You Make Me Smile.

Hi again,

Nothing like CAS to make things quick. I'm playing along with the CASology theme with this card. Using a couple of SU stamp sets, I was able to make this super quick Clean and Simple card. Single layer, minimum embellishments, white space. And really, only about 10-15 minutes to complete it all.

Don't you love these large blooms? I do! It's one of the new SU sets from the Occasions Catalog. I did get the coordinating DSP, but for today's card, I only used Whisper White Heavy card stock and some SU inks and two tiny black rhinestones.

We all have peeps in our lives that make us smile. I was thinking of mine when I made this card.

I've used two SU stamp sets. A brand new one from the 2019 Occasions catalog, and the greetings are from a set from last year.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
 Stamps: Bloom by Bloom set and Colorful Seasons set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Whisper White Heavy card stock
Ink: SU Granny Apple Green, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch and Memento tuxedo black
Other: black rhinestones

What's the Scoop?

Happy, happy Friday to all,

A very slow work day for me today and I'm not sorry one bit. I had some house chores to do this morning (paying bills, it's always so fun-not!), and a few actual work e mails to answer. After having lunch with Mr Personal Chef at this little mediterranean food bistro, I decided to do some stamping. I needed to get my weekend stamping fix in early because I will be flying to Northern Calif tomorrow for the weekend to attend my Aunt's memorial. My mom's older sister passed a few weeks ago. Always a sad time.

Using Linda's Freshly Made Sketch, and the colors from the current Global Design Project I made this card. When I saw Linda's sketch on Wednesday, I knew immediately what I wanted to use for the vertical element, and the GDP colors worked so well for my idea.

I tried keeping my card fairly CAS. Just a little Twinkle Twinkle DSP with small scalloped borders. The only embellishment is that sweet little puffy heart sticker.

I didn't stamp a greeting on the inside, thinking this would make a good note card for any occasion.
I did use the new SU Stitched Rectangle set to cut a frame from Soft Sea Foam card stock and stamped that sweet little cherry at the bottom.

I'm going to try and get one more card done tonight. I still need to pack, but that shouldn't take too long.

Thanks for coming by and have a great weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Layering Ice Cream set by Hero Arts
Paper: Whisper White Heavy, Soft Sea Foam card stocks and Twinkle Twinkle DSP, all SU
Ink: SU Soft Sea Foam, So Saffron, Petal Pink, Gina K Sandy Beach, Kraft, and Jet Black ink cubes,
Other: Hero Layering Ice Cream set dies, SU Stitched Rectangle dies, Taylored Expressions Scalloped Border die, Misti, Gemini Jr, Crate Paper puffy heart sticker, dimensionals

Got Powder?

Hello,

The very talented Claire is our hostess this week at The Paper Players Challenge. The challenge is a Clean and Simple one with a theme of Snowy Day.

I have several stamps that would have worked well and since I was in the mood to pull out my Copics and color while watching the AO Tennis matches, I choose this little PI Snowboarder. Besides, I think many would say this is a perfect way to spend a snowy day. I originally had this as a single layer card, but in the end I couldn't help myself to add a layer of snowy mountains with a ski hill. It's still a fairly CAS card. (my story and I'm sticking to it.)

The mountains are created with a Lawn Fawn die and the hill with a Die-namics die. The snow is created with a TE embossing folder. I blended some bright blue Distress Oxide ink on the top of the card base then glued the mountain and hill panel on top. The snowboarder is fussy cut out and adhered with Dimensionals. I covered his goggles with a layer of Glossy Accents.

The inside is super CAS, just the sentiment and snowy mountains.

Thanks for checking in. Have a nice Thursday!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Snowboard Boy Pure Innocence by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU heavy Whisper White and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Island Indigo, Distress Oxide Ink in Broken China
Other: Lawn Fawn and Die-namics dies, Taylored Expressions Snow embossing folder, Glossy Accents, Gemini Jr, Misti, Dimensionals

Friend

Hi and happy Tuesday afternoon,

Hope all are well. I have a super Clean and Simple card to share with you today. The theme at Retro Rubber Challenge this week is "black and white." I was going to make a card with flowers, but while looking through some of my sets, I ran across the Taylored Expressions Bikes & Trikes set and decided to make a Friend themed card. I think this stamped image looks pretty good in just black and white. I don't know exactly when this set came out, but I'm pretty confident it's older than five years old.

The card base is SU Heavy Whisper White and the black & white patterned paper is a piece from my misc stash. No clue of the company. Using my Misti I stamped the bike several times using Memento tuxedo black in to make it nice and dark. Same with the sentiment. I added a couple black rhinestones and a small wooden butterfly by SU.

I cheated on the inside and used some light pink on the stamped sentiment (but it's mostly black, LOL.) I added another strip of the black & white paper too.

A very simple design and super quick to make. I love looking though my older sets for this challenge!

Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Bikes & Trikes set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU heavy whisper white card stock and misc patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, light pink Copic
Other: Misti Stamping tool, SU wood butterfly, black rhinestones, SU mini glue dot

Cocoa Melts the Winter Blues

Hello to all,

I originally made this card for one challenge, but after I finished, realized that it was more suited for another. Turns out the first challenge is a Clean and Simple challenge this week, and this card just doesn't fit. It does work for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge pretty well, where the colors are shades of blue with white and the inspiration photo has snow flakes.

I started by stamping the WTG circle image in the center of a 6 x 6" piece of white card stock. I masked the circle and stamped the snowflakes using the Concord & 9th Snowflake Turnabout stamp. The WTG images are colored wth Copics, and the panel is trimmed to 5.25 x 4". It's mounted with foam tape to a white card base. The sentiment is heat embossed on Brilliant Blue card stock with white powder. For embellishments I added some dark and light blue rhinestones and painted a liberal coating of Wink of Stella over the scarf and gloves.

For the inside, I used more images from the WTG set.

Have a nice Sunday afternoon/evening, and thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: WTG Gets Cozy With Cocoa by My Favorite Things and Snowflake Turnabout by Concord & 9th
Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Brilliant Blue card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Brilliant Blue and Balmy Blue ink pads, VersaMark, Copics
Other: White EP, heat tool, Misti, Rhinestones, Wink of Stella, foam tape

You're Stuck With Me

Happy Friday all,

It's still coming down here in Southern California. I can't remember when we've had this many continuous days of rain. Other than having to navigate the freeways, I've been enjoying it. Another thing I'm going to enjoy is a three day weekend. I'm taking today off and going with a friend to the Spa at Torrey Pines for a little R & R. I'm having both a massage and a facial. She is doing a wrap and a scrub, then we'll have a late lunch at the restaurant, which is one of the best around. Now that I've made you completely envious, LOL, I'll get to my cards.

I realized last night that I hadn't made a card for this week's Paper Players Challenge, so after dinner I sat down to remedy that. This week Anne has a very pretty color challenge of Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Grapefruit Grove, and a color of our choice. I decided on Pretty In Pink and along with some new stamps, dies and stencils from Concord & 9th, made a couple of cards. This first one uses Jen M's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

I started by making a background using the new Concord & 9th turnabout stencil and the four SU inks. After that was finished, I cut out the cactus using the new To the Point dies. Using the other dies in the set, I cut them from various SU card stocks. The center Pool Party piece is dry embossed with the SU Sequins Dynamic embossing folder. For the card base, I again used the turnabout stencil with the same ink color as the card stock for a tone on tone effect. Using a super old SU corner punch, I punched out two Daffodil Delight corners and stuck them behind opposite corners so they just peak out.

For the second card, I used more of the colorful background that I made and the same cactus die. The inspiration for this layout comes from the CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch.

The card base is Pool Party and stamped with the To the Point turnabout set using Pool Party ink. The greeting is in the die set with the cactus and other elements. 

On both cards, I added a few birdies and a butterfly from a pack of Amy Tangerine puffy stickers. They seemed to fit well with the challenge colors and the desert card themes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: To the Point Turnabout set by Concord & 9th

Paper: SU Grapefruit Grove, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pretty In Pink, X-Press It Blending cardstocks

Ink: SU Grapefruit Grove, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pretty In Pink, Memento tuxedo black

Other: Concord & 9th Faceted Turnabout stencil, Concord & 9th To the Point dies, SU corner punch, Lawn Fawn banner die, Die-namics Pierced Banner die, SU Sequins Dynamic Embossing folder, Gemini Jr, Big Shot, diemensionals

Just a note. . .

Hi all,

I was not sleepy last night, at all, so I decided to stamp. Using new sets from both the new Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogs, the Sunday Stamps challenge for the colors and the Freshly Made Sketch for layout, I made this card.

It was pretty fun doing the stamping for the background. Took a little while, but pretty fun.

Here's the inside.

A quick post this morning, but I wanted to share.

Have a great day and thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Florentine Filigree set and Home to Roost set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Balmy Blue, Hello Honey, Very Vanilla card stocks
Ink: SU Balmy Blue, Hello Honey, Cajun Craze ink pads and same markers to water color the rooster
Other: SU dies

You Blow Me Away

Happy Sunday morning to all,

I hope your weekend is going along well. As the weather forecasters predicted, we did have rain overnight and things are pretty soggy this morning. Looks like the storm has moved on as its mostly blue skies with just a few clouds out over the ocean. A very pretty day shaping up.

Today kicks off the 2019 Paper Players Challenges with a theme challenge brought to us by Anne. She wants critters on our projects. I'm definitely not lacking for animal stamps! While looking through my stamps, I decided on this cute little dragon from Sugar Pea Designs.

I love this set because it's a good one to color and I was in the mood to pull out my Copics. The color theme is inspired by the current Color Throwdown Challenge, where the colors this week are yellow, green and black. The layout comes from Amy's Freshly Made Sketch.

I started my card by making the background. Using ink blenders, I sponged three colors of Distress Oxide inks onto a panel of X-Press It Blending card stock, then embossed it using the Need & Tangled Scales Cover Plate. I trimmed this to fit a black card base. The dragon is stamped using Memento tuxedo black and colored with green and yellow Copics. After cutting it out with a Die-namics Stitched circle die, I drew in a path of pebbles and then added some black solid rhinestones into the pebbles for a little added embellishment. The two banner elements under the circle are cut with Lawn Fawn large and medium size banner dies.

Here's the inside of the card. The kite and greeting are from the same Sugar Pea stamp set and the clouds are from the Ellen Hutson Unicorn 'N Rainbows set. These images are all colored with Copics too.

My plans for the rest of the day are to figure out a project for next Saturday's Craft Day with my little craft group. They asked for Valentine's Day/Spring themes. Could be a good excuse to order more goodies from the new SU Occasions catty, LOL. There are few stamp sets and DSPs that I didn't order with my Demo pre-order that I have my eyes on. I also have to pack for my work trip this coming week. I'll be in the Central Coast wine region, so really not a hardship for me.

I hope your week is a good one.
Thanks for looking in,
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Blow Me Away set by Sugar Pea Designs and Unicorns 'N Rainbows set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Basic Black and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Distress Oxide inks, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Neet & Tangled Scales Cover Plate, Die-namics Stitched Circle die, Lawn Fawn Banner dies, ink blending tool and sponges, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, black solid rhinestones

HOME is Where the HEART IS

Hello stampers,

It's been a dreary and somewhat wet afternoon here in San Diego, so a good day to stay home and make some cards. Apparently, the real rain will be arriving overnight tonight and clearing up during the day tomorrow. That works for me since I'm looking at a 5 hour drive on Monday morning and I'd really rather not have to drive through Los Angeles in the rain.

I used the newest CAS(E) this Sketch! for inspiration for my card along with some older Taylored Expressions stamps and supplies. This is my first Valentine's Day card for 2019.

I started with a panel of Lovely Lipstick card stock that I embossed using a Taylored Expressions Heart Impression plate. The house and greeting are stamped on Whisper White card stock. The house was cut out with a Die-namics circle die and the greeting piece was trimmed down to fit with the circle following the sketch. I added a few enamel hearts matching the Pool Party house for embellishments.

Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Love Everywhere set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Whisper White and Lovely Lipstick card stock
Ink: SU Pool Party and Lovely Lipstick
Other: Taylored Expressions Heart Impression plate, Die-namics Zig-Zag circle die, Gemini Jr, Doodlebug enamel hearts

Wishing You Well

Ahhh, it Friday! Even though it was a super short work week, I'm always happy on Friday's. I'm looking forward to the weekend before I have to hit the road again for another week of work travel.

One of my co-workers recently had foot surgery and will be off work for three months. I made this card for her using a new SU Sale-a-bration set I ordered during the pre-order period for Demos. I used Julie's Mojo Monday sketch for inspiration.

Using the Misti, I stamped the lilies and stems using So Saffron and Garden Green inks. A little secret, I stamped the lilies several times mostly with the So Saffron to get a darker image. But, I wanted the shading to be a little more obvious, so I added Sahara Sand in the layering of ink and loved how it worked. I also used the So Saffron marker to color directly on the stamp over the stamen and I think that worked pretty well too.

The card base is from the SU Tutti-Frutti card base and envelope packet from last year. The green rectangle is dry embossed with the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions EF. The lilies are cut out with a Die-namics Stitched Rectangle die.

For the inside, I used a greeting from the SSS Sketched Flowers set.

Hopefully, a handmade card will brighten her days as she recuperates.

Thanks for stopping in, and have a wonderful, relaxing weekend.
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Lasting Lily set by Stampin' Up and Sketched Flowers set by Simon Says Stamp (inside greeting)
Paper: SU Tutti-Frutti pack, Whisper White, Garden Green and So Saffron card stock
Ink: SU So Saffron, Garden Green, Sahara Sand, So Saffron marker
Other: SU Subtle EF, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle die, Taylored Expressions Scalloped Border die,  Lawn Fawn banner dies, yellow pearls, the Big Shot, Misti, dimensionals

Stamp Of Approval

Hello and Happy 2019 New Year wishes to all,

Wow, it's been over a month since I've posted on my blog! Hard to believe, but it's true. December found me traveling almost every week for work and that left me no time for crafting. I did get to take Christmas week off, but instead of staying home, I went to my Mom's in Northern California for the week. It was a fun, fun time as my sister's family came too. We all had such a great visit and my Mom was happy to have all of her children and grand children together. I absolutely love spending time with my sister, niece and nephews. My niece Rachel is 26, nephew Ian is 21 and nephew Nathan is 20 and they are apples of their Auntie's eye.

CAS(E) THIS SKETCH! has a fun and fairly simple design this week to get me back to stamping. I used a Turnabout stamp set and dies from Concord & 9th to create my card. I stamped the turnabout image using 4 SU inks on X-Press It Blending card stock. The panel was trimmed into two pieces per the sketch. The card base and the mats are SU Coastal Cabana card stock. The center element is made  using some of the set dies. After everything was stamped and die cut, I put the card together without gluing to see how it looked, and I decided it looked kind of "blah." My fix was to stamp the turnabout again, but using only Coastal Cabana ink, stamped "off" for a lighter shade. After arranging the elements again, I decided I liked it much better with the light, monochromatic images in the background. Finally, I added a few enamel hearts for embellishments because that's what I do.

Here is the inside of the card. The scissors are cut from SU silver metallic card stock and the handles from the new Lovely Lipstick Foil sheets that are in the SU Sale-a-bration catalog. It is a lovely, bright paper.

Don't you just love this scissor die? I think it's just the cutest and it looks so real!

That's all from me tonight. I am planning on playing with a few more challenges tonight to get my creating mojo back on track.

Have a great week and thanks for looking in.
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Crafty Turnabout set by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape, silver metallic and Lovely Lipstick Foil card stocks, X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: SU Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape, Pink Copic Marker
Other: Crafty set dies, Gemini Jr, Misti, Doodlebug enamel hearts