Category Archives: cards

Southwest Hello

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

CCS 193

And here is my take:

Southwest Hello | by karen @ carefree creations

Simple, simple card. A bit of masking, one tiny strip of card stock – and boom, done!

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

hello
Stamps: Southwest Style, Wet Paint (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Mint Macaron, Tangerine Tango (Stampin’Up – SU);
Paper: White (PTI); Rich Razzleberry (SU);
Technique: one-layer card;

PTI Blog Hop – Simple Package

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Today is Papertrey Ink’s Blog Hop. The inspiration was clean and simple (my favorite style for card making):

2016-ptibloghop-inspiration

As usual, my card is a fairly literal representation:

Simple Package | by karen @ carefree creations

Thanks for taking a peek!

Merry Christmas
Stamps: Mistletoe & Holly, Peaceful Pinecones, Tiny Tags II, Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Cocoa Bean, Dark Chocolate (PTI); Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade (Stampin’Up);
Paper: Kraft, Rustic White (PTI);
Other: twine, Mistletoe & Holly die, Tiny Tags die (PTI);
Challenge: PTI Blog Hop

Congrats

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

ccs_2016-09-22_192

And here is my take:

Congrats | by karen @ carefree creations

I recently bought the layered banner, but hadn’t used it yet. I thought it would be a good focal piece for this sketch. I used school colors for the banner and then my favorite yellow for the stars.

The sentiment is embossed and, I must say, I think this is the best I’ve ever done with embossing! I do think the powder quality helped a lot, but dang – so smooth and no little extra dots. I love it when it works right!

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

Congrats
Stamps: Layered Banner, Scribble Stars (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Crushed Curry (Stampin’Up); Versamark (Tsukineko);
Paper: White, Enchanted Evening, Scarlet Jewel pattern (PTI);
Other: Layered Banner die, Scribble Star die (PTI); White embossing powder (Hero Arts);

Thanksgiving Greenery

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I was much inspired by PTI’s release of Holiday Greens and while I would love to add it to my collection, I’m on a budget and other items were more important to me this month. I am playing with PTI’s Create Along with Us challenge to help me find suitable stand-ins.

pti_createwithus

Although there was lots of inspiration for the Holiday Greens set, I really fell in love with Lizzie’s Happy Holidays card. Here is my take:

Sprigs & Pinecones | by karen @ carefree creations

I didn’t want to completely copy Lizzie’s card, so I used autumn colors and a thanksgiving sentiment. Sigh, I haven’t even finished my Halloween cards, and I’m already creating Thanksgiving cards. (Probably because I designed my Halloween cards in my head way back in July. I knew I should have stamped them right then!)

While I did use different stamps, my intent was to get as close as possible. I’m quite happy that I was able to use supplies I already have. While there are details to the Holiday Greens set that keep it on my wish list, I know I can make due until I can get it.

The angled edge is just done with a trimmer; I wish I hadn’t made it so severe an angle, but I still like it.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Thanksgiving
Stamps: Meadow Greens, Spruce & Sprigs, Peaceful Pinecones, Keep it Simple: Happy Thanksgiving (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Terracotta Tile, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Pinefeather, Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Paper: Rustic White, Terracotta Tile, Cocoa Bean (PTI);
Other: Spruce & Sprigs dies, twine (PTI); vanilla embossing powder (Stampin’Up);
CASEd from: Lizzie Jones’ Happy Holidays

Ruby Rose in Autumn

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

CC&S_2016-09-15_#191

And here is my take:

Ruby Rose in Autumn | by karen @ carefree creations

Color challenges are the hardest for me. You’d think when it was time for me to host one, I’d do something easy. Somehow I forgot about needing contrast in my colors! While this is not my first idea for these colors, I think this worked out well.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

hello
Stamps: Ruby Rose, Fillable Frames 1 (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Delightful Dijon, Cucumber Crush, Bermuda Bay (Stampin’Up); Smokey Shadow (PTI);
Paper: Soft Stone cardstock, Soft Stone pattern paper, White (PTI);
Other: Ruby Rose dies (PTI)

Birthday Butterfly

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

CC&S_2016-09-08_#190

And here is my take:

Bold Butterfly | by karen @ carefree creations

I had another idea in my head for this sketch, but it was not working out. Then I drew inspiration from my DT. A couple weeks back a few members used tone on tone layers and embossing to implement that sketch. I decided that would be perfect for this card (I didn’t want to start completely over).

I used a card that was already cut, but it is a bit smaller than normal 5.5 x 4 – not sure why it was cut that way, but I went with it!

To make the curve, I used an old Spellbinders Labels 10 die turned sideways. I had to do a partial die cut so I only cut the one edge – but that is easily done by positioning everything on the edge of the machine cutting plates.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: This weekly challenge is posted on Thursday, 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: Beautiful Butterflies, Beautiful Butterflies Layers (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Scarlet Jewel (PTI); Primrose Petals, Pacific Point (Stampin’Up);
Paper: White, Scarlet Jewel (PTI); Soft Sky (SU);
Other: Beautiful Butterflies, Beautiful Butterflies Layers dies (PTI); Labels 10 die (Spellbinders);

Happy Mail for College Student

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Happy Mail | by karen @ carefree creations

I have a niece who is starting at University of Texas this year. I thought I’d send her a little happy mail. This is the card I made for her.

The college colors are orange and I thought these flowers would look great in orange.

Very simple card.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Hello
Stamps: Too Kind, Four You (Stampin’Up);
Ink: Canyon Clay, Terracotta Tile, old Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink – PTI); Espresso Truffle (Momento);
Paper: White (PTI);
Technique: one-layer card olc;

Best Year Yet

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

CC&S_2016-09-01_#189

This is my month to host at CC&S. I selected my colors and created my sketches months ago. I probably had ideas in my head for what I would stamp…but dang if I can remember now! Why do I do this to myself?? I know with this challenge I was thinking beginning of school, so let’s go with primary colors. Hmph. Have fun 🙂

Since school is what I was thinking, that is the theme I used for my card:

Back 2 School | by karen @ carefree creations

I have 4 nieces/nephews in college. For one of them, this is the final year, so I thought this sentiment would be a good one.

The eraser is Real Red, just off stamped a couple times first. And the leaf is Island Indigo.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

Hope this year
Stamps: Teacher’s Apple, Teach & Inspire, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Real Red, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo (Stampin’Up); Espresso Truffle (Memento);
Paper: White (PTI);
Other: Stitched Rectangle die (Lil Inkers);

Wisteria Thanks

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

CC&S_2016-08-25_#188

And here is my take:

Wisteria Thanks | by karen @ carefree creations

This sketch was a stumper at first, but once I spied my new lattice dies, I knew what to do.

When stamping the leaves, I used light and medium greens; the vine is a dark green.

Since everything else was quite subtle incolor, I didn’t want a harsh black for the sentiment, so I found a darker blue that complemented the card base.

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

thank you
Stamps: Garden Gate, Inside Out: Thank You (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Winter Wisteria, Green Parakeet, New Leaf (PTI); Garden Green, Lost Lagoon (Stampin’Up);
Paper: SeaGlass (Simon Says Stamp); Winter Wisteria, White (PTI);
Other: Garden Gate dies (PTI); Oval & Oval Scalop die (Spellbinders);

Sweet Cake

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

CC&S_2016-08-18_#187

And here is my take:

Sweet Cake | by karen @ carefree creations

Seeing these colors, I just knew I needed to do something sweet!

The flowers are cut using the coordinating dies, but they are trimmed as the dies have room for leaves (which I couldn’t stamp because they would have been green – not a color in the combination).

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

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

Sweet Birthday Wishes
Stamps: Just Desserts (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum (Stampin’Up); Cocoa Bean (PTI);
Paper: Cocoa Bean, White (PTI);
Other: Just Desserts die, Frosted Borders die (PTI); Rhinestones (Kaiser);