Thank You

Good Monday morning stampers,

Last night I got out my most recent Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions to play with. I hadn't even opened it yet! Boy, do I like this month's papers from My Minds Eye that Taylor choose for us.

This layout is based on the latest FTL 133. My card may not be considered so "Clean and Simple" however, as I did quite a bit of cutting out, layering and sewing. 

Supplies

Stamps: Much Appreciated by Taylored Expressions

Card stock: TE yellow, SU taken with teal and naturals white

Patterned paper: Stella Rose-Gerty by My Minds Eye

Ink: memento tuxedo black, SU taken with teal, so saffron, and real red

Other: SU round and border punches, SU real red and so saffron brads, sewing machine and dimensionals

Here's wishing you wonderful week ahead. Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Wonderful Days!

Yikes! Talk about doing something outside your comfort zone. I have not picked up my Prismacolor pencils in years. YEARS! I forgot that I even had the collection that I do. :D

What brought this on you may wonder? I decided to play along again with the "Follow the Recipe" challenge at the Catered Crop blog. I did  FTR#7 and had fun putting all of the ingredients together. (I used that card for my mom's birthday card and she loved it.) So, one of the ingredients for FTR#8 is Prismacolor pencils. After hunting them down in my closet, I gave them a try and colored this cute, cute Mo Manning image. No doubt that I need some practice, but, maybe not too shabby in the end. Some of the other recipe ingredients are patterned papers with small prints and stripes, greens, blues, browns for colors, spring and child/animal themes, stitching, shapes like ovals or die cuts, embellishments like pearls, flowers, and buttons. There are a few others. For a complete list of ingredients for the FTR#8, check out the Catered Crop blog.

I've used this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge #110 for the layout. Unlike Jen, I like these angled panels a lot. (Check out Jen's blog here for a good chuckle, and a gorgeous card). Anyway. . . here's my final product:

Supplies
Stamps: none, my image is a digital from Mo Manning called Wonderful Day
Card stock: SU early expresso and neutrals white
Patterned paper: SU and Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Printer
Other: Prismacolor pencils, sewing machine, pink flower brads, SU pink felt flower and leaves, Kaiser pink pearls, SU oval punch

Have a great Sunday afternoon. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Taylor's Friday Sketch Challenges Are Back

It's super-duper that Taylor is back with her Friday Sketch Challenges. Here's this week's sketch, TESC # 135.

I made two cards to celebrate the TESC return to Fridays.

First up is a happy little doggie with big dreams about big bones.

I pulled out some of my left over papers and supplies from the Pet's Place Project Pantry from last summer to put this one together. Those bone paper clips are so cute don't you think? The thought bubbles are Die-namics dies cut from more mustard card stock and sponged with brown ink. The bones and paw print border are stickers from the Max and Whiskers line. The kraft background is stamped with the TE stitched background stamp and embossed with a cuttlebug EF.

The second card is a sweet treat of yummy, sparkly cupcakes.

These cupcakes are frosted with glitter and sparkly fluff. The cupcake papers are all paper pieced. The background turquoise paper is embossed with the TE scallops and circles impressions die and cut out with a big scalloped square Nestie. The patterned papers and cupcake brad are again from an old Project Pantry set.

Isn't it fun that the same sketch can yield such two different looks? I'm entering card one in The Spotted Chick's That's Krafty Thursday # 49 Challenge as well as the TESC #135 challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.

Supplies Card 1:
Stamps: Pet's Place and Stitched Background by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: TE Kraft, dark green and choice buttercream and SU more mustard
Patterned Paper: Max and Whiskers by Basic Grey
Ink: memento rich cocoa, SU early expresso, Copics
Other: Die-namics dies, Cuttlebug Seeing Dots EF, Basic Grey stickers and paper clips, SU round punches and corner rounder, SU twine, red Stickles, gold Spica pen, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Supplies Card 2:
Stamps: For the Love of Cupcakes by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: SU tempting turquoise, TE medium green and choice snow white
Patterned paper: Doodlebug
Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: TE glitter, Sparkly Fluff, SU round punches, big scalloped square Nestie, TE scallops and circles impressions die, TE pink polka dot ribbon, pink bakers twine, tag punch, cupcake brad, Kaiser white and red pearls, the Big Shot, and diemnsionals

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you're all having a fun weekend.

Colleen

TE Blast From the Past Blog Hop: Sweet Spring

Welcome to my stop along the Taylored Expressions' March blog hop. Today we are celebrating Spring. Now that it's warmer weather, I thought it might be fun to take a "Sweet" spin on this cute pink scooter from Taylor's Feelin' Groovy stamp set. I live in San Diego, so it's scooter weather pretty much year round :) but, I know many of you have had more than your share of snow this winter and are ready for the warmer temps that Spring will bring to you.

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Here is Sankari's fun sketch.

 I wanted to do a little more stamping on my card, so I inked up one of the daisy flower stamps from the set with two different colors to make a wall of flowers on the vertical panel. The centers of the flowers are dotted with yellow Stickles. To add more "Spring" feel to the card, I used pastel striped paper for the top three horizontal pieces and wrapped them with pink baker's twine, then added pink paper flowers. The pink card stock background is embossed with Taylor's Scallops and Circles Impressions Plate die.

The scooter was stamped twice, cut out then paper pieced with more pink paper. Bright pink Stickles are added over the pink paper to give it that shinny metallic look. An orange rhinestone daisy is glued over the the stamped daisy image. For even more sparkle, the headlight and the hubcaps are colored with a silver Spica pen. The tires and seat are colored with Copics. The scooter is placed on a classic circle Nestie sponged with cantaloupe ink, then layered over yellow card stock cut with a Lacy circle Nestie.

Supplies
Stamps: Feelin' Groovy by Taylored Expressions
Card stock: TE yellow, SU regal rose, TE choice snow white
Patterned paper: Walk In the Park by Echo Park
Ink: memento tuxedo black, SU regal rose and peach parfait, Copics and silver Spica pen
Other: classic circle and lacy circle Nesties, TE impressions plate, baker's twine, paper flowers, yellow glitter candy dots, Kaiser pink rhinestones, TE orange rhinestone daisy, pink and yellow Stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Enjoy all of the wonderful projects from the bloggers listed below.
Thanks for stopping by today,
Colleen

Sending You Sunshine

I picked up some very thin cork sheets a few weeks ago at one of my local stamp stores. I wanted them to use with my TE and Die-namics scalloped border dies. When I saw Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #108 this morning, I had in my mind to make rolled roses out of it for an "organic" look and feel.

I have to confess, this card did not go together as easily as I expected.  It turns out that it's not as easy as it may seem to roll very thin cork. (it crumbles) But persistence paid off and in the end, I think the look is pretty cool.

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Unfortunately, I need a sympathy card for one of my co-workers who lost her father this past Friday. This one will be in the mail to her tomorrow to let her know I'm thinking about her and to give my condolences.

Supplies

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Friendship Blooms and It's a Banner Day 2 sets

Card stock: SU basic grey and baja breeze textured and TE choice snow white, cork sheet

Patterned Paper: SU DSP retired

Ink: SU old olive and not quite navy

Other: Classic circle, scalloped circle and labels 3 Nesties, TE It's a Banner Day 2 die, Die-namics rolled rose dies (3 sizes), SU butterfly die, SU corner rounder punch, SU old olive ribbon, Kaiser black rhinestones, sewing machine, the Big Shot, pop-up glue dots, small glue dots, and dimensionals

I hope everyone has a good coming week. Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

More Baby Cards

I have a really quick post with two more of the baby cards that I made this week.

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Supplies Card 1

Stamps: De Nami Design "A Star Is Born"

Card stock: SU baja breeze

Patterned Paper: SU DSP retired

Ink: SU ridinghood red

Other: classic circle and scalloped circle Nesties, SU EF, SU star punches, SU baja breeze ribbon, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Supplies Card 2

Stamps: Fred Bear "Oopsie Daisy by My Favorite Things and SU Short and Sweet

Card stock: Taylored Expressions bright pink and choice snow white

Patterned paper: Hippity Hoppity collection from We R Memories

Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Mambo Melon

Other: Die-namics dizzy doily and open scalloped border dies by MFT, classic circle and labels 4 Nesties, SU scalloped oval punch,
TE ribbon and brads, blue liquid pearls, pink and yellow stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I hope you are too.
Colleen

Baby Cards

I have a good friend who e mailed me earlier this week and asked if could make her 5 baby cards. I never make baby cards, or at least haven't made one in, like, forever. Of course, I said yes. Any chance to do stamping is welcome. :)  One of the recipients is having twin boys and she requested to have a card for each baby. I decided to use a similar theme and papers, but a totally different layout on each.

I pulled out my TE Beary Special stamp set to make the cards. I paper pieced the dog and the bear on each card. The paper is some retired SU DSP from last year.

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Supplies

Card 1

Stamps: TE Beary Special

Card stock: SU brilliant blue, TE choice snow white

Patterned paper: SU retired DSP

Ink: memento tuxedo black

Other: classic square and scalloped square Nesties, SU circle punches, SU orange stripped ribbon, orange candy dot, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Card 2

Stamps: TE Beary Special and SU Short and Sweet sets

Card stock: TE choice snow white and SU only orange

Patterned Paper: SU retired

Ink: memento tuxedo black and SU brilliant blue

Other: labels 4 Nesties, SU orange stripped ribbon, SU buttons, SU linen thread, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

I'll post a couple more of the baby cards later in the week. Thanks so much for looking in,

Colleen

Spring Has Sprung

Hi everyone and happy Wednesday,

Today's card I made to participate in the "Follow the Recipe" challenge (FTR #7) on the Catered Crop blog. This concept looked like fun and so I decided to give it a try. Here's the card that I came up with:

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Here's the FTR #7 recipe:

• Pattern Paper – Plaids or Stripes
• Colors – Spring, pastel colors
• Stamps – bunny rabbits, flowers (especially violets)
• Color Mediums – Copic markers, printer's ink (yep, it's a digital image)
• Embellishments – pearls, ribbon, felt, flowers
• Tools – Circle, lace, doily, flower, or curly flourish punches or die cuts
• Techniques – highlighting around an image, handmade or rolled flower embellishments, tying bows
• Theme – Spring, Easter, Birthday
• Shapes – Circles, lace and doilies, curly flourishes.

The rules say to use any of the ingredients to make a project or card and I was able to use most in mine. Here are the supplies I used at each element:

Patterned paper:  Basic Grey Koshi flowers and plaid
Card stock colors: TE pastels
Stamps: Amber Ink bunny and TE Favorite Peeps
Color Mediums: Copics, printed digi stamp, SU bravo burgundy ink
Embellishments: Zva pink pearls, Kaiser rhinestones, sewing machine, felt rolled flowers
Tools: lace doily from TE, big scalloped Nestie, Die-namics rolled flower die, TE background die
Techniques: felt rolled flowers, ribbon "leaves"
Theme: Easter/Spring
Shapes: circles, doily
Other supplies: the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Hi Tweet Thang

It's Sunday and that means it's time again for Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge #107. Yikes, Karen! What's up with all these little squares again? lol. Not to worry, I took the easy way out and used one of my SU square punches. It worked pretty well and the sketch turned out to be a fun one to play with.

I used another new stamp set that I bought this past week from Our Craft Lounge. (if the doc doesn't let me go back to work soon, I'm going to be broke) I seem to be into birdies lately and when I saw this Tweet Thang set, I had to have it.

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I used some patterned papers from the TE Garden Party Project Pantry from last summer and decided to put them on craft card stock keeping with the nature theme. I probably spent more time on deciding if the stripped paper squares should be placed vertical or horizontal. Isn't it strange what we get hung up on in our creating? Since I'm using craft card stock, I'm going to submit this to Jeanie's Thats Krafty Thrusday  challenge also.

Here's a peek at the inside:

Supplies

Stamps: Tweet Thang by Our Craft Lounge

Card stock: SU craft/crumb cake and TE choice buttercream

Patterned paper: 72 and Sunny from We R Memory Keepers

Ink: memento tuxedo black and rich cocoa, SU real red, and Copics

Other: TE medium scalloped border die, classic square Nestie, SU square and round punches, SU chocolate button, SU crafter's took kit, TE red ribbon, baker's twine, pop up glue dots, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Since I brought it up, my arm is doing really well. Just no lifting yet. I do have a Dr's. appointment tomorrow morning and I'm expecting to get my "back to work" release. I'm really ready to get back. If released, I will have been off just shy of two months, which is one month less than the norm with my type of surgery. So, that's something good.

I hope you all have a fabulous work week,

Colleen

Happy Easter and SFYTT for March

One more quick post this evening.

I remembered that it was the first Saturday of the month, and that means another Sketch For You To Try over at Jen's blog. I thought this looked like a really fun layout to work with, and I did quite enjoy it. I didn't have any Amber Ink stamps, so I went to take a look at their site, and purchased one of the digi stamps to work with. This cute little bunny is called Love Bunny-Flowered and she reminded me of spring.

I printed her out onto some SU whisper white CS, colored her with Copics and cut her out. I used some dimensionals to pop her up over the grass I made with the Die-namics grass die.

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Supplies

Stamps: Love Bunny-Flowered Digi by Amber Ink

Card stock: SU brilliant blue, pear pizzazz, and whisper white

Patterned paper: Feelin' Groovy by Doodlebug

Ink: Copics and SU brilliant blue

Other: SU glitter brads, SU embossing folder, SU oval punch, Die-namics grass die, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

That's all from me today but I'll be back tomorrow with more. Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

A Splash of Pink

I ran across The Play Date Cafe blog the other day while surfing around blogland. Their latest challenge, PDCC71, is to use black and white with a "splash" of color. It caught my fancy, so I decided to see what I could do. After looking through my inventory of stamps, I settled on a Pure Innocence set. Next, I went looking for a sketch. Naturally, the MFT Wednesday sketch #9 seemed appropriate.

I love black and pink together, and with a PI girl, pink definitely works. Here is everything put together:

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There is a fair amount of bling in this card, from the pink rhinestone flower in her hair to the centers of the flowers in the pot, and I love how it looks. Missy's dress is paper pieced. The rest of her is colored with Copics. Her sweater is colored with the Blossom Spica pen for sparkle as well.

I debated about piercing around the circle to match the dots in the pink ribbon, but decided that there was enough texture already.

Supplies
Stamps: Because You're Special by My Favorite Things
Card stock: SU textured black, TE choice snowwhite
Patterned paper: Creative Memories and scraps from an old TE KI kit
Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics, and Spica pen in Blossom
Other: classic circle Nestie, Die-namics Decorative Doily die, Taylored Expressions pink flower rhinestone and clear rhinestones, Kaiser black dot, TE pink polka dot ribbon, SU oval punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Happy weekend everyone,
Colleen