Happy Birthday

Hello and Happy Monday night,

I've been adding birthday cards to my stash lately and I was in the mood to do some stamping after work tonight, so looked through some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. I found a couple challenges that looked fun. SugarPea Designs sketch 25 is up. I love my SugarPea stamps, especially for practicing my Copic coloring, and since I haven't played along there lately, I thought I would. Another challenge up today is Leslie's The Challenge #32 and this week we are to use polka-dots on our project. Who doesn't like polka-dots? I combined the two challenges and came up with this birthday card.

I kept the inside super simple:

Supplies
Stamps: Seaside Wishes set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: XPress-It Blending card, SU Tempting Turquoise card, Lawn Fawn polka dot patterned papers and ??? patterned papers. (single sheets that I have no idea the brand)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU soft suede, Uniball white gel pen (ocean waves), Wink Of Stella glitter pen
Other: Fiskers corner punch, Die-namics stitched rectangle and Fishtail banner dies, Doodlebug enamel dots, SU wooden banner element, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Happy Birthday

Hello,

Here's a very post for a very quick card that I made late this afternoon after work. The sketch is from CAS(E) this Sketch 120 and the colors are from Color Throwdown 339.

The inside:

I used all My Favorite Things stamps and dies to make this super simple birthday card. It looked rather plain until I added the sequins and baker's twine embellishments.

Supplies
Stamps: Birthday Chalkboard set by My Favorite Things
Paper: Taylored Expressions gold, yellow and black card stock, SU whisper white card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Other: Die-namics daisy die, sequins, baker's twine, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Hope your weekend is starting out well. Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Happy Birthday

Hello,

It's Sunday, my stamping fun-day. I was up early and went for a pretty long walk, 5.3 miles, so I've had guilt free baseball watching and stamping today, lol.

My card today works for three challenges. As usual, on Sundays I look to see what fun The Paper Players have for us with their weekly challenge. Today it's a water color challenge. While looking through some of the other challenge blogs, I noticed that the The ColourQ Challenge this week was pretty interesting, black & gray with a "pop of color." Lastly, I used the  CAS(E) This Sketch layout to make it all come together.

Remember the SU Waterolor Crayons? I used them on this older SU set by coloring directly onto the stamp with the crayons and then spritzing the stamp with water before stamping onto SU water color paper. I used the basic gray crayon for the flower leaves, the basic black crayon for the stems and the yellow crayon for the flower centers. The sentiment is stamped with SU craft black and heat embossed onto SU velum paper. The background paper is some retired SU DSP.

I used the same technique on the inside with the grass stamp from the set and another birthday sentiment.

Supplies
Stamps: Inspired By Nature and Something To Celebrate sets by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU basic black, Daffodil yellow, Basic gray card stock, SU water color paper, SU velum and SU Spice Cake DSP
Ink: SU Water color crayons Brights and Neutrals collections, SU Craft black
Other: Fiskers corner rounder, Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX die, SU clear EP, heat tool, dark gray sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Enjoy your evening and thanks,
Colleen

Oh My Goodies!

Happy Monday,

Today's card uses the Sweet Sunday Sketch #264 layout. What an interesting design! But, also a fun one. I had no idea what to do for it, so I just looked through my collection of stamps and patterned papers until inspiration struck. For this card, it all started with the papers, specifically the row of mason jars.

The stamp set that wanted to use at first didn't work out because the image required too big of a circle element. So, I went looking for something that was the correct size and that also fit with my papers. I found this SU set that I had not used before called Oh My Goodies! Since I just happened to have the correct dies to match, it was meant to be.

As the set is just contains labels, more appropriate for the outside of cards or packages, I needed to find something for the inside. I mixed it up and choose a Lawn Fawn set, and I think it all works.

I stamped the jar in Baja Breeze ink and used my aqua painter to watercolor the inside of the jar with the same ink. The jar's label is cut from the same patterned paper used on the front and where I stamped the "thanks"sentiment. The lemon slice and flower are fussy cut and after gluing them in place I added some Glossy Accents for a shine.

I love how the 3 enamel hearts on the front makes the whole look so much more!

Supplies
Stamps: Ouside- Oh My Goodies set from Stampin' Up, Inside: Summertime Charm set from Lawn Fawn
Paper: SU Very Vanilla and Calypso Coral card stocks and Dear Lizzy-Lucky Charm by American Crafts patterned papers
Ink: SU Calypso Coral, Summer Starfruit, Baja Breeze, Memento tuxedo black and Copic Lemon Yellow
Other: SU labels die, SU large oval punch, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX die, enamel hearts, Glossy Accents, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a lovely week and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

You're Sweet

Hi all,

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend. We went to an afternoon "pot-luck" party at a friend's house today. We had good food and fun catching up with some folks.

This morning before I needed to get ready to leave, I checked to see what The Paper Players Challenge has in store for us this week, and Joanne has a fun color challenge. The colors are the retiring In-colors, Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, and Coastal Cabana. I wasn't sure what to do and was leaning towards something flowery. While looking through my many options, I saw my Taylored Expressions wreath sets and thought Strawberry wreath.

Here's what I came up with:

The wreath is stamped on SU watercolor paper with SU black craft ink and heat embossed with SU clear EP. I used the Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding and Coastal Cabana markers and my aqua painter to water color the image. I used the technique of putting the color onto an acrylic block and then picking it up with the aqua painter. For the Coastal Cabana washed background, I first wet the paper with water, then picked up the color from the block so it washed where the water already was on the paper. For the little flowers, I used the Strawberry Slush marker direct to the paper in the center of the flowers then dabbed the petals with the aqua painter to get the very light pink color. When dry, I used my white Uniball gel pen over the petals for some brightness.

The sentiment is stamped in memento black and Strawberry Slush. I thought the SU burlap ribbon went well with the SU EF. The stamp set, burlap and EF lend a country feel to the card. I found the strawberry brad in my stash of buttons.

I kept the inside pretty simple.

Supplies
Stamps: Strawberry Wreath set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White and water color paper
Ink: SU Craft Black, Strawberry Slush ink pads, Memento black pad, SU Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding and Coastal Cabana markers, white Uniball gel pen
Other: SU corner rounder punch, SU embossing folder, SU burlap ribbon, SU linen thread, Doodlebug strawberry brad, SU clear EP, heat tool, aqua painter, the Big Shot, dimensionals

I hope you all have a fabulous week. I'm starting the last week a a long work project, yay, but will be staying in a hotel away from home most of the week. I hope to be home by Thursday night.

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Finally A Day. . .

Hi there,

After taking care of some Saturday errands today, I sat down to make a card that my friend asked me to make for his Administrative Assistant. Since next week is Administrative Professional's Week and Day, he asked for a card to say thanks for all she does for him.

I used The Freshly Made Sketch for the layout.

I thought this stamp from SU makes a perfect outside sentiment. The inside sentiment is printed from my computer. The macaroons are stamped with Memento black and colored with Copics. For the filling in the cookies, I used my E000 for a slight caramel color, then used my Uniball gel pen on the squiggly part. There is a thin coating of Wink of Stella glitter over each cookie.

Here is the inside:

Supplies
Stamps: Bonjour set by Avery Elle and Really Good Greetings set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Calypso Coral, Basic Black and XPress-It Blending card stock and SU DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics stitched rectangle, pierced fishtail flag, stitched circle and pinking circle dies, Taylored Expressions embossing folder, Wink Of Stella glitter pen, sequins, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

I hope you're having a nice and restful weekend. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

IT'S YOUR DAY

Hi and Happy Opening Day,

Yes, I'm a baseball fan. Big Time.

Question, is it okay to use sequins on a masculine card? Well, I hope so because this is a birthday card for a guy friend of mine.

I wanted to play along with this week's Paper Players challenge and Jaydee has a fun theme for us this week. The challenge is to use die cuts on our card. I went die cut crazy with this one, LOL.

The inspiration for my card came from THIS cute card by Debby Hughes. I thought it would be fun to cut the trees out of three different papers from the 6x6 pad. The sun's rays are cut from SU Summer Sun card stock and sponged with some Distress Ink. The center is cut from another of the patterned papers.

Supplies
Stamps: Birthday Chalkboard Greetings set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Artichoke and Summer Sun card stock and Authentique 6x6 "loyal" patterned papers
Ink: SU Night of Navy and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mustard
Other: Die-Namics Stitched Snow Drift, Tree and Sun dies from My Favorite Things, sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a fabulous week and thanks for coming by,
Colleen

Hello. . .

Yes, hello all and Happy Easter Sunday,

I hope you are enjoying the day with family and friends. It's very quiet here today and I'm enjoying some crafty time.

I have a bright and summery card for you today.

The sketch is from the Freshly Made Sketches #180. To get the half circle element, I used a circle die to cut some adhesive-backed masking paper and placed it on my card front. I stamped the flower randomly with Memento black ink then removed the masking paper. After coloring the flowers with Copics, I brushed some Wink of Stella over the yellow centers. The "hello" and bee are stamped in Memento black and I drew in the bee trail with a Copic outliner pen.

Here's the inside of the card:

Supplies
Stamps: Hello Sunshine set by Lawn Fawn and Mimi In Paris set by Penny Black (flower on front)
Paper: XPress-It Blending cardstock and SU Daffodil Delight card s tock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, Copic Outliner
Other: Wink Of Stella pen, SU Embossing Folder, TE Small Scalloped Border die, We R Memory Keepers enamel shapes, baker's twine, the Big Shot, foam tape


Enjoy your day and thanks for coming by,
Colleen