All Posts By

Karen Ostergard

Planner Essentials Scrapbooking Uncategorized

Florida – Virtual Travels

May 8, 2021

Karen here today. As things are starting to open back up, I’m getting more and more excited about the possibility of travel, and I’m still enjoying adding to my “Places I’ve Been” Journal. Today, I used the BEAUTIFUL new Rainbow of Happiness Papers to create a couple journal pages of my trip to Florida in 2006.

I love this fun, bright colorful paper and thought it perfect to use for pictures of fun, bright and colorful theme parks we visited in Florida! For the page base, I used Planner Essentials 3. I die cut a Fitted Heart and placed it off to one side and used letters from Planner Essentials 23 to cut the word “Florida” after backing that piece of paper with 101mm Double Sided Adhesive. (Makes assembly SO easy). I added a couple postage stamps and the little banners that were part of the Planner Essentials 3 set. Finally, I added a funny little sentiment using my Dymo labeler. And of course, no lay-out is done without some fun reinforcements. The small circles are part of the Reinforcement Variety Pack. The stars are part of a Planner Essentials that is no longer offered. The sentiment stamped into the tab is from the Family Stamps.

On the back of the page, I added a Giraffe (so cute) and used similar products to the front side. On our trip, we had the opportunity to pet and feed giraffes, and that adorable die marks that occasion perfectly. The “Wow Moment” stamp is from the Months Stamps.

Thank you SO much for stopping by today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Postage Stamps, Black Ink, Dymo Labels

Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Holy Cow in Both Brown and White!

April 30, 2021

Karen here! I’m having so much fun with the Life is Better on the Farm Collection. I’d created a card using the FuN Cow die in shades of tan, brown and blue and thought it would be fun to also do it in bright colors. I used the same card sketch and created a second card but this time in shades of lime, navy, and turquoise.

Holy cow, he’s cute! To create this card, I used a piece of Kraft Cardstock and cut an 8-1/2″x11″ piece in two and folded it in half to get the top fold. I wrapped the 4″x5-1/4″ card front with some lace and ribbon and added a Fitted Rounded Rectangle (stamped with a sentiment from the Life is Better on the Farm Stamps) and a Stitched Rounded Square.

I love putting together the adorable critters by Joset. For the Cow on the first card, I cut the pieces from the same Kraft Cardstock. I usually place them about in the order that they would need to be glued together (using Kids Glue). The pieces on the left here were die cut with some 101mm Double Sided Adhesive to make assembly even easier. I colored some of the pieces with Copic markers as follows: cow spots E25, cow nose E41, cow bell Y26, collar B93, udder R20, eyes and hooves E44. I also colored just a smidge of R20 on the undersides of the ears.

For the other cow, I die cut him with the 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock. I also used Copics to color some of the pieces except in this case, I used black cardstock for the eyes and spots. The nose was colored with Copic C1, cow bell Y26 and collar YG13.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Patterned Cardstock, lace, ribbon, black and kraft cardstock, Copic markers, black ink.

Cardmaking Fantasy Flowers Paper Flowers Soft Finish Cardstock Uncategorized

In Sympathy

April 21, 2021

Hi There! Karen here today posting a sympathy card I’ve had to make for a boss of mine who lost her father. What a sad time for her, and I wanted to be able to send a card to let her know I care. Elizabeth Craft Designs has gorgeous products to help make all kinds of card, like the florals I used today.

To create this card, I started by cutting a sheet of light teal card stock to 4-1/4″x8-1/2″ and folded it in half to make the cardbase. I used a piece of 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock for the card front. I smushed some Broken China and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink on my craft mat and swirled around the cardstock to create the background effect. I then cut it with the Stitched Rounded Rectangle Dies.

I added some ribbon and lace. I also cut a Dotted Stitched Circle die out of the light teal and stamped a sentiment from the General Sentiments set and cut it with a Fitted Circles die. I adhered the circles offset just because I think it adds some interest.

Next, I die cut flowers, branches and leaves using the Florals 5 dies and the Branches & Leaves dies. I colored them with Distress Inks in Broken China, Picked Raspberry, Bundled Sage and Mowed Lawn.

I turned them over, spritzed the back very lightly with water, and shaped them. This particular set is pretty easy to shape since you can just run the stylus down the petals.

The flowers are so pretty even if you aren’t an expert at coloring (like me!). I then adhered the flowers to the card and added some stamens that I’d found on Amazon. The card was finished with a few accent half-pearls.

Thank you SO much for stopping by today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Distress Inks and Oxides, Ribbon, Lace, Half-Pearls, Light Teal Cardstock

3 Comments
Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs Uncategorized

Just Chicken In

April 9, 2021

Karen here today sharing a card I made with the totally FUN new “Life is Better on the Farm” collection by Joset. This new collection is SO good.

This card is so simple and yet so fun. I used the new Hen & Rooster Die for the two animals. Below, I’ll list out the Copic markers I used to color them. The card is made by cutting a 8-1/2″x11″ piece of 90 lb Soft-Finish cardstock in half lengthwise and folding it in half. The cardfront is cut with a Stitched Indented Rectangle. The blue pattern cardstock was cut into squares that are 2-1/4″ adhered to yellow squares at 2-1/2″. The sentiment is also new from the Life is Better on the Farm Stamps. I added a few half-pearls for interest.

The “white” chicken was colored with a Copic C1, R27, and YR12/14. The Rooster above was colored with the following Copic markers:

  • Feet and Beak: YR12, YR14
  • Body: Y35, Y38
  • Wings: E41, E43
  • Comb and Waddle: R27, R29
  • Tail Feathers: Y15, Y18, G12, G16, BG53, BG57

Thanks for checking out my card today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Blue and yellow cardstock, half pearls, Copic markers

1 Comment
Cardmaking Fantasy Flowers Soft Finish Cardstock

Two-Color Flowers

March 30, 2021

Karen here today. I love playing with the florals, and today, I’m featuring a couple cards made with the first release that uses two colors for the flowers. So many fun options with these gorgeous flowers.

I had some of this gorgeous onion paper in my stash that I wanted to use in the backgrounds for these florals today. For this card I die-cut it with a Stitched Indented Rectangle Dies. For this card, I then added 1/2 of a Mandala die cut that I first added 101mm Double Sided Adhesive. I then added a sentiment from the Destination Phrases Stamps. I cut the stamped phrase using a Postage Stamp Square and then cut off the ends and top. The green polkadot paper was die cut with the fun hexagon shape in the Decorative Insert Dies from the Art Journal Collection. Next I colored and shaped the florals from the Florals 1 Dies die cut using 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock.

All of the ink I used for these florals was from Distress Ink. The flower base was first colored with Kitsch Flamingo and then I daubered the edges just slightly with Wilted Violet. I used my finger to add a smidge of Wilted Violet in the centers. For the small flowers, I added some Wilted Violet ink and water onto my craft glass and then just doused the flowers. For the leaves, I used Mowed Lawn and Wild Honey. From here, I spritzed the back of the paper before shaping as it really helps the flowers to hold their shape when dry.

For the next card, I started by adding some Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink through a stencil from the Pattern Stencil Pack to a piece of 90 lb Soft Finish Cardstock. I first cut a piece of the onion-skin paper using the Winter Edges Dies. I adhered that to the Soft Finish Cardstock and then die cut with the Stitched Indented Rectangles Dies. I die cut the florals from the Florals 3 dies and colored the leaves with Distress Ink in Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo and the flowers with Broken China and Blueprint Sketch. The “heart leaves” is also from the Decorative Insert Dies from the Art Journal Collection. The sentiment, again from the Destination Phrases Stamps, was cut with the Diagonal Stitched Fishtail Dies. I added a piece of the Postage Stamp Square at the bottom that I colored with Broken China.

Thanks for stopping by today. The supplies I used from Elizabeth Craft Designs are linked up below.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Onion skin paper, distress inks, black ink

1 Comment
Cardmaking Joset Designs Soft Finish Cardstock Uncategorized

Easter Bunny

March 19, 2021

Karen here today. I absolutely adore the Easter Bunny from Elizabeth Craft Designs. So adorable with options to use him from the front (as I have done today) or with the behind. Super sweet for Easter cards. If you make Easter cards and projects, there is now just a few weeks!

I started by cutting a piece of 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock in half to create a top-folding card base. Then I used the Stitched Rectangles die and a piece of paper from the Worn Wood Collection to create the card front. On it, I stamped Happy Easter in the corner using the Spring Sentiments Stamps and permanent Black ink. I also wrapped a piece of twine and used a scrap from the Reminiscence Paper Book across the top (and added a glimmer sticker too). To this, I used a small scrap from Reminiscence Paper Book and from the Mystical Winter Collection die cut with the Fitted Rounded Squares dies to “frame” the bunny. Then comes the FuN part!

I love putting together these adorable critters by Joset. It takes me back to putting together paper dolls as a child, so fun. For the pieces “on top”, I used 101mm Double Sided Adhesive to make putting the bunny together easier. I used 90 lb White Soft Finish cardstock and colored with Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Kitsch Flamingo, and Vintage Photo. the eyes are colored in with a black marker and the nose with a YR04 Copic marker.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Ribbon, Distress Inks, Copic and fine line markers, black ink

Planner Essentials Scrapbooking

My Virtual Travel to Illinois

March 5, 2021

Karen here. I’m still doing some virtual travel through my “Places I’ve Been” planner/journal. It’s been a kick to look back through old pictures and to create pages. Today’s creation is all about a trip to Chicago back in 2007. One of the highlights of the trip was a Cubs game at historic Wrigley Field, so I chose a color palette of blue and red.

I’ve been creating two-page layouts (front and back) for each place I document. The paper I used in this lay-out is from Reminiscence, The Book. Gorgeous papers in blue and red!

The page base I used in the lay-out is from Planner Essentials 28. I love the beautiful deckled edge on this particular base. The letters are from the Butterfly Pocket Insert dies.

On the backside, there was some words on the paper that I didn’t really want in my page, so I added the polkadot paper that I die cut with the Fitted Circles dies and then ran back through with the page base.

And I LoVe playing with reinforcements. I always add 101mm Double Sided Adhesive to the back of the paper before die cutting. The beige banners are cut from a die in the Reinforcement Variety Pack 1, and the stars are part of Planner Essentials 14.

Thank you for stopping by today. I have linked up the supplies below.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Dymo Labels, White Gel Pen, Polkadot Paper

Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Fantasy Flowers Joset Designs Paper Flowers Soft Finish Cardstock Sue Smith Creative Designs Uncategorized

Alcohol Ink Cards

February 26, 2021

Karen here today. I’ve seen quite a number of people playing with alcohol inks lately, so I decided to pull mine out. I’d forgotten how fun they are and how versatile the backgrounds are to use. Today’s post features two backgrounds I created and four cards using different designer product lines here at Elizabeth Craft Designs.

First thing I did was to create these two gorgeous backgrounds by dropping various colors of alcohol ink on a couple sheets of Yupo paper. I then moved it around with a straw and droppered on some rubbing alcohol.

I cut two strips of the blue background for this card that is matted on a card base and card front made from 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock. I created an adorable Sea Turtle (designed by Joset) to put on the card and added some dark blue cardstock, washi tape and blue half pearls. The turtle is colored with Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, and Vintage Photo with Mermaid Lagoon bubbles. The sentiment is from the Splish Splash Sentiment stamps.

With the other piece of the blue background I added it crooked to this Christmas card. The beautiful girl image is designed by Charlene & Ilse and is from the Oh the Joy of Christmas stamps (as is the sentiment). I colored the girl with Copic markers

  • Clothes: B12, B14, B16, C1, C3
  • Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20
  • Lips: E4, E93
  • Hair: E21, E23, E25
  • Eyes: YG03, YG17

I again added some blue cardstock as well as some diamond dots and some lace.

Next, I used a Fitted Circle die cut of the purple ink background to create this card with the Florals 4 set designed by Anita. How pretty are these flowers with just a smidge of Wilted Violet Distress Ink in the centers!?! The leaves are colored with Peeled Paint and the Blooming Branches leaves (that I cut in many pieces for “filler”) is colored with Mowed Lawn. The centers of the flowers are some stamen I got on Amazon. The card base is again 90 lb White Soft finish cardstock, topped with a Fitted Rounded Rectangle die cut matted on purple cardstock.

Last but not least, I created this card using the Celebrate stamps from Sue Smith. I heat embossed the sentiment using ranger gold embossing powder and added a couple hearts (also from the Celebrate Set) that I colored with green and purple markers. The card front is cut with a Stitched Indented Rectangle die.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Colored Cardstock, Alcohol Inks, Embossing Powder, Black and Versamark Inks, Distress Inks, Copic Markers, Diamond Dots and Half Pearls, Stamens, Lace

Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs Soft Finish Cardstock Uncategorized

Fun with Slimline Cards

February 17, 2021

Karen here. Today, I’m loving the slimline cards that I’m seeing all over the place and decided to create a couple for today’s post using two of my favorite designs by Joset – the Monkey and the Parrot.

First up, I created a horizontal slimline card with this adorable monkey.

To create this card, I cut a 7×8.5″ piece of Kraft cardstock and scored it in the middle to create a horizontal slimline base. I added brown cardstock cut at 3.25×8.25″ layered with the plaid cardstock cut at 3×8″. The sentiment is from the Safari Sayings Sentiments and is embossed with copper embossing powder.

On that adorable monkey, I colored him with Distress Ink in Tea Dye and Vintage Photo and dabbed him with a VERY slightly damp paper towel to add some furry-like texture to him. He is placed on top of a Dotted Scallop Circle and a Stitched Circle die.

And don’t you just LOVE this Parrot die! The tri-fold card base was created with 90lb White Soft Finish Cardstock cut at 8×8.5″. It’s scored at one end at 2″ and at the other end at 3″. I colored that sweet parrot with Picked Raspberry and Dried Marigold Distress Ink. I colored his beak and feet with a Copic YR14. The parrot is mounted on a Fitted Rounded Square. Again, I used the Safari Sayings Sentiment.

Love this card opened up like a tall tent. How FuN!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

Other Supplies

Kraft cardstock, distress inks, half pearls, patterned and plain cardstock

Cardmaking Elizabeth Craft Designs General Joset Designs

Princess & Fairy

February 5, 2021

Karen here! Just before the holidays, Joset designed and released the Once Upon a Time Collection. Because of holiday crafts, I felt like I didn’t get to play with this line nearly enough and decided to create a couple cards for today’s post using the Princess and the Fairy 1 die sets. The little fairy card would be good for the upcoming Valentine’s Day!

That sweet girl is the Princess. I die cut the pieces for her out of 90 lb White Soft Finish Cardstock. For the pieces “on top”, I usually cut those with 101mm Double Sided Adhesive on the back to make it easier to assemble. I start by lining up the pieces as though I were going to put her together. This helps me to know which colors to use for different pieces.

For today’s post, I used Copic markers to color the girls. The princess used:

  • Dress, Shoes and Flower: B93, B95, B97, V22, V25
  • Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20
  • Belt and Crown: Y23, Y26
  • Eyes: C7 and white gel pen

The card front was cut with the Fitted Rounded Rectangle. I added a strip from the Artsy Scenery Washi Tape collection and a stamp from the Once Upon a Time Sentiments.

The next card uses the Stitched Indented Rectangle and the Fitted Stars for the card front. The Fairy 2 die is colored with the same colors as the princess but I used Y13 and Y19 for the hair, V20 for the wings, E4 for the lips, and YG03, YG06 for the plant stem. I also added a sun and flower from the Once Upon a Time Accessories.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Craftily yours, Karen

Supplies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other Supplies

Purple Patterned Cardstock, Copic Markers, Black Ink

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