Hello

Yes, hello to all,

Friday evening and I'm waiting for dinner to be finished. Mr. Personal Chef and I are staying with friends in the Riverside area for the weekend. We've had Happy Hour and now Denis is making dinner of grilled shrimp with lemon linguini. We've had it several times before, and it's YUMMY!

I'm watching baseball, game one of the NCLS and it's NOT going my way! But, I love it because it's baseball.

I made this card last night for the current Retro Rubber challenge. This week they have Tic-tac-toe. I love these because of the versatility. The stamp and die are from Lil' Inkers. Since the rules are to use a stamp over a year old, I believe this set is from 2016.

I chose to use the top row of neutrals, texture, ribbon. The rose wreath is stamped using Memento brown and colored with neutral Copics, mostly dark ivory and ivory markers. I'm kind of a rookie with this technique, but I really like the look.

First I cut a piece of Very Vanilla card stock with the Rose wreath die, then stamped the wreath. The background is embossed with a Lil' Inkers die on Desert Storm card stock. The layers are Desert Storm card base, Very Vanilla, Desert Storm embossed layer, wreath. The Hello greeting is from the wreath die set. I cut it from Very Vanilla 4 times and glued them together. The top layer is embossed with clear EP.  Three SSS gold rhinestones makeup the embellishments.

We are having a thunder and lightening storm tonight. Very rare for SoCal and we are loving it! The thunder is right over the house and it's cracking loud! Rain is here and it's really coming down. It won't last long, it never does here.

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Wreath of Roses set by Lil' Inkers
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm, SU Very Vanilla
Ink: Memento brown, Copics, VersaMark
Other: Lil' Inkers Wreath of Roses and Stitched Quatrefoil dies, SU clear EP, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, Foam tape, SSS gold sequins, kraft and brown Baker's twine

Sending You Hugs and Fishes - The Paper Players Challenge 281

Hello,

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Today is Sunday, and it's time for a new Paper Players challenge. This week, LeAnne has a fun theme challenge for us:

I have several stamps with cats and dogs, which I'm guessing many of us do. After looking through all of my options, I settled on this cutie from SugarPea Designs. I just love coloring the images in their stamp sets. The layout is based on last week's Retro Sketch.

I stamped the image onto Neenah cream card stock with Memento tuxedo black and colored it with Copics. It's cut it out with a Die-namics die. The card base is SU Pool Party and the layering panel and the scalloped border are SU So Saffron. I have a bag of old patterned papers and scraps and I pulled these out from it. I have no idea what company they are from. After putting the card together, I used some Crystal Effects around the edge of the fishbowl. IRL, it really makes the bowl dimensional.

Take a look at the rest of the DT's cards. You find some 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-me

I'm looking forward to seeing what you make with our dog and cat theme challenge this week. 

Have a great Sunday afternoon. If you're a football fan, enjoy the BIG game later today.

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Don't Be Koi set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU Pool Party and So Saffron card stock, Neenah cream card stock, misc patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Hello Honey and Riding Hood Red classic ink pads
Other: Die-namics Stitched Curved Rectangle and large Banner STAX dies, Taylored Expressions large Scalloped Border die and Curly Border die, We R Memory Keepers enamel shapes, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Hi, Friend and You are Pawesome

Hi all. Happy mid-week.

I have a double card post tonight. I decided to post both cards because they are made with the same Simon Says Stamp set called "You Are Pawesome." This is such a sweet stamp set!

My bestie adopted a new furry friend recently. He was found by another friend and they've tried to find the owners, but no luck. When they took him to the vet, the vet said that the area was know for abandoned animals. He's an English Cocker Spaniel and very cute. He will be a new brother to her two other spaniels, Bella and Rusty. I made this card to welcome the new guy, whose name is Nigel.

I've used this week's Retro Sketch #136. The patterned papers are from the Lawn Fawn Sweater Weather pad.

The second card uses The Deconstructed Sketch #172. This one is for my niece Rachel who lives in Gunnison, CO. It started snowing there this week, so I thought that the spring colors and butterflies would be cheery. 

Supplies

Card One

Stamps: You Are Pawesome set by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: SU Midnight Muse and Purely Pomegranate card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn Sweater Weather patterned paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, and SU Midnight Muse 

Other: SU tag punch, Die-namics label dies, SU Midnight Muse ribbon and SU twine, TE heart button, red pearl, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Card Two

Stamps: You Are Pawesome set by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: SU Blushing Bride, Raspberry Ripple and whisper white card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock and Pebbles Garden Party Patterned papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU Blushing Bride

Other: Classic and scalloped rectangle Nesties, SU punches, TE scalloped border die, pink pearls, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Be Of Good Cheer

Hello,

I'm back with a Christmas card today. I recently received my SU order from the Holiday Mini catalog, so while watching baseball last night I broke out some of my new goodies. The Retro Sketch #130 this week looked fun and interesting, and I thought it was perfect to use my new SU "All Is Calm" Washi Tape.

I started with some Lost Lagoon card stock and cut a piece of "All Is Calm" DSP to cover the front of the card. Then I used the washi tape to make the pattern per the sketch. The greeting is stamped on banner flags made with Die-namics dies. The snowflakes are stamped on white with Lost Lagoon ink and cut with Nesties or SU punches. The two right corners are rounded. While it looks like it took lots of time, it actually was pretty quick and simple to make. I thought about adding some sequins, but decided enough was enough.

Supplies
Stamps: Endless Wishes set by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Lost Lagoon and Whisper White card stock, SU All Is Calm DSP
Ink: SU Lost Lagoon pad
Other: SU All Is Calm washi tape, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX, circle and scalloped circle Nesties, SU round and scalloped round punches, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a fun and relaxing Sunday! Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

You Make the World A Better Place

Happy Tuesday,

Another from my card making marathon this past weekend. It's a birthday card using some new-ish SU goodies and the Retro Sketch 113.

I had a fun time with this one putting in all of the elements and embellishments.

Supplies:
Stamps: Starburst Sayings, Seasonal Sayings and Happy Moments sets by Stampin' Up
Paper: SU Smoky Slate, Island Indigo and Whisper White card stock and SU Watercolor Wonder DSP
Ink: SU Smoky Slate, Gumball Green and Island Indigo
Other: SU On Film Framelits dies, SU Starburst Framelits dies, Reflections wooden camera embellishment, enamel dots, Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX die, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Home For the Holidays

Happy Monday night,

I should be in bed, but I'm stamping while watching ice dancing instead. It will be an early morning. Last week, I squeaked in my Merry Monday card at the very last minute. This week, I did the opposite and got my Merry Monday #96 card done on Monday. This week's challenge is to use holly on our card.

I've used this week's Retro Sketches #102 for my layout.

I pulled out some old SU eyelets again for the top of the label die to thread the baker's twine through to make a bow. I colored the holly wreath with Copics and then added Xmas red Stickles on the berries to go with the SU red glimmer paper. The holly leaves in the bottom corner have black Stickles outlining the center, but it didn't show up in the photo. It looks pretty IRL.

Here's the inside. I used my all time favorite Christmas sentiment stamp. I bought this stamp years ago at Stamp Francisco in the city. The date on the label is 1982! Anyhoo, I love this saying:

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Wreaths Of Joy set by Taylored Expressions and Christmas sentiment stamp by Stamp Francisco
Paper: SU black and whisper white card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, SU red glimmer paper, and Lawn Fawn patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics dies (label and holly leaf), red and black Stickles, red pearls, baker's twine, SU eyelets, the Big Shot, dimensionals and SU mini glue dots

Fred Bear Goes Camping and Kung Fu Fred

Hi and Happy Hump Day!

I had a rather long work day today and I'm really glad to be home. While sitting and watching the news, I thought I would blog a couple of cards that I made on Sunday. I was going through my MFT stamps looking for some inspiration and came across my collection of Fred Bear stamp sets. Ah, inspiration found!

For the first card I used the Retro Sketches #100 sketch. (congrats to the Retro Sketch team for their 100th sketch!)

My image is colored with Copics. I cut it out with a square Nestie, then fussy cut most of the image so I could use the constellation paper for the background. I love the way it turned out too! Here's the inside:

For my second Fred Bear card, I used last week's Mojo Monday sketch. Again, the image is colored with Copics. I love how intense Fred looks! It makes me smile every time I look at it.

The inside I kept simple:

Supplies
Card 1
Stamps: Fred Bear Goes Camping set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock and We R Memory Keepers "Happy Camper" patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, SU Chocolate Chip
Other: Square Nesties, TE wooden buttons, baker's twine, SU candy dots, Stickles, the Big Shot, hot glue and gun for the buttons, SU label punch, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Card 2
Stamps: Kung Fu Fred set by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Taken with Teal and X-Press It Blending card stocks and Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" pattern papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, SU Teal
Other: circle and scalloped circle Nesties, Die-namics notched border die, teal ribbon, Fiskers corner rounder punch, flower rhinestones, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Here's looking at only two more days of work until the weekend! Thanks for coming by,
Colleen

Showered With Love

Hello,

This is the 2nd card that I made yesterday afternoon. The layout is this week's Retro Sketch #99 and the colors are from this week's Dynamic Duos #87. The colors are black and hot pink (melon mambo) with a  "dessert" option of using an umbrella on our card. Here's what I came up with.

                                      

Supplies

Stamps: You Make Me Happy set from Taylored Expressions

Paper: SU Whisper White, Black and Melon Mambo card stock and SU DSP

Ink: SU Melon Mambo classic pad and Memento tuxedo black

Other: SU round punches, SU scalloped punch, SU corner punches, Kaiser black rhinestones, pink heart rhinestones, and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,

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

Friends Like You. . .

Happy Monday,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you were able to celebrate with family or friends.

I have another quick post today. I made this card last night using the Paper Players theme of "evergreen", the Retro Sketch, and the Color Throwdown #270 colors of silver, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green and white.

Supplies
Stamps: Pure Innocence Happy Christmas by My Favorite Things
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Gumball Green card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, SU DSP, SU Glimmer Silver paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Circle Nesties, SU woodgrain EF, SU twine, wood button, Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX die, SU small star punch, white liquid appliqué, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Merry Christmas

Hi all,

Here is another Christmas card that I made last weekend. This one uses the Retro Sketch #89.

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Ornaments by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Pool Party, Island Indigo and Gray CS and SU Winter Frost DSP
Ink: SU Island Indigo and Versamark
Other: Die-namics Christmas Ornaments dies, classic circle Nesties, SU white EP, MFT Oval Doily die-namics die, SU silver twine, SU banner die, button, blue rhinestones, the Big Shot and dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen