Happy Birthday

 Hi all,

I've mailed my Valentine's Day cards so I'm back to making some birthday cards. Today's card is made using the colors for this week's Paper Players challenge. Ann is hostess with a palette suitable for some pretty stenciled flowers.

The card base is stenciled with the GKD Cobblestone stencil to create a stone background for the window image. After finishing the stenciling, I ran the card base and the stencil through my die cutting machine with the rubber pad, which raised up the stones similar to an embossing folder. 

The window from the GKD Master Layouts 20 die set is cut from SU Lost Lagoon card stock. Behind the window is a panel of Petal Pink card stock then two layers of vellum which are sandwiched between two additional window die cuts to add dimension.

I die cut the flower stock first then used the coordinating layering stencils to add the colors, using all four of Ann's challenge colors. This is popped up with some foam tape over the window image. Finally, I added some enamel dots for embellishments, and a pre-printed sentiment strip for the front greeting.

The inside has one of the stenciled flowers and another birthday sentiment.

Have you been enjoying the Olympics? I've been watching. I love the skiing, snowboarding and the figure skating. It's amazing what some of these athletes can do!

Have a good day,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Cheers To Another Year set by Gina K Designs (inside sentiment)

Paper: SU Lost Lagoon & Peta Pink card stock. Gina K Designs white and black card stock, SU Vellum

Ink: SU Lost Lagoon, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral and Mossy Green. Altenew black, Gina K Soft Stone

Other: Gina K Designs Cobblestone stencil, Fancy Florals Layering stencils and dies, Pre-printed birthday sentiment strip, Sentiment Strip dies, Master Layouts 1 and 20 die sets, pastel enamel dots, Connect glue, foam tape 

Love You

 Happy Monday,

My last Valentine's Day card for 2026, inspired by the current Color Hues challenge of Red and Pink.

I'm using various shades of Concord & 9th reds and pinks card stock with the Concord & 9th Wavy Card Front die. This took several passes of this die to get all of the in-laid pieces and the white frame. After getting all of the pieces  in place I then removed them to run through a Spellbinders heart embossing folder for a little added dimension.

The large die cut sentiment is also from Concord & 9th.

Here's the inside of this card.

Enjoy your week!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: You Are the Best Sentiments set by Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock

Ink: Concord & 9th

Other: Concord & 9th Wavy Card Front die, All the Love set dies, Spellbinders Tiny Heart Scalloped 3D embossing folder

XOXO

 Hello Peeps,

I'm playing with this week's Just Us Girls challenge. This is Die Week with an added theme of hearts. I pulled out various shades of red card stock and an appropriate Valentine's Day cover plate to created this very bright card.

I inlaid some of the mosaic pieces in the center heart but left other cutouts with the under layer showing through. The sentiment dies are cut from red glimmer paper with the shadow layers cut from white glimmer paper.

For the inside, I cut a second heart and used a stamped Valentine's Day sentiment over it.

It's Super Bowl Sunday. Any plans to watch the game? I'm not much of a FB fan, but we're going to friends to watch. It will be a small group and I think most of us are more excited for the pre-game and halftime shows than the game. And, of course, the snacks and wine, LOL.

Enjoy your day,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: You Are the Best set by Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock and SU glimmer papers

Ink: Concord & 9th

Other: Enchanted Heart dies set and Short and Sweet Sentiment dies from Concord & 9th

Happy New Year

 TGIF Peeps,

Yesterday I received a text from a good friend asking if I could make two Lunar New Year's cards for her two teen boys. Of course, I said yes, but then I had to figure out how as I really have nothing stamp wise that would work for the year of the Fire Horse. After looking up images for Fire Horse, I decided my best option was to try finding cut images in the Cricut store. I found two images that I liked, cut them out and then figured out how to use them. In the end, both cards turned out pretty well.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge for one of the cards. The lantern with the horse is the cut file. After gluing it in place, I used a gold metallic pen and colored in the top and bottom areas in the shade. The small stamped sentiment is from Gina K and the year die cuts are from Taylored Expressions.

The second card uses Spellbinders Betterpress Numbers, hot foiled with dark red foil, a gold foiled sentiment, and a Spellbinders embossing folder for the background. The Cricut horse was cut three times, once from white card stock and twice from red. I ink blended the white image and then layered it over the red images with just a little showing as a shadow. After embossing the black background piece, I rubbed gold craft ink over the raised areas.

I used the same images for the inside of both cards. The fireworks images are from Gina K and the sentiment is Spellbinders.

I think these will work for my friend to give to her boys.

Enjoy the weekend. Lot's of sports on TV with the Olympics starting today and then the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Party Time mini set by Gina K Designs and Nature's Dance by Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs and Concord & 9th card stock, misc asian patterned papers

Ink: Gina K Designs, Concord & 9th, Lisa Horton Cloud 9 gold

Other: Cricut Machine cut files, Spellbinders Mono Line embossing folder, Taylored expressions number dies, Spellbinders Betterpress numbers with dies, Spellbinders hot foils, blending brushes, gold metallic pen

Hello Friend

 Hello and Happy Monday Peeps,

Another Valentine's Day card to share today and I'm playing along with two challenges. This week's challenge at Just Us Girls is CASE the DT and I decided to case Elizabeth's very colorful rows of rainbows card. As it's "love month," I used hearts instead of rainbows, which makes this card work well for Claire's "Love Is In the Air" theme challenge for Paper Players.

The hearts come from an older SU Cut & Embossing folder called Adorable Hearts. I don't think I've used it before. The greeting, the papers, and the inks are from Concord & 9th. The background embossing folder is from Spellbinders.

I kept the inside very simple with just a greeting.

Wishing you all a creative and relaxing week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: You Are the Best set by Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock and patterned papers in Watermelon, Creamsickle, Wild Berry and white

Ink: Gina K Designs white craft, Connord & 9th Watermelon and Wild Berry

Other: Stampin' Up Adorning Hearts Cut & Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Petite Tuft 3D embossing folder, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder

Hey There Cutie

Happy Sunday,

Looks like it's Valentine's season around blog-land and I've got a card inspired  by a couple of challenges for you today. I'm using the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches and the colors from the current Sunday Stamps.

This is a Valentine's Day card for my little 2 y/o great niece. I think she'll like the fringe, plus the sentiment fits her perfectly.

I've paired SU card stock and old DSP with a Concord & 9th stamp and die set from a few years ago. 

The fringe was simple to make as I have the C&9th die just for that. I was originally going to use alternating plain card stock, but then thought of using the DSP instead and I like the way it turned out. 

Here's the inside of the card.

Now I need to come up with a card for her 3 y/o brother. I'm thinking of one of the Spellbinders monster dies from last year. We'll see.

Hope the rest of your weekend is relaxing.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Heart Box set and dies from Concord & 9th

Paper: Stampin' Up Lovely Lipstick, Crumb Cake and Basic White card stock and All My Love DSP

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Copics

Other: Concord & 9th Happy Heart Box dies, Fringe die, SU enamel hearts and flowers, twine

Another Birthday?

Hello all,

I'm playing along with the January 2026 edition of Woodblock Wednesday today. The monthly challenge where Amy gives us the motivation to use our neglected wood mounted rubber stamps. I'm always ready to play along each month.

I've got a punny birthday card today using stamps from Uptown Rubber Stamps and Penny Black. 

I started by finding some background patterned papers in my stash. I paired these with a floral embossing folder from Honey Bee. After stamping the topiary image, I colored it with Copics and mounted it on an espresso frame, cut with a Pink Fresh Studio die. The flowers under the sentiment are from SU.

I split up the sentiment with part on the front and the rest on the inside below. It cracks me up!

Hope you enjoy your Thursday evening and the upcoming weekend.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Topiary stamp from Uptown Rubber Stamps and sentiment stamp from Penny Black

Paper: SU Espresso, Gina K Designs white, Pebbles Treehouse patterned paper

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copic markers

Other: Kaleidoscope 3D Embossing Folder from Honey Bee, Folk Edge Square dies from Pink Fresh Studio, enamel flowers from Stampin' Up, 

Happy Birthday

Happy Hump Day Peeps,

My Bestie got me a Waffleflower gift card back in July for my birthday and I sat on it until this month when the January release caught my eye. I ordered several fun things, including a few of the newest Postage Collage stencils. (Stenciling has become my favorite lately.)

I've used one of the new stencils to make my card for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Jaydee is our hostess with a fun sketch and this new Peony stencil fit her sketch very well. In addition to the Paper Players challenge, it's Anything Goes Stencil week at Just Us Girls so this card works for that challenge too.

I added lots of layers to this card using some older SU dies and a Spellbinders 3D embossing folder. The sentiment strip is a preprinted one from Gina K.

For the inside of the card I used a Gina K stamp, my favorite for birthdays, and another stenciled peony.

Here are a couple of cards made with my new Postage Collage stencil packs. The stamps are also part of the Postage Collage line from Waffleflower.

I couldn't resist these kitties :)

This is the Peony Postage Collage stencil.

Enjoy your Wednesday afternoon!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gentle Silhouettes set by Gina K Designs, Postage Collage Stamps by Waffleflower

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Waffleflower NPC Peony stencil pack, Postage Collage Meow stencil pack, and Postage Collage Peony stencil pack, Waffleflower Postage Collage Die set, Stampin' Up Scalloped Contours Die set, Spellbinders Petite Bow 3D Embossing Folder, Gina K Designs pre-printed sentiment and Sentiment Strip dies, Blending Brushes, foam tape, Connect Glue

Daisy Garden Window Cards

Hi Peeps,

It's "Anything Goes Stencil Week" at Just Us Girls. I used a new to me stencil set from Concord & 9th to create two 5" x 7" cards.

Using a couple of Gina K Master Layouts die sets, a SSS 3D embossing folder, and a SSS background stamp I made two slightly different window cards.

Card one is a birthday card. I cut the arched window 5 times and layered them together as well as cutting small pieces of foam tape to pop it up over the flower background.

Here's the inside of card one. I used the leftover piece of the stenciled panel for added color along with the GKD sentiments.

Here's card two, a friendship card. I cut this window die five times as well, and also popped it up with pieces of foam tape.

The inside of card two has the same layout as card one.

Enjoy your Tuesday evening! Thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Sweet Garden Background stamp by Simon Says Stamp, Sending Flowers set (outside sentiments), Filled With Sunshine Mini set, Birthday Cheer Mini Set and Floral Friendship set all by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Daisy Bouquet Stencil Pack from Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th, Simon Says Stamp Stacked Blooms embossing folder, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 8, 17 and 20 dies, Blending brushes, foam tape, Connect glue

Love & Support

 Hello,

Today's card uses a stamp set and stencil set from Concord & 9th, designed by Kristina Werner. I love her designs and seem to not be able to resist buying a few each month.

I've used this week's Freshly Made Sketches layout, popping the circle elements behind the lily. 

Both the front and inside sentiments are from the Lily stamp set. I heat embossed the front sentiment on vellum with black embossing powder. The background is stenciled and I used the corresponding coloring stencils to color the lily element.

Here's the inside, very simple.

I'll add this condolences card to my stash. 

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Long Line Lilies by Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th, Gina K Designs Vellum

Ink: Concord & 9th, Gina K Designs embossing ink

Other: Florence Stencil pack by Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th, SSS A2 Scalloped Rectangle dies, Brutus Monroe black embossing powder, blending brushes, Spellbinders Scalloped circle dies

Let It Snow

 Happy Hump Day Peeps,

Yet another Winter Themed challenge for this week, and I have a fun card to share. This is a CASE of a card I saw in Yana's IG gallery from way back in 2022. 

Joanne is hostess for CAS week and her theme is Signs of Winter for the Paper Players.. I've made a single layer card with just stamping and a little Copic coloring. I've used four different GKD stamp sets, but I really like how fun it turned out. I especially like the green and pink colors.

Here's the inside.

It's more tennis watching for me this morning, oh, and some laundry. I hope your day is a good one.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Winter Wishes, Christmas Cheer, Stay Cozy, and Warmer With You sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Heavy card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Bubblegum Pink and Copic markers

Other: Shimmery Crystal Effects over the heart and snowman's hat

Winter Wishes

Hello Peeps,

I'm playing along with another winter themed challenge today. This time it's for the Inspired By Challenge where the theme is some yummy looking Winter Treats. The sketch is also interesting and I've used it as well to make my card.

The small flags are cut from a teal and lavender ink blended panel. The heat embossed snowflakes are popped up on some punched out circles. I arranged the flags on a dry embossed snowflake card front per the sketch, and added some lavender enamel dots to the tops of the flags.

For the inside of the card, I used another winter sentiment and stamped some of the snowflakes in lavender and teal.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Folk Art Christmas and Snowflake Kisses sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: My Favorite Things Flag Banner dies, SU small circle punch, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder. Gina K Designs Snowflake embossing folder and pastel enamel embellishments

Stay Cozy

 Happy Monday,

Hi Peeps. I have a card for you this morning that is inspired by two challenges. First, I'm squeaking in under the wire this morning with my card entry for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. Second, the theme for my card comes from this week's Mood Board Challenge at Just Us Girls. It's a nice wintry mood board with many choices for inspiration. I took the easy route and used all of the pretty trees and greens, but I added a touch of red too.

The stamp set is titled Stay Cozy, which I used for my front sentiment, and it's from Gina K. I decided to use some patterned paper for the background and horizontal element. I really need to use some of my mass accumulation more often!

Here's the inside with a deer image and another sentiment from the Stay Cozy stamp set.

I've enjoyed watching the first two days of the Australian Open matches this week.  More of the same for me later this evening and I think I'll see if I can crochet now that I'm not wearing the brace for my wrist, and I did get the okay from the Physical Therapist, which is probably the important piece, LOL.

Have a great Monday,

Colleen