All Posts By

Karen Ostergard

Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Tis the Season

August 25, 2021

Karen here today. Tis the season for me to finally get started on making some holiday cards. I usually make more than 100 and get started much sooner, but better later than never, right? Today’s batch uses the same basic card sketch. I used a few of Joset’s “critters” to create some fun cards.

I started by cutting that beautiful patterned paper at 3-3/4×5″ and a solid background for it at 4×5-1/4″. The ovals are cut using 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock with the Stitched Ovals. The sentiment is from the Classic Christmas Sentiments Set. Once I got these pieces done, the rest was just pure fun.

I used 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock and black cardstock for the Penguin. The hat is from the Santa die (red is Copic R35), the nose and feet are colored with YR14. As usual, I used 101mm Double Sided Adhesive to make putting together the critter easier.

The Sheep is also wearing Santa’s hat. (Why not, right?) He is colored using Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress inks and a Copic R34 and W7.

Last and never least is Santa! I colored him with Copic W7, R27 and Y000 (for the skin). He’s so cute.

Well, Ho Ho Ho, that’s it for me today. Thank you for stopping by!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Patterned and plain cardstock, black ink, diamond dots and half-pearls

Art Journal Collection Planner Essentials

Places I’ve Been – Oregon

August 9, 2021

Karen here today sharing another couple pages I’ve made for my “Places I’ve Been” journal. I have very much enjoyed going back through old pictures and reliving some of these fun moments. Today’s pages are about a trip I made to Lincoln City, Oregon back in August 2017. I had decided to go spend a couple days with my parents who were vacationing there, drove 11 hours and was lucky enough to be there during the total eclipse!

The base for my page was cut with the Planner Essentials 3. On the front I also used the Planner Essentials 23 – Retro Alphabet Trio to cut out the letters and added a stamp from the Family stampset to the tab. The “love” die can be found in Planner Essentials 3, and I cut out the “Total Solar Eclipse” journaling piece from a die in the Planner Essentials 21 – Note Pieces set. The arrow is also from that set. I added the cute glasses from the Party Accessories Kit. And of course, no page would be complete for me without reinforcements from the two variety packs.

For the back of the page, I used the Planner Essentials 36 – Windows Overlay. To get the four-box overlay, I just basically cut off the bottom two boxes with a pair of scissors. The #sofab is also from that set. The stamp on the tab is from the Family stampset as is the stamp on the top of the page.

The yellow picture above in the corner shows an “oops” moment of mine where I hadn’t closed a black ink pad and accidentally dropped the page on top of the ink pad. I decided to turn it into a design element by adding dots and adding a line and dots elsewhere on my layouts. I kinda like it 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Patterned and solid cardstock, black ink, black multiliner pen

Joset Designs Uncategorized

Sweet Farm Critters

July 29, 2021

Karen here today sharing a couple special order cards I made for my mom. She wanted a couple thank you cards, one with a sheep and one with a pig. Easy to do with the adorable farm critters here at Elizabeth Craft Designs!

Both of these critters are colored with a combination of Distress Ink and Copic Markers. The sheep has hints of Hickory Smoke Distress Ink for the “white” parts and Antique Linen face and legs. His eyes and hooves are colored with a Copic C7. I added a teeny bit of Kitsch Flamingo Distress Ink for the cheeks and R20 Copic at the nose. I used a multi-liner to draw the face. The pig is colored with Kitsch Flamingo Distress Ink and Copic C7 marker.

How sweet is that pig! I used the Stitched Rectangle die for the top rectangle and then cut the mat for it 1/4″ bigger on all sides. The card front mat is cut 4×5-1/4″ and the patterned paper is 3-3/4×5″. The word “thanks” is cut from the Words 2 – Thinking of You set. I die cut it twice with 101mm Double Sided Adhesive and stuck them together to add just a bit of dimension.

And I LoVe this sheep! I used the same card sketch to create it. On both cards, I also love the little bit of lace and baker’s twine. And, I finished both cards off with some diamond dots.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Patterned and plain cardstock, inks, Copics, lace, twine and diamond dots

Fantasy Flowers Planner Essentials Sidekick Essentials

Cabo Scrapbook Layouts

July 17, 2021

Karen here today. I love that we are starting to be able to travel again. My guy and I made a whirlwind trip to Cabo in Mexico, and it was glorious! I created a full-size planner page for my “Places I’ve Been” journal, and I created a similar Sidekick sized page for my journal about adventures my guy and I are having. So fun!

I used an older Reminiscence pack for the paper and started my regular sized Planner page by cutting a Planner Essentials 4 page base. On the “front”, I added some bubbles from the Water Creatures Stamps using some light silver embossing. I love the additional texture. Then, I also cut the Planner Essentials 24 frame. Els did a GREAT video about using this particular page that you can find – here. I added the sentiments from the Family Stamps and some lettering from the Planner Essentials 23 set to both the front and the back. (This fabulous set has three sizes of letters!) On the back of my page, I used the Fitted Circles to cut out the pictures of the gas station and the circle behind my picture. The sand dollar stamp is also from the Water Creatures Stamps and is stamped in Distress Oxide and fussy cut. Last, but never least, I added some reinforcements that came from a combination of the Reinforcement Variety Packs 1 and 2. As usual, I backed the paper with 101mm Double Sided Adhesive to make the letters and reinforcements stickers!

For the Sidekick sized pages, I started with a Sidekick Essentials 6 base. I cut a half Fitted Circle for the top (that I ran through a second time with the base from Sidekick Essentials 6 to get the top shape right!) and added some leaves from the Leaves and Branches dies. The rest of the products I mentioned are also listed above.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Cardstock, inks, gold paper

Cardmaking Joset Designs

Fun with Farm Dies

July 10, 2021

Karen here today! I’m excited to share a few cards I made with the “Life is Better on the Farm” collection of dies and stamps. I’d gone to a class at a craft event several years back where I was going to make a mini-album with all sorts of inked up backgrounds. I didn’t finish the project, but I recently found the pack of backgrounds and decided to have some fun with the farm animals and a few of the “accessory” die sets.

These were the three fun backgrounds that I decided to play with. I love how fun and colorful they are. Note that I used 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock to create all my card bases and all my critters today. Love this cardstock!

With that gorgeous green background, I decided to use the very sweet Sheep die in shades of tan distress inks (Tea Dye, Antique Linen and Ground Espresso. (The cheeks have a teeny bit of Kitsch Flamingo.) I used a piece of ribbon, the Party Accessories Dies and Florals 5 Dies to jazz up this fun birthday card. The sentiment is from the Life is Better on the Farm Sentiment Stamps and is cut out with a Stitched Circles die, framed with a Fitted Circles die.

My “howdy” stamp is made with the REALLY sweet Donkey dies, colored with Kitsch Flamingo, Walnut Stain and Antique Linen Distress Inks. The hat is from the Hats set and is colored with Worn Lipstick, Mustard Seed and a Y26 Copic marker. Eek, I love him! The sunflowers are colored with Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Walnut Stain Distress Inks and are in the Farm Accessories dies. Again, on this card, I used the Life is Better on the Farm Stamps.

And WHAT could be cuter than a farmer roasting a hot dog?! Of course, the fellow is cut with the Farmer die. His skin tones are Copics E000, E00, R21 and R4 (lips). The clothes are Faded Denim, Squeezed Lemonade, Black Soot, and Antique Linen. His grey hair is colored with Hickory Smoke. The hot dog, stick and fire can be found in the Camping Accessories. They are colored Vintage Photo, Crackling Campfire, Mustard Seed and an E11 Copic (hot dog). The Tree die was also used on this card (I just used a piece of it…) Again, the sentiment is from the Life is Better on the Farm Set.

That’s it for me today! Thanks so much for stopping by.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Inks, Copics, Backgrounds and colored cardstock

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Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Love You – Fairy Much!

June 30, 2021

Karen here today. I am sharing a card today that I made with the Fairy 1 die. I love the sweet “Once Upon a Time” release from Joset! The sentiments that go with it are very sweet.

To create this card, I cut an 8-1/2″x11″ sheet of 90lb Soft Finish Cardstock in half and folded it to create a top-fold cardbase. Then I cut a piece of pink cardstock at 4″x5-1/4″ and another piece of Soft Finish Cardstock at 3-3/4″x5″ for the card front.

I cut the pieces of the Fairy 1 dieset with 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock. I usually lay them all out in order to help me figure out what needs to be colored with which colors. I then colored this sweet fairy with Copic markers as follows:

  • Skin: E000, E01, R20 (for blusher)
  • Eyes: C7
  • Mouth: R4
  • Dress and shoes: R81, R83, YG13, YG17
  • Wings: YG00
  • Hair: Y23, Y26
  • Wand: E23, Y26

I used the Once Upon a Time Sentiments and the Stitched Hexagon Dies in varying sizes. I figured out what sizes by simply laying them out. (Note that once I got the pieces all ready to lay down, I moved things around just a bit!)

In assembling the card, I added some twine wrapped around the white piece and a couple jewels near the sentiment. That’s all! Fun and easy. Thank you for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Twine, pink and patterned cardstock, Copics, black ink

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Planner Essentials Sidekick Essentials

Sadie’s Page

June 16, 2021

Karen here today. I’ve started a NEW Sidekick Planner to journal a somewhat new relationship. Today’s post is about my guy’s sweet dog. (Yes, I’m dog-obsessed!) Sadie is an almost 80 lb pittie mix, black with some white paws and other markings. I used / modified the Dog die to add a fun embellishment for Sadie’s page.

I used the Sidekick Essentials 1 for a base, and I used the gorgeous Rainbow of Happiness Paper. To that, I added a strip of black denim ribbon. Then I used a couple sizes of the Fitted Circles Dies. On the top die, I used that FuN sentiment from the Pieces of Life 4 – Retro Stamps. On the bottom circle, I put an ADORABLE picture of Sadie. On the top of her picture, I added a heartbeat die from Sidekick Essentials 1. So sweet. The letters are from Planner Essentials 23. And, of course, I had to add some reinforcements. These little circles are from the Reinforcement Variety Pack 1.

How fun is the back of this page!? I kept the back pretty simple with a strip of several pictures of the adorable Sadie and a wee bit of journaling. I also added the little hearts from the Sidekick Essentials 2 set.

For the Dog die, I wanted to create a black dog with some white marks and white paws. (The white is 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock!) I cut 8 of the “legs” – 4 in black and 4 in white. I fussy cut just the tips of the white ones to make white paws. I also used one of the white spots to create a white chest for the adorable dog. And some google eyes! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Black cardstock, denim ribbon, black ink

Cardmaking Joset Designs

Panda Bear with Googly Eyes

June 12, 2021

Karen here. I love googly eyes. Ok, that’s really random, but they are just the cutest! And googly eyes on the critters from Joset’s Designs are just too cute. Today, I used the adorable Panda Bear die and some googly eyes to create a card of appreciation for a boss who is moving onto his next role.

To create this card, I first cut an 8-1/2″x11″ piece of black cardstock in 1/2 and folded one part of it in half to create a card base. I then created the card front by cutting a slide from one of the papers in the Rainbow of Happiness paper collection. I turned one part over and cut the card front using the Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies.

I added some denim ribbon across the middle. Next I created the Panda Bear. I cut the pieces with black cardstock and with 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock. After I cut the pieces, I generally lay them out before I start to put them together like this:

How cute is that little guy??! To finish this card, I added a sentiment from the Bear Hugs Sentiment Set and a couple gems to highlight the sentiment. So easy and so fun! Thank you for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Black cardstock, black denim ribbon, googly eyes

Art Journal Collection Cardmaking Fantasy Flowers

Pocket Cards

May 29, 2021

Karen here today with a few fun cards that I made recently using the Sealed Pocket die from the Art Journal line. How fun that these dies are so versatile that they can be used for journals, scrapbooks, cards and more! I added some florals to my cards as well!

I made three versions of this card. For this version, I colored the flowers with Wilted Violet Distress Ink and used the Florals 2 Dies with 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock. The leaves in all my cards today are colored with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The card base and the pocket are also 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock. I glued the pocket to the card front which is cut just shy of 4″ across and 5-1/4″ tall. Then it fit perfectly on a standard A2 vertical card base.

One can add a fun giftcard to the tag in the pocket. In my case, I also printed a sentiment and added some ribbon. So fun!

This version is cut with the Florals 5 Dies and is colored with Kitsch Flamingo Distress Ink.

And finally, this version is cut with the Florals 3 Dies and is colored with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Distress Inks, Ribbons, Patterned Tie Dye Paper

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Art Journal Collection Planner Essentials

Dragonfly Tag

May 19, 2021

Karen here! For today’s post, I created a tag that I’ll be tying to a bottle of wine as a gift to a co-worker who will be leaving soon for retirement. I’m so jealous and, yet, so happy for her. Tags are a great way of turning a simple gift into something special.

I started this tag by diecutting the sweet dragonfly from the Sidekick Essentials 18 die set. I love that the planner sets have really cute dies that can be used for planners, cardmaking and more! I used 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock and daubered some embossing fluid on the edges. I then used Copper embossing powder and heat set it.

The beautiful paper used in this tag is from the NEW Rainbow of Happiness paper from the Art Journal line. I diecut the tag using the Planner Essentials 26 set that has some really amazing tags and toppers. I embellished it with a couple of Fitted Heart diecuts and some ribbon. I stamped a sentiment from the Family Stamps onto a banner that is also in Planner Essentials 26. Finally, I added a few half-pearls.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Black ink, half-pearls, embossing liquid and powder, ribbon

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