Tag Archives: gender-neutral

Shiny Silver Snowflakes

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by karen @ carefree creations - Silver Snowflakes

I created this card for two challenges. First, the snowflake challenge from CASology. And second, the blue/silver color challenge from Crazy for CAS.

I used an old wind image and then the snowflakes are from silver paper and the sentiment is silver embossed.

This card was so hard to photograph! The snowflakes are from silver paper and it is so shiny – like mirror paper! Here is a different angle (and not really fixed up to show the card base as white).

by karen @ carefree creations - Silver Snowflakes

Crazy For CAS Winner
CASology Honorable Mention winner

Thanks for taking a peek!

Warm Winter Wishes
Stamps: Holiday Hug sentiment (MFT); Air Wave (All Night Media);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Spring Rain (PTI);
Other: Silver Paper (SU); silver embossing;
Technique: sketch: Freshly Made Sketch 112

Christmas Cheer

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It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #54 – colors.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #54

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Christmas Cheer

Once I got the stop light card out of my system (posted yesterday), I needed to move on to a card that had stamping!

I really like how the red and green drinks are up near “Christmas” in the greeting, and the yellow drink (think champagne) is near “New Year”.

Speaking of the sentiment. It is normally grunge-y (meaning it isn’t a “solid” image), but that meant it wasn’t bold enough for me. I fixed that by using a marker and filling in where the stamp had open spots. I couldn’t do “happy” justice enough as it was too fine a line (and my marker is not), but this is better than without!

I’ve loved the projects I’ve seen using the stripe embossing folder, but could never figure out when to use it. I’m so glad I tried it for this card – it really was the perfect accent!

It is hard to see, but I did add glitter to the bits between stripes on the embossed background:

kth_xmas_ChristmasCheer-detail

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).

Christmas Cheer
Stamps: Happy Hour, Christmas Messages (SU);
Ink/Cardstock: Real Red, Gumball Green, Crushed Curry (SU); White, Black (PTI);
Other: Stylish Stripes embossing folder (SU); Labels Two die (Spellbinders); Glitter pen (Spica);

You Make My Heart Stop

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by karen @ carefree creations - You Make My Heart Stop

Every time I put red, yellow, and green together, I think stop light (just like any time I put red, blue, and yellow together I think school) – even this time of year!

So this card just had to happen!

There is not a lick of stamping on this card and has a bit more layers than I normally go for, but I’m really happy with it.

And tomorrow you may see a card with these same colors 😉

Thanks for taking a peek!

You Make My Heart Stop
Stamps: NONE!
Ink/Cardstock: White, Black, Pure Poppy (PTI); Crushed Curry, Gumball Green (SU);
Other: Oatmeal Cookie font (2Peas); Rectangle die (Spellbinders); Gingham paper (PTI);

Christmas Joy

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Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. Confession – I am 41 and I don’t think I’ve ever cooked Thanksgiving all by myself…until now. Fingers crossed for me 🙂

It is time for another CAS Colours & Sketches challenge. Check out the latest challenge: #53 – sketch.

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #53

And here is my take:

by karen @ carefree creations - Christmas Joy

I decided to use stamping on this card to keep the layers down.

The pine bough at the top didn’t stamp fully. Instead of starting over, I filled-in, free-hand, with a marker of very similar color. Even in person, you’d have to know to look for it to find it. I’m not complimenting my skill, rather, encouraging you to try it next time a stamp doesn’t fully impress (if it doesn’t work, you haven’t lost anything).

Since I stretched the sketch to be an A2 instead of square, I chose to “add” the space at the bottom and not center the Joy panel. Also, my wheel stamps are the same size width, but I think visually the difference in color and density helps add weight.

Very simple card – and I’m quite happy with it!

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).

Joy
Stamps: Pine Bough Wheel (SU); Music Notes Wheel (SU);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Scarlet Jewel, Pinefeather (PTI);
Other: Wonderful Words: Joy die (PTI);

Gold & Green

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by karen @ carefree creations - Gold & Green

When it comes to metallic embossing, I prefer silver. But there is something about gold and green together at Christmastime!

This is my last design for the gift set. Now I just need the insides of all of them and get them packaged up and in the mail!

I have decided that Lil Inkers needs another stitched rectangle mat die set – with sizes in between the ones currently out. But until that happens, this set will get their work!

I chose to stamp/emboss the bow because I needed a flat card for mailing. I think if I was making this for myself, I’d use a touch of real ribbon.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Christmas Greetings
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes (SU); Hydrangea bow (PTI); Complements of the Season (Waltzing Mouse);
Ink/Cardstock: Pinefeather, White (PTI);
Other: Gold embossing powder (Filigree); Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder (SU); Stitched Rectangle mat die (Lil Inkers);

CAS(e) This Sketch

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I am so honored to be invited as a guest designer this week at CAS(e) This Sketch! Sketches are my favorite type of challenge – and CTS provides a perfect clean-and-simple layout every week! This week is:

CASe This Sketch #55

And here is my card:

by karen @ carefree creations - My Everything

Lately I’ve been seeing so many lovely projects using pattern paper that I was inspired to use some on my card.

I need to find a good ultra fine white embossing powder – does that exist? If so, please tell me! I would like to have embossed my sentiment but all I had was was to thick.

Thanks for taking a peek!

You Are My Moon
Stamps: Star Prints, Simply You (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: White, Fresh Snow, Simply Chartreuse (PTI); Tangerine Tango, Baja Blue (SU);
Other: patterned paper (My Minds Eye); Seeing Stars dies, Notched Star Banner (PTI); Stitched Rectangle Mat die (Lil Inkers);

Happiest of Holidays

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by karen @ carefree creations - Happiest of Holidays

This is my third attempt at the sponged silhouette card.

On my first attempt I stamped the sentiment too far from the tree – I think overlapping would have helped. I did have a couple folks give me some additional feedback on that card – thanks!!

My second attempt (not photographed) was basically this card, but the tree was embossed. Honestly, the only reason I scrapped that was because how warped the cardstock gets.

For this final iteration, I used a mask. It was a complete pain to cut-out the tree mask (the die wasn’t quite detailed enough to use that), but it was totally worth it. The only down-side was that, since I made 4 cards, the mask was trashed when I was done — too much ink. Next time I decide to mass-produce with masks I’ll make sure I give the mask time to dry between uses.

Now I just have 1 more card to design and my gift set is done!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happiest of Holidays
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: In the Meadow, Think Big Favorites #20 (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain, White (PTI);
Other: Eclipse mask paper;
Technique: masking

Holly Jolly

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by karen @ carefree creations - Holly Jolly

Just another gift Christmas card.

The berries have stickles over them to give a tiny bit of sparkle.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Holly Jolly
Stamps: Mistletoe & Holly (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Garden Green (SU); White, Black (PTI);
Other: Frosted Lace Stickles (Ranger);

You Are My Sunshine

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by karen @ carefree creations - My Sunshine
I am sneaking this card into the CASology – Triangle challenge…with just a few hours to spare!

It took me a long time to find something “triangle” in my stash. I don’t buy into the triangle trend so I didn’t have a set that would just work. And despite the DT’s creative takes on the challenge, my brain didn’t want to find triangles in unexpected places 🙂

After perusing my pinterest board, I did finally see a photo that triggered a thought: sunshine. I knew I had a set that had sun rays and thankfully they were even triangle shaped!

Thanks for taking a peek!

You Are My Sunshine
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Sending Sunshine;
Ink/Cardstock: White, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate;
Other: Diamonds impression plate;

Snow Globe

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by karen @ carefree creations - Tree Snow Globe

I created this card for the latest CAS(e) This Sketch.

I’m not sure if I’m going to make a few more of these for my friend, or just leave it as a one-off for my own stash. It is cute, but I try to make fairly conventional cards for my friend (her family isn’t initiated to the creativity that can be card-making ;).

Thanks for taking a peek!

merry christmas
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Winter Snow Globe (PTI);
Ink/Cardstock: Blueberry Sky, White, Enchanted Evening (PTI); Unicorn White (Hero Arts); Rich Cocoa (Memento/Tsukineko);
Other: Winter Snow Globe die (PTI); G24 & Y02 markers (Copic);