Oh Happy Day!

Hello crafters,

My second day of vacation and I've been running around like crazy. Too many errands! We pick up our visitors from the airport at 8:00 pm and many of those errands were to get ready for them. We are super excited for them to arrive.

Yesterday I took all of my stamping supplies out my room and they are in a pile in the garage, so this post will be my last for a few weeks to a month until I get everything put back together again. After our friends leave, the room will be painted then I'm putting in some IKEA furniture for storage and a new desk.  I've also ordered some ink and drawer storage from Organize More. Those should be arriving any day now. I can't wait to get everything done, and I plan on taking this opportunity to do some purging of things that I don't use.

Today's card uses this week's Sunday Stamps sketch challenge. It's a fun sketch and I enjoyed working with it. I've used some new Mama Elephant stamps. These flying elephants are too cute!

I found this patterned paper with the constellations and thought it would be fun to pair with the elephant flying high with his balloon. The images are stamped with Memento tuxedo black, colored with Copics and cut out with the set dies. I've used a TE cloud border die for the horizontal element. I cut it twice, once in white and once in mint to make a shadow for the white. For embellishments I've added a few enamel stars and brushed a liberal amount of Wink of Stella over the balloon.

Here's the inside:

Don't you love those little caps?!

Thanks for checking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Fly With Me and Scripty Bday sets by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Mint Macaroon, Dapper Denim, Whisper White, X-Press It Blending card stock
the patterned papers are from my misc stash bag, so I don't know the company.
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Dapper Denim
Other: Fly With Me dies, Taylored Expressions Border Cloud die, enamel stars, Wink of Stella clear, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

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

Happy Heart Day

Hello crafters,

I sure hope you're all having a fabulous Sunday! I've spent most of the day at my stamping table and it's been fun. I'm trying to get in lots of stamping time before tomorrow when I start cleaning out my room and putting everything in the garage prepping for our company, then my room make-over.

Since today is Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge. Laurie is this week's hostess with a timeless color theme of Red, Kraft and White. I think we all love this combo. Since I know that Laurie loves dies, I pulled out some new Mama Elephant dies to make my card.

This die set is call Favor Bag-Dog dies. (you can also make a cute kitty). I cut the shapes from SU Crumb Cake and Whisper White card stock. For the dog, I sponged some Distress Burlap ink over one of the ears and the nose circle. I also used a Copic brown pen and white gel pen to make some freckles. Using a pencil eraser dipped in pink ink, I stamped his pink cheeks.

On the kitty, I used a pink Copic to color in the inside of her ears and her mouth. On both, I covered the noses with Glossy Accents.

The hearts are made using an SU heart punch. The sentiments are heat embossed with white EP.
Here is the inside:

All of the stamps are from various Mama Elephant sets except the one that says "happy heart day." That is Lawn Fawn. The patterned paper is I don't know. I found it loose in my drawer and it was perfect for my card.

Have a great Sunday evening all. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Fly With Me and Woodland Gifts sets by Mama Elephant and Conversation Heart Add On set by Lawn Fawn
Paper: SU Real Red, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Basic Black, Powder Pink card stock, ??? patterned paper
Ink: SU Real Red, VersaMark, Copic markers
Other: Mama Elephant Favor Bag-Dog dies, SU large heart punch, Lawn Fawn Stitched Heart die, SSS white EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, dimensionals, Glossy Accents, SU mini glue dots

Best Friends Forever

Hi everyone,

How was your Saturday? I did some shopping for my trip coming up next month this morning then headed to my stamp table to have some inky fun this afternoon. The Freshly Made Sketch looked pretty interesting this week, so I though I'd play along. I took a break from making Christmas cards, (although I still need more) and made this. Warning, this is one bright card!

The inside panel:

The images are from Mama Elephant stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. The dies are all Die-namics.

Stop by tomorrow for a new Paper Player's challenge. Claire has another fun one for us.

Thanks for stopping in. Enjoy your Saturday evening,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Honey Bunny set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Flirty Flamingo and X-Press It Blending card stock, Suga Pop by KaiserCraft patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics Single Stitched Line Circle Frames, Pierced Circle, Stitched Oval and Stitched Scalloped Oval Frame, Pierced Fishtail Flags dies, Fiskars corner rounder punch, glass beads, the Big Shot, Dimensionals

A Great Sketch for the Paper Players

Hello from "Down the Cape!"

We are vacationing on Cape Cod this week. We've traded our beach on the "left coast" for a beach on the "right coast," LOL.

It's Sunday and that means it's Paper Players day here on my blog. My friend and our hostess, LeAnne, has an awesome sketch for week #305.

I liked this layout so much that I made two cards. First up is this one:

I started with the Mama Elephant set called Up and Away. The bunny and umbrella are stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. I made a mask for the bunny's hand so that I could stamp the umbrella's handle so he's holding onto it. The image was die cut with a Die-namics circle die and layered onto a Spellbinders Scalloped circle die. The layering card stock is Baja Breeze. The cloud dies are used for the banner elements in LeAnne's sketch.

Here is the inside of card one. The balloon stamp is part of the ME set. The sentiment stamp is from SU's Endless Birthday Wishes set.

Now for the second card that I made.

Using my Mini Misti tool, I stamped the flower and leaf images from the WPlus9 set called Happy Wishes. The ink colors are SU Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Smoky Slate. I used the "A Little Foxy" card stock pack colors on pg 174 of the SU catalog for my inspiration. The greeting is from the Avery Elle Floral Frame set and it's cut out with Pierced Circle Die-namics. The vellum and banners are Die-namics Fishtail Flag dies.

Here is the inside of this card. The stamps are from the WPlus9 set as well.

You will find more awesome inspiration when you visit the DT blogs here:

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

I can't wait to see how you use LeAnne's sketch this week. I know we will see some great cards in our gallery.

As always, thanks for stopping in. Have a great week. I know I will since I'm on vacation "down the Cape."

Hugs,

Colleen

Supplies for Card #1

Stamps: Up and Away set by Mama Elephant and Endless Birthday Wishes set by Stampin' Up

Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Baja Breeze card stocks, Hello Summer by Echo Park patterned papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black,Copics and SU Baja Breeze

Other: Die-namics Zig-zag stitched Circle Die, Spellbinder Scalloped Nested die, Taylored Expressions Cloud dies, Die-namics Rounded corner rectangle die, the Big Shot, TE blue sequin, white gel pen, dimensionals

Supplies for Card #2

Stamps: Happy Wishes set by WPlus9 and Floral Frame set by Avery Elle

Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Pool Party card stocks

Ink: SU Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Memento tuxedo black and VersaMark pads

Other: SU Whisper White EP, heat tool, Die-namics pierced circle die, Die-namics Fishtail Flags dies (pierced for the vellum element and basic for the banner elements), SU pearls, the Big Shot, dimensionals, Fiskers corner punch

You Can't Buy Happiness. . .

Hello and welcome to another Paper Players Challenge,

This week we are up to challenge number 303, and our hostess is Nance who has a cool color challenge.

I was in the mood to do some water coloring this week so I pulled out some water color paper and went to work on this cute Mama Elephant set called Carnival Cupcakes.

Using SU Archival black ink, I stamped the little bunny on water color paper. I made a mask for the bunny and stamped the cupcake top so she's sitting on it. Finally, I masked the cupcake top and stamped the cupcake bottom. Using the SU ink pads and my aqua painter I water colored the image in the challenge colors and cut it out using a Die-namics Stitched circle die.  I washed a very light coat of Sweet Sugarplum in the back ground, but it's hard to see in the photo. The Sweet Sugarplum frame is made with another Die-namics die.

The patterned paper is from SU in Mint Macaron and it's layered onto a panel of Island Indigo. As usual, I added embellishments. ( I love embellishing!) For this card some white, clear and pink sequin.

I didn't photograph the inside. I kept it simple just using the other part of the sentiment, which is "but you can buy cupcakes, and that's kind of the same thing," (so true) and another cupcake image.

Be sure to stop by the rest of the DT's blogs for more awesome color inspiration.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the creative and colorful cards in the gallery this week.

Have a wonderful and relaxing Sunday. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Carnival Cupcakes and Carnival Toppers sets by Mama Elephant

Paper: SU Sweet Sugarplum, Island Indigo and Whisper White card stock, water color paper, SU envelope paper

Ink: SU Archival black, Sweet Sugarplum, Island Indigo and Mint Macaron classic ink pads

Other: aqua painter, Die-namics stitched circle and Scalloped border dies, sequin, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Welcome Baby

Hello stamping friends,

It's a pretty Saturday morning here on the SoCal coast and I'm enjoying it. I had breakfast on the deck in the sunshine eating while reading a new fun book by Mary Kay Andrews called "The Weekenders." I love all of her books. A little romance, a little mystery all set somewhere in the Low Country. 

I made this card Thursday evening. My co-worker is pregnant with her second child and they know that they are having a girl. I'm keeping with my current "stamp my own background" kick with this card, just like on my previous post.

I stamped the sweet little animal images in Memento tuxedo black and used sponge daubers to randomly add color, then cut a circle using a Spellbinders classic circle die to make the shaker part of the card. I stamped the sentiment and bear through the opening for perfect placement. The bear is colored with Copics and I added a liberal amount of Wink of Stella over his muzzle, ears and foot pads.

All in all, a fairly simple card. The longest part was cutting and placing the foam tape perfectly around the circle to hold in the sequin.

This afternoon, I'm working on my Paper Players card for tomorrow. We have a fun sketch challenge for you.

I hope you have a great Saturday, and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Carnival Cupcakes set by Mama Elephant and Something To Celebrate set by Stampin' Up (sentiment)
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock and SU Flirty Flamingo
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Flirty Flamingo, Peekaboo Peach, Sweet Sugarplumb, Mint Macroon, Copics
Other: Die-namics Stitched Mini Scalloped circles die, Spellbinders Classic circle die, SU window plastic, the Big Shot, foam tape, sequin, Wink of Stella

Just A Little Something

Hi and Happy Easter Sunday,

I took my "personal chef" to the airport at 6:00 am for a business trip to Florida for the week, so I'm hanging out with my stamps, paper and ink today since I'm home alone. I was looking through some of my favorite blogs and came across something that looked pretty fun to try. The Inspiration Challenge is hosted on Splitcoast each Saturday. Yesterday's challenge, here, is a watercolor inspiration and is inspired by the work of Kathleen McElwaine from Austin.

After looking through her gallery, I decided to use her sunflower paintings for my inspiration. When you look closely at her work, you can see how she outlines some of the elements in her paintings with black.

This was a pretty fun card to make and I rather like the way it turned out. I figured I'd need to do a few practice panels, but this is the first one I made and I went with it.

I stamped this really old wooden stamp from "Judith, 1993, onto watercolor paper using Memento Desert Sand ink so I could do some "no line" watercoloring. Using Zig Real Brush Markers I colored in the flowers using three different shades of yellow, a dark tan and dark red. The leaves are done using three different shades of green as well. Making sure the flowers were good and dry (I used my heat tool), using my Copic 0.3 black pen I quickly outlined the images trying to be non-precise. I did a blue wash with two shades of blue, then again making sure that was dry, I heat embossed some gold spots using the SU Gorgeous Grunge set. The panel was trimmed to 3.5 by 5.5 inches and layered onto a brushed gold panel. I used fun foam so it's raised up on the Whisper White card base. It took me awhile to figure out what to do with the sentiment, and finally decided on this black banner with gold.

Again, this was a really fun technique to do, so I encourage you to give it a try.

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

Supplies
Stamps: Sunflower stamp by Judith, Gorgeous Grunge set by Stampin' Up, Woodland Gifts by Mama Elephant (sentiment)
Paper: SU Whisper White, Brushed Gold, Basic Black card stocks and cold pressed water color paper
Ink: Memento Desert Sand, Kuretake Zig Real Brush water color markers, VersaMark
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flag die, gold EP, heat tool, large paintbrush, enamel dots, fun foam, the Big Shot

You're Out of This World

Happy Weekend!

It's been gorgeous weather wise here in SoCal this past week and this weekend looks like it will be more of the same. I have some shopping to do later this morning, then I'm meeting some former co-workers for dinner tonight. Should be fun to catch up.

I picked up this new Mama Elephant set a few weeks ago at a shop down in San Diego. When I saw the new CAS(E) This Sketch sketch I thought it would work well with the set. When I purchased the stamp set, I received the little star border die free due a promotion that Mama Elephant was having at the time. You can't beat that!

All of the stamped images and sentiment are from the set. I used the matching Space Bear dies to cut out the bear and popped it up with dimensional tape over the stars. I picked up some of the punched out stars and placed them randomly around the "sky" over the moon. The bear is colored with Copics and the smaller images are colored with pencils. The bear's space bubble is coated with Crystal Effects.

Don't forget to check in with the Paper Players blog tomorrow. LeAnne has a fun sketch challenge coming your way.

Wishing you many Easter Blessings.
Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Space Bears set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and Daffodil Delight card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: SU Night of Navy, Memento tuxedo black, Copics, colored pencils
Other: Mama Elephant Space Bear and Star border dies, Crystal Effects, Wink of Stella, the Big Shot, dimensional tape

You Are So Loved

Hello again,

This is my second post today because I wanted to post this little Valentine's Day tag that I made for the Tag You're It Challenge.

I've not participated in this one before, but I thought I'd give it a try since I always seem to "ooh and aw" over the design team's tags every time I stop by their blogs. For some reason, this little elephant with balloon by Tracey McNeely inspired me to make a tag. I didn't have an elephant stamp that I wanted to use, but this cute bear stamp from Mama Elephant works pretty well. I originally was going to water color the background, but then thought since I was doing Valentine's Day, I'd use the hearts for the background.

Here's Tracy's inspiration tag:

Supplies
Stamps: Woodland Gifts by Mama Elephant and Whole Lotta Hearts by Reverse Confetti
Paper: SU Crumb Cake, Real Red and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: SU Real Red, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn heart balloon die, Die-Namics label die, SU tag punch, sequin, the Big Shot, diemnsionals, SU stitched read ribbon

Have a great rest of your weekend. Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

I Love You

Hello,

Happy weekend. It's another hot one here in SoCal. I'm staying in, with the fan on, and stamping today.

The card I have for you today I made for my niece in Colorado. On Wednesday her kitty got out and had been missing until this morning. Thank goodness she was found, as my niece was just heartbroken. She has had Toulouse for around four years and takes her back and forth from home in Oregon to school in Colorado each year. Toulouse has been great company, as all pets are. So to celebrate Toulouse's return and to let my niece know I'm thinking about her, I'm sending this card.

The sketch comes from this week's Freshly Made Sketch #201.

I started with some pink card stock as the base and layered silver polka-dot vellum over it. Then I smooshed some pink and gray ink onto water color paper and cut it out with a Die-namics stitched rectangle die. A polka-dot embossing folder was used on the gray card stock element and the dark pink circle element was cut out with two pierced circle Die-namics.

Supplies
Stamps: Three Amigos set by Mama Elephant
Paper: TE light and dark pink card stock, SU Smokey Slate card stock, Tim Holtz water color paper, SU vellum, X-Press It Blending card
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, Distress Gray ink marker and SU pink marker used for smooshing technique
Other: Die-namics stitched rectangle and pierced circle dies, Sizzix embossing folder, SU heart sequins, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Keep cool and thanks for looking,
Colleen

Sending Smiles

Hi and Happy Tuesday,

Cruising around "blog-land" on Saturday, I came across a newly started challenge called tgif challenges. I always like a good sketch to work with and their TGIFC02 challenge is a sketch challenge, so I decided to play along.

I've been watching some Kristina Werner YouTube videos on "no line" watercoloring and decided to give it a try using these Mama Elephant stamps. This is my first attempt and it was pretty fun. I will be trying it again. I like the painted look for a change from routine water coloring or Copic coloring where the lines are usually visable.

Following Kristina's instructions, I inked the images in a light color, in this case SU Crumb Cake. I "stamped" off on scratch paper then stamped onto SU water color paper. (for the balloon strings, I re-inked them before stamping onto the water color paper so they would be darker) Using Distress markers, I "colored" them onto an acrylic block, then used a paint brush to pickup water and the color to paint the images. I used my heat tool to dry areas before changing colors to avoid colors blending together.

The greeting is stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with SU white EP. The images were cut with various dies and used per the sketch layout.

Supplies
Stamps: Up and Away set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Mambo Melon card stock, SU water color paper, Carta Bella "Soak Up the Sun" patterned papers
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, Tim Holtz Distress markers, VersaMark
Other: SU label dies, Die-namics stitched circle die, SU white EP, sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks all for looking in,
Colleen

Friends. . .

Hello stamping friends,

I made four cards yesterday afternoon. I was in heaven, aka my craft room, all afternoon having loads of fun. Sunday's are when two of my favorite weekly challenges start. One of my favorites is Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge. Today's post is a birthday card that I made using this weeks #268 layout.

As you can see, I flipped the sketch to accomodate my image. Isn't this little elephant the cutest? I stamped him and his mouse friend in Memento tuxedo black and colored them with Copics.

Supplies
Stamps: Ella and Friends set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Calypso Coral and Smokey Slate card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock and SU Watercolor Wonder DSP
Ink: SU Island Indigo, Memento tuxedo black and Copious
Other: Die-namics stitched curved rectangle die, SU embossing folder, enamel shapes, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

I Love You

Happy New Year all,

Work was crazy busy during the holidays for me this year. I barely got presents and cards finished and mailed before Christmas. New Year's week was no different. I had no additional crafty time and unfortunately, the craziness is still going on. So, this is my first post of the new year.

Yesterday, I decided I wanted to get a new table for my stamping. My craft room  also serves as our guest room and my home office. I had this old, very heavy table that I would put up and take down each time I decided to do some stamping. I set out just to get a lighter table, which I did get, but it's longer than my old one. It didn't quite fit in the area that I used in the room. Today, I rearranged furniture to make it a permanent home (I don't have to put it up and take it down each crafty session) and I think it's going to work out pretty well. I'm happy.

To celebrate my new area, I made this card using the current MOJO Monday sketch.

I got this super sweet Mama Elephant set before the holidays. I thought it'd make a cute Valentine's Day card for my niece as she loves kitties. The papers are all SU and I colored the kittens with Copics.

Supplies
Stamps: Purrfect Pair set from Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Whisper White and Strawberry Slush card stock and SU All Abloom DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Taylored Expressions EF,  Die-namics stitched square die, SU white ribbon, white floss, Fishers corner punch, Pebbles enamel hearts, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a great week and thanks for looking,
Colleen