Category Archives: cards

Stop, Celebrate

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I am so honored to be invited as a guest designer this week at CAS(e) This Sketch! Here is the challenge:

And here is what I came up with:

Stop & Celebrate | by karen @ carefree creations

I don’t remember how I got the idea to use roads as the delimiters for the sketch, but I liked it. I then decided to use a stop sign. I was going to do a punny and colorful party card (like “stop, party time”) but I couldn’t make it work. So I just went with the traffic idea and made the secondary sentiment yellow. This would make a good “new driver” card.

Stop
Stamps: Road Signed, Road Signed Numbers, Special Delivery (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Watermelon Wonder (StampinUp); Noir (Palette); Fog (Simon Says Stamp);
Paper: White, Bright Buttercup (PTI);
Other: Road Signed die (PTI); Handwritten die (Little B);
Challenge: CAS(e) This Sketch

Birthday Toile

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Today’s card is for the Less is More Challenge in collaboration with AAA Cards. The challenge is a one-layer card with a colored card base.

Here is my card:

Birthday Toile | by karen @ carefree creations

I white embossed an old toile stamp set onto a navy card base. Though you can’t really see it in the photo – especially as the open spaces are just too small – I did color the flowers a pale pink and the leaves a pale blue.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Birthday Wishes
Stamps: Toile Blossoms, Sincere Salutations (StampinUp -SU);
Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko);
Paper: Night of Navy (SU);
Other: colored pencils (EK Success); white embossing powder (Hero Arts);
Challenge: Less is More Challenge

Winter Greetings

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It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge:

And here is my take:

Winter Greetings | by karen @ carefree creations

I rotated the sketch and created a little winter scene. Simple and quick card.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: This weekly challenge is posted on Tuesday, and alternates between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Season’s Greetings
Stamps: Color Layering Christmas Tree (Hero Arts); Keep it Simple-Season’s Greetings (Papertrey Ink-PTI);
Ink: Elf Green (My Favorite Things); Mossy Meadow (Stmpin Up – SU); Pinefeather, Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Paper: Bashful Blue card stock, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); White (PTI);
Other: Color Layering Christmas Tree die (HA)

Retirement Ahead

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Today I am playing along with the current Less is More challenge to use the colors of your country’s flag to create a card.

I live in the USA, so my flag colors are red, white, and blue. Despite today being our Independence Day, I’m not in the mood to create a card for it. In exploring my index for an idea, I came across the Road Signed set and my brain went something like this….

Oooh, stop signs are red. Oh, but what would I do for blue? Oooh, rest area signs are blue. Oh, oh, oh, I could do a retirement card!!

So, that’s what I did.

Retirement | by karen @ carefree creations

The rest area sign is created on the computer – blue printer ink with white text; then I embossed the frame around it. The retirement sign started with the rectangle frame from Label Basics set, but the outside frame was much thicker…I trimmed it down.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Retirement
Stamps: Road Signed, Keep it Simple-Retirement, Label Basics, Special Delivery (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Watermelon Wonder (Stampin’Up); Black (Palette); Versamark (Tsukineko);
Paper: White (PTI);
Other: Road Signed dies (PTI); white embossing powder (Hero Arts);
Challenge: Less is More

Geometric Birthday

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It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge:

And here is my take:

Geometric Birthday | by karen @ carefree creations

This is such a fun color scheme! A perfect one for breaking out the geometric images. I had a few ideas, but since I put off actually making the card until the very last minute, I went with a simple 5-minute card.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: This weekly challenge is posted on Tuesday, and alternates between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Happy Birthday
Stamps: Sentiment Splits – Way to Go; Keep it Simple – Birthday II (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Island Indigo, Berry Burst (Stampin’Up); Black (Palette);
Paper: White (PTI);

Miss You

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The current challenge at Addicted to CAS is white on white.

I guess I was a bit maudlin today because when I thought about white on white, I thought about the lack of color and made me think about a miss you theme.

Miss You | by karen @ carefree creations

I pulled out this US die that has the lines for the states. I used some thread to fill in Virginia and then positioned the sentiment “you” under that state.

The state die has a little bit of tape in the center and the edges pulled up a bit for dimension. The sentiment is 3 layers.

Thanks for taking a peek!

miss you
Paper: white (Papertrey Ink);
Other: USA Map die (Frantic Stamper); Handwritten die (Little B);
Challenge: Addicted to CAS

Summer Flips

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Last night I made a card for the Less is More challenge.

The LIM challenge this week is a sketch. The fun swoosh made me think of a river and that is how I came up with my card:

Summer Flip Flops | by karen @ carefree creations

I hand cut my river from pattern paper. The rest is pretty straight forward: die cut & stamp the flip flops; die cut & stamp the sentiment; assemble.

Thanks for taking a peek!

happy summer
Stamps: Flipping Out (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Real Red, Daffodil Delight (Stampin Up – SU);
Paper: Maritime DSP, Coastal Cabana (SU); Kraft, White, Black (PTI);
Other: Flipping Out die, Sketched Shapes die (PTI); rhinestones;
Challenge: Less is More Challenge

Flag Inspired Fourth

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It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge:

And here is my take:

Flag Inspired Fourth | by karen @ carefree creations

Though this sketch seemed hard at first, I did come up with a few ideas. Some I just didn’t have the stamps for. When thinking about how to use stars, I realized that July 4th would be soon after the post and, using the flag for inspiration, the card came together quickly.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: This weekly challenge is posted on Tuesday, and alternates between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Happy 4th of July
Stamps: Keep it Simple: God Bless (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Enchanted Evening (PTI);
Paper: White, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy (PTI);
Other: Seeing Stars die (PTI); Large Holiday Shapes – Hearts & Stars die (Simon Says Stamp) ; Basic Edges die (My Favorite Things);

Never Dull Your Sparkle

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I’m on summer break from work, so I have a couple weeks to stamp! I’m hoping to engage in those challenges that I love, but never seem to have the energy to put ink to paper the rest of the year. Or course, I also downloaded some books from the library – here’s to finding balance, lol.

Today I am posting a card for CAS(e) This Sketch. I love sketches and find them the best for my creative process. Here is what I came up with:

Never Dull Your Sparkle | by karen @ carefree creations

Keeping the card clean & simple, I just did a watercolor wash directly on the card base. I added a glitter paper die cut. Originally I was going to back the die cut with a colored layer, but nothing was working and I realized that I liked the background showing through. The die is layered up to give it dimension. Since the sparkle isn’t clear in the main photo, here is a close up:

Thanks for taking a peek!

Never Dull Your Sparkle
Stamps: Sparkle & Shine (Wplus9);
Ink: Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord Distress (Ranger); Truffle (Momento);
Paper: white (Bristol); glitter (Stampin’Up);
Other: Diamonds die (My Favorite Things);
Challenge: CAS(e) This Sketch

PTI Blog Hop – June 2017

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Today is Papertrey Ink’s June Blog Hop! Here is the inspiration they provided:

I was very drawn to the blue/green gradient on the bottle and that is where I started with my card:

Roses & Gradient | by karen @ carefree creations

I also liked how there was lots of space in the photo – the flowers actually took up very little space – so I kept my flowers on the small size too. To add a touch of interest, I added a few sequins.

Thanks for taking a peek!

very happy birthday
Stamps: Bitty Bouquets, Skinny (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Island Indigo (Stampin’Up); Limeade Ice, Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Lovely Lady, Harvest Gold, Melon Berry, Smokey Shadow (PTI);
Paper: White, Limeade Ice (PTI);
Other: Bitty Bouquets die (PTI); Stitched Rectangle die (Lil Inkers); Sequins (stash);