February 2022 - Random Reflections

Freshly Made Sketches & More

by Karen
February 28, 2022September 7, 2025

There are often times when my blog is quiet for quite a few days in a row. It is unusual, however, for me to post twice in one day. My son's birthday post was scheduled over the weekend, and I had hoped to find time on the weekend to create a card for the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm a huge fan of Cécile's designs, so didn't want to miss this opportunity to take on one of her sketches. The challenge closes later today, so I'm getting this in just under the wire! I'm also adding this to the galleries for Addicted to Stamps and More and Time Out Challenge where "birthday" is the prompt.

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I started by hunting for some specialty papers I've had for years, but I know I didn't see them when I did my huge January reorganization and purge. That left just a couple of places to look, but I didn't find them. In the process, however, I found this beautiful piece of vellum.

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I die cut the vellum with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectanges, and using the next biggest one cut apiece of dark gray cardstock from my scrap folder. I already had the silver diecut in the envelope with My Favorite Things "Leafy Greens."

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I added them to a card base made with Concord and 9th's Dove cardstock. All that was left was to stamp the sentiment from Sugar Pea's "Everyday Sentiments" and add the silver pearls.

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My hope today is to get even more time for crafting. I have a couple errands to run this morning, and then should have plenty of time to get back to the crafting desk. I have a stack of hot foil plates I want to play with. I recently won a second big prize from Pinkfresh Studio, and they sent me four beautiful foiling plates and a die cut. The luck involved with these wins is just amazing as they are a random pick from all the comments left on blog posts or YouTube videos. Given how popular Pinkfresh Studio is it's amazing to have won two big prizes in just four months, but I am very grateful!

Edited to add: When I came back to my desk this afternoon, the card above was laying there, and it just felt like something was a little "off" about it. I die cut a second vine from another scrap of dark brown cardstock, and layered it so the silver became a shadow. I'm much happier with this version!

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Here's a closer look:

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Too late to change it for the challenges, but I'm happier!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

by Karen
February 28, 2022September 7, 2025

Today is my son's birthday, and I had a lot of fun creating his card this year. He's a fan of graphic designs so I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy this card. Although I've been an incredibly lucky winner with Pinkfresh Studio in the last several months, this is a hot foil plate I purchased along with the coloring stencil knowing I'd get a lot of mileage from it.

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I used gold to hot foil this fabulous "Geo Blocks" design on white paper. I gave a bit of thought to leaving it as is, but am very happy I changed my mind and used the stencil to add two shades of gray to the blocks.

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I die cut the stenciled pattern and a gold border with the Gina K Designs "Master Layout #1). That die set has turned out to be a staple for me. Then I added both to a dark gray card base.

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I wanted a sentiment with a simple font and chose this one from My Favorite Things "Greetings Galore." I used one of Pinkfresh Studio "Basic Label Frames" and embossed the greeting in gold, adding three matte gold pearls for some embellishment.

I'll be posting this in Just Add Ink where the challenge is to use two of three items on a list. I chose texture and layers. It's also going to the Time Out Challenge where they are celebrating their 8th birthday. And, finally, it's off to Darnell's NBUS challenge since this is the first time I've used that wonderful hot foil plate.

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Snowflakes

by Karen
February 25, 2022September 6, 2025

Actually there is only ONE snowflake on my card, but it's a perfect morning for this post since we got another 4 inches of snow overnight with more promised during the day. I'm much more in the mood for flowers and sunshine, but Addicted to CAS has "Snowflake" as the challenge and Perfectly CAS wants "Metallic." Since one of my intentions for 2022 is to get Christmas cards made in advance, I was happy to oblige.

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I started with a clear picture in my mind for the card design, and once I found a new pack of Paper Source Royal cardstock and a sheet of Tonic Mirror Holo Waves the card came together pretty quickly.

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Both the snowflake die cut (Simon Says "Kate") and the sentiment (Simon Says "Holiday Greetings: Mix 1) are old favorites.

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The Royal blue paper is new to me, and although the Mirror Holo Wave has been in my stash for quite some time, I've never used it before either. You can get a bit of the metallic glow from the photos, but it's much better in person.

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I do have hopes of die cutting some florals before the weekend is over, but there's a long list of non-crafty tasks that need to be done as well. Hope your safe and warm wherever you are!

Color Hues #35

by Karen
February 16, 2022September 6, 2025

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but Kristie has a great new color combo for you for the 35th Color Hues Challenge.

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My card was inspire by this beautiful design by Betty Wright. If you click through to it, you’ll see how I was inspired.

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Not long ago, Ardyth Percy-Robb had a great post on thinking about how to transform an inspiration piece into a new creation. In my case, I used the same “Border Bling: Tinstitch” die from Papertrey Ink that Betty used and added a circular die cut behind my floral. From there, my card takes a different path.

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I chose a dark navy cardstock from Concord & 9th, “Midnight,” for both the card base and the Tinstitch border. I have just one floral, from Altenew’s “Wallpaper Art,” which I watercolored with the Altenew 36 pan watercolors. As some of you know, I recently participated in a wonderful online watercolor class where I was using professional grade watercolors. Although I do love the beautiful pinks in the Altenew set, the watercolors themselves were more difficult to work with. I added some texture and shading with a Polychromos colored pencil as well.

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The leaves embossed in silver are also from “Wallpaper Art,” and the die cut circle, cut from a piece of white shimmer card stock, is from Pinkfresh Studio’s, “Diagonal Stitched Circles.” The sentiment, also embossed in silver, is from Papertrey Ink’s “Wishes Come True,” a long time favorite of mine. Finally, I added a few rainstones to the die cut circle.

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Rosemary.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

by Karen
February 14, 2022September 7, 2025

I have just one last valentine to share today. It's almost entirely made with die cuts of one kind or another.

Maddy

I started with a pink panel die cut with the Honey Bee "Fluttering Hearts Pierced Cover Plate." I die cut a heart from that panel with one of the Hero Arts "Infinity Hearts" dies, and adhered a layer of dimensional tape before layering it on a red card.

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Then I carefully tucked in the little bear that I had die cut and assembled from Simon Says " Love Bear."

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The sentiment was stamped and die cut with the "Sentiment Suite: Love" and die from The Greetery.

Somehow I missed the current TicTacToe Challenge with my earlier valentines, but not this time. I chose the diagonal: red, free, diecut. This will be my second card entered into the Addicted to CAS: Hearts challenge, and I'm also entering it in the Happy Little Stampers Dies challenge.

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More Valentine Love

by Karen
February 13, 2022September 6, 2025

There are still a few valentines to share. Today I have two with similar sentiments, but a bit different in style. The first is a very CAS valentine.

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Several years ago, I purchased an embossing folder from Alexandra Renke which I've used occasionally. I pulled it out for this valentine and you can see all the lovely detail below. The happy fuschia cardtock is from The Stamp Market.

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Behind the gold heart is a debossed heart which I opted to cover with this pretty metallic gold one. I lightly swiped a gold ink pad over the raised dots that radiate out from the heart which gives them a little sparkle and also highlights them.

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After trimming the panel down, I backed it with the same metallic gold paper. The sentiment from Spellbinder's "Essential Foiled Sentiments" was foiled in gold on white cardstock. It's the first time I've used that foiling plate, and I do like the font.

Foiling takes center stage on the next valentine. I used (once again) the "Heart Grid" by Pinkfresh Studio, but cut the panel down with a heart from Hero Arts "Infinity Hearts." They are also a new purchase and one I've used over and over creating valentines this year.

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I also used the infinity heart dies to cut the next largest heart in gold metallic paper. I layered them on to a white panel embossed with the Sunny Studio's "Quilted Hearts" embossing folder.

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The die cut love, shadow, and sub sentiment are from an older set by Simon Says Stamps appropriately named "Love." The gold metallic paper from Hobby Lobby is a perfect match for the gold foil from Spellbinders as is the Brutus Monroe "Gilded" embossing powder.

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I'm entering a few challenges with these cards. First off, Addicted to CAS where the challenge is Hearts. Then the first card in The Card Concept where both the color pink and the heart were the inspiration for their "Love is in the Air" challenge. It definitely fits their category "Clean and Simple." Then both cards are off to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where the challenge is "Emboss It!"

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Lots of Shiny Hearts!

by Karen
February 11, 2022September 6, 2025

My new Spellbinder's Glimmer machine is proving to be a lot of fun—and occasionally a source of frustration. There definitely is a learning curve, but I did get some good results when making valentines. I have two more valentines to share. I used the Pinkfresh Studio hot foiling plate, Heart Grid on both of them.

First up, a valentine with colorful shiny hearts:

Skylar

The "Hearts Grid" was foiled with rainbow stripes foil. It's so tricky to photograph shiny things, but it's much easier to see in the next photo. I love all those colorful hearts!

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After foiling the background I layered it on a thin piece of gold metallic paper. The sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Just Sentiments: Valentines" was embossed in gold and die cut with a Hero Art's "Infinity Hearts" die. I die cut the next largest heart from red metallic paper, ending up with a totally shiny valentine.

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i'm entering this card in the February Pinkfresh Studio Challenge where the theme is Love, and I think I have all the colors covered with the rainbow hearts.

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Next up is a card using the same hot foiling plate, but with a bit of a different vibe.

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This time I foiled gold hearts onto red paper. I've been watching a series of live videos from Pinkfresh Studios which have been so helpful! One of the keys to foiling on colored cardstock is to find very smooth paper. This red from Paper Source worked perfectly.

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The gold heart was cut with a My Favorite Things "Stitched Heart" die, and the sentiment from The Stamp Market's "Tons of Type" was embossed in gold and die cut with a "Skinny Banner" die from Papertrey Ink.

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I'm entering both cards in a new-to-me challenge: Festive Friday. There is a list of adjectives and you must include at least three in your card. For card #1 it's sparkle, romantic sentiment, and heart. For #2 it's red, sparkle and heart.

Valentine Love

by Karen
February 9, 2022September 6, 2025

Although I have mixed feelings about the weather in February, I do enjoy designing and making valentines. Not surprisingly, there are multiple challenges focused on love and valentines. I have two valentines to share today that are going to The Paper Players Challenge: Love and Friendship and the Happy Little Stampers: Dies.

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Both cards are tucked into some valentine bags with a variety of goodies for Caleb and Hannah. We'll be on our way to visit them this weekend, and it will be fun to celebrate Valentine's Day with them. I'm not sure that's ever happened before. First off, the valentine for Hannah using a new-to-me Pinkfresh Studio's "Foldable Shaker Tag." It comes with both a circle and a square to die cut the window, but I substituted a heart die cut from Hero Art's "Infinity Hearts."

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Putting the shaker together was super simple and I filled it with Gina K's little clay hearts in multiple colors, adding three to the outside of the tag for a little embellishment. I tied a little red gingham bow to the top with a sentiment and tag from The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite: Love."

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I die cut the Honey Bee "Fluttering Hearts Pierced Cover Plate" in white and added to a red card.

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Next up is a card for Caleb, my only grandson. It took me awhile to settle on an image for his valentine, but decided on the helicopter filled with hearts from Simon Says "Faraway Hugs" set. I used the My Favorite Things "Clouds" stencil to create a background for the helicopter which I colored with Copic markers.

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Then I die cut it with a large heart from the Hero Arts "Infinity Hearts" die and then die cut the next largest heart with red and layered them.

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The patterned paper is very old, cut from a 12×12 pieces of patterned paper from American Crafts, saved from my scrapbooking days. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things "Up in the Air," embossed in white on red and trimmed out. None of the photos show it, but I also added some glitter pen to the three hearts in the helicopter.

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I'm also entering Hannah's card in Darnell's NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) Challenge.

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Color Hues #34

by Karen
February 1, 2022September 6, 2025

It's my turn to be the hostess at The Color Hues Challenge. I chose Red and Black.

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Since Red and Pink has already appeared as a challenge, I thought Red and Black would also work for Valentine's Day which isn't all that far away. Valentine's Day was my father's favorite holiday, and I have continued his tradition of sending a gift to the members of my family which means a fair number of valentine cards as well. Much to my surprise, I ended up making an anniversary card since I had not one, but two anniversaries coming up.

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The card would certainly work for Valentine's Day as well.

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This is another of my pre-holiday purchases from My Favorite Things during a site-wide sale. I love this "Heart Tree," and think it has many possibilities. This time I took just the three largest hearts from the die and colored them with Copic markers before inlaying them onto the tree.

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