Celebrate Your BIG Day!

Hello to all,

One more work day this week, YAY! I've been doing software upgrades on Chemistry systems and it's always a little stressful. One more to go tomorrow and they will be done, for this particular software version anyway.

A new SU order arrived yesterday afternoon and I decided to use one of the new sets to make my card for the 2nd week's Paper Players 400th Celebration Challenge. This time it's a birthday card. I've used the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. This week the colors are gray, kraft, yellow and white.

The images were stamped onto Whisper White card stock using SU inks in the challenge colors. The elephants were fussy cut (I didn't buy the coordinating punch) and glued onto the stamped panel. For the sentiment, I used the Misti to stamp it in a line. On the actual stamp, it's a stacked sentiment. It's cut with a SU banner die. I matted it with a piece of granite gray card stock, then added 3 enamel dots for embellishment.

The inside:

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Little Elephant and Perennial Birthday sets by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Whisper White, Heavy Whisper White, Granite Gray, Pineapple Punch
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, Granite Gray, Pineapple Punch
Other: SU banner die, enamel dots, Gemini Jr, Misti, dimensionals

Thank You

Hello to all,

The temps have been hotter than usual here in SoCal, and most all of California for that matter, for the past few days. Unfortunately, it's brought some pretty bad wild fires around the state. But, since I live very close to the coast, it has not been unbearable for us, luckily, as we don't have air-conditioning in our house.

I've been playing around with the SU Abstract Impressions suite and have a few cards to share. This first one uses this week's Freshly Made Sketch. I found a 6 x 6 Vintage style paper pad in my stash and I thought that the butterfly die would look great on the papers. Vintage is a style that I rarely (never) use. I love Vintage style cards, I just really don't do them well. This card is pretty simple, and closely follows Cecile's sketch.

I cut the butterfly three times and glued them so just a peek of each layer can be seen. The bottom layer is Cajun Craze card stock, the middle is cream card stock and the top is a piece from the Vintage paper pack. The butterfly is placed on with a dimensional. I added 3 enamel dots for embellishment and called it finished.

The inside uses another piece from the paper pack and the flower die from the suite. Both the front and inside sentiments are from the Abstract Impressions stamp set.

Here are two more cards made with this suite. It's a super fun set and suite to use. I know it's been a pretty popular SU set and I can see why after playing with it this past week.

The butterfly is cut from the new color,  Highland Heather, card stock. Using a sponge dauber, I sponged Highland Heather ink over it. I then inked it all over with VersaMark and heat embossed it using clear EP. This was done twice. After the 2nd heating, I quickly sprinkled some lavender glitter over it. Again, I've used two layers to make the butterfly stand out. The bottom layer here is Highland Heather card stock. The background of the card is made by randomly stamping Lemon Lime Twist ink for the stems and Highland Heather ink for the flowers. Layer one is stamped off to make a lighter shade of the color. The sentiment is stamped with Memento black. The card base is Highland Heather.

The last card uses the new Mango Melody ink along with Calypso Coral. The sentiment is from another new SU set called Rooted In Nature. The banner die is Die-namics and the label die is from SU.

I hope you are having a great weekend and staying cool. Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Abstract Impressions & Rooted In Nature sets from Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Highland Heather, Mango Melody and Calypso Coral card stock, K & Company Brianna patterned papers
Ink: Cajun Craze, Highland Heather, Lemon Lime Twist, Memento Tuxedo Black, Mango Melody, Calypso Coral
Other: SU Abstract Impressions dies, SU label die, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag die, SU clear embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, glitter, Gemini Jr, diemesionals, SU mini glue dots

Hope Your Birthday is the Sweetest

Hey and Happy Friday Peeps,

It's a very, very light work day for me, whoo-hoo! I've been doing some rearranging of my card stock storage and a few other supplies and doing some general craft room pickup. Now that is done and I can actually do some stamping.

First, I wanted to get this card posted. I made it last night after dinner. It's a birthday card as I have several friends with birthday's this month. The sketch is this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! and the new Seize the Birthday topping is sequins, and this card fits perfectly.

This is a pretty simple card. The card base and layer are Neenah Desert Storm. The top layer is embossed with a TE Burlap embossing folder. The stamps are from Avery Elle, one of the newest sets. The ice cream cone is stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock with Memento black and colored with Copics. The pink element is X-Press It Blending card with Distress Oxide pink ink blended on it using a blender tool. After it was dry, the sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped using memento black ink. After popping the ice cream cone on the card I used some Expresso dimensional paint for the chocolate sauce. Finally, the pink sequins were added for embellishment.

Here is the inside:

Images are also from the new set. The sentiment is from another Avery Elle birthday set.

I hope you have a great weekend. My craft group is getting together tomorrow. As usual, I'm bring supplies and card examples for them to work on. I usually cut all of the paper so they can concentrate on the stamping and creativity. It should be fun.

Thanks for stopping in. Stay cool everyone!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Sweetest  and Birthday  Bus sets by Avery Elle
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Distress Oxide, and Copics
Other: Sweetest Element dies, Taylored Expressions Burlap embossing folder, Die-namics Fishtail Flag die, ink blending tool, Gemini Jr, Express Dimensional paint, sequins, SU dimensionals

Let's Celebrate

Happy Monday, Peeps!

While I'm waiting for an early conference call to start this morning, I thought I'd post my Paper Players Celebration themed card. First though, a BIG CONGRATS to all the ladies at the Paper Players blog as this is their 400th challenge. Jaydee is the hostess and she has picked Celebration as the theme.

Since this is the first week of July, I choose to celebrate July 4th. I'm using this week's Freshly Made Sketch for the layout.

The card base is Neenah Desert Storm card stock and the patterned papers are from my stash of holiday papers. I think they came with a Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients kit years ago, but I have no idea of which company. I used a SU punch to punch out the banner flags. The background is done with a SU star embossing folder. The sentiment comes from Avery Elle.

For the inside, I used an older SU stamp set.

Again, congratulations to the Paper Players team. I look forward to the new challenges each Sunday. One of the things that I love about this challenge is the rotating themes each week. It gives us a chance to do different kinds of challenges.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday week, and thanks for looking in.
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Bunting set by Avery Elle and July Fourth by Stampin' Up
Paper: Neenah Desert Story and SU Night of Navy card stock, patriotic themed pattern papers
Ink: SU Night of Navy and Riding Hood Red
Other: SU Stars embossing folder, SU banner punch, enamel stars, yellow rhinestones, Mini Misti, Gemini Jr, fun foam, dimensionals

PARTY ANIMAL

Hello all,

I've been away from my craft room the past two weeks due to work travel, and a little weekend away for fun last weekend, but after Saturday chores were done yesterday, I had some time to get back to it.

The new CAS(E) This Sketch challenge layout looked fun, so I decided to see what I could do with it. Also, the Seize The Birthday blog has an "anything goes" challenge, so I'm linking up there too.

I recently got some new sets from Concord & 9th, and one of them is this super fun Furry Friends set. I thought that the animal faces would fit with the "threes" challenge concept. The background paper is from a SU 6 x 6 pack called Tutti-frutti. It paired well with the black card stock used to cut out the circle elements. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP and trimmed with scissors. It kind of got lost in the background paper. The solution was surrounding it with black enamel dots.

Here's the inside:

I'm looking forward to staying home for a few weeks as there is no work travel planned. I hope your Sunday is going well.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Furry Friends by Concord & 9th
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock, SU Basic Black card stock, SU Tutti-frutti DSP
Ink: MFT Hybrid black ink pad, SU Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Going Gray, Cajun Craze, Hero Arts Soft Brown, Distress Pumice Stone, Copics, VersaMark
Other: Furry Friends dies, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Circle die, white EP, heat tool, enamel dots, Gemini Jr, dimensionals