Happy Halloween

 TGIF Peeps,

It's funny, but even being retired I still look forward to the weekends. Probably because that's when we get together with friends more than during the weekdays. Our plans for tonight are for a little wine and a little pizza with friends.

Last night I pulled out some old wood mounted stamps to make a card for this month's Wood Block Wednesday Challenge. Since I still could use a couple more Halloween cards, that's what I made.This is Rosiland and Russel from Stampassions. All of the images, inside and out, are from wood mounted stamps.

I stamped the duo in Memento black ink on vanilla card stock and colored the images with Copics. After, I cut them out using oval dies from Spellbinders, using the next size to cut a black mat. The orange chevron patterned paper is very old from SU. The greeting is inked first with coral ink and then with black for a two-toned effect, cut out with a sentiment die and also matted. While it's hard to see in the pic, I added some Nuvo glitter to the pumpkin's eyes, nose and mouth, as well as to the tiny stars around the outside, and added two small black enamel dots on the sides for embellishment.

The inside:

Thanks to Amy for hosting this challenge to use these older wood mounted stamps. They usually sit  neglected in their drawers.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps:

Witch stamp: Stampassions

Happy Halloween stamp: Stampendous

Inside sentiment stamp: Simply Stamped

Tiny cat stamp: Hero Arts

Paper: SU Vanilla and Black card stock, SU DSP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Gina K Designs Coral Reef, Copic markers

Other: Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval dies, Simon Says Stamp Sentimental Label dies, Big Shot Switch, Nuvo clear glitter brush, black enamel dots, foam squares, Connect glue

Happy Birthday Sweet Friend

 Hello Peeps,

I have a pretty birthday card to share this evening and it is going to a young lady that turns 28 on Oct. 31. 

I've used Jaydee's sketch from The Paper Players Challenge. All of the butterflies and flower images are rub-ons! (Apparently, they are making a come-back.) These are from Scrapbook.com, as is the background patterned paper and the butterfly stencil used on the background paper. 

To make this card I first used the butterfly stencil with Cloud Whip, which is like stencil paste, but it gets slightly puffy with heat. To add the rub-ons to the front panel, I simply cut them out from the plastic sheet, arranged them and used my bone folder to rub them in place. Each little image is separate. The sentiment is from a new Gina K Designs stamp set. It's stamped it with white craft ink and heat embossed it with white powder.

Here's the inside with another GKD stamped image and another butterfly rub-on.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gina K Designs Fancy Phrases and Birthday Cheer mini sets

Paper: SU Basic White Thick card stock, Scrapbook.com Joyful patterned paper pack

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and white craft inks

Other: Scrapbook.com Joyful Flowers rub-ons, Scrapbook.com butterfly stencil and Cloud Whip, Gina K Designs white embossing powder, Sentiment Strip dies, Master Layouts 2 dies, Misti, Big Shot Switch, heat tool, foam tape

Happy Birthday

 Happy Monday,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. On Saturday we headed to the wine country in Temecula to pickup our Fall allocation from one of the wineries there. We took some lunch and had a glass of wine then made it back to the coast by late afternoon. It was a nice little diversion from the usual Saturday stuff.

I'm cutting it close with my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches entry. I finished this late last night and took the photo before heading out for a walk this morning so I could edit and post. I had a totally different approach in mind for these banners, but then I remembered this C & 9th stamp and die set and here's what I did.

The background is embossed with a Spellbinders embossing folder. I trimmed the panel and matted it before adding the ice cream cones. The cone bases are cut from kraft card stock and ink blended with Warm Cocoa ink and the waffle die is straight kraft card stock. The ice cream is die cut from some older Tim Holtz papers as are the jimmies (or are they sprinkles?) The Happy Birthday stamp is from a different C & 9th stamp set.

Thanks for checking in and have a great week!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps and Die sets by Concord & 9th: Petal Pushers set for the sentiment and Pretty Sweet set for the ice cream dies

Paper: Gina K Designs Ivory, and Black Onyx, Tim Holtz colored card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Warm Cocoa

Other: Spellbinders Birthday Candles embossing folder, Gina K Designs large Sentiment Strip dies, Big Shot Switch, Misti, Connect Glue, Blending brushes, SU dimensionals

PS- Here's what Google has for jimmies Vs sprinkles:

The sprinkles vs. jimmies debate

Though the term sprinkles seems to be more widely used, regionality comes into play when it comes to this ice cream topping. According to Philadelphia’s WHYY publication Billy Penn, the term jimmies is used widely in Pittsburgh and Boston and parts of the Midwest, though sprinkles is heard more in New York.

But it’s not always so cut and dry. A 2006 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee survey reported that some respondents use different terms when it comes to length, color, or application (jimmies on ice cream and sprinkles on donuts, for example). So there you have it :)

Happy Halloween

 Happy Hump Day folks,

Today I have a Halloween card that was super fun to make, and super easy to make. No stamping on this card at all. It's pretty rare for me to make a card without any stamping, but here we have one.

This card works for two challenges this week. The Paper Players challenge is the monthly CAS challenge with a theme of Signs of Fall, and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is called Text It. 

To make this card I started with a slimline card base in thick white card stock. This one measures 8.5 x 3.5 inches. I lined up 4 of the Tim Holtz Bold Text dies from the set down the front, taped them in place and ran it through my die cutting machine. After removing the die cut letters, I ink blended orange ink over the entire front of the panel, then blended black ink around the edges. I glued a piece of black shiny/matte card stock under the front panel, die cut the spider and popped her up over one of the "Os" in BOO!, and covered her body with black Stickles to allow her to stand out a little more.

This was SO fast and easy to make and I love how it turned out. It will go to one of my nephews for their Halloween card.

For the inside, I added another of the text dies, but this time instead of using the negative, I used the letters and another die from another Tim Holtz Halloween die set.

The signs of Fall and Halloween are very obvious around the hood. Everyday on my walk I see more and more skeletons, ghosts, and goblins popping up in trees and yards. It's very festive!

Wishing you all a great day and week,

Colleen

Supplies

Dies: Sizzix-Tim Holtz dies Bold Text Halloween, Spider Web, and Retro Halloween

Paper: Gina K Designs Heavy Weight White, Black Onyx, & Tomato Soup,  SU Pumpkin Pie, and Erin Lee Matte Black card stocks

Ink: Gina K Designs Tangerine Twist, Black Onyx

Other: Blending brushes, Big Shot Switch, Connect glue, black and yellow Stickles, SU mini Dimensionals

Happy Birthday

Hello and Happy Wednesday,

I have the  pleasure of being a Guest Designer for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge today after my card was one of the winners for their 600th sketch celebration a few weeks ago.

I've made a fall themed birthday card using many fun techniques, stamping, ink blending, stenciling, and die cutting. Most of the supplies used to make this card are from Gina K Designs.

Thanks to the FMS ladies for inviting me to play along as a Guest Designer this week. So Much Fun! I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone interprets this sketch. Have fun with it!

On a personal note, Starting today, I'm hanging with my young friends,16 and 13 year old boys, for the rest of this week, so their parents can get away for a little R&R in Chicago. Time for "Auntie" to do some spoiling, LOL.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Fancy Phrases set with coordinating dies by Gina K Designs (from the Fancy Folds card kit)

Paper:  Vanilla, Warm Cocoa, Prickly Pear and Tomato Soup card stock

Ink: Warm Cocoa, Prickly Pear, Tomato Soup, Fresh Asparagus

Other: Decorative Doubles Stencils by Gina K Designs (from the Fancy Folds card kit), GKD Master Layouts 7 dies, GKD blending brushes, Misti, Big Shot Switch, GKD Connect glue, foam tape, SSS gold sequins

Thank You

 Hi,

In today's post I have a couple of cards made using the colors in this week's Paper Players Challenge.  LeAnne is hostess with the months color challenge and she has some great colors perfect for Halloween cards. I took a different route with the colors however, and decided to use a large floral layering stencil from Concord & 9th to make some thank you cards. They are striking, and I really like how they turned out.

After completing the stenciling, I ran the panels through Concord & 9th Stitched card front dies.

The large die cut sentiment is also a Concord & 9th die. I cut it twice from regular black card stock and glued those together. I cut them once again from Erin Lee black shinny card stock and glued these on top of the other two, finally gluing the stacked dies to the front of the card front. A few Gina K Designs black pearls are added around for embellishments.

Simple sentiments make up the inside of the cards.

On this card, I reversed the orange and purple layers, but the Highland Heather shade was a little too light to cover the Pumpkin Pie, so I went over it with a darker shade of purple, in the case GKD Plum Punch ink. I also used a different C&9th Stitched card front die and gold pearls instead of black.

I hope you have a great rest of the week, and thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps & Stencils: Cottage Garden Layering stencils and Lots Of Thoughts stamp set by Concord & 9th

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight White, SU Basic Black, Thick Basic White, Highland Heather, Pumpkin Pie card stock, Erin Lee Shinny Black card stock

Ink: SU Highland Heather, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive & Gina K Designs Black Onyx & Plum Punch

Other: Concord & 9th Quilted Card Front and Triangle Background card front dies, Gina K Designs Pearl Mix, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies,  blending brushes, Big Shot Switch, Misti, Connect glue

Warm Wishes

 Happy Sunday peeps,

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. 

As far as my weekend, yesterday, I made a really cute crossbody belt bag for my friend's birthday coming next month. She put in her order that she wanted one for a European trip she's taking with another friend, also next month. It turned out really nice, if I do say so myself. Since it won't be sent to her for a couple of weeks, I can't post the pictures yet. 

I also did a bunch of laundry while sewing. I wanted to change to the fall bedding, which meant washing both what had been on the bed and what I wanted to put on it, including the down comforter.

Today, it's stamping time until late in the afternoon when we are headed to friends for dinner. My card is for this week's Freshly Made Sketches. A seasonal card to send out with Halloween cards in a week or so.

Front:

Inside:

Thanks for looking, and have a great week ahead.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Pumpkin Spice set with dies from Stamps Of Life (Sept 2023 Let's Stamp Together kit), Harvest Silhouettes Set by Gina K Designs (for inside greeting and image)

Paper: Concord & 9th, Gina K Designs card stock and Concord & 9th patterned paper

Ink: Gina K Designs, Copics

Other: Lots of Circles dies by GKD, Stitched Leaves card front die by Concord & 9th, SU gold gems, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue, Misti, Big Shot Switch