Just Relax

Hey all,

It's "Hump Day" and I'm so excited because I only have two more days until vacation time. I'm frantically trying to get everything finished and packed for my trip to Europe. We leave Tuesday next week. I spent my Thanksgiving holidays finishing up my Christmas and December's family and friends birthday cards.

Using the current Sunday Stamps sketch, I made this card for my niece, Rachel, whose birthday is (sadly) Dec. 26th. She loves yoga and pink! Is this not the perfect card?

This is the MFT Pure Innocence set called Serenity. I stamped her with Memento tuxedo black and colored her with Copics. The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn and the cover plate is Die-namics.

Here is the inside:

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Serenity Pure Innocence set by My Favorite Things stamps and SU Endless Birthday Wishes set (inside image and greeting)
Paper: TE pink textured card stock, X-Press It blending card stock and SU Gable Green card stock, Lawn Fawn plaid patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Comics, SU Blushing Bride Pink ink pad
Other: Die-namics polka dot cover plate and Stitched Square dies, Lawn Fawn heart die, pink rhinestones, the Big Shot, diemensionals

Believe

Hello and Happy Tuesday,

I've been furiously trying to finish up my holiday cards and I actually think that I have enough now. I made this one last night for the young guy that does our windows. We usually give hime gift cards to lunch spots like Panera and Rubios so he can grab a quick lunch while working.

I wanted a somewhat "masculine" looking card and found some great inspiration at Inspired By All the Little Things and CAS(E) This Sketch. Also, Merry Monday has a masculine theme this week.

I used a simple "chalk board" technique with the MFT Holiday Subway stamp set. Very quick and easy. To raise the black panel up I used some fun foam.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Subway set by My Favorite Things and Christmas Kitch set by Avery Elle

Paper: SU Basic Black card stock and My Minds Eye Necessities Wood Designer patterned paper

Ink: Memento Brilliance Moonlight White craft ink, Memento tuxedo black, SU Emerald Envy and Copics

Other: SU White EP, heat tool, Christmas Ktich dies, the Big Shot, fun foam

Ho, Ho, Ho

Good Morning from a very wet and windy Southern California,

Winter has finally arrived to my neck of the woods! After 90 degrees in the beginning of November, we are having a good old fashioned winter storm. The rain and wind hit around 2 pm yesterday and is supposed to continue all day today. We should even get some snow in our San Diego mountains east of the city.

Today is Sunday and time for a new Paper Players Challenge. You all really rocked Claire's CAS Christmas theme last week. It was super hard to pick favorites! This week, our very talented Sandy is our hostess, and she has a sketch for us.

I love sketches with a tilted panel. I know there are some that don't, but I think it really adds some interest, especially when using a patterned paper or "all over" stamping. For this week's card I pulled out one of my all time favorite SU sets called Scensational Season. Using Tim Holtz Distress Mini ink pads, I stamped some of the images from the set onto water color paper. The stamped images come out very blotchy, but if you take a paint brush dipped in water and go over the ink, it smooths out nicely. This is not a quick technique, but very fun to do.

After painting all of the images, I dried the panel with my heat tool then gold embossed the snowflake on the green cups. For the gingerbread people's faces and buttons I used yellow and red dimensional pearl liquid. For the sentiment element, I used the corresponding SU dies to cut out the red cup and steam images. The HO3 stamp is MFT as are the banner and Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies.

The DT has, as usual, some really awesome cards to share. Stop by their blogs to say Hi and have a look.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

I know you'll have fun with Sandy's sketch and I know we'll be seeing some great cards in our gallery again this week.

I've really enjoyed my long Thanksgiving weekend. Both Thursday and Friday were company holidays and I've used the days off to finish up my Christmas cards and my December birthday cards, (I have at least seven birthdays in December to make cards for). This is all because I have one more week of work before my BFF (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON) and I fly to Amsterdam on Dec. 6th. We stay in Amsterdam for four days, then we fly to Germany to go on a Viking Christmas Market cruise on the Danube River for 10 days, ending in Budapest. In addition to this fabulous trip, I'm taking the whole month of December off work! I've never had more than two weeks off at at time in all my years of working. I am so excited about it all!

Have a great week everyone, and as always, thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Scentsational Seasons set by Stampin' Up

Paper: SU Old Olive, Real Red and Gold card stock and Fabriano Grans Fina cold pressed water color paper

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress mini ink pads and VersaMark craft ink pad

Other: Gold EP, Heat tool, SU Scentsational Seasons dies, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag and Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies, Fiskars corner punch, SU Snowflake EF, Dimensional Pearls, the Big Shot, paint brush, foam tape

Merry Christmas

Happy Day After Thanksgiving all,

I hope yesterday found you celebrating with family and friends. We had a quiet morning at home then we went to a friend's house for dinner in the early afternoon. Good food, good wine and  good conversation.

I'm still finishing up my holiday cards. I had stamped a bunch of the deer images form the Avery Elle set Kitch Christmas, colored them and cut them out with the corresponding dies a few months ago. I had them all in an envelope, but wasn't sure what I was going to make. Along comes this week's Freshly Made Sketch and I knew it was the perfect layout to for my little deer.

I had enough deer to make 12 cards. Since there are two deer images in the stamp set, six fronts had one and six had the other image. Here is a card with the the other deer image.

I love how these turned out too!

Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Kitch Christmas set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Whisper White, X-Press It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn Christmas Plaid patterned paper and SU retired Christmas DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Island Indigo
Other: Avery Elle Kitch Christmas dies, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle and Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frame dies, sequin, the Big Shot, dimensional

Let It Snow

Hello,

Welcome to this week's Paper Players post. It's Claire's turn to host and she has a Clean and Simple Christmas challenge for us this week.

I chose to use another uber cute Lawn Fawn set from last year. I love this little alpaca with his warm winter scarf.

Mr alpaca is stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock with Memento tuxedo black, colored with Copics and cut out with the corresponding die. Using the Lawn Fawn Forrest Border die, I cut a panel from SU Handsome Hunter and one from X-Press It Blending card stocks. I stamped Let It Snow from the Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Sayings set in Handsome Hunter ink, then layered the white over the green on the card base. It was just a little too "clean" for me so I added some SU sequin snowflakes.

Here's the inside:

I just love Lawn Fawn's punny saying stamp sets. You know what else I love, my fellow DT's cards! Here are the links to their blogs. Be sure to stop by.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

We have a short, three day work week this week. I'm SO ready for it too. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and friends.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Winter Alpaca set by Lawn Fawn

Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Handsome Hunter card stock

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Handsome Hunter, Real Red and Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Forrest Border die, SU snowflake sequin, the Big Shot, Dimensionals

Best Friends Forever

Hi everyone,

How was your Saturday? I did some shopping for my trip coming up next month this morning then headed to my stamp table to have some inky fun this afternoon. The Freshly Made Sketch looked pretty interesting this week, so I though I'd play along. I took a break from making Christmas cards, (although I still need more) and made this. Warning, this is one bright card!

The inside panel:

The images are from Mama Elephant stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. The dies are all Die-namics.

Stop by tomorrow for a new Paper Player's challenge. Claire has another fun one for us.

Thanks for stopping in. Enjoy your Saturday evening,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Honey Bunny set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Flirty Flamingo and X-Press It Blending card stock, Suga Pop by KaiserCraft patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics Single Stitched Line Circle Frames, Pierced Circle, Stitched Oval and Stitched Scalloped Oval Frame, Pierced Fishtail Flags dies, Fiskars corner rounder punch, glass beads, the Big Shot, Dimensionals

Have A Holly Jolly Christmas!

Hey all y'all,

No I'm not from the South, I'm just back from my travels to Nashville for my company's annual North American Meeting where I heard this greeting many times during the week. It's always a good time to see co-workers from across the country this one time each year. We have general sessions that review results of the previous year, changes and goals for the new fiscal year, a full day of training, an awards night and a half day of "team building." I'm happy to say that I came home with two awards, one for my last year's performance and one that our whole team won. Pretty exciting and rewarding stuff!

Our team building exercise this year was super fun and inspiring. We partnered with Operation Stand Down in Nashville and filled backpacks with food to give to veterans for Thanksgiving. Inside each bag we included hand written notes thanking them for their service to our country and other words of encouragement.

Today is Sunday and time for our second November Paper Players challenge. It's Joanne's turn as hostess and she has a fabulous color challenge for us. Perfect for Christmas! Check it out!

When I saw these colors, I immediately thought holly leaves and berries and I remembered my Taylored Expressions Holly cutting plate. I pulled it out and went to work. Here's my card.

I started by cutting a panel of Emerald Envy card stock with the Holly cutting plate then layering it over a card base of Mint Macaron. I stamped Santa and the Christmas Tree with Memento tuxedo black on X-Press It Blending card stock, colored them with Copies and fussy cut them out. The greeting is stamped in Real Red and cut with a banner die. After placing and gluing the images down, I scattered TE red rhinestones around the card (you know I love my embellishments).  I also added some Crystal Stickles to the white part of Santa's cap and around his middle, yellow Stickles over the star at the top of the tree and red over the ornaments.

The inside uses images from the TE Baby It's Cold Outside stamp set, all colored with Copies in the challenge color shades.

Stop by the DT's blogs for more awesome Christmas inspiration.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

As usual, I know the gallery will be filled with super cool cards and projects!

Have a relaxing Sunday afternoon and thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps:Christmas Doodles and Baby It's Cold Outside sets by Taylored Expressions

Paper: SU Mint Macaron, Emerald Envy, Real Red card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Real Red, Copics

Other: TE Holly cutting plate, Lawn Fawn large banner die, yellow, red and crystal Stickles, TE red rhinestones, the Big Shot and Dimensionals

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Hi stampers,

I hope that your weekend is going well. It's been a quiet and fairly lazy day here, and I'm all for that. This afternoon, I made it into my craft table and made this Thanksgiving card using this week's Freshly Made Sketch and some Lawn Fawn cuteness.

I'm also linking it up to the Lawnscaping challenge # 141, which is CAS this week and to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Thanks or Thanksgiving cards.

See you back here tomorrow for the new Paper Player's Challenge.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Cutie Pie and Thanks A Bushel sets by Lawn Fawn
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock and Lawn Fawn Fall Plaid patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Hello Honey and Tangerine Tango, Copics
Other: Cutie Pie and Stitched Round Tag dies by Lawn Fawn, SU ribbon, the Big Shot, dimensional

Christmas Cheer

Happy Tuesday Peeps,

I'm headed to the middle of the country today, specifically to Nashville, TN for work. I'll be gone all week. After packing last night I had some time to make a card and since it's the first week of November, Mojo Monday is a contest sketch this week, so I thought I'd play along.

I'm still needing many Christmas cards so that's what I made.

I stayed really true to the sketch this week, using some snowy hills as the square element.

Have a good week all and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Kitch Christmas by Avery Elle
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock, SU Real Red card stock, Lawn Fawn Christmas Plaid patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Trees die, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag, Stitched Hill and Stitched Oval dies, Kitch Christmas dies,
Stickles, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Happiness Is a Grateful Heart

Hello all,

I hope your weekend is going very well. It's Sunday and time for our first Paper Players challenge of November. Laurie is our hostess this week with a timely theme challenge. Here you go:

I've been traveling for work for the past several weeks and unfortunately, my stamping time has been very limited. I usually try to have my Paper Players card done early each week, but for this week's card, I was frantically trying to get it stamped, colored, photographed and blogged late yesterday afternoon. Luckily, my idea turned out well, so it all came together pretty quickly. A great sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch helped!

I wanted to do something seasonal, and this sweet little image by Jennifer Nilsson for MFT stamps was the perfect choice. As you all know, I love to color, so I colored her up with my Copics. I found this great seasonal patterned paper to use for the sketch layout and it has an added bonus of having the perfect message for Laurie's theme this week too. The stamped sentiment is from the set and it's stamped with Early Expresso ink.

The inside uses some images from a super old SU set called Autumn Harvest. I layered the squash and pumpkins using the masking technique. The inside greeting is from the MFT set.

The Design Team has some awesome inspiration cards. Stop by and say "Hi."

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Have fun with Laurie's theme. I know we'll see some great cards again in the gallery. 

I'm off to Nashville Tuesday and back very late Friday night. I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Harvest set by My Favorite Things and Autumn Harvest set by Stampin' Up (inside images)

Paper: SU Really Rust, Old Olive and Very Vanilla card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Apple Cider by Imaginisce patterned paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Early Expresso

Other: Dimensionals and enamel shapes