Corgis are the Best

My daughter has the most adorable Corgi, so I wanted  her birthday card to feature her beloved "Newton".  I recently purchased the MFT Lucky Dog  set so that I would have a Corgi stamp.  I thought a clean and simple card with just Newton colored (and emphasized) would be a fun look.

I am happy with the way the card turned out and am entering it in several challenges:

Casology "Jumpy"Challenge

Muse Challenge 271 (focusing on the dog, birthday and "subjects in a row" themes)

MFT Birthday Project Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Create a Smile Fruit Salad Card

I was invited to be a guest designer for the next Create a Smile Challenge so I've been  busy playing with their fun summery stamp set, Fruit Salad. Summer is my favorite season and I love bright bold colors which work perfectly with this stamp set.

I started by embossing 5 of the fruit stamps plus the sentiment on white card stock.  Next, I colored the images with Copic markers.  I love how bright and lively they turned out.  I wanted the sentiment to be vibrant and summery as well so I selected SSS Big Greetings so that I could color Happy Birthday.  Next I trimmed the card down and mounted on a black card so the embossing would really pop.

I am linking this card to the following challenges:
CAS on Friday Embossing Challenge
Dare2BArtsy Bright Colors

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Yappy Birthday

There's not much better than a card with puppies on it.  I needed some more birthday cards and since I usually send the ones with puppies first, I thought I better come up with a new design.  AAA cards is celebrating their 4th birthday so I an entering this card in their CAS Big Birthday Bash Challenge

I drew two pencil lines so that I could keep my stamped images aligned in a band.  I used Mama Elephant's Playful Pups, which was one of the first stamp set I purchased, and is still a favorite.  I colored with Copic markers and like the simple color scheme.

Happy Birthday AAA CAS Card Challenge!

UPDATE:
I am so excited to learn that my card won 1st place in the challenge!



AAA Cards Challenge Results

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen

Experimenting with New Techniques

Lots of experimentation on this card.  I was interested in entering the Muse Challenge #268 so I spent a day thinking about what direction my card should take.  I knew I would use the floral theme, but the rest came to me in bits and pieces.

Ultimately, I chose to focus on the following:

• Pink and Green Color Scheme
• Embossing
• Black Sentiment Band
• Floral Theme

What I changed:

• I've never done pink embossing but had been thinking about trying it for a while. The pink flowers seemed to be the perfect time.  I wasn't sure if my method would work, but I used Color Box Pink Pigment Ink and clear embossed on top.  I think it turned out bright and cheery, which is a plus for a Get Well card.
• The flower and  leaf looked bland on a white card base so I made a custom background.  Again, I've never done this before, but I used my Green Apple Inktense watercolor pencil and made a lightly striated background to complement the Copic greens.   

I used my new favorite stamp set:  Botanical Love By Create a Smile.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Happily Ever After Card for a Bridal Shower

It is wedding season so I've been creating cards for Bridal Showers.    In anticipation of designing for brides, I ordered SSS's Floral Bliss stamp set and created three different cards.  I am entering this card in the Watercooler Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge .  I am especially happy with how this particular card turned out.  I love the slate cardstock behind the brightly colored flowers. 

I stamped the image and some extra flowers and leaves so I could add dimension.  I colored  with Copic markers and then fussy cut everything. The bride's favorite color is blue so I wanted to use some pretty blue colors.    I like to use my teflon bone tool to smooth everything out after I am done cutting.  I arranged and then adhered with foam tape.  I love the sentiment, which I heat embossed.  

Since the cardstock is dark, I glued a white insert to the inside so I could write my message.  My daughter is a Bridesmaid in her friend's wedding and we are hosting the shower together at our home so I wanted to make sure we had a special card.

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen

Analogous Botanical Love Card

I've been wanting to create a card using analogous coloring, so I sat down today and came up with this design.  I am entering it in the  Just Add Ink Inspiration Challenge.  I selected Create a Smile's Botanical Love because of the dot accents on each of the floral images which paired nicely with the circles in the inspiration photo.  The photo also had a flower on the wall and small arrangement on the cubby unit so that reinforced my decision to make a floral card.    I loved the inspiration color scheme and used it in executing my analogous coloring  (Y17 for yellow,  RV4 for the pink, YR2 for the light orange and BG23 for the aqua).

 The WPlus9 Doodle Buds sentiment is one of my favorites.  This is going to be a birthday card and there is a birthday sentiment inside.

UPDATE:
My card was chosen as "Honorable Mention" by Just Add Ink.  This were the comments they posted: "Here's what some of the design team had to say...

"Seamless colours transitions and bright beautiful colours make this a one layer beauty!"

"The black details and vibrant colours really make this lovely scene pop"

 "Lovely bright flowers, beautifully coloured"

Thanks for stopping by today!
Karen

Masculine Handmade Card

Masculine cards are the most challenging to create.  I made this card for my friend Rob's birthday.  Rob likes to craft handmade cocktails when he hosts parties so I though this "Raise A Glass"  card would be perfect for him.  I did pattern stamping and really like the clean modern look.   I am entering this card into The Watercooler Wednesday Masculine Card Challenge.

The hardest part about making this card was deciding which color to put on each glass.  I finally thought about using the tops to my Copic markers so I could move them around until I got the layout the way I wanted.  I am sure other people have done this too, but I am fairly new to cardmaking and don't know all the tricks.

I used a new to me stamp set by Clearly Besotted called Raise a Glass.  I colored in the images with the Copic colors shown above.   I then adhered to a neutral grey card.

UPDATE:  My card was selected as a "Rocker" in the Watercooler Challenge.




Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

SSS Abby's Spring Showers with MFT Lucky Dog Card

I have two daughters and I wanted to send them each a personalized card.  My youngest has blond hair and lives with a 95 pound rescue dog named "Tank".

 My oldest has brown hair and lives with the most adorable Corgi named "Newton".

I've entered my card in: Addicted to Stamps Make Your Mark Challenge Link

  

I used SSS Abby's Spring Showers for each of the girls and MFT Lucky Dog for both pups.  I colored each card with Copic Markers.   I also "made my mark" and colored in  the sentiment for a brighter look.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Fruit Salad Birthday Card

I just received this new stamp set (Fruit Salad by Create A Smile) and wanted to play a bit.  I saw that The Paper Players Blog was having a color challenge so I selected those four colors as my inspiration.  Paper Players Card Challenge

 I embossed 5 of the fruit images and then watercolored them with Tombow markers.  I thought the card panel was missing something, so I used distress ink to make a coordinating edge on a scrap of cardstock.  Next I embossed a birthday sentiment on black cardstock and trimmed one edge at an angle.  I assembled  the card and it is ready to send to a girlfriend who has a June birthday.

Fruit Salad Stamps from Create a Smile

The stamps are from a set called Fruit Salad by Create a Smile.

The sentiment comes from a favorite set called Big Greetings from Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Corgi Card for Terminally Ill Friend

I have been sending cards to a friend with cancer, but now that his prognosis is terminal, I have changed the type of handmade card I am creating.  Get well cards are no longer appropriate, but I still want my friend to know I am thinking about him.  My friend loves dogs (and dogs love him!) so I thought this cute Corgi would help brighten his day.  I used the MFT (My Favorite Things) Lucky Dog stamp set with the great sentiment "Just Bepaws I  Care".

I am entering this card in the CAS on Friday Challenge #132 where the prompt this week is "Cute".  Very few things are cuter that a Corgi.

I Stamped the Corgi, colored him in with Copic Markers and then fussy cut the pup.  Next, I embossed the sentiment on black card stock.  I thought a clean and simple layout would work best so that the emphasis was on the dog and the sentiment.

Handmade Corgi Card

UPDATE:  Our cute Corgi Card was chosen as a "Top 3" for the CAS on Friday Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,

Karen Brown

Wild Whimsical Encouraging Animals

Who doesn't want to receive an encouraging card?  My daughter opened her own marketing firm a year ago and I wanted to send her a card for her first anniversary.  Giraffes are her favorite animal so I went with Simon Says Stamp's Stacking Animals.  I am entering this card in the  Time Out Challenge #108 WILD

I think pattern stamping is fun and festive so I went with that technique.  I colored the animals with Copic markers and then added Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the hearts and beaks to make them pop.

Thanks for stopping by.

Karen Brown