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

Party Like A Sea Caption

 

Happy Weekend Folks,

My card today is inspired by two challenges. The colors come from the current Color Throwdown challenge no. 836. The colors are kraft, orange and fushia, and I've used this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge no. 693 for the layout. I rotated Amy's sketch to fit my idea for this fun ocean themed card, with somewhat unexpected colors. (think a really great sunset, LOL).

Most of the dies, stamps and stencils are from Spellbinders June 2025 clubs. I love all of the fun sentiments in the June club's clear stamp set. 

On the front of the card base, I've used one of the stencils in the June stencil pack. I used the layering stencils from the pack on the inside of this card below, along with another sentiment from the June clear stamp set of the month.

I need a couple of birthday cards for later this month and this will be one of them. 

Enjoy your Saturday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Anchors Away stamp set from Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs Kraft, Ivory, Tangerine and Passionate Pink card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Kraft, Tangerine, Passionate Pink

Other: Rolling Tide Layering stencils, Sailors Designs Large Die set, Set Sail small die set, and Essential Oval Dies all from Spellbinders, clear sequin embellishments

Red and White

 Hello and TGIF,

Also, happy July 4th to those in the USA. Nothing planned here except watching Wimbledon tennis and some Padres baseball later this afternoon, then at 9 pm, going to friends to watch the fireworks at the SD County Fair. Our friend's house over looks the area where the fireworks go off, so great views of them.

Yesterday, I did a little multi-tasking while watching the tennis matches and made some red and white cards for the new Color Hues challenge. This new-ish Gina K Designs set seemed perfect for these colors. It's called Home is Where the Heart Is and it's has some pseudo cross-stitched images that I thought would look great in red and white.

I made two cards, exactly the same except for the focal stamped images and front sentiments..

The background is made using the GKD Linen background stamp. It and the shadow layer are cut out using the GKD Master Layouts 1 die set. The greetings are from the same set as the focal images. I stamped them with white craft ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. They are cut out with flag dies from ML2 dies.

I decided to add some more dimension and ran the centers through the GKD Swiss Dot embossing folder. 

I used more images, sentiment and flowers, from the stamp set for the inside of the cards. Also the same for both.

Enjoy your day and weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Home is Where the Heart Is set and Linen Background stamp by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Red Velvet, Cherry Red and White Craft, Copic Markers to color embroidery hoop

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 and 2 die sets, Gina K Designs Swiss Dot embossing folder, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder

4th of July

 Hello,

I hope your week has been going well. I'm recovering from some minor skin surgery to remove a melanoma from the side of my nose. The surgery was on Tuesday. Luckily, I noticed the discoloration and made an appointment before it had any chance to go deeper. Because of the area on my face, there is a rather large incision, but as it's a Mohs procedure, I don't expect much scaring. I have much swelling and bruising, but that will go away in a few days. I feel rather lucky as it could have been much more involved.

I've had no pain and today I felt like doing some crafting. I decided to make one more card to enter at the Paper Players for this week's Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. This time I used the bottom horizontal choice of Postal-Layers-Masculine and made a fun 4th of July card.

These stamps, stencils and dies are from the Waffle Flower postage line and are very fun.

Wishing you all a very Happy 4th of July!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps, Layering Stencils, Dies: Waffle Flower

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Brutus Monroe white embossing powder