Thank You, You're the Best

Helloooo Peeps! 

Long time without posting on my blog, or stamping for that matter.  We were visiting friends in the New England area for six weeks and returned home this past Wednesday. 

It took a few days to get settled. By yesterday afternoon I was ready to pull out some stamps, paper and ink and get my fingers inky again, LOL. I decided to start off with Jan's challenge at The Paper Players. It's always a good one! Jan has a color challenge this week and I paired the colors with the September 2026 Let's Stamp Together kit, designed by Gina K.

To start making my card I ink blended Granny Apple and Azure inks onto a scrap white panel. Next I used the LST kit stencil and sponged some water through so that some of the ink was removed and the stencil design was visible.

I stamped all of the leaf designs using Crumb Cake ink, repeating the stamping to get the ink nice and dark and followed by stamping embossing ink over the images and heat embossing with clear powder. Some of the images were stamped on the coordinating colored CS and some on white paper and then ink blended with the blue and green shades.

Both of the sentiments are heat embossed with clear EP as well.

I used some torn strips of Crumb Cake CS to make a border for the stenciled panel, arranged the shapes and sentiments, then glued them all down. For a little sparkle, I used some Pink Fresh Studio gems in copper among the leaves.

I left the inside blank to write a personal message, adding a little ink blending using the stencil and added a couple of left over leaves.

I'm actually heading out of town for another couple of weeks, beginning on Thursday. This time I'm going to Northern California to visit my mom and sister, and to meet my second Great Niece, born on 10/02.

Hope you enjoy your week!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps, Dies and Stencil: September 2026 Let's Stamp Together kit designed by Gina K.

Paper: Stampin' Up

Ink: Stampin' Up

Other: Clear embossing powder, heat tool, Pink Fresh Studio gems, SU Deckle Edge rectangle dies

So Very Thankful

Hello Peeps,

It is a gorgeous day here on the SoCal coast. I went for a walk around 7 am and it was very foggy, our natural air conditioning, but now it's a super blue sky with a nice ocean breeze coming in the window of my craft room.

My card today is made using inspiration from the current Just Us Girls challenge. It's Mood Board Week and it's a very pretty picture. I mostly used the sunflowers as my inspiration, but I did pull in the teal color from the butterfly wings. 

I started by using the GKD Sunflower Garden Layering stencils. After finishing the stenciling, I splattered some Guppy Lunar paste and gold water color over it. This is layered under a piece of wood grained patterned paper that I cut a circle from so the stenciled panel shows through. The stamped and die cut sunflowers layered around the circle are from the GKD Breath of Sunshine stamp and die set as are the front and inside greetings. Embellishments are some teal enamel dots and a twine bow.

Here's the inside.

I'm looking forward to watching the women's and men's Cincy Open Tennis finals later today. Enjoy your Sunday afternoon!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Breath of Sunshine set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock and stash patterned paper

Ink: Gina K Designs, Spellbinders gold water color pot

Other: Gina K Designs Sunflower Garden Layering stencil, Master Layouts 12 dies, Single Stitched circle dies. Simon Hurley Guppy Lunar Paste, Concord & 9th enamel dots, SU twine,  

Stay Cool

TGIF! 

I've had a very relaxing day watching tennis, the Cincy Open, and doing some stamping while watching.

The current Color Hues challenge colors are yellow and orange and I wanted to see what I could come up with for them. I figured using bright color shades would make a great summer card while using more muted shades would work great for a fall card. As I'm not ready to give up on summer quite yet, I made a fun "beachy" summer birthday card. I've used the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge for my layout.

The sunglasses dies are from Concord & 9th. The palm trees are from one Gina K.'s silhouette stamp sets and the sun is made with a Gina K. stencil. The sunglasses are cut from yellow, orange and black glossy card stock as are the tiny orange and yellow hearts, which are part of the C&9th die set.

For the inside, I used sentiments from both the C&9th set and the Gina K. set.

Enjoy your Friday evening and weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Spectacular Shades stamp and die set by Concord & 9th, Ocean Silhouettes stamp set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock and Scrapbook.com Glossy card stock

Ink: Altenew and Simon Says Stamp

Other: Sun Spots Stencil by Gina K Designs, Essential Diamond Dies by Spellbinders, Waffle Flower blending brushes, Connect liquid glue

Your the Pumpkin Spice In My Latte

Hello Peeps,

Here's a fun fall card inspired by Claire's The Paper Players challenge, called Looking Forward to Fall. To make my card, I pulled out some older stamp sets. The latte and the sentiment images are from Lawn Fawn and the leaves are from Gina K Designs.

Here is the inside.

Have a great Friday and weekend everyone! Thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Pumpkin Spice set by Lawn Fawn and Layered Leaves set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock and plaid paper

Ink: Concord & 9th and Copics

Other: Circles Windows Plate, Master Layouts 2, and Sentiment Strip dies by Gina K Designs

Just A Note

 Hello Peeps!

Stef has a pretty color challenge for this week's Paper Players challenge and I thought it might be fun to make a little birdie card with them. I'm also using the sketch from the current Sunday Stamps challenge.

This stamp, stencil and die set is the July 2026 Let's Stamp Together bundle designed by Pretty Pink Posh. I used the stencils for the background and the bird and branch dies to make my card today. I've also used a GKD cloud stencil for the background on the bird panel.

There are two sentiments in the included stamp set and I've used one on the front of the card and the other on the inside here.

Hope your Wednesday is a good one. Thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps, Background stencils, Notched Corner panel die, and bird dies from the July 2026 Let's Stamp Together kit

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Gina K Designs Cloud stencil, Master Layouts 2 and 10, blending brushes

Happy Brunch-day!

Hello Peeps,

It's been a "minute" since I've posted on my blog. Actually, this is the first card that I've made since May! Life and other things got in my way, but I'm happy to finally be back to paper crafting.

I thought I'd start with a couple of challenges. This card fits with this week's Anything Goes Die challenge at Just Us Girls, and I've used the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

The background embossing folder and the die set are both from Spellbinders. I used a piece of pastel orange glossy card stock in the embossing folder then brayered some darker ink over the raised areas. The background uses the negative side of the embossing folder and the banner die is the positive side of the folder. All of the die cuts are cut from white card stock and then colored using blending brushes and various SSS Pawsitively Saturated inks.

On the inside I used a sentiment from a Spellbinders stamp set and another image from the Spellbinders die set. (All of these images are too cute!)

Hope your weekend was a good one and not too hot. Thanks for looking in!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Go To Girl set by Spellbinders (Clear Stamp of the Month 11/25)

Paper: Scrapbook.com pastel glossy card stock, Gina K Designs white layering and heavy weights and black onyx card stocks

Ink: Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks

Other: Spellbinders Petite Tuft 3D embossing folder, Spellbinders Let's Do Brunch die set (Small Die set of the Month 11/25) MFT Banner die, Spellbinders gold dots, Tim Holtz Brayer

Forever and Always

 Hello Peeps,

I hope your week is going well. I've got a floral wedding card for you today using LeAnne's sketch for the Paper Players challenge. 

All of the supplies used to make this card are from Gina K Designs except the yellow sequins. The floral stamp set comes with coloring stencils and I did use those with blending brushes to color the stamped images. The large white die cut lattice is from one of the Master Layouts die sets as is the circle dies. I use two embossing folders, one for the yellow panel behind the white lattice and the other to add some dimension on the right side of the card front.

Here's the inside, just a simple stamped sentiment.

We do have a wedding to attend but not until September. I haven't decided if this card will be for that or just go to the stash.

Enjoy your day.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All from Gina K Designs, Hand Picked Flowers set, Sweet Sentiments set, and Wishful Florals set

Paper: Gina K Designs white layering, Lemon Yellow and PeachBellini card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Gina K Designs Hand Picked coloring stencils, blending brushes, Master Layouts 3, 12 and 20 die sets, Lattice and Radiant Roses embossing folders, Spellbinders yellow sequins

Let's Shell-ebrate

 Hello all,

Happy Monday. It will be a lazy day for me, at least for the rest of the morning watching the French Open Tennis matches. It's early rounds, but still fun to watch. 

Yesterday while watching matches I put together a card using the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

The center panel is one I pulled out of my box of backgrounds. It's an inking technique using an embossing folder. I don't recall any of the details of making it, however. It looks like simple inking over the negative side with ink pads, and it looks like the ink might be Distress Oxide. Any-hoo, I cut it down and used an Avery Elle Stitched Scalloped Frame die to frame it for the front of the card. 

The card base is stenciled with a set of Waffle Flower Layering stencils with the same color of ink as the card base, The sentiment is also from Waffle Flower. It's a really simple card, but it turned out pretty.

On the inside, I again used the same Waffle Flower stencils to very lightly stencil the background and these sentiments are from Spellbinders.

Enjoy your day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Coastal Greetings set by Waffle Flower, Anchors Away and Confetti Wishes sets by Spellbinders

Paper: Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea and Layering White card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea and Black Onyx, Distress Oxide

Other: Spellbinders Scattered Shells embossing folder, Waffle Flower Sea Shell Layering stencils, Avery Elle Stitched Scalloped Frame dies, blending brushes

FISH SPEAK

Happy Hump Day Peeps,

I'm playing along with the current Color Hues challenge today. Tracey is hostess and she's picked Lime and Violet for the challenge colors.

I ordered this fun fish stencil, die and stamp set called Fish Friends from Concord & 9th a few months ago and haven't used it yet. I thought green and purple fish might make a fun birthday card.

The layering stencil set has a stencil that makes wavy lines and I used GKD Key Lime ink to very lightly stencil my card base. Using SSS inks in Limelicious and Violet I stenciled the fish using the remaining 3 layering stencils. The sentiments on the front of the card are from the coordinating stamp set. 

Here's the inside. The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th set called Big Birthday. The die cut fish are from the Fish Friends die set.

Thanks for checking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps, dies and stencils: Concord & 9th Fish Friends bundle and Big Birthday set

Paper: Neenah card stock for card base, scrap purple and lime card stock

Ink: Simon Says Stamp and Gina K Designs

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 7 circle die and GKD purple paper heart embellishments, blending brushes

CAKE TIME

 Hello Peeps,

I have a birthday card today. It's CAS week for this week's Paper Player's challenge, and Ann is hostess with a theme of Food. I have tons of options in my stash of stamps and dies, and decided on this fun stamp and die set from Concord & 9th called Celebration Squad. I thought the girl holding a cupcake would make a fun CAS card. And besides, is there any better food than cake? I think not!

All of the images were cut from white scrap card stock and colored with ink blending brushes and I did some stamping on the dress. (I'm trying to use up scraps and the white bag is overflowing!)

For the inside I used another C&9th set called Big Birthday. It has many birthday sentiments along with a stencil and die set.

Even with the die cutting, ink blending and gluing this card took no time at all to make. Hope you enjoy your day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps and dies: Celebration Squad and Big Birthday sets by Concord & 9th

Paper: Scraps of misc. white card stock and Neenah card stock for the card base

Ink: Concord & 9th

LIfe's Changes

Happy Thursday Peeps!

Two of my friends have had or will have had a significant life change this month.

My friend Patti was remarried last week after becoming a widow about four years ago, and our neighbor, Wendy is retiring from teaching at the end of this month. I made a card for each last night using some beautiful floral 3D embossing folders and coloring stencils from Gina K.

Happily, I see that the new Just Us Girls challenge is for Flowers, so these cards will work perfectly.

Here's the Wedding card for my friend Patti. 

This 3D embossing folder is called Gorgeous Bloom. It comes with coloring stencils and a die that cuts out only the flower. The background is made using the GKD Swiss Dots embossing folder. Since there is no die for the leaves, I fussy cut them for this card.

The front and inside sentiments are from the GKD set called Toss the Bouquet and they are heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

Next is the Retirement card for our neighbor Wendy. She is currently a 5th grade teacher and is retiring at the end of this school year. She loves the color pink so of course I had to make a card with lots of pink. 

This 3D Embossing Folder is also from Gina K. and is called Daisy Delights. It also has coloring stencils and dies to cut out the daisies, although I didn't use the dies. I made this a 5 x 7" card because I didn't want to cut any of the image.

The front is a Dusty Rose 5 x 7" panel that I cut using the SSS Nested Arches dies. After cutting it I ran it through a Spellbinders 3D Embossing Folder called Floral Fence of Togetherness. This is popped up over the daisy and rose floral panel with foam tape. The sentiment is from the GKD Peaceful Peonies stamp set. For embellishments I added a few small pink sequins also from GKD.

On the inside of this card I used a GKD rose stencil to add some color, along with the sentiments, since it's such a large space.

Hope you enjoy your day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All from Gina K Designs, Toss the Bouquet, Peaceful Peonies, Enjoy

Paper: Concord & 9th (Wedding card) and Gina K Designs

Ink: Concord & 9th (Wedding card) and Gina K Designs

Other: Gina K Designs Gorgeous Bloom and Daisy Delights 3D Embossing Folders, Swiss Dots embossing folder, Shimmering Roses Layering Stencil, Master Layouts 2 and 7 die sets, gold dot and pink sequins embellishments, blending brushes. Simon Says Stamp Nested Arch dies, Spellbinders Floral Fence of Togetherness 3D Embossing Folder, Brutus Monroe gold embossing powder

Graduation Cards

Hello and Happy Monday!

I think I'm finally finished purging and organizing in my craft room. Luckily, our neighbor is a 5th grade teacher and she takes a lot of the supplies that I  purge for her class and for the other teachers at her school. 

I changed my desk layout too. I used it yesterday for the first time while making a couple of cards, and it seemed to work well. I reduced the area by half, so I wasn't sure if I'd like it. There may be more tweaks, but for now I'm calling it good.

Both of the cards that I made are Graduation cards. One is for our neighbor, a young man graduating from high school this month. The second is for the DIL of our friends we visit in New England. Erin graduated from UCON four years ago with a nursing degree. She worked in hospitals and then decided to go into the Nurse Anesthetist Program. She graduates from that program this Friday.

Here's the High School Graduation card.

The background stamp is from Gina K Designs. There is a die that will cut out all of the words, but I decided I liked it as a background, and it works great for a Graduation card. The trophy die cut and sentiments are from Concord & 9th. The school colors are navy blue and white and then I added some gold accents.

For Erin's card, I used the same GKD background stamp. I also used Claire's colors for this week's Paper Players Challenge. The tulip dies and the large die cut sentiment are from Concord & 9th.  As the Just Us Girls challenge is die week/sentiment, this card works for that as well.

Here is the inside of this card. (I forgot to take a photo of the inside of the first card).

We are off to have lunch with some friends who are here from Palm Springs for the day. We're meeting at a restaurant in Carlsbad Village. Menu looks yummy!

Hope your week is a good one!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: So Many Words set by Gina K Designs and Dream Big by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Stampin' Up and Gina K Designs card stock, Altenew glitter gold card stock, SSS mat gold card stock, striped Vellum

Ink: Stampin' Up and Gina K Designs

Other: Concord & 9th World's Greatest dies, Celebrate You dies, and Tulip Festival dies, SSS A2 Scalloped Rectangle dies, Spellbinders Large Oval die, Taylored Expressions Graduation Cap die, Gina K Designs Blending Brushes and purple heart embellishments

Sending Smiles With Every Step

Happy Hump Day Peeps,

Jaydee has a fun theme challenge this week at the Paper Players. It's time to be "girly!" I love it!

Obviously, so many options. After looking through some of my stash, I decided on this Spellbinders die set called Step by Step.

To make the shoes look like patent leather, I smeared some pink card stock with Triple Berry Lunar paste before die cutting. I added the small shoe bows with small rhinestones in the centers. The socks are cut from SU gingham DSP. I used both sides of the paper so that the tops are the larger squares. A very fun look. 

The background is a Spellbinders 3D embossing folder called Petite Bow, and the sentiment is from the Spellbinders clear set called Go To Girl. The flower dies are part of the Step By Step die set.

I used the embossing folder on just the top of the inside panel then added a die cut sentiment and a left over flower.

All in all, a a VERY girly card!

Hope your day was a good one. I spent a lot of mine making Graduation cards. 

Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Go To Girl and Send & Seal sets by Spellbinders

Paper: Concord & 9th and Gina K Designs card stock, SU DSP

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Spellbinders Step By Step die set and Petite Bow 3D Embossing Folder, My Favorite Things Stitched Scalloped frame die, rhinestones and enamel dot, Simon Hurley Lunar Paste

This Card Traveled All This Way

Happy Cinco de Mayo! (and Taco Tuesday)!

I had fun making a scene card yesterday for this week's CASE the Designer challenge for Just Us Girls. I'm CASEing Lisa's really cute bunny card. 

My bunny image comes from the Spellbinders Clear Stamp of the Month for Feb 2025.

 

I love the arch die that Lisa used and while I have some nesting arch dies, I decided that I'd make an oval shaped card to build my scene on. I used the Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval die set using the largest to cut the card base and the second to largest to make the background scene. The sky is stenciled with a GKD cloud stencil, the purple hill is made with a SSS background stamp and a Lawn Fawn hill die. The grassy meadow is also cut with a Lawn Fawn die and ink blended with three GKD green inks. The flower and bunny images are from the same Spellbinders stamp set, but the sentiment is from another Spellbinders set.

For the inside of the card, I used more images from the bunny set. These two cute chicks are standing on a meadow made using the die as a stencil.

All of the images on the front and inside are colored with Copics.

Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo and I hope there's some yummy Mexican food in your future. And, maybe a Margarita too.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Spring Smiles and Send & Seal sets from Spellbinders and Sweet Garden Background from Simon Says Stamp

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copic Markers

Other:  Spellbinders Oval dies, Lawn Fawn Hil land Grass dies, Gina K Designs Cloud stencil and blending brushes

Just For You

 

Happy Friday Evening Peeps,

Here's a card inspired by two challenges. This past Wednesday was the last of April, so it's time for April's  Woodblock Wednesday. I pulled out a pretty flower spray and some sentiment stamps from my wood mounted stamp stash to make a Mother's Day card. I'm using the colors for the new Color Hues challenge. This time around Stef is our hostess and wants to see blue and yellow.

This card started with an older plaid background panel that I had done in blue shades. Another piece that I pulled out of the boxes last week doing some cleaning. I thought the Pink Fresh Studio Folk Art Frame die would go nicely with the stamp and the plaid so I die cut the largest frame from some Daffodil Delight card stock and layered it over a navy card base. I cut the flower image with the smallest frame from navy and layered it over a panel of yellow.

You might wonder why I placed the sentiment where it is. The stamp has a flaw in the rubber in that corner and I needed to hide it, LOL. I first tried a round die cut with the sentiment, but I liked this flag better.

For the inside, I used just a sentiment stamp. I didn't take a picture of it but it's also wood mounted. I used the large PF Frame again for a little added interest.

Enjoy your weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Wood mounted Flowers from All Night Media, SU Just For You and Happy Mother's Day by Annette Watkins

Paper: SU Daffodil Delight, Spellbinders Navy, Gina K Designs white

Ink: Gina K Designs & Yellow Copics

Other: Pink Fresh Studio Folk Art Frame dies, Gina K Designs MasterLayouts 5 dies,  Concord & 9th Plaid Stencil, White embossing powder, Gina K Designs yellow dots