WWC220 – Kath\’s "All About Occasions" Challenge

May 8, 2019 Karen Brown1 Comment

Happy Wednesday and thank you for stopping by. It is All About Occasions on the Watercooler Website and Kath is our hostess this week.

$Simon Says Stamp Create A Smile In Bloom floral Mother\'s Day Card.$

This is the Mother\’s Day card I made for my mother-in-law. I embossed the blooms and leaves from Create a Smile\’s In Bloom. I love these large bold flowers! Then I used distress ink (wilted violet, salty ocean, twisted citron, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin) on an ink blender to color each image. I buffed and let dry. Finally, I fussy cut each image. I really need to order the die cuts for this much used set.

Next, I stamped a background using SSS\’s Brush Stroke Messages. I adhered the flowers and leaves using foam tape for dimension. Last I popped on the sentiment and added SSS sequins and Pretty Pink Posh jewels.

I am joining Simon Says Stamp\’s Wednesday \”For a Special Lady\” Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
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Create A Smile Guest Designer – Spring Citrus

March 6, 2019 Karen Brown3 Comments

It\’s citrus season here in Texas and that inspired me to make a bright cheery citrus themed card. I was invited to be a Guest Designer for Create-A-Smile stamps and I used one of my favorite stamp sets, Fruit Salad. For this card, I chose to use only the citrus stamps. The theme for their current challenge is \”Stamp a Background\”.

Watercolor stamped background in yellow and lime green.

I started by embossing the three citrus images on Brisol cardstock. Next, I used my Kuretake Watercolors to paint a watery lemon-yellow base and then dropped in more concentrated lemon yellow. I wanted a messy watercolor background so the lime green (sap green light) was placed here and there.

I let the panel dry overnight and then I used a stitched die to trim the card down slightly. I also cut an interior stitched frame out of white cardstock. I glued the white frame and the watercolor panel to a white A2 card. I die cut the \”thanks\” sentiment twice, glued them together and placed it at the bottom of the frame.

Rainbow Card \”Yellow Challenge\” My first time to enter this challenge…mostly yellow with a bit of yellow-green splashed in.

Pile it On Favorite Color Challenge I just love the color yellow because it is so happy and warm.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge It is citrus season in Texas so it is sunny and warm. 🙂

I love how bright and happy this card turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

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WWC208 – Charlotte\’s "All About Occasions" Challenge

February 13, 2019 Karen Brown6 Comments

Here at Watercooler Wednesday, we are hosting our All About Occasions Challenge.. Birthday, Anniversary, Graduation, there are so many themes you can use to enter.

I purchased Gina K\’s Wreath Builder Stencil a while back and thought it would make a pretty background behind some large blooms from the Create a Smile Botanical Love and In Bloom stamp sets. These are two of my “go-to” floral stamp sets. This is a birthday card for one of my girlfriends.

Create a Smile In Bloom and Botanical Love stamp sets.

I stamped the background wreath off center and then trimmed the card base down to 4 x 5 1/4\”. Next I stamped, Copic colored and fussy cut the two blooms and adhered with foam tape. I popped it on a coordinating lavender A2 card and it was ready to send.

I am entering this card in The Create a Smile Friends Challenge. I made this card for one of my girlfriends. UPDATE: This card was selected as a \”Featured Artist\” at Create a Smile.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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WWC206 – Anything Goes Challenge

January 30, 2019 Karen Brown5 Comments

Its time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week is the bonus 5th week of the month so we have our broad \”Anything Goes\” prompt. To find out more, please pop on over to the Watercooler Wednesday website.

A while back I watched a Jennifer McGuire video about one layer \”Framed Stamping\” and thought I would give it a try. I loved the last card she did where there was coordinating outline stamping outside the frame. Jennifer McGuire Framed Stamping Video link.

I used the Create the Smile Botanical Love (love that daisy!) and In Bloom sets and then hand drew in the black frame. For the outline outside the frame I used pink dye ink I then colored with Copic markers. Pretty effect.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Create a Smile Challenge L is for (Botanical) LOVE! Create-a-Smile florals are definitely favorite stamps sets.

Tuesday Throwdown – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Bright Summery Card for a Girlfriend

July 7, 2018 Karen Brown6 Comments

I have been mentally designing a card with linear pattern stamping using citrus fruits. I tried a couple different patterns and selected this one. I usually use my misti, but I stamped this card freehand using an acrylic block. To save time, I put all three stamps on the block and stamped across the card.

Create a Smile Fruit Salad Stamp Set

I colored the images with Copic markers using the YR02, Y06 and YG01 which are bright citrusy colors.There are a lot of images, but the coloring went surprisingly fast. I used Sakura Gel Pens for the rind on the lime and orange images. I debated whether to outline the fruit in gray but opted to keep the card fresh and bright instead. If I had made two cards, I would have tried one each way to see which I preferred.

I embossed two Happy Birthday sentiments and decided I liked the smaller font on this card. I added a few sequins and I was done!

Handmade card featuring lemons, limes and oranges.

This card will go to one of my girlfriends whose birthday is in August.

I am entering this cheerful, summery birthday card in the following challenges:

Just Us Girls Citrus Challenge

Watercooler Wednesday Feminine Anything Goes Challenge

Seize the Birthday Sequin Challenge

TGIF Color Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Ink Blending for Summertime

June 23, 2018 Karen Brown4 Comments

I was in the mood to do some ink blending and this fruit collection (Create a Smile Fruit Salad) was calling to me. This is such a fun summery stamp set and I wanted bright bold colors.

I started by embossing 5 fruit images and then used distress inks to blend from pink (watermelon) to orange, yellow (lemons and bananas) and ended with green for a nice citrusy lime. I wanted contrast so I mounted the fruit band on white cardstock then drew two black Sharpie lines to frame the colors. Lastly, I mounted the card top on a black base.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

TGIF Summer Inspiration Challenge which features a photo of a bright Lemonade Stand for inspiration. I went with the bright colors and citrus theme.

Addicted to Stamps Make Your Mark Challenge so make your mark and play along.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Create a Smile Fruit Salad Card

June 6, 2018 Karen Brown2 Comments

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

Update: I was so excited to learn that I won the Dare2BArtzy Bold Colors Challenge (Winners Page) They offer a beautiful prize of one stamp set and one ink pad. I chose their whimsical Home Sweet Home Stamp set and Blue Sky Ink Pad.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

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Experimenting with New Techniques

June 2, 2018 Karen Brown5 Comments

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

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Analogous Botanical Love Card

May 26, 2018 Karen Brown4 Comments

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).

Analogous coloring using Create a Smile Stamps.

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

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Fruit Salad Birthday Card

May 17, 2018 Karen Brown1 Comment

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.