Author Archives: narellefarrugia

Freshly Made Sketches #555

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There’s a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches to play along with. This weeks sketch designer is me! I’ve come up with the following sketch for you all.

My initial sketch pretty much had a shape in every corner, but I tamed it and left only two shapes. My card however, is filled with details.

I love the dramatic-ness of black, white and yellow together. My card was designed around the diecut sentiment. This die is from the Sending Dies. You can purchase the dies separately or as part of the Sending Smiles Bundle.

The flowers I’ve coloured up are from the Happiness Abound Stamp Set. Each of the flowers have been coloured with a combination of every yellow blend that I own and fussy cut out. The leaves that I have tucked under each of the blooms has been fussy cut from the Perfectly Penciled DSP.

The yellow DSP I’ve layered over the Basic Black Cardstock is from the Hues of Happiness DSP. The circle diecut notebook type paper is from the Abigail Rose DSP. I really have given my card a mix of DSPs, images and sentiments!

Hope you get a chance to play along with the sketch. Make sure you head over to Freshly Made Sketches and see what they team have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #554

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We have a new sketch to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. This week our design hostess is my friend from down under across the ditch – Karren Johnson. Take a look at her fab sketch:

I almost went a little vintage-y with this card mainly because the DSP strip I added to the background has that vintage vibe. I had to hold myself back from roughing up the edges and add some ink to the edges to the embossed Basic White Cardstock. The cardstock was embossed with the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder. On this cardstock I added a Kraft Cardstock diecut that I had sitting on my desk, the strip of DSP from the Abigail Rose Designer Series Paper Pack.

I then took my blends and coloured images from another piece of DSP from the same DSP pack. Once coloured, I then fussy cut out the images and raised them up on Dimensionals. A birthday sentiment was added and a Linen Thread bow.

Three white Classic Matte Dots were added for that bit of bling I like. Because they’re subtle they don’t overpower the roses, which was the look I was going for.

Here’s my card:

Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they team have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project Challenge #360 & TGIF Challenge #386

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I’ve created a card today that I’m entering in to two challenges – the CASE challenge at Global Design Project and the theme challenge at TGIF. Here are their challenge pics:

The card I created features an oldie but a goodie stamp set – Free As a Bird. Love this stamp set and the cute little bird images. The birds have been coloured with the following blends – Pool Party and Crumb Cake. The flowers were given a light colour with my Highland Heather Blends. The leaves have beens haded with the Mint Macaron Blends.

The background cardstock was shaded with with a Blending Brush, an Artistic Mix Decorative Mask and Pool Party Ink. I also took the Light Bermuda Bay Blend and flicked the nib against the lid to add some ink splatters.

The big leaf I added is from the Leaf Label and Amber Gem Combo pack. The leaf has been embossed with the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder. I then took a dauber and Crumb Cake Ink and daubed around the edges of the leaf. I roughed up the leaf and added it beneath my birds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #621

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We have a new challenge for you to play along with at Just Add Ink. This week our challenge is a sketch challenge. Here’s our sketch:

I saw the sketch and instantly thought of hippos! The hippos I’ve used are from the Hippest Hippos Stamp Set. I’ve coloured them with a variety of colours – Pool Party, Pale Papaya and Highland Heather Blends. Each hippo is layered over a circle punch in the same colour they were coloured with.

The circles sit on a Basic White Cardstock base that has been shaded with Pool Party Ink over an Artistic Mix Decorative Mask.

Once I adhered everything down, I felt the card needed a little something extra, so I stamped some leaves and flowers from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set. The leaves were coloured with my Pool Party Blends and the flowers with a combination of Flirty Flamingo and So Saffron Blends. Each of these leaves and flowers were fussy cut out and placed around the hippos.

Three Basic Rhinestone Jewels were added for that bit of bling I like.

The team have created awesome cards with this weeks sketch. Make sure you head over to Just Add Ink and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #553

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It’s time for a new sketch challenge to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. This weeks amazing sketch has been designed by the wonderfully talented team member, Cecile Ribon.

You can’t go wrong with a Christmas card for this challenge. Christmas will be upon us before we know and I find it’s never too early to start stockpiling festive cards.

I’ve featured images from the Leaves of Holly Stamp Set and dies from the Holly Berry Dies. The leaves have been stamped with a combination of Smoky Slate Ink for the first layer of stamping. I then took the second stamp and inked it up with Basic Gray Ink to stamp the most defined leaf image. These leaves were then fussy cut out.

The berries were stamped with the Real Red and Cherry Cobbler Inks. The second stamp over the top gives the berries definition. Even though there are dies that will cut these out, I actually fussy cut them – mainly because I enjoy the time cutting around images.

I added a strip of Garden Green Cardstock over a blended background with Pool Party Ink and flicked Basic Gray Blend ink. Under the three squares of Basic White Cardstock, I added a strip of Metallic Mesh Ribbon and tied it off on the side with a piece of Linen Thread.

Some leafy diets were cut with Garden Green Cardstock and layered beneath a holly leaf and three Champagne Rhinestones were added.

Here’s my Chrissy card:

The team at Freshly Made Sketches have created wonderful cards that will inspire you. Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Seize The Birthday #246 & Colour Hues Challenge #48

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I made a card last week and forgot to post it for the combined challenges at Seize The Birthday and Colour Hues Challenges

The challenge is to create a card with the colour combo of Navy and Lime. I went with an interesting layout that allows the flowers from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set to really shine. The roses have been stamped with Black Stazon Ink and watercoloured with Night of Navy Ink. The leaves were coloured with my Parakeet Party Blends. These images have been fussy cut out and raised with Dimensionals.

The navy designer series paper strips I’ve added to my card are from the Sun Prints DSP pack. I added thin strips of Parakeet Party Cardstock to the DSP strips to tie in the colour from the leaves to the overall design.

A banner strip of Starry Sky Cardstock and a strip of striped Sun Prints DSP were added under the layers to add a bit of balance to the left side of the card. Three Basic Rhinestones were added to finish off the card.

Here’s my card:

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #552

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Ready for a new sketch challenge to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches? I am. Our sketch has been designed by the wonderfully talented cardmaker and legendary walker Jennifer Brum.

Take a look at her fab sketch:

The card I’ve created features leafy images from the Nature’s Prints Stamp Set and texture made with the Fern 3D Embossing Folder. The fabulous green cardstock has been carried over to the leaves that have been coloured with the Parakeet Party Blends.

I’ve paired the Parakeet Party Cardstock with Gray Granite DSP (from the Sun Prints Designer Series Paper pack) and Gray Granite Shimmer Ribbon. The sentiment that has been circle punched is also from the Nature’s Print Stamp Set.

Three Champagne Rhinestones were added to create balance with the offset sentiment and cardstock strips.

The Clean Team have created awesome cards. Make sure you pop over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

TGIF Colour Challenge #384

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I was able to create projects for a few challenges over the weekend. Love weekends like those. The card I’m sharing tonight is for the latest colour challenge at TGIF Challenges.

I created a card that features all five of the 2022-2023 In Colours. Thought I’d challenge myself and see if I could get them all on my card.

I started this card by taking a Artistic Decorative Mask and a piece of Basic White Cardstock. After sticking the cardstock and mask down with some old Washi Tape, I took a Blending Brush and all three blue In Colours – Tahitian Tide, Orchid Oasis & Starry Sjy- and blended over the mask to create a multi-coloured decorative background.

The final two in colours – Parakeet Party & Sweet Sorbet – were then used to give the flower and leaf images life with my blends. This gorgeous image is from the Blessings of Home Stamp Set. This image was fussy cut out, even though I have the die for it… I added a couple of leafy Basic White die cuts from the matching Flowers of Home Dies.

The sentiment is also from the Blessings of Home Stamp Set. I trimmed this sentiment in half to just use the thank you part of the stamp.

For a final bit of interest, I added a torn strip of Starry Sky Cardstock and added it to the edge of front panel.

Here’s my card:

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #358

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It’s a cold Sunday here in Australia so I’ve found a challenge to join in with instead of cleaning..cleaning can wait until tomorrow. The challenge at Global Design Project this week is a fab sketch challenge.

The card I’ve created feature flowers and leaves from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set. To recreate the circles under the sentiment, I took two circle dies, a journalling pen and traced around the inside of the two different sized dies. The background cardstock was then given flicks of ink by flicking the nib of my Light Basic Black Blend against the lid of the blend.

I added a strip of striped DSP from the Perfectly Pencilled Designer Series Paper. I keep every off cut as they come in handy for adding strips for layering. I tore a piece of Basic Black Cardstock and added this also.

I then stamped up the flowers from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set and watercoloured them with Basic Gray Ink. The centre of the flowers were coloured with the Daffodil Delight Blends. The leaves were watercoloured with Mossy Meadow Ink. All Images were then fussy cut out and adhered with Dimensionals.

To finish of the card I added a sentiment from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set and three black Matt Dots.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #619

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We have a new challenge for you to play along with at Just Add Ink. This week is a themed challenge. Our challenge for you is to:

I’ve continued my love of the Season of Chic Bundle and created a masculine card for the challenge.

The two-step shell images have been stamped with Crumb Cake and Early Espresso Inks. These shells have then been cut out.

To create the smaller shells, I took the small shell die from the Chic Dies and traced around it. I then took my Watercolour Brush and added Crumb Cake Ink to give it some definition. The shells still didn’t feel defined enough, so I opened my Early Espresso Ink and ran the shell across the pad to give it an outlined edge.

The netting-like background was created with Bermuda Bay Cardstock and the die from the Chic Dies. Amongst my images and die cuts, I’ve added some ribbon that I have frayed and bunched up.

When you don’t have DSP to match your colour combo, I like to take the matching cardstock colours and create a layout with interest – like the torn edged one I’ve gone with for this card.

Here’s what I came up with:

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle