Holiday Wishes

Hello and Season's Greetings,

I am super late getting my Holiday cards in the mail! Every year, it seems like I'm slammed with work the two weeks prior to Christmas and I end up scrambling to get things done. Well, I just spent the two hours before dinner and two hours after addressing envelopes. But, they are completed and I'll drop them in the mail tomorrow. Let's see if one week is enough time  for the USPS to get them where they are going. (not that I will blame them for my tardiness!)

This card I made using the final Paper Players Challenge for 2020. Claire is our hostess with a color theme of black, white and silver. Using stamp sets from the last Gina K Designs release, I made several of this layout in different colors of card stock and different colors of embossing powder. I figured that the design would work with the challenge colors too. I'm not sure how "festive" black is, but the card is rather pretty IRL. 

To make the design, I stamped the ornament first with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with silver EP. The tapestry stamp was stamped second, also using VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white EP. I used the Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 die set to cut the stamped panel and the silver mat. They are glued to a white card base. The greeting is heat embossed with silver EP on white and cut out with a Gina K flag die from the Master Layouts 3 die set and popped up over the ornament with mini-dimensionals. I used several SSS silver sequins for embellishments.

For the inside of my card I've used greetings from the most recent December SSS kit. I love the hand written sentiments.

I'm off work on PTO now until after New Years. Yipee! I wish everyone a very happy and of course, SAFE holiday season. Enjoy however you celebrate! To my friends at the Paper Players, THANKS for a wonderful year of fun and great challenges. I've enjoyed participating in most of them this year, and I'm looking forward to the 2021 challenges. 

Thanks for stoping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Tapestry and Sparkle and Shine sets by Gina K Designs, Joyful Season set by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: SU Whisper White and Silver card stock, Gina K Designs black card stock

Ink: VersaMark, Gina K Designs Black Onyx

Other: white and silver embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Gina K Designs dies, Gemini Jr, mini Dimensionals, SSS silver sequins, Gina K connect liquid glue

Season's Greetings

 Hi all,

Happy Friday! It's been awhile since I've posted on my blog. Between work being busy, spending Thanksgiving with my mom and working on other projects, I've not done much stamping in a few weeks. But, last night after dinner, I sat down and made a card that works for two of my favorite weekly challenges.

Joanne is hostess at The Paper Players this week with a holiday theme challenge. I picked one of the tree graphics as my inspiration. I've also used the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches. Love the tag!

For the background, I used the C&9th Snowflake Turnabout set to stamp a white card base. To make the focal image, I used a technique that Gina K showed us in a recent Stamp and Chat Live. She stamped and embossed the same image on several different colors of card stock. Then she cut the panels into 1/2 inch strips and glued them so the image is back together, but in stripes of all the card stock colors. Such a fun look and technique. 

I choose the tree from the Gina K Christmas Silhouettes set. I stamped it using my Misti on six different card stock colors and heat embossed them with white EP. Each stamped panel was cut into 1/2 inch strips. Starting with the dark red, I glued the strips together so that the tree is complete. Using the Gina K large stitched die from her last release, I cut the tree out and added it to the stamped card base per the FMS. The greeting is stamped and heat embossed with white EP on black card stock and it's cut out with a Gina K flag die. I glued an old SU plastic white snowflake over the tag hole at the top, then glued a black bow over that. Finally, I used several pink Pretty Pink Posh gems as embellishments.

Here's the inside of my card. I've used another Gina K stamp set called Ornamental Snowflakes for the image and the greeting. I've also used the Gina K Master Layouts 1 dies to cut the stamped panel and the pink mat.

Thanks for stoping by. I hope everyone and their families are staying safe!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All Gina K sets, Christmas Silhouettes, Ornamental Snowflakes and Sparkle and Shine, and Snowflake Turnabout set by Concord and 9th

Paper: Gina K card stocks in white, red and pink shades

Ink: Gina K red and pink shades, VersaMark, Black Onyx

Other: Misti, white embossing powder, heat tool, Gina K Master Layouts 1 & 3 dies,  Gina K Tag dies, Pretty Pink Posh gems. SU white snowflake, SU black twine, Gemini Jr, foam tape

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly

 Hello to all,

I had some creative fun last night after dinner just playing with one of my new C&9th stamp sets. I had an idea and I wanted to see if it looked as good on paper as it did in my mind's eye, LOL.

Using a few challenges, the Just Add Ink color challenge, the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge, and the Clean and Simple theme from this week's Paper Players Challenge, I made this card.

The triangle stamp is from the C&9th Painted Shapes stamp set. I pulled five colors represented in the inspiration photo from Just Add Ink and stamped it to make a large triangle (tree). The large sentiment and star tree topper are from an older C&9th set called Trim the Tree. 

Keeping with the PP Clean & Simple theme, this is a one layer card with only the stamped images and a small yellow gem in the center of the star.

I've used a holiday sentiment and images from the C&9th Hollyberry Turnabout set on the inside.

I had fun making this card. The triangles were stamped using an acrylic block, and I used the Misti to line up and stamp the sentiment. Love that it turned out as I imagined it. 

Thanks and have a great Tuesday afternoon and evening,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Painted Shapes set, Hollyberry Turnabout set, Trim the Tree set, all from Concord & 9th  

Paper: Gina K Designs heavy weight white card stock

Ink: Concord & 9th ink cubes in Ballet Slipper, Honeysuckle, Sorbet, Oceanside, Buttercup, Parsley, Wheat, Mushroom

Other: Misti, Pretty Pink Posh yellow gem, Connect liquid glue

I Just Wanted To Say. . .

 Happy TGIF to all,

We've made through another week. It's getting pretty scary to be out and about again and luckily, I only had to be in two labs this week. Hospitals are probably one of the safest places as no one is ever without a mask.

A good friend of ours has a birthday next week so I wanted to get a card made and in the mail for her. I'm using this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch along with stamps, dies, inks and card stock from Concord & 9th. I rotated Karren's sketch for my card.

The top part of the card is made with a C&9th Turnabout stamp and the bottom with a C&9th die. For the center focal element, I used five of the same color card stocks as inks used to stamp the flowers and leaves to back the cut out words. For embellishments, I added some Baker's twine looped behind the center square and some gems in the same shades as the inks.

On the inside of the card, I used a C&9th Birthday set to stamp a bold Happy Birthday sentiment.

Have a happy Friday afternoon and evening. Thanks for dropping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All the Birthday's set, Blooms Turnabout set, Stitched Blooms set, All the Letters set all by Concord and 9th

Paper: Concord and 9th white, Poppy, Sorbet, Buttercup, Aqua Sky, Sprout card stock

Ink: Concord and 9th Poppy, Sorbet, Buttercup, Aqua Sky, Sprout, Mushroom, Parsley, Clover, Evergreen

Other: Concord and 9th corresponding set dies, Baker's Twine, Pretty Pink Posh gems, Gina K Master Layouts 1 dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, Connect glue

More Holiday Cards

 Hi and happy Thursday,

Hope your week has been going well. I've been somewhat busy with work, but today it's pretty slow and I'm taking advantage of that to work on some birthday projects later this afternoon. 

Joanne is the hostess for this week's Paper Players Challenge with a great color theme for holiday cards. Green, Red, White with either Gold or Silver to accent. I used it to make three cards, all with Gold as my accent color.

Here's a picture of the three together.

The stamped images on all are from different Concord & 9th Holiday stamp sets. 

On card 1, the background is from the Buds and Blossoms set. The open flower is stamped with Real Red ink randomly around the white panel. The corresponding stamp is stamped randomly with VersaMark and heat embossed with gold EP. The mistletoe die is also C&9th from the Mistletoe Messages set and it is cut twice from Shaded Spruce card stock, glued together, then glued on the front. The large bow is from a Winter Dies set by Honey Bee. The sentiment is from the same Mistletoe Messages set.

For card 2, I used the C&9th Candy Cane background stamp. I placed the white panel on the C&9th Turnabout jig and stamped it with Real Red ink then rotated the jig once and stamped again with Shaded Spruce ink. This background is used for more dies from the Winter Honey Bee die set. The pillar candles are cut from gold metallic paper and red and white glossy paper. For the poinsettias, I used a blending brush and blended Real Red ink on white card stock the cut out the dies. Using the same blending brush I darkened the edges of the petals before making the flowers. 

For card 3, I used the C&9th Iconic Christmas Turnabout set for the background stamping 1 turn with Real Red, 2 turns with Shaded Spruce and 1 turn with VersaMark ink and heat embossing with gold EP. The large tree die is from the C&9th All the Merrys set. It's stamped with several layers of Shaded Spruce ink and cutout with the corresponding die. I used some red and clear rhinestones around it for embellishments. The background is layered onto SU gold glimmer paper.

The insides of the 3 cards are pretty much the same. I used a Gina K set called Winter Hugs.

Thanks, and happy crafting!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps sets: Buds and Blossoms, All the Merrys, Iconic Christmas Turnabout, Mistletoe Messages all from Concord & 9th, Winter Hugs from Gina K Designs

Paper: SU Whisper White, Real Red, Shaded Spruce card stocks, misc gold, red and white glossy card stock, SU gold Glimmer card stock

Ink: SU Real Red, Shaded Spruce, VersaMark

Other: C&9th corresponding set dies, Honey Bee Winter die set, Gina K Master Layouts 1 & 2 dies,  Misti, Gemini Jr, gold embossing powder, heat tool, blending brushes, red and clear rhinestones, connect liquid glue, Dimensionals

Warm Wishes Happy Holidays

Happy Saturday,

My first card for the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. I've used the retro sketch from this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! in landscape layout instead of portrait.

It's a Slimline card and I've made another small dent in my patterned paper stash. I think theses are some papers that I got as part of an old Taylored Expressions kit. I love how bright and fun they are. The stamp set is Lawn Fawn, and I've used it many times lately. 

The inside of my card uses some images from a new Gina K Designs Sparkle and Shine set.

My plans for the rest of the day include one fun thing and one not so fun. This morning I'm going fabric shopping. This afternoon I have my annual mammogram. I hope you all have at least one fun thing on your to do list today.

Thanks,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You A Latte set and Gina K Designs Sparkle & Shine set

Paper: Gina K Layering Weight white card stock, Real Red card stock and Taylored Expressions patterned paper

Ink: Gina K Black Onyx, Cherry Red, Grass Green, Jelly Bean Green, Warm Cocoa, Charcoal Brown, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn dies, Paper Source snowflake stickers, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals

A Paper Hug Inside

 Hi peeps,

I have another Holiday card that fits two challenges today. The sketch is from this week's Freshly Made Sketches and the Gina K November Challenge is a Red and White color theme with an additional tag element.

I've used Gina K stamps, card stock and a large snowflake stencil to make my card.

The images are stamped with Black Onyx ink and colored with Copics in R shades and cut out using their corresponding dies. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP on a black card stock strip. For embellishment, I added a red enamel heart on the envelope and used a Nuvo clear glitter pen over the hats' bands and balls.

Here is the inside. The stamps are all from the same Winter Hugs stamp set.

One more day until the weekend. That's always a good thing. I hope everyone is staying safe. 

Thanks for stopping in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gina K Designs Winter Hugs set

Paper: Gina K White and Red Velvet card stocks

Ink: Gina K Black Onyx, Red Velvet, VersaMark, Copics

Other: Gina K Winter Hugs dies, Die-namics large stitched flag die, Gina K stencil, blending brush, Misti, Gemini Jr, SSS white embossing powder, Nuvo clear glitter pen, red enamel heart, Gina K foam dots and connect glue

Eat, Drink and Be Thankful

 Hello,

Happy Monday evening to all. I hope the beginning of the week was good for you.

I have a card to share that I made yesterday evening. It fits for two challenges that started yesterday. For the Paper Players Challenge, Laurie has a Thanksgiving theme this week and the Sunday Stamps Challenge is a color challenge with the perfect fit fall colors.

My card is a carousel of Thanksgiving pies. I don't know why this popped into my mind, but I thought of it and it worked pretty well. Using two Lawn Fawn sets and the Gina K Wreath Builder system, including the corresponding Fall/Autumn Gina K stamp set, here is my wreath of pies.

The plaid in the background I made with the C&9th Holiday Plaid stamp set by just randomly stamping images on the diagonal. Not a bad outcome.

Since the sentiment is about eating and DRINKING, I added the drinking image on the inside using the Lawn Fawn Thanks a Latte set tea cup. The sentiment is from the Gina K Autumn Wreath Builder stamp set.

So, what do you think of my "Pie Carousel?" Too much fun!

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Lawn Fawn sets, Forrest Feast, Cutie Pie and Thanks A Latte, Concord & 9th set Holiday Plaids

Paper: Gina K Designs Faded Brick and Black card stock, SU Whisper White card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Faded Brick, Honey Mustard, Sweet Mango, Jelly Bean Green, Sweet Tomato, Peach Bellini, Dark Chocolate

Other: Gina K Wreath Builder system, Misti, Michaels Burlap ribbon, foam tape, enamel dots

Happy Holidays and JOY

 Happy Sunday peeps,

I've been spending some quality time in my Craft Room making Holiday cards. I have a long way to go still, but I'm making progress. I have two to share today. One uses the current Freshly Made Sketch, and the second uses the current CAS(E) this Sketch! 

On the first card, I used some retired SU DSP and a SU embossing folder. The images are from a Lawn Fawn winter drink holiday set. I think my favorite part is the heart shaped "marshmallows." I followed Jen's sketch pretty closely, as I like this sketch and I'm planning on using it a few more times to get more Holiday cards made. It's also a great way to use up patterned paper, which I certainly need to do.

The inside of this one is super simple with just a greeting from the same Lawn Fawn set.

This second card is made following another one of Jennifer McGuire's techniques. This is super fun to do and I made several "letter press" images using the die cut. You can see Jennifer's video in this blog post.

The tree die is from a C&9th 2020 Holiday set. I used Distress Oxide ink to sponge over the vellum top layer of the die cuts. My photo doesn't show the dimension that I got using this technique, but IRL it's really pretty cool. The Peace, Love, Joy stamps are from Paper Smooches as is the JOY die cuts. I cut the large JOY dies in Real Red card stock and again using SU gold glimmer paper. The gold gems are from Pretty Pink Posh, and the snow falling background is done with a MFT stencil and a blending brush.

Here is the inside of this card using sentiments from another Paper Smooches Holiday stamp set.

Today's stamping will be all about birthday cards. Beginning in November and going through December, I have many family and friends with birthdays. 

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping in,

Colleen

Supplies Card 1:

Stamps: Thanks A Latte set - Lawn Fawn

Paper: SU Blushing Bride and Whisper White card stock, SU Quilted Christmas DSP

Ink: Gina K Black Onyx, Copics, SU Real Red, Blushing Bride

Other: Lawn Fawn dies, SU Quilted Embossing Folder, Misti, Gemini Jr, SSS heart embellishments, Dimensionals

Supplies Card 2:

Stamps: Christmas Sampler and Spreding Joy sets - Paper Smooches

Paper: Tim Holtz water color, SSS thick white, SU Jade, Real Red, gold glimmer card stocks

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide, Gina K Black Onyx and Sea Glass, SU Real Red, Copics

Other: Concord & 9th All The Merrys dies, Paper Smooches Joy die, Gina K Master Layout 1 die set, Gemini Jr, Misti, Pretty Pink Posh gold gems, MFT Snow Falling stencil, blending brushes, Connect glue

FA LA LA LA LA

 Hi and Happy Wednesday,

I'm super excited, and delighted, to be posting as this week's Guest Star Stamper for the Color Throwdown Challenge. My Halloween card, here, was the randomly selected card winner for challenge #615 two week's ago. Each week's "winner" is invited to be a Guest Star Stamper on an upcoming challenge, and this week it's me!

The colors for Challenge #617 are kraft, red, green and chartreuse. Clearly, these are great colors for Holiday Cards, and since I still need to make quite a few, that's where I went. Using two of this year's C&9th Christmas release stamp sets, combined with the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder system, I made this card.

To make the gift boxes wreath, I stamped the small present stamp from the C&9th Festive Friends stamp set using the Wreath  Builder system going around the entire circle. I made a couple of masks, placed them over two presents, repositioned the stamp and stamped the present stamp again, moving the masks with each rotation. This resulted in a double layer gift boxes wreath. I colored them using green (G07, G09) and chartreuse (YG00, YG01) Copic markers shading one side, the same side on each box, a little darker. On this darker side, I used my Nuvo clear glitter pen to brush on some sparkle, although in the picture it's hard to see. The present bows are colored with the R46 Copic marker. The red glimmer paper larger bow is cut with a C&9th die and the small kraft tag die is from a Taylored Expressions die.

I cut slightly larger red and green squares from SU Real Red and Call Me Clover card stock and angled them behind the white stamped panel. The card base is Neenah Desert Storm card stock stamped with the C&9th Candy Cane Background stamp using Gina K Kraft ink. The card base measures 5.25 inches square.

For the inside of my card, and I always finish the insides of all my cards prior to photographing them for my blog posts, I used a couple of the greetings from the Festive Friends stamp set.

I'd like to than the ladies on the Color Throwdown DT for inviting me as this week's Guest Star Stamper. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's cards this week.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Festive Friends set and Candy Cane Background stamp both from Concord & 9th

Paper: Neenah Desert Storm and Solar White, SU Real Red and Call Me Clover card stocks, SU Red Glimmer paper

Ink: Gina K Black Onyx, Kraft and Cherry Red ink, Copic Markers

Other: Gina K Wreath Builder System, Misti, C&9th Mistletoe Messages bow die, TE Tag die, Nuvo clear glitter pen, Gemini Jr, foam tape

'Tis the Season

 Hello all,

If you're like me, you probably have enough patterned paper, or DSP, to last many lifetimes. Even though I have all of this beautiful paper, lately I don't seem to be using it. I've quit buying it for the most part because of this, and also the area where I have it stored is pretty full. I'm going to try to start using it more again when I make cards and I'm thinking that Holiday cards will be a good time.

With that in mind, last night after dinner I sat down to make my Paper Players Challenge card for this week. Jaydee is our hostess with the monthly sketch challenge. 

I may have gone overboard with the DSP doing all the work on this card, but I think it turned out pretty cute, and festive.

The papers are SU retired DSP called Nordic Noel. I love these cute Victorian style houses. In the papers, they are in several colors. I fussy cut 3 of the styles going for all red. The background paper is part of the same DSP suite. I matted it with Real Red card stock and the card base is Crumb Cake. The snow hills are cut using some MFT Stitched Hill dies. The front one is popped up with Dimensionals. After cutting out the houses, I glued them to some red card stock to make them stronger and also popped them up some.

Finally, I added some red Baker's twine at the top and several small clear and a couple of white rhinestones for embellishments.

On the inside I added a nice holiday greeting.

Great sketches can be used in so many ways and looking through the gallery so far, that is certainly the case.

Have a good rest of your week, and thanks for looking!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: SU sets Still Scenes, Tidings All Around, Snowman Season

Paper: SU Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White card stock and Nordic Noel DSP

Ink: SU Real Red and Spiced Spruce

Other: Die-namics Stitched Hill Border dies, Pretty Pink Posh rhinestones, Baker's twine, Dimensionals, Gemini Jr

Take Care

 Hi again peeps,

I have one more card inspired by Kim's Freshly Made Sketch. I was in the mood to do some simple ink blending and this rainbow colored panel is the result. I used one of Gina K.'s recent incentive stamp sets for all of the images. I made this one a Slimline card. 

 The inks used are all Gina K. From L to R, Peach Bellini, Sweet Corn, Key Lime, Sea Glass and Plum Punch. I stamped the images using an acrylic block and Gina K. Black Onyx. The white card stock is also Gina K. I found a package of rainbow colored sequins in my stash from SSS and popped a few around the panel.

The inside is simple and uses another greeting and flower image from the same small stamp set.

Enjoy your day and thanks,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Take Care Incentive set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs white card stock, SU black card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Peach Bellini, Sweet Corn, Key Lime, Sea Glass and Plum Punch

Other: Blending brushes, Simon Says Stamp sequins

Warm Wishes

 Happy Sunday to all,

I'm starting to work in some Holiday cards, finally! I should have started months, or at least weeks ago. Especially because this year, I think they should probably get mailed earlier than in past years. I'm basing this on the fact that the last two times I mailed cards to my nephews in Portland, OR from Southern CA, they took 3.5 weeks to arrive.

Today's post has a holiday card. I've used this week's colors from the Color Throwdown Challenge. They are Cranberry, Cream and Kraft. The stamps are from the Lawn Fawn set called Thanks a Latte. It's got some really cute beverage images. The layout is inspired by Kim's Freshly Made Sketches sketch. 

The images are stamped onto Taylored Expressions Cream card stock with Gina K Black Onyx ink and colored with Copics, then cut out with their corresponding dies. The cream and Cranberry panels are cut using SU Stitched Rectangle dies, and the greeting is stamped in Gina K Kraft ink.

Here's the inside:

Hope your Sunday is relaxing! Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Thanks a Latte set by Lawn Fawn

Paper: TE Cream, Neenah Desert Storm and Concord & 9th Cranberry card stocks

Ink: Gina K Black Onyx and Kraft, Concord & 9th Cranberry, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn set dies, SU Stitched Rectangle dies, Misti, Gemini Jr., Dimensionals