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I love crafting, especially rubber stamping. Most weekends I can be found surrounded by paper, rubber stamps and ink.

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

You're Pretty COOL

Hey Peeps,

It's time for another fun Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Jen M. is hostess and her sketch inspired this fun popsicle card. There's been so many "Christmas In July" cards around IG and the blogs that I needed some more summer. When I saw Jen's sketch, I immediately knew that I'd use this older Concord & 9th Turnabout set with the large popsicle die.

 



I've used some bright, fruity C&9th ink colors and card stock to add to the summery feel. 

For the inside, I used a piece of the front panel that was trimmed off and another sentiment image from the same turnabout set.




Enjoy your weekend! I'll be in Cooperstown, NY for the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies with my sister and nephew.

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Cool Treats Turnabout stamp set by Concord  & 9th
Paper:  Concord & 9th
Ink: Concord & 9th and Gina K Designs craft white
Other: Brutus Monroe white embossing powder, Spellbinders Citrus embossing folder

You + Me

 Hello, 

My CAS card for LeAnne's "things with wheels" challenge at the Paper Players. I pulled out my favorite friends, Gus and Gertie, heading out for a road trip. 

First, I stenciled a rainbow for the background with red, orange and yellow. I stamped the car and friends image on another piece of card stock and colored it with green and blue, cut it out and layered it over the rainbow. The rainbow colors were completed with purple hearts on the large arch. I colored in the pebbled road and called it done.




The inside uses one of the other images from the Ride On set. I just love this line by Taylored Expressions.!




I'm off to upstate NY tomorrow bright and early. I'm meeting my sister and nephew at the Albany airport, then we are headed to Cooperstown for the HOF induction weekend. Should be amazing for us BB fans!

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Ride On stamp set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: Neenah Solar white card stock and retired SU DSP (inside mat)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K Designs and Copics
Other: Rainbow stencil by Paper Smooches, blending brushes


Happy Birthday

 Happy Hump Day Peeps,

I was looking through my boxes of SU patterned papers for some beehive images yesterday and while doing so, I ran across this very old Botanical Gazette DSP. There's a hive on one of the pages that I could use for the other card, and then I saw these moth and flower images that looked like they would be great for vintage style cards. Now, I'm pretty crappy at doing vintage, but I decided to give it a try. After finishing the card this morning, I realized it would fit with the current Mood Board challenge for Just Us Girls.




I tore a couple of edges of the DSP and blended some Dark Sage ink over them. I then stamped some images from the SSS Butterfly Blossoms set around using Charcoal Brown ink. Another piece of the DSP has moths scattered around and I used some postage dies from Waffle Flower to cut them out. They are arranged around the front of the card, an I added some gold dots to finish.

For the inside I used my current favorite "inside" birthday sentiment with a left over moth cutout.



This afternoon I'll be packing for a trip to NY tomorrow. My nephew, my sister and I are going to the Base Hall Of Fame Inductions in Cooperstown this weekend. My nephew's all time favorite player is being inducted. He really wanted to go and since I'm a huge BB fan too, I was all in, then my sister (his mom) decided to join us.

Have a great afternoon,
Colleen

Supplies
 Stamps: Butterfly Blossoms set by Simon Says Stamp and Gentle Silhouettes set by Gina K Designs
Paper: Gina K Designs Ivory and Dark Sage card stock, SU Botanical Gazette DSP
Ink: Gina K Designs Dark Sage and Charcoal Brown
Other: Waffle Flower Postage dies, Spellbinders Sealed Twine die, Gina K Designs metallic pearl embellishments and blending brushes

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Two From One Botanical Cards

 Hello,

I'm playing with the Mood Board Inspiration from this week's Just Us Girls challenge. When I saw the inspiration photo, it reminded me of those Botanical posters you see in museums and other gift shops. After thinking about the direction to take my card, I decided to re-create the inspiration photo using stamps from my stash. The stamps are all from various Gina K. sets, both regular size and her mini sets. The flora wasn't hard, and turns out the garden critters weren't either. Here's the pretty mood board.




I started with a half sheet of white card stock and stamped three rows of the larger images using GKD inks then filled in areas with the tiny stamps. Since this was a 5.5 x 8.5 inch panel, I cut it in half to then decide on the card layouts, ending up with the same layout for both. Just different colors, sentiments and embossing folders.

I have several wax seal stamps from Spellbinders from participating in the clubs, but I don't use them often (not at all!), and so I tried them here. The embossing folders are also from Spellbinders and the arch die is from the SSS Nested Arch Die set.








Here's the inside of the card above. The front sentiment is from the Spellbinders Field Notes bundle, as is the "on your birthday" on the inside. The rest of the inside sentiment is from GKD.





A fun project for sure, and I had stamp sets piled all over my desk when I finished, LOL.

Enjoy your Tuesday!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Many Gina K Designs floral sets and Gentle Silhouettes set for sentiments. Field Notes bundle from Spellbinders
Paper: Gina K Designs card stock
Ink: Gina K Designs
Other: Simon Says Stamp Nested Arch dies, Spellbinders Field Notes and Floral Fence 3D embossing folders, Spellbinders wax and wax seal stamps, Spellbinders Sealed Twine die,  Gina K Designs blending brushes, SU twine, Simon Says Stamp pink sequins, Gina K Designs Pastel disk embellishments, Connect glue, foam tape 

Monday, July 21, 2025

Merry Christmas

Hello Peeps!

Happy Monday. I have a bright and blingy holiday card today that I made for the soon to end Freshly Made Sketches challenge, so I need to make this blog post a short one.

I was playing with some of Gina K.'s polyglaze background panels the other day and made the two used on this card. Over the weekend I decided to use them with Jen's sketch to add to this years holiday card stash.




I've pared these sparkly panels with some sparkly retro trees from the SSS Bottlebrush Tree dies. I've cut them from some Tim Holtz Metallic papers and added some Gina K. Disco Ball sequins. The Merry Christmas die is also from GKD.

Here's the inside where I've used the panel that the oval was cut from for the front mat and a sentiment and die from Stamps Of Life.



Hope your weekend was Grand!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps:  Flip-It Merry Christmas Add-on set by Stamps of Life (inside)
Paper: Gina K Designs and Tim Holtz Metallic card stocks
Ink: Gina K Designs
Other: Gina K Designs Polyglaze card front panels, Deco foil, Merry Christmas die, Master Layouts 12 dies, Disco Ball sequins, Simon Says Stamp Bottlebrush Tree dies, Nested Oval dies




Friday, July 18, 2025

Happy Birthday To You!

 TGIF Peeps,

I've been lazy this morning, scrolling through IG posts of my favorite crafts. It's dangerous because it makes me spend $$$, LOL, but SO MANY great ideas.

Yesterday afternoon, I played around with shapes for this card inspired by Bonnie's Yellow and Green challenge for Color Hues. This card is CASE'D from Spellbinders Modern Botanicals Collection and Bonnie Carollee. I don't have any of the Spellbinders supplies, but I managed to combine from mine to make this card. I kind of love it!



I used three sizes of circle masks and various stencils from Gina K., MFT, Paper Smooches and Honey Bee. The ink colors I used are Gina K. Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover. 

To make the branch, I first foiled a piece of Gina K. Polyglaze with Lucky Clover foil, let it cool well (that's the secret) and pulled off the top clear layer. I then cut out the branch, which is the SSS Tattered Leaves die. I cut two more from scrap card stock and glued the three layers together for dimension. 

The greeting is pre-printed Polyglaze from Gina K. I foiled it with Wild Dandelion foil and cut it out with its corresponding die. Finally, I added the three harlequin diamonds from the MFT stencil next to the top and bottom circles, then some green and yellow sequins for added sparkle.

Here's the inside of this card, which uses images from the Gina K. set called Gentle Silhouettes. I really like the sentiment and I've used it many times.



I hope you enjoy the weekend.
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Gina K Designs Gentle Silhouettes set
Paper: Gina K Designs White Layering and Wild Dandelion card stock and black Polyglaze sheets
Ink: Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover
Other: Gina K Designs Deco foils in Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover, Master Layouts 12 dies, Graceful Greetings Polyglaze sentiments and corresponding die, Fuze Foiling Machine. Circle masks, Stencils from My Favorite Things, Honey Bee, Gina K Designs, and Paper Smooches, Simon Says Stamp Tattered Leaves die, SSS sequins

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Sending Happy Thoughts

Hello all,

Ann has a pretty pallet for this week's color challenge for the Paper Players. I made three cards, all with flowers, as that was what these colors seemed to inspire. I picked my favorite to post for the challenge.




I cut a FreshFreesia panel with a stitched rectangle die, then cut the window from the Pretty Peacock. The flowers are cut from white and I ink blended them with the three colors using light and dark inking. The sentiment is heat embossed with white ep. While it's a little hard to tell in the photo, I ran some vellum through a SSS 3D floral embossing folder, glued the window to it and trimmed off the excess before gluing the window to the panel. IRL, the velum is much more visible.

The inside is simply stamped with some sentiments from both SSS and Honey Bee.





I hope your week has been going well. We went to dinner last evening to celebrate my birthday, a BIG one, LOL. It was low key, just us and our good friends plus my nephew who is in San Diego for a conference. 

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: XL Greetings and Beautiful Butterflies sets by Simon Says Stamp. Inside Birthday Sentiments set by Honey Bee
Paper: SU card stocks in Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock, Basic White, and vellum
Ink: SU Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, & Pretty Peacock, Gina K Designs craft white
Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts die sets 1, 12, and 20. Simon Says Stamp Rustic Layering Flower dies, Simon Says Stamp Crimped Floral 3D embossing folder, Nuvo glitter pen, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue