Season's Greetings

Hello,

I hope your work week is off to a good start. Mine certainly is! The technical organization of my company, which is the organization that I work for, had our Annual Awards meeting this morning (virtual this year) and I learned for the 2nd year in a row, I was a winner for my job category. Whoo-hoo! It's nice to know that your hard work and willingness to help others is recognized.

Enough of that, on to my card for today. I made this card for Nance's color challenge on The Paper Players blog. This week is white on white. Classy and elegant is what I think of for this color theme. Viewing the cards already in the gallery, the PP ladies are going to have a tough time choosing winners because they are all gorgeous!

Here is the card that I made.

I used some MFT, Mama Elephant and TE dies for the card front. No stamping! ( I just realized that part). The Die-namics tree die was cut from X-Press It Blending white card stock and from SU silver Glimmer paper. The Falling Snow die is Taylored Expressions and the Stitched Scalloped panel underneath is a Mama Elephant die. The sentiment is also Die-namics. I cut out the words twice and glued them together. I then heat embossed them with white EP 3 times for a thick coating to make them stand out. I wanted a little variation in the white shades, so the card base is made with Neenah Solar White 100 lb card stock.

I'm also entering this card in this week's Inspired By All the Little Things challenge. The white, sparkly tree fits their inspiration photo this week.

The inside is stamped and heat embossed with silver EP and I've added a Paper Source snowflake sticker.

I don't know where that air bubble came from, but I'll fix it before sending. The sentiment is from SU Hearts Come Home set.

That's it from me today. Thanks, as always, for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Hearts Come Home by Stampin' Up (inside sentiment)
Paper: X-Press It Blending  and Neenah Solar White card stock, SU silver Glimmer paper
Ink: VersaMark
Other: Die-namics Tree and Season's Greetings dies, Mama Elephant All Prettied Up die, Taylored Expressions Falling Snow EF, Silver and white EP, heat tool, the Big Shot, SU silver twine, foam tape, Paper Source snowflake sticker

With Sympathy

Hello stampers,

Sadly, our neighbor Christina's father passed away this morning, so I turned the card that I planned to make today into a sympathy card for her.

Using the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch!, and the inspiration photo from Inspired By All the Little Things, here's what I came up with.

I was inspired to use the fall colors in the flowers and the pumpkins for a fall-ish themed card. The pumpkin washi tape is from Paper Source. The Asters are from Altenew. Using the Misti Stamping Tool I stamped the two flowers on X-Press It Blending card stock using some Hero Arts inks. I cut them out with the corresponding dies. The white panel is a piece of wood grained paper from a pack that I got years ago. I placed a strip of the washi tape down on it and then cut it with the Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die. I layered the flowers on one end and cut off the overhanging pieces, then glued it down to a Really Rust card base. The sentiment is stamped with Memento tuxedo black and is from Simon Says Stamp.

Here is the inside:

The sentiment is a really old wooden stamp that doesn't have a label on it. Not sure what company it's from.

It's a beautiful Saturday here in Southern California. Since I live close to the coast, it's not hot at all, but mid 70s and not a cloud. I went walking early and got in a 4.5 mile walk, so no guilt sitting and stamping this afternoon, LOL.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Build a Flower - Asters by Altenew and With Sympathy stamp by SSS
Paper: SU Really Rust and X-Press It Blending, wood grain card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Hero Arts
Other: Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, Altenew Asters dies, Paper Source pumpkin washi tape, gold enamel dots, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Make A Splash!

Hi again,

I had planned on posting this one tomorrow evening, but then saw that the Inspired By All the Little Things challenge ends later tonight. Since I had made this card using the inspiration photo, I wanted to get it posted. I used several elements from the photo. The rainy scene, the black and white stripes and the pink color. The sketch comes from this week's Mojo Monday.

The background patterned paper and the papers used to piece the umbrella are from We R Memory Makers "Chalkboard" 6X6 pad. Abby is stamped with Memento tuxedo black on X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Copics. She, the rain puddle and the umbrella are cut out with the corresponding SSS dies. the other dies are all Die-namics. I've used sequins for the "rain" drops.

Thanks again for looking in, and have a very happy Friday!
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Abby's Spring Showers set by Simon Says Stamp
Paper: SU Blushing Bride, Basic Black and X-Press It Blending card stock and We R Memory Makers Chalkboard patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Abby's Spring Showers dies, Die-namics Pierced Circle and Fishtail Flag dies, the Big Shot, black sequins, dimensionals

Wishing You a Day That Blooms With Happiness

Hi and Happy Thursday afternoon,

I have a split work day today, so I'm currently home watching baseball. I will be driving up the Interstate 5 to Orange County for an evening meeting a little later. Since I have time, I thought I'd post another card that I made for the 50th Inspired By All the Little Things challenge. This is actually the first card that I made for this challenge. I made and posted this on Monday, which was the second card made for this challenge. (does that make any sense?)

This is an older Taylored Expressions bouquet set. Very fun to color.

For this card I've used the peach color and, of course, the flowers for inspiration. The inside uses the Avery Ellen Mother's Day stamp set.

The images are all stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics.

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Mixed Bouquet set by Taylored Expressions and Mother's Day set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Peekaboo Peach and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Sequins

Have A Sweet Birthday

Hello stamping friends,

I hope you all had a good beginning to your week. I got home fairly early from work this afternoon which means I have time to post a card that I made yesterday for the Inspired By All the Little Things 50th Challenge. Congrats! to the DT! I find it fun to play along each week with their inspiration photos and the DT certainly comes up with gorgeous cards each week.

This week's Inspiration Photo is an elegant party table with the flowers, desserts, and twinkling lights in the background. Being me, I focused right in on that plate of yummy looking macarons! Here's my card and the Inspiration Photo underneath:

Besides the tray of cookies, I was inspired by the background greenery and twinkling lights in the inspiration photo.

My macarons are stamped with VersaMark and embossed with white EP on water color paper. I colored them with Prismacolor watercolor pencils. They are cut out with the corresponding Avery Elle dies and layered onto a "tray" made from another set of Avery Elle dies and corrugated kraft and gold card stock. The tiny leaves in the background are stamped in two shades of SU green inks.

The sentiment and image on the inside of the card are from the same Avery Elle set.

I hope you have a chance to play along to help the DT celebrate the 50th inspiration challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Bonjour set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Pale Plum and X-Press It Blending card stock, Strathmore water color paper, SU Brushed Gold, Kraft corrugated card stock
Ink: VersaMark Craft ink, SU Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Spun Sugarplum
Other: SU white EP, Prismacolor watercolor colored pencils, aqua painter paint brush, Avery Elle Bonjour and Scalloped Rectangles dies, the Big Shot, clear rhinestones, SU bow die, Michaels lavender ribbon, foam tape

Happy Easter

Hello,

We've survived Monday. I had a busy work day, so the day went pretty fast. I have some more busy days ahead of me too, so hopefully that means that the week will go fast.

I love the old fashioned feel to the Inspired By All the Little Things inspiration photo this week and thought I had a great stamp to use for a card. This is a very old PSX wooden stamp that I've had for years. I kept the card pretty simple and used the plaid and earth tones as my inspiration.

I've discovered over the years that this image looks best stamped and not colored. This time I stamped it in VersaMark and heat embossed it with a chocolate EP. I've framed it by using a couple of Di-namics dies.

The inside is very simple with just the greeting.

Thanks for looking in. I hope you have a great week.
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Bunny stamp by PSX and inside greeting by Hero Arts
Paper: SU Crumb Cake and X-Press It Blending card stocks, Lawn Fawn brown plaid and SU DSP
Ink: VersaMark and SU Chocolate Chip
Other: Di-namics Oval Stitched and Rectangle Stitched dies, SU twine, wooden button, the Big Shot, Chocolate brown EP, heat tool

Happy Birthday

Greetings from a very gloomy Southern California!

It's very cloudy and gray today, and a little chilly. The perfect weather to stay in and create. Especially since I've not had much time for it lately. More of the same next week as I have a meeting in Los Angeles starting tomorrow evening and going through Thursday.  Any-hoo, the first thing that I did this morning was to check out my pals at The Paper Players blog to see what this week's challenge is. Sandy is hostess and this week's theme is to "cut it out."

This reminds me of my "delusions" when the Big Shot first appeared in the Stampin' Up catalog. I was adamant that I didn't need one and resisted buying it for about a year. I was so sure I'd just never use it. The reality is that I rarely, make that VERY rarely, make a card or project without using it these days. My collection of dies grows larger by the month, especially now that almost every stamp set has matching dies. Clearly I was SO wrong!

Here's my card for Sandy's fun and appropriate, challenge this week.

 I've used my Big Shot on several elements. I started with the TE Quatrefoil cutting plate over a panel of MME wood grain paper. The card base is Wild Wasabi card stock. The Avery Elle image is stamped onto X-Press It card with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. It's cut out with the corresponding die. The sentiment is a die from MFT. (yes, a hodgepodge of supplies this week). The flower spray is popped up with dimensionals and I placed some sequin around the card for a finishing touch.

Inspiration for my design comes from the current Inspired By All the Little Things challenge. I'm also playing along with the current "green" challenge at the Curtain Call.

On the inside I've used a stamp from Paper Smooches to add to the hodgepodge, but it fits.

 
I'm off to put some laundry in the machine and do some more challenges while listening to my nephew, Ian, host his weekly radio show, Rock n Roots on the Macalester College Radio Station.  He's on every Sunday at 11:00 AM Central. Have a great Sunday stamping friends!

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Mother's Day set by Avery Elle and Best Buds by Paper Smooches
Paper: SU Wild Wasabi and X-Press It Blending card stock, My Minds Eye patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Wild Wasabi and Copics
Other: Quatrefoil Cutting Plate by Taylored Expressions, Mother's Day die by Avery Elle, Die-namics Happy Birthday die by My Favorite Things, the Big Shot, diemensionals, sequin

For You

Hi again peeps,

I'm writing my second post for today as I'm watching some tennis on the Tennis Channel. After baseball, it's my favorite sport to watch. It's getting pretty late, even here on the west coast, so I'm headed off to bed soon but thought I'd get this written up first.

I mentioned in my earlier post that I got some new Paper Smooches stamps. This card is made with one of the new sets and dies. I've used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch layout by N@ Ali. The inspiration for the colors and theme come from the new Inspired By All the Little Things inspiration photo. This week, Hannelie Bester is guest designing and she truly makes fabulous designs and cards.

The card base is SU heavy weight Whisper White card stock. I stamped the little bear onto X-Press It Blending card stock and colored him with Copics and cut him out with the die. The large red heart is an older SU die cut from Real Red card stock. I placed it on the card and then used my Misti to stamp the greeting because I wanted to stamp it two or three times to ensure that there wasn't halo at the edge of the heart due to the different levels. The tiny red hearts are part of the same stamp set and I randomly stamped them in Real Red and colored over them with a red Spica glitter pen. The bear is popped up with dimensionals and finally the sequin was added for the elements in the sketch. (Plus, I love sequin!)

The inside greeting is super simple and is from another new PS stamp set that coordinates with the first. The little red heart got the same glitter treatment as the ones on the front.

I'm off to work in Los Angeles this next week. Hopefully, traffic will be lighter than normal tomorrow since it's a holiday for many. Unfortunately, not for me. I hope you all have a great week.
Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Courteous Cuties and Courteous Cuties 2 sets by Paper Smooches
Paper: SU Heavy Weight Whisper White, Real Red, X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, Red Spica Glitter pen
Other: Courteous Cuties dies, SU Scalloped Heart Thinlet die, sequin, Wink of Stella, the Big Shot, Dimensionals

Happy Birthday

Hello again,

One more quick post today.  Inspired By All the Little Things' inspiration photo is a beauty this week and I had an idea right away. Besides the flowers, I was also inspired by the gold of the bamboo pieces that the curtains are draped on. Although my flowers came out a little more red than purple, I still think it works with the inspiration photo. I'm also playing along with Seize the Birthday's Welcome Back challenge.

Using the Peony Bouquet set by Altenew, I stamped the layers of flowers using some SU and Hero Arts inks, as well as with VersaMark so I could use gold EP as "shading" on a few. After cutting out with the dies, I arranged them around a Die-namics Stitched circle frame die. The card front is dry embossed using the TE Burlap EF.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is stamped with MFT Label Maker stamp set  and Memento tuxedo black ink, then cut with their coordinating Die-namics dies. It was a fairly long process, but super fun to create.

Thanks for looking in. Have a great Saturday evening!
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Altenew Peony Bouquet set and MFT Label Maker Sentiments set
Paper: SU Blushing Bride and Brushed Gold card stock, X-Press It Blending Card
Ink: VersaMark, Memento tuxedo black, SU Purely Pomegranate, Hero Arts Mid-tone Shadow Ink pads in various reds and greens
Other: Die-namics Stitched Circle Frame die, Label Maker Sentiments dies, Altenew Peony Bouquet dies, Hero gold EP, heat tool, TE Burlap EF, Mini Misti Stamping Tool, the Big Shot, enamel shapes, dimensionals

From Our House To Yours

Hi stamping friends,

I saw the sweet inspiration photo on the Inspired By All the Little Things challenge blog this week and immediately had a thought. After a few tweaks from what my mind's eye was seeing and I came up with this card.

I used the Avery Elle Christmas Chalet set and dies. The papers are from a bag of random papers that I got at a local store several years ago. They are all kraft with either white, red or gold patterns. I loved them when I purchased them, but have rarely used them. I think they were perfect for this challenge's theme.

The chalets are stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white EP. I used the corresponding dies to cut them out, then arranged them on the card base, which is another piece of paper from the same group.  (The white dots reminded me of snow).

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Chalet set by Avery Elle
Paper: Whisper White card stock and kraft patterned papers (company unknown)
Ink: VersaMark and SU Real Red
Other: Christmas Chalet dies, Lawn Fawn small banner die, SU white EP, heat tool, the Big Shot, dimensionals


Some non-paper crafting: Since I've been taking a "stay-cation" from work the last few weeks, I made a quilt for the 2 month old little guy next door. He was born on Halloween evening. I finished the quilt last night and took some pictures of it outside this morning. I'll give it to his mom and dad later this week. I'm not an exceptional seamstress, but this one turned out pretty nicely. (For anyone that's interested, this is a Fig Tree quilt pattern)

Thanks for looking in and enjoy the rest of your day,
Colleen

Believe

Hello and Happy Tuesday,

I've been furiously trying to finish up my holiday cards and I actually think that I have enough now. I made this one last night for the young guy that does our windows. We usually give hime gift cards to lunch spots like Panera and Rubios so he can grab a quick lunch while working.

I wanted a somewhat "masculine" looking card and found some great inspiration at Inspired By All the Little Things and CAS(E) This Sketch. Also, Merry Monday has a masculine theme this week.

I used a simple "chalk board" technique with the MFT Holiday Subway stamp set. Very quick and easy. To raise the black panel up I used some fun foam.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Subway set by My Favorite Things and Christmas Kitch set by Avery Elle

Paper: SU Basic Black card stock and My Minds Eye Necessities Wood Designer patterned paper

Ink: Memento Brilliance Moonlight White craft ink, Memento tuxedo black, SU Emerald Envy and Copics

Other: SU White EP, heat tool, Christmas Ktich dies, the Big Shot, fun foam

Warm Wishes

Happy Monday to you all,

While waiting for a 62 page set of instructions to print out for a work project for tomorrow, I'm multitasking to post this card that I made last night after dinner.

While looking for some challenges I ran across Leslie's Inspired By All the Little Things challenge. This week there is a cute table-scape inspiration. I also came across the CAS on Sunday challenge, which is to make a "one layer card."

Here's what I came up with to combine these two challenges:

The card base is SU Naturals card stock. I scored it at 5.5 inches and ran it through the Big Shot using the Mama Elephant Sew Fancy die set to add a bit of interest around the outside of the card front. Using the Lawn Fawn set called Love You a Latte, I stamped the cup, masked it and stamped the saucer, then the spoon. They are watercolored with Zig Real Brush markers and an aqua painter. After the paint was dry, I masked all images and stamped over the whole card front with the SU Hardwood stamp using SU Sahara Sand ink. Using my Mini Misti, I stamped the sentiment, re-stamping a few times to get it nice and dark over the Sahara Sand. A few little blue enamel hearts added for embellishment.

For the inside, I wanted a larger cup, and used Reverse Confetti's Be A Barista set. This cup is colored with Copics. I used the little stitched die from the same Mama Elephant die set.

A simple and quick card to make.

I hope your work week is a good one. As always, thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Love You a Latte set by Lawn Fawn and SU Hardwood - outside
Be a Barista set by Reverse Confetti and SU Hardwood- inside
Paper: SU Naturals white card stock
Ink: SU Archival black, Zig Real Brush Water Color Markers, Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Soft Suede, SU Sahara Sand
Other: Mama Elephant Sew Fancy dies, aqua painter, the Big Shot, Mini Misti, enamel shapes

Thank You

Hello,

I hope your Saturday and weekend is off to a good start. I had some weekend chores to do this morning and when those were done, I treated myself to some stamping time. Looking around at some of the weekly challenges, I decided to pick Leslie's Inspired By All the Little Things inspiration challenge and combined it with the current CAS(E) This Sketch.

Many companies are coming out with fun flower sets that are kind of "funky." They appeal to me because they are easily colored and I do love to get my Copics out. These images don't really require much shading and blending, though you could if you wanted to.

Here is my card:

I die cut the panel first then placed it in my Misti mini stamping tool. I put all of the stamp images in place then inked them with Memento tuxedo black and stamped them all at once. I do love the Misti! I used a few R and RV Copics to color the flowers in various shades of pink using the inspiration photo. I used a white gel pen for the flower centers instead of introducing a new color.

The panel is glued to a piece of fun foam so I raise it above the card base, which I covered in black and white gingham patterned paper. Finally, I placed some black sequin around the front of the card for embellishment.

Thanks for looking in today. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my Paper Players card.

Have a good Saturday evening and Sunday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps:  Floral Frame set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Whisper White, X-Press It Blending card stocks and Pebbles Walnut Grove patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Mama Elephant scalloped die, sequin, the Big Shot, fun foam