Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week

The stamp of the week this week at Repeat Impressions is this “Loved an Animal” stamp, and it is available this week only for 50% off with the discount code found at Repeat Impressions blog. What a deal! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards using this stamp.

For my card, I stamped the sentiment- which is so true!- and layered it on a nesties die that I cut apart to extend to the width what I needed. Mr. Goof is the kitty stamp also from Repeat Impressions, of course, and I sponged and did a little coloring to accent his green eyes (just like my kitty's.)

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Catch the Bug and Paper Crafting Journey.

Stamping smiles, Karen

CAS Fridays and Cute Card Thursday Challenges

CAS is the theme of Cute Card Thursday this week and CAS featuring something you see in the sky is the theme at CAS Fridays. I love butterflies so they are the "thing we see in the sky" on this CAS card. I stamped a variety of flowers and foliage from a beautiful set by Skipping Stone Design in white and caramel ink on kraft paper. Then I added one larger flower in black along with the sentiment and the butterflies. I like stamping with acrylic stamps especially when I can choose to change their shape to make them wavy or whatever. I added some black baker's twine to complete the CAS card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Send a Smile 4 Kids For The Girls Challenge

It’s time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids and this week our theme is “For the Girls.” Any card for a girl will do, but if you are thinking of donating it or any other cards, please keep our teenage girl patients in your heart and mind as you design. The category we get the least of in donated cards are the ones for teenage girls (and boys).  Of course you do not have to donate your cards to enter our challenges but our kids sure love it when you doJ

We have three very generous sponsors this week so you have three chances to win a random prize! Mayzy Art is giving their winner 8 digis of their choice! Sassy Cheryl’s prize is a $5 gift certificate and SCACD is also giving a gift certificate to their lucky winner! TEAM S.A.S will be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge. Please visit our blog for all the details and to see the super cards by the SAS4Kids design team.

For my first card, I printed the sweet "Tulips for Mommy" digi from Mayzy Art, paper pieced her dress and colored the rest with copics. I cut it out with an oval die from Quik Cutz and layered on a pink piece embossed with my favorite Swiss Dots embossing folder from Cuttlebug.

My second card features a darling digi from Sassy Cheryl's called Polly's Pink Flower. Oops- I just realized the name meant I should have made the flower pink.. Oh well. I was in the mood for yellow that day... The flowers at the bottom were from a pack of button flowers I bought a while back. As usual, I paper pieced most of the digi, then cut out, embossed and sponged with a round Nestabilities die. I added a button to the yellow flower to complete the card.

I am entering these cards in the Embossing challenge at Inky Impressions and the Flowers challenge at Divas by Design.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Jackson Digital Expressions and Bearly Mine Challenges

Anything Goes at Jackson Digital Expressions and Bearly Mine Challenges this week so I am sharing a favorite new card and technique I have discovered. It is called Reinker Float and here is a link to the tutorial I used to try it. It is not hard and I love the look. Basically you start with shimmer paper from SU and an open stamp (I used a SU flower). You heat emboss the flower with white embossing powder, then wet the paper thoroughly and use reinkers to "paint" the paper. I had some lovely colors of reinkers from Adirondack that I bought years ago for another technique so I used them. But any dye ink reinker will do. I added a border punched with an ek success punch and embossed the HB wish with a Cuttlebug folder.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Crackerbox Palace Thursday and More Blog Candy!

It's Crackerbox Palace Thursday and today I am sharing two cards I made with some cards featuring sentiment stamps that are available from Crackerbox Palace.  You can win your choice of the stamps featured on the front of one of these cards by leaving a comment at either blog.  The simple requirements for a chance at winning this week’s blog candy are below.

But first- the winner of last week’s blog candy of the stamps featured on one of the popcorn cards last Thursday is………………Joyce M! Here is her winning comment from Karen’s blog:  "Hey, Karen. What a cute set of stamps. I love what you did with them. Super cute!!!"

Joyce, please send me or Crackerbox Palace your address and your choice of which stamps you want, so we can get you the stamps you have won.  And remember you can win another CBP stamp of your choice simply by posting a card you made with the stamps you won to your blog or Splitcoast Stampers gallery and sending us a link.

I decided to focus on sentiments this week. When I make a card I am always thinking- what is the card trying to communicate? Thank you, birthday wishes, sympathy? What am I trying to say? I guess that is why I am always drawn to stamp companies who have a great line of sentiment stamps and Crackerbox Palace has hundreds of perfect sentiment stamps. I also played around with two major fads on in bloggerville right now: chevrons and hexagons. I used a chevron embossing folder (from Stampin’ Up) on my first card and various shades of purple to make the background. I stamped the beautiful sentiment and cut it out with a die from Quik Cutz. I added a butterfly (Martha Stewart) and pearl to complete the CAS card. 

My second card features another beautiful sentiment from CBP, hexagons cut out after embossing with an embossing folder from Craft Concepts, and another butterfly and pearl.

So would you like to win the fun stamps featured on the front of one of today’s cards? Here is how to win our weekly blog candy:

 1.) We have decided that becoming a follower on both blogs is going to be something we would prefer you do but not a requirement.  My blog is here and the Crackerbox Palace blog is here. 

2.) Leave a comment on either my blog or the Crackerbox Palace blog on the Thursday blogpost featuring CBP stamps.  If you leave a comment on BOTH blogs, you will be entered twice in the drawing.   The deadline to leave a comment will be the following Wednesday at Noon CST. Mr. Random will pick a winner from the comments and he or she will win the featured stamp(s). You must send me (khasheck@gmail.com) or Crackerbox Palace (crackerbox@crackerboxstamps.com)  an email with your home address so the stamps can be mailed to you.  And if you post a card to your blog or to Splitcoast Stampers with the stamps you won and send a link to Crackerbox Palace, you will win another Crackerbox Palace stamp of your choice!!

I am entering these cards in the Birthday or any Special Day challenge at Kaboodle Doodles and the Anything Goes challenge at Tammy’s Scrapin’ Corner.

Crackerbox Palace smiles, Karen

DCC Challenge at Repeat Impressions

It’s another Designer’s Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built, Repeat Impression’s blog. It’s Patti’s turn and she is challenging us to make a card with black and white and one other color. Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards for this DCC challenge. 

For my card, I stamped Repeat Impression’s Curiosity Cat and colored the cat with a black marker. Did you know you can turn a stamp into a silhouette stamp just by doing that? It works best with open less detailed stamps and is a fun technique to try. For my one additional color I chose aqua blue and used patterned paper to paper piece the paper bag and layer the square piece on. I layered three rows of a border punched with a Martha Stewart wavy border punch on a black piece. Then I added a favorite sentiment (from Repeat Impressions, of course) to complete the card.

I am entering this card in the “Use  a Sentiment” challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

Stamping smiles, Karen

WTSHTF Mermaid Cards

I have been having fun with the Mermaid from When the Scrap Hits the Fun and couldn't wait to show you the cards I designed. If you decide to click on the link above  to look at Marion's digis or go here for the Underwater CD of the whole series, you will have to be a little patient as Marion is on a well deserved vacation right now. But she will be back on August 16th and will take care of any orders that come in then.

If you know me, you know I am not a big fan of  coloring. So when I can print a pre-colored digi image like the one above, I am happy and so is the person who receives the card because it is colored just gorgeous! I cut her out and placed her on a peach card, then cut along her edge again showing the cute WTSHTF sentiment and some star fish I also printed and cut out. So easy but still a fun card.

For my second card, I started with the traditional digi (not already colored.) I paper pieced her botttom half and her starfish and colored the rest with copics. I raised her up with mounting tape and attached her to a card folded like I learned on a tutorial here. It was not hard to do and makes for a fun and unique card. The white piece on the inside of the card was punched with a bubbles border punch from ek success.

Here is another picture showing the fold from the inside and the sentiment also from WTSHTF:

I am entering these cards in the Mystical Creatures challenge at Di's Digi Designs and the Anything Goes challenge at Poodles Parlour.

Stamping smiles, Karen