Winter Wishes

 TGIF Peeps,

Here's another holiday card completed. Using inspiration from The Paper Players color challenge and the Sunday Stamps sketch challenge, I made this fun winter themed card.

The green snowy background and the large snowflake purple background in the postage stamps are both foiled with Deco hot foil. The hat, sweater and gloves are from the GKD Christmas Cheer stamp and die set. The images are stamped in embossing ink and heat embossed with black embossing powder, then colored with Copic markers.

For the inside of the card, I've used sentiments and a small snowflake from the same GKD stamp set.

Have a fun Friday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Cheer set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Card Stock

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copic Markers

Other: Gina K Designs Deco hot foil in Grass Green and Wild Wisteria, Fuze Foiling machine, Master Layouts 15 postage dies, black embossing powder 

You + Me

 Hello, 

My CAS card for LeAnne's "things with wheels" challenge at the Paper Players. I pulled out my favorite friends, Gus and Gertie, heading out for a road trip. 

First, I stenciled a rainbow for the background with red, orange and yellow. I stamped the car and friends image on another piece of card stock and colored it with green and blue, cut it out and layered it over the rainbow. The rainbow colors were completed with purple hearts on the large arch. I colored in the pebbled road and called it done.

The inside uses one of the other images from the Ride On set. I just love this line by Taylored Expressions.!

I'm off to upstate NY tomorrow bright and early. I'm meeting my sister and nephew at the Albany airport, then we are headed to Cooperstown for the HOF induction weekend. Should be amazing for us BB fans!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Ride On stamp set by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Neenah Solar white card stock and retired SU DSP (inside mat)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K Designs and Copics

Other: Rainbow stencil by Paper Smooches, blending brushes

There's No Place Like Home

 TGIF Peeps and hello,

I'm squeaking in with my Paper Players card for this week. I made this earlier in the week, but didn't get around to taking the pictures and blogging it. 

The focal circle-snowflake image is done with a fun technique called faux dry embossing. Using inks, you can get the look of texture similar to using an embossing folder. Gina K has an instructional YouTube video if you are interested in learning about this technique.

I have two examples here. Both using the same stamp set. The first follows Anne Marie's sketch, the second is slightly different. Both cards use the same embossing folder for the background. All supplies are from Gina K Designs. The stamp set is the 2023 Gina K Designs Stamp-tember Simon Says Stamp collaboration set. 

On both cards I ink blended a white panel using three shades of purples and blues before running the panel through the GKD Snowflake embossing folder. This was then cut into strips and glued onto the card bases, one Lovely Lavender and the other Powder Blue.  The stamp set has a coordinating die set for both the snowflake images and many of the sentiments, which I used with my cards. For some sparkle, on the lavender card I used rhinestones and on the blue card I used sequins.

The inside of the cards are the same layout and the stamps are all from the same stamp set as the front of the card.

I had a very fun day today! I am taking the Fall 2023 Crop & Create class that started today and goes through Sunday. It's awesome! There were four classes today and in each we made three cards. Being on the west coast, it starts at 06:30 am! After today's classes, I'm really looking forward to the next three days.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Shimmering Season set and dies by Simon Says Stamp/Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs card stocks

Ink: Gina K Designs dye inks in purples and blues and craft white

Other: Gina K Designs Snowflake embossing folder, Misti, Big Shot, Gina K Designs Frozen Rhinestones and Disco Ball Sequins, Connect Glue, SU Dimensionals

Wish Big

 Hi all,

It's a beautiful day in my neck of the woods. Clear blue skies and a cool ocean breeze. I'm busy rounding up things I need to pack as I'm headed back to my mom's tomorrow. I'm flying instead of making the 650 mile drive since I'll only be there a couple of weeks this time. My sister and all of her stuff arrived on Monday, and I'm going to help with unpacking and putting away. 

Last evening while watching tennis I made my card for this week's Paper Players challenge. Joanne has the monthly theme challenge this week and it's called Four Legged Friends. I pulled out one of my favorite Lawn Fawn sets and the coordinating dies to make this birthday card. I found these balloon papers in my misc paper stash and thought they would make a fun background. I have no idea of their origin. Probably from a long past card kit.

For the inside, I used another Lawn Fawn dog stamp set, which is actually a Halloween set.

The green background and white panel are cut from the SU Radiating Stitches die set and I threw in some more of the polkadot paper too.

My blog will be pretty quiet for the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for checking in, and have a good day!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Simply Celebrate Critters, Elphie Selfie, How You Bean-Strawberry Add-On, and Happy Howloween sets all from Lawn Fawn

Paper: Gina K Designs heavy and layering weight white and Jelly Bean Green card stock, stash patterned papers

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Gina K Designs Blue Denim, and Copics

Other: Radiating Stitches Dies from Stampin' Up, My Favorite Things Banner die, SU Dimensionals, Connect glue, Misti, Big Shot

day after day, year after year

 Hello peeps,

Jaydee is hostess this week for the Paper Players  with a theme challenge, animals 2 x 2. I decided to use this sweet mom deer and her fawn and make a Mother's Day card.

All of the images are from the SU set called In the Meadow. I stamped the deer in the foreground, masked them, and then stamped the rest of the images to build the scene. I colored the images with Copics.

Here is the inside. The greetings are from a couple of Gina K Designs stamp sets.

Our neighbor's rescue golden retriever completed a course so she can take him to school with her (she's a 5th grade teacher) yesterday, so I made a Congrats card for them. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. All images except the dog are from Concord & 9th. The dog image is from SU.

Finally, here are a couple of masculine birthday cards for friends who have their birthdays next week, both fronts and insides. Images are SU.

I made the background  on the following card using a SU EF and inking with multiple ink colors and spraying with a little water before adding the paper and running it through my die cutting machine. I made the wood planking using my Scor-buddy and inks.

This is my last post for a few weeks. Our friends from MA are arriving tomorrow for vacation. My craft room is also the guest bedroom, so I've moved most everything to the garage while they are here. 

Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies Card 1

Stamps: In the Meadow set by Stampin' Up, On My Mind and In My Heart set and May Flowers set both by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight White, Black Onyx and Warm Cocoa card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Warm Cocoa, Copic Markers

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, foam tape, Connect liquid glue

Bloom By Bloom Card Suite

 Happy Monday evening,

I needed to make a couple of Thank You cards to send to friends for birthday gifts last week. I'm making an effort to use up some of my very large stash of patterned papers and decided to use the Happiness Blooms DSP to make my cards. Since I also have the Bloom By Bloom stamp set, I pulled it out and started playing around. I ended up with seven cards, three Thank You, three Birthday, and one Thinking Of You.

Here's a shot of all seven together. This stamp set doesn't have a die set to go with, so I've done some fussy cutting, used ovals, squares, circles and the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder system for the stamped focal images. I also used all five ink colors found in the papers.

For two of the cards, I used LeAnne's sketch for this week's Paper Players Challenge. 

Now, I just need to get the cards in the mail!

Thanks for looking,

Colleen

Supplies

Bloom By Bloom stamp set and various other Stampin' Up sets for the greetings

Paper: SU White, Call Me Clover, Night of Navy, Calypso Coral card stock and SU Happiness Blooms and Flower Field DSP

Ink: SU Call Me Clover, Night of Navy, Calypso Coral, Lovely Lipstick, Pineapple Punch, Memento tuxedo black

Other: Spellbinder dies, SU Dies, MFT Dies, Gina K Designs dies, SU enamel dots, SU Brick Wall Embossing Folder, SU Dimensionals, Misti, Gemini Jr

Life's A Beach

Hello and happy Sunday,

It's kind of a June Gloomy day here in my neck of the woods. It's not unusual to have lots of overcast on the coast here in southern California in May and June, especially in the mornings. Yesterday, we saw blue sky in the very late afternoon. Looks like more of the same for today. A very good excuse (not that I ever need one) to stay in and make cards.

Since it is Sunday, Claire is the hostess for the new Paper Players Challenge. She has a Clean & Simple theme challenge this week, and when I saw the inspiration banner, I knew exactly what stamp set to pull out. (I love when that happens, LOL!)

The images are from an Avery Elle set called Aloha and the sentiments are from another Avery Elle set called Beside the Sea. To make my little grouping, I stamped the hibiscus, masked it, stamped the coconut drink, masked it, then stamped the pineapple. The paper is X-Press It Blending card stock. I think it's the best for coloring with Copics. After the coloring was finished, I stamped the sentiment under the images. I knew I'd need to do a layer because Copics do bleed through to the back, so I just used the largest SU Stitched Rectangle to cut out the panel, then glued it to a side folding card base made from the same card stock.

I also kept the inside CAS using just one phrase and a couple of tiny images from the Beside the Sea set.

As the sentiment says, Enjoy your Day!
Thanks all,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Aloha and Beside the Sea sets by Avery Elle
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Summer Sun
Other: SU Stitched Rectangle die, Gemini Jr

You Are My Sunshine!

Hi again,

Since I'll be away all week, I'm writing one more post this afternoon so I can enter my card for Jaydee's CAS-one layer card challenge at the Paper Players. As with many of us, one layer cards are not my "go-to" card style. (And my pattern paper stash proves it, LOL.) But, as I was flipping through my Concord & 9th stamp sets, this idea popped into my brain.

To make this a one layer card, I placed the Concord & 9th Sun Turnabout stamp into my Misti, using the turnabout jig and stamp alignment template. I then removed the Turnabout stamp and put the banner stamp in my Misti aligning it so it would stamp at the center of Turnabout sunshine stamp. It is stamped with Memento tuxedo black ink. Next, I cut a mask with Post-its to cover the banner,  then re-aligned the sunshine turnabout stamp in it's original position, and stamped it using the four rotations with four different SU ink colors. The third step was to remove the mask and stamp the the two greetings.

For the inside, I folded the card front behind, reinserted it into the Misti and lined up the other Concord & 9th Turnabout Sunshine set and stamped it using four rotations. Using Memento tuxedo black ink, the inside greeting was stamped in the center.

To complete the card, I colored in the banner using yellow Copics, added sparkle with a Nuvo glitter pen, and finally added three small gems around the sun.

A fun and bright card, still one layer with minimal embellishments.

Thanks for checking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Hello Sunshine Turnabout and Sunshine Turnabout sets by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU thick Whisper White card stock
Ink: SU Pineapple Punch, Grapefruit Grove, Mango Melody, Calypso Coral, Peach Parfait, Watermelon Wonder and Memento tuxedo black ink pads, Copic markers
Other: Concord & 9th Turnabout jig and turnabout set alignment guides, Misti, Post-Its, small orange gems

Happy Spring

Well hello everyone,

It's been quite a while since I've done any stamping. I decided it was time to makeover my craft space/room, so about three weeks ago I took everything out of the room and the storage closet and piled it in our garage. I had the room painted, ordered some wall storage, drawers and new desk. I also ordered some ink, marker and drawer inserts from Organize More. This afternoon I finished putting all of my "stuff" into the new storage, with the exception of the inks and markers. Unfortunately, the Organize More pieces have not come yet, but I'm expecting them soon. Regardless, I got everything organized enough to actually make a card.

The talented Jaydee is the hostess this week at the Paper Players with a fun theme challenge. I was in the mood to color and reached for a spring themed Pure Innocence set to work with. The sketch is based on last week's Paper Players sketch.

The images are stamped with Memento tuxedo black on X-Press It Blending card stock, colored with Copics, and cut out with the set dies. The pink flower patterned paper is SU and the top layer is some random that I have in my stash and perfect for the Spring theme.

The inside:

I'll share a few pictures when the room is completely finished. For now, I'm off to pack as I'm heading to Colorado for the week for work.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Pure Innocence Spring Friends and My Basket of Eggs sets by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Pixie Pink, X-Press It Blending card stock and SU DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Spring Friends dies, Die-namics Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Thanks for Your Amazing Hospitality

Hello crafty friends,

I hope you had a nice, restful weekend. My only complaint is that it was way too short! My work week is going to be busy, but at least that usually means the week will go by fast.

I had a few hours in my craft room today. Most of the time was spent doing some organizing. I did get a chance to make a card for the new Paper Players Challenge. Sandy is the hostess this week with a fun color challenge. The palette is perfect for a floral card and I actually have one in mind I want to make later in the week one evening after work. Today, I went in a very different direction with my card. Although, there are some flowers on it too.

I have not used this stamp set before, and thought I'd see what I could do with it using Sandy's colors. I think it turned out pretty well. I turned it into a thank you card to send to our friends in Massachusetts that we spent our vacation with last month.

I started by sponging Calypso Coral ink over the MFT brick stencil. After sponging with the coral ink, I sponged some Crumb Cake very lightly over the coral to create a slight darker shade. I cut the piece to about 1.5 inches wide to use as the front entry flooring. Next, I used paper from the SU Wood Textures DSP pack to stamp the door and frame, and the die was used to cut it out. There is also a die that cuts the actual door on three sides so it opens. Very cool! The inside is lined with some So Saffron card stock so it peeks through the windows. The rest of the images are stamped onto Whisper White with Memento black and colored with Copics that match the challenge colors. They were all cut out with the SU set dies too.

The card base is Bermuda Bay that is dry embossed with the SU Textured Stripes EF. I arrange all of the pieces to make my little scene. The tall flower vase actually has pumpkins on the stamp. I cut them off and hand drew the bottom of the vase with a black multi-liner pen. It worked out pretty well.

The inside is super simple.

It was not a quick card to make, but it was super fun to make the little scene, and I love it.

Have a great week everyone.  I hope to have some time in the evenings this week to play with more new stamps from the SU Holiday catalog and to make that floral card I have in my mind.

Thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: At Home With You set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, So Saffron and Whisper White card stock, SU Wood Textures DSP and grasscloth paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, Copics
Other: SU At Home with You dies, SU Textured Stripes Embossing Folder, MFT Brick Stencil, the Big Shot, diemnsionals, enamel hearts

Make A Wish

Well hello!

My blog has been quiet for the past few weeks because we were on our annual vacation to Cape Cod. We go every year with friends that live in Franklin, MA. We rent a house very close to Mayflower Beach in Dennis. It's always a fun and relaxing vacation. After our week "down the Cape," we went to Vermont where we took a cooking class at the King Arthur Flour company. We made three sweet breads. A six braided loaf, our choice of either a poppy seed twist or a raspberry twist and cinnamon rolls. All were quite yummy!

Mr Personal Chef and I got home to San Diego on Wednesday evening and we both worked Thursday and Friday. Lots of errands, etc on Saturday to do, so today was my free day. I went for a 4.5 mile walk in the early am, watched some baseball mid-day and then hit my craft room.

My friends at The Paper Players have a fun theme challenge this week called The Great Outdoors. I broke out a Lawn Fawn set that I bought a few months ago, as it seemed perfect for the challenge.

 

Using this week's CAS(E) This Sketch for my layout, the card came together pretty fast. I started with a piece of watercolor paper that I smooched with distress inks in blues and purples with a very liberal amount of water. I used my heat tool to dry the panel, then added another layer of brighter blue ink. The constellations and stars are stamped with SU White Craft ink and heat embossed with SU white EP. The card base and grassy hill are SU Night of Navy card stock and the sentiment is stamped with SU Night of Navy ink.

The foxes are stamped with Memento black on X-Press It card stock and colored with Copics, then cut out with the corresponding Lawn Fawn dies. Finally, I scattered some sequins around and used silver Nuvo drops in the center of the "shooting star."

Here's the inside. (Love this little heart constellation!)

Here are a couple pictures of the goodies we made during our class at KAF. It was a super fun class.

It's going to be a very busy work week for me. I'll be in four different cities this week, but all within driving distance which means I can sleep in my own bed at night. Always a good thing! I hope you all have a great week.

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Upon A Star set by Lawn Fawn
Paper: SU Night of Navy and X-Press It Blending card stock and Strathmore watercolor paper
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks, Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Night of Navy and Craft White
Other: SU white EP, heat tool, Upon A Star and Grassy Hill Lawn Cuts, Nuvo Drops, sequins, the Big Shot, Wink of Stella, dimensionals

Life Is Meant to Be Enjoyed

Happy Sunday,

I sure hope you are enjoying yours. All is well here.

I've been doing some stamping this morning, as well as a little yesterday afternoon. Of course, my favorite weekend relaxation.

Since it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge, where Claire has a fun summertime theme. Using some fun beach themed patterned papers and a Pure Innocence stamps set, I made this card to fit the theme.

This is a pretty simple card. I used a Concord and 9th die to cut the top layer of patterned paper. The stitched circle is Die-namics and the banner die is Mama Elephant. Taking colors from the papers, I used Copics to color the image. Her swimsuit is paper pieced with the reverse side of the flip flops sheet.

The inside is nice and simple as well.

Have a great Sunday afternoon. I may be back with a second post later this evening. Depends on if I finish my next project.

Thanks for stopping in. It's always appreciated!
Colleen

SuppliesStamps: Fun In the Sun Pure Innocence set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Daffodil Delight and X-Press It Blending card stock and I Love Sunshine by Echo Park patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Select A Size dies by Concord & 9th, Double-stitched Circle Die-namics, banner die from Mama Elephant, the Big Shot, Queen and Co. candy dots, dimensionals

Life's A Beach

Hello and happy Sunday peeps,

After several weeks working away from home during the week and having to catchup on reports on the weekends, I finally have a weekend of free time! Of course, I spent a good potion of it stamping and boy, was it fun.

Since it is Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players Challenge. My friend, LeAnne has a very pretty color challenge today, with a monochromatic palette of Sweet Sugarplum, Berry Burst and Rich Razzleberry. There are some really gorgeous flower cards in the DT gallery, but I decided on a different theme altogether. Maybe because work has been somewhat stressful I channeled "relaxing at the beach" as the theme for my card. (In fact, all of the cards that I made this weekend are beach themed.)

Here's my Paper Player's card for this week:

All of the stamps and dies are from Avery Elle. The card base is Sweet Sugarplum overlaid with the Avery Elle die cut from Sahara Sand. The beach houses are stamped on water color paper with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with SU white EP. Using the three SU color ink pads and a water brush I water colored the image. After it dried, I cut it out with the corresponding die. It's layered onto a circle of Rich Razzleberry, and the sentiment is also heat embossed with white EP.

The inside is pretty simple, using the same beach houses stamp and the other sentiment in the set.

 

The Fusion Card Challenge has a beach theme this week so I'm also entering my card there.

Thanks for looking in today. I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead.
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Beside the Sea set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand and watercolor paper
Ink: VersaMark, Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry and Berry Burst
Other: Beside the Sea and Horizontal Stripe dies by Avery Elle, SU White EP, heat tool, the Big Shot, dimensionals and new SU mini dimensionals