Random Reflections

Beautiful Washi

by Karen
October 22, 2024September 4, 2025

Pinkfresh Studio has some of the most beautiful Washi tape. I've ordered a couple of sets and have received the complete suites a couple of times for big events. This summer's Create and Connect event featured a gorgeous Washi tape designed and watercolored by Dawy Woleslagle. I followed along with the video for her second card, and when I was finished I was a bit puzzled because I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Pinkfresh sends a wonderful book with directions and photographs of the cards that will be made in class in addition to Make and Takes by other designers. I had looked at the card in the book and liked it a lot. When Dawn created it in class she added a lot more floral pieces to the frame, and it was too much for me. I took my card apart and put it back together again so it's very similar (but not identical) to the one in the book.

LovelyDay

In addition to the Washi tape and coordinating dies, there is also a stamp and stencils. I've yet to try those, but am quite sure you'll see some eventually. It was hard to capture the beautiful foiling in this Washi, but this photos catches a bit of it.

LovelyClose

The sentiment here is part of the stamp set, and the dies cut out the sentiments which I love. This sentiment and the floral are on another of the products for the class. When I first saw the Dotted Fancy Frames I wasn't sure if I'd like them. But when layered together as they are here, I'm very fond of them.

The next card is simpler and, not surprisingly, a design I came up with when I ended up with three of the large florals from the Washi Tape on my desk.

Washi

I found an already embossed Honey Bee Winter Gems card front in my stash. I know it says winter but when done white on white, I think it works with these pretty flowers as well. This card could not be simpler or quicker. I added the large image with some thin dimensional tape and another sentiment from the stamp set.

WashiClose

I also added a few of the Iridescent Dew Drops that were also part of the event kit.

I'm getting these posted just under the wire for the Pinkfresh World Card Making Day Challenge. I was in Italy for WCMD, but am happy to have these completed before the challenge ends.

Color Hues 97

by Karen
October 16, 2024September 4, 2025

Julie P's Color Hues combo is so inspiring this time around. I love the Olive and Mustard combination and was able to put another NBUS stencil to work.

CH #97 Olive and Mustard.001

Altenew's Wonderful Wreath has been sitting in the NBUS box for far too long. It's a very easy stencil to use, and I used Papertrey Ink's Ripe Avocado for one layer, and after rotating the stencil a bit added a second layer of leaves with Gina K's Asparagus ink–two of my favorite greens. The mustard berries were hard to see even when I used a heavy had with Concord and 9th's Honeycomb ink so I added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze to each berry for a bit of dimension.

CH97_2

The main panel was die cut with Hero Art's Rounded Rectangles (before adding the Nuvo glaze), and the sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio's Betterpress Plate, Favorite Things Sentiments, foiled in gold.

These are such pretty fall colors, and I hope you'll be inspired to join us in the Color Hues Gallery. There's lots of inspiration there so take a look!

Color Hues #96

by Karen
October 1, 2024September 4, 2025

Julie B's choice, Purple and Orange, for the first of October Color Hues Challenge sent me right off to find my Halloween die cuts.

CH #96 Purple and Orange.001

CH96_2

I reached for my favorite purple (Simon Says' Royal Purple) and orange (Papertrey Ink's Orange Zest) cardstock. Most of these images were die cut two or three years ago when I got together with two friends and used some of their Halloween dies. I die cut enough that I've used some of those for the last two Halloweens, and still have some left for more cards this year and next! All of the dies are from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from the Tricky Trio die cuts, and is no longer available. I layered three sentiment together, two purple and then the orange slightly offset.

CH96Flat

The sparkly moon is from the Boo Black Cat and the three ghosts were stamped and die cut from Ghost and Ghoulies. I love their tiny googlie eyes that I found in my stash. Once I arranged them, I decided the card definitely needed something more, so cut a panel of purple and then used Spellbinder's Stargazer embossing folder–just what it needed.

I'll need a few more Halloween cards, but it's good to have one on hand early. I hope you'll join us in the gallery of the Color Hues Challenge. You'll find plenty of inspiration from the Design Team there.

Clean and Simple Florals

by Karen
September 20, 2024September 7, 2025

Knowing full well I'd be away when the latest Pinkfresh Studio Create & Connect event took place, I signed up anyway. The truth is I have a terrible time keeping up with the live videos. And too frequently, the card the designer is sharing is a bit over the top for my taste. By doing it this way, I could watch the videos and make some decision about what and how to create with the (always) fun product that comes with the class.

In addition, I can watch the videos in any order I want. This time I started with a cling stamp, stencil, and die called Modern Botanicals. I colored two sets of the florals, knowing I want to eventually create the first card Kristina Werner designed for her class. For one set, however, I decided to make three CAS cards, using a variety of precut card fronts and dies I had in my stash.

PinkFloral

The black piece was dry embossed with The Greetery Crimped Circle dies. I thought I was going to use it on a previous card, but ended up putting it in my envelope of card fronts instead. I trimmed off the top and bottom and added a thin strip of black cardstock as a border, and added it to a bright pink card base. All the florals are from Modern Botanicals. The sentiment is a Betterpress one from Spellbinders' Always and Forever Sentiment Strips.

The background for the next card was die cut and given to me by a friend several years ago, and I'm just now finding the perfect use for it. It's Scalloped Stackers: Medium from Papertrey Ink.

TealFloral

Teal isn't a color I often choose, but it was perfect for this floral. I added a Stitched Circle from Simon Says and a another Betterpress sentiment from Always and Forever Sentiment Strips. I added some dimensional tape to it before adding it to the circle.

The last card uses some Stitched Scallops from The Greetery. A friend loaned these dies to me, and I die cut a good stack of them in several colors. It didn't take me long to find a use for these.

YellowFloral

This sentiment, too, came from the same Betterpress plate by Spellbinders. I added some thin dimensional tape to the smaller Stitched Scallop for a little interest. I gave thought to embellishing all three with some pearls or enamel dots but in the end, decided I liked them as is. (Easier to mail, as well.)

YellowFloralClose

I'm sending these off to The Flower Challenge: Include a Stamped Image.

FlowerChallenge

We're off on our next adventure tomorrow. I have a group of posts written, and depending on my time and internet access, I may get a few posted. For sure the next Color Hues Challenge will go live on October 1. I gave some thought to totally getting off the internet while we were away until Tracy asked me how many emails I thought I'd have on my return. I shuddered at the thought. I'm taking my iPad so I can read my Kindle books on the flights, but because I usually use a laptop, I'm not terribly adept at using the iPad for much other than reading.

Just A Note

by Karen
September 16, 2024September 7, 2025

Yesterday I had time to create a card for three different challenges. The first is Addicted to CAS: Just a Note, and as soon as I saw the challenge I knew what I wanted to do. Then I realized that the card fit both Freshly Made Sketches and the Word Power challenges. I've never played along with the Word Power Challenge, so I was happy to finally have a card where the focus was on the words. This makes my second post for the day, but the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge ends today, so I couldn't wait.

The card was created with just dies from The Greetery. I had already die cut and assembled some of the pens from the Pen Pal die, and I also had precut several panels from the Postal Frame die. All I needed to do was the stamp and die cut the fabulous sentiment from Scripted Sentiments.

I liked this one so much I found two more assembled pens and created masculine cards with those.

NoteGray

GreenNote

What I really like about these cards are all the sub-sentiments that are included in Scripted Sentiments which means I can use these for birthdays, anniversaries, or encouragement cards–to name a few. I'm quite sure I'll come back to this design in the future.

Addicted FMS Final 653-001 WordChallenge Badge

Blue and Pink for Color Hues 95

by Karen
September 16, 2024September 6, 2025

Cindy has a great color combo for us on the Color Hues Blog this round:

Color Hues #95 Blue and Pink.001

I pulled out two new products (NBUS) from Alex Syberia: Garden Tweets and Signature Tags for my card, and I'm really happy with how it came out.

CH95

I chose two Papertrey Ink papers for the main blues: Blueberry Sky and Spring Rain. The foliage was die cut with one of my favorite neutrals: Soft Stone. The pinks all came from my scrap box as most of the die cut pieces were very small. After assembling the bird and flowers, I arranged them on one of the two large tags from the Signature Tags set cut from a piece of patterned paper in an older My Favorite Things paper pad, Road Tripper. I like the subtle light blue pattern which adds some interest but doesn't detract from the main images.

CH95Close

After tying a bow with gold thread from Altenew, I added a sentiment that was hot foiled in gold with Spellbinders Better Press Plate, Fancy Sentiment Strips. I used some dimensional tape under the sentiment strip, and adhered the tag to a card base of Spring Rain cardstock.

There's always a lot of inspiration from our Guest Designer and the Design Team at the Color Hues Blog, so hop over and see what might inspire you to join us in the gallery.

This is off to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

With Sympathy

by Karen
September 7, 2024September 6, 2025

I don't tend to make sympathy cards ahead, so when I need one in a hurry I head to my envelope of card fronts or embossed panels. This time I found two pieces I had previously embossed with embossing folders, so made two cards. Now I have one in the stash.

Sympathy2

Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina 3D Embossing Folder is so beautiful, it needs no embellishment. I decide to off set the oval and trimmed off the excess.Then I added a simple die cut sentiment from The Greetery's All Occasion Script Sentiments which I embossed in gold.

Sympathy2Close

Gina K's Tapestry Embossing Folder is also beautiful. I cut down the panel, and added a narrow gold border and then used dimensional tape to add it to a white card base. For this card I used an already gold foiled sentiment from Spellbinders, You Are Everything set. I did add three gold pearls from Pinkfresh Studio.

Sympathy1

SympathyClose

These will be two more entries into the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge and I'm also adding them to the AAA Card Challenge that's looking for CAS sympathy or get well cards.

AAA273

Just Because

by Karen
September 4, 2024September 6, 2025

My blogging friend, Darnell, posted a card using Altenew's Streamlined Sprig die for her I.D.E.A.S. project–D is for dies. When I saw it, I told her I'd try to get a card up that week, but it's taken longer than I anticipated. But looking at the current challenges I saw two that might help me get this die into use. Time Out Challenges: Friendship or Encouragement, and Can You Handle the Pressure? I'm not using the Optional Leaves theme, but it's always using an embossing folder. I had one of those in my NBUS box along with the Altenew die.

JustBecause

I have to admit I just love this die. The die includes the stem and outline but separate die for the fillers behind. I chose my colors from scraps in my scrap box, and did some ink blending for dimension.

JustBecauseFlat

The graphic nature of the embossing folder (Spellbinders' Geo Screen) was just perfect for this stylized flower.

JustBecauseClose

The sentiment is a Betterpress one also from Spellbinders, You Are Everything.

Hope you are having a day filled with sunshine! It's cool here, but very bright and likely to warm up by the afternoon.

End of Summer Get-away

by Karen
September 3, 2024September 7, 2025

Sarah and her family spent a week with us in Rochester, and then the six of us took off for Intermediate Lake in Michigan where we had rented a cottage for a week. The weather was much cooler than we anticipated, but it didn't keep the kids out of the water, and by the end of the week it had warmed up. It was, gratefully, sunny every day.

The cottage was set back from the lake. The only disadvantage to that was the view from the cottage was more limited than it might have been.

We rented a boat for the week, and got out on the lake every day. Caleb (as you will see) loves tubing, and wished for a faster boat. Hannah wasn't interested in tubing this year, but loves driving with Grandpa.

Hannah did like kayaking. The cottage had several we could use, and Sarah tied Hannah's kayak to hers. Hannah paddled continuously so I don't thing the rope did much except keep her with Sarah.

We think we may put this photo on a tee shirt for Caleb on his birthday!

The kids talked Adam into tubing. The rest of us passed on it.

And that's the way we spent most of the days–on the water. I don't have any photos of Hannah in the water, but the water was shallow enough that she could easily play in the water which she loved. We also played board games, read, and napped. A pretty fine way to spend one of the last weeks of the summer.

After Sarah and her family left for Wisconsin, we stayed on for a couple of days to meet up with a couple we met on our tour of Spain and Portugal. Candy and Ralph live in northern Indiana so we had met them for lunch earlier in the year on our way home from Wisconsin. This time Ralph got us rooms at one of the wineries near Traverse City. It was gorgeous, and so relaxing. We had lovely rooms, but also had the use of a very large living area and patio. Traverse City is one of their favorite get-aways.

One morning they took us to Fish Town–an old fishing village that now offers boat rentals, fishing excursions, and shops.

IMG_5420ed

IMG_5440ed

IMG_5626ed

IMG_5638ed

IMG_5635ed

I was excited to finally see a Wood Duck. There was a whole flock of them.

This is a view from one of the wineries we visited. The grounds were beautiful, as were the ones where we stayed.

IMG_5458ed

All in all it was a wonderful trip. We returned to a very busy schedule which is finally winding down this week. Two weeks from Saturday we'll be off again. I don't expect to do more than try to keep up with email during that trip, so I hope to get a lot of crafting and posting done in the next week or two.

Color Hues #94

by Karen
September 1, 2024September 6, 2025

I knew September would show up long before I was ready to say goodbye to summer. I remember Tracy once saying that now that we're retired "it's endless summer." Sadly, not. I will miss the long hours of sunshine, the pretty flowers in my yard and garden, and the warm weather. It will still be nice for a few more weeks, but once Labor Day arrives, summer seems to end for me.

Knowing fall is on its way, Carol has a wonderful color challenge for us at the Color Hues Challenge blog:

CH #94 Rust and Green.001

For this challenge, especially, remember that this is a color hues challenge so there's always room for a variety of hues. I chose two hues of cardstock for rust and two hues of green. I also included some dark brown and white–neutrals are always welcome. I immediately thought of two die sets in my NBUS box: Spellbinders' The Botanical Solarium and Altenew's Through the Window.

CH94Flat

After die cutting all the elements, I added a bit of ink blending to the greenery and backed the window with a piece of cloud vellum. When I started to consider what I could use I remembered some of this, but I had no idea if there was any left. I had plenty for the window, and enough for several more when I use this die again.

CH94Close

I had several contenders for a rust card base but chose Papertrey Ink's Terra Cotta Tile. The rust cardstock for the pots is Gina K's Rusty. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Sunflower Sweetheart. The only embellishments were the pearls for the flower centers and one for the butterfly. I had a few die cuts left over, and decided to use a few of them on the inside:

CH94Inside

The sentiment here is from My Favorite Things Sweet Birthday Wishes. I'll bet there are a few stamps or die in your collection that would make for a great entry to our Rust and Green gallery. Be sure to check on the Color Hues Blog for more inspiration, and come join us!

As noted above, this card definitely benefited from my NBUS box, so it will be an early entry to Darnell's September NBUS challenge. I'm also adding it to the gallery at Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils.

NBUS Die Cuts and Stencils

Woodblock Wednesday-August

by Karen
August 28, 2024September 7, 2025

The fourth Wednesday is always Woodblock Wednesday, and this month the last Wednesday in the month. I read an Opinion piece in the New York Times recently saying that although most people see Labor Day (Monday) as the end of the summer, you don't have to buy into that. Most of my adult life Labor Day was the last weekend of summer because it brought the beginning of the new school year. I actually loved the start of a school year, but this year I'm going to try to hold on to that summer feeling for a few more weeks.

Featured-woodblock-Wednesday-graphic-copy-1

We got home last yesterday from a fun week on Intermediate Lake in Michigan and two days with friends in the wine country of Traverse City. I'll have some photos up by the end of the week. Luckily, I made my Woodblock Wednesday card before we left, and you can see that summer was definitely on my mind.

WWAug

This is another old woodblock that's been in my collection for years. The manufacturer was Fred B. Mullet, and I have no idea where I picked it up. I stamped it on watercolor paper and water colored it with Distress Oxide Inks. Both the narrow frame and the card base were created with woodgrain papers from Simon Says.

WWWedClose2

The sentiment is from Colorado Crafts' A Fox's Life which a friend gave me. It's never been used so it's off to Darnell's NBUS. Thanks, as always, to Amy Tsuruta for hosting Woodblock Wednesday!

Color Hues #93

by Karen
August 16, 2024September 6, 2025

Tracey has chose perfect summer colors for the new Color Hues Challenge.

Ch #93 Orange and Yellow.001

I pulled out an old favorite for some bright and cheerful Coneflowers by Honey Bee. The layers and size of the florals make a big impact on an A2 sized card.

ColorHues93

Catherine Pooler's Chic Chevron coverplate made a good background for the florals. I added a sentiment stamped in dark brown and fussy cut from Pinkfresh Studio's Friendship Blooms stamp set.

ColorHues93Close

The colors in the photos are quite a bright as they are in real life–a too frequent result of living in an old house with limited light. I added a few yellow enamel dots was the only embellishment.

I hope you'll join us at the Color Hues Challenge. The gallery is open until August 29th so there's lots of time to create with us!

Pinkfresh Studio August Challenge

by Karen
August 15, 2024September 6, 2025

I was excited to see the theme of the Pinkfresh Studio Challenge this month: Washi tape. I immediately knew what I wanted to use, but had to wait until my friend received the card before posting it.

PFS

I hadn't pulled out the beautiful, gold enhanced Pinkfresh Studio Washi tape, Sunflowers, in a very long time. They are perfect for a summer birthday. I used a card design I learned from Anett Gelencsér during the Create & Connect event held in February. It creates a middle portion that "pops up" when the card is released from the envelope.

Sunflowers

To create the card, we used two of the Notched Corner Frame dies as well as the Stitched Octagons coverplate. I did some light yellow ink blending on the coverplate die and chose two dies from the washi tape collection to decorate the frame. You can see the dimension better in the photo below.

SunflowerClose

The sentiment is also from Pinkfresh, Perfect Sentiments, hot-foiled in gold.

I have more Pinkfresh Studio washi tape, but my crafting time for August is just about up, so another entry is probably unlikely. We're off to Michigan this weekend with our daughter and her family, and then to visit with friends we met on our tour of Portugal and Spain last year. So many ideas, so little time!

Harvest Mice

by Karen
August 12, 2024September 6, 2025

The Double D Challenge theme is Harvest, and it was the perfect opportunity to pull out a My Favorite Things which I have owned (and never used) for so long that it is no longer available to purchase! I love these little mice so I'm not sure why they were so neglected.

HarvestMouse

I wanted to use the Waffle Flower Postage set again, so used the Postage Collage Coloring Stencil to color the background. I cut the stamps apart, and then set out to stamp, color, and die cut the cute little mice with their haul of pumpkins and apples. I placed the die cuts in four of the postage stamps, and arranged them on a woodgrain card (Simon Says.)

HarvestMouseClose

The sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Happy Fall is generic enough that I could use this for a fall birthday or even a fall anniversary. The little heart on the sentiment stamp is a red glittery sticker.

This card is off to Double D as well as Darnell's NBUS challenge.

NBUS

I have a crafting companion today, who worked very hard to create this card for her cousin who like crafting as much as she does. Here's Hannah with her card.

HannahWithCard

I had made a card for one of her birthday gifts that featured crafting supplies so that's what she wanted. She was pleased to see that I had a new (another NBUS) set by Gina K, Crafty Notes, and picked out the images she wanted to stamp. It took her no time to master the MISTI and she carefully colored the crafty tools with Tombow markers. She definitely wanted them to be "bumped out."

HannahCard

When Hannah arrived from Wisconsin on Saturday she brought her watercolors with her and has created several wonderful paintings. After she colored the card and envelope, she noted that she was coloring the marker with one of the colors she used on the card. I think she's got this!

HannahClose

We're sending this off to NBUS as well.

Summer Fence Line

by Karen
August 7, 2024September 7, 2025

I pulled this stamp set out of the "Summer" box to decide whether I wanted to keep it or not. It's been years since I used it. I found a design on Pinterest for inspiration, and set about creating a card. I'm usually not a fan nor particularly adept at using layering stamps or scene building. But I'm pretty happy with this (almost) one layer card. The stamp set went back in the box.

FenceLine