A Very Merry Christmas to You. . . . .

Hello,

After dinner last night, I looked to see what this week's Merry Monday challenge is. This week we are to use a sock on our card. Pretty simple as I have many stamps with socks as well as patterned papers. I decided to use both along with Jen's Deconstructed Sketch # 136. While I have a lot of layers here, the card went together pretty quickly.

Supplies
Stamps: Gift Givers and More Merry Messages sets by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU turquoise card stock, Taylored Expressions choice snow white card stock, Jilly Bean Soup patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo  black, Copics, SU Real Red
Other: Sizzix Seeing Spots EF, Wonky Rectangle Nestie, SU flag die,  SU Sock punch, red pearls, mini clothes pin, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a great evening and thanks,
Colleen

Celebrate

Hello,

How was your Saturday? I started it off with a 6 mile walk/run then treated myself to stamping for the rest of the day. What fun!

I'm squeaking in with my card for this week's Merry Monday 93 challenge. This challenge is to use an ornament on your card. I pulled out some retired SU DSP and it's matching stamp set, also retired, and paired it with the current CAS(E) this Sketch #62. Here's what I came up with.

                         

After cutting the red card stock to fit diagonally across the card, I used one of my SU wheels inked with white craft ink to add the snowflakes. The "celebrate" word is a Die-namics die.

Supplies
Stamps: Delightful Ornaments set by Stampin' Up and Snowflake wheel by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Real Red and Crumb Cake card stock and SU DSP
Ink: SU Real Red and Crumb Cake classic ink and SU White craft ink
Other: Die-namics die, SU ornament punch, SU border punch, SU silver twine, SU clear rhinestones, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Have a great Sunday and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Merry Christmas - Merry Monday Meets Mojo Monday

Hi,

It's Monday and I had an early work day today. That means I had time this afternoon to make a card using the Mojo Monday #329 sketch and the Merry Monday #92 challenge.

                                 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Lodge set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla card stock and Simple Stories Holiday patterned papers
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress
Other: SU EF, classic circle and scalloped circle Nesties, Die-namics Fishtail Flag STAX die, TE polka dot chocolate ribbon, Stickles, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Well, I'm off to cold Chicago tomorrow where it will be about 70 degrees colder than here. Burrr!
Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Believe In Magic

Hello,

I hope your weekend is going well. I had a very lazy Saturday, mostly spent sitting and reading and listening to music via Pandora. I had programmed in a channel featuring some music from my high school and college days and throughly enjoyed listening.

This evening while tuning in to the Australian Open Tennis matches on ESPN, I made a card for the Merry Monday #91  Christmas challenge. I'm trying to keep up with this challenge each week and realized that I had better get a card made as there is only one more day. I used the current Freshly Made Sketch # 119 for my layout.

This week's MM challenge is to use a snowman or snow people on our card. I pulled out this cute MFT stamp set and some retired SU DSP with snowflakes. I added some red and white sequins and some Stickles for a little sparkle. Here is the simple inside, and the stamps here are from another MFT set.

Supplies
Pure Innocence Happy Heart Snowman by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Baja Breeze and Whisper White card stock and SU DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Riding Hood Red and Copics
Other: classic square Nesties, Die-namics fishtail flags STAX die, TE Impressions plate, sequins, Stickles, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a great Sunday and thanks for coming by,
Colleen

Merry Christmas, Merry Monday Post

Hi blogging friends,

Leslie started the 2014 Merry Monday challenges this week and I'm going to try to do most of them. What a great way to ensure that you have a good stash of Christmas cards when the time comes to mail them in Dec, right? We'll see how it goes with my work travel schedule, which looks to be more frequent this year than last. In fact, I'm starting off the travel this month. Next week in Berkeley and the following week in Chicago. (I'm sure hoping for a warmup in the weather, LOL)

This week's MM #90 challenge is to use ribbon or twine on our card. Pretty simple and this week's Retro Sketches #96 had the perfect layout for ribbon.

Here's the inside view:

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Doodles set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU real red and whisper white card stock and very old patterned papers from I don't know where
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: circle and scalloped circle Nesties, TE Curly border die, Fiskar corner punch, SU real red candy dots, TE bright red ribbon, red, green and yellow Stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for coming by,
Colleen

Merry Monday Guest Designer This Week

Hi all,

I'm SOOOO excited to be included with Leslie and the Merry Monday design team this week as the "guest designer".  It's definitely an honor.

The theme for this week's challenge is to make a "Chalkboard" look card. I love the process of making this style of card so I was very pleased to see it's this week's challenge.

I pulled out a few of my Taylored Expressions holiday stamp sets and used a mixture of greetings and pictures. My technique when doing this type of card is to stamp it all out on a scrap piece of paper in the size of my finished piece. I just stamp everything in black on the scrap paper, mostly working on the spacing to make sure it looks right. Then, I get my black card stock, dust it with the anti-static powder and stamp from the top to the bottom. I will do a horizontal line of stamping, then pour the EP over so the ink doesn't dry out. Then on to the next line. I don't heat until the entire card is done.

I used some colored pencils to add a little color to the stars and holly. Then swiped  a sponge dauber across various areas with craft white ink. All pretty easy, just need to take the time to get the spacing correct. I kept the rest of the embellishments pretty simple so that the stamping remains the focus.

Supplies
Stamps: Various stamps from these Taylored Expressions sets: Sparkle and Cheer, Banner Holidays,  and Winter Wonderland
Paper: SU black, Gumball Green and Real Red card stock and Echo Park Holly Jolly Christmas patterned paper
Ink: Versamark and SU Craft white
Other: SU white embossing powder, colored pencils, SU sponge dauber, sequins, SU wood grain EF, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

What a fun card this was to make! If you haven't done one of these, give it a try.

Thanks again to the girls at Merry Monday and thanks all for looking in,
Colleen

Happy Holidays

Good afternoon stampers,

I had some time after work yesterday afternoon to get a few more Christmas cards made. The new Merry Monday # 85 challenge started so I used it's theme for my first card.  I used the current CAS(E) #55 sketch for my layout.

This one took some pondering. I love the elegance of the white on white (or cream on cream) look, but I'm not, in my opinion, so good at it. But, as we all say, that's why it's called a challenge, right? So, I went to it and came up with this. I wanted to offset the white embossed snowflakes from the Crumb Cake ones because, to me, it looks like the white ones are floating over the darker ones.

Supplies
Stamps: Stampin' Up Snowflake Soiree and Ornament Keepsakes sets
Paper: SU Vanilla confetti and Whisper White card stocks
Ink: SU Crumb Cake and Versamark
Other: SU white EP, SU snowflake EF, SU clear rhinestones, SU Ornament Keepsakes Framelits dies, Die-namics happy holidays word dies, Fiskars corner punch, heat took, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Believe

Hello,

Happy Sunday afternoon all,

I made this card yesterday to add to my Christmas stash. The colors are from The Dynamic Duos #80 challenge. Only this week, there are 3 colors. I also made the card to participate in the Merry Monday challenge #84. Use trees and bling.

Supplies
Stamps: Stampin' Up sets Evergreen and Snowflake Soiree
Paper: SU Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Raspberry Ripple and White card stock, SU printed vellum and SU DSP
Ink: SU Blushing Bride and Raspberry Ripple, Versamark
Other: circle and scalloped circle Nesties, Die-namics banner die, SU ribbon, SU corner punch, SU white EP, heat tool, the Big Shot, Kaiser and SU rhinestones and dimensionals.

Thanks all,
Colleen

Happy Holidays

Hello,

A fun Saturday for me. Spent the morning shopping for some new outfits including shoes. Very happy with what I bought. Then headed to a friend's house for a little summer party in her back yard. Had a nice chat with friends that I hadn't seen in quite awhile, then home to have dinner out with the Mr. After coming home from dinner, I decided to do a quick card. Here's one for this week's Merry Monday sketch #70.

This one was really quick. I let these cute, cute papers from Bella Blvd take center stage and just added a small stamped greeting.

Supplies
Stamps: Tag, You're It set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Riding Hood Red and Regal Rose card stock and Bella Blvd Christmas Wishes patterned papers
Ink: SU Riding Hood Red
Other: classic oval Nesties, SU tag punch, SU red eyelet, Twinery pink baker's twine, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Let the Heavens Rejoice

Happy Monday stamping friends,

I got home from work late, went to work out for an hour, stopped at the grocery store, then came home and made a quick dinner. (my DBF, usually the cook in our house, is working tonight so I had to fend for myself) I finished just in time to settled in, watch baseball and peruse stamping blogs. When I came across Leslie's blog and saw this week's Merry Monday #68 sketch, I decided to play along and make a quick Christmas card.

Supplies
Stamps: Rejoicing With You set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, & champagne glitter card stock and SU Deck the Halls DSP
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler
Other: SU star punch, Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX dies, SU border punch, Want to Scrap green pearls, SU embossing folder

I hope your week has started off well. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Dec. 25

Happy weekend everyone,

I have a very quick post this morning of a simple, quick card that I made for this week's Merry Monday #58 challenge.

I was going to keep it really simple and let the plaid Christmas paper be the focal point, but I just had to add something. Hence, the green rhinestones and mittens.

Supplies
Stamps: Chock-Full Of Cheer set and Tags Till Christmas set both By Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Garden Green and Whisper White card stock and SU DSP
Ink: SU Riding Hood Red and Garden Green
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX die, SU punch, Kaiser green and clear rhinestones

Have a great day and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Joy

Hi stamping friends,

I was looking around for a sketch yesterday evening and remembered it was Monday. Two sketches came to mind, Mojo Monday or Merry Monday. I thought why not get started on 2013s Christmas cards (probably should have done so earlier). I really like Leslie's sketch this week too. Here is my interpretation.

Supplies
Stamps: Wings of Joy set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Very Vanilla and Bashful Blue card stock and Carta Bella "Merry & Bright" patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX dies, circle and scalloped circle Nesties, TE medium scalloped border die, Sizzix snowflake EF,  SU and Kaiser rhinestones, sewing machine, white gel pen, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in today,
Colleen

Happy Christmas

Hi all,

Here's a Christmas card that went together really quickly, despite the cutting, sewing, die cutting and embossing. I really like the way it turned out too. The owl is just cut from the SU DSP. I did this a few months ago on another card and decided to do so again because I think it's a really cute image. The sketch is last week's Merry Monday sketch. (I didn't get the picture taken until after the challenge closed.)

Supplies
Stamps: More Merry Messages by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Cherry Cobbler and Whisper white card stock and SU Snow Festive DSP
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler
Other: SU Framelits, SU embossing folder, sewing machine, white candy dots, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen