Happy Fall Y'All

 Hello,

The inspiration photo for the new Fusion Card Challenge is so pretty that I had to play along. I pulled out some pretty old Stampin' Up fall stamp sets and embossing folders to make my card. From the photo, I used the colors, pumpkin clusters and leaves for my inspiration. I also used the sketch.

Because I used all older stamps, I'm also linking up to the current Retro Rubber Challenge.

I hope you are enjoying the weekend! Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Stampin' Up sets Pick a Pumpkin and Happy Fall Y'all

Paper: SU Basic White, Bumble Bee, and Only Orange card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Honey Mustard, Prickly Pear, Tangerine Twist, Tomato Soup and Amalgam White

Stampin' Up Soft Succulent

Other: Pick a Pumpkin set dies, SU Greenery Embossing Folders, MFT Fish Tail Flag Banner die, yellow Stickles, SU Dimensionals, Misti, Big Shot Switch Plus

Wine a Little, It Helps. . .

Hello all,

Today's card I made for the current Fusion Card Challenge.  Wine and Cheese are two of my favorite things, so I had to play along. 

I have this large wine bottle die that I thought would be perfect for the sketch and theme for the Fusion challenge . Unfortunately, I didn't label the storage envelope that I have this die stored in and since it's several years old, I really have no idea of the maker. (I tried looking it up on SSS and a few other web sites but couldn't find it.) 

I also remembered I have this older wood mounted stamp of a wine basket and thought it would be fun for the label on the die cut bottle. This is also an older stamp with a date on the price tag of 2005. 

Since I'm using all of these older supplies, this card works for the current Anything Goes Challenge at Retro Rubber. Even the patterned papers are several years old, from SU and long retired.

The greetings, both front and inside, are from Taylored Expressions. 

Enjoy your afternoon and the rest of the week, and thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Wine Basket Wood Mounted stamp from Art Impressions and Wine a Little sets by Taylored Expressions

Paper: SU Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla card stock and Comfort Cafe DSP

Ink: Gina K Designs Charcoal Brown and SU Cajun Craze, Copic Markers

Other: Wine Bottle die, GKD Master Layouts 6 dies,  Rust enamel dots, Misit, Sizzix Switch Plus, SU Dimensionals

Peace - Love - Happiness

 Hello crafty peeps and Happy Weekend,

There is a sixties vibe going on at the Retro Rubber Challenge this week. We are challenged to use bright sixties style colors. To pick the stamps, I used the "Way Back Machine" and found a couple of older stamp sets that are perfect to make a card for this challenge.  (If you remember Mr. Peabody's Way Back Machine, I'm sorry to say, you're as old as I.)

I've used this weeks fun Freshly Made Sketches sketch for my layout.

I made this into a birthday card that will be perfect for a few friends who have birthdays later this summer. Both the front and the inside greetings are from a Taylored Expressions stamp set called Feelin' Groovy.

There's a lot of stamping fun on this card, and it's bright enough for a trip back to the sixties. Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Beautiful Batik set by Stampin' Up and Feelin' Groovy by Taylored Expressions

Paper: SU Basic white, black, and Pink Passion card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Rena K Electro Pop inks

Other: GKD Master Layouts 1 die set, MFT Die-namics border die, Altenew Featured Sentiment strip dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU Dimensionals                                                        

You're the Cat's Pajamas

 TGIF Peeps,

For some reason, since I retired a few months ago, Friday's seem to come much sooner than they did while I was working. Funny how that happens!

I hope you are having a good day, and if you are in the snow and ice zones, staying safe and warm.

When I saw the new Retro Rubber Challenge, I knew just what stamp I wanted to use for my card. This is one of my favorite Valentine's Day stamps. It is an old wooden block stamp from Uptown Rubber stamps, and the price tag is from a store in Las Vegas called Stamp Oasis. LV used to be part of my territory in the early 90s, so I probably got it sometime between 1991 and 1995. It is alway on the top in my "other holidays" drawer of wooden stamps. (The main holiday drawer is Christmas stamps.) I rarely go to my wooden stamps, but once in a while it happens, and I know just where to find this little cutie, LOL. (Don't you suspect she's off to bed to read her romance book?)

The image is colored with Copics and I used a Uniball Gold gel pen to color in the hearts in her pajamas. I used the oval and oval mat dies from the GKD Master Layouts 1 die set to cut it out. For the background, I used the SU plaid EF and using a brayer, added pink ink to one side of the folder, placed the paper in and ran it through my die cutting machine. I then used the scalloped die from the GKD ML 4 die set to cut that out. I found some Baker's twine with gold in my stash and added it under the popped up ovals and tied a bow to the side.

For the inside, I used a pretty old SU Valentine's Day set Called Meant To Be. I cut this panel out with the stitched die from the GKD ML 2 die set. 

.

So, while I was looking through my older SU Valentine's Day sets, I found a few more that I decided to pull out and use. I was looking for something for my mom's card. I found the Take It To Heart set and decided to make something fairly simple. This is made with Vanilla card stock and stamped in GKD Kraft ink, which is Copic friendly. The images are colored with pastel Copic shades.

I stamped the banner first, made a mask, then stamped the larger heart image. The panel and mat are cut with, you guessed it, the GKD ML 1 dies. Honestly, I use these ML die sets ALL THE TIME! It makes the layering so easy, and perfect. The mat is GKD Kraft card stock and the base is one of the light SU pink shades, Powder Pink. I used some pink and clear glass beads for embellishments.  This would work for the Retro Rubber challenge as well, but I just love that cat in her pajamas!

Have a great Friday afternoon, and weekend to come.

Colleen

Supplies

The Cat's Pajamas stamp from Uptown Rubber Stamps, SU sets Meant To Be and Take It to Heart

Gina K Designs card stocks, SU card stock, Gina K designs inks, Copics, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1, 2 and 4 die sets, stash Baker's twine and glass beads, SU Dimensionals 

Happy Valentine's Day

 Hello and Happy New Week,

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. I know some of you had some extremely cold temps, so hopefully you used that excuse to get in some crafting time. It was very nice here, weather wise. Warm in the mid-day, so I got in walks both days, and then some crafting time. We had dinner both Friday and Saturday nights with friends and played Five Crowns, a fun card game.

I have my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, and I used the color them from the new Retro Rubber Challenge. It's a fun 50's color theme of pastels.

To make the background, I used ink cubes to smoosh ink onto a GKD heart stencil. I spritzed it with water and then turned it over onto a white card stock panel and made sure to press it down really good. After lifting the stencil, I dried the panel with my heat tool, then used blending brushes to blend the same three ink colors over the entire card. This is one of Gina K's 5 minute techniques. You can find it on her YouTube channel. She calls it a Bokeh technique, although she uses a stencil with circles. I think my heart stencil didn't have large enough openings to really see the water reactivity, but it's still an interesting look, so I used it.

The stamps are older sets from Lawn Fawn. The conversation hearts are colored with Copics in the Retro Rubber challenge colors. The Scalloped Square die is from MFT.

Here is the inside of the card.  This sentiment is from Taylored Expressions.

I'm waiting for the temps to get a little warmer here this morning, then I'll head out to the beach for a walk. My phone APP says it's only 49 degrees currently, so I'm waiting. It's bright and sunny thought! I hope you have a good day, and thanks for looking.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: How You Bean and Conversation Hearts Add-On sets and dies from LawnFawn and Love & Hugs stamp set from Taylored Expressions

Paper: GKD Layering Weight white and Bubblegum pink card stocks

Ink: GKD Black Onyx, Bubblegum Pink, Innocent Pink and Red Hot, Copic Markers

Other: GKD Master Layouts 1 dies, My Favorite Things Scalloped Square Die, GKD Heart Stencil and blending brushes, Misti, Gemini Jr, Pink Baker's Twine, 

Happy Harvest Blessings

Hello and Happy Thursday,

Last night I made a couple of Fall/Thanksgiving cards while watching the Olympics on TV. I've watched just a few nights for these Olympics. I guess mostly because we were on vacation when they started.

This first card uses the colors of Kraft, Gray and White from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge, and the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches. Since the stamp set is over a year old, I'm also entering it into the Retro Rubber Challenge where it's "anything goes" this week.

The stamp set is from Stampin' Up and it's called Country Home. I stamped the water can using GKD Soft Stone ink and colored it with colored pencils. I cut a mask for the can then stamped the fall arrangement using GKD Kraft ink and shaded some of the images with a Kraft colored pencil. While the mask was still in place, I stamped the tile image in a darker gray shade using a block. I was very pleased with how well I was able to get it to line up perfectly with each stamping. The panel is cut out with the dies from the GKD Master Layouts 2. I used Stormy Skies card stock for the mat and Kraft card stock for the card base. I thought the twine added to the "country" theme and the sentiment is from the same stamp set.

I made the second card using the GKD Wreath Builder System. All of the stamped images are from the GKD Autumn Wreath Builder stamp set, and all of the inks and card stock are from GKD as well.

After stamping the images, I used the GKD Master Layouts 3 dies to cut the panel and the mat. The circle dies are from the Master Layouts 5 die set. I added some bling in the form of coper sequins around the card. This is a 4.5 x 4.5 inch square card.

I hope you all have a lovely Thursday. Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Country Home set by Stampin' Up, Autumn Wreath Builder Set by Gina K Designs, GKD card stock in Kraft, Layering Weight White, Storm Skies, Tangerine Twist, Fresh Asparagus, GKD inks in Kraft, Soft Stone, Stormy Skies, Dark Sage, Fresh Asparagus, Honey Mustard, Prickly Pear, Faded Brick, Tomato Soup, Tangerine Twist, Faber Castel Polychromos Colored Pencils, GKD Master Layouts dies, twine, sequins, Misti, Gemini Jr, GKD Wreath Builder System, SU Dimensionals

Thanks A Latte

 Hello peeps,

Some late evening stamping after having pizza with some friends. I saw Cecile's interesting sketch for the The Freshly Made Sketches Challenge for this week and I wanted to see what I could do with it. After looking through some of my older SU stamp sets, I saw this tiny cup in the Merry Cafe set and thought it would work just fine. I also had in mind this week's Retro Rubber Challenge where the theme is Pastels.

Using an older SU circle punch, I punched a few pieces of scrap card stock to use as stencils. Then I choose  some SU inks in pastel colors and applied the ink with blending brushes and the punched stencil. After the circles were made, I stamped the cup using black ink into each circle. Super simple really. The greeting is from a Verve set called Better with You.

I cut the stamped panel and a black mat out using the Gina K Master Layouts 2 die set and glued them to a Purple Posy card base, and added some pastel pearls for a little embellishment.

On the inside, I stamped the same cup using Purple Posy ink and stamped a greeting from the Paper Smooches Caffeinated Two stamp set.

Simple and cute.

Have a nice Thursday!

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Merry Cafe stamp set by Stampin' Up, Better With You stamp set by Verve, Caffeinated Two stamp set by Paper Smooches. SU white, black and Purple Posy card stock, SU Purple Posy, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding, Lemon Lime Twist, Balmy Blue, Powder Pink, Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Sky inks, Gina K Designs Black Onyx ink and Master Layout 2 dies, SU circle punch, GKD blending brushes, Misti, Gemini Jr, pearl embellishments

You've Always Been a Good Egg

 Hello,

Continuing with Easter cards, I have another one that I made using an older wood mounted stamp from my stash. I'm loving how colorful this turned out too. 

This stamp is from Stampassions and it's called "Egg on Your Face, " LOL. I stamped it in GKD Black Onyx ink onto white card stock and colored it with Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils and used gamsol and blending stumps to get the shading. The center greeting is from the SSS Some Bunny stamp set.

This card fits into two challenges, the current Retro Rubber Challenge is "anything goes" this week, and the As You See It Challenge has an Easter theme this week. I'm sure this stamp is at least 20 years old, fitting for the Retro Rubber challenge.

After coloring the image, I cut it out with the GKD Master Layouts 1 dies using black card stock for the mat. The card base is SU card stock.

The inside image is also from an older wood mounted stamp from Hero Arts, circa 1993. Again, stamped in GKD Black Onyx ink and colored with colored pencils and gamsol. The greeting is from the SSS Some Bunny set.

Thanks for looking in. Happy Hump Day tomorrow!

Colleen

Supplies

Easter wood mounted stamps from Stampassions and Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp Some Bunny stamp set, GKD Layering white and black card stock, Master Layouts 1 dies, Black Onyx ink, SU pink card stock, Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils, gamsol and blending stumps, Pretty Pink Posh pink gems, Connect glue 

Scream and Sugar

 Happy, happy Friday Peeps,

I'm getting into making some fall and Halloween cards lately. Maybe because it's been SO HOT recently, working on fall projects help it seem cooler? Not really, LOL. 

The ladies at the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog have a fun and simple sketch this week. I pulled out a retired SU set,  DSP and an embossing folder to make my card.

For the inside, I've used some old wood mounted Hero Arts stamps.

Hope you're having a nice day. Here's to the weekend!

Thanks for stopping in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Merry Cafe set by Stampin' Up, Hero Arts cat and sentiments - wood mounted

Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Dusty Durango card stocks, SU Apple Cider DSP

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Chocolate Chip

Other: SU Tasteful Label dies, Gina K Master Layout 2 dies, SU Spiderweb EF, Misti, Gemini Jr, 

large sequin bat and spider embellishments, Dimensionals

Best Wishes To an Old Goat

Hi again,

My cousin, who owns a ranch in Northern California, has a birthday in a few days. As a family, we lived on this ranch until I was around 10 years old, so I grew up with my cousin. During my jr high and high school summers, I worked, with another cousin, changing hay wagons during the summers. We also did lots of horseback riding making sure that the cows were off the open ranges where the highway ran through. It was another time. My Grandfather owned the ranch at that time, and it's been passed on from him to my uncle, and now to my cousin. He happens to be one of my favorite peeps and I try to remember his birthday every year. I usually visit a few times each year when I visit my mom, but with COVID, that's not possible, so this year a card is even more important.

The stamps are from an older set from Simon Says Stamp. Not sure of the year, but I've had it for at least 3 years, if not more. I did go with a newer, Slimline layout. The Retro Rubber Challenge is "anything goes" this week, so I'm posting to their blog.

I stamped the farm animals on X-Press It Blending card stock with Memento tuxedo black and colored them with Copics. They are cut out with Spellbinders circle dies and layered onto the card. The green card stock is from SSS and the patterned paper is from the latest SSS monthly kit. 

Here is the inside of the card. I really like how this card turned out, and I think my cousin will get a kick out of it too. (he's 3 years older than I).

That's it from me for today. I hope you have nice evening and a good week.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Birthday Farm Animals by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: SSS Green and white card stock, Doodlebug pattern papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Gina K Blueberry

Other: Spellbinders circle dies, SU Shimmery Crystal Effects, Nuvo glitter pen, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape

Heat Wave

Hello,

For my second post this evening I have a card inspired by the current Retro Rubber theme challenge, Summer time, and the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch. I've used this Avery Elle set many times over the years and it's one of my favorite to color. I thought it perfect for the Summer Time theme. I found this fun Hawaiian themed patterned paper in my stash and I thought it would pair well with the stamp set.

I do not have any diamond shaped dies so I used the SU banner die instead. After cutting it from some brown card stocks, I embossed them with the SU Coastal Weave embossing folder. The stamped images are colored using Copics and cut out with the corresponding set dies. The banners are popped up with foam tape and the images are popped up using Dimensionals. For embellishments, I added tiny clear rhinestones to the centers of the two small flowers, and added a few enamel flowers too.

I didn't put a sentiment on the inside, yet, because I'm not sure who and what I'll use this card for. I did add another image from the stamp set though.

I'm not sure exactly how old this set is, but I know I've had it for several years. The retro challenge is to use stamps at least one year old.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Aloha set by Avery Elle

Paper: TE Gold, light & dark brown card stock, Concord & 9th white card stock, ??? patterned papers

Ink: Gina K Charcoal Brown ink cube, Copics

Other: Avery Elle Aloha set dies, SU banner dies, SU Coastal Weave embossing folder, Gemini Jr, Misti, rhinestones, enamel flowers, foam tape, Dimensionals, liquid glue

Sending Smiles

Hello peeps,

Sunday I decided to do some craft supply organizing. What I ended up working on was my collection of Taylored Expressions stamp sets. I had them stored in the small TE Binder boxes, around 4 per box with labels on the outside of the box. These were stored in a bookcase in my craft room. What I didn't like about the storage, it was still hard to know what images are in each set by the names on the binder boxes, so I had to open the boxes and look through each to see them. I found that I wasn't using these sets much any longer.

I decided to see if the sets would fit into the fridge bin boxes that I'm storing all of my photopolymer stamps sets. A few hours of rearranging later, I have them in a much better and more usable space.

Amazingly, I ended up with about 30 of those binder boxes now empty. Our next door neighbor is a second grade school teacher so I took one over to ask if she could use them for storage in the classroom (once she goes back to class). She said yes, she would take some. A few doors down the street live two young girls, around 11 and 8 years old, so I took a few to them as well as they both love stickers, etc. Problem solved, the empty boxes are all gone. Yay!

That long story leads to today's card. Taylor had a stamp of the month club for a few years and my card is made with one of those sets that I "rediscovered" while doing the rearranging. This little set is from September 2013 and is call Sending Smiles. The sketch is this week's Sunday Stamps Sketch Challenge. I'm also posting to the current Retro Rubber Spring Flowers challenge. The challenge is to use flowers on our cards.

The background is stamped using the solid images in the set. I used my mini Misti, stamped a few of the flowers then reversed the panel and stamped again without having to move the stamps. For the layering images, I used the same technique. The center image is stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored with Copics. The polka-dot paper is from Lawn Fawn and the bright green card stock is way old SU Green Galore. The circles are cut with a Die-namics Wonky Stitched circle die and the layering circle with a Spellbinders circle die. Finally, I used several green tinted glass beads scattered around the panel.

Here is the inside of the card. The row of dots is a single stamp in the set. The sentiment is from C&9th.

I really like how the card came out and I think I am going to make a few more with birthday and thank you greetings. I have several colors of the LF polka-dot paper.

Have a nice Wednesday all and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Sending Smiles set by Taylored Expressions and Lots to Say set by Concord & 9th
Paper: Neenah Solar white and SU Green Galore card stock, Lawn Fawn polka-dot patterned paper
Ink: SU Green Galore, Memento tuxedo black, Altenew Pink Pearl, Rouge, and Lime ink cubes
Other: Misti, Gemini Jr, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Circle die, Spellbinders Circle die, dimensionals, glass beads, liquid glue

Pure Innocence Winter Fun

Hello Stamping Peeps,

It's a gloomy Sunday here on the San Diego coast. A perfect day to stay in and stamp. Not that I need an excuse.

Retro Rubber Challenge has a winter theme for their first challenge of 2020 and I decided it would be fun to color one of my Pure Innocence images. I have several that will work for this challenge, and ended up picking a couple of cute girls out to play in the snow. I've used one set for the outside of the card and another for the inside image. The layout is this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

The background sky is a panel of white card stock that I blended with Soft Sky and Smoky Slate inks with a blending brush. After the inks dried, I put a Falling Snow stencil over it and brushed on some white craft ink. For the snow hills and the bottom layer, I used a Falling Snow EF. One of the hills is cut out using a Die-namics hill/tree die and the other Die-namics Stitched Hill die. The curved edge for the top layer of the card is cut with an Avery Elle stitched edge die. The Pure Innocence girl is stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics, fussy cut out and popped up with dimensionals.

For the inside of the card, I used another Pure Innocence set. This one is the little skier. She is also stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics, fussy cut out,  and layered onto a panel of Soft Sky card stock that is embossed with the same Falling Snow EF. I carefully cut the line between her arm and body to add her skis.

A fun card to make and color.

Have a wonderful Sunday evening and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Pure Innocence Heart Warmer and Ski Girl sets by My Favorite Things
Paper: SU Thick Whisper White card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock and SU Soft Sky card
stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Soft Sky and Smoky Slate
Other: Die-namics and Avery Elle dies, Taylored Expressions Falling Snow embossing folder, Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil, TE blending brushes, Misti, Gemini Jr, Wink of Stella, dimensionals