Thank You

Hi all,

I made this card on Sunday to say Thank You to our neighbors, and very good friends, who took me and Mr. Personal Chef, out for my birthday on Saturday night. We had a wonderful time at a new restaurant in the Village of Carlsbad, CA called Campfire. A super fun place with great drinks and food.

Using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch, here is their Thank You card.

I stamped the grapes from the Altenew Simple Fruits set with Distress Oxide inks onto watercolor paper. After inking the stamp I spritzed it with water using a spray bottle before stamping it down onto the paper. The panel was cut into the three sections per the sketch, then glued to a Perfect Plum card base. To soften the background some, I used a layer of vellum cut with an Avery Elle die. The "thank you" die is also from Avery Elle, and the wine bottle and glass dies are Taylored Expressions. I added some purple rhinestones because I like sparkle, and some natural twine to the wine bottle.

As of 5:00 PM today, I am officially on vacation for two weeks. We are headed to Massachusetts early tomorrow for our annual Cape Cod vacation. Can't wait. My blog will be quiet for the next two weeks.

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Simple Fruits set by Altenew
Paper: SU Perfect Plumb and Always Artichoke card stock, SU vellum and Strathmore water color paper
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Wilted Violet and Walnut inks
Other: Taylored Expressions Wine and Dine dies, Avery Elle Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die, Avery Elle Thank You die, the Big Shot, purple rhinestones, natural twine, dimensionals, mini glue dots

Wish You

Good morning,

I have time for a quick post this morning before heading out. One of my good friends here in San Diego has a birthday next week. I just got some new Hero Arts stamp sets and used one to make her a birthday card.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from this week's Sunday Stamps Challenge.

I started off by stamping the water using Distress Oxide Broken China on a square piece of X-Press It  Blending card stock. I did the same on the card base of Island Indigo card stock. The darker whale is stamped in SU Bordering Blue, Midnight Muse and Craft white. The lighter whale is stamped with Hero Arts Dusty Blue, Stone Wash and Memento Black. Then they were cut out using the corresponding die. I added the banner in SU Bravo Burgundy and stamped the greeting with Hero Arts Mulled Wine. The white panel was glued down, then the whales were added. The lighter one is popped up with dimensionals. Lastly, I added some turquoise sequins for some shimmer.

Here is the inside:

This is a beautiful and fun set that can be used for anyone.

Have a great Monday and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Color Layering Whales set by Hero Arts and inside greetings from Lawn Fawn
Paper: SU Island Indigo, Bravo Burgundy and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: SU Bordering Blue, Midnight Muse, Hero Arts Dusty Blue, Cornflower, Stone Wash and Mulled Wine, Memento craft white and tuxedo black
Other: Hero Arts die, Die-namics Fishtail Flags die, sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals 

Life Is Meant to Be Enjoyed

Happy Sunday,

I sure hope you are enjoying yours. All is well here.

I've been doing some stamping this morning, as well as a little yesterday afternoon. Of course, my favorite weekend relaxation.

Since it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, where Claire has a fun summertime theme. Using some fun beach themed patterned papers and a Pure Innocence stamps set, I made this card to fit the theme.

This is a pretty simple card. I used a Concord and 9th die to cut the top layer of patterned paper. The stitched circle is Die-namics and the banner die is Mama Elephant. Taking colors from the papers, I used Copics to color the image. Her swimsuit is paper pieced with the reverse side of the flip flops sheet.

The inside is nice and simple as well.

Have a great Sunday afternoon. I may be back with a second post later this evening. Depends on if I finish my next project.

Thanks for stopping in. It's always appreciated!
Colleen

SuppliesStamps: Fun In the Sun Pure Innocence set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Daffodil Delight and X-Press It Blending card stock and I Love Sunshine by Echo Park patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Select A Size dies by Concord & 9th, Double-stitched Circle Die-namics, banner die from Mama Elephant, the Big Shot, Queen and Co. candy dots, dimensionals

Aloha, Cheers

Hello and Happy Tuesday,

I hope your week has started off well. So far so good for me. As of today, I have one week more to work before our annual summer vacation to Cape Cod, and I CAN'T WAIT!

Today I have the final beachy card that I made this past weekend. A bright card using the Hawaiian themed stamp set by Avery Elle called Aloha.

Like yesterday's card, this one was not made for a card challenge. Just something I came up with playing around with the stamps and using the Misti stamping tool. The pineapple and hibiscus flower stamps are stamped in Memento tuxedo black ink then colored with Copics. The sentiment stamps are stamped with SU Berry Burst and Lemon Lime ink pads. After the coloring was completed, I cut the panel out using the Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die and layered it onto another panel of  Lemon Lime card stock and a card base of Berry Burst.

I hope you enjoy this bright and happy card.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Aloha set by Avery Elle
Paper: X-Press It Blending white, SU Berry Burst and Lemon Lime card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Lemon Lime and Berry Burst, Copics
Other: Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, sequins, Misti Stamping Tool

Hello My Friend

Hi and happy Monday,

Why are weekends so SHORT? I'm not ready for another work week. Luckily, I won't be working out of town like the last four weeks. That's a step in the right direction.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made several "beach themed" cards over the weekend. This one is my fave! No challenges to enter it into, just a layout that came to me.

First I cut the Lawn Fawn Palm Tree dies from SU Close to Cocoa, Old Olive and Gumball Green card stocks. Second, I cut some SU Sahara Sand card stock using the Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, then I cut the panel with the LF Palm Tree dies. The panel was layered over a card base covered with a piece of SU Naturally Eclectic DSP. The palms tree trunks were placed into the negative spaces and the tops glued and popped up with mini-dimensonals. Instead of using the coconut dies, I used sequins instead. The greetings are Avery Elle Sentimental stamp and die. The Hello die was cut 3 times from Sahara Sand and finally from the SU DSP all glued together.

Here's the inside of the card using more of the same supplies.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a great day!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Sentimental set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Gumball Green and Night of Navy card stock and SU Naturally Eclectic DSP
Ink: SU Night of Navy
Other: Palm Trees Lawn Cuts by Lawn Fawn, Sentimental by Avery Elle, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle and Small Scalloped Border  by Taylored Expressions dies, the Big Shot, brown, coper and gold sequins, Ranger Multi Mat glue, SU mini dimensionals

Have a Tremendous Day!

Hi again, peeps!

One more post tonight to play along with this week's Freshly Made Sketch. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make and while looking through some of my new patterned papers I ran across some super cute SU DSP with dinosaurs on it. I got it when I ordered my new catalog pre-order and I haven't used it yet. It goes really well with the Paper Smooches Dino die and Huge Hugs stamps and dies.

The Dinosaur die is cut out with black card stock and the SU Pick A Pattern DSP. I placed him (or her) on some Basic Black and Crushed Curry card stock that is cut out with Die-namics Pinking Edge Circle dies. The Crushed Curry layer is embossed with the TE Burlap EF. I used some Lawn Fawn banner dies for the horizontal/sentiment element, stamping the greeting partially on the embossed circle. I framed the card with the Die-namics Stitched, Scalloped Rectangle frame in Basic Black and finished with the black rhinestones per the sketch.

On the inside, I used the Dino stamp from the PS set Huge Hugs, more SU DSP and Die-namics dies. The Dino is stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. The sentiments are again from Huge Hugs 2 set and stamped in Memento black.

The Paper Smooches Challenge for July is "anything goes, " so I'm linking up there as well.

This will make a good stash birthday card for a little one.

Thanks!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Huge Hugs and Huge Hugs 2 sets by Paper Smooches
Paper: SU Crushed Curry and Basic Black card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock and SU Pick A Pattern DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Paper Smooches Dinosaur die, Die-namics Pinking Edge circle, Stitched Oval, Stitched, Scalloped Rectangle and Oval Frame dies, Lawn Fawn Banner dies, Taylored Expressions Burlap embossing folder, black rhinestones, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Life's A Beach

Hello and happy Sunday peeps,

After several weeks working away from home during the week and having to catchup on reports on the weekends, I finally have a weekend of free time! Of course, I spent a good potion of it stamping and boy, was it fun.

Since it is Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players Challenge. My friend, LeAnne has a very pretty color challenge today, with a monochromatic palette of Sweet Sugarplum, Berry Burst and Rich Razzleberry. There are some really gorgeous flower cards in the DT gallery, but I decided on a different theme altogether. Maybe because work has been somewhat stressful I channeled "relaxing at the beach" as the theme for my card. (In fact, all of the cards that I made this weekend are beach themed.)

Here's my Paper Player's card for this week:

All of the stamps and dies are from Avery Elle. The card base is Sweet Sugarplum overlaid with the Avery Elle die cut from Sahara Sand. The beach houses are stamped on water color paper with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with SU white EP. Using the three SU color ink pads and a water brush I water colored the image. After it dried, I cut it out with the corresponding die. It's layered onto a circle of Rich Razzleberry, and the sentiment is also heat embossed with white EP.

The inside is pretty simple, using the same beach houses stamp and the other sentiment in the set.

 

The Fusion Card Challenge has a beach theme this week so I'm also entering my card there.

Thanks for looking in today. I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead.
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Beside the Sea set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand and watercolor paper
Ink: VersaMark, Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry and Berry Burst
Other: Beside the Sea and Horizontal Stripe dies by Avery Elle, SU White EP, heat tool, the Big Shot, dimensionals and new SU mini dimensionals

Huge CONGRATS

Hello again,

This is my second post today. While I had the SU kit out, I looked to see what today's Paper Players Challenge was all about. Joanne is hosting with a theme challenge. While I don't need a graduation card this year, I can always use a generic Congrats card in my stash. Using more elements from the Watercolor Wonder kit, here's my card.

While these kits come with a sheet of example cards that one can use for guidance, I like to pick and choose from the elements and come up with my own creation. If there are pieces left over, they can always be used somewhere, right?

Again, I'm loving this color combo!

Thanks again for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps, paper and embellishments from Watercolor Wonder card kit, Stampin' Up catalog 2016

Happiest Birthday Wishes

Well Hello to all,

I hope you're having a nice weekend. And, I hope you are one of the lucky one's who gets a long four day weekend. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those. Tomorrow is not a work holiday for me, and I'll be driving to the Los Angeles area to work on a project. Today however, we are going to an early July 4th party at a friend's house. Should be fun!

It's been over a month since I've posted on my blog! Almost that long since I've done any stamping too. Work has been crazy busy. I've been traveling for the past three weeks and doing reports on the weekends. It's left no time for crafting! I did make a couple of birthday cards a few weeks ago, but I didn't even take pictures.

Today, I have another birthday card. Super simple! In fact, this is made using supplies from a SU kit that I bought last year and never cracked open. I've used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for the layout, rotating it to the right.

I love the colors in this kit. Night of Navy, Crumb Cake and Watermelon Wonder. Fun accessories and great stamps. In fact, I think I bought it for the stamp set.

Thanks for stopping in today. Have a great Sunday afternoon!

Hugs,
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps, paper and embellishments from Watercolor Wonder Card Kit by Stampin' Up 2016 Catalog
Others:  additional Watermelon Wonder card stock and foam tape