Handmade Halloween Card

July 28, 2018 Karen Brown3 Comments

My daughter is getting married in September so I am getting an early start on Halloween cards. I think this Art Impressions image is so fun!

Handmade Halloween Card using watercolor markers.

I embossed the haunted house and then colored with vividly hued watercolor markers. I also made a coordinating envelop from a Penny Black Halloween stamp set.

I am entering this card in:

Watercooler Wednesday Holiday Challenge

Addicted to Stamps Make Your Mark

Update:
I was very excited to learn that my Halloween card was chosen as a \”Watercooler Rocker\”.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Linear Pattern Stamping

July 24, 2018 Karen Brown1 Comment

I love the look of linear pattern stamping and think the horizontal (coffee cups) and vertical (cupcakes) stripes emphasizes the linear look. I used an acrylic block and grid paper (instead of a Misti) to hand stamp the images (Altenew Tea Time).

The coloring went very fast as I only used four colors and no blending:
Y35
BG05
RV23
YG25
N1 to outline

Being a birthday card, I wanted to add a cake (Jane\’s Doodles Party Time) to the Sentiment (SSS Brush Stroke Messages). I mounted on a grey card, adhered a white insert inside and added a \”celebrate\” sentiment.

This card is for one of my best friends and I am entering it in the following challenges:

Seize the Birthday Stripes Challenge

Always Happy Birthday (Optional Cake) Challenge

Update: This card was chosen as a \”Top Pick\” for the Always Happy Birthday July Challenge

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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Yappy Birthday

June 3, 2018 Karen Brown3 Comments

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

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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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Masculine Handmade Card

May 21, 2018 Karen Brown3 Comments

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.

Handmade Masculine Card using Clearly Besotted Raise a Glass Stamp Set.

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

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Corgi Card for Terminally Ill Friend

May 12, 2018 Karen Brown1 Comment

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

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Make a Wish

May 2, 2018 Karen Brown2 Comments

I went to the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo, my first card making convention, and I found a Stamp Company that I really liked – Rubbernecker Stamps. I LOVED this candle set and also bought the frame stamp. I am entering this card in the Cards in Envy Birthday Party Time Challenge

Handmade card using Rubbernecker Stamps Candle Set.

I stamped the frame, then the candles and colored with Copic markers. I like that this card could be given to just about anyone so it is great to have on hand.

Stamps Used:

Rubbernecker Candle Set
Rubbernecker Three Line Frame
Simon Says Stamp Brush Stroke Messages (sentiment)

Update:

My card was selected as an \”in the mailbox\” favorite in the Card Envy challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Watercolor Birthday Cake

April 27, 2018 Karen Brown4 Comments

I designed this card for the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge #84. I saw this challenge several days ago and I had so many ideas that I needed to ponder my card for a while. I knew I wanted to make a birthday card and yesterday I decided to use my just purchased gold embossing powder for a watercolor card. I designed it for my girly-girl sister\’s upcoming birthday.

Here is the inspiration graphic:
Inspired By All The Little Things #84

For my card, I focused on:

The Cake Theme
The Pink, Turquoise/Aqua, Purple Color Scheme

This is my first time using this new to me stamp set – Happy Day from Concord & 9th. I used Daniel Smith watercolors in Quinacrindone Pink, Quinacrindone Purple, Ultramarine Turquoise, and Green Gold. The embossing powder is Ranger Princess Gold.

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

UPDATE:
I am very excited that my card was chosen \”Inspiring Stand Out\” in the Inspired by All The Little Things\” challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen

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Mother\’s Day Card

April 22, 2018 Karen Brown2 Comments

I am very excited about the Mother\’s Day card I created for my Mom. I used the In Bloom Stamp Set from Create a Smile.

$Handmade Mother\'s Day Card$

I colored the flowers with Copic Markers and then fussy cut them out. On card stock I added some paint splatters and then adhered each piece with adhesive foam squares. Next, I embossed the sentiment (Hero Arts) on a strip of black card stock and then mounted on the card. I am happy with the card and can\’t wait to share with my mother.

I am entering the card in the Create A Smile Challenge:
Create A Smile Floral Challenge

Update:
I am very excited that I was chosen as the winner in this Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by.
Karen