Sweet 'n Sassy Think Spring Customer Blog Hop

Hi Everyone,

Before I get started with my Hop card, I would like to say a great big "Hello" to Shelley at Dr. Chang's office. (This is my husband's Radiation doctor.) Shelley is a card maker and blogger. Hi Shelley!! Thanks for stopping by!!


Now, on with the Hop. The Sweet N Sassy Think Spring Customer Blog Hop begins today. Check out all the details here.



Anyone can participate. ALL blog hop participants (those who participate in the hop as bloggers, NOT just hoppers) will receive a FREE digi stamp. A grand prize of a $25 shopping spree to Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps will be awarded to ONE randomly drawn name from ALL of the blog hop comments and announced on the SNSS blog on Monday, March 14th.


My project is a Spring themed card. I used the Birds and Roses Set. I tried out several images and coloring techniques. I stamped and embossed, stamped with Stazon, and tried different colors. I tried coloring with chalks and watercolor pencils. Here are some of the examples.



















The two images above were stamped and heat embossed. I think they would be very pretty uncolored.















The image on the left was colored with chalks and the image on the right with watercolor pencils. These turned out nice and I will use them on some Mother's Day Cards. I finally ended up with the card below.

This image was stamped with Stazon and water colored with Distress Inks (Ranger). I used a wet brush. The ink colors are so soft and muted. I think I like this version the best.

CS: Blushing Bride (Stampin' Up) and White

DP: K & Company

For accents. I added a strip of CS punch with a Stampin' Up edge punch, a sheer white ribbon, a piece of pink lace, and some pearl stickers.


The sentiment on the outside is also in the Birds and Roses Set from Sweet 'n Sassy. I thought this image would make a great Mother's Day card. On the inside I added a sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly. Here is a peek at the inside.

Hope you enjoy the Blog Hop. Have fun! Since it is Friday, I will wish you a great weekend today. Love ya.

Karen

Very Vintage Challenge At Stamping Vacation

Happy Monday!

I am back today with my Design Team card for the Very Vintage Challenge over at the Stamping Vacation Challenge blog. This month the theme is

Torn Edges

This challenge is due by April 7th. All entries qualify as an entry in the monthly prize drawing. what is the prize you ask? It is a $25 gift certificate to the store of your choice!! You can enter as many challenges as you like as many times as you like. There is a different challenge everyday.

Now, as you know, I tear my edges quite a bit. So, what I did was challenge myself to use only torn edges. I tore all of the edges. Here is what I came up with.

The stamped images are: Map from Stamp Camp, Sailboat from Stamping Sensations.

Images were stamped with Brilliance Coffee Bean Pigment ink and embossed with clear powder.

DP: Provo Craft, Solid brown paper from Hot Off the Press

CS: Textured Tan from DCWV

I distressed all the edges with Vintage Photo ink from Ranger. Some detail shots for you.

This is a great masculine card. I think I will use this for my brother's birthday in April. I can add a sentiment on the inside and a little note.

A Few Challenges for Vintage Map and Boat:

The Stamp Man: Swirls and Curls

Anything Challenge: Distressing

Hope you are having a great day! Love ya.

Karen

Super Cool Announcement!!

One more thing for today.
I have a super cool announcement. I will be joining the Blackheads Design Team full time now. So you will be seeing lots of their stamps here. If you are a vintage lover, art stamp maven, or just love to stamp, you will love their stamp designs.

I am so excited to be working with Stacie Dunning at Blockheads Stamps. I will be back later in the week with my first post as a full time DT member. I will also be posting the tutorials on the Blockheads Design Blog every other week. So, lots of fun to come!!
See you soon,
Karen

Color Combo Challenge

Hello and here I am with another post today. I have been so busy dreaming and creating. It is time for the Color Combo Challenge over at the Stamping Vacation Challenge blog. The theme this month is:

Gray and Peach

I made a birthday card for Operation Write Home for my Design Team card. I am continuing to fill up my OWH box. I am up to 20 cards. Here is the card.

I used this fun sketch from Corry's blog. I turned it on its side and used ribbon and lace for the horizontal pieces. The images are from Baby Bud Designs. I colored them with Copics. I used my oval die cut. The birthday sentiment and hat is from My Sentiments Exactly. The blades of grass stamp is from See D's.

I added ribbon, lace, buttons and glitter stickers for accents. The gray CS is from Bazzill, the white from Staples.

And, here is one more for the road.

A few fun challenges for Baby Bud B-Day:

Baby Bud Designs: Ribbons and bows

Fancy Free 4 Ever: Sketch

The Pink elephant: buttons, lace, and ribbon

The Pixie Cottage: Spring

By the Cute and Girlie: Springtime

Crafty Ann's: Birthdays

Stamp Something: use a digi

Well, I think that is all for me today. Have a great day!

Karen

Monogram Layered Card

Hi Everyone,
I'm back today with a card that I think would be nice as a wedding invitation, or a congrats for the bride and groom. Or just an any occasion card.

I used a black and a white background for the photo and I will show you both. Which do you like better? I couldn't decide. Here is the white background. I think the navy color looks more true in the photo with the white background.


I used some stamps from Just Rite that I received from the lovely Cammie King. Thanks Sweetie! I punched and die cut several layers. I dry embossed two of the layers. And added some distressing with a metallic ink from ColorBox. The CS and ink is Night of Navy from Stampin' Up. The DP is from DCWV.



For accents, I added a piece of lace, a sheer white ribbon, and some pearl stickers.




And, one more view just because.

Some fun challenges for Monogram Layered Card:

Joan's Creations: Use a Just Rite stamp only

Shelly's Images: Layers

Simon Says Stamp: Recipe: 1 image, 2 DP's, 3 different types of embellishments

Aly's Sunday Challenge: Anything goes

The Crafty Pad: Use ribbon

Sentimental Sundays: a sentiment, pearls and lace

I will be back with my Design Team card for the Stamping Vacation Color Combo challenge. Love ya,

Karen

More Operation Write Home Bird Cards

Hi Everyone,

I'm back today with the second installment of the Bird cards for Operation Write Home. I finished up 6 more and have 6 more put together. Wee Memories is also having a challenge to make OWH cards. There are a few rules to follow when making OWH cards. Glitter is not allowed. Make A2 sized cards. Leave the inside blank (so that the card can be used to write a note home). I have made a few Mother's Day cards too as the deadline is coming up soon for those.

The Stars and Stamp Challenge blog (OWH's craft blog) is having a Mother's Day card challenge. Check it out.

Here is a picture of the cards I still have to put together and embellish. Keep the embellies to a minimum to make them easier to pack and mail. The cards have to travel a long way. I will work on this batch over the weekend.

I used the same stamps for each card. Small Swirl Background and Large Solid Bird both from Impression Obsession. I used a variety of sentiments and embellishments. Here is the finished batch.

Techniques I used: masking, stamp kissing, fussy cutting. I used lots of different colors of inks and mostly white CS. Here are photos of each card.

And, here a few other general occasion cards:

A few other challenges:

Stampin for the Weekend: Spring

Dutch Dare: Who's Who in the zoo

Abc-challenges: Pink

Hope you are having a great day. See you soon.

Karen

Operation Write Home Card

Hi Everyone,
Today I have another card for Operation Write Home. I am slowly getting my box full. This card is an A2 size. And no glitter allowed. The inside will stay blank to leave lots of room for writing home. I used stamps from Impression Obsession. And, this card qualifies for their Blue themed challenge.

I stamped the bird with Versa Mark and embossed with blue powder (Stampendous). I masked the bird and stamped the background with Marina Mist ink from Stampin' Up. I added a birthday sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly! because OWH always needs bday cards. I kept the embellies to a minimum....the cards have to travel a long way and they pack better if not too bumpy. Here are a few detail shots.

I have a bunch of these on my work table half done. I did them in all different colors. I will add a variety of sentiments to them. I will share those with you too when they are completed.

Additional Challenges for Bird Birthday OWH Card;

Wee Memories: Make cards for Operation Write Home

Aud Sentiments: Birthday

Impression Obsession: Blue and IO stamps

Crafty Purple Frog: things with wings

Craft Us Crazy: one with nature

Cute Card Thursday: signs of spring

Paper Crafting Journey: winged things

Creative Inspirations Paint: Birthdays

I will be back later with the rest of the cards. See you soon!

Karen