Karen's Creations: July 2015

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Create a Card Set challenge

Hello Ai challenge fans!! When I heard that we were making card sets for this week's challenge, I immediately thought of the Windows to the World collection of Art Impressions stamps, and came up with the idea of doing one for each season - so here are winter, spring, summer & fall:

This is Lighthouse Window (Sku #M3175) and Christmas Village Window (Sku # M3184)

Here are Antiques Window (Sku #M4587) and Gazebo Window (Sku #M3174)

Whenever I make a set of cards as a gift, I like to make a little coordinating holder, so I made this fun little file folder that holds all four cards & their envelopes:

I started with a 10 1/2" x 6"piece of kraft cardstock, scoring it 4 1/2" in from each side; and I cut a curvy shape off each upper corner. The base piece is 7" x 2 1/2", scored 2" up from the bottom, with 1/2" flaps scored to fold and glue it together:

Here it is decorated and ready to assemble (oh, and the best part is that all it takes is one piece of 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock and some scraps to decorate it:

So get crafting and show us your card sets! You can link up your creation over on the Art Impressions blog.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Easter in July!

I am posting on the Art Impressions blog today!

It just doesn't seem fair that Christmas gets all the focus in July... so I'm sharing a little Easter love with you today. Bunny & Egg (Sku #4596) is one of the images now available at AC Moore stores:

I've added one of the Ai sentiments: Just For You (Sku #F3143) available through the Art Impressions website, and a few sequins to sparkle things up a bit. Happy stamping!
Copics used: E55, E53, E51, E50, G46, G43, G40, R24, R22, R20, B01, B00, B000, Y23

InLinkz.com

Thursday, July 23, 2015

In With the New Challenge

Today I'm sharing my card for the current challenge over on the Art Impressions blog, which is "In With the New" - we want to see a creation with your newest stamp! So I am using one of the images from the newest Ai stamp set that is available at Michaels "Wine Diva" (SC0677):

Isn't she divine? I coloured her up with Copic markers, and paper pieced her comfy chair. I added a tiny sparkle to her hand to make it look like she's wearing a huge diamond, and I added some clear Wink of Stella to her outfit to give it a little glimmer. Then I zigzagged around the circle with some black thread and added the sentiment: At our age we're going to need glasses... LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM!

On the inside, I added another one of the sentiments that comes in the set:

So dig into your latest stash of purchases, and pull out your newest stamp to make a little something for our challenge - and be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team is sharing with us over on the Ai blog

Copics used: Skin tones - E13, E11, E00, E000, R20

Pinks - RV19, RV17, RV14, RV13

Reds - R59, R37, R35, R32, R30

Blues - B02, B01, B00

Hair - Y21, E50

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Toadaly Cool

I am posting on the Art Impressions blog today!

A few months ago, I did a card using the little crab from the Frog & Crab Mini Set (Sku #4406)... and I had an idea for how I could use the little frog that comes in the set, which I have finally made come to life!

I wanted to make a bunch of the little guys, and have it look like they were hopping onto a lily pad... so I hand cut an oval shape with a notch cut into it - and by putting some green paper on the inside of the card, the negative die cut became my lily pad (I know, some of my cards can be a bit of a stretch!!). It's a little easier to see what I was going for when the card is shut:

I love that when you open up the card, a couple of the frogs are peeking in, too.

To make assembling my card even easier - I've used the Frog & Crab Mini Dies (Sku #4539) to cut out all of the little pieces. Check out all of the Mini Front & Backs in the Art Impressions store - you can find them all here! Happy stamping everyone!

Copics used: YG05, YG03, YG01, YG67, YG63, YG61, E51, E50

InLinkz.com

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Sally Swimmer

There are so many wonderful summery images available in the Art Impressions store... and I'm determined to own all of them! I'm sharing a card using Sally Swimmer Set (Sku #4323) today:

Don't you just love her facial expression? She was quick to colour up, then I used a scallop die on the bottom of my patterned paper to make the 'negative' part of it look like waves (hopefully!!), then I added a few clear enamel dots that add a bit of a watery feel to everything. I hope you're getting lots of crafty time while you're enjoying the summer weather! Happy stamping!

Copics used: Skin tones - E13, E11, E00, E000, R20

Oranges - YR18, YR16, YR15, YR12, YR00

Yellows - Y38, Y35, Y32

Aquas - BG18, BG15, BG13, BG11

Blues - B28, B24, B23, B21

Greys - C7, C5, C3, C1

Lips - R37, R35

InLinkz.com

Friday, July 10, 2015

40th Birthday card

I had this great Art Impressions stamp "Norm" already coloured up, so when I needed a 40th birthday card for a relative this weekend, I made him up into a fairly quick & easy card. I searched through my collection of Ai sentiments, and found a couple that were perfect for the occasion:

The inside says "Old Guys Rule" - yep, perfect for a 40th :o)

Patterned papers are Spicy Social Soup by Jillibean Soup; Cardstock is White Daisy & Pacifica, CTMH; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Enamel dots are Your Next Embellie in Olive, Pumpkin & Apricot; Copic Markers.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Not Christmas in July?

The current challenge on the Art Impressions blog is Create With Christmas - and we want you to use your Christmas stamps to make a NON-Christmas card! Hmm... you may have to give this one a little thought. Or maybe an idea popped right into your head? I knew fairly quickly that I wanted to use the WC Series 4 sets - (Sku# 4097 & 4098) I've had them for a while, and intended to use them for Christmas cards - but knew that they would work for this challenge. Here's what I've come up with:

I know, you're thinking, "Karen, those don't exactly look like Christmas images." But that basket is actually full of ornaments, that I made into apples, and the bird is intended to be decorating a Christmas tree. I've used Tombow markers to colour directly onto my stamps - which is why I could selectively colour the ornaments, leaving off the 'hooks' to turn them into apples. I added some grass & foliage and went over everything with a wet paintbrush to soften the edges and pull out the colours. I used some distress ink to paint in the sky.

The picture made me think picnic - so I grabbed a square of gingham-like paper to sneak in behind it. Here are pictures of the stamp sets that I've created my scene from, I did a couple using the birdhouse as well, which I'll make up and post over the summer.

Head on over to the Ai blog to see what the other designers have to share today - and see how creative you can be with your own challenge entry!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

I am pleasant...

I am a huge fan of coffee themed cards, so I knew that I just had to make up a couple of cards featuring Art Impression's Maude (Sku #I1238):

I made a few slight variations between the two, added some bright pink zigzag stitching, a coffee cup diecut, and the sentiment: I m pleasant (Sku #2629)