For You

 Hello,

One more post tonight. For this post I have my card for the current Sunday Stamps challenge. This challenge is a color challenge. I wasn't sure if the lightest color was blue or light gray, so I picked blue. 

There is no stamping on the front of this card, which is not something I do often. I've joined the Stitching Die of the Month Club at Spellbinders and this is the April 2023 die. It's SO pretty! I stitched it using some metallic thread in relatively the same shades as the card stocks. After stitching, I glued the fans together with the center greeting and mounted it onto an embossed background.

When these stitched dies first started coming out, I didn't think I'd want to use them. However, last year Spellbinders sponsored one of the Let's Stamp Together kits and it was a stitching die. I loved it and made several cards, so this year, I joined the Spellbinders monthly club.

Enjoy your Thursday, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stitched FanFare, Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month for April 2023

Spellbinders Seamless Floral Background Embossing Folder

SU card stock

Metallic embroidery floss, embroidery needle, Connect glue, foam tape, Big Shot, SU gold metallic dots

Thinking Of You and Have A Purrrrrrrrfect Birthday!

 Hi stampers,

Happy Hump Day. I've spent my whole day packing up my car. I'm headed back to my mom's house in northern California early tomorrow morning. I'll be there 4-6 weeks, so I packed up the back of my SUV with stamping supplies, many of which I plan to leave there when I come back home. I'm taking a bunch of retired SU ink pads and the card stock in the same colors, as well as some dies and my older Gemini die cutting machine. My plan is on my next trip, I just will have to take the stamp sets I want to play with. 

Before I leave, I needed to do a couple of blog posts for challenges that end soon. In this post I have my one layer card for The Paper Players. I actually have two cards. This week Jaydee has a one layer card challenge. Fun to do, but something I rarely make.

Card 1 is a flower card, stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics. I used yellow and green so I could also enter this in the Color Hues Challenge.

I made the background on this kitty cat card by masking the outsides of the card with Masking Magic strips and then swiping ink cubes direct to paper from opposite corners with two colors. After removing the masking strips I placed the card in the Misti and stamped the cats, mouse and greeting.

Thanks for checking in, and have a good rest of your week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight card stock

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Gina K Designs Medium Orchid and Medium Carnation ink cubes, Black Onyx ink pad

Other: Misti, Gina K Designs Masking Magic strips

Wishing You Sunny Days

 Hello and happy Sunday afternoon,

I have my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. I've combined a SSS die with a greeting from Hero Arts and some bright ink blending to make a sunset card. 

I marked off the box for ink blending with some GKD Masking Magic strips then used orange, bright pink and dark blue ink to make my sunset. Using the SSS Radiant die, I cut the shape and then added the greeting. After trimming the panel down a bit, I added some gold glimmer paper behind the cutout and used foam tape to pop it up on the card base. I added some gold gems for a little extra sparkle.

I like these good well greetings and graphic images in the SSS Hello Sunshine set. I used them to sort of mimic the card front.

We've had no sunsets, just gloom, for more than a month, but on Friday the marine layer thinned out in the late afternoon and cleared out at the horizon in the late evening, and I got a good snap of the actual sunset. Unfortunately, we're back to total gloom😏

Enjoy your Sunday evening!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Hero Arts Beach Heroscape set and Simon Says Stamp Hello Sunshine set

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight White and SU Basic White Thick card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Tangerine Twist, Passionate Pink, Denim Blue, Wild Dandelion and Black Onyx ink

Other: Simon Says Stamp Radiant die, Gina K Designs Masking Magic Strips, blending brushes, Misti, Big Shot, Trinity gold gems

Woodblock Wednesday Note Cards

 Hello and happy Saturday,

I made these cards for Amy's Woodblock Wednesday Challenge for June. I love these sketchy fruit stamps by Art Impressions, and wanted to use them for this month's project. I first stamped the five images on one card in black, but didn't really like the look, so I changed to one card per fruit using colored card stocks. I found some woodblock greeting stamps to go with and turned them into simple note cards leaving the inside blank.

I did end up making a card from the first panel. I colored the background fruit with colored pencils and then used a focal panel like the other four cards.

The card stock and inks are all SU. The rounded corner rectangle dies are Hero Arts Infinity dies and I used GKD Master Layouts 1 dies to cut the large panels and black mats.

A little personal note, yesterday was retirement day for my "Personal Chef" and we did a little celebrating with friends last night. It was a fun evening. I retired two years ago, and yesterday was his turn. I hope he enjoys his retirement even half as much as I'm enjoying mine.

Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for looking in!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Fruit images from Art Impressions, Greeting stamps from Hero and Stampin' Up

Paper: Strawberry Slush, Watermelon Wonder, Pineapple Crush, Raspberry Ripple, Basic White Thick, Basic White and Basic Black card stock from Stampin' Up

Ink: Memento Tuxedo black, Strawberry Slush, Watermelon Wonder, Pineapple Crush, Raspberry Ripple inks by Stampin' Up

Other: Hero Arts Rounded Corner Rectangle Infinity dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 dies, Gina K Designs black enamel dots, SSS sequins, SU Dimensionals

Happy Birthday

 Hello peeps,

I have a fun card made using a fun technique for this week's Paper Players color challenge. The technique can be found here on Gina K.'s YouTube channel. 

With four panels of white card stock cut to the same size, you stamp an image on two of the panels in exactly the same place. Using a cover plate, a geometric pattern seems to be best, you cut one of the stamped panels and both of the non stamped panels. Glue the three cut panels together with the stamped image on top, then glue this stack to the panel that is still whole, lining up the image. The image appears complete with some interesting dimension.

Gina recommends using black and white for this technique. I made three cards with black and white stamping after I watched her video. For this card, I decided to give something with color a try. While I do like the black and white best, I think this one turned out pretty nice.

This image is a single background stamp from Pink Fresh Studio with a coordinating layering stencil set for coloring. I used the SU challenge inks with the stencil. The greeting is hot foiled with black foil.  The butterfly image is also from Pink Fresh Studio and is heat embossed with white embossing powder on black card stock. The cover plate I used is from Gina K Designs.

The inside greeting is from one of Gina's Mini stamp sets.

If you're looking for a new and fun technique, give this one a try. Here are a couple of cards using just black and white. The stamps are from GKD.

Supplies

Stamps: Delicate Floral Print stamp with layering stencils and Small Butterflies set by Pink Fresh Studio, Sweet Sentiments mini stamp set by Gina K Designs

Paper: SU Lemon Lolly, Basic Black and Basic white card stock 

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Lemon Lolly and Lost Lagoon, Gina K Designs white craft ink

Other: 3D Diamond Cover plate by Gina K Designs, Pink Fresh Studio Fancy Script hot foil set with dies, Glimmer Hot Foiling system, Misti, Big Shot, Spellbinders black foil, Gina K Designs white embossing powder, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, heat tool, blending brushes, Connect liquid glue

Birthday Blessings

 Hello Stampers,

I wanted to play along with the red and aqua color challenge for the Color Hues blog. I love these colors together, but somehow don't use them together very often. After watching a recent Gina K YouTube video from last week with a fun technique, I decided to see what I could do with it and with the colors. You can find Gina's video here.

Using an older stamp and die set from Gina K Designs, this is what I came up with.

You will need some masking paper strips, I used Masking Magic strips, a stencil and blending brushes for this technique. It's a fun one, especially the reveal. The stencil I used had medium sized images, so if I were to use it again with this technique, I think I would space the strips a little further apart. Also, my original thought was to blend some of the aqua and red shades in the background, but after re-thinking, I decided to use several shade of aqua, from very light to very dark, and use the red as the accent on the lotus flower.

For the inside of my card I used another GKD Lotus set for the flower image, which is colored with R14 and R11 Copics and a greeting from one of Gina's mini stamp sets. The layers on the outside and the inside are cut with Master Layouts 2 dies.

Thanks for looking in, and have a great day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Lovely Lotus stamp set with dies, Just Breath stamp set, Sweet Sentiments Mini stamp set all from Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering weight white, black onyx and sea glass card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Sea Glass, Ocean Mist, Turquoise Sea, Blue Lagoon,Tranquil Teal, Black Onyx and Copic markers R14 and R11

Other: Gina K Designs Festive Stencil, Masking Magic Pre-cut Strips, Master Layouts 2 & 3 dies, blending brushes, Mermaid Tail sequins, Connect Glue, and pre-printed sentiment strip. Misti, Big Shot, Foam Tape

Have A Cool Day!

 Good morning,

I'm very close to the deadline for getting my card posted for the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Linda has a fun, and interesting sketch this week. It took me a bit to figure something out. I actually made another card with flowers, but didn't really like it, so I started over. These two older Turnabout sets caught my eye while looking through stamp sets.

I stamped the Sunshine Turnabout and cut it out with an older SU circle die, then used the coordinating dies from the Cool Treats Turnabout set for the pop sickle.  The greeting is heat embossed and I added a icy border around the edge with a Nuvo shimmer pen.  I also added a little ink blending with yellow behind the sun's circle.

For the inside, I added a smaller pop sickle die along side one of the set greetings.

All in all, very quick and simple to make and I liked this card much better than the first.

We're still having gloom with morning rain from the Southwest monsoon season. I'm missing the summer sun!

Enjoy your day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Cool Treats and Sunshine Turnabout stamp sets from Concord & 9th

Paper: SU thick basic white card stock

Ink: Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated inks in yellows, orange, and aquas, Gina K Designs Kraft and Craft White ink

Other: Concord & 9th set dies, SU Circle die, blending brushes, GKD fine detail white embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Big Shot, Nuvo aqua shimmer pen, Doodlebug enamel hearts, Connect glue

Pretty Paper Birthday Cards

 Hello and TGIF!

I made a set of three birthday cards using some pretty SU DSP. The greetings on each are stamped and heat embossed. The sketch and inspiration for these is from the current Sunday Stamps Challenge, Panel Love.

I had not used this pack of papers yet, and as this sketch is perfect for patterned paper, I decided to finally use them. Once I got started, it was easy to make a little trio of cards. The flowers popped up on the sentiment ovals are fussy cut from the paper. (I didn't purchase the coordinating stamp set.)

That's all for now. Enjoy your Friday and your weekend!

Happy stamping,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Stamped birthday sentiments from Gina K Designs Succulent Spray Stamp Set

Paper: SU Blackberry Bliss, Evening Evergreen Calypso Coral, Basic Black card stock and Favored Flowers DSP (from 2023 Sale-a-bration promotion)

Ink: Gina K Designs Craft White

Other: Gina K Designs Double and Single Stitched Oval Dies, fine detail white embossing powder, heat tool, Big Shot, Misti, SU enamel dots and jewel embellishments

Happy Birthday

 Hi,

The Monthly Mix challenge on the Gina K Designs FaceBook page for June is the rubber band inking technique. I haven't done this in AGES, and once I got started, I was having so much fun with colors I couldn't stop. I made several panels and used them to make these cards.

To make the panels, I wrapped a couple of rubber bands of medium width around a brayer, rolled the brayer over ink pads and then over white card stock panels, using three different shades of the same color family, although for the first card, I used two shades of green and one of gold.

This first card works for Ann's theme challenge for this week's Paper Players. This week we are making cards with the guys in mind. This is a birthday card for my stash.

The second card is a Happy Retirement card for my live-in personal chef. He retires from his real job on 6/16. I love how rolling the rubber bands in a horizontal direction makes the background look like water with movement.

This last card is also a birthday card. This took some time as I paper pieced all of the flower banner die pieces with three different rubber band panels. There are some tiny pieces in this thing!

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamp sets: Lets Camp, Time To Coast, and Radiant Roses sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight White, Black Onyx, Red Hot, Sea Glass Blueberry Bushel, Prickly Pear card stock, SSS Holographic card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Red Hot, Tangerine Twist, Passionate Pink, Ocean Mist, Turquoise Sea, Blue Lagoon, Blueberry Bushel, Grass Green, Christmas Pine, Prickly Pear, Black Onyx, Craft White, Copics

Other: Gina K Designs Dies: Lots of Dots, Curved Floral Bundle, Master Layouts 1 & 2. 

Lots of Dots embossing folder, Fine Detail White embossing powder, SSS Stars die, heat tool, Gina K Designs black pearls, pre-printed sentiment strip, Misti, Big Shot, SU Dimensionals, 

Stencil Fun

 TGIF Peeps!

I hope your Friday is going well. It's mid-day here on the West coast, and it's official June Gloom. (We just finished May Gray, LOL) If you want to vacation in San Diego, don't come in May or June if beach weather/sun is your preference. There isn't any sun at the beach in May and June.

Any-hoo, I have a couple of cards for a couple of challenges. I had fun stenciling on both.

First up is a pretty flower card for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. The colors this week are green, yellow and white. I threw in a touch of black.

The daisy layering stencils and the brick background are from Gina K Designs. I used some very bright SSS inks today. The greeting is a pre-printed sentiment strip.

Here is the inside of this card. I added a die-cut sentiment and used the layering stencil to add one daisy under the die cut.

The second card uses Jen M.'s sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches. This is a one layer card except for the mermaid tail and the sentiment box. I used two Gina K Stencils for the diagonal pattern of the sketch. The stamp set is an older one from Ellen Hutson by Julie Ebersole.

This is one of my all time favorite sentiments.

And the inside of this card.

Enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Flower card:

Spring Daisies Layering stencil and Brick Wall Stencil by Gina K Designs

Gina K Designs White Layering and Black Card stock

Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated inks

Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies and Pre-printed sentiment strip, Trinity Pearls, Misti, Big Shot

Mermaid card:

Inner Mermaid stamp and die set by Ellen Hutson, Water Droplets, Sea Shells  & Sending Sunshine (from a kit) Stencils by Gina K Designs

SU thick white card stock

Gina K Designs blue, turquoise & embossing inks, Copics

Gina K Designs Gold embossing powder & Mermaid Tail Sequins,  MFT Curved Rectangle die, Misti, Big Shot, heat tool