Thank You So Much

Hello Peeps,

LeAnne has our last Paper Players Challenge for 2021 and it's a color challenge with colors perfect for finishing up our Holiday cards. I pretty much am done with those, in fact I mailed mine out on Sunday, so I used this challenge to make a Holiday Thank You card.

The stamping uses one of my favorite Concord & 9th Turnabout sets and the large greeting is made with a Pink Fresh hot foil plate and die.

Here is the inside with a greeting from a SSS Thank You set.

Mom and I are heading from her house in Northern California to San Diego tomorrow, so we have about a 13 hour drive. We'll be getting up fairly early so we can head out  early. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Botanical Turnabout set,  Thank You set by Simon Says Stamp, Gina K Designs card stock and ink cubes, Pink Fresh Hot Foil plate and die, Spellbinders foil, Misti, Gemini Jr and Gemini Hot foil system, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set, Trinity gold pearls, Connect liquid glue

Merriest Christmas

 Hello,

I'm finally wrapping up this year's Holiday card making. I've been making cards for my family to give with their gifts. Today's is one of those. The person that this is for doesn't read my blog, so it's safe to post.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch and an older MFT Christmas stamp set. That pretty background is made with a SSS slimline cover plate that I used with gold hot foil on red card stock. It worked really well and is super pretty IRL. The sentiment is also done with hot foil. 

I colored the images with colored pencils and used Gamsol to help with blending. They are popped up on a Lawn Fawn snow hill with trees. I used a Nuvo clear Aqua Shimmer pen over all of the trees, but as usual, my photo doesn't show the shine.

Here is the inside.

Have a wonderful Friday, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Cuteness by My Favorite things

Gina K Designs card stock

Gina K Designs inks

Lawn Fawn Slim Forrest Border die

Simon Says Stamp Detail Bohemian Slim Plate

Pink Fresh Studio Christmas Sentiments Hot Foil Plate

Spellbinders gold hot foil

Gemini Jr and Gemini Hot Foiling system

Misti

Colored pencils and Gamsol

Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen

SU Dimensionals

Hope Your Holidays are Cool!

 Hello peeps,

I made today's card to participate in two challenges. The theme works for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Jaydee's theme challenge is Winter Wonderland. The technique works for the Gina K Designs December Monthly Mix Challenge, which is ink blending.

To make the background of colorful snowflakes I used the GKD small Wreath Builder Stencil. I didn't use the wreath builder part, just the three small snowflake images that are also on the stencil. There are two snowflakes that are exactly the same except one is larger than the other. I blended the two on top of each other with GKD inks and the small blending brushes. The inks are a variety of the turquoise blue shades, the purple shades and Jelly Bean Green. In the spaces between these snowflakes, I added the last image on the stencil in Innocent pink, overlapping the first images.

This panel and a black mat are cut using the Master Layouts 1 dies. The sentiment and penguin images are from the GKD Playful Penguin Holiday stamp set and co-ordinating dies. The penguin is colored with colored pencils using Gamsol for blending. My original thought was to stamp the greeting over the stenciled snowflakes, but I then thought a sentiment panel would be better to give the penguin a grounding element. Finally, I added several tiny rhinestones around the panel for sparkle as well as some Nuvo Aqua Shimmer on the booties and the hat's pompom.

Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment is from the same Penguin stamp set.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Gina K Designs White layering, black and Innocent Pink card stock, Lovely Lavender, Wild Lilac, Sea Glass, Blue Lagoon, Turquoise Sea, Tranquil Teal, Jelly Bean Green, Innocent Pink, Black Onyx inks, Playful Penguin stamp set and dies, Master Layout 1 dies, small blending brushes, Small Wreath Builder stencil (snowflake background) SSS tiny rhinestones, Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen, Misti, Gemini Jr

PEACE - LOVE - JOY

Happy Weekend all,

Cecile and the ladies at Freshly Made Sketches  have another great sketch for us this week, and I spent some of yesterday making my card. I had in my mind to make a buffalo plaid background with a wreath for the focal image. Obviously, the wreath didn't happen for this card. I did make a wreath, but it turned out a little too large for the sketch, so I used it on another card. 

The buffalo plaid background is stamped using the Concord & 9th plaid background stamp with black and red GKD inks. I used my Misti to repeat stamping so that the ink is nice and dark. For the focal images, I used some GKD stitched circle dies and the Peaceful Dove stamp and die set by W Plus 9. This set doesn't have any sentiments included. I used a couple of GKD Holiday sentiment sets for the outside and the inside greetings. 

That's it from me today. Have a relaxing  and crafty weekend.

Colleen

Supplies

Plaid BKG stamp set by Concord & 9th. Peaceful Dove set and dies from W Plus 9. Seasonal Greetings and Peace On Earth sets by Gina K Designs. GKD white, black and Cherry Red card stock, GKD Black Onyx, Cherry Red, Soft Stone, Slate, Innocent Pink, Prickly Pear, Fresh Asparagus and Dark Sage ink cubes, GKD Master Layouts 1 die set, Misti, Gemini Jr, sequins, SU dimensionals

Season's Greetings

Hello,

If you saw my last post,  you know that we were anxiously awaiting the birth of my Great Nephew. I'm happy to report that he did arrive yesterday at 1:00 pm Pacific time. He is a big boy weighing 8.4 lbs. He has very chubby cheeks, and so far seems to be very content. He took his time arriving, 9 days past his due date. We are all thrilled, and can't wait to meet him.

Today I have my card for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Anne Marie has a great sketch for us this week. It is perfect for using up patterned papers, but as I'm visiting my mom, I only brought card stock with me as far as papers go, so I made my own with stamps and inks.

The background stripes are made using the Concord & 9th Candy Cane Stripe background stamp. I stamped it three times using red, pink and orange inks. I matched up the stripes when I placed them following the sketch, and I like the way they look. The matting behind the striped panel and the ornament circle, and the thin strips on top of the background, are cut from holographic card stock. IRL, it is super shinny.

The center ornament stamp is from a Gink K set from last year. The ornament is heat embossed with silver EP. This GKD set does not have dies, so the ornament is cut with a circle die, but I had to fussy cut the ornament topper and the string/bow image. I added three clear gems around the ornament for embellishment.

For the inside greeting, I used images from another GKD holiday stamp set. The sentiment is heat embossed with silver and I used more holographic card stock for the mat.

Enjoy your day. Mom is off to play bingo at the senior center today. I will do some errands for her then probably more stamping. I have a bunch of December birthdays that I need to get some cards made for.

Colleen

Supplies

Candy Cane Stripe BKG stamp by Concord & 9th, Sparkle & Shine and Holiday Tapestry sets by Gina K Designs, Layering White and Red Velvet card stock by GKD, Holographic card stock by Kat Scrappiness, GKD Red Velvet, Bubblegum, and Coral Reef inks, VersaMark ink, GKD Master Layouts 1 die set, GKD single and double stitched circle dies, GKD silver fine detail EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, Trinity gems, Connect glue, SU Dimensionals

Wishing You Love and Joy

Happy Monday,

I had a great holiday weekend, and I hope you did too. 

After my friend left to drive home yesterday morning, I managed to get some cards made. This one uses this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch. 

I used a new to me 3-D embossing folder from Altenew to make the background. After embossing, I used a blending brush with some Gina K aqua ink to highlight the snowflakes. I also painted them with a Nuvo Aqua shimmer pen so they sparkle, but per usual, that doesn't show in the photo.

The center image is 3 snowflake dies from Gina K cut from 3 teal shades of card stock, also Gina K. The sentiment strips came in the November Gina K kit, and I cut them with her sentiment strip dies. Finally, I added some clear gems to the snowflake.

 

Mom and I are off to run some errands and do some grocery shopping. Most importantly, we are awaiting news that we have a new Great Grandson (for her) and a Great nephew (for me.) My niece in Oregon is at the birthing center in labor. We are super excited, and may be getting in the car for a trip later in the week to meet him.

Thanks for looking in today, and have a great week ahead!

Colleen

Supplies

Altenew 3-D Snowflake Embossing Folder, Gina K Designs card stock, ink, snowflake die trio, Sentiment Strip dies, Holiday Sentiment Strips, blending brush, Nuvo Aqua clear Shimmer pen,  Gemini Jr, Trinity clear gems, Connect liquid glue

Happy Birthday

 Hello to all,

I hope everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving yesterday. I'm back at my Mom's in northern California for a couple of weeks, and my bestie drove up yesterday morning to spend Thanksgiving Day, and the rest of the weekend with us. I made a fairly traditional meal, although we skipped the whole turkey and just roasted a breast instead.  To accompany the meal, I made a King Arthur Flour roll recipe called Japanese Milk Bread Rolls, and they turned out very yummy.

Since I'm going to be at Mom's for a few weeks, I brought quite a few stamping supplies with me. However, I forget to bring any actual coloring tools, so I'm going to have to make designs that don't require coloring the images. 

On Wednesday afternoon, I made a card for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Laurie is our hostess with this month's Clean and Simple challenge, with the added theme of Fairies or Gnomes. I decided to use a couple of Hero Arts sets that were part of a monthly kit from a few months ago and make a birthday card.

All of the images are from the Meadow Heroscape stamp set. The meadow is a three stamp layering image, and the little fairies and greeting are part of the set as well. Since nothing required coloring, it worked out well.

On the inside, I used another set from the same Hero monthly release called Fairy Kisses. I love this large Fairy image and have used it several times. To add some color, I used a Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen with ink pads. This added some sparkle as well as color.

I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend. Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Fairy Kisses and Meadow HeroScape sets from Hero Arts, Gina K designs Layering and Heavy weight white card stock, Lovely Lavender card stock, Black Onyx, Soft Stone, Jelly Bean Green, Fresh Asparagus, Lovely Lavender and Plum ink cubes, Misti, Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen

May All Your Christmases be Bright

 Hello,

I hope you all had a nice, relaxing weekend. I spent most of today stamping, but yesterday I spent ALL day doing some house cleaning. We went to a friend's house for dinner and ate some very yummy seafood paella. It was warm in SoCal, and we ate out in the back yard by the pool.

I have a couple of cards using Linda's sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. Since it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players Challenge. and one of the cards fits Joanne's color challenge for this week.

The backgrounds on both cards use this Jennifer McGuire embossing folder technique. It's super fun! If you have some pots of Glitz Glitter Gel and some embossing folders, give it a try.

This first card is for the PP color challenge of gray, black, white and silver. The background looks blue, but it's just the picture. The Glitz Glitter Gel that I used is clear. The trees are all embossed using silver EP and I used black and gray accents.

Here is the inside of this card:

Here's the second card. This time I used bright pink Glitz Glitter Gel to fill in the EF. The ornament images are gold heat embossed with parts of the images colored with a light pink Copic. I used a clear Aqua Shimmer pen over the white spaces in the images for more sparkle, not that there isn't enough already. IRL, it is a shitty and bright card!

The inside of this card:

Wishing everyone a good week ahead! Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamp sets:  Card 1, Tiny Trees Turnabout set by Concord & 9th 

                    Card 2, Retro Ornaments set by Avery Elle

Embossing Folders:

                    Card 1 Stampin' Up Snow Burst

                    Card 2 Stampin' Up Poinsettia

Other: Gina K Designs card stock and inks, white, silver and gold fine detail embossing powders

VersaMark ink, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, Glitz Glitter Gel, SU silver sequin, SU Dimensionals

                    

So Very Grateful

Hello to all,

I'm posting my card for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Claire is our hostess for this week's theme challenge, a timely Thanksgiving theme. 

My card is somewhat of a CASE of a card I saw in the Concord & 9th Instagram gallery. I loved the non-traditional fall colors in pastels on their card and since I have the stamp sets, card stock and inks, I decided to play around to see if I could make something that I liked just as much. For my card, I added the pop of orange and the sparkle of sequin, as well as a center image. I'm pretty happy with the result.

To add the Marmalade dots, I used one of the background leaf stamps from the C&9th Triple-step Autumn Leaf set. I used the ink cube to ink only the dots in the stamp and stamped them randomly around the panel. After the stamping was done, the panel was cut out using the scalloped die from the Gina K Designs  Master Layouts 4 die set. The stamped panel is glued to a Sea Glass top folding card base. I stamped a few extra leaves in green and blue, cut them out with the dies, and popped them over the stamped images with foam dots for a little dimension. 

The pumpkin pie image is from a newer C&9th set. I colored the image with Copics, cut it out with the set die and popped it up in the center. I added the gold rim to the plate using a gold gel pen because Thanksgiving pie should be served on the "good" dishes. The greeting is stamped on Marmalade card stock with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white EP, then cut out with the sentiment strip die from the same stamp set.

For the inside, I couldn't find a "Happy Thanksgiving" stamp among my C&9th sets, so I pulled out the Lawn Fawn Cutie Pie mini stamp set and used it. After stamping and coloring the images, I cut the panel and the mat using the Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set.

I'm off to continue making more Holiday cards today. Thanks for looking in, and have a fab day!

Colleen

Supplies

Concord & 9th sets and dies: Triple-Step Autumn Leaf, Simple Seasons, and Harvest Wreath Turnabout. Lawn Fawn Cutie Pie stamp set. Concord & 9th White, Sea Glass, Buttercup and Marmalade card stock and ink cubes, Gina K Designs Black Onyx ink and Master Layouts 2 & 4 die sets, VersaMark ink, GKD white detail EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, SSS sequins, Gold Gel Pen, Copic markers, SU mini Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

That's typewriter for. . .

Hi peeps and Happy Monday,

I spent the weekend making Holiday cards so today I was in the mood for something else. After looking through some of my saved blog sites, I saw that the current Fusion Card Challenge looked fun, and I knew that I had stamps and other supplies that would work well for the theme. Here's what I came up with.

 

I made a mini-slimline card using some fun patterned papers from my stash. I'm not sure of the company they are from. I pulled them from a plastic sleeve with a bunch random papers. My guess they are from an older SSS Monthly kit. Regardless, they work well for the typewriter theme.

The stamped greetings are from Concord & 9th, as are the inside images.

I cut the patterned papers using the GKD Master Layouts for mini-slimline cards. The circle and heart dies are also GKD.

Here's the inside, finishing off the sentiment for the challenge.

A fun card, that 's not a Christmas card, LOL.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Type Talk stamp set and dies from Concord & 9th, Gina K Designs Heavy weight white and black card stocks, stash patterned papers, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 7 and Stitched circle dies, sequin, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

Merry Christmas

 Well hello to all,

I've been MIA around blog-land for about a month. You know how everyone says how busy they are after retiring, well I'm here to say it's SO true! Since mid September, I've been to see my mom in northern California, went to the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta with my bestie, came home in time for our friends from Mass. to visit for two weeks. The first week they were here, we spent in the Central Coast wine region. It's been great fun!

During the past couple weeks, I've been home, but my creative mojo was leaning towards my sewing machine, and I've been working on a few quilting projects. I'm waiting for some fabric to arrive, so I put the machine away last night and this morning pulled out some stamps, paper and ink.

I made a card to squeak in for this week's Paper Player's Challenge. Ann is hostess with Tic-Tac-Toe, a fave challenge of mine. I've also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch. Love this classic sketch from Jen!

My card fits the top across option of ribbon/twine, circles, die cut.

And the inside:

Have a great Friday and weekend, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Concord & 9th Dahlia Turnabout set, C&9th inks in Ballet Slipper, Honeysuckle, Poppy, Cranberry, C&9th white and Cranberry card stock, Pebbles Merry Little Christmas patterned paper, Spellbinders circle dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 & 2 dies, Cranberry/Gold twine, Misti, Gemini Jr, Connect glue

The Witch Is In

Hello and happy Hump Day,

As you read this I'm on the highway again heading back to my Mom's in Northern California. My niece's baby shower is this Saturday in Bend, OR, so I'm driving to my Mom's and then we will drive from her house to Bend on Friday afternoon. 

Earlier in the week, I did have a chance to make a couple of cards for Claire's Paper Player's Challenge. It's CAS week with a Fall theme.

I made two cards. One has some die cuts and one is a one layer card. I would consider both CAS, but I am posting the one layer card in the gallery for my challenge card.

Here are the cards. 

This first is a Halloween stamp set from Hampton Art Stamps. This is a mini slimline card size. The card stock is GKD Heavy Weight Vanilla and the images are colored with colored pencils. 

My second card is made with Hero Arts images and dies. I used the Taylored Expressions A2 Rectangle Mask to mask off the outside of the card to ink blend the center with three fall shades. The Hero Arts pumpkin die is cut from shinny gold card stock.

Thanks for checking in, and have a great rest of the week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: The Witch is In set by Hampton Arts and Color Layering Fall stamp set and dies by Hero Arts

Paper: Gina K Designs Heavy Weight Vanilla, Layering Weight and Heavy Weight White card stock,

Concord & 9th gold card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Sweet Corn, Sweet Mango and Jelly Bean Green, VersaMark

Other:  GKD Fine Detail Gold EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, Prisma Color colored pencils, gamsol, blending stumps, yellow Stickles, Nuvo clear glitter brush

Happy Birthday

 Happy Hump Day Peeps,

Well, I seem to have gotten a little carried away using this week's Paper Player's color challenge! I do like a nice purple card, although it's not a color that I use very frequently, but, I certainly made good use of it this week!

For the monthly PP color challenge, Ann gave us Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss, Polished Pink and a color of our choice. I made four cards, I think each with a different "color of my choice," but very similar in style. Three use recent release sets from Concord & 9th, and the fourth uses a Pretty Pink Posh stencil and this technique from Jennifer McGuire. I had tons of fun with these fall-ish cards.

These first two use the stamps and dies from the C&9th Triple-Step Autumn Leaf set. The 4th color in the top card is gold and the 4th color in the second card is blue. The top card uses the stamp images and the large leaf die, while the bottom card uses both set dies and I inlayed the die cut images.

Card three is a small 4.25 x 4.25 square card using the C&9th Harvest Wreath Turnabout set. The 4th color here is rose-gold. In addition to the turnabout stamping, I cut out the set dies in C&9th pink glitter paper and arranged them under the sentiment strip.

Finally, the fourth card. I made the stenciled panel first for this challenge and decided that I didn't like it - AT ALL! So, I put it aside and came up with the large leaf cards. Since I really liked these two, I gave the turnabout set a try with the colors and liked it as well. I finished all three of the cards, including the insides. The large leaf cards are for friends who have birthdays the first week of October, and the square card is a Thanksgiving card. I went to pitch the stenciled panel while cleaning up my desk, but my brain said no, so I put it aside and finished cleaning. Two days later, I put the panel to use in this card, which might be my favorite of the 4!

The stenciled panel is kraft card stock. The first color used is craft white. I then flipped the stencil over per the JM video and used Blackberry Bliss, then rotated the stencil a quarter turn and stenciled with Razzleberry. The dies are all from the Master Layouts from Gina K Designs. The Thank You is from C&9th.

Thanks to Ann for the beautiful color challenge this week, and thanks to you for looking in!

Have a nice Thursday!

Colleen

Supplies

Concord & 9th Triple-Step Autumn Leaf set and Harvest Wreath Turnabout set stamps and dies,  Concord & 9th Weathered Wood Background stamp, SU Blackberry bliss, Rich Razzleberry and Polished Pink card stock and ink pads, SU Into the Woods DSP, Gina K Designs Layering White and Kraft card stock and Master Layouts 1, 2 & 3 die sets, Pretty Pink Posh Fall Leaf Stencil, GKD blending brushes, Concord & 9th pink and blue glitter paper, VersaMark ink, GKD Rose Gold and Gold EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU Blackberry Bliss twine, Blue twine, Trinity gold pearls, SU Dimensionals, GKD Connect glue

On My Mind

Happy Sunday Peeps,

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon. It's been a rather lazy one here. It's pretty warm temp wise today in Northern California, and the smoke is back today, so not a good day to be out and about. I decided to make a card for this week's  Freshly Made Sketches challenge while my mom is doing some crocheting.

The image for my card was colored in July when I was visiting friends in MA. It's colored with Polychromos colored pencils and I used Gamsol to aid with the shading. While it's a little difficult to see in the photo, the dark purple card stock is embossed with the SU Ornate Floral 3D EF. The larger lavender layer is embossed with the SSS Detail Petal Cover Plate.

My mom asked me to make her some cards that she can give to some friends that have been diagnosed with somewhat serious health issues, and this card is one that I made for her request. All of the stamped images are from GKD.

Here's the inside of the card:

For those in the US, enjoy your holiday weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All Gina K Designs: Caring Flowers set, May Flowers set, Take Care set, and On My Mind, In My Heart set, GKD card stock, GKD ink, Polychromos colored pencils, Gamsol, blending stumps, SSS Detail Petal cover plate die, Waffleflower A2 Layering dies, SU Ornate Floral EF, Misti, Big Shot, SU Dimensionals, GKD Connect glue, holographic sequins

Today

 Hello peeps,

I'm posting my Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge card this evening. Jaydee is the hostess this week with one of my favorite challenges. I love to play along with a fun T-T-T grid!

For this one, I kept my card very simple, creating a wreath using the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder system. I've used the diagonal option of Square, Die-cut, Floral.

All supplies, with the exception of the pearl embellishments are from Gina K Designs. I've said it before, this Wreath Builder is so fun to use, and I've been using it a lot lately.

Here's a peek at the inside of the card:

I'm still visiting my mom in Northern California. She's gone to play Bingo this evening, so I'm hanging out with her kitty, Misty, and doing some crafting. Today the air was a little less smoky and the hazardous rating fairly low, so I took advantage to do some outdoor chores for her. Unfortunately, the smoke is predicted to return tomorrow, as well as the hot temps. While the smoke is unpleasant, we are very grateful we're not in the evacuation zones, and of course, we're so very sorry for everyone in the hurricane's path, and flooding areas in the Northeast. 

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps, ink, card stock, dies, and Wreath Builder System by Gina K Designs,  Trinity pearls,  Big Shot, Misti, Connect liquid glue