Make A Wish

Happy Labor Day Peeps,

I've been enjoying a weekend of US Open Tennis and some crafting too. I hope you all have had a very enjoyable weekend as well.

I'm again squeaking in a card at the last minute , this time with my card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. This sketch made me think, LOL, but I finally decided on some birthday candles.

The candles are from Concord & 9th and the background is a Polyglaze background from Gina K Designs that I hot foiled with rainbow deco foil. The foil has tiny stars in it too. The sentiment is embossed with black embossing powder.

The inside sentiment is also heat embossed with black embossing powder over a piece of the foiled stars. The sentiment is from the same Concord & 9th set as the front dies and sentiment.

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Make a Wish stamp and die set by Concord & 9th

Paper: Gina K Designs white and black card stock, Concord & 9th metallic card stock and SU gold glitter card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs embossing ink

Other: Gina K Designs Starstruck Polyglaze card front, rainbow Deco foil, Fuze foiling machine, black embossing powder, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies

Happy Owl-O-ween

 TGIF Peeps,

I'm just squeaking in my card for this week's Paper Players challenge. Jaydee has a fun sketch this week and I've used it to make a fun Halloween card. (It will be time to send them out before we know it.)

The stamps are from Taylored Expressions and are fairly old.

As you can see, I rotated the sketch to fit the stamps. I originally thought I'd make a gate fold card, but decided to just make a regular landscape design. The papers are from my stash of fall paper scraps. I used a Gina K Designs cloud stencil to make the cloudy background.

For the inside I used another Taylored Expressions Halloween stamp.

Thanks for checking in. Wishing everyone in the U.S. a fun and relaxing Labor Day long weekend. I'll be hanging in watching US Open Tennis and a little baseball.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Owl-o-ween and Trick Or Treat sets by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Gina K Designs Kraft and Tangerine Twist card stock, misc patterned papers

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copics

Other: Gina K Designs cloud stencil, Master Layouts 13 dies, Simon Says Stamp Nested Domed Arch dies, Glossy Effects

Birds and Butterflies in Red and Blue

TGIF Peeps,

The current Color Hues challenge is red and blue. Initially, I had pulled out some of the recent nautical dies from my Spellbinders collection to use, but then totally switched gears. I was looking through my stencils and embossing folders for a background and ran across an older Taylored Expessions stencil that makes four card fronts at once, with images of birds, flowers and butterflies. I decided to see how they looked in red and blue. The colors may be a little unexpected for these images, but I kind of like how they turned out.

The TE stencil set came with some pre-printed strip sentiments. I hot foiled them with some red foil to use on the cards then added some embellishments to each card. 

Enjoy your weekend,

Colleen

Supplies

Fit and Flutter Bundle by Taylored Expressions includes layering stencils, dies, strip sentiments

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Taylored Expressions Burlap embossing folder, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, Fuse Foiling System, Red Velvet hot foil, misc embellishments

Trick or Treat

Hello all,

Elizabeth has a super fun Clean and Simple challenge for this week's Paper Players called Critters. Now, I have no shortage of critter images, so the hard part was deciding which to use. I finally settled on this cute Trick or Treater die from Spellbinders, and popped him onto a stenciled background.

I'd give him lots of treats, wouldn't you? This is a sweet, small die set and very easy to put together.

For the inside of the card, I used a Spellbinders clear stamps set from las year.

Enjoy your evening. I'm waiting for the finals of the Mixed Doubles special at this year's US Open. I watched the matches yesterday and they were indeed fun. Looked as if the players enjoyed this new addition to the tournament as well.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps:  Autumn Wishes set by Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs 

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Spellbinders Colorful Pumpkins stencil set, Woof-or-Treat die set, Hoppy Halloween (front sentiment) die set.

Make A Splash

Hi and Happy Monday Peeps,

It's been a minute since my last post. Not much stamping/paper crafting going on here lately. Instead, I've been doing some crocheting (baby blanket) and quilting. Both of those projects were completed on Friday. Over the weekend, I pulled up the Freshly Made Sketches challenge to get back to stamping.

I thought that some of the Spellbinders August sets would work well for the circle theme of the sketch. I ended up with a cute birthday card and since the current Just Us Girls  Word Week challenge is Birthday, this card works for that as well.

The background of fishes is the Betterpress plate the month. They are inked with yellow, orange, teal, bright blue and dark blue. The circle element is from the Gina K Designs Master Layouts #16 die set, cut from silver card stock and I added some blue gems around the edge. I also cut the center from vellum card stock so that the fish can be seen through, then popped the scuba diver on the vellum. The scuba diver is from the Small Die of the month, and the sentiment is from the clear stamp set of the month, all Spellbinders.

Here's a peak of the inside of the card using more dies from the Small Die set and a birthday greeting from a older Spellbinders stamp set.

Wishing everyone a great week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Paper Splash by Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock and vellum, & Tim Holtz metallic card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Spellbinders Fish Parade Betterpress plate, The Deep Blue Two die set. Gina K Designs Master Layouts 12 and 16., SU blue gems, Spellbinders Betterpress system

You're Pretty COOL

Hey Peeps,

It's time for another fun Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Jen M. is hostess and her sketch inspired this fun popsicle card. There's been so many "Christmas In July" cards around IG and the blogs that I needed some more summer. When I saw Jen's sketch, I immediately knew that I'd use this older Concord & 9th Turnabout set with the large popsicle die.

 

I've used some bright, fruity C&9th ink colors and card stock to add to the summery feel. 

For the inside, I used a piece of the front panel that was trimmed off and another sentiment image from the same turnabout set.

Enjoy your weekend! I'll be in Cooperstown, NY for the baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies with my sister and nephew.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Cool Treats Turnabout stamp set by Concord  & 9th

Paper:  Concord & 9th

Ink: Concord & 9th and Gina K Designs craft white

Other: Brutus Monroe white embossing powder, Spellbinders Citrus embossing folder

You + Me

 Hello, 

My CAS card for LeAnne's "things with wheels" challenge at the Paper Players. I pulled out my favorite friends, Gus and Gertie, heading out for a road trip. 

First, I stenciled a rainbow for the background with red, orange and yellow. I stamped the car and friends image on another piece of card stock and colored it with green and blue, cut it out and layered it over the rainbow. The rainbow colors were completed with purple hearts on the large arch. I colored in the pebbled road and called it done.

The inside uses one of the other images from the Ride On set. I just love this line by Taylored Expressions.!

I'm off to upstate NY tomorrow bright and early. I'm meeting my sister and nephew at the Albany airport, then we are headed to Cooperstown for the HOF induction weekend. Should be amazing for us BB fans!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Ride On stamp set by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Neenah Solar white card stock and retired SU DSP (inside mat)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K Designs and Copics

Other: Rainbow stencil by Paper Smooches, blending brushes

Happy Birthday

 Happy Hump Day Peeps,

I was looking through my boxes of SU patterned papers for some beehive images yesterday and while doing so, I ran across this very old Botanical Gazette DSP. There's a hive on one of the pages that I could use for the other card, and then I saw these moth and flower images that looked like they would be great for vintage style cards. Now, I'm pretty crappy at doing vintage, but I decided to give it a try. After finishing the card this morning, I realized it would fit with the current Mood Board challenge for Just Us Girls.

I tore a couple of edges of the DSP and blended some Dark Sage ink over them. I then stamped some images from the SSS Butterfly Blossoms set around using Charcoal Brown ink. Another piece of the DSP has moths scattered around and I used some postage dies from Waffle Flower to cut them out. They are arranged around the front of the card, an I added some gold dots to finish.

For the inside I used my current favorite "inside" birthday sentiment with a left over moth cutout.

This afternoon I'll be packing for a trip to NY tomorrow. My nephew, my sister and I are going to the Base Hall Of Fame Inductions in Cooperstown this weekend. My nephew's all time favorite player is being inducted. He really wanted to go and since I'm a huge BB fan too, I was all in, then my sister (his mom) decided to join us.

Have a great afternoon,

Colleen

Supplies

 Stamps: Butterfly Blossoms set by Simon Says Stamp and Gentle Silhouettes set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Ivory and Dark Sage card stock, SU Botanical Gazette DSP

Ink: Gina K Designs Dark Sage and Charcoal Brown

Other: Waffle Flower Postage dies, Spellbinders Sealed Twine die, Gina K Designs metallic pearl embellishments and blending brushes

Two From One Botanical Cards

 Hello,

I'm playing with the Mood Board Inspiration from this week's Just Us Girls challenge. When I saw the inspiration photo, it reminded me of those Botanical posters you see in museums and other gift shops. After thinking about the direction to take my card, I decided to re-create the inspiration photo using stamps from my stash. The stamps are all from various Gina K. sets, both regular size and her mini sets. The flora wasn't hard, and turns out the garden critters weren't either. Here's the pretty mood board.

I started with a half sheet of white card stock and stamped three rows of the larger images using GKD inks then filled in areas with the tiny stamps. Since this was a 5.5 x 8.5 inch panel, I cut it in half to then decide on the card layouts, ending up with the same layout for both. Just different colors, sentiments and embossing folders.

I have several wax seal stamps from Spellbinders from participating in the clubs, but I don't use them often (not at all!), and so I tried them here. The embossing folders are also from Spellbinders and the arch die is from the SSS Nested Arch Die set.

Here's the inside of the card above. The front sentiment is from the Spellbinders Field Notes bundle, as is the "on your birthday" on the inside. The rest of the inside sentiment is from GKD.

A fun project for sure, and I had stamp sets piled all over my desk when I finished, LOL.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Many Gina K Designs floral sets and Gentle Silhouettes set for sentiments. Field Notes bundle from Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Simon Says Stamp Nested Arch dies, Spellbinders Field Notes and Floral Fence 3D embossing folders, Spellbinders wax and wax seal stamps, Spellbinders Sealed Twine die,  Gina K Designs blending brushes, SU twine, Simon Says Stamp pink sequins, Gina K Designs Pastel disk embellishments, Connect glue, foam tape 

Merry Christmas

Hello Peeps!

Happy Monday. I have a bright and blingy holiday card today that I made for the soon to end Freshly Made Sketches challenge, so I need to make this blog post a short one.

I was playing with some of Gina K.'s polyglaze background panels the other day and made the two used on this card. Over the weekend I decided to use them with Jen's sketch to add to this years holiday card stash.

I've pared these sparkly panels with some sparkly retro trees from the SSS Bottlebrush Tree dies. I've cut them from some Tim Holtz Metallic papers and added some Gina K. Disco Ball sequins. The Merry Christmas die is also from GKD.

Here's the inside where I've used the panel that the oval was cut from for the front mat and a sentiment and die from Stamps Of Life.

Hope your weekend was Grand!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps:  Flip-It Merry Christmas Add-on set by Stamps of Life (inside)

Paper: Gina K Designs and Tim Holtz Metallic card stocks

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Gina K Designs Polyglaze card front panels, Deco foil, Merry Christmas die, Master Layouts 12 dies, Disco Ball sequins, Simon Says Stamp Bottlebrush Tree dies, Nested Oval dies

Happy Birthday To You!

 TGIF Peeps,

I've been lazy this morning, scrolling through IG posts of my favorite crafts. It's dangerous because it makes me spend $$$, LOL, but SO MANY great ideas.

Yesterday afternoon, I played around with shapes for this card inspired by Bonnie's Yellow and Green challenge for Color Hues. This card is CASE'D from Spellbinders Modern Botanicals Collection and Bonnie Carollee. I don't have any of the Spellbinders supplies, but I managed to combine from mine to make this card. I kind of love it!

I used three sizes of circle masks and various stencils from Gina K., MFT, Paper Smooches and Honey Bee. The ink colors I used are Gina K. Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover. 

To make the branch, I first foiled a piece of Gina K. Polyglaze with Lucky Clover foil, let it cool well (that's the secret) and pulled off the top clear layer. I then cut out the branch, which is the SSS Tattered Leaves die. I cut two more from scrap card stock and glued the three layers together for dimension. 

The greeting is pre-printed Polyglaze from Gina K. I foiled it with Wild Dandelion foil and cut it out with its corresponding die. Finally, I added the three harlequin diamonds from the MFT stencil next to the top and bottom circles, then some green and yellow sequins for added sparkle.

Here's the inside of this card, which uses images from the Gina K. set called Gentle Silhouettes. I really like the sentiment and I've used it many times.

I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gina K Designs Gentle Silhouettes set

Paper: Gina K Designs White Layering and Wild Dandelion card stock and black Polyglaze sheets

Ink: Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover

Other: Gina K Designs Deco foils in Wild Dandelion and Lucky Clover, Master Layouts 12 dies, Graceful Greetings Polyglaze sentiments and corresponding die, Fuze Foiling Machine. Circle masks, Stencils from My Favorite Things, Honey Bee, Gina K Designs, and Paper Smooches, Simon Says Stamp Tattered Leaves die, SSS sequins

Sending Happy Thoughts

Hello all,

Ann has a pretty pallet for this week's color challenge for the Paper Players. I made three cards, all with flowers, as that was what these colors seemed to inspire. I picked my favorite to post for the challenge.

I cut a FreshFreesia panel with a stitched rectangle die, then cut the window from the Pretty Peacock. The flowers are cut from white and I ink blended them with the three colors using light and dark inking. The sentiment is heat embossed with white ep. While it's a little hard to tell in the photo, I ran some vellum through a SSS 3D floral embossing folder, glued the window to it and trimmed off the excess before gluing the window to the panel. IRL, the velum is much more visible.

The inside is simply stamped with some sentiments from both SSS and Honey Bee.

I hope your week has been going well. We went to dinner last evening to celebrate my birthday, a BIG one, LOL. It was low key, just us and our good friends plus my nephew who is in San Diego for a conference. 

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: XL Greetings and Beautiful Butterflies sets by Simon Says Stamp. Inside Birthday Sentiments set by Honey Bee

Paper: SU card stocks in Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, Pretty Peacock, Basic White, and vellum

Ink: SU Lemon Lolly, Fresh Freesia, & Pretty Peacock, Gina K Designs craft white

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts die sets 1, 12, and 20. Simon Says Stamp Rustic Layering Flower dies, Simon Says Stamp Crimped Floral 3D embossing folder, Nuvo glitter pen, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue

Circles and More Circles

Hello and Happy Thursday Peeps,

Stef is the hostess for the current Paper Players challenge, the monthly theme challenge. Stef has decided on circles. I may have gone a little over board making circle cards, but I sure had some fun.

I ended up making three cards. The third was unplanned. More about it later.

The first two planned cards are holiday cards. The July Monthly Mix challenge on the Gina K Facebook page is "Christmas In July," and I wanted a card to enter over there. When looking through my GKD Holiday sets, I came up with two ideas, hence, the two cards. 

Card 1: This is a 5x7" card using all GKD supplies.

Front:

Inside:

 Card 2, also using all GKD Supplies. (I was going for that retro feel, bright colors and metallics.)

Front:

 Inside:

Card three's story. You see the vellum circle on the front of card two? I originally cut a larger one to use, but decided it was too big and cut the smaller one. I have a box with misc. geometric shapes (which I'm sure all of us do) and when I opened it to pitch the larger circle in, I saw these circle leaf die cuts. Hmmm, circles. Wonder what I can do with those?

Here's card 3: My bestie that lives in Sacramento had back surgery yesterday, so this will be in the mail for her later today.

Front:

Inside:

So yes, a little over board with the circles. Two more holiday cards for the stash is good though. Now to choose which one to post to Stef's challenge.

My nephew that lives in Minneapolis is coming to San Diego for a conference that starts Monday. He is flying in tomorrow evening to spend the weekend with his Auntie. We will be going to the Padre game on Sunday afternoon. Not sure what else, but it will be great to spend time with him none-the-less.

Colleen

Supplies - cards 1 and 2

Stamps: Penguin Pals, Christmas Cheer, Blizzard, and Graphic Tree Mini sets all by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs 

Ink: Gina K Designs & Copic Markers

Other: Gina K Designs Snowflakes embossing folder, Crop Circles stencil Polyglaze snowflakes background panels, Silver embossing powder, Master Layouts 2 and 3, Stitched circle dies

Supplies - card 3

Stamps: Gina K Designs Graceful Greetings and So Many Sentiments sets

Paper: Gina K Designs Card stock and Erin Lee mat black card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Simon Says Stamp circle stencil, Pink Fresh Studio Floral Circle dies, Gina K Designs Master Layoouts 3 dies

Smiles!

 Hello to all,

I hope that you've had a relaxing weekend. I've been watching lots of tennis, Wimbledon, and making cards like crazy. It's great to have these things to keep me occupied as I can't go out and about for a few more days after having some facial surgery last Tuesday. There's still swelling and bruising, and not to pleasing to look at. I had a very small melanoma removed from the side of my nose. I found it very early, so no additional worries.

Carol Mc at Just Us Girls has the die cut challenge this week with a theme of summer. I recently received some new stamp sets and dies from Lawn Fawn and I thought this Summer Friends set was perfect for the challenge.

I started by stenciling a large sun on the card base as a landing for the drink images that are popped onto postage die cuts. I used some 1/8" Masking Magic strips to block off the scalloped edges of the postage dies before blending bright yellow ink around the outer edges.

The front sentiment is continued on the inside of the card. The inside water melon and sentiment images are from the LF Summer Friends set. The die cut sun is from the GKD Master Layouts 6 die set. I cut it from both orange and yellow card stock and layered the orange rays between the yellow, then added one of the smiles from the LF set.

I get my stitches out tomorrow which should help with the swelling, etc.

I hope you al have a great week ahead!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Summer Friends stamp set by Lawn Fawn

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copic markers

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1, 6 and 15, Gina K Designs Sea, Sun and Sky  stencil, Masking Magic strips, blending brushes, foam squares