Category Archives: cards

Thankful for You

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Yesterday was Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-Faire event. (I didn’t do every challenge, so “next up” really just means the next one I tackled.) Next up was the Mix & Match Challenge. The idea being either to mix pattern papers or create a color palette you don’t normally use.

Thankful For You - by karen @ carefree creations

I used a technique I learned ages ago which is to ink the edges of the paper with a neutral color so that their edge colors match up and help unify the look. I took it a step further and sewed the seams as well. The quilt effect helped reinforce my thanksgiving theme too, so bonus!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Thankful for You
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Think Big Favorites #19, Boutique Borders #1;
Ink: Harvest Gold, Dark Chocolate, Chamomile;
Cardstock: Vintage Cream; Kraft;
Other: Autumn Abundance pattern paper;
Technique: sewing;

Love Can Travel

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Yesterday was Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-Faire event. This challenge was Threads – using twine on a card.

Love Can Travel - by karen @ carefree creations

In her video, Danielle offered 10 different ways to use twine on a card. I went with the “serve a purpose” technique.

To attach the embellishment, I first glued down the twine (Tombow Mono liquid glue) then I added a dot of the same glue to the back of the hearts and stuck them to the twine.

Those hearts came from the Tiny Tag dies – such perfectly sized for this image!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Distance Love Can Travel
Stamps: Road Trip, These United States (PTI);
Ink: Marina Mist (SU); Black (PTI); Poppy Parade marker (SU);
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, White (PTI);
Other: Ting Tags die, red/white twine (PTI);

Christmas Pine

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Yesterday was Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-Faire event. The next challenge was a Patterns sketch challenge. I used this sketch:

Here is my take:

Christmas Pine - by karen @carefree creations

I took a large panel of white cardstock and stamped the pinecone image. Then I cut it to size, leaving gaps where the stamping overlapped. I hand-cut around the overhanging bits.

The “Christmas” die cut is die cut 3 times and layered up for dimension.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Christmas Blessings
Stamps: Peaceful Pinecones, Wet Paint: Holiday (PTI); Linen background (SU);
Ink: New Leaf (PTI); Baked Brown Sugar (SU);
Cardstock: White (PTI); Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (SU);
Other: Wet Paint: Holiday dies (PTI);
Technique: break-the-box;

For the Mr & Mrs

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Yesterday was Papertrey Ink’s Stamp-a-Faire event. I was able to create 5 cards this weekend!

The first challenge was a Bridal Challenge.

For the Mr & Mrs - by karen @ carefree creations

I have a niece that will be having a wedding in the next year or so (her fiancee is deployed). I wanted to create a card that was similar to the engagement card that I made for them. I kept the idea of stripes and used the same paper flowers as well as sentiment set.

In between the stripes I added glitter (Wink of Stella pen), the frame on the circle is white embossed, and the flowers have a shimmer. I wish I could have captured all the shimmer and shine, but I could not get a good photo.

Thanks for taking a peek!

For the Mr. & Mrs.
Stamps: Scrolling Script, Limitless Layers Labels (PTI);
Ink: Truffle (Momento); Versamark (Tsukineko);
Cardstock: White (PTI);
Other: Wink of Stella (Zig); white embossing (Hero Arts); paper flowers (stash); Limitless Layers circle die; Simple Stripes impression plate;

Bohemian Thanks

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Southwest Thanks - by karen @ carefree creations

I needed a thank you card to give to my mom. Since she’s a StampinUp demo, I used all SU supplies.

A very simple, and one-layer, card.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Thank You
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Bohemian Borders, Work of Art, Back to Basics Alphabet;
Ink: Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon, Tangelo Twist, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Basic Black;
Cardstock: Thick White;

Doodled Flowers

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Doodled Flowers - by karen @ carefree creations

This is the last DTGD challenge card I made today.

The talented folks on the internet sure do know how to make doodling and “messy watercoloring” look easy…because it is not!

I did my doodling in pencil first and went back with a pen. I think if I hadn’t gone for the “messy watercolor” look, I may have liked this card, but the messy is just messy.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Birthday
Stamps: Label Love (Altenew);
Ink: Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn Distress Ink (Ranger); Graphite Black (Brilliance); Pigma Micron pen;
Cardstock: White (PTI);
Technique: Cas(e) This Sketch #131

Sweet Strawberry Wishes

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Sweet Strawberry Birthday - by karen @ carefree creations

This was another Dare to Get Dirty challenge – and probably my favorite card of the day. I love this strawberry stamp set…it was so good to get it inky again.

This is a pretty straight forward card. The stamp set is 2-step and very easy to line up the solid images over the lined artwork. Wish I could say the same for the frame on the sentiment panel! I have a Misti, but haven’t used it yet (eek!) – and these types of mistakes are why I bought it. I need to just put it on my desk and use it! I’ve watched tons of videos, but I’m still nervous.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Sweet Birthday Wishes
Stamps: Strawberry Patch, Strawberry Patch Sentiments (PaperTrey Ink); Framed Greetings (My Favorite Things);
Ink: Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Black (PTI); Daffodil Delight (SU);
Cardstock: White (PTI); Daffodil Delight (SU);
Other: Framed Greetings die (MFT);

Stuffed with Happiness

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Thanksgiving by karen @ carefree creations

It is Dare to Get Dirty week at Splitcoast! I haven’t stamped in a while, so I thought I’d use these challenges to get back in the groove. I actually made 4 cards today (almost 5, but an unfortunate ink pad droppage sucked away all my motivation)!!

To create the background, I inked a white panel with distress inks, then stamped a wheel using water to give a resist or ghost image effect. I’m still learning how much pressure to use with the distress inks – this was definitely too heavy handed. I also wish I had chosen a different sentiment, but done is done.

A few weeks ago I re-arranged and purged my craft supplies. I moved stuff that I hardly ever use into a cabinet not in my space and made sure that what I do use frequently is easily accessible. One thing that moved out were my eyelets. This is probably the first time in years that I’ve used an eyelet! I’m trying to use-up my stash.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Stuffed Thanksgiving
Stamps: Bright Blessings Wheel, Mingle All the Way (SU);
Ink: Fossilized Amber, Rusty Hinge, Forest Moss, Seedless Preserves Distress Ink (Ranger); Dark Chocolate (PTI);
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate (PTI); Natural Ivory (SU); White watercolor paper (Wild Horse Artistry);
Other: Chalk Talk dies, Linen Thread (SU); eyelets (stash);
Technique: Water Stamping

Father’s Day Pint

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kth_fathersday-pint

When I saw the new Craft Brew set by Papertrey, I knew it would get a lot of use!

My husband likes porter and stout which are dark beers, so I stamped with a deep brown instead of the golden amber I usually think of for beer.

When I searched for images of porter and stout, I noticed that the images all showed the foam as a bit at the top within the glass (and it was creamy colored, not white). I tried to imitate those images when stamping this pint. The die set does come with an awesome fluffy foam die, but, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t use it.

Super simple layout – just a few strips of paper. I found a pattern paper that had the same blue in it and then pulled the green from that (the green looked much better than a white strip which was my original plan).

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Father’s Day
Stamps: Craft Brew, Keep it Simple: Father’s Day (Papertrey Ink);
Ink: Early Espresso, Pacific Point (StampinUp); Vintage Cream (PTI);
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss (StampinUp); White (PTI);
Other: Muirfield DSP (SU); Craft Brew dies, Pub Glass die (PTI);

Repurposing Old Supplies

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Happy Rainbows - by karen @ carefree creations

A while back I purchased cardstock swatches from Simon Says Stamp. At the time I thought that would be good enough. But I decided I wanted to incorporate those colors into my own swatch books – and mine were considerably larger pieces. After purchasing a sample pack of paper and making swatches to fit my own, I was left with the original tiny rectangles swatches.

I couldn’t just toss them, so they sat on my desk for a long time…until now!

It took me forever to find paper to fill out the gradient rainbow (only 10 of those colors are from the SSS swatch). At first I thought I would just pull out my retired-colors scrap bucket and use up old supplies, but that wasn’t working for me. Instead I pulled out all my swatch books (old, new, different manufacturers) and found colors that worked.

I am quite happy with how this finished card turned out! I love a good rainbow – and this has a trendy ombre look too (just not monochromatic).

Thanks for taking a peek!

happy
Stamps: None;
Ink/Cardstock: Lots and lots of cardstock;
Other: One-liners Happy dies (PTI);
Technique: color-blocking;