RAK from Karren

Gosh it's so exciting to find a homemade card in the letter box. I know postage isn't cheap but truly I think it's worthwhile to surprise your friends with a card unexpectedly. I was overjoyed to find this fab card from one of my DT colleagues from Tic Tac Toe challenges Karren Johnson from Christchurch, New Zealand. 

Being a kiwi I have admired her work from afar and I was absolutely thrilled to be on a design team with her when I joined TTTC, even if we are on opposing teams but that's probably a good thing so there's always a touch of kiwi each week and a touch of Karen/Karren.

I love all the details on the mushrooms/toadstools with little ruffles etc, my real job was working in a Mycology Lab at the hospital so it's always great to see a fungus on a card. I was able to work out that these beautiful die-cuts are from a Spellbinders set called Autumn Wonder etched dies. So huge thanks Karren you made my day!!!

✿Karen✿

AAA Colourful's latest colourboard

I'm liking the Halloween vibes of the latest colour board at AAA Colourful so I thought I'd play with my favourite moon stamp and do some ink blending to make a wee scene. It also gives me the chance to play along with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to go spooky and/or add some purple and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to go Halloween/spooky.

I masked my moon after stamping with the 3 inks (I stamped off the Paper Bag ink once as it was too deep a brown stamped directly), masked and then added the following Distress oxides; Dusty Concord, Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion and Black Soot. I also added some white pigment ink directly around the mask. I used my darkest green oxide I own to go behind my die-cut to ground my trick and  treaters. I now wish I had added some Black Soot to it too for the colour challenge to tone down the green .

Supply List:

Stamps: To the Moon (ALT)

Paper: Basic Black (SU!), Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Mango Melody (SU!), Grape Soda (C9), Buttercup (C9), Distress Heavy (RNG), black glitter (CTMH)

Ink: Buttercream (ALT), Warm Sunshine (ALT), Paper Bag (ALT), Unicorn white pigment (HA)
Distress Oxides (RNG): Dusty Concord, Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion, Black Soot, Rustic Wilderness

Dies: Halloween silhouettes (Sizzix), Mini Alphabet (SU!)

Other: Masking Magic (GKD), foam blending domes, white Gelli Roll pen, black gel pen, white paint (SP), Frost shimmer spray (imaginecrafts)

Challenges: AAAC#9, SSS Monday challenge, SSS Wednesday challenge

 

✿Karen✿

Seize the Birthday: goes Dotty

Hi everyone I had such a fabulous time being the Guest Designer for Seize the Birthday in August and September I didn't want to miss their next challenge. I'm rather shocked to see I haven't actually entered any challenges for "fun" for nearly 2 months but it's now 5 weeks since my surgery and I spent the last week tidying up my craft room; so really pleased I am managing to squeeze in an entry for STB's latest challenge. As always it's a birthday card plus the choice of playing along with the topper. I love the topper option it helps me to focus. The current challenge's topper is "dots" and I had too many ideas so glad I told myself to just make a card today, as eek I only have 17 hours to enter ... too much thinking which is always my problem.

I have gone with an easy design using the fab stencil by Alex Syberia Designs where each layer adds another colour. The last time I used this stencil it moved on me and I only managed to add two colours (you can see that card HERE) but I really wanted to use all 5 this time so used a sticky mat to hold everything in place. My colours have faded back quite a lot, so now wishing I had used the next darkest ink colour but ca la vie, it's still a fun birthday card which came together easily. I've added 2 die cuts behind the glitter one for dimension and stability.

Supply List:

Ink (all PFS), Sparkling Rose, Lemon Whip, Apricot, Grassy Knoll, Summer Shower
Stencil: Confetti (ASD)

Paper: Neenah Solar white, Black glitter (CTMH)
Die: Happy Birthday Script (MFT)

Challenge: STB#293

✿Karen✿