Enjoy

Happy Sunday peeps,

I hope your weekend is going well. I've been enjoying being at home after traveling last week for a work trip.

One of the things that I've done in order to do something crafty while on my work trips is to stamp a bunch of images from many different stamp sets onto card stock that I've cut to 4.25 x 5.5 inches. I have a little plastic box that these fit into perfectly. I bring my box of stamped images along with my box of Polychromos colored pencils so I can do some coloring in the evenings in my hotel rooms. (I'm not a TV watcher and I will go the entire week without turning it on. I'd much rather read, or color. I do listen to baseball games on my Sirius Radio app while reading or coloring.) Bringing these supplies gives me a chance to practice coloring with pencils too. The images used to make the card in today's post are some from my little travel box.

The coffee cups are from the Simon Says Stamp set called Coffee & Tea. They are stamped onto X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Polychromos colored pencils. I fussy cut them out and used SU dimensionals to adhere them to the card. The sketch is from the current CAS(E) This Sketch! challenge. The patterned papers are retired fall themed DSP from Stampin' Up. The fall leaves embossing folder is from Taylored Expressions, and the card base is SU heavy weight vanilla card stock.

Here's the inside. The images and greeting are Lawn Fawn.

Wowzers! Lots of different products to make this card. The inside is also colored with Polychromos pencils. The greeting is stamped in SU Early Expresso ink.

Even though it's still super hot out, I guess I'm ready to start making fall themed cards, like many stampers I've seen posting around blog-land recently.

Have a great Sunday afternoon and evening all. Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: SSS Coffee & Tea set and Lawn Fawn Pumpkin Spice set
Paper: SU heavy weight Very Vanilla card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, SU Early Expresso card stock, & SU retired DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Early Expresso
Other: Polychromos colored pencils, SU enjoy die, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle and Stitched Square dies, Taylored Expressions Fall Leaves embossing folder, Gemini Jr, We R Memory Keeper heart and star enamel shapes, SU dimensionals

Handcrafted Hello

Happy, Happy Friday Crafters,

I love Friday's for the obvious reason that the work week is done, but this Friday is even more special because I'm on vacation for two weeks. Our friends from the Boston area are arriving on Tuesday evening for a week, and we have some fun planned. After they leave, I have plans for my craft space. I have ordered new furniture, from IKEA, and storage, from Organize More, so my second week off, I'll be redoing my space. I plan on taking everything out, painting, then putting in the new furniture. I CAN'T WAIT!

After dinner last night I made a card using this week's Freshly Made sketch. Like many, I've let the patterned papers do most of the "work" and I do like the way it turned out. The stamps are from SSS February kit.

I stamped the greeting using my Misti to make it nice and dark. The final inking was with VersaMark so I could heat emboss it to make it shiny. The craft tools are not embossed.

Here's the inside:

The Olympics start tonight, and I'm looking forward to watching. Are you?

Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Crafty Friends set by Simon Says Stamp
Paper: SU Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy and Whisper White card stock, SU Pick a Pattern DSP
Ink: SU Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy, Crushed Curry, Memento tuxedo black and VersaMark
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flags and Inside and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle dies, clear EP, heat tool, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Wishing You. . .

This week's Sweet Stop Sketch 135 looked like a fun one so I decided to play along. Since I had SU's Letters From Santa DSP on my table, I used it again. Love the look of this one.

Supplies:

Stamps: Button Buddies set by Stampin' Up

Paper: SU ridding hood red, old olive and whisper white card stock and Letters From Santa DSP

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and SU bashful blue

Other: light blue button, SU linen thread, Wonky Rectangles Nesties, TE medium scalloped border die, SU embossing folder, SU ridding hood red ribbon, red liquid pearls, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks all,

Colleen

Snow Much Fun . . . again

My second post today is a card using the new Stampin' Up set called "Snow Much Fun". I {heart} this set and will be using it for many of my Christmas cards.

Today, I'm using some "not so Christmasy" colors.  The sketch comes from this week's Sweet Stop sketch # 115. The colors come from the Inkspirations Challenge #76, and finally I'm posting it to the Paper Players challenge #54, Christmas In July theme.

Supplies
Stamps: Snow Much Fun by Stampin' Up
Card stock: SU peach parfait, poppy parade and whisper white
Patterned Paper: Kitchen Spice by Bo Bunny
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU baja breeze, peach parfait, poppy parade, soft suede, pumpkin pie
Other: SU punches, SU ribbon, Stickles, aqua painter, mini glue dots and dimensionals

Have a great Monday afternoon and thanks,
Colleen

Graduation Congrats and SSS109

Good Tuesday evening all,

I have a quick post tonight with a card I made for this week's Sweet Stop sketch challenge. This week it's a Sketch With a Spin, "make it masculine." While most are probably thinking Father's Day, I am in need of graduation cards for two nephews. This older SU paper looks "boyish" to me, so I think this card meets the requirements. 

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions set Dream Big
Card stock: SU bashful blue, brilliant blue and TE choice snow white
Patterned paper: SU retired
Ink: SU brilliant blue, memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: classic circle and classic square Nesties, sewing machine, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Birthday Wishes

Ahhhh, Wednesday is almost over and that means only two more days to the weekend, which are my main stamping days. Tonight, I'm sharing a card I made on Sunday for the Sweet Stop Sketch.

This is a really fun layout, and I kept my card relatively simple. The image is a digital from Mo Manning Digi Stamps. This cute guy reminded me of my nephew, so I colored him up for my nephew's birthday card.

Supplies
Stamps: Digital image "Paul Typing" from Mo Manning
Card stock: SU pumpkin pie, soft suede, and whisper white
Patterned papers: Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man
Ink: memento tuxedo black, rich cocoa and Copics
Other: Die-namics die, oval Nestie, SU circle punches, SU build a brad, blue candy dots, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Thanks,
Colleen

Happy Spring

Hi all,
I finished a couple more Easter cards yesterday. Other than decorating some tins I bought from TE to put some gift cards in for my niece and nephews, I'm finally finished with making Easter projects.

The card I have for you today is made with this week's Sweet Stop sketch #103. I turned the sketch to the side, but all of the elements are there.

Supplies
Stamps: Happy Spring from Taylored Expressions
Card stock: SU early expresso and TE choice snow white
Patterned paper: Kioshi by Basic Grey
Ink: memento tuxedo black, SU bashful blue, Copics
Other: classic circle Nesties, sewing machine, TE glitter brads, crystal Stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Enjoy your Sunday afternoon all,
Colleen

2 More Weekend Challenges - One Card

I have a sweet little card that I made this afternoon for this week's Curtain Call Color Challenge, Act 71 and this week's Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge, # 97. I've used the level one hostess stamp set from Stampin' Up's Occasions Mini catalog. 

(click image to view larger)

The flower vase is stamped on SU water color paper and colored with my aqua painter with SU inks then cut out with circle Nesties. (The red plaid paper looks more pink in this picture but in RL it's deep red.) 

Supplies

Stamps: A Slice of Life by Stampin' Up

Card stock: SU crumb cake, so saffron, cherry cobbler and SU water color paper

Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye

Ink: memento tuxedo black, more mustard, so saffron, cherry cobbler

Other: classic circle and eyelet circle Nesties, silver pearls, SU more mustard ribbon, TE red heart hat pins, curly vines EF, TE medium scalloped border die, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

The inside greeting is "thinking of you" and I think I'm going to send it off to my mom tomorrow. 

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

"Springtime" for Sweet Stop Sketch # 96

I have one more card to share this afternoon. Since I still had the February Key Ingredients kit on my desk I decided to use it to make a card for this week's Sweet Stop sketch challenge. Besides the sketch, this week there was an addition to the challenge to make a spring themed card. I pulled out one of my new Stampin' Up sets called Easter Blessings. Like many, I was attracted to the little girl silhouette stamp included in this set from the current Occasions Mini catalog. I've seen it used on many cards lately around blog land and they are all so cute. Here is my version today:

(click image to view larger)

Again, all of the card stock and patterned paper are from the TE February key Ingredients kit, as well as the paper flowers and brads. Labels 9 Nestabilities was used to cut out the image instead of using a square as in the sketch.

Supplies

Stamps: Easter Blossoms from Stampin' Up

Card stock: light blue and choice buttercream from Feb KI set

Patterned paper: Lush by My Mind's Eye

Ink: SU early expresso

Other: SU oval and corner rounder punches, paper flowers and brads from the Feb KI kit, Labels 9 Nesties, the big shot, SU pop up glue dots, and dimensionals

That's all from me today. I'm looking forward to the Sweet Sunday Sketch and Curtain Call Color challenges tomorrow morning, so I'll be back tomorrow after the cards are made. 

Colleen

Tweeting by. . . Sweet Stop Sketch 95

I inked up another new stamp yesterday afternoon to play along with this week's Sweet Stop Sketch challenge #95. The rectangle shaped panel was perfect for a PI girl. I decided to make this one really bright and summery. These green papers came with my last Taylored Expressions order, and since green is one of my favorite colors, I decided to use them to help show off this little girl. As you can see, they were used to paper piece her cute little jumper dress. The tee shirt and heart sash are pieced with some pixie pink card stock. Using a glue pen sure makes gluing small pieces like this easy.

(click image to view larger)

Supplies

Stamps: Pure Innocence "You're So Tweet" by My Favorite Things

Card stock: SU whisper white, pink passion, and pixie pink

Patterned paper: from Taylored Expressions

Ink: memento tuxedo black, Copics

Other: Rectangle nesties, SU pink felt flowers, TE green buttons, TE green ribbon, Kaiser green pearls, EK flower border punch, SU punches, SU twine, TE pink flower rhinestone, the Big Shot, Quickie glue pen, and dimensionals.

Now it's time to work on some Sunday sketch challenges. Have a fabulous day,

Colleen 

Life Is Short, Eat the Icing First

Hi again everyone,

Since it's Thursday, I decided to make a card this afternoon and participate in The Spotted Chick's Krafty Thursday # 47 challenge. I'm using one of my new PI stamp sets. (as I mentioned earlier, I did a lot of craft shopping to relieve boredom over the past month) These little girls are sooooo cute! For the layout, I followed this weeks Sweet Stop #94 sketch.

(click image to view larger)

and here's a pic of the inside:

Supplies
Stamps: Pure Innocence "Hello Cupcake" by My Favorite Things
Card stock: SU crumb cake, night of navy, marina mist and TE choice buttercream
Patterned paper: Jen Allyson and SU
Ink: SU night of navy and crumb cake, Copics
Other: classic circle Nesties, TE picket fence die, TE impressions background die, SU felt flowers, blue candy dot, expresso dimensional pearls, red liquid pearls, china mist Stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals.

Back tomorrow with a card for the Wednesday MFT sketch challenge. Have a great evening,
Colleen

Some News and My First "Stella" Digi-stamp

It's Monday and the start of a very short work week for me. A short work week because on Wednesday morning I am having surgery to repair torn tendons and ligaments in my right arm. In June I fell and broke my right arm in 3 places (some of you may recall my 5 week stamping and blogging hiatus.)  While the bones have mended, the fall also caused significant tears that pulled the tendon and ligaments completely away from the bones. It won't get better with out surgical intervention, and so, Wednesday is the day. According to the Dr., recovery this time around will be longer. Needless to say, life will be interesting for awhile as I am right handed.

Enough of the not so fun stuff and on to the fun stamping stuff.

A few weeks ago I downloaded some Bugaboo Stella digi-stamps. This is my first experience with digital stamps. I can't say that I will be going this way for my card making, as I do like the actual stamping, but Stella is so cute and funny that I wanted to use her on some cards. I choose Saturday's Sweet Stop, SSS90, sketch for the layout. The greeting on the inside that goes along with this image is "Well. . . aren't WE just a bloody ray of sunshine?!" She IS just too funny!

(click image to view larger)

I hope to get in a few more stamping sessions before Wednesday morning with "scheduled" posts. After that, I will just be cruzin' blog-land and pining for paper and ink. (don't you all feel sorry for me? lol)

Again, thanks for stopping by today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Bugaboo digi-stamp

Card stock: TE green and choice snow white

Patterned paper: A Walk in the Park by Echo Park

Ink: memento tuxedo black, memento cantaloupe, Copics

Other: classic rectangle Nestie, TE ribbon, SU punch, Martha Stewart flower sticker, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Happy Birthday Sister

Happy Birthday Diana,

This is the card that I made for my sister. I used this weeks Sweet Stop sketch for the layout. Most supplies are from the upcoming SU Occasions mini catalog.

(click image to make larger)

Supplies

Stamps: SU Sew Suite set and In Stitches jumbo wheel

Card stock: tempting turquoise, confetti white

Patterned Paper: Sweet Stitches DSP

Ink:  SU tempting  turquoise, memento tuxedo black, Copics

Other: SU punches, SU pompom trim, SU buttons, Cuttlebug EF, Lacy circle Nesties, TE small scallop border die, the Big Shot, and dimensionals 

Love you little sis,

Colleen

A Flamboyant Happy Birthday for Color Throwdown 105 and SSS 68

Hello Stampers,

I had the opportunity to do some stamping the last couple of evenings after work.  (I am finally back to work this week after five weeks off for my broken arm, and I couldn't be happier.) I made two cards to share with you.  For the first one, I used the Sweet Stop sketch for the layout and this week's Color Throwdown for the color scheme.

What inspired me to use the retired Voila SU stamp set was the new  Funky Four SU stamp set.  I was playing around with the mushroom stamp making rows of mushrooms.  I thought they would make a good background for something and that's what reminded me of the Voila set.  You know, chefs and mushrooms.  Any way, you see how it turned out.  Since the color scheme is kind of "dark" I added the bling on chef's smock to brighten things up a bit. Chef's smock and hat are paper pieced with the DSP and I used the aqua painter to color the neck cloth, cuff and pants.

Supplies
Stamps: Stampin' Up sets Voila and Funky Four
Card Stock: SU elegant eggplant, soft suede, always artichoke and whisper white
DSP: SU Autumn Traditions, retired
Ink: SU elegant eggplant, always artichoke, sahara sand, and basic black; Copic markers for chef's face and hand
Other: SU soft suede ribbon, SU Ice round brads, SU white brads, SU 1 3/8" circle and scallop circle punches, aqua painter, and dimensionals

My second card will be in a separate post.  Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

The Sweet Stop Sketch 58 - Hello

For my second post today I have a card made using Saturday's The Sweet Stop sketch.  I used two of my favorite new stamp sets by Taylored Expressions, Garden Party Blooms and Garden Party Critters.  I'm just lovin' these stamps!
I think it's the whimsicalness (is that a word?) of them.  Fun, Fun, Fun.  I paired them with the Garden Party Project Pantry to make this bright and cheery card. Not sure who the lucky person will be to receive it, but off it will go to someone to say "hello".  For now, you all get to enjoy it first.

The front:

Detail of the front:

The inside: The Garden Party Project Pantry has some cute stickers that were used on the inside.

Supplies

Stamps: Garden Party Blooms and Garden Party Critters by Taylored Expressions, Hello stamp and inside greeting stamp by Hero Arts
Paper and Stickers: Garden Party Project Pantry by Taylored Expressions
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU glorious green, certainly celery, regal rose, tempting turquoise, only orange, Copics
Other: classic rectangle and large scallop rectangle nesties,
SU 1 3/8 " round punch, rhinestones of various colors, yellow stickles, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Well, it's back to work tomorrow :( but that's how I pay for my "toys").  Have a great week all,
Colleen

Home is Where the Heart Is

This card was made for The Sweet Shop's SSS40 Sketch Challenge.
I received my Taylored Expressions Valentines Key Ingredients set early this week but didn't have any time to stamp until today.  I was so looking forward to breaking into my new toys.  I hope you like what I came up with.

Supplies:  Stamps from "Love Everywhere" set by Taylored Expressions.  Card stock and DSP from Taylored Expressions Valentines Key Ingredients kit,  Momento Rich Cocoa ink, Amos Red and Star Dust Stickles.