Karen Creates Cards: April 2014

29 April 2014

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #106 - Use a Gingerbread man or woman on your Christmas card.

This week, the Merry Monday Challenge is to use a gingerbread man or woman on your Christmas Card. This is Kristie's challenge, have a look at the fabulous image she has chosen to inspire you.

I found a wonderful, wee, free Gingerbread man here. I think he is really sweet. I coloured him up, gave him a 3D bow tie, some pearl buttons and a white gel pen, dotty edge. I loved the heart in the image so he is holding two from a SSS set of dies. The stitched circles and holly leaves are from Lil' Inker. The lacy border is a Martha Stewart punch, the wee soft leaves are a Carl hand punch, and the green DP is a scrap. The sentiment is an old Hero Arts wood stamp.

See what the design team have created to inspire you by going to the challenge site (link above) or by clicking on the links below.

Karen Davis (you're here)

This month's featured designer is Jennifer Timko

Thanks for dropping by :)

22 April 2014

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #105 - Use a word or words and decorate each letter on your Christmas card.

Hi there! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter :-) Have you promised yourself never to eat chocolate again?

I haven't had an egg, but have to admit, it is not for health reasons. LOL I only eat dark chocolate that is kept in the fridge or freezer. My favorite egg is a dark chocolate marshmallow Easter egg, but I haven't been able to find them for some years! So I am safe.

For this Merry Monday Challenge, Sue has asked us to use decorated letters on our Christmas card !! What fun :-)

I decided to go a little shabby this time. I have always thought myself to be a shabby girl at heart, but the cards I have made in the last year have a much 'cleaner' look....hmmmmm?????

The base card is sage Bazzill, I have inked the edges with white pigment ink. The pink layer is a music DP, and the white is Neenah that has had a little Golden fluid acrylic cream and white paint scrapped over them with a palette knife. The edges are distressed with a Making Memories distressing tool.

I have several foam alphabet sets from Making Memories purchased eight or so years ago. My favorite is the Philadelphia alphabet, it has upper and lower case. On a piece of Neenah I inked five 'bars' of watered die ink. I stamped the letters, firstly in black Versafine, then overstamped with a good layer of white acrylic paint. I love the effect. I cut out each individual letter and mounted them on foam.

The holly leaves and berries are from hand punches, and the sentiment is SSS.

See what the design team have created to inspire you by going to the challenge site (link above) or by clicking on the links below.

Karen Davis (you're here)

This month's featured designer is Jennifer Timko

Thanks for dropping by :)

17 April 2014

The Card Concept Challenge #8 - Use an umbrella on your card

Hello everyone :-) My goodness, the Card Concept gallery was seriously overflowing with gorgeous butterfly cards for the last challenge, and I had to pick one!! I wanted to pick so many...............hmmmmm!

I wonder if umbrellas will be as popular. Join us for this Card Concept Challenge and put an umbrella on your card.

I didn't have an umbrella stamp, so off to the net I went, looking for an umbrella for the Silhouette. I found one here. The base is cut in white. The three sections are cut in white, coloured with Versamagic then overlaid on the base. The Stitched rectangle and Scallop border are from Lil'Inker, the clouds from My Creative Time and the sentiment from Hero Arts. Clouds are coloured with Versamagic. Sentiment is Versafine. The grey and white strip is paper pieced on Double sided sticky Jac paper. I thought this suggested curtains of rain disappearing as the sunshine made its way toward the recipient!! OK, may be overdoing it there!! :-) Anyway, take a look..............

If you are stuck for inspiration check out this Pinterest search, who knew whole boards would be dedicated to umbrella cards!!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Catch you in a few weeks.

I hope USA and Canada have dry feet now after your hard Winter. After a long dry Summer here (New Zealand), with just the odd 10 minute shower, we now have torrential rain and gale force
winds, yuk!

15 April 2014

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #104 - Use the the colours Slate, Kraft and White or Cream on your Christmas card.

It is my turn to challenge our wonderful cardmakers on Merry Monday this week. I have gone for non-traditional colours, but perhaps not so non-traditional for our Scandinavian friends. I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

For my card I have used, Basic linen textured Bazzill for the base card, Kraft from PTI, spots from MME, and a metallic blue/grey, embossed white and a PTI kraft for the banners. The Lil'Inker stitched square is Neenah white, the trees are Dies and Stamps from PTI. The card is finished with silver ribbon, rhinestones and enamel dots.

See what the design team have created to inspire you by going to the challenge site (link above) or by clicking on the links below.

Karen Davis (you're here)

This month's featured designer is Jennifer Timko

Thanks for dropping by.

08 April 2014

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #103 - Use a snowman on your Christmas card.

Hello there! Are you ready for another Merry Monday Challenge? This week we have a snowman theme, so roll out those lovely snowmen stamps and create a card featuring these gorgeous wee fellas. For me they seem quite mythical, as I have never seen a real one, so stamping is as close as I will ever get to a snowman.

My card started with my own snowman design/image, I have used him before here, but this time I was able to import him into the Silhouette program and set him up for print and cut. So excited about this.
I still like to hand colour him though (rather than colour him on the computer), I like the organic feel of my rough colouring.
I forgot to dust the image before I white embossed the hat brim etc and managed to get powder all over the show. I decided not to clean it off because it looked like sprinkled snow to me.
His stitched circle is made with two Lil' Inker circle dies.
The large leaves are Quickutz, the small leaves are a hand punch, and the snowflake and scallop strip are Lil' Inker. The Sentiment is Hero Arts.

See what the design team have created to inspire you by going to the challenge site (link above) or by clicking on the links below.

Karen Davis (you're here)

This month's featured designer is Jennifer Timko

I look forward to seeing what you create for the gallery, have a good week.

03 April 2014

The Card Concept Challenge #7 - Use a Butterfly on your card

This weeks inspiration photo for The Card Concept Challenge is so gorgeous, I predict a large gallery of beautiful cards featuring this very popular subject. Have fun with butterflies.

Here is my card inspired (rather directly) by the inspiration photo. For some reason ( I am not a very well informed photographer) my image proportions are shorter and wider than the actual card. I will have to get to the bottom of this?? I am sure my mirrors do this to me as well!!

When I looked at the inspiration image, the elements that popped into my mind were the butterfly (hmmmm!), wood grain, trellis and curly cues. I added a light splatter of turquoise ink (still trying to control those little suckers) and a few wee sequins. The button with twine and the two studs from Prima finished the card off. I am not sure who the butterfly is from. Its an old set of red rubber cling stamps. The trellis is Spellbinders and the sentiment is Hero Arts.

Have fun creating over the next two weeks. Stay safe.

01 April 2014

CASE Study Challenge #184 Casing Joni once again!!

I just had to squeeze in some time to case Joni again on the Case Study challenge blog. I adore this card, I can remember gasping when I saw it!! :-)

I loved the vellum leaves, the colour and the format so kept those. Here is my rendition.

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #102 - Use or create Mistletoe on your Christmas card.

One quarter of the year has gone!! As I close in on 60 (yikes!!), time seems to be rushing by faster than ever. It's not true of course, that clock ticks at the same rate as it always has. However, I have found time spent making cards seems to slow that minute hand down, for a short time anyway........you breath, contemplate and create. I am sure it's like balm to the brain. LOL

With this in mind, how about joining us for this Merry Monday Challenge to create or use mistletoe on a card. Slow down for a while, and immerse yourself totally in the process.

For my card, I decided I could use these leaves (which are one of three branches on a Quickutz die) to create my Mistletoe. A few pearls created the berries. I wanted something other than a diecut frame for the card so I stamped and hand cut this lovely Frame stamp from Hero Arts. Once I had assembled these items it was just a matter of layering and adding a sentiment.