Category Archives: Paper Smooches

Don’t Panic

Posted on by

So today is my hubby’s birthday – and he turns 42. One of his favorite books is Hitchhiker’s Guide and he works in quotes from it as often as he can. Of course, that meant I wanted/needed to make a themed card for him this year. Check it out:

Don't Panic - by karen @ carefree creations

I was so happy how this turned out (despite how hard it was to cut those hands out, even as poorly done as they are)!

I tried my hand at the galaxy technique. I used Kristina W’s distress ink video as a guide. I didn’t have distress paint, so I used watercolor crayons and layered the colors. Not sure if I’ll do it this way again…may have to figure out another medium (or learn to be patient and let layers dry ;).

Oh, since the front says “don’t panic”, on the inside I wrote “it’s just another birthday”.

Thanks for taking a peek!

don’t panic
Stamps: Hot Concoctions – mug, Mini Monograms – numbers, Great Chemistry – mouse, Sunny Side Up – mouth (Paper Smooches);
Paper: watercolor paper; Soft Stone, Pure Poppy, White, Black (PTI); Crushed Curry, Green Galore (SU);
Other: watercolor crayons (SU); black watercolor paint (kid’s craft stash); white distress paint (Ranger); Alpha Whimsy dies (Paper Smooches);
Technique: layered watercolor galaxy

New Digs

Posted on by

New Digs - by karen @ carefree creations

I started this card for my sister-in-law’s family, but it seems like a better fit for my niece, so I may hold on to it until she gets settled in. Of course that means I need another “new home” card.

For this card I used an old sketch from Dahlhouse – Wanna Sketch #5. I used the paper piecing technique on the lamp shade and chair.

I hand wrote “congrats” before the “new digs”. I know grammatically I need “on your” but it was a stylistic choice.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Congrats New Digs
Stamps: Vogue Abode (Paper Smooches);
Ink/Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Cream (PTI); Pool Party, Crisp Canteloupe (SU);
Other: Lime Twist pattern paper (My Mind’s Eye); Flag Tag dies (Paper Smooches); Woodgrain embossing folder (SU); Stitched Squares die (Lil Inkers);
Technique: paper piecing;

Mr & Mrs

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #82 – sketch.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #82

And here is my take:

Mr & Mrs - by karen @ carefree creations

Oh boy! I thought this was going to be a challenging sketch, but I had a couple ideas within a few minutes of looking through my stamp index. I am quite happy with how this turned out – and I kept it clean & simple!

One way I kept it CAS was to keep the colors down. Since it was lots of white on white, I embossed the background so that flat-white layers would stand out. I also used lots of dimensional adhesive! For the banner/flags I only adhered the ends (under the &) with tape, leaving the fish-tail ends to be free to pop-up some.

I normally don’t like to mess around with the layout of sentiments because I don’t want it to be hard to read. But I think by keeping the two sentiments (Mr & Mrs and forever & always) in two different colors, I managed to separate them. I do wish I had swapped the colors so the “focus” of the sentiment would be “forever & always”…that way I could do this as an anniversary card or wedding card – to me, this card is really best for a wedding since the “mr & mrs” is what is boldest.

Yes, very happy with how this turned out!

Make sure you check out the other design team members:
Jacqueline
Lizy
Louise
Patricia

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

I’m also going to submit this for the PaperSmooches Anything Goes Challenge 🙂

PaperSmoochesSparksBadge

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: Posted every Thursday, the challenges alternate between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Mr & Mrs
Stamps: We Connect (Paper Smooches);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Pure Poppy, Soft Stone (PTI); Black (Brilliance);
Other: Decorative Dots embossing (SU); Ampersands die (Paper Smooches); Heart Prints die (PTI);

Butterflies Float in the Sky

Posted on by

Miss You - by karen @ carefree creations

I had such a good time stamping this past weekend! And this is one of the last ones I stamped. And woooboy! I got 5 challenges into this card! Each of the images below links directly to the challenge.

PaperSmoochesSparksBadge  CrazyForCASBadge  CASologyBadge  AddictedToCASBadge  CASOnSundayBadge

Whew!

Crazy for CAS’s keyword is Butterflies.
CASology’s keyword is Float.
Addicted to CAS’s keyword is Sky
(seriously – how could I not put all those together??)
The Paper Smooches challenge is an Anything Goes.
CAS on Sunday is all about one-layer cards.

The butterflies were stamped onto the white card base and masked with masking paper. Then I sponged the light blue ink to form the sky (need to practice that, lol). Finally the sentiment was stamped with a darker blue.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Miss You
Stamps: Flap Happy, Scripty Sayings (Paper Smooches):
Ink/Cardstock: Berry Sorbet, White (PTI); Tumbled Glass (Distress Ink); Marina Mist (SU);
Other: masking paper;
Technique: masking, sponging;

Happy Healing

Posted on by

Happy Healing - by karen @ carefree creations

My sister-in-law had some shoulder problems and is now in physical therapy. I wanted a happy and fun card to send to her.

I thought it would be cute to have the band-aid appear to hold the card together. The card base is blue and I just trimmed some white cardstock to fit the front in two panels.

The sentiment is part selective inking and part alphabet.

Thanks for taking a peek!

happy healing
Stamps: Healthy Vibes, Christmas Sampler (“happy”), Alphadot (Paper Smooches);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy (PTI);

Thanks, Science Teacher

Posted on by

by karen @ carefree creations - Thanks, Science Teacher

My kiddo had biology this year; they spent a lot of time on DNA. So, if you can’t tell, the hand-drawn border in the background is supposed to be the double-helix of DNA. I’ve decided someone really needs to make a line of nerdy stamps – math and science!

The teacher dude is normally holding a pointer, but with some creative masking and a bit of snipping of the stamp (nothing removed, just snipped some space so the hand could be pulled out from his head a bit) – I was able to have him hold a light bulb.

Thanks for taking a peek!

thanks teacher
Stamps: Smarty Pants, Great Chemistry (Paper Smooches);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Simply Chartreuse (PTI); Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy (SU);
Other: markers (Copic); Double-Ended Banner die, Limitless Layers: Square die (PTI);
Technique: hand drawing;

Thanks Art Teacher

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #73 – sketch.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #73

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Thanks Art Teacher

The end of the school year is fast approaching (only 3 more weekends – eek!), so I am trying to get started on my thank you cards for all the teachers. This is for the art teacher.

Make sure you check out the other design team members:
Jacqueline
Lizy
Louise
Patricia

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: Posted every Thursday, the challenges alternate between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Thanks Teacher
Stamps: Positive Strokes, Just a Note, Smarty Pants (PS); Little Labels (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet, Winter Wisteria, Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores (PTI);
Other: Little Labels die (PTI);

Party Words

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #67 – sketch.

CAS Colours & Skethes Challenge #67

I’m on spring break – which means I have no idea what day it is! Apparently it is Thursday and I forgot to create a card for the latest CAS Colours & Sketch challenge – eek! Thankfully this is a great basic sketch and I was able to get a card done in no time!

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Party Words

I have a bunch of male birthdays coming up in April, so I designed a card to use for one of them.

I’ve been wanting to buy the Hardwood background stamp from StampinUp (have you seen the awesome creations out there??). But I already have 2 border stamps that are similar, so I made myself use one of them to make sure that the results would make me happy so I could skip another purchase. I am quite happy with the result (I know I wouldn’t use the Hardwood on every card, so using a border stamp a few times to create a background is no hardship).

Of course, I didn’t line it up all that well and came up with an oops. But I just used a marker to fill in the gap and you can’t even tell! Check it:

oops - mind the gap

Make sure you check out the other design team members:
Jacqueline
Lizy
Louise
Patricia

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: Posted every Thursday, the challenges alternate between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

Celebrate
Stamps: Sugar Rush, Word Salad, Group Hugs (Paper Smooches); Background Basics: Farm & Barn (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: Soft Stone (PTI); Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist (SU); Black (Hero Arts);
Other: Word Bubbles dies (Paper Smooches);

Cheerful Chick

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #64 – colors.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #64

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Cheerful Chick

Whew, this was a challenge! The color challenges at CCS do not allow any other colors (besides black and white) so a two color challenge is definitely stretching my muse! I must admit though, when I sat down and went through my stamp index, I came up with quite a few ideas – so I know it is possible (heck another idea is still stuck in my head, if I can grab some stamping time I will work on it)!

My sentiment was supposed to say “have a cheerful easter” but I ran out of room 😀

I watercolored the chick and egg – and I’m really happy with how the egg turned out! I chose to watercolor because that meant I could get lots of shades with just those two colors (I used the the third color, Eggplant, for my sentiment).

Make sure you check out the other design team members:
Jacqueline
Lizy
Louise
Patricia

I hope you join us at CAS Colours & Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little About the Challenge: Posted every Thursday, the challenges alternate between color and sketch (if there is a 5th week in the month you get the double dose of color & sketch).

have a cheerful day
Stamps: Spring Fling, Mini Monograms, Wake Up (for “day”);
Ink/Cardstock: White (PTI); Crushed Curry, Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant (SU); Noir Black (Palette);
Other: Divine Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug);
Technique: watercoloring;

From Oops to Celebration

Posted on by

A couple days ago I posted a card that started with an oops (I had dropped a stamp). I tend to drop stamps, a lot. Here is another drop:

oops card before

I was making a card for a sketch and that drop did not fall in a good place so I set the card aside. Last weekend I pulled it out and let the drop lead me to a new design:

by karen @ carefree creations - Celebrate

My drop was from a scallop border stamp. When I decided to try make something of the oops card, I figured I should start with the same stamp. I just inked up the same stamp in the same color and stamped it right over the drop – which happened to be on a diagonal.

I built up the card from there, not having any plan whatsoever!

And dang if I don’t like this card!

Thanks for taking a peek!

celebrate
Stamps: Space Cadet, Pretty Phrases, Borderlicious, Fascinators (Paper Smooches);
Ink/Cardstock: White (PTI); Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Lucky Limeade (SU);
Other: Cardbooking dies (Paper Smooches); twine (stash);
Technique: paper piecing;