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

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

A Papper Hug & You're the Best

 Hello all,

I have a couple of bright and fun note cards that I made using the current Color Hues challenge colors of coral and green. I made two because this Concord & 9th layering stencil set is large and does a half sheet. I simply cut it in half and made two cards. I changed up the orientation and the sentiments, but otherwise they are the same.

This Concord & 9th bundle, designed by Kristina Werner, has the layering stencils, a coordinating stamp set, and a die set. I've used all three to make the cards. I decided to make a "landing pad" for the die cut flowers, so I cut some vellum rectangles with a GKD stitched die. The sentiments are heat embossed with white EP.

TGIF tomorrow. Enjoy!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Simple Flowers set by Kristina Werner & Concord & 9th

Paper: Gina K Designs Card Stock Layering Weight White, Black Onyx, Key Lime, Coral Reef and Sunkissed Coral, Vellum

Ink: Gina K Designs White embossing ink, Key Lime, Sunkissed Coral and Coral Reef

Other: Concord &9th Simple Flowers Layering Stencils and dies, Gina K Designs Stitched Rectangle die, Gina K Designs black pearl embellishments, Brutus Monroe white embossing powder, heat tool, blending brushes, corner rounding punch, Connect glue, foam squares

Retro Bowls: No One Stacks Up To You

Hello,

It's a lazy Sunday morning here. I've been watching crocheting videos looking for a new project, and I sometimes get lost in the videos, going from one to the next, and then it's two hours wasted. 

Yesterday evening I noticed that the new Color Hues challenge was up. Carol is hostess and her color choices are green and white. Great for March, great for shamrocks, but I decided greens would be perfect for these retro bowls, a new-ish set from Concord & 9th. Also, green is my favorite color, so there's that.

I'm using all Concord & 9th card stocks, three green shades and white.

When I pulled out my pack of Lemongrass card stock, I already had this card front die cut. I glued it to a white card base and then cut the bowls and flower dies from white, Avocado and Artichoke. I stacked the flowers x2 for a little extra dimension and also used the alternate green for the centers. The sentiment is from the same set, cut with a banner die from a different C&9th set.

My aunt is turning 92 later this week and so I made this into a birthday card to mail to her. These birthday images are from C&9th too, yet another set.

I hope you have a relaxing Sunday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamp and Die sets: Kitchen Classics, Celebrate You and On My Mind all from Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th card stock: White, Lemongrass, Avocado and Artichoke

Ink: Concord & 9th Lemongrass and Artichoke

Other: Concord & 9th Lattice Corner Die Cut, Gina K Designs white paper hearts, Connect Liquid glue, SU Dimensionals

 

Hey Friend

Hello,

I received a new order from Concord & 9th last week and the Color Hues challenge seemed the perfect challenge to use these lovely stencils from Kristina Werner. I tried to only use just the two colors of yellow and coral, with white of course, but I did end upusing some black ink on the inside of my card.

I used the GKD Master Layouts 2 dies to cut the stenciled panel and the shadow layer and I used the Concord & 9th Basket Weave Card Front die as a background on the card base.

Here's the inside.

Thanks for checking in and enjoy your Tuesday evening.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps & Stencils: Sweet Stems Bundle and Simple Flowers Bundle by Concord & 9th

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering White, Sunkissed Coral, Wild Dandelion card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Lemon Drop, Wild Dandelion, Sun Kissed Coral, Black Onyx

Other: Concord & 9th Basket Weave Card Front die, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set, Gina K Designs heart embellishments, Connect glue

Love You

 Hello all,

I have another very pink and bright Valentine's Day card for you today. I was watching this Jennifer McGuire video and decided to give the technique a try. This video is  part 2 of 2. Part 1 is the same technique using embossing folders, which I also tried and made several cards with the backgrounds I produced.

I'm playing with the current Color Hues Pink and Red challenge, and Ann's Theme challenge, Love is In The Air for the Paper Players.

All of the supplies for this card are from Gina K Designs. They include the heart sentcil, Script background stamp, focal dies, paper and ink.

As with most inking techniques, it's hard to stop, but even with the door open to the outside and the over head fan on, the alcohol fumes got to be a little much. But, I got some nice results from both the stencils and the embossing folders. Like Jennifer, I found that the Simon Says Stamp Pawsitivitly Saturated inks gave a little better result, but the Gina K dye inks still worked well. I'm assuming most dye inks would work. I used a Tim Holtz sponge ink applicator instead of blending brushes to apply the ink and blend the colors. I thought that a heavier ink application would probably work best.

Here's the inside of this card. Also using GKD stamps.

The following cards are made using backgrounds from the same technique, but with embossing folders. The embossing folders are from SSS, SU, and Spellbinders. The die sets used to finish the cards are all from Spellbinders. Inks are all SSS Pawsitively Saturated inks.

If you're looking for a fun inking technique, watch Jennifer's two videos and give this a try. I love picking the blending colors.

Enjoy your week,

Colleen

Supplies for Challenge Card

Stamps: Elegant Script Background Stamp and You Are So Loved set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock Cherry Red, Passionate Pink, Innocent Pink, and Heavy Weight White

Ink: Gin K Designs Passionate Pink, Bubble Gum Pink, and Cherry Red

Other: Gina K Designs Layering Hearts Stencil (I used only the open heart stencil), Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 dies, small heart from the Stitched Circle die set, and Ornate Love You dies, Tim Holtz sponge applicator, rubbing alcohol in mister bottle, red enamel heart, foam tape

Betterpress Butterflies

 TGIF Peeps!

Playing around with the Betterpress set of the month for January last night and I made a couple of cards using the current Color Hues challenge colors of Lime and Navy.

The background is made with another Betterpress plate of the month from March of last year called Friendship Book Plate. I liked the foliage motif as the backdrop for the butterflies. The butterfly set comes with both dies to cut out the images and coloring stencils, which I did use. I love the modern feel of the images.

The cards differ in the landing shape, circle vs rectangle, the sentiment, and the enamel dot arrangement.

 

Card 1, front and inside.

Card 2 front and inside.

I hope everyone has a fab weekend! Thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps and Betterpress Plates: Spellbinders Natures Dance CSOM 1/25, Friendship Book Plate BPOM 3/24, and Take Flight BPOM 1/25

Paper: Gina K Designs Navy, Lime and Layering Weight White Card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Navy, Simon Says Stamp Limelicious,  and Laurel Betterpress ink pad

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 12 stitched die, blending brushes, Concord & 9th Navy enamel dots, Spellbinders Betterpress System

Merry Christmas

 Hello and Happy November!

Wow, 2024 is almost in the books! November also means busy times for us crafty folks. Besides getting holiday cards completed and mailed, I also have 12 family members with birthdays in November and December. 

Today, I'm happily guesting again for the Color Hues challenge. The colors for this challenge are red and black. Using last month's Gina K Designs (free) Incentive stamp set, called Folk Art Christmas, I made this Nordic Folk Art style card.

For inspiration, I "Googled" Nordic Folk Art and got hundreds of images. Many used multiple colors, but a few used just two, so I figured the challenge's two colors would work for a basic Nordic design. I decided to pull out the Gina K Designs' Wreath Builder and see what I could come up with using the stamp set, since some of the on-line pictures were in a circular design. 

I've used five of the set images on the front of the card, as well as a few small images from other GKD stamp sets, and used the remaining images on the inside of my card here.

I think my Nordic Folk Art card turned out pretty well.

Thanks to all of the ladies on the Color Hues DT for inviting me to be Guest Designer for this challenge. It's always so fun!

I can't wait to see what everyone makes with this classic color duo!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Folk Art Christmas set, Winter Hugs and Wreath Builder Stamp sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Red Hot, Black Onyx and Layering Weight White card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Red Hot

Other: Gina K Designs Wreath Builder Template, Teeny Tiny red and black gems, medium clear rhinestone, Connect glue

Warm Wishes

Happy Sunday evening peeps,

Here's three Holiday cards in non-traditional colors for you. When I saw the new colors for the Color Hues challenge, I thought of these SSS Bottle Brush Tree dies. I bought this die set at the end of the holiday season last year, but never used it. 

I've paired the trees with two SSS stencil sets, Layering Peppermint Stripes and Falling snow, and I've used Jen's sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

The trees sit on a Lawn Fawn Hills with Trees die, cut from white paper and ink blended with light blue.

While looking through my SSS stencils, I came across the newer Large Snowflake Stripes stencil set and decided to use the Color Hues challenge colors to make a couple of cards. After stenciling, I cut the panel down to make two cards, one a mini-slimline. I really like this color block look.

Have a great week!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Blessings Sentiments set by Simon Says Stamp

Stencils:  Layering Peppermint Stripes, Snowflakes Stripes and Falling Snow by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Large Bottle Brush Trees dies by Simon Says Stamp, Lawn Fawn Hill with Trees die, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2, 7 and 12 die sets, WOW white embossing powder, Nuvo White Crystal Drops, Gina K Designs blending brushes and Micro Disco Ball sequins, silver Stickles, Connect glue, SU Dimensionals

Have A Delightful Day - Guest Designing for the Color Hues Challenge # 94

Hi all,

It is a very Delightful Day because I'm Guest Designing for the new Color Hues Challenge that begins today. The colors for this challenge are green and rust, perfect for those fall cards. I've used  dark and light shades of each of the colors to make my green and rust card. All of the supplies are from Concord & 9th today.

The bottom part of my card is made using the C&9th Lattice Corner die set. I cut panels of White, Lemongrass, Cayenne and Spiced Cider card stocks using the lattice die. After gluing the White die cut panel to the front of a white card base, I used the inlay technique to glue pieces in to create a color pattern.

For the top stamping, I masked off the inlayed bottom then stamped the top with the C&9th Delightful Day Turnabout stamp using the four colors of Avocado, Lemongrass, Cayenne and Spiced Cider.

The dies for the front sentiment are also from the Delightful Day Turnabout stamp and die set. Embellishments are C&9th enamel dots in Avocado and Lemongrass.

I always finish the insides of my cards and here's a picture of this one. The sentiment and flower are from the Delightful Day Turnabout stamp set.

It was great fun playing along as this challenge's Guest Designer. I look forward to seeing what you all make with these colors.

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamp and die sets: Delightful Day Turnabout Stamp and die set and Lattice Corner die set both  by Concord & 9th

Paper: Concord & 9th Lemongrass, Spiced Cider, Cayenne, and White card stock

Ink: Concord & 9th Lemongrass, Avocado, Spiced Cider, and Cayenne

Other: Concord & 9th Lemongrass and Avocado enamel dots, foam tape, Connect liquid glue

Have A Colorful Day

 Hey all,

My August Spellbinders club box was waiting for me when we arrived home this week. This month the theme for the clubs is color,  and so I decided to see how the Betterpress plate, called Colorful Bold Splatters would look in yellows and oranges, the current Color Hues Challenge colors.

This is a fun die set that comes with a layout grid to help with the placement of the dies. Since I don't have any bright yellow and orange Betterpress inks in my stash, I used some GKD and C&9th ink cubes in various yellow and orange shades.

The sentiments dies are also part of the August clubs called Colorful Expressions Sentiments. Each word comes with a background die too. The card stock used for this card is also GKD. After cutting the sentiments I used some orange Stickles to highlight them.

Here's the inside of my card. The sentiment comes from the August Clear Stamp of the Month, called Colorful Expressions Blossom.

The next time I used the splatter dies I'll use more colors. I've seen some really fun cards on IG with this Betterpress die.

Have a good Tuesday afternoon and evening,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps and Dies: from Spellbinders August Clubs: Betterpress Colorful Bold Splatters set, Colorful Expressions Sentiments dies, and Colorful Expressions Blossom clear stamp set

Paper: Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion, Tangerine Tango and Layering Weight White card stock, Spellbinders white Betterpress card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Wild Dandelion, Tangerine Tango and Concord & 9th Sunflower and Clementine

Other: Spellbinders Notched Corner Frame dies, Orange Stickles, Orange Baker's twine, foam tape, SU mini Dimensionals

Happy Hour

 Hey and happy Monday,

This card was made using the current Color Hues challenge colors of aqua and white. 

I used a PinkFresh Studio background stencil with three different shades of aqua as a backdrop for these fun beverage glasses, also from PinkFresh Studio. I used the clear stamp set and coordinating stencils to color them as well as the coordinating dies to cut them out. I altered the look a bit by cutting off the sprig of greenery at the top of the glass. After using the stencils, I added some shimmer to the ice cubes, unfortunately, my Nuvo pen leaked a bit on one of them. The sentiment is from the same stamp set and it's heat embossed on a darker shade of card stock.

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On the inside, I used just a sentiment.

Most of my morning was spent updating websites with a new email. We are ditching our current cable provider for internet and TV and going to fiber optic internet and streaming TV. The cable providers just keep getting more and more expensive. I'll be glad to see them go.

Enjoy your week, and thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: PinkFresh Studio

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: PinkFresh Studio layering stencil, Spellbinders embossing folder, WOW white embossing powder, heat tool, blending brushes, Nuvo clear glitter pen, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 12, aqua sequins, Connect glue