Thank You

Hello,

I hope you all had a great weekend. I've been feeling pretty miserable for the last two days. I was in Chicago last week for work and came home with a nasty bug. I'm not sure if it's the flu virus or a cold virus because I have symptoms of both. Unfortunately, I have to get back on a plane tomorrow for another business trip.

Most of my weekend was spent reviewing 110 slides for a presentation that I'm giving on Wednesday. After having enough of it by around noon, I made a card. Coloring helped take my mind off my stuffed up head.

This card is a thank you card for a very talented young man. He is the son of my housemate's co-worker, and a senior in high school. Besides being an awesome baseball player, he is a potter and he made us two very exquisite pots. We wanted to make a special card to thank him.

No sketch challenge used for this card. Just a simple layout to showcase the image.
The image is a Kenny K digi printed on XPress-It Blending card stock and colored with Copics.

I hope, as a fellow craft artist, he enjoys it.

Supplies
Stamps: Kenny K digi and SU Sassy Salutations set
Paper: SU Bordering Blue and Night of Navy card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock and Americana by Pebbles patterned papers
Ink: Copics and SU Night of Navy
Other: Die-Namics stitched rectangles, Fishers corner rounder punch, Pebbles enamel dots, the Big Shot and dimensionals

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Thanks So Much

Hello,

I hope you all had a great weekend. For those of you in the Northeast and New England areas, I hope you are all safe and warm. We have friends that live in Franklin, MA and they have been giving us updates on the piling snow. I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow for the week. I expect to be pretty cold after checking the weather channel for this week's forecasted temps.

I didn't get much stamping time this weekend, but I did manage to finish a couple cards this afternoon. (I should have been packing, but I'm really good at procrastinating.) This card I made after checking out this week's The Paper Players challenge. It's a fun bird theme this week. Here's what I came up with:

The layout comes from the Case This Sketch #110 challenge. I pulled out some older SU stamp sets and inks. The flower is stamped in Crushed Curry ink, then I used the Dusty Durango marker to color over the center before stamping onto Very Vanilla card stock. The sentiment is stamped in Dusty Durango ink. I colored in the flower at the top of the sentiment using the Crushed Curry marker, then added a tiny yellow rhinestone to the center of the flower. The bird is stamped in Dusty Durango as well and fussy cut. Notice a second tiny yellow rhinestone in the center of her wing. The leaves are cut from retired SU DSP in matching colors. For added embellishment, I rounded the lower right corner and tied some yellow embroidery thread at the top.

Supplies
Stamps: SU sets Betsy's Blossoms and Swirls and Curls Verses
Paper: SU Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: SU Crushed Curry and Dusty Durango
Other: Taylored Expressions leaf die, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles rhinestones, yellow embroidery floss, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thats' all from me tonight. I really do need to get that packing done! Have a great week.

Thanks for checking in,
Colleen

Owl Always Love You

Hello friends,

Here is the last of the cards that I made over the weekend. I think I have enough Valentine's Day cards for family and friends now. (Hopefully anyway). This card is super simple and I've used the CAS(E) the Sketch 109 layout.

Supplies
Stamps: You're A Hoot set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: TE Choice Buttercream, textured red and pink card stocks and really old SU DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU Riding Hood Red
Other: TE Small Heart border die, TE You're A Hoot coordinating dies, Fiskers corner rounder punch, The Big Shot, diemnsionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

S.W.A.K.

Hi,
Is it really Monday again? Weekends are just too darn short!!! As I mentioned in my last post, I had a productive weekend card making wise. Here is another Valentine's Day card that I finished.

The color palette comes from The Curtain Call Inspiration challenge, Kissing Booth. The sketch is the Freshly Made Sketch 172.

Supplies
Stamps: S.W.A.K. set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: TE wood grain white and TE textured black card stocks, XPress-It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: TE Medium Layering Doily die, TE large ric-rac die, classic circle Nestie die, Michaels glitter tape, Stickles, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a fab week and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

For You, My Friend

Hello,

I had a great stamping weekend. Two cards made yesterday and three today. Whoo-hoo!

Today's post is a card that I made for my "bestie" using the The Paper Player's color challenge 231 combined with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch 255. The colors for the challenge are Real Red, Calypso Coral and Basic Black.

The stamps are Reverse Confetti "Whole Lotta Hearts" and "Frieda Fox" sets. Frieda is fun, fun, fun to color. I'm trying to figure out how to color fur with Copics. There are some really talented folks out in blog-land to use for inspiration.

For the small side panel, I stamped the X and O {heart} stamp in a line down the paper to make my own patterned paper and to incorporate more black since it's one of the challenge colors.

For some added sparkle, I went over the heart with Christmas Red Stickles and over her shoes with a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen, though in the picture it doesn't show up well.

Supplies
Stamps: Frieda Fox set and Whole Lotta Hearts set by Reverse Confetti
Paper: SU Calypso Coral and Real Red card stock, Neenah cream card stock, Paper Heart by Crate Paper patterned papers
Ink: MFT Hybrid Black ink and Copics
Other: Die-namics stitched rectangle STAX and Speech Bubble dies, Michaels black ribbon, Stickles, enamel heart, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Easter Blessings

Hi again all,

My second post today. Since my "mojo" is running high this morning I made a card using the MFTWSC214 sketch. I thought it was time to get started on Easter cards (even though I still have a few more Valentine's to make). I went really "girly" with this one, LOL.

I started with sponging one of the doilies with SU Ballet Blue ink using a large sponge dauber. After trimming it to fit the edge of the card, I layered another white doily on top of the blue one. For the center of the doilies, I used a Die-namics pierced circle die to cut the same paper as the background paper.

I colored the PI image with Copics and fussy cut it out. It's popped up on the doilies with dimensionals.

The sentiment banner is cut with Die-namics pierced Fishtail Flags die. The flowers under it are from Maya Road.

Supplies
Stamps: Pure Innocence "My Basket of Eggs" set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Daffodil Delight and XPress-It Blending card stocks and "kitch" by Girls Papery patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Ballet Blue and Strawberry Slush inks
Other: Die-namics pierced circle and pierced Fishtail flags dies, SU paper doilies, Maya Road flowers, enamel heart, Wink of Stella glitter pen (shoes),  the Big Shot, diemnsionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Bear Hugs

Good Saturday morning,

All week, I had every intention of getting a card made for the Mojo Monday contest, but I just didn't seem to have the "mojo" each evening after work. However, I woke up this morning feeling much more creative. I pulled out an older Taylored Expressions Valentine's Day set and made this little cutie.

I stamped the bear and heart flowers with Momento tuxedo black and colored the images with Copics. I used Die-namics stitched rectangles to cut the bear image out and another for the red layer. The heart flowers are cut with a Die-manics pierced circle and layered onto a TE layering doily. The flag elements are Die-namics pierced fishtail flag dies. I added some wink of stella clear glitter pen over the heart flowers. The sparkle doesn't show in the pics, but IRL it's very pretty.

Supplies
Stamps: Buddy Bear set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU real red and XPress-It Blending card stocks and "Love Notes" by Crate Paper patterned papers
Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU real red
Other: Die-namics stitched rectangle, pierced circle and pierced fishtail flags dies, TE small layering doily die, Fiskers corner rounder punch, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a great weekend. Thanks for coming by,
Colleen

The Cat's Pajamas

Hi,

I was looking through my drawers of old, and not used in forever, single, wood mounted stamps and came across a couple of Valentine's stamps that I'd totally forgotten. I decided to pull them out of the drawer and give them some love and ink. Since I wanted to get a card made for this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and time is running out, I used them to make this card.

I made the card 3.75" x 5.5" instead of the usual 4.25" x 5.5" for the "tall and skinny" requirement of the sketch. The background is stamped using the "heart abound" stamp with SU Strawberry Slush ink. The cat and his pajamas are stamped in Memento black and colored with Copics.

Supplies
Stamps: "Heart Abound" by Rubber Stampede and "Cats Pajamas" by Uptown Rubber Stamps
Paper: SSS white, TE light red, XPress-It Blending white card stocks and ??? patterned papers (I bought some 12"x12" papers a few months ago in single sheets, brought them home and cut them into  6" squares for storage. I forgot to label them)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics pierced fishtail flags STAX and Stitched oval dies, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a great Sunday evening, and if your attending any Superbowl parties, have fun.
Thanks for looking in,
Colleen