And Another December Birthday Card

Hi stampers,

I may have mentioned before that the last couple weeks of December are filled with birthdays in my world. Between good friends and family, there are eight birthdays during this two week period that I need to make cards for.  Today I'm sharing a card that my friend Vicki asked me to make for her to give to her husband Martin, whose birthday is Christmas day. Martin is a SoCal boy who turned 71 years young this year. He loved this little surfer dude.

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The layout is a SFYTT from November.

Supplies

Stamps: Kona by Our Craft Lounge

Card stock: SU brilliant blue and chocolate chip, TE choice buttercream

Patterned paper: Fancy Pants Rusted Sun

Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics, clear Spica pen (colored over the image to make it look wet and sandy)

Other: classic circle and big scallop circle Nesties, SU blue brads, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Only two more days until 2011. I hope the new year brings you all much happiness.

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Thank You- Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 61

Good Afternoon all,

Since this was my first day of vacation, I took the opportunity to do some stamping. I decided to make a card for Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge. I figure I'll probably need a couple thank you cards for after the holidays.

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Supplies

Stamps: SU Uppsy Daisy and Short and Sweet sets

Card stock: SU bravo burgundy, early expresso, crumb cake and very vanilla

Patterned Paper: ?? something old from my supplies

Ink: bravo burgundy and early expresso

Other: SU crochet trim, chocolate leaf ribbon, Kaiser rhinestones, Spica pen in dark pink (I colored over the dark daisies to give them some shine), and dimensionals

Enjoy the holiday weekend,

Colleen

Eat Cake!

Happy Holidays everyone. Today was my last day of work until after New Years. Yea! :)

This evening I made a card for my friend Martin. He shares a birthday with Christmas and he and his wife will be spending this weekend with us. I've used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch layout to make his card.

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 Supplies
Stamps: Take A Spin by Stampin' Up
Card stock: ridding hood red, chocolate chip and whisper white
Patterned paper: B-day Bash by Imaginisce
Ink: ridding hood red
Other: SU Build a cupcake punch, SU game spinner hands, SU EFs,  classic square Nesties, expresso Dimensional Pearls, the Big Shot, baker's twine and dimensionals

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone,
Colleen

Friendship Warms the Heart

Happy Friday all,

Only one more week until Christmas. I have one more Christmas card to share with you. I've had this Pure Innocence stamp set for several months, but this is the first time I've used it. I made a few of these to send to my very good friends.

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Supplies

Stamps: Pure Innocence from MFT, Sparkle and Cheer from Taylored Expressions

Card stock, patterned paper, and rub-ons: Snow Day Project Pantry kit from Taylored Expressions

Ink: memento tuxedo black, SU baja breeze, Copics

Other: classic rectangle and scalloped rectangle Nesties, TE snowflake die, Kaiser rhinestones, the Big Shot, and dimensionals 

I hope your weekend is a fun one. Thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Happy Birthday Sister

Happy Birthday Diana,

This is the card that I made for my sister. I used this weeks Sweet Stop sketch for the layout. Most supplies are from the upcoming SU Occasions mini catalog.

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Supplies

Stamps: SU Sew Suite set and In Stitches jumbo wheel

Card stock: tempting turquoise, confetti white

Patterned Paper: Sweet Stitches DSP

Ink:  SU tempting  turquoise, memento tuxedo black, Copics

Other: SU punches, SU pompom trim, SU buttons, Cuttlebug EF, Lacy circle Nesties, TE small scallop border die, the Big Shot, and dimensionals 

Love you little sis,

Colleen

More Christmas Cards

Today I  have some misc Christmas cards to share. Most years I make a bunch of cards in a couple designs. This year I made anywhere from 1 to 10 cards in several designs. More fun this way.
Here are just a few examples:

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Supplies

Stamps: Sparkle and Cheer and Merry Little Cocktail sets from Taylored Expressions

Card stock and patterned paper: Snow Day project pantry kit from Taylored Expressions

Ink: memento tuxedo black, memento rich cocoa, SU garden green, SU orchid opulence, SU riding hood red, and Copics

Other: SU EF, circle and oval Nesties, Stickles, TE medium scallop border die, SU punches, TE ribbon, Kaiser rhinestones, the Big Shot and dimensionals

I hope your week is going well. Thanks for visiting.

Colleen

Sunday Challenges - Merry Christmas

Hi all,

Yikes! It's been a few weeks since my last post. As "they" say, time does fly.

I have been working on Christmas cards for the last couple weeks and hopefully, I have enough of those. (I haven't actually counted them yet.) I need to get busy on birthday cards, though. Between family and good friends, I have 8 birthdays over the next couple weeks to make cards for. My sister, my niece, my nephew, and three good friends. Well, enough of that. On to today's card.

This one is for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #96 and Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 60. It's a fairly simple card in traditional Christmas colors per this week's Curtain Call color combo.

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Supplies:
Stamp set: SU Playful Pieces and Teny Tiny Wishes
Card stock: SU real red
Patterned Paper: SU DSP from 2009
Ink: SU old olive, certainly celery, chocolate chip and daffodil delight
Other: SU EF, SU real red buttons, SU ribbon, yellow and red Stickles, Die-namics jumbo scalloped border die, rectangle and big scalloped rectangle Nesties, small snowflake punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by,
Colleen

Wishing You a Birthday Filled With Cupcakes

Hi all and Happy Sunday evening,

I've been away for a couple weeks, traveling for work, and just got home Friday evening. Unfortunately, not much time in my weekend to do much stamping, but I did manage to pull out my new TE November Key Ingredients Kit that arrived while I was away, and make a card for my best friend's birthday. This new KI kit has some really cute papers, mostly bakery related. I love the "retro" feel of them. For my card, I followed the TESC134 layout.

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Now that this post is finished, I need to finish packing for a week away again. This time for vacation. We are going across the country to Franklin, MA to spend Thanksgiving with friends.

I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: For the Love of Cupcakes by Taylored Expressions
Card stock and patterned paper: November 2010 Key Ingredients Kit
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: chipboard and ribbon from TE November 2010 Key Ingredients Kit, classic oval and scalloped oval Nesties, cuttlebug EF, SU corner rounder, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Weekend Challenge Cards

It's Monday again already. Yikes!!! The weeks are flying by. My weekend was fairly productive again as far as stamping goes. I was able to make cards for three challenges.

First up is a card for Taylor's Friday TESC133. I again used the Snow Day Project Pantry kit for my papers. I just love the colors! I paired it with the Winter Wonderland stamp set.  As you can see,  I used the snow flake dies and eyelet border die from TE. The sparkly brads are from the SU Holiday Mini catalog and the EF is Cuttlebug snowflake.

Next, a card for Jen's Sketch For You To Try challenge. I do believe that this is my favorite of the three. Maybe it's the traditional Christmas colors, or maybe it's just the way it all came together, but I do really like this one. I again used one of Taylor's project pantry kits for the papers as well as one of her new Christmas stamp sets. They are, Sparkle and Cheer stamp set and Tinsel and Twig Project Pantry kit. I used three different Spellbinder dies and the little tag is SU.

Finally, a card that works for two more challenges, Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch 92 challenge and Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 55. Okay, I really struggled with these colors. I pulled out all kinds of paper and stamp sets and finally decided on this little thing. Sparkly and Bright is one of my all time favorite SU Christmas sets. (I think it's the reindeer). For the greeting "Sparkly & Bright," it's stamped in black ink, then I went over the letters with a black Copic Spica pen. In RL, it's very sparkly but not so much in the photo. Santa's beard is done with a clear glitter pen and the reindeer's nose is Christmas red stickles. The patterned papers are various retired SU Christmas DSPs. A few more Spellbinders dies and some SU black satin ribbon finish it off.

I hope you all have a marvelous week, and thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Oh, Nuts!

Hey all,

I was so busy last week that I didn't get a birthday card made for my brother, whose birthday was last Thursday. He's pretty understanding, but I did get a card made for him on Sunday and mailed yesterday. Fortunately for me, I have some of those cute belated birthday a-la-carte stamps from Taylored Expressions. I used TESC 132 for the layout, as well as papers from the October Key Ingredients kit.

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Supplies
Stamps: Belated Birthday-Oh, Nuts! by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: TE blue from October Key Ingredients kit
Patterned paper: Imaginisce Apple Cider collection

Other: TE scalloped eyelet border die, classic circle Nesties, SU punches, SU brads, the Big Shot and dimensionals.

Have a good Wednesday all,
Colleen

Be Merry and Bright: SFYTT

Hi stampers and happy Monday evening,

This evening I have another card that I made over the weekend. It uses this week's SFYTT layout from Jen del Muro's blog. This was a really fun sketch with opportunities to use several different patterned papers. I took advantage of this and pulled out Taylor's Snow Day Project Pantry kit. I love this kit! The papers are non-traditional Christmas colors and are just so fun. Taylor included some really cute rub-ons, which I've used to make this card.

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Supplies:
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Snow Day set
Rub-ons: Snow Day collection by Crate Paper
Card Stock: Taylored Expressions from Snow Day Project Pantry
Patterned Paper: Snow Day collection by Crate Paper from TE Snow Day Project Pantry
Ink: SU rich razzleberry
Other: classic circle and scalloped circle Nesties, SU 1 1/4" and
1 3/8" punches, purple Kaiser rhinestones, mint green liquid pearls, the Big Shot and dimensionals.

I hope your week has started off nicely. Thanks,
Colleen

Happy Thanksgiving, Sweet Sunday and Curtain Call Color Challenges

Happy Halloween evening all,

I'm so happy because I had time to stamp today. I made four cards that I will be posting throughout this coming week. The first card up is one I made for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch and Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenges.

For this card, I pulled out a very old Stampin' Up set. It's fun to look through my bookcase and find a set that I've not used in forever. It's almost like using something new. Karen's sketch is perfect for this oldie and goodie, as is Stacy's fall colors. For coloring, I've mostly been using Copics lately. For this card, I pulled out my aqua painter and did some water coloring. I added a hint of blue wash around the  whole image for contrast.

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Supplies
Stamps: Seasonal Sprays set, retired, and Teny Tiny Wishes by Stampin' Up
Card stock: SU very vanilla, cajun craze, more mustard and pumpkin pie, SU watercolor paper
Patterned paper: SU Juntos DSP, retired
Ink: memento rich cocoa, SU cajun craze, pumpkin pie, more mustard, always artichoke, chocolate chip, crumb cake and bashful blue
Other: classic oval and scalloped oval Nesties, SU Victoria crocheted lace, SU pumpkin pie button, SU linen thread, SU aqua painter, the Big Shot, sewing machine, orange thread, and dimensionals

Leave a comment if you have time and thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Let It Snow for SFYTT and Curtain Call Color Challenges

Let It Snow! Easy for me to say living in San Diego.  :)

We did have some cool, drippy weather this past weekend. Perfect for staying in and stamping. I got several cards made. Three for challenges and more Halloween cards to send to family.

Here, for your enjoyment is a card I made for both Jen's SFYTT challenge and Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 52. When all done, I decided that I really, really like how it turned out. The colors are so interesting together, especially when used for non-traditional Christmas colors. Before actually deciding on my design, I pulled out pieces of SU card stock in each of the colors. Then I went looking through my stash of papers. I had just received the new Snow Day Project Pantry kit from Taylored Expressions and was excited to see that some of the papers match the bermuda bay, tangerine tango and chocolate chip very well. I was also excited to see that the rub-ons in the set work perfectly for the focal point on the card.

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Supplies

Rub-ons: from the Snow Day collection by Crate Paper

Card stock: SU bermuda bay, chocolate chip and whisper white

Patterned paper: from the Snow Day collection by Crate Paper

Ink: SU bermuda bay

Other: labels four Nestie, SU small oval, 1", 3/4", and 1/2" round punches, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, Kaiser rhinestones, TE ribbon, the Big Shot and dimensionals.

Thanks,

Colleen

SSSC89 - Peace On Earth

Hi all,

Today I have a card made for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge over on Karen Giron's blog. It's been a few Sundays since I've had the chance to participate and I was very glad that I had time on Sunday afternoon to make a few cards, this being one of them.

I pulled out some brand new products from my last Stampin' Up order for this one. The stamp set, DSP and glass glitter are from the Holiday Mini catalog.

The only stamping here is the greeting. I let the beautiful patterned papers take center stage. An extra flower was cut out and added in the center of the panel for more dimension as well as the champagne glass glitter added to the center of the large poinsettia in the upper corner.

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Here's Karen's sketch:

Supplies
Stamps: Peaceful Season by Stampin' Up
Card stock: SU cherry cobbler and crumb cake
DSP: SU Deck the Halls
Ink: SU cherry cobbler
Other: curved rectangle Nesties, SU Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder, SU champagne glass glitter, red glitter candy dots, the Big Shot and dimensionals

I hope your week has started off well. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Goblin Greetings Monday

Goblin Greetings all,

I hope the goblins don't haunt your Monday. Obviously, I have another Halloween card for you today. This one uses the very traditional Halloween colors of black, orange and white and I rather like the way it turned out, especially after struggling with the greeting placement a bit. I hope you like it too.

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Supplies

Stamps: All Stampin' Up, Spooky Skyline wheel, Home is Where the Haunt Is set, Bitty Boos Too set, and Grateful Greetings set

Cardstock: Textured dark orange from Taylored Expressions, whisper white and black from SU

Patterned paper: Happy Halloween by Echo Park

Ink: SU Classic basic black, craft white, and pumpkin pie

Other: Orange plastic webbing by TE, SU white EP and heat tool, classic oval Nesties, the Big Shot, and dimensionals.

Have a great work week everyone and thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Wicked

Good Sunday morning stampers,

I have a very quick post today continuing on a Halloween theme. This card uses the TESC131 layout with stamps and paper from Talored Expressions.

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Supplies
Stamps: Hangin' Out - Wicked Wardrobe set by TE
Cardstock: Taylored Expressions
Patterned paper: Eerie Collection by Basic Grey
Ink: Memento black, SU lovely lilac, Copics
Other: SU spider web embossing folder, SU scalloped border and oval punches, TE ribbon and buttons, Labels Three Nesties,  the Big Shot, and dimensionals.

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Manila File Folder Makes a Fun Halloween Project

Hi stampers,
It's been a couple weeks since I've had time to stamp and post to my blog. Busy, busy at work and a weekend spent out of town with friends being the causes.

Last Saturday when I did finally have some time to stamp, I went to Jen's blog to see the Sketch For You To Try "sketch", planning on making a card with it. I saw this project and got side-tracked. It looked really interesting, so I just had to give it a try. I had a great time creating. The panels just evolved with the only "theme" being Halloween. It pretty much took up my whole weekend's stamping time and I'm quite happy with the results. I will be sending it to my sister and her kidos (my biggest fans after all) to dress up their fireplace mantle for Halloween. The original instructions are here on Taylor's blog from 2007.

In creating this project, I used a variety of stamps, papers and embellishments, some new and some retired. It's a long list.

Enjoy!

(you can click each image to make it larger)

The front cover:

Inside pages 1 and 2:

Panels 1 and 2 pulled out:

Inside pages 3 and 4:

Panels 3 and 4 pulled out:

Inside all pages together:

Supplies
Manila file folder, first tab position type
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Wicked Wardrobe and Spooky Expressions sets, Stampin' Up Bitty Boos, Bitty Boos Too, Halloween Smiles, Hey Ghoul Friend, Pumpkin Patch, and Eat Drink and Be Scary sets
Cardstock: Variety from Taylored Expressions
Patterned paper: Eerie collection by Basic Grey and Happy Halloween by Echo Park
Ink: memento black, SU craft black, SU pumpkin pie, only orange, lovely lilac, brilliant blue, green galore, so saffron, garden green, vintage violet, buckaroo blue, and summer sun. Copic sketch markers for coloring
Embellishments:
SU punches: Round Tab, 1 1/4", 1 3/8", 3/4" round, 1 3/4" oval and large scalloped oval, 3/4" square, extra large tag and large tag
Nesties: classic square, classic oval and labels three
Other: clear EP and heat tool, black sparkly fluff, glue pen, various rhinestones in green, red and black, halloween brads and buttons, Stickles in black, gold, orange and star dust, SU and TE ribbons, cloud stencil, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Hope your weekend is relaxing and fun. Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Happy BD!

Hi all,

I hope everyone's week is going well. This is a short work week for me. I'm taking Friday and Monday off to visit friends who live in the central coast's wine country. We always have lots of fun there and it's a really beautiful part of California. The wine is not bad either.  :)

Well, enough of that. Today I have a very simple and quick birthday card.  All products are from Taylored Expressions. The stamp set is "Make a Wish" and the paper is from the Make a Wish Project Pantry set.

Supplies

Stamps: Make a Wish stamp set by Taylored Expressions

Card stock: TE chocolate, gold, blue and choice snow white

Patterned paper: B-day Bash collection by Imaginisce

Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics

Other: SU 3/4" round punch, classic circle and scalloped circle Nesties, the big shot, expresso dimensional pearls, glue pen, twine, and SU dimensionals.

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

SFYTT Happy Birthday

Yikes! It's been awhile since my last post. Too much work, not enough stamping is all I can say.  I hope everyone is having a great first weekend of fall. It's been just gorgeous here on the southern California coast for the last week.  Warm and not a cloud.

Today I have a birthday card made using Jen's SFYTT layout. It turned out very, very bright and I think the recipient will love it.

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Supplies

Stamps: Winobella by Stampingbella and TE Make a Wish stamp set

Card stock and patterned paper: all from Taylored Expressions Summertime Project Pantry kit (patterned paper is Walk in the Park by Echo Park)

Ink: memento tuxedo black and Copic markers

Other: Classic oval and scalloped oval Nesties, TE scalloped eyelet border die, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles in pink, Dimensional Pearls in lettuce, TE blue ribbon, Bloomer's fabric flower, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

That's it for me today. Have a fab afternoon and evening and thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

BOO for SFYTT

It's Wednesday, yea! The weekend is in sight.

Today's post is a "ghostly" Halloween card. I made it using my brand new Taylored Expressions stamps combined with the Fright Night Project Pantry papers.  The layout is Jen's Sketch For You To Try.

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Supplies

Stamps: Spooky Tree and Hangin' Out - Wicked Wardrobe set by Taylored Expressions

Card stock and patterned paper: from TE Fright Night Project Pantry

Ink: SU Vintage violet, lovely lilac, basic black, early expresso and craft whisper white

Other: SU clear EP, classic rectangle, big scallop rectangle and classic circle Nesties, the Big Shot, clouds stencil, and dimensionals. 

Only two more work days after today.  Thanks for stopping by all,

Colleen

Another Christmas Card Done, Many to Go

Good Tuesday Morning stampers,

I have a really quick post this morning. I am slowly starting on my Christmas cards for this year. That's a good thing, but I need to speed it up or I'm going to be in trouble. For this card, I used Taylor's Friday sketch #127. I think I may use this layout for a few more as I really like how it worked out. I didn't stay exactly to the sketch. I turned it sideways and used an oval rather than a circle, and I added a big loopy bow.

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Supplies
Stamps: Wings of Joy by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: TE red and SU wild wasabi
Patterned paper: Jolly By Golly by Cosmo Cricket
Ink: memento tuxedo black, SU real red and copics
Other: classic oval and scalloped oval Nesties, red stickles, glitter pen, TE green ribbon, SU word window punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Have a wonderful Tuesday,
Colleen