Category Archives: cards

The Sky is the Limit

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

CC&S_2016-07-14_#182

And here is my take:

Sky's the Limit | by karen @ carefree creations

Another classic sketch – so easy to use. I had tons of ideas. I finally settled on the hot air balloons mostly because I hadn’t used them in a while (we won’t talk about the sets I haven’t used at all yet).

I wanted this to be a fun, upbeat card, so I chose some fun, upbeat colors. To help ground the images, I sponged some light blue on the card base.

The peach balloon is taped down, just in the center, onto the card base; then the edges are pulled up some. The pink balloon is popped up on dimensionals.

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).

the sky is the limit
Stamps: Up Up Away (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo (Stampin’Up); Tumbled Glass distress (Ranger); Kraft, Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Paper: White (PTI);
Other: Up Up Away dies (PTI);

Inlaid Tropics

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A new day at camp: MFT’s Camp Create! Today’s challenge is Inlaid Diecutting.

Inlaid Tropics | by karen @ carefree creations

When doing a multi-layer scene with inlaid diecutting, I like the base to be black – I love the pop the colors make, and doing this with stamping and masking is so much harder to me.

It was a challenge to keep track of all the little pieces, but totally worth it – I love how this turned out.

I earned another badge:

Print

Thanks for taking a peek!

hello
Paper: Blue Raspberry, Black Licorice, Dill Pickle, Gumdrop Green, Sour Apple, Ripe Raspberry, Coral Crush, Cement Grey (My Favorite Things – MFT);
Other: Happy Hellos die, Wild Greenery dies, Flamingos dies, Wonky Rectangles die (MFT);
Technique: inlaid die cutting
Challenge: MFT Inlaid Diecutting

One of My Favorite Things

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I’m playing along with today’s MFT Camp Create challenge – Coloring on Kraft.

You Are My Favorite Thing | by karen @ carefree creations

I only have a couple outline images from MFT, so figuring out what image to use was actually pretty easy 🙂 I knew I could have fun coloring these flowers in an artsy way.

I used my MISTI to stamp the images with a light brown ink. Then I colored them. And then I stamped the images a few times using a dark brown ink. I’m a messy colorer, so I knew my lines would get lost – hence the overstamping after the coloring.

We won’t talk about how this is the second card I made. Word to the wise – even if you have a super awesome tool (like MISTI), if you aren’t paying attention, you can still mess it up on the VERY LAST impression! But it worked out as I didn’t like the way I colored the smaller flowers the first time, so I was able to correct it the second round!

I’ve earned another badge:

Print

Thanks for taking a peek!

Favorite Things
Stamps: Scribble Flowers, Framed Greetings (My Favorite Things – MFT);
Ink: Kraft (Papertrey Ink), Early Espresso (Stampin’Up);
Paper: Kraft, White (Papertrey Ink);
Other: Framed Greetings die (MFT); Colored Pencils (Prismacolor);
Challenge: MFT Coloring on Kraft

Golden Sun Flamingo

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My Favorite Things has started another session of Camp Create. Last session looked fun, so I definitely want to participate this week!

The first challenge is Fantastic Foiling. The challenge was to use something shiny on your card.

To be honest I haven’t had much luck with foiling, so I went a different route with this card:

Golden Sun Flamingo | by karen @ carefree creations

I used a gold liquid leaf to add highlights to my flamingo (hence the “golden sun” in the post title). I also die cut the sentiment from gold foil paper.

The card needed just a bit of something else but I didn’t want to compete with the gold, so I added some die-cut leaf embossings.

I’ve earned a badge!

Print

Thanks for taking a peek!

hello
Ink: Coral Crush (My Favorite Things – MFT);
Paper: White (Papertrey Ink); Tropical Teal, Sno Cone, Peach Bellini, Cement Grey, Steel Grey (MFT); Gold foil card stock (really old from my stash);
Other: Flamingos die, Happy Hellos die, Wild Greenery die (MFT); Gold Liquid Leaf (Plaid); Stitched Circle die (Simon Says Stamp); Stitched Rectangle die (Lil Inkers);
Challenge: MFT Fantastic Foiling

Christmas in July

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I had some time to stamp yesterday, so I pulled up one of my favorite challenges and played along: One-Layer Simplicity: Christmas in July

Merry & Bright | by karen @ carefree creations

Honestly, my mind is in Halloween mode now, but this was such a simple simple design that it came together quickly. I did realize that I’m not usually coloring directly on my final project (I’m a fairly messy colorer), so I used my Copic Blender quite a bit.

I have a package of Gina K heavy white paper for the sole purpose of doing Copic markers on one-layer cards. Love this stuff! Not only do I have multiply layers of color down, but the bell also has a light layer of H2O watercolor on it.

I did add a bit of a shadow to the bell and bow. Even though I got the light placement wrong, I think the shadow still adds dimension.

Thanks for taking a peek!

merry & bright
Stamps: Tremendous Treats – Christmas (Papertrey Ink);
Ink: Black (Momento);
Paper: White (Gina K);
Other: Y35, Y26, YR24, E99, E79, BG10, BG72, BG18, BG78, T1, W2 markers (Copic); Gold Dust Twinkling H2Os (LuminArt);
Technique: olc;
Challenge: One-Layer Simplicity: Christmas in July

No Bones About It…

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

CC&S_2016-07-07_#181

And here is my take:

Dino Awesome | by karen @ carefree creations

I had fun making this card! With the colors being a bit dark, I knew I wanted a light base and to use the colors as accents. Once I saw the dinosaurs in my index, I knew they’d be perfect.

The layout is from a card in the current Stampin’Up catalog (pg 131).

The solid dinosaur image is a second-generation inking of Eggplant, as are the footprints in the background (well, second-gen with Suede, not Eggplant 😀 ). I think I decided it would be better to stamp the bones first and then center the solid image over them; but this was good enough to get on with.

The sentiments are selectively inked from 2 different sayings within the set.

I chose to go with New Leaf (by Papertrey) instead of Cucumber only because I had scrap paper of New Leaf and nothing cut yet of Cucumber. It is a pretty good match though.

My card base and focal panel are a speckled card stock. I like using that type of card stock as it provides interest/texture.

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).

No Bones About It…
Stamps: No Bones (Stampin’Up – SU);
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede (SU);
Paper: Rustic Cream, New Leaf (Papertrey Ink); Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake (SU);
Other: Linen Thread (SU);
Technique: tearing; generational stamping;

Birthday Succulents

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Happy Birthday | by karen @ carefree creations

I do not have a green thumb. My mom does. When I was growing up there were always plants everywhere; many were in macrame hangers. The hanger in this set totally reminds me of all those macrame hangers!

Putting this pot together took some effort. First I die cut and stamped all the images; then, I played around with positioning/layering. Once I had it the way I wanted, I had to glue it together (this was the tricky part – not much overlapped enough to hold it together). I glued some of the greenery together and then, from the back, taped it to pot. To hold it all together, I strategically positioned dimensional adhesive.

I did a twine frame around the card – thought the twine was a good compliment to the “macrame”.

The happy word die cut is a perfect match for the same word in the sentiment! I die cut a couple and glued them together and then over the sentiment for a little more dimension.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Birthday
Stamps: Super Succulents (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Ocean Tides, Terracotta Tiles, Kraft, Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Paper: White, Melon Berry, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Other: String Frames die, Super Succulents die (PTI); twine (Paper Smooches);

Sunshine Hibiscus

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

CC&S_2016-06-30_#180

And here is my take:

Sunshine Hibiscus | by karen @ carefree creations

I just knew these colors would be perfect for a tropical card. The sketch is very versatile and easy to use.

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, Sunshine
Stamps: Tropical Sensations, Hello Sunshine (My Favorite Things – MFT);
Ink: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight (Stampin’Up);
Paper: White (Papertrey Ink); Bermuda Bay (Stampin’Up);
Other: Curved Edge (Simon Says Stamp); Tropical Sensations (MFT);

America, Land that I Love

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America | by karen @ carefree creations

This is my last July 4th card. I used an old set, but one that I know is perfect for my father-in-law.

Land That I Love
Stamps: est 1776 (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Enchanted Evening, Dark Chocolate, Fine Linen (PTI);
Paper: Rustic Cream card stock, Enchanted Evening patterns, Pure Poppy patterns (PTI);
Other: Tag Sale #6 die (PTI);

July 4th Picnic

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July 4th Picnic | by karen @ carefree creations

In looking through my supply index, I saw this star die and definitely thought I could do something July 4th themed with it.

I started by die-cutting the starlite breeze in the corner. Then I used a curved die to trim the corner. I lined the curved with a scallop (made from a heart border!!).

Happy 4th
Stamps: Birthday By the Numbers, Limitless Layers Labels (Papertrey Ink – PTI);
Ink: Spring Rain, Enchanted Evening (PTI);
Paper: White, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy patterns (PTI);
Other: Limitless Layers Circle 2 1/2″ die, Heart Border die (PTI); Curved Edge die (Simon Says Stamp); Starlit Breeze die (Memory Box);