A Veggie Happy Birthday

 Happy Weekend and Happy March to all!

It's a low key day around here. I did some organizing in my craft room this morning, and then a little reading {napping in my chair :)} while listening to pre-season Baseball. I decided I needed to do something to keep my brain busy and that something is to post the card I made last night using Linda's sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. 

Linda has a very interesting sketch this time and I pondered how I wanted to use it. Mostly, I kept thinking of using multiple sentiments, but while looking through my boxes of stamps, I came across these Lawn Fawn cuties and thought I could make them work for the sketch. 

The Inspired By Challenge theme is Gingham this week, so I'll post there too.

Lawn Fawn has some of the funniest, or punniest, sentiments to go with their images, and I love these on the inside of my card. Who knew  veggies would make such a great birthday card?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: All from Lawn Fawn, Simply Celebrate Veggies, Veggie Happy, and Simply Celebrate Critters sets

Paper: Neenah Solar White 100 lb, Concord & 9th Parsley card stocks and Lawn Fawn Gingham patterned paper

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Copic Markers

Other: Connect liquid glue and SU Mini Dimensionals

the Best of Luck

Hello and happy Sunday,

Green is my favorite color so of course I had to play along with this week's Just Us Girls Color Challenge. I wasn't quite sure about putting these two shades together, lime and green, but I love the bright result.  

The theme for my card comes from the current Inspired By Challenge.

The background is created using a Turnabout stamp from Concord and 9th. Instead of using different colors I used lime for all four rotations. The stamp set has small stamps to add images to some of the shapes and I again used lime for tone on tone.  For the focal image, I had to get crafty and made a four-leaf clover using a heart die because the dies in my stash are too small. 

Here's the inside of the card. The greeting is from Spellbinders and the clover stamped image from Gina K Designs.

I've been watching Indian Wells Tennis this week and I'll probably do more of the same today. I can craft or color while watching. I picked up a couple of coloring books by Johanna Bashford. She has beautifully drawn images, especially her flowers and they were very inexpensive at Amazon. I've been practicing with colored pencils. It's such a relaxing activity for me.

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon. 

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Pop Heart Turnabout set by Concord and 9th, Luck and Love set with dies by Gina K Designs and Lily Arch set and dies by Spellbinders

Paper: Layering weight white, Lucky Clover and Black Onyx by Gina K Designs

Ink: Key Lime, Black Onyx, Craft White and Embossing ink pad by Gina K Designs

Other: Concord & 9th heart die, Gina K Designs fine detail white and gold embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Big Shot, Stampin' Up dot embossing folder, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue

Friday Evening Cards - Two Challenges

Hi and happy Saturday,

After a frustrating day of work computer issues, still unresolved, I needed some paper, ink and stamp therapy last evening. I managed to make two cards, well, actually three because one of them I dumped my drink on after it was done, so I had to re-make it.

Over the past few years, I've purchased a few of the SU card kits. The latest one that I purchased is the Simply Citrus All-inclusive kit. The citrus theme is trendy, the stamp set is adorable, and the card bases are bright. Sometimes I put the cards together following the kit instructions and sometimes I do my own thing with the supplies. With this kit, I followed the instructions for all, except I kept out one card base and some other supplies to make a card a little differently. Because of the citrus theme it turned out perfectly to use for this week's Inspired By Challenge.

Unfortunately, this happened to be the card that I dumped my drink on, so the card base and the terracotta panel are not items from the Simply Citrus kit. I was able to quickly rescue the banner and stamped circle, and the little plastic flower embellishments from the soggy mess. Since I'd already used the rest of the supplies from the kit, I had to come up with my own card base. Using a SSS dotted stencil, a blending brush and inks, I made the random dot background, which is similar to the original card base from the kit.

I had to re-make the inside as well. I actually changed it from my original design and I like this one better.

My next card is made using the sketch from this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! and the colors from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.

Both stamp sets are from Concord & 9th, and both are Turnabout sets, although I didn't used the Turnabout stamp in the coffee set. The background Turnabout set is from their July release. Since the Color Throwdown has limited colors this week, black and terracotta, I stamped 3 turns with black ink and the final turn with the terracotta color.

Using a black side folding card base, I used dies to cut windows in the front of the card and glued the stamped background behind. I used a white gel pen to make the stitched border for a little added interest. The coffee cups are all from the C&9th Coffee Blend Turnabout set. They are colored with Copics and cut out with their corresponding dies. The sentiment is a die from the same set, cut 4 times from white card stock and glued together. Finally, I added the gold #, the gold hearts, and a white enamel dot over the J for embellishments.

Here is the inside of this card.

Have a fab weekend and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: SU Simply Citrus set, Coffee Blend Turnabout and Positive Print Turnabout sets by Concord & 9th

Paper: SU Terracotta Tile, Night of Navy, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock, pre-printed citrus banner from Simply Citrus kit

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Night of Navy, Copics, Hero Unicorn craft, SU Terracotta Tile, Gina K Honey Mustard and Wile Dandelion, White gel pen

Other: Misti, Gemini Jr., Spellbinders circle dies, Die-namics square and rectangle dies, C&9th Coffee Blend kit dies, Nuvo glitter pen, SU Shimmery Crystal Effects, Simply Citrus kit embellishments, misc enamel shapes, Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

You're Awesome

Happy Monday evening peeps,

I've got a card for you that I made following a couple of challenges. The sketch comes from this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! and the theme comes from the current Inspired By Challenge. I love both the colors and the patchwork theme in this week's challenge.

I did take a little creative license with the sketch omitting the two small elements below the sentiment, and I moved the sentiment off the main element because it just didn't work with the punched flowers. As far as the Inspired By Challenge, I used several elements including the dots in the background, the patched squares and the colors. This was totally a fun card to make!

Here's the inside that uses a sentiment and image from one of the SU Sale-a-bration sets.

Thanks for looking today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Altenew Dainty Swiss Dots set and SU Thoughtful Blooms set
Paper: SU thick & regular Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Coastal Cabana, Midnight Muse, Regal Rose card stocks
Ink: Midnight Muse, Coastal Cabana
Other: SU Thoughtful Blooms punch, Die-namics Double Stitched square die, Taylored Expressions Small Scalloped Banner die, Gemini Jr, Misti, SU white enamel dots, liquid glue, foam tape

Friend

Happy Monday,

Last night after dinner, I was able to make one more card. For this one you may need some shades to view as it's pretty bright. I used the current Inspired By Challenge photo for the color inspiration. I was particularly inspired by the green quatrefoil patterned towel hanging in the photo. I remembered that I have the TE Quatrefoil cutting plate, so I grabbed it and went to work on my card.

The card stocks used are SU Whisper White, Cucumber Crush and Tempting Turquoise. I cut the white and green with the cutting plate, glued the white outline onto a card base of turquoise, then glued in the green segments. The stamps are from the Pretty Poppy set by Concord & 9th. Instead of coloring the flowers, I thought they would look nice with just the outlines. The one on the turquoise card stock is heat embossed with white EP. The sentiment is from Gina K and is cut and layered with the new SU Stitched Nested Labels.

I did the same on the inside. No coloring, just stamping.

I have about a 1.5 hour drive this morning to get to my work site, so I need to get going. Have a great day everyone and thanks for looking.

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Concord & 9th Pretty Poppy set and Gina K Doodle Sayings set
Paper: SU Whisper White, Cucumber Crush and Tempting Turquoise card stock
Ink: SU Tempting Turquoise, Cucumber Crush, VersaMark
Other: TE Quatrefoil cutting plate, SU Stitched Nested Label dies, Gemini Jr, Misti, white EP, heat tool, liquid glue and dimensional

When Life Gives You Lemons. . .

T.G.I.F and hello!

After finishing up weekly reports and a couple of conference calls this morning, I decided to do a little stamping. Looking around blog-land I saw that the Inspired By Challenge blog has a new challenge up with a very pretty picture. Great "inspiration" and I almost immediately had an idea. I needed a layout too and thought that the Sunday Stamps sketch was perfect.

I remembered that I had this Avery Elle fruit set and the corresponding sentiment always makes me smile. Using the lemons, the wood grain in the table, and the stripes on the napkins for my inspiration points, I put my card together.

The background is Whisper White card stock stamped using some Concord & 9th stamps from their Peak-Through Patterns set. The ink is SU Blueberry Bushel. To make the wood panel, I used craft card stock and the SU 3D Woodgrain EF. Before running it through the Big Shot, I inked one side of the EF with Soft Suede ink. The panel was trimmed and layered with Blueberry Bushel card stock per the sketch design. The card base is also Blueberry Bushel. For the lemons, they are stamped with Memento tuxedo black onto Whisper White and colored with Copies. The sentiment is stamped with Night of Navy because I wanted a darker shade of blue here. I used foam tape to raise the woodgrain panel over the stripped panel and then the lemon with the sentiment is popped up with Dimensionals. A few small yellow sequins finish it all off.

The inside uses a greeting from a Mama Elephant set and the heart stamp is from Gina K. The background stripes are stamped with another Concord & 9th set.

This was a super fun card to put together with all of the stamping. I hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks all and Happy Friday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Berry Good set by Avery Elle, Stripes and Sayings and Peak-Through Pattern sets by Concord & 9th, You Get Me set by Gina K, Scripty Notes set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Blueberry Bushel and Whisper White card stock
Ink: SU Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Berry Good dies, SU 3D Woodgrain embossing folder, Misti, Big Shot, Gemini Jr, foam tape, Dimensionals, yellow sequins

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

Forever Friends

Happy Saturday Peeps,

We are still on the California Central Coast and today's activities include, what else, wine tasting.

Yesterday morning I had some time, while the others were working, to do some stamping, and I made cards for a few more challenges. These cards are all made with Concord & 9th stamps because when I packed up my supplies to come last week, I grabbed that bin of stamps.

This card is inspired by both the Inspired By. . . Challenge, and by this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.

For the background, I used the new Concord & 9th Gingham background stamp. Man oh man it was fun! (You'll see it on another card that I'll post later). The light blue ink is one of the new SU In-color shades. The rest of the ink are all Gina K cubes because they are easy to pack.

After making the background, I stamped the flowers from the new Concord & 9th flower set in light and dark shades of poppy and cut them out with the set dies. The circle is a Die-namics Circle Frame die and the banner is also Die-namics.

Here is a look at the inside of the card.

I'm loving these new C&9th sets! Thanks for looking and have a nice and relaxing weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Filled In Florals set and Gingham Background set by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Seaside Spray card stock and X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: SU Seaside Spray and Gina K cubes in dark blue, light and dark poppy shades
Other: Filled In Florals dies, Die-namics Stitched Circle Border and Pierced Fishtail Flag dies, the Misti, the Big Shot, dimensionals

What's the Scoop? and Thanks A Bunch

Good morning to all,

I hope you are having a nice and relaxing Saturday. I was up early to get my walking in, went for a mani/pedi and now I am home. My afternoon looks like it will be filled with crafty time. Whoo-hoo!

I have two cards in this post, both made with this week's Freshly Made Sketch. Such a fun one with tons of options. After I finished the first card, I decided to make a second using Karen's fun sketch. Both cards use stamp sets from Hero Arts.

Card one is made using SU Heavy Whisper White card stock. The patterned paper is very old Doodlebug. This is a scrap that was just slightly shorter than 5.5", but since the sketch has the layer, I decided to use it, as I wanted the strawberry background to pair with the ice cream scoops.

This is one of Hero's layering sets. The sentiment is cut out using a Die-namics oval die. A few Doodlebug enamel shapes are added for embellishments.

The second card design is inspired by the current Inspired By Challenge photo.
The patterned paper is from Simple Stories and it's called Summertime. The daisies and sentiment are stamped with the new SU Blueberry Bushel ink color, and the blue layer is Blueberry Bushel paper.

For embellishment on this card I've used some yellow pearls and Baker's twine.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Little Florals set and Layering Ice Cream set by Hero Arts
Paper: SU Heavy Whisper White, SU Blueberry Bushel, SU basic Whisper White, Simple Stories and Doodlebug patterned papers
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Baked Brownsugar, Strawberry Slush, Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Berry Burst, Blueberry Bushel
Other: Die-namics Stitched Rectangle, Hero Arts Layering Ice Cream and Little Floral dies, Gemini Jr, dimensionals, mini glue dots, Doodlebug enamel shapes, Kaiser Craft pearls, Baker's Twine, Misti

You Are So Loved

Hello crafters,

I have tons to do today as today is when I start packing up my craft room. Since it's still relatively early here on the west coast, I'm indulging in a little internet time before I get started.

I had a very productive Sunday as far as card making. There's a fairly new challenge blog, Inspired By Challenge, that is in it's second week. I first saw it on this post by my friend,  LeAnne, and thought it would be fun to play along. Looking through my paper stash I found this cute envelope paper and built my card around it and the inspiration photo.

The critters are from the Mama Elephant Woodland Gifts set. The Tree dies used in the background are from Lawn Fawn and the Stitched Hill die is Die-namics. The images are stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Copics and cut out with the set dies. Before popping them into the scene using dimensionals, I cut out the background with a Spellbinders Scalloped Square die and matted it using a Spellbinders Square die in Real Red. The ribbon is SU.

Here's the inside using more images from the Woodland Gifts set and a sentiment from SU.

Wishing everyone a great day! Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Woodland Gifts set by Mama Elephant, Good Greetings by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Whisper White, Real Red and Mint Macaroon, X-Press It Blending card stock and misc patterned paper (loose sheets that I have bagged up from various 6 x 6 pads)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Real Red
Other: Woodland Gifts dies, Spellbinder dies, Lawn Fawn dies, Die-namics dies, SU Red stitched ribbon, Gemini Jr, dimensionals