Modern Christmas Thank You Note

November 17, 2018 Karen Brown8 Comments

I am trying to stay ahead so I began creating my holiday thank you notes. The idea for this card came to me over several days. I won a challenge this summer and the prize was a gift certificate to Visible Images. I selected several stamp sets and thought it would be fun to do a modern card using some of the circles and spheres that came in the sets. Aqua and red are perfect for this time of year.

I embossed all the images in silver on watercolor paper and used just two watercolor hues. I changed the shades by adding more water to the areas I wanted less intense, so while I had just two colors on my pallet, I had several pools of aqua and red in varying shades to work from. I added a strip of aqua to the edge to accent the colors. I love the shine and shimmer from the silver embossing powder.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Color Throwdown #519 Challenge I got my color inspirations from this challenge. I had been pondering aqua and apple green, but when I saw this challenge I knew I wanted to use red and aqua.

Simply Less is More #384 Metallics Challenge I love their metallic prompt!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Elegant Card That Could Be Easily Duplicated

November 15, 2018 Karen Brown5 Comments

I found some beautiful thick deep red A2 cards and thought they would be so pretty embossed.

I chose Pink and Main Christmas Mugs. I loved the mugs last year when I saw them on Instagram and I ordered them for myself this fall.

Pink and Main Christmas Mugs homemade card.

This is a rich elegant looking card that would be easy to mass produce. I put a liner inside to make writing more legible.

I am entering this card in:
Less is More \”Metallic\” Challenge

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge and I went with the optional CAS twist!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Happy Birthday "Cheers" Card

November 10, 2018 Karen Brown4 Comments

I have a friend whose birthday is in December and she has a party every year with the subtitle \”Midweek Merrymaking\”. She loves to try new cocktails so I thought she would like this CAS card. I am looking forward to giving it to her next month.

V04, B00 & YG01

I stamped three beverages from \”Raise a Glass\” by Clearly Besotted, then colored with Copic markers. I really like the color combination of V04, B00 and YG01. I fussy cut the images, added a bit of gloss using Nuvo Tonic Clear Glaze and put them away to dry. I then took an A2 card and scored two lines above and below where I wanted to attach the cut-outs. I thought this would frame my focal point. Next, I heat embossed a sentiment and adhered all 4 pieces with 3D foam squares. Last, I stamped Happy Birthday inside the card.

Closeup to show the glaze shine and scored border

I should do this more often, but I took a picture of the supplies I used

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

CAS on Friday Challenge 145

For your blog

Seize The Birthday #154 – I went all the way and used the CAS \”Topping\”.

Casual Friday #212 Challenge

UPDATE: I was very excited to learn that my CAS card was selected as the Challenge Winner for Seize the Birthday!

…and as a CAS on Friday Favorite!

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen

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Corgi Birthday Card

November 3, 2018 Karen Brown7 Comments

For Christmas and Birthdays, my daughters like to receive a collection of handmade cards that they can give throughout the year. Kristen has the most adorable Corgi named Newton so I know she will like this Corgi themed set.

This is a simple CAS card with a pop of dimension from the sequins. A nice thing about this card is that it is appropriate to send to just about anyone….it can be a masculine card, for a child or a girlfriend.

The stamp set is Corgi2stamp from Stamps of Life. I made four versions of this card, but this one is colored with Copic markers and embellished with cheerful red sequins.

Newton the Corgi

I am entering this card in two challenges:

Color Throwdown 517

Less is More – Dimension

Cupcake Inspiration 457

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Watercolor Anemones

November 2, 2018 Karen Brown7 Comments

I\’ve been off for a bit because we hosted my daughter\’s wedding in our backyard and then we went on a lovely extended vacation to The Outer Banks. We are back home now and I\’ve been working on several projects. I especially like this card.

I was in a watercolor mood and wanted to play with a three color palette. I love how pink, yellow and orange combine. I started by gold embossing Jane\’s Doodles Anemone on watercolor paper. I wanted each flower to be slightly different and selected Daniel Smith\’s Quinacridone Pink, Cad. Yellow Deep Hue and Cad Red Scarlet Hue. I love how vibrant the colors are!

$Jane\'s Doodles Anemones$

I finished the card with pink, orange and yellow paint spatters. I always love that look on other people\’s cards but don\’t often use it on my own.

I included this second picture because I love the gold shimmery glow the heat embossing creates.

I\’ve entered this card in:
The Watercooler Wednesday \”Anything Goes\” Challenge. I love their prompts and frequently submit a card.

Addicted to Stamps Anything Goes Challenge I love their broad prompts which make it easy to play along.

Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge I go through a lot of Get Well cards so this Challenge is great for me.

Update: I was so pleased to see that I was selected as a Watercolour Challenge Favourite at Happy Little Stampers!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

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Handsome Mutt Handmade Card

September 13, 2018 Karen Brown3 Comments

My daughter adopted a rescue mutt. Tank is a very handsome dog, but since he is not a purebred I had not been able to find a stamp that looks like him. At a Craft Convention I found Friends4Cookie by Stamps of Life and bought the set immediately, because Cookie looks like Tank. So, of course I wanted to make a card for my daughter.

Handmade Card featuring a mutt mixed breed rescue dog.

Adorable Mixed Breed Mutt

Since Tank is a reddish brown color, I thought a bright background would make the card more interesting. I used distress ink mini cubes and a wide flat brush to paint a messy rainbow brushstroke background.

I stamped and colored Cookie/Tank, fussy cut the image and then went along the edge with a brown Copic so he wouldn\’t have a white edge. I thought the sentiment was cute so I fussy cut and mounted it as well.

I am entering this card in Card Concepts Colorful Basics Challenge
I was drawn to the rainbow stripes in the inspiration photo. I think my card fits best in the Clean and Layered category.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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CAS Floral Card

September 12, 2018 Karen Brown7 Comments

My daughter is getting married this month and my sister is hosting a Bridesmaid\’s luncheon for Kristen. I wanted to make a thank you card to go with the hostess gift. I had a Catherine Scanlon (Clara Paisley) stamp set that I hadn\’t used yet so I decided to play with it. I was VERY pleased with the clean and simple finished card.

I found a Copic color scheme that I really like: V04, B02 and YG01. Just three colors and very easy to stamp, color and duplicate.

I am looking forward to giving this card to my sister.

I am entering this card in:
CAS #141 Flowers Challenge

Addicted to Stamps Clean and Simple Challenge

Muse Card Challenge #282. I focused on:

The floral theme
Simple color palette
CAS design.

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Handmade Get Well Card

September 8, 2018 Karen Brown1 Comment

Its time to replenish my stash of homemade get well cards.

I started by making a background with a stencil and Distress Ink and then stamped the Feel Better sentiment. Next, I stamped and colored four images from Lawn Fawn\’s Get Well Soon set. I fussy cut the images, topped the red lids with Nuvo Crystal Glaze for some shine and used foam squares to adhere them to the card base.

My color inspiration came from the current Color Throw Down #509 challenge, which uses vibrant red, orange and blue.

Update: I was pleased to see this card featured on the Color Throwdown site!

I think the result is a cheery little card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Celebrate

September 1, 2018 Karen Brown5 Comments

Aren\’t celebrations wonderful? I made two similar cards, one for graduation (purple and white are the school colors) and one for a friend who was promoted and being transferred. I loved ending with \”see you later\” at the bottom. I dug through all my sentiments and selected the ones I thought appropriate I decided a rainbow cascade of sentiments would be festive and fun so I started with purple and worked my way down.

To add a little extra interest, I used distress ink to make a purple accent strip along the right edge. I then added some sequins and gems to finish the card. I am happy with the way the cards turned out and think I will try something similar again in the future because it is always surprising how many graduation cards I need every year.

I am entering the cards in the:

Just Us Girls Celebrate Challenge

Watercooler Anything Goes Challenge

Addicted To Stamps Make Your Mark

UPDATE: I was pleased to learn that this card was selected as a Watercooler Rocker!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Bright Welcome Card

August 26, 2018 Karen Brown7 Comments

In June, I entered The Dare2B Artzy Bold Colors Challenge and I won some lovely prizes. I selected The Home Sweet Home stamp set, which is fun and whimsical.

My mother-in-law just moved to an Assisted Living Senior Center and I wanted to make her a cheery welcome card so I started by embossing the homes, trees and sentiment in black. Next, I picked out my favorite bright bold watercolor marker pens and started adding color.

This was my first time using Bristol paper but the watercolors worked great! I am happy with the result and my mother-in-law has the card displayed on her book case.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Dare2B Artzy Anything Goes Challenge