Happy Birthday

Hello and happy Monday,

Today is my first day off for a three week vacation. Whoo-hoo! On Thursday morning my sister and I are headed to Quito, Ecuador. We'll be in Ecuador for a week, then fly on to Lima, Peru and be in Peru for a week. We have our train tickets, hotel reservations and park tickets for two days at Machu Picchu.  That should be one of the highlights of the trip. We have many other excursions planned for the two weeks in each country. It may be one of those vacations that you have to go back to work to rest up. I've been finishing up my list of things to buy this morning, now it's down to laundry and packing.

Of course, I have to make time in my craft room before I leave it for two weeks. Yesterday I made a couple of birthday cards. This week's Paper Players Challenge is brought to us by Joanne and she has a fun Tic-tac-toe challenge. These are always so fun and I usually have a hard time deciding on which way to play. Also, the Seize The Birthday Challenge this week is "anything goes," so I'm posting my card there as well.

I ended up going the middle horizontal row. Birthday, Ribbon, Masculine. What threw me was the ribbon on a masculine card. Something I probably wouldn't normally think to do. Full disclosure, I thought of what ribbon to use first, and then picked my papers to go with the ribbon. Kind of crazy! Looking through my box of ribbons, I came across this SU naturals and decided it should work fine on a masculine card.

The small coffee containers are from the Lawn Fawn Love You A Latte set and the large coffee container die is Paper Smooches. I stamped the small cups randomly onto Neenah Desert Storm card stock with Memento brown ink and colored them with Faber-Castel Polychromos pencils. I stamped the coffee bean with Memento brown ink as well.  The large cup die is cut from the Desert Storm paper and a piece of MFT orange gingham patterned paper. The circle, heart and card base are SU Handsome Hunter card stock. I colored the large cup with the colored pencils to match the small ones. IRL, the Handsome Hunter shade is much closer to the green shade used on the cups. In the photo, it looks way more blue!

The inside greeting and image are from the same LF stamp set.

It's a super gloomy day here on the San Diego coast. In fact, we had a smidgen of rain this morning. A good day to be inside. I need to get a Mother's Day card made this afternoon so that Mr Personal Chef can mail it for me while I'm in SA.

Have a great Monday afternoon all! Thanks for stoping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Love You a Latte set by Lawn Fawn
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm, SU Handsome Hunter, MFT gingham patterned paper
Ink: Memento brown, SU Handsome Hunter, Faber-Castel Polychromos colored pencils
Other: Paper Smooches Coffee Cup die, Die-Namics Pierced circle die, SU naturals ribbon, SU green enamel dots, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Today Blooms Just For You

Happy Saturday afternoon to all,

I started out the day getting my hair cut, then attending Little League Baseball games. After those were done, Mr. Personal Chef and I had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, and then I had some shopping errands to run for my upcoming trip. I'm finally home to relax a little. Time to throw a load of laundry in the washer and take some pictures of some cards that I made over the last few days.

This one uses this week's Freshly Made Sketch, by Amy.

I started by taping off the edges of the white card stock with some post-it tape. I stamped the flowers and leaves with Memento black and colored them with some SU Stampin' Blend markers. I used the Cherry Cobbler, Pink Pirouette and Old Olive sets. I trimmed the white layer down and mounted it onto a Pink Pirouette card base. For the greeting panel, I stamped Happy Birthday with VersaMark and heat embossed it with white EP. The small greeting is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. The panel is glued to a piece of fun foam and then mounted per the sketch. I added a few pink jewels in opposite corners for embellishments.

The greeting on the inside is from the same SU stamp set.

All in all a super easy card to make. Loved Amy's sketch too.
Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Perennial Birthday set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Pink Pirouette card stock, Neenah Solar White card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Cherry Cobbler, VersaMark and SU Stampin' Blends
Other: White EP, heat tool, Mini Misti, fun foam, pink jewels, Post-It tape

Happy Birthday

Happy Thursday afternoon peeps!

I've not had much crafting time this week, but I did manage to finally get a card made for this week's Paper Players challenge last night after we had dinner. This week, Jaydee has a sketch challenge for us. It's a classic with loads of design options. I, however, went with it just as it's laid out in the graphic.

I pulled out some really old SU DSP to coordinate with this embroidery themed stamp set from Neat and Tangled.

The hoop and stitched images are stamped onto SU Very Vanilla card stock with Memento tuxedo black ink. The cross-stitches are stamped with SU Regal Rose ink. In order to get them lined up around the circle, I used the Misti stamping tool. It came out better than I anticipated, which is always nice, LOL. The flowers, french knots and hoop are all colored with Copics. After coloring I fussy cut the image out so it could be layered onto the card. After putting it all together (before gluing it) I decided it needed something a little more. I remembered I have a ton of these paper SU doilies. However, white was the wrong color so I sponged one around the edges with the SU Regal Rose ink. I cut a circle from So Saffron card stock to layer behind it, then mounted everything on the card. Much more interesting!

The horizontal element is more DSP from the same package and a piece of So Saffron card stock cut with a Die-namics Fishtail Flag die.

Here is the inside. The images are stamped on So Saffron card stock and colored with Copics.

Besides work this week, I've been finishing up prep for a vacation to South America. My sister and I are flying to Quito, Ecuador on May 3 to meet up with my nephew, her son, who has been there since just after the first of the year for a semester abroad for college. He finishes school this week. We will stay in Ecuador for the first week, then the second week fly to Peru where we will stay in Lima, Cusco and visit Machu Picchu. We fly back to the US on 5/18. Needless to say, she and I are excited for a new adventure! But, I have a few more days to get in more stamping challenges, so I'll "see you" on my blog for a few more days.

Have a great rest of your Thursday!
Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Handstitiched set by Neat and Tangled
Paper: SU Very Vanilla and So Saffron card stock, SU Sweet Stitches DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Regal Rose and Copics
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flag die, Spellbinders circle die, SU paper doily, Misty, Gemini Jr, dimensionals, Fiskars corner punch

Happy Birthday

Hi stampers,

I have another card that I made using the current CAS(E) this Sketch! layout. I actually made this one before yesterday's card. This one took a little longer as there are more layers and I used a craft knife to cut out the windows of the bus.

 

This is such a fun and cute stamp set by Avery Elle. I stamped the bus and it's party goers, and the other images using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored them with Copics. After cutting everything out using the corresponding set dies, my plan was to pop them up over the cloudy paper. I decided it would look great if I cut the windows out. It wasn't difficult, just took a little patience. The orange panel is cut with the Avery Elle Burst Elements die. I used a Die-namics Stitched circle die to cut the circle in the Burst die. The Stitched cloud die is from Lawn Fawn.

I'm also posting this birthday card to the current Seize the Birthday challenge, where the topping is Vibrant Colors.

The inside is super simple with a piece of the cloudy paper and a sentiment from another Avery Elle set.

Supplies
Stamps: Birthday Bus and Beside the Sea sets by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Whisper White and Calypso Coral card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock and Echo Park patterned paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics
Other: Birthday Bus set and Burst Elements dies from Avery Elle, Die-namics Stitched Circle die, Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Border die, Studio Calico puffy sticker arrow, Gemini Jr., diemensionals

Life Is What You Make It

Hello and happy Monday,

I'm getting my company car serviced today and they have a "recall repair" that will take most all day, so I'm stuck at home. I am pretty caught up on work reports already, so I'm catching up on blogging some cards that I made yesterday after dinner.

Donna has a fun layout this week at CAS(E) This Sketch! I like the large focal panel at the top and I actually used this sketch to make two cards. (The second one I'll put in a separate post later.) For this post, I pulled out some older stamps and dies from My Favorite Things.

This card was super simple to make. I covered the Whisper White card base with a piece of patterned paper. The bike patterned paper was cut with a Spellbinders Square die and glued to a Dapper Denim panel cut slightly larger. The Die-namics Bike die was also cut from Dapper Denim card stock. I glued it and the horizontal piece per the sketch in place and then mounted the whole panel with foam tape to the card front. The sentiment is from the MFT Pearls Of Wisdom stamp set. I used some puffy stickers from Life's Sweet (I think I picked them up at Michael's some time ago).

On the inside I used another MFT stamp set called Complimentary Greetings.

Have a nice day all!
Thanks for checking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Pearls of Wisdom and Complimentary Greetings sets by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Whisper White & Dapper Denim card stock and Studio Calico Here and There patterned papers
Ink: SU Dapper Denim
Other: Die-namics Bike die, Spellbinders Large Square die, Life's Sweet Puffy Stickers, Gemini Jr, foam tape

Have A Magical Birthday

Hello,

I hope everyone's weekend is swimming along magically. It's Sunday and that means time for a new Paper Players Challenge. Sandy is the hostess with a Clean & Simple theme challenge this week and it gave me the perfect opportunity to ink up a new to me SU stamp set.

Sometimes I have a little difficulty making CAS cards. Hopefully, this one fits the requirements, open space, not many layers, minimum embellishments.

I started with a card base of heavy weight SSS white card stock. The sea grasses are stamped with Distress Oxide inks in Iced Spruce and Twisted Citron. I inked the stamp first with the Iced Spruce then inked over the top of that with the Twisted Citron before stamping so that the colors were somewhat blended. The black sentiment panel is cut with a Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag die then stamped using VersaMark and heat embossed with white EP.  The mermaid is stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. Her tail is a blend of darker BG shades and bright YG shades. The tail fins are BG11 with a generous layer of Nuvo glitter gloss applied. I also brushed on a small amount at the top of her tail on the darker colored area. You can see that better in this photo:

Of course I did have to add a few SU glittery enamel dots as the finishing touch.

Here is the inside using more images from the same stamp set.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Magical Mermaid set by Stampin' Up
Paper: Simon Says Stamp heavy white card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, SU Basic Black card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Distress Oxide, SU Sahara Sand, VersaMark
Other: Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag die, white embossing powder, heat tool,  SU enamel dots, Nuvo glitter gloss, Gemini Jr., dimensionals

Hello

Happy Friday all,

I have a busy day today, but before getting started with work, I wanted to quickly post these cards for this week's Paper Players Challenge. LeAnne is the hostess this week with a color challenge. I made these Tuesday evening, but didn't have a chance to get the pictures taken until this morning.

I made two cards using LeAnne's colors. One fairly simple, another more involved.

Card #1 is the fairly simple version.

Card #2
Outside

Inside

Both cards were stamped and colored with Copics matching LeAnne's colors.

Supplies
Stamps: SU sets Up in the Air & Endless Birthday Wishes, Simon Says Stamp set Kind Flowers
Paper: SU Tranquil Tide, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: SU Elegant Eggplant, Tranquil Tide, Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics
Other: Simple Stripes, Spring Flowers and Small Dots Embossing Folders, We R Memory Keepers Embossing Folder, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle and Stitched Scalloped Frame dies, SSS Kind Flowers die, Gemini Jr, Big Shot, rhinestones, diemensionals

Feliz compelamos a ti (Happy Birthday to you)

Hi all,

I hope your Thursday is going well. I'm "working" in my home office today. I actually was working but just put it aside for a while to take some pictures of my card for this week's Paper Players challenge. This week, Laurie is the hostess with a music theme.

I have lots of patterned papers with sheet music backgrounds which is what I originally pulled out to use and I made a Christmas card. But, I just wasn't feeling it was all that fun, so I put it in my stash and made this one instead. My sister's "honey" has a birthday in a few days and he is hispanic. I think he'll get a kick out of this guy.

The images are from SugarPea Designs. They are stamped with memento black ink and colored with Copics. I fussy cut them out and glued them to the card. The base is SU Basic Black and the three stripes are Hello Honey, Glorious Green and Real Red. The sentiment is printed with my computer and is part of the "Happy Birthday to You" song in Spanish. I added the music notes from an Avery Elle set.

Here is the inside. The paper picado banners are also from an Avery Elle set called Papel Picado Banners. The sentiments are from the SugarPea set. The banners are stamped with SU Glorious Green and Real Red inks using a Misti.

Supplies
Stamps: Let's Fiesta set by SugarPea Designs, Papel Picado Banners & Caroling Critters sets by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Basic Black, Real Red, Hello Honey and Glorious Green card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Glorious Green and Real Red, Copics
Other: SU dimensionals

A few months ago I began my craft room re-organization. I took everything out and had it painted. The color is Sherwin Williams Sea Salt and it is a very light sea green. I love it! The accents and ceiling are all bright white. I decided to go with IKEA shelving and drawers. The shelving and desk are from the Kallax line and the drawers are from the Alex line. They have been up for about a month. I had ordered ink pad and marker inserts for the Kallax and some drawer divider storage for the Alex from Organize More. Those finally arrived this week and I've gotten them filled. Hopefully, you don't mind a few pictures of the final organization. (It's not to say I won't be tweaking things as I use it, but for now, it seems to be good.)

As you can see, my card stock is in plastic sleeves, labeled with a label maker and stored sidewise in the top cubes. The desk is 5 ft x 5 ft. It removes from the cube wall unit very easily, which is important because this room also serves as the guest bedroom. I wanted a large surface area for cutting fabric when I decide to do quilting. I've stored things that I don't use often in the cubes under the desk in the fabric cubes inserts like the ones you see on the right side above the desk.

At the end of the drawer units is a closet. One side has the plastic drawer units that hold my old wooden stamps. For the other side, I bought some metal shelving on rollers from Bed, Bath, Beyond for my patterned papers. They are stored in mesh boxes from The Container Store. Also, one of my Raskog carts lives next to it. Above these is a shelf that is bowed from years of storing my card stock on it. I've placed 3 of the fabric boxes to store various things. I moved my punch (some of them) storage to the wall of the closet too. The closet had sliding wardrobe doors. I've taken them off and will replace with bi-fold doors at some point. (I really don't like it open, but it is easier to access)

One Raskog cart has all of my various adhesives, washi tapes, and stamp cleaning supplies. I had my Copics in the top of this Raskog cart until the inserts arrived. The other Raskog cart has my dies that are not stamp set dies, like the MFT STAX etc. For dies that coordinate with stamp sets, I store them with the stamp set on magnetic panels, including my SU set dies.

As far as stamp storage, for the companies such as Lawn Fawn, Avery Elle, Simon Says Stamp etc that are all photopolymer, they are stored in plastic sleeves in refrigerator bins as many stampers are doing. They sit on top of the Alex drawer units within easy reach. If the set has coordinating dies, they are stored with the stamps. For my SU and Taylored Expressions sets, some are in a book case just as you walk in the room. The rest are in two bookcases in our garage. (I don't sell my stamps. They are my friends.)

So, it's not as fancy as many craft rooms and it has to do triple duty, craft room, home office, guest room, but I'm really enjoying the space more. Before, I had a portable table facing the wall with stacks and stacks of stuff. Now it's organized, and I look out at the ocean!

I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend. We will be at our friend's house in the Central Coast wine region for a long 4 day get-a-way. Thanks for indulging me in sharing my "new" space.

Colleen