Closing out November...

I just can't believe we are at the end of Nov, heading into December!  This year is flying by! As my grandmother has told me many times in the past, "Time waits for no man".  Isn't that the truth!  We are heading into cold weather also, which I detest!  I am in need of some hot cocoa just thinking about it ( brrrr ).  I can already see my breath in the air.....OK- maybe I am getting a bit dramatic!  Let's move on shall we!  Card time!

OK- Let me just say I love snowmen!!  It is one of the few things about winter I DO like!  They are just so stinkin' cute!  In this card lots of Distress Ink ( which I love ), embossing, and embellishments.  I used one of my favorite background stamps on this again which is the Friend Definition stamp from Hero Arts.  I also used the Top Note Die and snowman punch from Martha Stewart Crafts.   Poor little guy, he doesn't have his carrot nose or any eyes to see with!  YIKES!!  It is alright...if every snowman was the same, it would be boring!  :o)  Well, I am closing this post up.  It is officially counting down to my birthday in 3 days!  Gosh, hard to believe I will be 34!  According to my mom- I will be 12 though! I have been 12 for a LONG time folks!  :o) 

Be safe my friends!
-Kari

27 shopping days left till Christmas...

Hola everyone! - Hope that all had a nice Thanksgiving for those of you in the U.S.  I filled up on the best part, the dressing and dessert!  It was back to work after 4 days of leisure, and let me tell you, I was happy to have it.  I knew I would have to go back to the hustle and bustle at work, so I enjoyed as much as I could not having to think about work and what all goes on there.

OK- how about a card?

-

I love this one!  Probably because I love butterflies. I usually don't do a lot of layering on my cards, but I did this one and loved how it turned out. It is just a happy card.  It would make me smile if I received this! :)

In other news...

I have been trying to decide on what I wanted to do to add more storage in my craft room/aka "happy place", and then it dawned on me that I have a shelf in our bedroom that really isn't getting that much usage properly, SO, with some discussion about it, we came up with a plan and now I have that shelf hanging up in my room, along with some BYGEL rails from IKEA.  So- I organized, cleaned and cleaned some more, and I purchased a little computer desk and now I will have a spot solely for my laptop and printer, and my other desk strictly for my paper crafts.     For my birthday which is coming up on Friday (12/3), my husband actually looked at my list that I had made and bought me a label maker that I had wanted.  I was a labeling fool on Sat.  I have new photos up now of both my cards and my craft room as it is now.  You can go to my "photos" tab on my main page to view them.

Well- that is it for now- will post again tomorrow!

Till then- be safe friends

-Kari

"Thank You" card supplies:

• Stampin' Up card stock
• Craft card stock
• Friend Definition stamp from Hero Arts
• Color Box Fluid Chalk ink/dark brown
• Itty Bitty Bits stamp set from Stampin' Up
• Itty Bitty punches Stampin' Up
• Taken with Teal Ink Stampin' Up
• Pink Passion Ink Stampin' Up
• Pumpkin Pie Ink Stampin' Up
• Top Note Die Stampin' Up/Sizzix
• 3 -D stickers- LaPetites from the Paper Studio

Blessed and Thankful...

Hi Friends and Happy Thanksgiving to you all- My husband and I went down to my parents house today to partake in some wonderful food.  Of course, as always the dressing is always my favorite.  I could make a meal just out of the dressing, I tell ya.  We traveled in yucky rainy weather to get this wonderful meal today, but I am just thankful that we made it safe, and that we had a meal to enjoy with my mom and dad.  Now we are back home, and settling in for the night.  Here is today's card that I am sharing with all of you. What I enjoy the most about this card the beautiful focal point of the maple leaf, and this stamp is from Hero Arts.  I took some browns, yellows, greens and reds and used these ink colors with my blender pen to make this leaf come together.  I think it turned out well. 

Well,today's post is short and sweet.  I hope all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving.  I won't be braving Black Friday.  That craziness isn't for me.  Till tomorrow my friends!  Stay safe and be well!    - Kari

 

Happy Thanksgiving-Eve

Well, tomorrow is it, we eat turkey and all the trimmings till we pop, or go to sleep, which ever comes first.  :)

I wanted to share a card with you today that I made a co-worker of mine.  It represents some of the beautiful fall colors we have right now.  Better enjoy the fall while we can, as winter will be here before we know it.
I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!  I will share with you what I am thankful for.  First, my health, or that I can get up each day, and be productive that is.  My loving husband and our two cats whom I love as my children right now.  Of course, my family ( immediate and in-laws), and that I have a job to go to, how ever stressful it can be at times.  I am also thankful that I have a hobby that I love, and that I can be proud of.  I am only a year into making cards and I have loved every single minute.  I can see my growth from start to present, and I have learned so much from so many wonderful, creative people. 

I will try and post something over the holiday, as I enjoying sharing my cards with everyone.  Stay safe, and happy traveling if anyone does travel for Thanksgiving!  I will be one of those folks on the road weather permitting.

Stay well everyone, till next time! Gobble Gobble- 

-Kari

Happiness is...

Being home from work...currently that is what my happiness is.  I won't bore you all with the details, but hectic doesn't even come close to describe today!  Days like this, I just want to lie in bed, and sleep or watch TV and think of nothing! **Breathe**  Let us move on to happier things..like today's card!

I have a new way of photographing my cards, and so most of the ones I have taken pictures of are just on my desk.  Anyway, today's card is such a fun card.  It has bright happy colors, and who doesn't like bright and happy.  I honestly made this for a particular friend at work, and it fits her personality to a "T".  I thought I would just let the card speak for its self on this post, instead of my going into my usual detail of how I put it together.  If anyone that reads my blog, makes cards, and are interested in any of the things you see, like where the cute bus stamp came from, and what not, I will be happy to share this information with you.    When I made this card, I wished I would have been into coloring with Copic Markers then, but did not have any at the time, and didn't know as much information about them as I do now. 
We are getting closer day by day, inch by inch of gathering with family and friends and stuffing ourselves till we pop!  I smell the wonderful fragrant of my grandmother's recipe for dressing or some of you call it stuffing.  I am more than ready!  Till tomorrow! 

-Kari

Owl as Rudolph??!!

Have I got your attention with today's title?!  Yep, thought so.  You didn't think you could make Rudolph from an owl did ya?  Well, as you can see Rudolph has many forms...LOL. 

Well, this is how it is done.  There is an adorable Owl punch from Stampin' Up! that I used.You can look here to get the idea of what this punch looks like for those who do not know.  I just took the main body of the owl and trimmed off the little feet.  I used all the parts that would be for the eyes, and then I remembered I had some "wiggle" eyes, and thought that would be a fun little addition to Rudolph.  I have a tree punch that looks like it has lost its leaves, and punched one of those out in black, and used some of the branches, and used them for his antlers.  For the background, I took the Top Note die from Stampin' Up, and sponged the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I used the background stamp from Stampabilities called "Swirls & Curls" and inked the stamp with Broken China Distress Ink and then stamped that onto the Top Note die I cut out in light blue card stock.  I added my "Merry Christmas greeting" and added some ribbon to the bottom. 
Hope Monday was kind to all of you!  We are gearing up for Thanksgiving aren't we.  It is suppose to be COLD here, and I am not looking forward to it.  I thought I would add that sentiment.  OK, friends, be good to one another!

- Kari

Supplies I Used-

• Red Card stock
• Top Note Die from Stampin' Up
• Stampabilities "Swirls and Curls"
• Broken China Distress Ink
• Walnut Stain Distress Ink
• Inkssentials Blending Tool
• Owl Punch from Stampin' Up
• Tree Punch from Paper Shapers
• Holiday Sayings stamp set from Hero Arts
• Twill Tape from Stampin' Up
• Red rick rack trim from Oriental Trading
• We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

What would you like to see??

Hi friends!

I wanted to take the time and ask what you would like to see on my blog??  Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions they think would improve my blog?  I also would like to get some feedback of what you see so far.  So, come on, if you would take the time and lend me your thoughts, suggestions, and  feedback of what you think of KWCardDesign so far.   

I would really enjoy hearing the thoughts of my followers and friends.  

Thanks! - Kari

Finally Friday!

I am glad that this day is Friday!  Even though I only have one day off, which is Sat, it is OK, because that will mean I will have a 4 day weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Let's get to today's card!

For today's card, I used some red card stock from Stampin Up!, and I used a stamp from Hero Arts that is a distress frame.  I actually inked it up with versa mark ink, and the spread some white embossing powder and heat set it with my heat tool.  I wanted the emboss resist look, so that is why I started out with my frame first, so when I used some of my Fired Brick Distress Ink all over the card front, the embossed image would resist the ink.  I just rubbed off some of the excess, and it shows that beautiful distressed frame. I, then added in the middle of that frame a "snow globe" sticker from K&C Company from their Yuletide collection.  I added some Christmas ribbon that I purchased from Oriental Trading, at the bottom, and another sticker from Making Memories from their Mistletoe collection.  It is the beautiful snow flake sticker you see there.  I, then added some "stiching" with my white gel pen to make it pop.  Pretty simple card.  


Hope everyone has a great Friday, and weekend!  Stay safe out there!


-Kari

Holiday Season is among us

Happy Thurs. folks!  We are nearing another week's end.  That means it getting closer day by day to the 2010 Holiday Season.  Are you ready?  Frankly, I am not, but any more it won't matter if I am or not, it comes regardless! :o)

Today's card is featuring a new technique I learned just evening.  It is called the "reflection" technique and I absolutely LOVE it!  The best part, is that it is so easy!  My first try at this turned out awesome, and I couldn't be more happy about it.  My card base is again some card stock from Stampin' Up!.  I used the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set. I inked up my stamp with some Memento black tuxedo ink, and stamped it onto white card stock.  I think repeated the same step, but instead of stamping the image on the card stock, I stamped it on a piece of transparency, or clear acetate.  I took that piece of transparency, and turned my image upside down and lined it up with my first stamped image. I took my brayer and roll over the transparency to transfer the image onto the white card stock, and "vwa-la" the image looks like it has a reflection.  I took some of the blues I have of my Distress Ink, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Faded Jeans, and made the image of water.  I, then took with my ink blending tool from Ranger, and some more of the Broken China ink and blended the edges as well.  You can't see it, but there is some glitter along the bottom of the trees where the ground is.  It looks like "snow" and I also added the same glitter onto some of the trees.  The glitter I used is "Dazzling Diamonds" from Stampin' Up!.  I matted the whole image onto black card stock and then added the ribbon, and a label with the stamped image "seasons' greetings", and placed all that onto my card base.  It turned out beautiful!  I will wind up making more of these.  I showed my hubby and he LOVED it!  Any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.  Till tomorrow! Be good to one another!

- Kari

Fall is in the air

WHEW..what a day it has been.  I am so thankful I have my card making to fall back on as a stress reliever!  I tell ya, some days leave you scratching your head and asking "Really"??!! 
Ahh, enough about that.

Let's get to today's card.  I am pretty proud of this one.  Not that I am not proud of all my cards, but as a card maker there are ones that you are just so happy how they turned out, sometimes you want to keep them for yourself.  I took some patterned papers from the Amber Autumn matstack from DCVW, and placed one all over the card front, and the other I used my Fiskars edge punch "Treading Water", and put that at the bottom of the card.  I sponged at the bottom of the edges some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to make the pattern paper appear a little softer.  Then, I have some "Woolies" stickers from Basic Gray, and applied that beautiful sticker onto the card front as the "center piece" of the card.  Your eyes just goes right to that beautiful thing, and the colors are perfect fall colors.  I took some scrap orange cardstock I had and stamped my "thanks" greeting from a stamp set from TPC Studio in Fired Brick Distress Ink, and also sponged the edges with that same color as well to tie it all together.  I made this card Tues night. 11-16-10, and gave it to a friend/co worker today at work.  She loved it!  I take pride in my cards, and giving to those that appreciate them.  Makes this girl feel good inside.  Hope your day was a good one.  Till next time, be good to one another.

Feeling Festive

How is everyone's Tuesday going?  I hope well.  Another work day finished.  Thank you Lord! 
Today's card is a Christmas Card.  I actually made this one last year during at a Stampin' Up party.  The cards' base is vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up, and it has an embossed flourish in the middle of the card with gold embossing powder.  I also embossed the stars and placed them randomly onto the card around the flourish.  Then I took my " Merry Christmas " greeting and stamped at the bottom right hand corner.  Very simply, not too fussy.  It really didn't need to be, because of the beautiful gold embossed flourish and stars.    Today's post is short but sweet and to the point.  Any comments or questions, I would love to hear them!  Thank you friends.

Another start to another week

It is Monday, and I am happy that I am posting this after I have finished my work day!  I have to admit that today flew by, which is really good!  Hope that your weekend was filled with lots of smiles, and relaxation.  I spent some quality time with my hubby and a friend of ours in Springfield!  We always seem to have a good time!
Today's card is focused on the different embellishments I used for flowers.  I thought it would be fun to use paper flowers, buttons and gem stones, and make them into their own different flowers.  Of course, I started with my base, which is Concord Crush cardstock from Stampin' Up!.  Then, I took some pattern paper from a paper pad I bought at Big Lots and used my punch from Martha Stewart.  I just used the corner punch for this, but there is an additional punch that allows to you punch all around the page with the same pattern.  I, then took a label die cut that I had and sponged the edges with wild honey Distress Ink to give the edges some color and pop.  I stamped onto my label die cut my flower stems from my Stampin' Up! stamp set "For Everything", and then added the gemstone, paper flower and button for the flower tops.  Last, I just added an "hello" greeting.  Hope this card inspires those to use different embellishments in different ways.  Until next time!  Be good to one another!

TGIF!! Happy Day!!

Hi all!  I am happy this day is the end of the work week.  I don't know if I could have handled one more! ( ahh, probably wrong, but oh well) 

Today, I am sharing with all of you a very colorful card.  It is "tie dyed" if you will.  It was fun just grabbing random colors, and just rubbing on to a sponge these colors and then transferring them onto my cardstock.  I made this for a specific friend of mine that accomplished a big thing in her life, and I wanted to make it special so she could look back and remember that happy day, as it is titled  The stamped sentiment is embossed and I punched the bottom with the scallop punch from Stampin' Up!.  I then matted it onto green cardstock and then matted that onto my base.  I added a green paper flower with a rinestone middle, and placed another clear epoxy sticker from Cloud9 on the bottom.  I then just added a few jewels onto the sentiment. 


This weekend I will be spending quality time with my hubby.  I always love those times together with him, and this weekend will be two in a row!  Hope all of you have a nice weekend!  Stay safe my friends.
By the way before I go, I wanted to send a Happy Birthday to my friend and classmate Heath Stocks. I hope this birthday reminds you how special you are, and that lots of people love and care about you!!  Bye for now.