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I'm loving the new Flourishes stamps release, and I couldn't wait to play along in the Noon Time challenge.  This challenge is "Pop It", simple, just pop up any section you like on your creation.

I used the image from On The Porch stamp set, and I popped up a few items.  It's really hard to photograph the popped up sections but hopefully you can see it. Just click on the image for a better view.

I popped up the cushion, the book and some of the leaves of the pot plant.  I added thicker foam adhesive in the centre of the cushion so it has bit more dimension.  This was a really lovely image to colour, and I used the following Copic Markers - Chair E11, E13, E15; Throw B41, B32, B34, B37; Cushion YR00, YR12, YR15, YR18; Book B32, B34, B37, E13, E11; Pot E93, E95, E97 and Leaves G20, G21, G24.

And, here's the card:

Thank you for visiting me.

Wishing you a wonderful Friday!

Kary

Products used : Flourishes Stamp set On the Porch, Memento Espresso Truffle & Nautical Blue, Copic Markers, Hero Arts Layering papers Poppy & Powder,  Echo Park Times & Seasons 6x6 pad

Thanks A Bunch

Do you ever make 10 minutes cards?  It's a fun process and I've got to admit it's been too long since I made such quick cards.  Want to play along?  It's the June Flourishes Release Week Challenge and details can be found here.

I found a piece of patterned paper which I had already cut the sides with a chevron die.  It was perfect, I trimmed the length to fit my standard sized card, and stamped the flowers from Flourishes "With Gratitude" set.  The stamped image looked sort of flat, and so I added some colours with Prismacolor pencils to bring out the flowers.  No fancy shading, just really quick bits of colouring.  I punched some holes along the edges of the patterned paper using a screwpunch, and adhered the patterned paper to a piece of embossed cardstock.  The sentiment piece was a section of the patterned paper which I had trimmed off.  To finish off the card, I added a little button with twine, and the card is done!

Thanks for visiting today.

Kary

Products used : Flourishes Stamp set "With Gratitude", Memento Espresso Truffle, Prismacolor Lightfast pencils, Glitz Happy Travels 6x6 pad, Embossing folder, Red button and May Arts Brown twine.

To The Special Couple

Just the other day I looked back on the cards I made when I first started stamping and cardmaking.  That, was a long time ago.  I used to love CAS cards so much.  Now, I don't make enough of them.  Funny how one's cardmaking style can evolve so much over time. Perhaps it comes easier when the Stamp set speaks to me... like this Paper Smooches set Hubby and Wifey.   For you who know me, I hardly make wedding nor baby cards - but I couldn't resist this wedding themed set, LOVE it!  For the card above, I drew the colour scheme inspiration from the challenge at Paper Smooches SPARKS.

There's a new challenge called Trend Watch (check it out!), and the current challenge inspiration is this fabulous picture...

Since I really wanted to use Hubby and Wifey set, I just followed the inspiration photo pretty loosely, and picked out the soft blue hues of the clouds for my card.  And hopefully, the embossing around the image is a little like the clouds or ray of sunshine that surrounds the image.

Thanks for visiting me.  Seems like I must be up on the mojo for I have endless ideas in my head this weekend for cards ;) so stay tuned...

Have a wonderful day!

Kary

Products used : Paper Smooches Hubby and Wifey stamp set, Copic Markers (BG10, BG000, BG0000) Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Scrollwork, Memento Richo Cocoa, Rhubarb Stalk and Paris Dusk inkpads, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found II - Breeze 6x6 (paper piecing on the cake), Zva Creative crystal (on flower), Smooch Glitz Frost (glitter on the red heart).

Flourishes Noon Time Challenges

I am loving the new Flourishes release, and just had to play along in their Noon Time Challenge.  It's my first time and I just wish I have more of their stamps to use ;)  The challenge is to use some purple on your card.

Since I had the Lenten Rose out on my desk, I used it for this challenge.  I found My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad, A Beautiful Life, that has purples in it that go so well with the image I coloured.  Yes, I tend to always colour first and then hunt madly for papers to match ;)  

I had time to submit another card for the Masculine Noon Time Challenge found here.

I don't have any masculine Flourishes stamp, so I used the leaves and sentiment from the Magnolias set for my card.  The card measures 4-1/4" square. (The tree is a die-cut which I coloured with copic markers).

Thanks for visiting me and checking out what I make each time.  Your comments are precious, and I love reading them.

Happy weekend!
Kary

Take Care

How was your weekend?  Hope you had a great time!  I didn't get round to do all that I wanted, but, isn't that always the case?

I have a card to share today for the Flourishes Home Sweet Home challenge.  In my house, there are no living plants!  I guess you could say with certainty, this girl has no green fingers because even the cactus died! ;)  Not long ago, my aunt gave me this beautiful silk flower and vase (I guess she felt the house needed a "plant") - I loved it!

I was inspired to use the Lenten Rose stamp set - I love that image of a bunch of beautiful roses in a vase with water.  I didn't keep to the same colours as the flower on my photo above - I tend to love brightly coloured flowers on my cards, but there was some pink in the patterned paper that matched.

I coloured the image with Copic Markers - Flowers (R30, R32, R35, R37, R39), Flower centre (Y15, YG21 & Atyou Spica Clear glitter), Leaves (YG01, YG03, YG17), Vase (BG0000, BG10, BG01), Table (E13, E15).  The Lenten Roses image was adhered to the patterned paper (Webster's Pages - Sunday Picnic) with pop dots, and I added some lace and pearls to finish off the card.  By the way, I did a little bit of recycling by using a piece of cardstock leftover from cutting out the scalloped rectangle die to frame the patterned paper.  What do you think?

Have a great week!
Kary

Products used : Flourishes Lenten Rose stamp set, Flourishes Magnolias (sentiment) stamp set, Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic 6x6, Flourishes Ivory cardstock, Zva Creative pearls, Copic Markers, Memento Rich Cocoa.

Friends Forever

A little cutie monster card for you!  I know monsters may not appeal to some but I adore this cute set, Love Monsters from Taylored Expressions.

The little hearts monster is coloured with Copic Markers BV00, BV02, BV04, R32, R35, R39, and the double hearts image with R32, R35, R39, BV00, RV00, RV02.  The sentiment is from the set Branching Out.  The patterned papers are from Echo Park and Lily Bee Design and the card follows the sketch TESC155.

Have a fabulous day!
Kary

Peace, Love and Happiness

What would you wish for if you were a millionaire?  I can think of LOTS!  The thought was inspired by this inspiration photo at Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.

Cute, isn't it?  Well, one of the things I'd love to have/do if I had millions, would be a nice sporty car and to travel the world!  Hmm.. so here's my take on the challenge... {smiles}

The polka dots road from the Geo-Graphic set, was stamped with Memento Tangelo on the cardbase.  The car from My Guy was coloured with Copic Markers (R02, R05, R08, C1, C3, C5, BG0000).  The bird, from My Peeps, was coloured with Copic Markers (B12, B14, BG0000, R05).  I just love this sentiment from Pretty Phrases, I split them up and stamped  them with Memento Tangelo and Rich Cocoa.  Then I fussy cut out the word peace and adhered it with pop dots on the card, and did a little outlining with BG0000 around the cut-out word.  I thought the bird would look great with a long scarf and I used Baker's Twine Cantaloupe and Mandarin.

Here are some close ups:

Thanks for coming by.  Wishing you a Happy Week!!
Kary

One Layer Card

Having a go at One Layer card today for the Waltzing Mouse Card challenge #91 - I don't think I've worked so hard with masking and using different inks for a long time.  It was quite fun especially when the stamping works out.  A little scary to be honest, when I was aligning the stamps.  I'm not very good with precision and I'm too lazy to get out the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

I'm loving this new set by Waltzing Mouse "Paris Nouveau" - such lovely designs and I think it's a got a touch of vintage too.  I used different Memento inks for the stamping - the bold red border in Rhubarb Stalk, the beige frame in Desert Sand, the Eiffel Tower in Paris Dusk and the sentiment in Rich Cocoa.  Thinking the card looked a little flat, I added some score lines for some interest, and here's a closer look:

Kinda happy how it turned out {smiles}.  I think this card works as well for Beate's Crafty Friends Challenge #1.

Wishing you a wonderful week!
Kary

For You

Today's card is another simple one.  The main image is from Melanie Muenchinger's beautiful floral set called Stately Flowers 1.  It's an easy flower to colour, I coloured the petals with Copic Markers R35, R32 and R30, adding first the darker shade R35 as shown, and then R32 and finally filling in the flower with R30.  The flower centre is coloured with Y21 and Y17, the leaves are coloured with YGYG95, YG17, YG11 and the background with G000.  The tiny sentiment is from Melanie's other set A Year of Flowers.  If you know Melanie, she illustrates such beautiful floral stamps which I absolutely love.

Did you know that Melanie is giving away a signed copy of her book A Year of Flowers this week at CAS-ual Fridays (CFC#46)?  That's so exciting and I just can't wait to play along.  Thought I should be more organised this week and not forget the deadline ;)  When I was thinking of a song, the one that comes to mind was one from The Sound of Music called My Favourite Things - one of my favourite things is stamping and colouring flowers.  Flowers just seem to brighten and cheer my day!

Here's another look at the card:

Have a lovely weekend!
Kary

Bonjour - A CAS card

The Matterhorn

A few weeks ago, I was in Switzerland for a 2 week vacation.  I had a wonderful time with my friends and we had so much fun together.  One of the places we visited was Gruyeres, and I saw a shop display that really captured my attention - see the pic below:

In that same week, Waltzing Mouse had their new stamps release and I found an amazing set called French Country.  I think it's obvious, isn't it, that it reminded me so much of the shop display above.

I just love the way Claire's sets are always so unique and fun.  Here's a card with the chicken and sentiment from French Country set, and the frame and flourishes from Florentine Frippery set.  Just a simple card ;)

I'm playing along the Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge #90 this week.  I was going to link this to the CAS-ual Fridays CFC45 challenge as well, but I'm lost track of time ;)

Have a great day!
Kary

Simple Things (MFTWSC59)

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that make us happiest.  Some years ago, I went on a trip staying with the natives in the most remote parts of my homeland.  Some of the places we visited were without electricity and running water, and without a school nor medical supplies.  I learnt that life can be so full and happy without the sophisticated gadgets and abundance which sometimes clutter our lives.  The smiles on the children's faces and how their eyes lit up receiving the simplest gifts we brought really touched my heart.  Of all the places I have travelled to, this experience was most unforgettable.

I guess the sentiment on this card says it all.  I kept the card really simple and with minimal colouring - that's some restraint on my part {grin}.  The stamp set is from MFT Pure Innocence Feeling Froggy, and the papers are from Studio Calico's Autumn Press.

The card follows this sketch:

Have a "Simple" and Lovely day!
Kary

Love You Dearly

Hello! Since it's Valentine's week, here's another "love" themed card.  My card above was inspired by the photo on the current Paper Smooches Sparks' challenge.

I was inspired by the canvas texture on the photo, the sweet pink felt heart and the stitching.  Pretty obvious, isn't it?  I coloured the image from Chubby Chum Pals with Copics (Bear - R22, R21, R00; Cap - R24, R22, R20) and adhered two small  "shifty" eyes on the image.  The sentiment was from Pretty Phrases set, and I stamped it with Memento Rich Cocoa and Rhubarb Stalk inks.

The kraft background was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder (I can't recall the name) and inked with some white pigment ink.  The felt heart was cut using Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Hearts die and the pink cardstock with Spellbinders Classic Hearts die.  It's been a long time since I did any hand stitching and I must say it was rather therapeutic ;)

Thanks for coming by.  Wishing you a lovely day!
Kary

Bonjour!

Doesn't everybody love Paris?  It's certainly a charming city to visit, and unforgettable.  Today, I'm playing along a sketch challenge, at SFYTT, for the first time.  I think it's a good incentive to help me ink up my much neglected stamps.  

Here's the card:

All images and sentiment are from MFT's Who's That Parisian Girl set.  The main image is coloured using Copic markers ( Skin - E000, E11, E01, E21; Dress, Shoes & Bag - C1, C3, C5, R01, R02; Background BG0000, E43, E42, E41) with some paper piecing.  All patterned papers are from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found II Sunshine 6x6 pad.  The sentiment was stamped on Spellbinders Floral Doily Motif die, and stacked on top of 2 Perfect Petal Trio Die-namics.

I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp challenge, Anything Goes.

Have a great day!
Kary

Just a little Note...

Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend is going great. I received the new MFT January VIP kit yesterday, and I just had to ink up this Pure Innocence Violin Girl. She is so adorable! 

The PI girl was stamped on the larger doily of the Open Scallop Doily Duo Die-namics, and coloured with Copic markers - Skin (E50, E01, E13), Dress (R81, R83, R85, R89), Violin (E44, E43, E42) & Hair (E18, E99, E21).  I didn't have the right cardstock colour for matting, so I coloured the edges of a white cardstock with Copic marker B97.  I used the same effect with  for the two border strips cut with the Little Open Scallop Strip Die-namics as well. The patterned papers are from Echo Park's Times & Seasons.  The felt flower and leaves are created using MFT's felt Strawberry Ice Cream and Sour Apple with the Rolled Scallop Flower Die-namics and the leaves from Upsy Daisy Die-namics. 

The card was made following this MFT sketch:

Here's a fun trivia - according to the Chinese calendar, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year is Everyone's birthday!! I don't know much about the history of it, but, here's wishing all of you a Blessed Birthday, and a year filled with much joy and happiness!!

Enjoy!

Kary

Unity Friends with Flair (27.1.2012)

Wow, it's Friday again. Yay! I have 2 cards to share today for the Unity Friends with Flair post.  I've not played the Unity challenges for sometime, so I'm doing both this week :-)

The first card follows the Unity KOM Jan challenge sketch.  I just couldn't find good lighting for the photo somehow.  I used the image and sentiment from Dec 2011 KOM.  Added lots of pop dots behind the centre of the sentiment and the patterned paper for some dimension ;)

The second card is for Unity's New Beginnings challenge.  I inked up my Itty Bittys, Authentique On {This} Journey Together and Simple Stories Life Bingo.

Keeping this post short, so you can check out all the other wonderful creations from all the Friends with Flair participants.

StampTV Challenge

Hello Friends!  It's an auspicious day on the Chinese calendar today - it marks the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Chinese New Year (CNY).  Although my family does not keep to many Chinese traditions, we do celebrate CNY and it's a time of the year, where we do lots of baking, cooking, etc.

Today is also special day for me, because I'm hosting a Challenge for the first time at StampTV!  Pretty nervous about it, and yet so very excited!!  I hope you will visit StampTV and join the challenge.  Since, it is CNY, I thought it might be fun to have a challenge related to the celebration.

Check out the challenge & some background information here, and please join me for some fun, and you might win a Gina K stamp set!

Here's my card for the challenge :

I used Stamps from Theresa Momber's Dogwood and Butterfly stamp set (I LOVE this set!!), and papers from My Mind's Eye Love Me 6x6 pad.  The images were coloured with Copic Markers, and on the butterfly, I added some Glossy Accents for added interest.  Here's another look at the card:

For more info, please click on the link to StampTV where you'll find details of the challenge.  I really look forward to see you at StampTV and can't wait to see what you create.

Enjoy today, wherever you are.
Kary