With Hugs & Love

Hello peeps,

The end of the week is almost here. I hope everyone is hanging in there okay. I was out at one of my hospital customer's site yesterday to do some work on one of the lab systems. It's a large county hospital and luckily they have separate entrances for patients from employees and vendors. I'm home today again, crafting in-between work meetings. Not a bad way to do it.

I made this card using Laurie's sketch for this week's Paper Players challenge. A great, open sketch. I was looking through some of my misc. patterned papers for another card the other day and ran across this group from a Simon Says Stamp monthly kit from last year. For some reason,  I thought I needed to use it and went looking for some stamps to match. This is a set of stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn called Fab Flowers.

 For the jar, I used the die from the LF set called How You Bean. I cut two jars, one from white card stock and one from Vellum. The sentiment is heat embossed over Garden Green ink using VersaMark and Clear EP. The vellum is glued over the white piece after it was colored and the flower stems were glued in place.

All of the flowers are stamped with various Gina K and Taylored Expressions ink cubes, cut out with the corresponding die and arranged in the jar. Pretty simple. I used a piece of SU linen thread to make a bow.

Here is the inside. I turned it into a birthday card.

Thanks for looking in and have a good Thursday afternoon and evening,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Fab Flowers set by Lawn Fawn
Paper: SU Blushing Bride and Neenah Solar White card stock, SU Vellum, Simple Stories Farm House patterned papers
Ink: Gina K and Taylored Expressions ink cubes, SU Garden Green, VersaMark
Other: LF How You Bean jar die, Fab Flowers dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU linen thread, clear EP, heat tool, liquid glue, dimensionals

Just Lemon-know

Happy Saturday,

Hoping that everyone is doing well out there and staying safe, and that you have something fun to do this weekend while staying in.

I have a card to share with you that I made using this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge sketch. Most everything is from the SU Botanicals Prints suite. I did pair it with a sentiment from an Ellen Hutson set, because it seemed to fit well. The patterned paper and the die cut lattice are in the SU suite. I tried the card with and without that top layer. I liked it best with it, as it adds a little more color and interest.

I do like how the stamp is made to give a really subtle shade for whatever color it's stamped with. This is stamped using Memento tuxedo black on white card stock then cut out with the corresponding die.

Here is the inside of the card. I choose another design of the patterned paper that comes in the kit and used one of the set sentiments.

Have a nice day and thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: SU Botanical Prints set and Ellen Hutson Squeeze the Day set
Paper: SU Crushed Curry and Neenah Solar White card stock, SU Botanical Prints DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black
Other: SU Botanical Prints dies, Gray and white Baker's Twine, Misti, Gemini Jr

Spring Card Camp Day 10 Projects

Happy Friday afternoon peeps,

I was on a roll yesterday evening making cards. I made four cards! Two of them are for Day 10's project for the Spring Card Camp 2020.

This class was taught by Lydia Fiedler. She showed us how to use sparkly paste with stencils. I just happen to have 5 new tubs of the Rena K Designs Electro pop glitz.  One of the cards is made with a large circle cut into a piece of card stock with a circle die and the other is made using a Rena K stencil.

Aren't these fun and bright. The flower card is made with a Rena K stencil and a Rena K stamp and dies set. The inks are also Rena K electro pop inks. The kitty cat card is made with Paper Smooches stamps and dies.

Using a craft palette knife, I smoothed a fairly thin layer of the glitter gel over the stencils. After they were throughly dry, I trimmed the panels for the card layouts, then added the stamped and die cut images. The flowers have bright yellow enamel dots for the centers. I choose to leave a sentiment off the front and just go with one one the inside. The images are all from the same Rena K stamp set.

Here is the inside of the kitty card.

I'll be back with a couple more cards that I made last night later.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Sending Sunshine set by Rena K and Nine Lives set by Paper Smooches
Paper: SU Pink Passion  and Whisper White card stock, Taylored Expressions light pink textured card stock
Ink: Rena K Electro pop inks, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Rena K stencil, Rena K Poppin Pink Glitz gel, Rena K and Paper Smooches corresponding dies, Spellbinders circle die, enamel dots, Misti, Gemini Jr, Diemensionals

Sending Sunshine and Rainbows

Hi,

I'm back with Day 11 cards for the Spring Card Camp. This class was taught by Dawn Waleslagle and it's all about making rainbows using nesting circle dies. Another super fun class!

Here are my two cards.

Using the Die-namics inside and out stitched circle dies, I taped them together as Dawn showed us to do, then cut them from Neenah Solar White card stock. On the brighter rainbow, I used TE blending brushes and TE ink cubes in bright red, yellow, green, blue and purple to color the individual circles. The colored circles are glued onto a plain white circle cut using the largest die. This is cut in half to make two rainbows. The background on this card is stamped with the Concord & 9th Sunshine Turnabout stamp. The clouds are made using a C&9th die and the unicorn and greeting are from Ellen Hutson sets.

For the lighter rainbow, I used pastel shades of Copics to color the circles. The cloud dies are Lawn Fawn and the unicorn is from the Ellen Hutson set. The sun stamp is from C&9th.

On both cards, I brushed a very liberal amount of Wink of Stella clear glitter over the rainbows.

I'm really enjoying these classes!

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Unicorns and Rainbows and Pure Magic sets by Ellen Hutson, Brighter Days set by Concord & 9th
Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU Basic Black
Ink: TE ink cubes, SU Pineapple Punch and Mango Melody, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Die-namics Inside and Out Stitched Circle dies, Concord &9th Brighter Days cloud die, Ellen Hutson Unicorns and Rainbows dies, Lawn Fawn cloud border die, Misti, Gemini Jr, TE blender brushes, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, liquid glue

HBD

Hello and happy Hump Day,

I had to go out to see a hospital customer today so I'm late getting some more post done for cards I've made over the last few days for the Spring Card Camp. I've been skipping around since I'm about 4 days behind, but that's okay. I'll eventually do all of the techniques.

This post has Day 8 cards. The teacher was Kathy Zielske, and the lesson was to make a shaker card with  a word die, and then use the negative cutout to make a second card. I looked through all my dies and the ones that are words are very small and I didn't think they would work for the shaker. What to do? I used alphabet dies and a couple of rectangle dies instead and it worked pretty well.

The front of both cards are inked with Hero Arts birthday stencils with Distress Oxide inks. These were super fun to make.

Kathy used watercolor paper and brushed Distress Ink in 4 colors over an area to cover the die being used, so that is what I did. After drying the panel with a heat tool, I cut it out with the stitched rectangle die. Then I centered the three letters and cut them out. After putting the shaker elements together, I cut a slightly larger rectangle from the card front then glued the shaker in place. The cutout letters are used on the second card. Love how colorful these turned out.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Hero Arts Party set and Hero stencils
Paper: TE bright yellow and green card stock, Neenah Solar white card stock, Bristol watercolor paper
Ink: Distress and Distress Oxide inks, Memento tuxedo black
Other: Die-namics lower case alphabet  and Stitched Rectangle dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, water brush, enamel dots, foam tape, sequins for shaker

Shell-abrate Your Inner Mermaid

Hi peeps,

A quick post for the cards I made for Day 9 of the Spring Card Camp 2020. This class was taught by Channin Pelletier and it was all about using stencils and Distress Oxide inks to get two card panels.

I used a Gina K stencil to make my cards. The second, watercolor panel turned out rather light, but still usable as a background for this mermaid tail stamped image from Ellen Hutson.

Both cards use the same focal image, with different sentiments on the outside of the card. On the watercolor panel card, the sentiment is heat embossed with white EP. On the ink blended card, the sentiment is stamped on velum with black ink. I did use that little trick that Channin showed, sandwiching the velum between extra die cuts. I will definitely be using that more often. To finish the cards, I added some clear glass beads to the ink blended panel and some sequins to the watercolor panel.

Here is the inside sentiment, used for both cards.

This was a fun technique to learn. I think I may give it another go.
Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Inner Meremaid set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Whisper White and Coastal Cabana card stock, Bristol watercolor paper, Vellum card stock
Ink: Distress Oxide ink in various blue shades, VersaMark, Memento tuxedo black, Zig Real Brush water color markers
Other: Gina K Water Droplets stencil, Inner Mermaid set dies, Die-namics Rounded Corner Stitched Rectangle die, clear glass beads, blue sequins, Misti, Gemini Jr, liquid glue, ink blending tool, white embossing powder, heat tool

You Sparkle and Shine (all the time)

Hello and Happy Sunday afternoon,

I was asked by a friend to make some Mother's Day cards for both her mom and her MIL because she didn't know if she would be able to shop for them with the current social distancing mandates. I ended up making several actually. After she and her husband pick, I'll use the others for my mom and and maybe send a few to friends.

The last few I made today using the new Paper Players Challenge. It's Clean and Simple week. Anne Marie is our hostess and she has added Sparkle as a theme.

Me being me, I immediately thought of champagne (maybe that's TMI, LOL) and I did make a champagne themed card. I also thought of a super cute Concord & 9th set that I have that fit this theme perfectly too. So, I made two more cards.  Here we go.

This is a side fold card. I die cut a circle in the center and lined it with a Die-namics scalloped circle border die cut from pink glitter paper. The champagne coupes are stamped on the inside with Memento black ink. I colored them with Copics and brushed on some Wink of Stella. There are 5 small clear rhinestones glued on some of the bubbles for added sparkle.

The outside sentiment is heat embossed with white EP on black card stock. The inside says Happy Mothers' Day. I did use a second layer here because I wanted to color the coupes with the Copics and they tend to bleed through one layer cards.

Here are the other two cards using the Concord & 9th set.

The backgrounds are stamped using the C&9th Gem Turnabout set. For the card with the sentiment in the center, I placed a circle mask in the center of the card before stamping with the turnabout stamp.  The gem die comes with the set and I cut it from pink, white and silver glitter papers. One is used in the center of the left card above, and another for the inside of the first card, seen here.

The inside of card #2.

I'm off to deliver the MD cards to my friends (at 6 ft with masks on). Have a nice evening and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies Champagne Card
Stamps: Mimosas  and Mothers' Day sets by Avery Elle
Paper: Neenah Solar White, Concord & 9th Pink Glitter paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, VersaMark
Other: Spellbinders Circle die, Die-namics Scalloped Border Circle die, Misti, white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, clear rhinestones, liquid glue

Supplies Gem Cards
Stamps: Gem Turnabout and Lots to Say sets by Concord & 9th
Paper: Neenah Solar White, Concord & 9th Glitter paper
Ink: Altenew pinks, Gina K Amalgam black ink
Other: Misti, C&9th set dies, Gemini Jr, pink rhinestones

Sending Positive Thoughts

Hello and happy weekend peeps,

I've been doing quite a bit of stamping this past week, as I imagine many of you have too. I'm certainly happy that I have this hobby to occupy myself when I'm at home instead of at work.

In addition to the cards that I'm making while participating in Spring Card Camp, I'm also keeping up with the usual weekly challenges that I like to participate in. Today's post has my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Lee Ann has a great, classic sketch for us this week.

While looking through my bundles of patterned papers for another project for the Card Camp, I saw this particular piece of older SU DSP  and thought it would be perfect for Lee Ann's sketch. When I get new SU DSP, which comes 12x12 inch, I cut it down to 6x6 inch and store in a rolling cart. I've created a filing system for my SU DSP to make finding particular colors easy. But, I digress, the point was this perfect piece of patterned paper to use on my card, LOL.

The blue shade is actually Pacific Point, but in my photo it looks more like a navy shade. This turned out to be an SU only card. I used one of the new dies from the Ornate Garden Suite to cut out the area of the 6x6 piece of DSP that I wanted to use on my card. The sentiment, from the Positive Thoughts set, is heat embossed using white EP on Pacific Point card stock. The card base is Thick Whisper White. I stamped a small butterfly from the Beauty Abounds set, die cut it with the corresponding die, then popped it on the flower using a mini dimensional. To add a little more dimension to the card, I used a trick that I learned from Jennifer McGuire videos. Instead of using foam tape or tons of Dimesionals to raise the patterned paper, I cut two pieces of scrap card stock the same size as the patterned paper and glued them together. This gives just a slight lift and looks great.

I've used the other sentiment and the foliage image from the Positive Thoughts set on the inside to complete the card.

Thanks for checking in today. I'll be doing more stamping today. I have to complete one of the past Card Camp projects and I think we are on Day 8 today.

Have a great Saturday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: SU sets Positive Thoughts and Beauty Abounds
Paper: SU Thick Whisper White and Pacific Point card stock, Beyond the Garden DSP
Ink: VersaMark, SU Pacific Point, Grapefruit Grove
Other: SU dies, Misti, white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, mini Dimensionals

Friends

Happy Friday Friends,

While going through my basket of die cuts and stamped images that I've made and never used yesterday I found two that I could use on this card. They are the Gray Granite zig-zag cover die and the center panel die already stamped with black ink. Since they are in the colors of this week's Color Throwdown Challenge, all I needed to do is add something red.

In addition to the Poppy Parade card base, I added the stitched flower die to the bottom of the center panel. I also looked through my button drawer and found some old SU Earth Elements buttons, and added a black button to the center of the flower. I don't know when I've used a button on a card last?!

Here is the inside. These stamps as well as all on the front are from Concord & 9th.

All in all, a super quick and easy card to make. Enjoy your Friday and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Thank You for Being set and Sew Pretty set by Concord and 9th
Paper: SU Poppy Parade, Gray Granite and Whisper White
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Poppy Parade
Other: C&9th set dies, Die-namics cover die, Misti, Gemini Jr, embroidery thread, SU button, liquid glue and Dimensionals

Welcome To the Neighborhood

Hello stampers,

Since I've been home for a few days, I've been doing quite a bit of stamping. Yesterday, I decided to make another card using the colors for this week's Paper Players Challenge. The colors this week are So Saffron, Seaside Spray and Gray Granite. Using a fun set of stamps and dies from Concord & 9th, I made this.

I found the Avery Elle cover die already cut in my folder of "pieces" and it happened to be in Seaside Spray and I wanted to figure out what I could use it with. While looking thought my stamp sets, I ran across this C&9th set with a circle stamp in a size that would work with the cover die. This C&9th set has three stamps that fit together, the background, the flowers, and the leaves. The set also has several dies, one being this house and the sentiments to go with.

To begin, I glued the cover die onto a card base of So Saffron, then cut a circle in the card base. All of the stamped images, except the outside sentiment, are on the inside of the card.

I backed the house with a small piece of So Saffron and then used some Wink of Stella so the windows shine like a light is on. It all went together pretty nicely.

Thanks for looking in and have a nice Friday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Floral Print Silhouette set by Concord & 9th
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Seaside Spray
Ink: Gray Granite, So Saffron, Seaside Spray
Other: Misti, Avery Elle cover die, Die-namics Stitched Oval die, Floral Print Silhouette dies, Wink of Stella, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals

Simply Brew-tiful

Hi Peeps and Happy Hump Day,

I have a card to share today for Jaydee's color challenge for this week's Paper Players challenge. The colors are So Saffron, Seaside Spray and Gray Granite as the "neutral." I've chosen to use brown as a neutral shade for my card.

I've been taking the 2020 Spring Card Camp classes and this card is one that I made for Day four's class. To see the post for day four, click here.

The coffee cup is colored with Polychromos colored pencils using yellow and blue shades. I used a sweet piece of patterned paper for a table cloth and the sentiment is stamped in Memento black ink.

Here is the inside of this card.

A fairly CAS card. I'm having so much fun with the classes. If you have time, I recommend them and you can start any time as they are all via video.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Latte Love set by Lil Inkers and Be A Barista by Reverse Confetti
Paper: Neenah Solar White and Simple Stories Spring Farm House patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Hero Cup O Joe, Polychromos colored pencils
Other: Lil Inker set dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals

2020 Spring Card Camp Day 4 Projects

Hi all,

After getting home from work yesterday afternoon, I sat down to watch the day 4 class video and make my projects. These looked to be fairly quick and simple, and fun to make. The class was hosted by Julie Ebersole, one of my favorite card makers.

I made four cards, two using the technique that Julie was teaching and two using the extra die cut piece. Coloring on all images was done using Polychromos colored pencils.

Here are pictures of the two pairs of cards.

Set number 1 is coffee themed:

Set number 2 is kitty themed:

The steps to make the first card is to stamp an image that has a corresponding die onto the front of the card, then cut out the image with the die. Re-stamp the image though the die shape onto the inside of the card. Open the card, cut a mask for the image and stamp more images around the masked image. Color them up and finish the card. Use the first die cut image to make a second card.

On each of my pairs above, the cards with the Baker's twine are the first cards with the die cut front.
Here are the insides of each of those cards.

I'm having so much fun participating in these classes and now I'm looking forward to Day 5!

Thanks for looking and have a great day,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Latte Love set by Lil' Inkers and Frisky Felines by Gina K
Paper: Neenah Solar White card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Hero Cup O Joe, Polychromos colored pencils
Other: Misti, dies from the above stamp sets, Gemini Jr, Baker's twine

2020 Spring Card Camp Day 3 Project

Hi all,

Day three's project for the Spring Card Camp, brought to us by Yana Smakula, is all about cutting up a background stamped image to "color with paper." The idea is to take a fairly abstract background stamp, stamp it on multiple sheets of different colored card stock, then cut out pieces to make a background for your card. My large background stamp supply is extremely limited, especially one that would work for this technique. The best I could come up with is Hero Arts stamp called Abstract Waves. In Yana's instructional video, she used the background to make the sky, hills, rivers and a lake for a little village. I used mine to do a similar scene. The houses and trees are from Concord & 9th.

Below is the completed card with the background stamp. I have a box of retired SU card stock colors and I thought this would be a good project to use some of the up. I used various blues and purples for the sky, then some browns, rust and golds for the mid area and finally greens for the grass. The houses and trees are stamped with Memento and colored with Copics and cut out using the set dies. I thought  a black card base would look good and I used black with white embossing for the sentiment.

For the inside of my card, I've used other images from the same Concord & 9th set.

This was a very long process, maybe because the background stamp I used has so many little swirls. I'm not sure I'd really do this again, LOL, but I really like learning the concept. I sure wouldn't have thought to do this, although it is similar to paper piecing on smaller images instead of coloring.

Looking forward to doing day four's project. But first, I actually have to go visit a customer and do some staff training, so my stamping will have to wait until later this afternoon.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Abstract Wave background and Layering Sea and Sky sets by Hero Arts and City Stacks by Concord & 9th
Paper: Various retired SU card stock, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Gina K Amalgam black ink, Memento tuxedo black, Copics, VersaMark, Hero blue ink cubes
Other: Misti, liquid glue, Concord & 9th dies, Hero Sea and Sky dies (clouds), white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals

2020 Spring Card Camp Day 2 Projects

Good morning to all,

Monday again. My week looks to be mostly hanging out a home and practicing "social distancing." I'll have a few on-line training classes to do for work, but no plans to have to go out and about. That could change, but for now, I am staying put.

I have my Day 2 projects for the Spring Card Class 2020. So far, I'm having fun learning some new techniques, or at least ways to use stamps and ink in non-traditional ways. Day two's class was presented by Christina Werner and the technique was ink blending on the stamp using Distress Oxide Inks. A little time consuming maybe, but I like to play.

I used some Gina K stamps, Neenah Desert Storm card stock and Distress Oxide inks in a large variety of colors to make my two cards. The idea is to use a half sheet of card stock, mark the center and stamp the images so that you end up with two card fronts by cutting the sheet in half once the stamping is completed.

The larger flower and leaf images are ink blended. I used some smaller images from the set to fill in some areas. These are stamped using just one color of ink as they are too small to do the technique.

Here are the individual cards fronts and insides.

Card 1:

Card 2:

I'm looking forward to Day Three. Luckily, I have time to play.
Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Gina K sets Embroidered Flowers, A Big Hello, and Just Because
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm
Ink: Distress Oxide Ink
Other: Misti, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, SU Stitched Rectangle die, Hero Infinity Curved Rectangle die, enamel shapes, foam tape, Gemini Jr

Spring Card Camp 2020 Day 1 Cards

Happy Easter Sunday,

I signed up for the Spring Card Camp 2020 and yesterday was the first class taught by Jennifer McGuire. She taught us how to make a faux embossing folder using heat embossing. I decided to try using a large outline flower stamp from Concord and 9th to make my projects. In my post today are the 4 panels that I made following Jennifer's instructions and then my finished cards. I was able to get the panels completed yesterday and the completed cards finished today.

Here is a picture of the four panels. The heat embossed panel that was used as my faux embossing folder is the panel in the lower right with the white EP.

After running the other three panels through my Gemini Jr using the sandwich for embossing with dies, I used a sponge ink blending tool to blend a slightly darker ink than the card stock over the embossed area. This helps the image pop. On the pink and purple panels I'm using the recessed side and on the blue, the raised side.

Here are pictures of the four finished cards, first together then individually.

Front and inside of the purple card.

Front and inside of the blue card.

Front and inside of pink card. The sketch for this card comes from the current Sunday Stamps Challenge.

Front and inside of heat embossed card.

This was a super fun technique to learn and an interesting way to stretch our stamps to use as backgrounds. 

Class #2 is being taught by Kristina Werner. I've watched the video and I plan to do my stamping later this evening.

Thanks for stopping in, and have a good Sunday evening,

Colleen

Supplies

Fine Line Florals by Concord & 9th for the embossed images

email me if you would like to know the other specific supplies used to make my cards