Stencil Fun

 TGIF Peeps!

I hope your Friday is going well. It's mid-day here on the West coast, and it's official June Gloom. (We just finished May Gray, LOL) If you want to vacation in San Diego, don't come in May or June if beach weather/sun is your preference. There isn't any sun at the beach in May and June.

Any-hoo, I have a couple of cards for a couple of challenges. I had fun stenciling on both.

First up is a pretty flower card for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. The colors this week are green, yellow and white. I threw in a touch of black.

The daisy layering stencils and the brick background are from Gina K Designs. I used some very bright SSS inks today. The greeting is a pre-printed sentiment strip.

Here is the inside of this card. I added a die-cut sentiment and used the layering stencil to add one daisy under the die cut.

The second card uses Jen M.'s sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches. This is a one layer card except for the mermaid tail and the sentiment box. I used two Gina K Stencils for the diagonal pattern of the sketch. The stamp set is an older one from Ellen Hutson by Julie Ebersole.

This is one of my all time favorite sentiments.

And the inside of this card.

Enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend!

Colleen

Supplies

Flower card:

Spring Daisies Layering stencil and Brick Wall Stencil by Gina K Designs

Gina K Designs White Layering and Black Card stock

Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated inks

Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies and Pre-printed sentiment strip, Trinity Pearls, Misti, Big Shot

Mermaid card:

Inner Mermaid stamp and die set by Ellen Hutson, Water Droplets, Sea Shells  & Sending Sunshine (from a kit) Stencils by Gina K Designs

SU thick white card stock

Gina K Designs blue, turquoise & embossing inks, Copics

Gina K Designs Gold embossing powder & Mermaid Tail Sequins,  MFT Curved Rectangle die, Misti, Big Shot, heat tool 

You are freakin' FANTASMAGORICAL!

Happy Sunday afternoon to all,

I hope you've enjoyed your weekend. 

Here's a card that works for two challenges. The sketch comes from this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge designed by Narelle, and I took her sketch literally when picking stamps and design. This also works for the new Paper Players Challenge. Since it's the 5th week of the month, Anne Marie has a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. I love these! I used the diagonal of sparkle, die cut, and wet embossing.

I stamped all of the images with embossing ink and heat embossed them using fine detail gold embossing powder. The images are colored with Copics and cut out using the coordinating dies. The sentiments are from a coordinating sentiment set. The larger is gold embossed and the smaller stamped with black ink.

The inside of this card uses more images from both stamp sets too. This greeting is pretty funny. I don't think I've used this particular one yet.

Wishing you all a great week a head. Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Unicorns N' Rainbows and Pure Magic sets from Ellen Hutson

Paper: SU Basic White Thick card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs embossing ink and Black Onyx, Simon Says Stamp Orchid and Surf Saturated inks, Copic markers

Other: Unicorns N' Rainbows dies, Gina K Designs Fine Detail Gold EP, Heat Tool, Misti, Big Shot, Foam Tape, Connect Glue

Spring Card Camp 2022 - Day 1 Cards

 Hello,

I signed up to take latest Online Card Class and day one was all about ink lifting. I made a card for each technique demonstrated in the class video. Day 1 techniques were taught by Jennifer McGuire and Channin Pelletier. The ink lifting in all of the techniques is accomplished with water and an ink that is water reactive. I've used Distress Oxide inks on all of my cards.

Jennifer showed two techniques for making backgrounds and I made cards using both. The second technique she showed actually makes two backgrounds.

Ink lifting in the first technique is done using a paint brush, water and a paper towel. Here's my card.

The  SSS Tumbling Shells background stamp is stamped using Hero Arts craft white ink and heat embossed using GKD white fine detail embossing powder. After embossing, I blended three blue shades of Distress Oxide ink using a Tim Holtz sponge blending tool. The stamp set is called Inner Mermaid from Ellen Hutson. I heat embossed the sentiment on Vellum and the mermaid tail on white card stock using GKD Amalgam black ink and clear embossing powder. The tail is colored with Copics. The sentiment is die cut using a GKD circle die. I matted the top panel with white and used a GKD Blue Raspberry card base.

Here are my examples using the second ink lifting technique taught by Jennifer.

I used the new Freshly Made Sketches sketch for the layout.The flowers and leaves are from the Pink Fresh Studio set called Brighter Days which includes a hot foil plate, layering stencils, stamps and dies. I first hot foiled the flowers using gold foil. Next I used GKD inks and the stencils to color the flowers and then cut them out using the corresponding die. I arranged the flowers per the sketch and added a GKD pre-printed sentiment strip to each. The top panels and mats are cut out using the GKD Master Layouts 1 die set. Finally, I added some sequins, gems and pearls for embellishments.

The last card uses the technique taught by Channin. This technique used a line stencil sprayed with water to do the ink lifting. 

The background stencil is from Pretty Pink Posh called Jungle. The stamps and dies are from the Birds of Paradise and Tropical Tweets sets by Honey Bee. I colored the images with Copics and cut everything out with the corresponding set dies. The stenciled panel and mat are cut using the GKD Master Layouts 1 die set. The card base is GKD Sweet Mango card stock.

Sorry for a such a long post, but I wanted to put all of my Day 1 cards together.  I've listed most of the basic supplies in the post, but if anyone has a question on something I didn't list, just shoot me an email.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Spring Card Camp 2 - Day 2 Cards

Hello peeps,

Jennifer McGuire was the instructor for Day 2, and she showed how to make stripes using ink blending and masking. These make colorful backgrounds for large stamped images. The technique is pretty simple, just use some "purple" tape to mask off the stripes, and then use your favorite ink blending tool to add color to the unmasked area.

I made two cards both, with horizontal stripes. (Jennifer made a fun card with diagonal stripes.) These were fun and relaxing to do, although a bit messy. The hardest part for me was deciding on the ink colors.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Just Keep Swimming set by Hero Arts and Mondo Daisy set by Ellen Hutson
Concord & 9th Playful Patterns set, Honey Bee Ocean Boarders set
Paper: SU Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Orchid Opulence, Neenah Solar White card stocks
Ink: Gina K Amalgam black, various SU inks for the stripes, VersaMark, Terra-cotta Tile (fish layering)
Other: Misti, purple tape, TE blending brushes, white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, Mondo Daisy dies (lady bug)

Sending Sunshine and Rainbows

Hi,

I'm back with Day 11 cards for the Spring Card Camp. This class was taught by Dawn Waleslagle and it's all about making rainbows using nesting circle dies. Another super fun class!

Here are my two cards.

Using the Die-namics inside and out stitched circle dies, I taped them together as Dawn showed us to do, then cut them from Neenah Solar White card stock. On the brighter rainbow, I used TE blending brushes and TE ink cubes in bright red, yellow, green, blue and purple to color the individual circles. The colored circles are glued onto a plain white circle cut using the largest die. This is cut in half to make two rainbows. The background on this card is stamped with the Concord & 9th Sunshine Turnabout stamp. The clouds are made using a C&9th die and the unicorn and greeting are from Ellen Hutson sets.

For the lighter rainbow, I used pastel shades of Copics to color the circles. The cloud dies are Lawn Fawn and the unicorn is from the Ellen Hutson set. The sun stamp is from C&9th.

On both cards, I brushed a very liberal amount of Wink of Stella clear glitter over the rainbows.

I'm really enjoying these classes!

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Unicorns and Rainbows and Pure Magic sets by Ellen Hutson, Brighter Days set by Concord & 9th
Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU Basic Black
Ink: TE ink cubes, SU Pineapple Punch and Mango Melody, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Die-namics Inside and Out Stitched Circle dies, Concord &9th Brighter Days cloud die, Ellen Hutson Unicorns and Rainbows dies, Lawn Fawn cloud border die, Misti, Gemini Jr, TE blender brushes, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals, liquid glue

Shell-abrate Your Inner Mermaid

Hi peeps,

A quick post for the cards I made for Day 9 of the Spring Card Camp 2020. This class was taught by Channin Pelletier and it was all about using stencils and Distress Oxide inks to get two card panels.

I used a Gina K stencil to make my cards. The second, watercolor panel turned out rather light, but still usable as a background for this mermaid tail stamped image from Ellen Hutson.

Both cards use the same focal image, with different sentiments on the outside of the card. On the watercolor panel card, the sentiment is heat embossed with white EP. On the ink blended card, the sentiment is stamped on velum with black ink. I did use that little trick that Channin showed, sandwiching the velum between extra die cuts. I will definitely be using that more often. To finish the cards, I added some clear glass beads to the ink blended panel and some sequins to the watercolor panel.

Here is the inside sentiment, used for both cards.

This was a fun technique to learn. I think I may give it another go.
Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Inner Meremaid set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Whisper White and Coastal Cabana card stock, Bristol watercolor paper, Vellum card stock
Ink: Distress Oxide ink in various blue shades, VersaMark, Memento tuxedo black, Zig Real Brush water color markers
Other: Gina K Water Droplets stencil, Inner Mermaid set dies, Die-namics Rounded Corner Stitched Rectangle die, clear glass beads, blue sequins, Misti, Gemini Jr, liquid glue, ink blending tool, white embossing powder, heat tool

Unicorns, Rainbows & Sprinkles

Hello,

Happy Sunday morning. I was up early for some reason this morning. I thought I'd sleep in a little since I didn't go to bed until after 1:00 am, but no, I was wide awake at 6:00! I guess that means I'll have a little more time to stamp today. Bright side, right?

It also gives me a chance to get this card posted. I made it yesterday afternoon and it uses this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch. I had loads of fun making this card.

Using three shades of Distress Ink cubes, a cloud stencil, and Taylored Expressions Blender brushes I made the background first. It's trimmed down and glued to a white card base with some fun foam in between. The images from the Julie Ebersole set Unicorns and Rainbows are stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics, then cut out using the set dies. The sentiment is stamped with Gina K dark black ink directly onto the clouds. For a little embellishment I added the gold sparkly heart and cut the swoosh from pink glimmer paper.

Here's the inside. This will be another card for one of  my friends with October birthdays.

The top sentiment is heat embossed using gold EP. It is from the companion Julie Ebersole set called Pure Magic. The Birthday Greeting is Mama Elephant and is stamped in SU Balmy Blue.

Have a great Sunday and thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Unicorns 'N Rainbows and Pure Magic sets by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson, and Scripty Birthday set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Whisper White regular and thick, Concord & 9th pink glitter paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K black ink cube, VersaMark, SU Balmy Blue, Copics, Distress Ink cubes Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans
Other: Cloud stencil, TE Blender Brushes, stamp set corresponding dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, gold EP, heat tool, gold enamel heart, dimensionals

Keeping It WHEEL

Hi there and happy Friday peeps,

Hopefully you all have something fun or relaxing planned for the long weekend. We have been at our friend's house since last Saturday up on the Central California Coast wine country. It was a planned working/vacation. Since we really just need good WIFI to do most of our jobs, this worked out well.
We have some fun wine tastings planned for the weekend and tonight we will be in Cambria at our favorite sea food resturant.

I planned on some crafty supplies to bring since we were going to be gone for more than a week, and we made the journey by car, which makes it much easier to do.

The Freshly Made Sketches ladies are having a celebration to mark the 400th sketch. Here is my card for this week's sketch. I've used a Julie Ebersole set called Good Times paired with new SU Christmas DSP. These patterns are pretty versatile and can be used for non-holiday cards too.

Since I didn't have time last week to make a card for last week's 300th sketch, I made one this week. This set is is called Candlelight and is by Altenew. (These layering sets are so fun!) Again, I've paired the stamps with new SU Christmas DSP.

Wishing everyone a fun, restful and safe holiday weekend. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Good Times set by Ellen Hutson (card 1) and Candlelight by Altenew (card 2)
Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Night of Navy card stock and SU Brightly Gleaming DSP (card 1)
SU Thick Whisper White card stock and Christmas Plaids DSP (card 2)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Night of Navy, SU Stampin' Blends markers (card 1)
VersaMark, SU Rose Red, Cherry Cobbler, Shaded Spruce, and Gina K yellow and orange (card 2)
Other: Good Times dies, SU stars EF, (card 1)
Candlelight set dies, SU Stitched Rectangle dies, Die-namics Pierced Circle dies, gold EP, heat tool (card 2)
Misti, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Congratulations Graduate

Hello,

My youngest nephew graduates today from high school. He has been awarded Valedictorian of his class. Yup, he's a smarty just like his older siblings.

Here's the card that I made for him. I combined several supplies from several different companies.

This Ellen Hutson bear stamp is one of my very favorite! He is so versatile! Using the corresponding die, I cut him out using X-Press It Blending card stock and then using the Misti, stamped him onto the cutout. I made his background using a cloud stencil and a brush. There are three ink colors in the clouds, Baja Breeze, Pale Plum and Powder Pink. The grassy hill is cut from Baja Breeze card stock using a Lawn Fawn die. The round balloon is also a Lawn Fawn die and the Mortar Board is a Taylored Expressions die. These are cut from metallic card stock.

The left side of the card is a piece of X-Press It Blending white card stock stamped using the Concord & 9th Stripes and Sayings set. The stripes are stamped in Baja Breeze ink and the sayings are stamped in Pale Plum. Using foam tape, the bear panel is raised up.

Here's the inside:

Unfortunately, since I'm working in Denver this week, I couldn't make it up to Portland to attend his graduation. Not sure why they held it during the week instead of on the weekend!?

I hope you're week is going well. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: All Inside by Essentials by Ellen, Stripes and Sayings set by Concord & 9th,  and Dream Big by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Baja Breeze and X-Press It Blending and SSS metallic card stocks
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pale Plum, Powder Pink, Memento tuxedo black
Other: Cloud Stencil, All Inside set dies, Taylored Expressions Mortar Board die, Lawn Fawn Grassy Hill and balloon dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, cloud stencil, blending brush

Hi Friend

Hello again,

This is my second post this afternoon. I made this card using inspiration from the  photo at the Inspired By Challenge blog. I used this week's  Freshly Made Sketches sketch again for the layout.

I used the daisy flower for my main focal point and added a little boarder of lace using white craft ink and white EP.  The background is made using the SU Country Floral 3D embossing folder. Before using it, i inked the smooth side with light yellow ink. After running it through the Big Shot, I trimmed a small amount off one edge to allow the stamped lace along the edge of the Summer Sun card base to show.

The daisy is stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored with Copics then cut out using the corresponding die. The sentiment dies are also part of the set. They are cut from SU Basic Black card stock. I cut two sets and glued them together, then glued them onto the daisy. The dots over both i's are black enamel dots, and I brushed Wink of Stella over the words for a little sparkle.

Here is the inside of the card:

There you have it. Thanks again,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Mondo Daisy Stamp set from Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson)
Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Summer Sun card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Summer Sun, Hero white craft ink
Other: SU Country Floral 3D embossing folder, Mondo Daisy set dies,  SU white embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Wink of Stella, liquid glue, Big Shot, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Cat-puccino?

Hi again,

Looking through blog-land this morning, I saw that the Tag You're It! Challenge has a fun theme challenge going on. A chance to use some of my super cute coffee stamps. I decided to use the current CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch for my tag and card. I found these coffee themed patterned papers in my misc paper bag that works perfectly with the theme.

The coffee cup image is stamped with Memento black and the Cat is stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with white EP.  They are colored with Copics, then cut with the set die. The circle tag is a Lawn Fawn die. I cut two, one from the patterned papers layered to mimic the diagonal in the sketch and a second from the same card stock as the card base. I tied a small bow using Baker's twine and added a puffy coffee cup and some enamel dots for embellishments. 

For the inside of the card I used the same coffee cup stamp, with a different coffee decoration, again heat embossed with white EP.

I hope your afternoon is "Grande." Thanks again,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Latte Love set by Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Cool Caribbean and Whisper White card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock.
?? Patterned papers (I think they are from a SSS kit)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, VersaMark, Copics
Other: Latte Love set dies, Pebbles puffy sticker and enamel dots, Baker's twine, SU white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr., Misti, dimensionals, SU mini glue dots

Cat-puccino?

Happy Monday,

Plans changed and I didn't have to drive to LA early this morning. I still have to go, but I won't leave until mid-day. This gives me a chance to post one more card that I made this past Saturday. This card uses the Freshly Made Sketch for this week. The stamp set is another super fun coffee themed set from Ellen Hutson by Julie Ebersole.

For the background, I embossed the card front with the SU Dynamic Woodgrain EF, sponged some Tranquil Tide ink over with a blending tool, and then covered the bottom few inches with some DSP. I pulled out a SU paper doily and used the same Tranquil Tide ink to color it. It's cut in half and layered to the DSP, my idea of a little doily on the table in which to place my cup of Cat-paccino.

The cup is stamped with memento black and colored with Copics and cut out using the corresponding set die.

Here's the inside of the card:

This is truly a cute set.

Have an awesome day, and thanks!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Latte Love set by Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU heavy & regular Whisper White and Tranquil Tide card stock and Whole Lot of Lovely DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and Tranquil Tide
Other: Latte Love dies, SU embossing folder, SU paper doily, ink blending tool, black rhinestones, Gemini Jr, Misti, dimensionals

Hello Friend and Much Love; Fun with Flowers for the Paper Players

Hello Friends,

For my second post today, I have two cards that I made using Ann's sketch for the Paper Players Challenge. Since I didn't get to play with my friend, LeAnne's monochromatic theme last week because of my work travels, I've decided to incorporate the monochromatic theme this week. Kind of a two for one thing, LOL.

This first card uses a new stamp and die set from Ellen Hutson called Mondo Daisy. It was super fun to color with Copics, and it went together super quickly. The papers are all SU.

For the second card, which was actually the first one I made, I've used a new stamp and die set from Concord & 9th called Pretty Poppy. The paper's are all SU again and I've used SU Blends on this one instead of Copics.

These pinks are super bright!

I hope everyone has a good work week. Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Card 1
Stamps: Mondo Daisy set by Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Heavy Whisper White card stock and Color Theory DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Mondo Daisy die, dew drops, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Card 2
Stamps: Pretty Poppy set by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Flirty Flamingo, Lovely Lipstick, Whisper White card stock and All My Love DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Lovely Lipstick, Flirty Flamingo ink pads and Blends, Mossy Meadow blends
Other: Pretty Poppy dies, Gemini Jr, Fiskars corner rounder punch, dimensionals, SU glue dots

HEY!

Hello,

I'm half way through my two week road trip and I'm looking forward to heading home on Thursday evening. Since today is Sunday, it's time for the Paper Players challenge 301. We sure had fun celebrating #300 last weekend. This week, Joanne is our hostess with a fun sketch.

I made my card the evening before flying out, so I needed to keep things pretty simple, but no less cute. I love this bear from Ellen Hutson and he was perfect to use for a friends birthday card.

I didn't take a picture of the inside. It says, LOVE, HUGS, SUNSHINE and Happy Birthday!

As always, you'll find awesome inspiration when you visit the other DT's blogs listed below:

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm looking forward to seeing your lovely creations this week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All Inside by Julie set from Ellen Hutson

Paper: SU heavy whisper white, Real Red card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock and Doodlebug Sunkissed patterned papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics

Other: All Inside coordinating dies, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX and Curved Stitched Rectangle STAX dies, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Up the Happy

Hello,

Boy, this week just flew by, didn't it? It's Sunday again and time for The Paper Players. This week, we are up to challenge number 283. Joanne is our hostess, and she has a Clean and Simple theme challenge for us. Look at that big, lovely bouquet of balloons.

I decided to use a brand new stamp set that I recently purchased and do some "no line" water coloring. It was fun and I really like the way it turned out.

I started with a panel of water color paper and stamped each balloon outline in a different color of Tim Holtz Distress ink. I masked each balloon after stamping so I could layer them across the top of the panel. The strings were stamped in the same color with the masks still in place. After all of the stamping was completed, I removed the masks and water colored each balloon with an aqua painter, using more ink and less water towards the bottom of each for shading. After the water coloring was dry, the sentiment was stamped with SU Craft black ink and heat embossed with clear EP. The butterfly is stamped in SU black and heat embossed as well, then water colored with various purple shades, and fussy cut. I stamped the butterfly on my panel in SU archival black ink, then placed the fussy cut one in place with dimensionals. I added a liberal amount of Wink of Stella clear glitter to the darker purple on the butterfly and a light swipe of it on the left side of the balloons. Finally, the panel was trimmed to the size, layered over the patterned paper and finished with some clear and white sequin.

Stop by the rest of the DT's blogs for more awesome inspiration.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

Colleen Begley

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all create. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Up the Happy set by Ellen Hutson (designed by Julie Ebersole)
Paper: SU Perfect Plum card stock, water color paper, Echo Park patterned paper
Ink: Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress mini ink pads: Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw, Stormy Sky, Victorian Velvet, SU Craft black, SU Archival black
Other: SU clear EP, heat tool, aqua painter, sequin, Multi matte medium