my 5am start became a 3am wake up - it was like when you're flying somewhere exciting; you awaken hours before the alarm and can't go back to sleep. It has reinforced that I don't get up in middle of night to do a class, the replay is just fine but then again it is a lot of fun sharing the excitement and sharing with the other attendees. I am telling myself this, as I have 2 big virtual events coming up - one is 2 days long, the other 3 and a half days.

We started off with warmup exercises in which I learnt so much about how you actually use them, we had 18 practice things to do.

Then we had a break before we stamped images we had prepped yesterday by embossing Versafine black ink with clear embossing powder or just plain Versafine Clair Nocturne. I was thinking about using my Archival black but Jenn says it is not a true black (it has some blue in it) and to get the Black Soot one but the only way to get that one is to buy the pack of 4 and I'd happily buy the pack of four but no one in NZ seems to sell the reinkers for all 4 shades and I am over buying ink pads if I can't get the re-inker at the same time. 

I've always been happy with Versafine being waterproof but I haven't tried getting it really, really wet.

We also did some background techniques which I must watch again, plus we coloured directly on red rubber stamps and photopolymer stamps. So lots and lots of techniques put into practice. I also have my pencils in ROYGBIV order now, which is what Jenn does, as it does makes more sense.

The 2 flowers on the bottom LHS above; the purplish rose has a watercolour wash of speckled egg around it and it has also been splattered with black soot from the pencil. I wasn't brave enough to do BIG splatters but it was a cool technique so it was a shame to die-cut it all out and lose it.

Anyhow I used those 2 flowers and 2 of my backgrounds and made 2 cards this afternoon when I awoke from a cat nap.

I loved the watercolouring on my rose with Seedless Preserves/Prize Ribbon and Peeled Paint/Crushed Olive. My background uses Seedless Preserves and Peeled Paint and I was scared it was going to become "mud" so didn't smooch to hard. After the class I inked up the grid stamp with Peeled Paint distress oxide, the sentiment with Rich Razzleberry (SU!).

Supply List:
Stamps (all TE): Sketchbook Florals, Field Notes (sentiment), Rough Draft Background (grid)

Paper: Distress Watercolour (RNG) and Neenah White #110 for card base
Other: Blanket stitched rectangle die (PFS), foam squares (SP)

The greens are the same as above. I've used Mustard Seed and Rusty Hinge on the petals, Black Soot, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain on the "cone". The background uses a Dylusions Stamp set called Branching out and it's red rubber and I inked up the stamp with my pencil, wet and got 3 backgrounds with it. I have used the same stamps as listed above but this time I used Antique Linen Distress Oxide with the grid stamp and Early Espresso ink (SU!) for the sentiment and a few gems from Studio Katia's sparkling crystal mix to finish off. I also tried the splatter technique again, this time using the Vintage Photo pencil.

It's funny I bought these stamps in a monthly kit from Taylored Expressions with Karin watercolor markers August 2021 but this was the time when we were moving (3 houses in a year) and all my crafting stuff was in boxes, so I never watercoloured the images up at the time of purchase, so it's great that they finally get some love as they are all fab. I checked the Taylored Expressions website and the floral set is definitely still available and it is reduced at the moment but I didn't investigate too fully.

Well I still have lots more images and backgrounds to play with so sure you'll see some more KReations from this fab Creative Chick class.

#creativechickclasses

✿ Karen ✿

More falling for you

Looking at the challenges at Allsorts Colours of Autumn and Time Out's thankful it was time to revisit my Taylored Expressions stencil set I received recently.

****Colours of Autumn****

I would like to see entries inspired by the beautiful colours Nature gives to us at this time of year, Reds, Yellows, Greens, Golds, Oranges, Browns.

When I did the class with Taylor in my Crop and Create Cardmaking delivered event I used my SU! inks closest to the autumnal shades she used so I made sure to use different shades this time and also add in a green. I have also done a light splatter with the gold Gansi Tambi watercolour paint again. You can see my class cards HERE if you are interested. This is a lovely stencil with so many possibilities for colour combinations.

Supply List:

Stamps:  Happy Harvest (TE)

Stencil: Falling for you triple slimline stencil (FOUR layers) and clear stamp combo (TE)

Ink (all SU!): Cherry Cobbler, Grapefruit Grove, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Cinnamon Cider

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Neenah White

Other: Gold Gansi watercolours, paint brush, blender brushes (TE)

Challenges: Allsorts #699, Time Out #225

Now Time Out is offering a Lawn Fawn $25 store credit voucher this week and it is All Sorts 700th challenge next week so they also have a wee prize to celebrate that milestone this coming weekend. So hope you can join in too, you never know you may win something as well.

 ✿ Karen ✿

Falling for You with Taylor & SCTCCD

At my recent SCTCCD event one of the main classes (3 cards in 90 mins) was Taylor Vanbruggen from Taylored Expressions. The event was a "fall event" as it's fall in the States etc. and to be honest I don't actually make fall cards but the triple slim line stencil TE gave us was fab and it was so fun to see the layers come alive!!! We actually blended and our final panel was then cut down to make 3 mini slimline cards - very cool clever idea. I know TE do something similar with quad stencils (i.e. the final panel gives you 4 cards).

The mini slimline card that TE had us creating were 7"x 6" so we finished up with a 3½" x 6" card which can fit in an A2 envelope.

Now our main swag for this class kit was layering stencils which let's be honest aren't very exciting photographed. We also got some mini leaf dies and a wee cute stamp set to actually stamp the veins whilst the cardstock had the stencil on top, so sometimes you were stamping on the card and some of the stamp was also on the stencil. So very realistic.

So the kit included:

• Happy Harvest clear stamp
• Falling for you triple slimline stencil (FOUR layers) and clear stamp combo
• Fall Flurry die
• TE Mulled Wine cardstock
• TE Sweet Potato cardstock
• TE Kraft cardstock
• mini slim envelopes

This is the sneak peek of our class projects; stenciled and coloured by Taylor. She used Mulled Wine (burgundy), Sweet Potato (dark orange), Dijon (mustard), Mocha (dark brown) and Toffee (kraft brown) inks from Taylored Expressions for her blending. I used my SU! inks Merry Merlot, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. We also splattered in places with gold Gansi Tambi watercolour.

These stamps and stencils and co-ordinating products were released on class day, so if this looks like something you would like to have a go at check them out HERE. If you also check out the TE blog you can see some summery/spring colour combos too.

BEST TIP from the class: When blending with blender brushes blend in both directions; clockwise and anticlockwise circles.

Here are my cards:

I changed the orientation of the card below from Taylor's example and some details have been added with a white gel pen.

#cropandcreatedelivered #SCTbigboxevent