Thank You Card

Hello Peeps,

I hope you all had a relaxing and nice weekend. Here on the Southern California coast, we had rain, finally! It rained most all day on Saturday, off and on Sunday, and today it's wet and very windy.  It was a perfect weekend to stay in my craft room, which is exactly what I did. 

I only made one card, however. I started an organization project that is going to go on for many days, mostly because it's kind of involved and also because I will work on it as time allows. My project is to un-mount all of my old SU wood-mounted stamps (and I have many, many sets going back to the mid-90s) and store them in Avery Elle clear sleeves, which is how I store all of my non-wood mounted sets. 

Currently, all of my older wood mounted SU sets are in book cases in our garage. They are un-organized and I have a hard time finding particular sets when I decide to use one. So, I did some research on the web to see how other folks have accomplished this. Basically, heat the blocks for about 10 secs in a microwave, then peal off the stamp. This is working very well, and I've gotten through several sets so far.  Here are a couple of pictures of the wooden blocks with the stamps removed, from 152 SU stamp sets. I'm also trying to remove the plastic pictures from the blocks as well. The middle bag below I still need to do the labels. I will check with our local recycling company to see if they will take these blocks. Hopefully! I hate to have to put them in the garbage that will go to the landfills.

The one card that I made uses the sketch from the current Freshly Made Sketches Challenge and the colors from the current Color Hues Challenge. The colors are Navy and Cream. 

I've used the SU stamp set and DSP suite called Boho Indigo, perfect for the Color Hues challenge colors, and I followed the sketch pretty literally. I used a blending brush to blend navy ink onto a piece of SU Very Vanilla card stock before cutting out the leaves with the corresponding set dies.

Here's the inside of the card. This sentiment is from the SU set called Happy Thoughts.

I have a few reports to write for work this morning, then I will continue on with my project.

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stampin' Up sets Boho Indigo and Happy Thoughts, SU Night of Navy and Very Vanilla card stock, SU Boho Indigo DSP, SU Boho Indigo dies, SU Night of Navy ink, blending brush, Gemini Jr, Misti, SU Dimensionals, enamel shapes

You're Cool

Happy Wednesday Peeps,

Claire is the hostess for the Paper Players Challenge this week with a Snow theme. It's also the monthly CAS challenge. I had made another card for the challenge on Sunday afternoon, but decided it really didn't fit the CAS part of the challenge. I'll add it's picture at the end of this post as I do really like how it turned out.

Last night I sat down to make something more CAS and while looking through my stamps, I decided on a different kind of "snow" than the one we usually think of. Here is my snow themed card featuring snow cones.

I did add a large snowflake for the background with a stencil and blending brush, but the focal images are the frosty snow cones. The dies are from Concord & 9th and go with the Cool Treats Turnabout stamp set. The paper cones are cut from white card stock and stamped with pastel inks using a stamp from the Cool Treats set. The snowballs are also cut from white card stock and colored with Copics. I brushed several layers of Nuvo glitter over them for a frosty look. 

The card base is white card stock and I used a Gina K Designs large snowflake stencil and a blending brush to make the background to add that traditional snow element.

On the inside, I've used stamps from the Concord & 9th Snowflakes Turnabout stamp set.

 Here's the first card that I made. This is a one layer card, other than the sentiment strips, but that's probably the only CAS part of it. The masking, ink blending and embossing took quite awhile to do. The colors are really pretty IRL. It kind of glows. I've been on an ink blending kick for awhile. This technique is called Joseph's Coat. I've mades several cards using this technique, although I've not posted any of them as of yet, but I will over the next few weeks.

On a more personal note, I had a rather eventful day. First, I enjoyed watching the Inauguration this morning (9:00 am my time) then had both a colonoscopy and endoscopy late this afternoon. I'm happy to report nothing found, and I'm good for another 10 years. Now, I'm looking forward to dinner, since it's been about 36 hours since I've eaten.

Have a great Thursday, Friday and weekend! Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies for Snow Cone card

Concord & 9th Cool Treats and Snowflakes Turnabout stamp sets, Cool Treats dies, Gina K Designs Snowflake stencil, Gina K Designs Heavy white card stock, Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea and Black Onyx ink, Copic Markers, Gemini Jr, Misti, blending brushes, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue, enamel shapes

You Tickle My Fancy!

 Happy TGIF Peeps,

I knocked off work a little early today, around 3:00 pm local time. I finished my PowerPoint slides for a presentation my manager asked me to put together and decided I was done for the week. I had some happy mail today in the form of my latest Concord & 9th order, so after finishing this post, I'll be putting the sets with their dies into plastic storage envelopes and probably using some of them to make a card.

In this post, I have my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Linda has a great sketch this week. I received this Wishing You Happiness set by Colorado Craft Company before the holidays, but I had not inked it up yet. I thought it, with these sweet little pooches, would make a fun Valentine's Day card. Or, just a general thinking of you card too.

The card base is GKD Blue Denim card stock and the layers are GKD Sandy Beach card stock. The images are stamped with Memento black ink onto X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Copic Markers. I used the Socr Buddy to add vertical lines to the larger Sandy Beach panel. I thought it would coordinate with the corrugated piece that is corrugated using a SU EF. The top panel is embossed with a Taylored Expressions heart embossing plate and cut out with a Hero Infinity die. The greetings are stamped with GKD Blue Denim and I've added some enamel hearts for embellishment.

The inside of the card uses more images from the same stamp set and a left over piece of the corrugated card stock.

 

I have a few of these Colorado Craft Co sets illustrated by Anita Jeram. Every one is just so sweet.

Have a nice Friday evening and weekend. Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Wishing You Happiness set and dies by Colorado Craft Company, Gina K Designs Blue Denim and Sandy Beach card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Gina K Designs Blue Denim ink, Memento tuxedo black ink, Copic Markers, Scor-buddy, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU embossing folder, Taylored Expressions embossing plate, Hero Arts Infinity dies, SU Dimensionals, enamel dies

You're Sweet

 Hi peeps,

Another Valentine's card completed. This one uses some older stamps and DSP, combined with the new sketch from Sunday Stamps. This sketch is called "In the Center," made with layers of rectangles. 

The card base is SU Crumb Cake card stock with layers of Whisper White card stock and Love Blossoms DSP. The larger layer of DSP and white mat are cut with the GKD Master Layouts 2 dies. I love the kraft and white together, don't you? The stamp set and dies are Lawn Fawn How You Bean set with the Valentine's add on. The jar and hearts are colored with Copic Markers. For embellishments, I've used some SU linen thread around the jar lid and two small red enamel hearts on the sentiment strip.

I've used a set from Concord & 9th called Sending Love for the inside of my card.

TGIF tomorrow! Yay!

Thanks for stoping by,

Colleen

Supplies

How You Bean set with Valentine's add on and dies from Lawn Fawn, Sending Love set by Concord & 9th, SU Crumb Cake and Whisper White card stock, SU Love Blossoms DSP, Memento tuxedo black ink, Copic Markers, Gina K Designs Sandy Beach ink, Master Layouts 2 die set, Altenew Sentiment strip die, Taylored Expressions small label die, SU enamel hearts, linen thread, Dimensionals, Gemini Jr, Misti

Hey Lady

 Hello to all,

Hoping your Wednesday was a good one. I was looking around for a sketch last night and found the CAS Colors and Sketches Challenge. This week it's a sketch and a fun one at that.

I pulled out a older SU set and some DSP to make my card.

The images are stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copic markers. After coloring, I cut them out using the set dies and popped them up with some SU Dimensionals. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP, and I added three pink enamel dots for embellishment. I like this simple and clean sketch.

Here is the finished inside, with more stamped images and die cuts from the same SU stamp/die set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice Thursday!

Colleen

Supplies

Little Ladybug stamp set and dies from Stampin' Up, SU Pretty In Pink, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock, SU Botanical Butterflies DSP, Hero Infinity Rectangle dies, Memento tuxedo black ink, VersaMark ink, Copic Markers, white EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU Dimensionals, enamel dots

Snail Mail

 Hi peeps,

The Paper Players has their monthly color challenge this week. Ann is hostess and she has chosen Blackberry Bliss, Bumblebee, Misty Moonlight, and a neutral of our choice. 

These colors look pretty good together, but I really wasn't sure on how to use them. When that happens, I usually reach for one of my Concord & 9th turnabout stamps, which is what I've done this week. This one is called Postmarked Turnabout and I paired it with the C&9th Snail Mail set and corresponding dies. I'm loving how it turned out. Especially that cute little snail!

The neutral was supposed to be SU Crumb Cake, but I discovered that my Crumb Cake ink pad is dry! I don't have a re-inker for it so I used the C&9th Wheat stamp pad and card stock instead. They are very similar shades. The Snail Mail set has the large postage stamp shaped dies to cut out the large sentiments. I matted these with Blackberry Bliss card stock and added the uber cute snail image with Dimensionals.

For the inside of my card I've used more images from the Snail Mail stamp set with the large postage stamp die.

Wishing you a happy hump day, and rest of your week. Stay SAFE!

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Postmarked Turnabout set and Snail Mail set with dies by Concord & 9th, Concord & 9th Wheat card stock, SU Blackberry Bliss and Whisper White card stocks, SU Blackberry Bliss, Bumblebee, Misty Moonlight inks, Concord & 9th Wheat ink, Misti stamping tool, Gemini Jr, SU Mini Dimensionals 

You Add Color To My Life

 Happy Tuesday Peeps,

If you are a Gina K fan, both of the awesome lady and her stamps and supplies, like I am, you know about her FB group and her Stamp and Chat Live Videos that she does each Monday and Thursday. I can't always watch live due to being at work, but I always watch the recorded version on YouTube when I have the chance.

Well, last night, I was home and watched the live version. The technique she showed us was masking using edges from a torn piece of paper to mask off part of the card and then to use blending brushes to add color to make a background. Once the masks are removed, you get an interesting edge around the blended background. For the stamps, she used silhouette style stamps. To see Gina's cards, you can check them out in the FB group and also on IG.

After eating dinner, I sat down to give this technique a try. I used a rainbow color palette for my blended background and two Gina K stamp sets to make the outside and the inside of my my card.

The ink pads that I used are GKD Bubblegum Pink, Coral Reef, Dandelion Yellow, Lime Green, Blue Lagoon and Black Onyx. The flower and butterfly images are from the GKD set called Petals and Wings and the greeting is from a recent incentive set called Just Add Color. I used my Misti to stamp all of the images and the greeting. For the greeting, I masked off the word "color" with tape, inked the stamp with black, removed the tape and then stamped. I repeated the procedure and masked off the upper and lower lines with tape and stamped the word "color" with Blue Lagoon.

Here is the inside of the card. This time the images are from the Just Add Color set and the greeting is from Petals and Wings.

Have a SAFE day, and thanks for stopping in,

Colleen

Supplies

Gina K Designs: Petals and Wings and Just Add Color stamp sets, Layering weight white, black onyx, blue lagoon card stock, black onyx, bubblegum pink, coral reef, dandelion yellow, lime green, blue lagoon ink pads, master layout 2 dies, Misti stamping tool, blending brushes, SSS colored sequins, connect glue

Here's To Celebrating You

Hello and happy Monday,

Today's post is a card that I made using the inspiration from two challenges. The sketch comes from this week's TGIF Sketch Challenge and the color theme comes from the current Color Hues Red and Gray Challenge.

The background is a new Pink Fresh Studio stencil called Argyle and the stamp set is another new set from Pink Fresh Studio called Every Good Thing.

The inks are all Gina K Designs in the colors of Soft Stone, Stormy Skies, Red Velvet and Hot Red. The background panel is cut out with the Gina K Designs Master Layout 2 dies including the Red Velvet mat. The card base is Stormy Skies. The stamped image is cut out with the set die and I also used the die to cut the shape from the background. After gluing the background to the card base, I popped the cut image up with Dimensionals inside the previously cut out shape. For embellishments I added some Pretty Pink Posh silver gems around the card.

Thanks for stoping in and have a SAFE week!

Colleen

Supplies

Every Good Thing stamp set with die and Argyle Stencil set by Pink Fresh Studio, Gina K Designs card stocks in Red Velvet, Stormy Skies, X-Press It Blending white card stock, Gina K Designs inks in Red Velvet, Red Hot, Soft Stone and Stormy Skies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, Pretty Pink Posh gems, Gemini Jr, Misti, blending brushes

Best Wishes

Hello all,

Yay! It's Friday, and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Yesterday I received my new mini-catalog and Sale-a-bration pre-order goodies. Because I didn't get home from work until after 8:00 pm, I didn't even open the box until this afternoon. Once I got the stamp sets needing mounting mounted, and the dies organized into their permanent storage, I couldn't wait to use some of them.

Using the new CAS(E) this Sketch sketch, here's the card that I made with my new stamps, papers and dies.

This beautiful patterned paper is a Sale-a-bration level 1 free item called Flower and Field DSP. Using the SU colors in this DSP of Cherry Cobbler, Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black and Petal Pink, I used the new Pierced Blooms dies from the January to June Mini catalog to cut the flowers. I love the stitching element on these.

Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment is from the SU set Happiest of Birthdays.

I'm looking forward to more stamping this weekend. How about you? Whatever you have planned, I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies

Stampin' Up sets Happiest of Birthdays and A Touch of Ink, SU Flirty Flamingo, Cherry Cobbler, Petal Pink and Basic Black card stocks,  Gina K Designs Black Onyx ink, SU Cherry Cobbler ink, SU Pierced Blossoms dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 and 2 dies, Gemini Jr, Misti, SU clear enamel dots, SU Dimensionals, Gina K Designs Connect Glue

I Love You Soy Much

Happy Thursday Peeps,

I turned off the TV and all of the craziness last night and stamped instead. Much more rewarding! I decided to make a Valentine's Day card using the fun GKD sushi set. 

I started with some GKD kraft card stock and heart stencil for the background. The ink used with the stencil is GKD Cherry Red. The Slimline dies are from Kat Scrappiness. The design comes from this week's Freshly Made Sketches where Jen M. has a slimline sketch for us.

The images are stamped using GKD Black Onyx ink onto white card stock, colored with Copics, and cut out with the corresponding dies then arranged per Jen's sketch.

  

Here's the inside.

Nothing says love like food!

I'm off for a 2.5 hour drive for work today, but I wanted to get this posted before I headed out.

Have a great afternoon, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

I Like the Way You Roll stamp set and dies by Gina K Designs, Kraft, Cherry Red, and Layering White card stocks by GKD, Heart stencil by GKD, Slimline Layering dies by Kat Scrappiness, GKD flag die, Black Onyx and Cherry Red inks by GKD, Copic markers, Gemini Jr, enamel hearts, SU dimensionals

Birthday Cards

 Hello peeps and happy Tuesday,

More after dinner stamping last night, and I was able to get two birthday cards completed. Using the color inspiration from two challenges, the TGIF Color Challenge and the Gina K Designs Monthly Mix January challenge, here's what I came up with.

First is the black and white card. This uses mostly all SU supplies. The gems and the dies to cut the panels are not SU. The card base and the other white panel are SU Whisper White card stock as is the black card stock. The flower stamp set and corresponding dies are the Blossoms In Bloom bundle from a few years ago. I stamped the flowers in black ink, then cut the panel and the black mat out using the Gina K Master Layouts 1 dies. Then one of the flower dies is cut from black card stock and the outline flower die from Whisper White. They are glued to the stamped panel with liquid glue. I added some Pretty Pink Posh white gems for embellishment. The greeting is part of the stamp set. The flag dies are from the Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set.

For the inside of this card I stamped the flower images in black and the centers with gray inks. The greeting is from a Gina K Designs Wreath Builder stamp set. I again used the Master Layouts 1 die set to cut out and layer the panels.

Here's the card that I made for the Gina K Designs Monthly Mix challenge. The theme for this month's challenge is "Put Your Red Dress On." Red must be the predominate color and the theme must be celebration, like birthday.

All supplies on this card, paper, ink, stamps, dies are all Gina K Designs. Actually, there is one exception. The dotted background is made using the bubble wrap technique.

The red card base and red ink are the Red Hot shade. The flower is stamped with Black Onyx ink and colored with Red Hot ink using a blending brush. I used some GKD Cherry Red ink to blend over the flower center to give it dimension, The bee is colored with yellow Copics. Both the flower and bee are cut out with the corresponding set dies. The panels are cut out using the Master Layout 2 dies.

The birthday theme is carried to the inside using more images and another greeting from the same stamp set. The hexagon shapes are from the stamp set and are stamped with Lemon Drop ink.

These cuties will go into my birthday stash for use later this year. 

Thanks for checking in and have a great day,

Colleen

Supplies

Stampin' Up Blossoms In Bloom set with corresponding dies, Gina K Designs Beautiful Bees set with corresponding dies, SU and Gina K Designs card stocks, Gina K Designs inks in Black Onyx, Red Hot and Soft Stone, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 and 2 sets, Pretty Pink Posh white gems, Gemini Jr, Misti, Connect liquid glue, SU Dimensionals, bubble wrap

It's Your Birthday

 Happy New Year all,

I hope everyone is staying safe.

The Paper Players kicks off their new year of challenges today with a fun theme challenge from LeAnne. We are to use something new on our project. That isn't hard for me, LOL. I ordered the entire new line of layered stencils from Pink Fresh Studio before Christmas. Last night after dinner, I pulled a couple of them out to give them a try. These are FREAKIN' FUN! And addicting! Did I mention FUN! Seriously, if you want to try something different from stamping, try some layered stencils. These particular stencils are super easy to line up the layers using alignment marks on each stencil.

The first ones that I played with are the Daisy Wreath Layered Stencil set and the Simple Plaid Stencil set. I ended up making a set of six note cards with various colors and greetings. The inks that I used are either Gina K Designs or SU. The greetings are from various Gina K Designs stamp sets. Blending brushes makes this process pretty easy.

Here is a close up of one of the cards. The background is made using SU Flirty Flamingo and Gina K Designs Sweet Mango inks on the front of a white card base. After making the daisy wreath, I cut it out using the corresponding die. The greeting is stamped on another piece of white card stock and cut out with a Spellbinders circle die. It is glued to the back of the wreath using liquid glue. After the glue had dried, I used Dimensionals to pop it all up on the card.

For the inside, I made another daisy wreath, cut it out with the die, then cut the top and bottom apart to use them in the corners. I did this for all six cards, some use the top daisy and some use the bottom. The greeting is stamped with SU Flirty Flamingo ink.

Here are pictures of all six. You'll notice that on three of the cards, I used a polka-dot stencil from Paper Smooches to make the center greeting circle a little different. Also, these three card bases are made with Simon Says Stamp Oyster Gray card stock.

I'm really looking forward to playing with the other stencil sets!

I hope everyone has a great upcoming week. If you're like me, I'm back to work after a few weeks of PTO. My work goal for 2021 is retirement, and I'll be discussing options with my financial folks in the coming days. Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out.

Thanks for stoping in,

Colleen

Supplies

Daisy Wreath and Simple Plaid Layering stencil sets and corresponding dies from Pink Fresh Studio, Gina K Designs thick white card stock, Simon Says Stamp Oyster Gray card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Spellbinders circle die, Paper Smooches polka-dot stencil, blending brushes, various Gina K designs inks and stamp sets, various SU inks, Gemini Jr, Connect liquid glue, SU Dimensionals

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