Tag Archives: gender-neutral

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;

CASE-ing for More Teacher Cards

Posted on by

by karen @ carefree creations - Music Teacher Thank You

For this card, I CASEd Betsy’s card (last one in her post). I loved the music notes floating on the flourishes! I simplified by making my card a one layer card. I also opted for a slightly more masculine color palette.

by karen @ carefree creations - Gym Teacher Thank You

For this card, I CASEd both Debbie Olson’s card as well as Heather’s card.

Thanks for taking a peek!

thank you
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Life’s Music, Fancy Flourishes;
Ink/Cardstock: White, Aqua Mist, Kraft; Lucky Limeade (SU);
Other: Wonderful Words: Thank You die;
MVP
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: All Star Team, Have a Ball;
Ink/Cardstock: Kraft, Harvest Gold, White, Dark Chocolate, Orange Zest, Pure Poppy;
Other: Woodgrain impression plate, Seeing Stars die;

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);

Stand Under the Stars

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #72 – colors.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #72

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Stand Under the Stars

These stamp sets may have been out for a year, I only recently bought them. And this card is the reason. That sentiment is awesome and I decided I just had to have it.

I CASEd Pinefeather’s card – just changed up the sentiment and colors.

The background was made using a recent PTI Make-it-Monday tutorial: Water Splats. I used regular white cardstock and sponged on the ink then finished it up with water drops.

Originally I just stamped the star chart image with white ink but as it dried it pretty much just disappeared so I re-stamped (as close to the original placement as I could get) and heat embossed with white powder.

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).

Stand Under the Stars
Stamps: Star Gazer, Star Gazer Additions (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Black (PTI); Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay (SU);
Other: sponges; Versamark & white embossing powder;
Technique: Water Splats (PTI MIM#161); heat embossing;

Fine Feathers

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #71 – sketch.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #71

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Fine Feathers

If you follow my blog, you’ll know this card is actually my second attempt. For this card I wanted a more simple card – both in design and color. I decided the blocks in the background could be stamped images and the colors would be more calming.

Since the longest feather was also quite skinny, I decided to make my card a 4 1/4″ square card.

FYI – this feather set is being retired by StampinUp – as is the sentiment and embossed frame!

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).

Thinking of You
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Fine Feathers, Sweet Essentials;
Ink/Cardstock: Soft Sky, Naturals White, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso;
Other: Designer Frames embossing folder;

Shades of Grey

Posted on by

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #70 – colors.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #70

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Shades of Grey

This was my first attempt at using embossing paste and a stencil. I definitely need to work on technique! I’m not sure how I got so much paste squished under the stencil, I did tape it down quite well. I suppose practice will help.

To do the gradated colors, I started with plain white paste and added re-inker drops.

Stamping on the paste also made a bit of a mess – it bled too much (but that was probably my fault as I was using lots of pressure to get between the paste – in hindsight I should have just used a marker to fill in). Live and learn!

I do like the concept of the card.

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).

Happy Birthday
Stamps: Wet Paint (Papertrey Ink);
Ink/Cardstock: White (PTI); Basic Black, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, (SU);
Other: Gradated Blocks stencil (Simon Says); Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver);
Technique: stencil and embossing paste;

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;

Season’s Greetings in February

Posted on by

I spent this past Saturday working through my stack of ‘oops’ card bases – mostly ones where I had the dropsies. I hang on to these goofs because I know with a little ingenuity I can make them work.

Here is my oops card:

I stamped my sentiment exactly where I wanted it, but then dropped the stamp and it bounced around. Since the original card was to be a one-layer card, this was not going to work. The way the oops was oriented I figured I could cover it up. And I did:

by karen @ carefree creations - Christmas Ornament

The ornament was positioned to cover the lower part of the oops, but a few at the top were still visible. It was easy to cover them though as they were right up next to the ornament lid and I placed a few little tendril stamps to cover the rest of the oops.

This is a pretty simple card, but I like it! Glad I didn’t toss the oops!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Season’s Greetings
Stamps: More Merry Messages, Ornament Keepsakes (SU); tendril from Strawberry Patch (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: White (PTI); Real Red, Gumball Green, Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip (SU);
Other: gold cord (SU); Ornament Keepsake die (SU);