Welcome!

My name, Karin, was pretty common when I was growing up...just not the spelling. Unless you are of German heritage like I am. So, I have spent my entire life answering the question, "What is your name"?... With, "Karin...with an "i"! Who knew it would come in handy all these years later when I went to name my blog.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Winter

Hi Everyone,

Today's super simple card is for when you're flat out of time and need to make something quick.  Which is me.  All the time during the holidays!


I stamped some of the Simple Pine Trees for the background and added a couple of die cut deer.  I made the new Hello Winter Greeting into a banner and attached it to the top, along with a few tiny snowflakes.  



I told you it was simple. 

I hope you got everything on your stamping wish list for the holidays!  If not, just buy it yourself right here!

Thanks for visiting,
Karin


Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Snowflakes


 Hi Everyone,

Here are my super quick projects that I've made this month.  I'm always running late or whipping something up last minute, so these are both crazy simple. 

I needed a thank you card for my cousin who invited us over for dinner, and the Blizzard of Thanks is my go-to stamp this time of year.   I paired that up with the Snow Background, and added a punched snowflake and rounded corners and was able to write something personal inside in about 20 minutes...I think that included addressing the envelope too :)


My friend's son was performing in his 8th grade band concert, so I need a bag to hold his congratulatory gift card and sweets.  Now that my husband works from home and doesn't have to take a sack lunch, I have a bunch of brown bags in my pantry.  I used the same Snow Background stamp along with the Small Happy Holidays Greeting to transform the brown bag into something a bit more festive and I hope not too girly.  (Sorry for the ragged ribbon edges...I told you I was in a hurry!)

 

The countdown to the big day is definitely here and I'm feeling the squeeze...I hope you holiday prep is going smoothly!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Beautiful Season

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to make another card using the new Berries & Bow Christmas Decoration stamp, so I decided to match it up with the Beauty of the Season Christmas Greeting. I measured out my card and chose to use these oval die cuts, however I thought I would have to cancel my idea due to getting a smudge on my berries image.  I simply ended up coloring and fussy cutting the berries and was able to proceed. 

 

An easy to mail flat card, I simply added an embossed snowflake background and a strip of printed ribbon. 

Hope you are able to enjoy the beauty of the season!
Karin

I wanted to make another card using the new Berries & Bow Christmas Decoration stamp, so I decided to match it up with the Beauty of the Season Christmas Greeting. I measured out my card and chose to use these oval die cuts, however I thought I would have to cancel my idea due to getting a smudge on my berries image.  I simply ended up coloring and fussy cutting the berries and was able to proceed. 

 

An easy to mail flat card, I simply added an embossed snowflake background and a strip of printed ribbon. 

Hope you are able to enjoy the beauty of the season!
Karin

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Happy Holidays

  Hi Everyone,

I've used the new Leaping Reindeer stamp on my card share for today.  It's such a lovely image that evokes the traditional feelings of the Santa/Rudolph story of Christmas for me.  Of course, it just occurred to me now that I should have given him a red nose!  See?  Now I have an idea for the next card!

I ended up getting a smudge on my paper when coloring my deer, so I simply fussy cut him and attached him to a die cut and embossed square.  I also embossed the background with snowflakes and added a die cut tree, embellishing it with some gems.  Woo-boy do I have a lot of gems in my stash. I must have shopped a massive sale at some point in my life...lol.



After attaching the image panel, I added the Small Happy Holidays Greeting using my punches, along with a punched snowflake to finish it off. 

Thanks for visiting today!

Karin

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Hello Winter

  Hi Everyone,

With all preparation for Thanksgiving, starting to decorate for Christmas, trying to snag a few deals by shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, today's card share had to be clean and simple.  Lucky for me, DRS Designs had the perfect new stamps to make that happen!

I used both the new Hello Winter Greeting (283E) and the Simple Pine Trees (285E), which I heat embossed with some glittery powder to give the simple black and white a little oomph.  




I dry embossed only a portion of the card layer to leave room to stamp those trees and I attached the pennants to the greeting before attaching it to the card with some dimensional foam tape.

I don't think I've ever made a card that marks the arrival of the winter solstice, but I loved using these stamps!  

Have you started on your holiday cards yet?  

Happy Stamping!

Karin

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Berries


 Hi Everyone,

While I know Thanksgiving is this week, I couldn't resist showing off a couple of the new stamps soon to be released here at DRS Designs.  

I stamped and colored up the new Berries and Bow Christmas Decoration (9275F), die cutting it and turning it into a tag by punching a hole in the top and adding a ribbon. I then layered it onto an embossed holly background and added the new Small Script Merry Christmas (272E) Greeting.  



To finish it off, I added some punched holly leaves and red gems as berries, and also added some glitter glue to the image berries as well.  It's the holidays, there is no such thing as too much glitter this time of year!

Be sure to stop back and see all of the new holiday and winter stamps!

Happy Holidays!

Karin

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Happy Fall


 Hi Everyone,


With Thanksgiving coming up on us next week, I thought I would sneak in one more fall themed card.

I began by stamping the Silhouette Branch in multiple fall colors.  I stamped, colored and fussy cut the Pumpkin Pile fully intending to layer it on top of the stamped leaves, but the colors were too similar, and the image got lost.  So, I flipped the card stock upside down and placed the pumpkins in the blank space, which left room for the Large Happy Fall Y'all greeting. 



I added a strip of orange and some green ribbon before attaching it to the gold card base.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Fall!
Karin



 

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Woven Plaid


 Hi Everyone,

It's that time of year when I pull out the Woven Plaid background stamp, because it makes the best, fall and winter backgrounds.

I colored and fussy cut my Give Thanks Pumpkin Stack and layered them onto a die cut rectangle.  I took inspiration from it when it came to choosing the colors for the plaid background.  



I also looked to my image for embellishment inspiration and added a ribbon, sunflower and matching fall leaves.

I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving.  Not so much the cooking part, but the eating part for sure!  

Have a great day!
Karin

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween

                                                                          Hi Everyone,


I have one last Halloween card to share with you since today is the big day! I can't wait to see what the neighborhood kids come dressed up as!


I stamped and colored up the Spooky Jack Halloween greeting, adding some sponging after I die cut it out.  I then stamped and fussy cut the Fancy Pumpkin, adding some glitter to his hat.  I wrapped the greeting in a die cut vine and layered it onto a background that was stamped using the Starry Background. 


Usually I add some gems as embellishment to finish off a card.  Today I had to add them to cover up a boo boo I made at the very end of the cardmaking process. Sigh. I may go back and see if I can add some more vines in that spot instead.

Happy Halloween!
Karin


Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Friendsgiving


 Hi Everyone,

This is a super-fast to make and easy to mail card for the Thanksgiving holiday.  

I dry embossed my die cut background panel with some fall leaves and added a pumpkin pie that I made using my punches.  I simply cut out a wedge to make it look like a pie slice.


I stamped and die cut the You Make Friendsgiving Special and layered that on to a strip that matched the card base. 

Like I said, easy as pie!  

Have a great day!
Karin



 

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Scary


 Hi Everyone,

I have a quick Halloween card share today.  It's pretty self- explanatory, but I stamped and die cut the So Spooky It's Scary Greeting and matched it up with a die cut skull.  It doesn't show up in the photo well. but I added white glitter to the big skull and the small ones in the greeting. 


I added red gems to match the drippy blood and I finished it with some googly eyes.  

Be sure to check out all the new stamps from DRS Designs right here!

Happy Stamping!
Karin



 

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Happy Halloween


  Hi Everyone,

The jack o lantern that's part of the new Spooky Jack Halloween greeting, reminded me of the one that's part of the Witch Gnome stamp.  So, I went ahead and paired them up on my card today.  

For my backgrounds, I stamped, and heat embossed the Empty Spider Webs first, and then stamped and colored up the greeting on my white background paper. I then used the Starry Background and stamped the purple stars, doing my best to avoid getting stars inside the pumpkin image.  

I used some circle dies on my gnome and attached him on top of the border that was embellished with a strip of patterned ribbon.  

I have my pumpkin ready to be carved, purchased my Halloween candy, and found my cat ear headband that I wear every October 31st, so I'm all ready for the trick or treating!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin



Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Friendsgiving

 Hi Everyone,

I was organized enough one year to do a Friendsgiving event in October.  It was fantastic!  Everyone brought something, everyone got along, and no one was dreading the holiday season tasks to come!  I cannot recommend this party idea enough :)

For this card today I masked off a diagonal section of the card stock and sponged on some fall leaf colors.  Specifically, yellow, orange and red.  I used the Open Leaf stamp and added those on top of the strip. 



I simply stamped the Happy Friendsgiving on the bottom and colored it up.  I left off any gems or sequins to make it an easy to mail invite. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
Karin


Tuesday, September 26, 2023

2 Cards

  Hi Everyone,

I've been out of town, and I was overly ambitious in thinking I could make a fall card to show off here on the blog.  So, until I get back in stamping mode, here are a couple of cards I made for friends and family before I left. 

This was a get-well card that I made using S'more Birthday Greeting and Smooshed S'more.  I separated the greeting and replaced it with the words get well from the Get Well Prayer stamp.  Otherwise, I copied myself from the card on this post. 


This was a quick card that I made for my dog loving cousin. All I did was use an embossed dog themed background and made it a 4 1/4" square card, just to be a little different.  


And here is the inside greeting...


Here are the stamps I used:
Doggie Dilemma Dog with Fence

I think the someone special greeting on the front may be retired, however, you can find that phrase as part of the Special Birthday Wishes Greeting.

Thanks for dropping in!
Karin


Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Friendsgiving

 Hi Everyone,


I don't use the Stained-Glass stamps near enough.  They really elevate a stamp that has been used many times, into something new!  I stamped the Fall Leaf with Acorn inside the Small Stained-Glass stamp, but there are various sizes of stained-glass stamps to choose from.


I colored up the leaf and acorn and then did a gradient coloring on the stained glass portion.  For the background I used a fall leaf embossing folder and the Open Leaf stamp that I colored up to match. 




The new You Make Friendsgiving Special Greeting (235E) was the perfect pairing for the images.  


Thanks for stopping by!


Karin

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Spooky

 Hi Everyone,

My card today was an attempt at using up some of my paper scraps.  I save extra paper and scraps in folders marked with the general name of the color and have grand plans for using them up.  That rarely happens.  Until such a time as this, when they are bursting at the seams!

Anyway, I used my circle punches in various sizes and papers in Halloween colors for the background.  The greeting is new from DRS Designs, (So Spooky It's Scary Halloween Greeting 218E) and I die cut it and added some orange ink as well.  


After attaching the circles, I tied on a bit of orange ribbon before attaching the sentiment with some foam tape.  To add to the Halloween theme, I attached a left-over Leaning Ghost and a couple of die cut bats.  

Thanks for visiting today!
Karin

 

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Happy Halloween

 Hi Everyone,

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, and even though it's still warm outside, I'm ready for change. I'm on to putting up my fall decorations and making holiday cards!

DRS Designs has some wonderful new fall themed stamps coming soon to the store!

Here I'm showing the Spooky Jack Halloween (224F) stamp.  I love that it's an image and greeting all in one, so I layered it onto an embossed background and die cut some zig zags to play off the jack o lantern's mouth.  A few colored gems finished it off.  


Next up is the new Beware Window (1987H) which I colored up and die cut.  I added a drippy border to match the dripping on the bottom of the window, and since I had the zig zag dies out on my table, I added that along the top on this card too. 


Before attaching all the elements, I stamped the background using the Spooky Eyes and added a die cut ghost, along with the Leaning Ghost that was stamped on vellum and fussy cut.

Have you started making your fall cards yet?  Now is definitely the time....Before we know it, we'll be on to Christmas!

Happy Stamping!
Karin

 

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

On My Mind

 Hi Everyone,


I think my second favorite stamp after the Dogwood Branch is the Medium Daisy Bloom.  It's so versatile and just plain cheerful.  I use it all the time!

I made this card for a friend who's going through a hard time, and I took inspiration from this card here.  

The background was heat embossed and I added some glitter glue to the flower centers.  I die cut the Mind and Prayers Greeting and added another fussy cut daisy as embellishment. 


To find these and many more flower stamps, just click here!

Happy Stamping!
Karin


 

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Deep Sympathy


 Hi Everyone,

Making a sympathy card when you need one most, is always difficult for me.  Lucky for me, I have this Calla Lily Sympathy Frame stamp from DRS Designs that does all the heavy lifting.

I stamped, colored and die cut it out, adding some sponging to the edges.  I attached it to an embossed background and added some flowers that were fussy cut from the Dogwood Branch.


After attaching everything with dimensional tape, I added a bit of glitter glue to the flower centers and called it done.

This stamp and many more sympathy stamps can be found right here!

Have a great week!
Karin

 

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Mr. & Mrs.

 Hi Everyone,

At this point, I think this wedding card making thing I have going on is boarding on obsession...lol!

I sat down to make a much-needed birthday card, but I saw this unused Mr. & Mrs. greeting that was already stamped and die cut, sitting in my stack of unused pieces parts. What's one more wedding card, right?

I used a tried-and-true layout and stamped and punched out the Silhouette Bride and Groom for the image and added some soft pink sponging the sentiment.  



It's hard to see the Dogwood Branch background, but it was heat embossed using some glittery embossing powder. I tried for a close up, but it looks great in person ;)



After taking this picture, I realized it needed some gems, so I added them and you can see them in the first picture.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin




Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Congratulations

 Hi Everyone,

I have another wedding card to share with you today.  I saw this idea somewhere made using puzzle piece dies, and I thought it was super cute.  The only problem I had, no puzzle piece dies.  However, I do have an embossing folder (Darice brand) that makes a puzzle background, and I thought it might work in place of that.  I love it when I can solve a problem without having to buy new supplies!


I embossed one white and one black piece of card stock and then fussy cut two pieces that went together, embellishing the groom with a piece of white scrap and added a necklace to the bride using some silver glitter glue.  



 I dry embossed a background for the "couple", adding a bow and the sentiment which was punched out from the very end of the Blended Lives Greeting.   

Now I'm all set for anyone to invite me to their wedding! 

Be well and happy card making!

Karin



Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Party Toast

 Hi Everyone,

Happy August!

I was in need of a birthday card, so I used the cheerful Party Toast image and took inspiration from his party hat to create the backgrounds for my card today.

Here are the stamps I used:




Of course, I had to use the fun matching Birthday Toast Greeting to finish it off. 

Be sure to check out all of the stamps at DRS Designs...
Have a great day!
Karin



 

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Army Proud

Hi Everyone, 

Just a quick card share to celebrate our military today.  I had to color the Army Proud emblem a lighter green, so that it would show up against the dark Camouflage Background.  


I also cut that green background about an inch smaller than the card base, so that I could stamp around it using the camo stamp again.

Happy Stamping!
Karin

 

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Happy Birthday

 Hi Everyone,

A cat loving couple who are friends of mine, both had a birthday last week and this is the card I made for him.  I also made a cat card for her; however, it's currently lost in the mail. I told her I'd make her another one if it doesn't show up this week, but in my rush to get these out, I forgot to take a picture of hers.  I'm not sure I remember what it looked like...lol!  ANYWAY....

For this card, I used the Mr. Earl's Happy Birthday greeting, because it seems masculine and celebratory.  Since that took up a lot of real estate on the card front, I used my circle punches for the Cat in a Bag stamp, so that it would fit.


The background was made using the Cat Paw Background, and I added an embossed paw strip.

Inside the card I used the Cat's Meow Birthday Greeting.  I just left off the happy birthday portion since I stamped it on the front of the card.


Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

 

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Matching Towels

 Hi Everyone,

I know it looks like I'm posting a black and white photo, but I promise that it's not one.  It's just a card that's made with gray, white and black cardstock.  For a modern wedding card, I thought I would make it to reflect the colors in a modern home, which always seems to be gray right now. What happened to the pink and peach colors in a bathroom...I know, I'm showing my age ;-)

Anyway, this is an idea from ages ago in my idea binder, only the towels had his and hers stamped on them.  I chose to add a tiny heart instead and use the new Mr. & Mrs. stamp to make the wedding card. 




The card is pretty self-explanatory, but here are the measurements I used to make the towels and bar.  

The bar: 1/4" X 3 1/2"

The towels: 1" X 3 1/2"

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

 

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Mr. & Mrs.



Happy Birthday America!

If you came here looking for a patriotic post, just blame me and my poor planning.  Be sure to scroll down though, because you will find plenty of cards leading up to today.  

Today's card celebrates love, and I used the new Mr. & Mrs. sentiment which I stamped, and heat embossed onto the base.  The bride and groom were made using heart shaped dies that I embellished with dry embossing and a few gems. The groom's bow tie was made using the 4 in 1 Fashion Accessories stamp and some heat embossing. 



For folks in the USA, I hope you have a great day celebrating!  If you're looking for more stamps, be sure to check out the entire DRS Designs catalog here!   

Karin




 

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

US Marines & A Wedding


 Hi Everyone,

Just a couple of simple cards for my post that were made using easy layouts and some trusty ribbons on each one.

I can't help but keep with a star theme when using these military emblems, so I embossed the background and die cut the Marine Proud and fussy cut the matching Anchor.  I finished it off with a ribbon of matching stars.


June really kicks off wedding season, so I was thrilled to make a card featuring the new Blending Lives Greeting.  It was lovely enough on its own, so I kept it monochromatic and added a die cut flower and some silver embellished ribbon.


Be sure to stop by the DRS Designs shop to see all of these stamps and much, much more!

Have a great day!
Karin

 

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Air Force


  Hi Everyone,

In keeping with the summertime and American colors of red, white and blue, I went ahead used them for this military card share.


The stars on my embossing folder matched the stars on the Star Wreath from DRS Designs, so that's how that choice happened.  I embossed both the wreath and the Air Force Proud emblem and then die cut them out, layering them on top of each other.




I used the Thank You For Your Service for my sentiment and colored in the stars and words on that, and the emblem with a red marker.  A few punched stars were added to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Red, White & Blue


 Hi Everyone,


I have a couple od patriotic cards for today's share here on the blog.

This first one is mostly dies and embossing, and I tried to keep with a stars and stripes theme, using the Starry Background and the Thank You for Your Service stamps.  As I was completing it, I added a few punched stars foe embellishments.


I was trying to keep the red, white and blue theme going and remembered the phrase, "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning," so I sponged up some water and sky, adding the tree line from Mountain & Treeline 2 in 1 Scene at the shore.    


I figured who would rescue someone from the waters but the Coast Guard, so I stamped and embossed the Coast Guard Proud Emblem and attached it to the card.

Thanks for visiting today!
Karin

 

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Baby Celebration

 Hi Everyone,

My niece's baby shower was this past weekend, so this post is of the projects I made for the celebration.

They know the baby is a boy, so I colored up Jenny Giraffe in yellow and blue, adding a simple 
One Line Welcome greeting.


Julianne and Dan are big travel buffs, so the party was to have a adventure theme.  I was in charge of making the favors, so I got the suitcase boxes online and added my own tags using the Let the Adventure Begin Greeting.  

I displayed the favors in a vintage suitcase with this letter board sign, but I forgot to take a picture of the final set up...Of course. (Eye roll.) 

Thankfully I took these along the way as I was making them.




Here is a close up of the favors.




And here they all were, waiting to be tagged.  At the bottom you can see the little chocolate globes that I filled them with.



Thanks for peeking in today and I'll be back with some more patriotic cards next week!

Karin




 

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Army Proud


 Hi Everyone, 

I was in need of a couple of cards and had little time to make them, so I went with my favorite Dogwood Branch stamp that would work for both, and a couple of sentiments.  

I simply stamped the With Sympathy Greeting and the flowers multiple times, adding color by stamping using a small square ink pad.


I did the same here, but added a die cut Brush Thank You.  Some glitter glue was added for some flair.


Finally, I made another star filled card to honor our military, using the following stamps:





Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Navy Proud

  Hi Everyone,

Since we're coming up on Memorial Day weekend, I thought I would share a military themed card.  DRS Designs has recently released a group of military emblems and my card today showcases Navy Proud.

I took inspiration from some of the emblems I saw online, which contained the colors of yellow and blue.  I heat embossed the emblem and also the background made using the Starry Background stamp.


To complete the card, I added a die cut banner along with a few die cut stars.

This card is one I made for a friend's birthday, and I took inspiration from this card:


Karin


Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Birthday Toast


  Hi Everyone,

One more cheerful birthday card coming your way, featuring this sweet little Party Toast and the matching Birthday Toast Greeting.

The background was made using an embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts) and I fussy cut the toast, attaching it to a die cut square.  Some of my most used sentiments are ones that fit inside of a punch, so don't be surprised if you see me using this again and again.



I attached the image and greeting with dimensional tape, along with some fussy cut candles from
Birthday Candle Burst for embellishment.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin


Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Fishing Birthday

 Hi Everyone,

I love how happy this Proud Catch Fisherman looks when it comes to his big catch, so I thought he would be perfect for this new  O-Fishal Birthday Greeting!

The greeting and image do most of heavy lifting when it comes to making a cute card, so I simply made a background using Vicki's Versatile Background and Sand Snow Water Lines, using blue and green ink.


The black strip was embellished by me adding a few doodles and the Big Mouth Bass was fussy cut and added with pop dot.

Here hoping YOU have a REEL-Y great day too!

Karin

 




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