Happy, Happy, Happy

Hey all,

How's your weekend been? I just got home from a house/dog sitting gig that started Wednesday. The house that I was "sitting" has a great backyard with a pool. Needless to say, I took advantage of that.

I decided to take a break from Christmas cards and make a birthday card. I haven't had a chance to play in Linda's Catered Crop Recipe Swap for awhile, so I pulled out some Washi tape that I purchased a few years ago and got busy. Love the title of this challenge, "Washi's Up Recipe Swap." Linda is SO clever, not to mention a fab artist! This is a pretty simple card, and I rather like the way it turned out.

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Bikes and Trikes Set
Paper: TE Choice Snow White, SU Pumpking Pie and More Mustard card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Washi Tape, scalloped circle and classic circle Nesties, SU black ribbon, Want 2 Scrap black pearls, corner rounder punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

I leave for two weeks on Tuesday. First to Delaware for work and then to Northern California for a visit with my mom and sister. Probably not much stamping during this time, but I'll be checking in with my list of blogging friends. Have a great Sunday evening and thanks all,

Colleen

You Are Pretty Amazing

Happy Friday everyone,

My sister recently accepted a new job. In fact, she was offered two in one week. I'm so happy for her as her current job requires about 60 to 80 hours per WEEK. No time for her family and certainly no time for herself. The new one promises not to consume so much time, and it's in a completely different field. She's very excited.

I made this card for her to say Congrats! I also sent some artisan chocolate and salt carmel candies that are made locally here in Leucadia, CA to help her celebrate. They are YUMMY! (If anyone is interested in trying them here is a link to the web site: Sea Salt Candy Company)

The layout comes from July's Sketch For You To Try. I changed the circle to an oval to fit the stamped sentiment.

Supplies
Stamps: Complimentary Greetings set by My Favorite Things
Paper: From TE July KI kit, Taylored Expressions blue and gold CS and Tea For Two by Cosmo Cricket PP
Ink: SU Not Quite Navy
Other: oval and scalloped oval Nesties, Die-namics Fish Tail Flags Stax, Mini Rolled Roses and Royal Leaves dies, Sizzix Birds and Flowers embossing folder, Want 2 Scrap green pearls, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a fab weekend and thanks,
Colleen

Happy Christmas and The Paper Players Challenge # 105

Clearly I was on a Christmas card making kick last weekend. Blame it on my recent SU shipment of Holiday catalog goodies.

Today's card uses The Paper Players sketch from the current challenge #105. I like this relatively simple sketch to work with. It has so many possibilities and here's what I came up with:

This is a SU only card, except for the gold rhinestones. I love the way this one looks and I'm thinking I will be duplicating it for a few more Christmas cards.

Supplies
Stamps: Evergreen set and More Merry Messages set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla CS, Champagne Glimmer Paper, and Festival of Prints DSP pack
Ink: Always Artichoke and Summer Starfruit
Other: SU round punches, SU Snow Burst EF, SU Cherry Cobbler button, SU gold twine, SU corner rounder punch, Kaiser gold rhinestones, sewing machine and dimensionals

Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Merry Christmas - SSSC163

Good evening all,

Here's my entry for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch # 163.

This is a Stampin' Up only card with more new goodies from the upcoming Holiday catalog.

I had fun using one of the new Paper Piercing Packs. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up well in my photo. In RL, it looks pretty cool.

Supplies
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes set and Teny Tiny Wishes set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White CS and Snow Festival DSP
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler
Other: SU Ornament Keepsakes Framelits Dies, SU Paper Piecing Pack, SU Crafter's Tool Kit, SU Cherry Cobbler ribbon, SU felt snowflake, SU Cherry Cobbler button, SU Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, SU Word Window punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Happy Hump Day tomorrow and thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Happy Christmas

Hi all,

I  hope you had a good day today. My work day was uneventful, which is always good. LOL. As I mentioned in my post a few days ago, I got some quality stamping time in over the weekend. I made several Christmas cards to add to my 2012 stash. Love that! Today's card uses Jen's Deconstructed Sketch 61. I love Jen's sketches but I haven't had the time to play along in a few weeks, so I was happy that I was able to this week.

I'm using some new supplies and new stamps from the upcoming Stampin' Up Holiday Catalog. Some really cute things this year!

Supplies
Stamps: Scentsational Season set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Whisper white CS and Snow Festival DSP
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cobbler
Other: SU Scentsational Season Framelits Dies, SU Wood Grain EF, candy dot pearls in red and green, sewing machine, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

You Make My World Happy

Good Monday morning all,

One of the cards I made over the weekend is a thank you card for my bestie, Alison, to thank her for my birthday presents she sent last week. Her presents always arrive in time, never late.

I used this weeks MFTWSC81 sketch, as well as papers and embellishments from the Taylored Expressions July Key Ingredients kit to make the card.

This little cutie is stamped on X-Press It white blending card stock. Here hair, skin and shoes are colored with Copics. I stamped her again on two of the background PPs, cut out the clothes and paper pieced them onto the white image. She was fussy cut and popped up with dimensionals onto the white panel embossed with a SU EF. The green candy dots and red button are part of the KI kit. The flower was punched using the SU Boho Blossom punch and the ends were sponged with ink.

Supplies
Stamps: Being Cute Is What I Do set, Pure Innocence by My Favorite Things
Paper: TE Hillary and Buttercream CS and Tea For Two PP by Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU Raspberry Ripple
Other: SU Fans EF, Pearl and Button candy dots, SU Boho Blossom punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Have a fabulous day and thanks,
Colleen

Warm Wishes

Hi all,

I had a super weekend with lots of time to stamp! I got five Christmas cards made using new stamps and papers from Stampin' Up's upcoming Holiday Mini catalog.

Here's the first of the cards using the current Freshly Made Sketch #44.

I LOVE this new stamp set called Scentsational Season and the coordinating Framelits Dies. I have already used it twice and no doubt will use it many, many more times.

Supplies
Stamps: Scentsational Season set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Whisper white, Pacific Point and Cherry Cobbler CS and SU Festival of Prints DSP paper pack
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler, Pacific Point and Crumb Cake
Other: SU clear rhinestones, SU Scentsational Season Framelit Dies, SU Snow Burst embossing folder, classic circle and scalloped circle Nesties, sewing machine, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in. Have a great work week!
Colleen

Here's to YOU on your BIRTHDAY!

Hello all,

I hope you're all having a great weekend.  So far, so good here. This afternoon we went to look at these really cool closet doors for our bedrooms. We are re-doing (updating) the bathroom and bedrooms in our house. New flooring, base boards, paint etc. I want to have some closet doors that are more interesting that the basic sliding doors. We found a place that does them in glass. Very contemporary. I like!

Enough of that, here's a card that I made a few weeks ago for Denis' mgr at Williams-Sonoma. (his fun job)

This is an all SU card. Not my usual style at all, LOL. Where's the layers? Still, I think it turned out fun.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Hour set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU whisper white CS and SU polka dot DSP
Ink: SU pumpkin pie, marina mist and rich razzleberry
Other: SU chevron stripe EF, the Big Shot, SU corner rounder punch

Thanks for coming by all.
Colleen

RELAX--ENJOY and SSSC162

Happy Monday,

Here's another card that I made this weekend. It's a birthday card for one of my BFFs, who lives almost in the opposite corner of the U.S. from me. I live in San Diego and she lives in the Boston area. Our birthdays are two days apart. We met through working together, and became fast friends. Now our families vacation together frequently. While she has moved on to another employment opportunity this year, we still talk frequently. (Love IChat with our IPads!)

So, this is her card. One of the places that we vacation together is on Cape Cod, and while this may look a bit more tropical than the North East, Cape Cod in the summer does have a "tropical" feel to it.

I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #162 for the layout. As usual, a fun sketch to play with. Lots of layers. I love my layers! I also love how this card turned out.

The stamp set is the latest Taylored Expressions cottage series called Coconut Cove. So cute! I stamped it on TE water color paper with Memento tuxedo black and colored it with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. Clearly I need more practice, but I think I did OK for my first time using them. After coloring the image, I fussy cut it because I wanted the cloud PP behind. For the two hibiscus flowers, I colored directly on the stamp with one of the markers and spritzed it lightly with water before stamping onto the water color paper. The images are all popped up with dimensionals and I sewed around the edges of each layer. I stamped the palm tree tops twice and used dimensionals to add more depth on the trees.

Supplies
Stamps: Coconut Cove set by Taylored Expressions
Papers: all from TE June Key Ingredients kit. TE Parakeet and Choice Snow White CS and Echo Park Hello Summer PP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Marina Mist and Tim Holtz Distress Markers: Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy, Weathered Wood, Picket Fence, Old Paper, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint, Barn Door
Other: Large scalloped and classic circle Nesties, TE Clouds border die, TE blue ribbon, yellow candy dots, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for checking in,
Colleen

Fruity Friends Note Cards

Hello all,

I sure hope your weekend has been a good one. I got in some stamping time both today and yesterday, as well as watching Wimbledon Tennis and Padres baseball. These three things equate to the best of times to me! I was a good girl and got in some exercise time both days as well. I Love those hour long beach walks.

I bought several colors of Washi tape a few years ago at a local store that had them on sale. I brought them home a promptly stashed them away. Digging through a drawer for something else yesterday, I ran across the rolls and decided to pull them out and see what I could come up with. I ended up making a set of note cards (blank on the insides) using Taylored Expressions Fruity Friends stamp set. I made eight cards total. Here they are:

The Washi tape was put onto some scrap white paper and then cut out with some SU Framelit dies as the background for the Fruity Friends. I also used the same technique for the tops, except using the TE medium scalloped border die. The fruit were all colored with Copics. I also used the TE Chicken Wire Impressions Plate for the background on the front of each card. It just seemed like it went well with the fruit theme.

I made matching envelopes for each note card. Not sure if I'll keep these to use or give them away as a gift. {{hmmm}}

Supplies
Stamps: Fruity Friends set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: Taylored Expressions card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Real Red, Lucky Limeade, Peach Parfait and Basic black.
Other: various colors of SU baker's twine, SU Hearts and Labels Framelits dies, SU corner rounder punch, TE medium scalloped border die, TE Chicken Wire Impressions Plate, the Big Shot, and dimensinals

I have a couple other cards that I used the Washi tape on that I'll post later in the week. In the mean time, have a great Sunday evening and coming week. Thanks so much for looking in,

Colleen