Karen's Kreative Kards: 2021

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Favorite Cards of 2021 Part Two

Happy New Year everyone! I have a tradition of picking my favorite cards of the year as it ends and today I am sharing two from each month of the second half of 2021. Below each picture is a link to the blogpost with more details and in most cases links to the video.

Which is your favorite of these cards? I am hoping for a happy and healthy new year for you and yours! I am starting a new crafty adventure in the new year - I am going to do Facebook Lives in addition to blogging and YouTube videos! Hope you will check them out!

Thanks for helping me share the joy of creativity!

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Favorite Cards of 2021 Part One

Every year I have a tradition of looking back on the cards I blogged and picking a few favorites from each month to share with you. Here are my faves from the first half of 2021 with links to the blogposts for more details and a link to the video as well:

April 12, 2021

Which is your favorite of these cards from the first half of 2021? Be sure to come back tomorrow for my favorite cards from the 2nd half of 2021. Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy New Year!

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Three More Cards Made With Nuvo Shimmer Watercolor Powders From My Newest Video

As I show in the new video, it is very easy to create colorful backgrounds and pieces for die cutting by simply sprinking on Nuvo Shimmer Powders onto watercolor paper and spritzing with water. The colors are gorgeous and there is also mica in the powders so there is a pretty shimmer to them. After the piece was dry, I cut out Sue Wilson's Eternal Heart Tree, layered it on white and attached to the pink cardbase. "Sending Hugs" is also a die from Sue Wilson and Creative Expressions.

We don't have to use watercolor paper when adding Nuvo Shimmer Powders to a background. On this card I tried them on a suede paper and added masculine dies from a die set called Birthday Brewing from Sue Wilson for a beer loving guy I know.

One more fun technique I share in the new video is to create a resist with a background stamp embossed on a piece of watercolor paper with white embossing powder. I chose a stamp from Wendy Vecchi called Just Say It and then sprinkled on Violet Brocade, Meteorite Show and Solar Flare Nuvo Shimmer Powders. The embossed words resisted the powders and this card front was the result.

Monday, December 27, 2021

Video - Cardmaking Tips and Techniques With Nuvo Shimmer Powders

I haven't played with my Nuvo Shimmer Watercolor Powders in awhile and I share many cards and techniques using them in my newest video here. My favorite of the techniques I share is Nuvo watercolor powders on tissue paper which is wrinkled and made to sparkle with glitter embossing powder. I show how to make this card using that technique in the new video:

As I show in the video, I chose Violet Brocade, Cherry Bomb and a little Blue Blitz Nuvo Shimmer Powders on tissue paper for this tri-fold card. The process requires some patience as the tissue paper needs to dry thoroughly before it is attached to cardstock and then embossed with Nuvo Sparkle Embossing Powder. The butterfly die is from Sizzix. Here is a picture of this card opening to show the tri-fold:

Here is another card I made with that technique this time on a green tissue paper so it is a little darker than the one above:

The butterfly was made with Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Flakes. Another of my favorite techniques with Nuvo Shimmer Powders that I share in the new video is to apply them on glossy paper and after spritzing with water, I crinkled up a piece of cling wrap over it. Here is a card I made with that fun look:

Isn't that background neat? I diecut Sue Wilson's Papillion Silhouette out of it and put it on a slimline card. The sentiment is also from Sue Wilson and Creative Expressions.

I had great fun designing these cards and sharing the many techniques in my new video here. I hope the cards and video will encourage you to try some of the techniques and products featured.

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

More Gorgeous Floral Cards with Pinkfresh Studios Wide Washi Tapes and Matching Dies

I just discovered Pinkfresh Studio's wide washi tapes with matching dies that cut out the flowers so easily at Let's Create, a stamp shop in Wisconsin Rapids. There are many to choose from but I started with Anemone Magic and this is the first card I made for my newest video. As I show in the video we can choose to apply the wide washi tape to white cardstock as I did for these two cards or to colored cardstock or vellum and other specialty papers for many different looks. (However, I do not recommend glitter paper as the background because I found the washi tape does not want to stay stuck down on glitter paper.) I raised two of the flowers in the large bouquet and the three on the top spray with pop dots for dimension over a Honey Bee debossed heart background.

The Pinkfresh Studios flowers are lovely tucked behind this Trinity Stamps slimline Foliage Frame Die. I also love to punch out butterflies from pieces of the colored washi tape flowers for my cards as I did on this one and several others I made. And of course I have to add Gina Marie Designs gems to all my butterflies.

I hope my cards inspire you to watch the new video and try some of the ideas and products featured.

Monday, December 20, 2021

Video: Cardmaking With Pinkfresh Studios and Altenew Washi Tape Flowers

Wide washi tapes are great for creating backgrounds and beautiful cards and now they can be diecut for gorgeous floral sprays and bouquets too! I just discovered Pinkfresh Studio's floral wide washi tapes and coordinating dies at a local stamp shop and I had so much fun creating cards with them for my newest video here.

This is the floral chalkboard card I show how to make in the new video. I learned how to make a chalkboard card from Sam of Mixed Up Crafts and here is a link to her tutorial. Sam's chalkboard cards were large, but I adapted her template to make an A2 version and show how to do that in the video. I also show how to make black cardstock look like a real chalkboard with smudged chalk with some stamps from Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp.

Of course the washi tape flowers are the best part of this card and the others I share and all I needed to do to get them so colorful and cut out perfectly was attach the Pinkfresh Studio Anemone Magic wide washi tape to a blue cardstock and cut out with the one piece matching Anemone Magic die. As I explain in the video, you can choose to attach the floral wide washi tape to white cardstock or colored cardstock or even vellum or other specialty papers, and each time the look will be different. Here are a couple more views of this fun chalkboard card which would be perfect for a teacher or any special person:

The washi tape flowers and butterflies on this card were created with colored vellum so they are more translucent than those created with cardstock. I tucked them into an oval frame cut out with a Hero Arts die into a cardfront created with Stampin' Up's cotton paper crinkled up before attaching. The pretty sentiment die is from Sue Wilson and the lovely thought is continued on the inside of the card:

I couldn't waste the pretty oval cut out with the "Through The Woods" frame die from Hero Arts and used it to frame the sentiment and added another floral spray and butterfly.

I also love Altenew's many wide washi tapes and created a bay window card featuring their Painted Fantasy washi tape which you can see in the video and on this blogpost. I posted it then to get in on their Get Wild With Washi Tape contest before the deadline.

I hope you will watch the new video and try some of the ideas and products featured.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Gift of Tags in a Handmade Bag With Faux Wooden Handles

I wanted to make a special gift bag full of tags for some gifts this year and I found a tutorial for a gift bag with faux wooden handles here on the Mixed Up Craft blog. I wanted to use two sided patterned cardstock but found it was not strong enough to hold up the handles so I added an extra layer of thick cardstock inside and decorative elements by the handles and was thrilled with how my gift bags turned out. One of the tags I made is tied here and here are the rest of the tags I created: