You Blow Me Away

Hi peeps and Happy Saturday afternoon,

I was looking around blog-land today for some inspiration and found the latest word challenge on the CASology blog. The word for the current challenge is "wind." I thought this fun to color dragon stamp from SugarPea Designs would be appropriate. Over the years I've colored this image in many colors. Today I choose purple. I used various Copic V shades for his body and greens for his back scales and toe nails. After coloring the dragon and bubbles, I made a mask and stamped the heart background using the Concord and 9th Hugs and Kisses Turnabout stamp using lavender and light pink inks. The card base and the stamped panel are SU Whisper White. I added some dimension by layering a couple of card stock pieces under the stamped panel.

Here is the inside of the card, using more images from the same SugarPea set.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Blow Me Away set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU Whisper White and Gorgeous Grape card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Altenew ink spots in light pinks and lavender, SU Gorgeous Grape
Other: Misti, Gemini Jr., SSS rectangle die

You Blow Me Away

Happy Sunday morning to all,

I hope your weekend is going along well. As the weather forecasters predicted, we did have rain overnight and things are pretty soggy this morning. Looks like the storm has moved on as its mostly blue skies with just a few clouds out over the ocean. A very pretty day shaping up.

Today kicks off the 2019 Paper Players Challenges with a theme challenge brought to us by Anne. She wants critters on our projects. I'm definitely not lacking for animal stamps! While looking through my stamps, I decided on this cute little dragon from Sugar Pea Designs.

I love this set because it's a good one to color and I was in the mood to pull out my Copics. The color theme is inspired by the current Color Throwdown Challenge, where the colors this week are yellow, green and black. The layout comes from Amy's Freshly Made Sketch.

I started my card by making the background. Using ink blenders, I sponged three colors of Distress Oxide inks onto a panel of X-Press It Blending card stock, then embossed it using the Need & Tangled Scales Cover Plate. I trimmed this to fit a black card base. The dragon is stamped using Memento tuxedo black and colored with green and yellow Copics. After cutting it out with a Die-namics Stitched circle die, I drew in a path of pebbles and then added some black solid rhinestones into the pebbles for a little added embellishment. The two banner elements under the circle are cut with Lawn Fawn large and medium size banner dies.

Here's the inside of the card. The kite and greeting are from the same Sugar Pea stamp set and the clouds are from the Ellen Hutson Unicorn 'N Rainbows set. These images are all colored with Copics too.

My plans for the rest of the day are to figure out a project for next Saturday's Craft Day with my little craft group. They asked for Valentine's Day/Spring themes. Could be a good excuse to order more goodies from the new SU Occasions catty, LOL. There are few stamp sets and DSPs that I didn't order with my Demo pre-order that I have my eyes on. I also have to pack for my work trip this coming week. I'll be in the Central Coast wine region, so really not a hardship for me.

I hope your week is a good one.
Thanks for looking in,
Colleen


Supplies
Stamps: Blow Me Away set by Sugar Pea Designs and Unicorns 'N Rainbows set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson
Paper: SU Basic Black and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Distress Oxide inks, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Neet & Tangled Scales Cover Plate, Die-namics Stitched Circle die, Lawn Fawn Banner dies, ink blending tool and sponges, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, black solid rhinestones

Let's Shell-ebrate!

Hi again,

Well, we go from Fall back to Summer for my second post today. I had this image colored and sitting around on my table for a while. I was cleaning off my stamping area and instead of popping her into my box of "things," I decided to use her. I looked through my stash of pattern papers and fund these from Echo Park to go with. Sunday Stamps is a sketch this time and I, for one, like tilted panels, and it seemed perfect to show off the patterned papers.

The images are stamped with Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. No dies for this set so I fussy-cut them. The sentiment is stamped using SU Early Expresso and it's cut out with a Die-namics Fishtail Flag die. The stamped images are popped up with SU dimensionals.

The inside of the card uses some Amy Tangerine summer stickers. I liked how the umbrella ties into the patterned paper on the front and the shells matched the Shell-ebrate theme. The inside greeting is a stamp from the same stamp set.

Enjoy your afternoon and evening, and thanks!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Seaside Wishes by Sugar Pea Designs
Paper: SU Daffodil Delight, Whisper White and X-Press It Blending card stocks, Echo Park Splash patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Early Expresso and Grapefruit Grove
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flag die, SU enamel dots, Amy Tangerine stickers, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Feliz compelamos a ti (Happy Birthday to you)

Hi all,

I hope your Thursday is going well. I'm "working" in my home office today. I actually was working but just put it aside for a while to take some pictures of my card for this week's Paper Players challenge. This week, Laurie is the hostess with a music theme.

I have lots of patterned papers with sheet music backgrounds which is what I originally pulled out to use and I made a Christmas card. But, I just wasn't feeling it was all that fun, so I put it in my stash and made this one instead. My sister's "honey" has a birthday in a few days and he is hispanic. I think he'll get a kick out of this guy.

The images are from SugarPea Designs. They are stamped with memento black ink and colored with Copics. I fussy cut them out and glued them to the card. The base is SU Basic Black and the three stripes are Hello Honey, Glorious Green and Real Red. The sentiment is printed with my computer and is part of the "Happy Birthday to You" song in Spanish. I added the music notes from an Avery Elle set.

Here is the inside. The paper picado banners are also from an Avery Elle set called Papel Picado Banners. The sentiments are from the SugarPea set. The banners are stamped with SU Glorious Green and Real Red inks using a Misti.

Supplies
Stamps: Let's Fiesta set by SugarPea Designs, Papel Picado Banners & Caroling Critters sets by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Basic Black, Real Red, Hello Honey and Glorious Green card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Glorious Green and Real Red, Copics
Other: SU dimensionals

A few months ago I began my craft room re-organization. I took everything out and had it painted. The color is Sherwin Williams Sea Salt and it is a very light sea green. I love it! The accents and ceiling are all bright white. I decided to go with IKEA shelving and drawers. The shelving and desk are from the Kallax line and the drawers are from the Alex line. They have been up for about a month. I had ordered ink pad and marker inserts for the Kallax and some drawer divider storage for the Alex from Organize More. Those finally arrived this week and I've gotten them filled. Hopefully, you don't mind a few pictures of the final organization. (It's not to say I won't be tweaking things as I use it, but for now, it seems to be good.)

As you can see, my card stock is in plastic sleeves, labeled with a label maker and stored sidewise in the top cubes. The desk is 5 ft x 5 ft. It removes from the cube wall unit very easily, which is important because this room also serves as the guest bedroom. I wanted a large surface area for cutting fabric when I decide to do quilting. I've stored things that I don't use often in the cubes under the desk in the fabric cubes inserts like the ones you see on the right side above the desk.

At the end of the drawer units is a closet. One side has the plastic drawer units that hold my old wooden stamps. For the other side, I bought some metal shelving on rollers from Bed, Bath, Beyond for my patterned papers. They are stored in mesh boxes from The Container Store. Also, one of my Raskog carts lives next to it. Above these is a shelf that is bowed from years of storing my card stock on it. I've placed 3 of the fabric boxes to store various things. I moved my punch (some of them) storage to the wall of the closet too. The closet had sliding wardrobe doors. I've taken them off and will replace with bi-fold doors at some point. (I really don't like it open, but it is easier to access)

One Raskog cart has all of my various adhesives, washi tapes, and stamp cleaning supplies. I had my Copics in the top of this Raskog cart until the inserts arrived. The other Raskog cart has my dies that are not stamp set dies, like the MFT STAX etc. For dies that coordinate with stamp sets, I store them with the stamp set on magnetic panels, including my SU set dies.

As far as stamp storage, for the companies such as Lawn Fawn, Avery Elle, Simon Says Stamp etc that are all photopolymer, they are stored in plastic sleeves in refrigerator bins as many stampers are doing. They sit on top of the Alex drawer units within easy reach. If the set has coordinating dies, they are stored with the stamps. For my SU and Taylored Expressions sets, some are in a book case just as you walk in the room. The rest are in two bookcases in our garage. (I don't sell my stamps. They are my friends.)

So, it's not as fancy as many craft rooms and it has to do triple duty, craft room, home office, guest room, but I'm really enjoying the space more. Before, I had a portable table facing the wall with stacks and stacks of stuff. Now it's organized, and I look out at the ocean!

I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend. We will be at our friend's house in the Central Coast wine region for a long 4 day get-a-way. Thanks for indulging me in sharing my "new" space.

Colleen

Happy Birthday

Hello,

If it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge. This week we are up to number 296 and Laurie has a fun sketch for us to use.

I have several family and friends who have birthdays over the next three months, so I thought I'd work with a summer theme to make a birthday card for my girlfriend who loves the beach.

I think this is one of my favorite sets from SugarPea Designs. She is a blast to color. Looking through my patterned papers, I found the Sunkissed pack from Doodlebug. Perfect for her background! The image is stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Copics. I stamped the beach bucket a second time on scrap paper, colored and fussy cut it and popped it up over the first stamped image, which was cut off with the die. This also works for the additional element in Laurie's sketch, though maybe not so obvious.

The rest of the DT have some awesome inspiration for us. Stop by their blogs for a visit:

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 know we'll be seeing some fun and creative projects from you this week. I can't wait.

Have a great Sunday and week ahead. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: SugarPea Designs Seaside Wishes set

Paper: SU Heavy Whisper White card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Doodlebug Sunkissed patterned paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics

Other: Die-namics Zig-zag Circle Stax dies, SU Large Polka-dot EF, Wink of Stella clear glitter, the Big Shot, dimensionals

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

Have A Purrfect Day!

Hello,

I'm back from my work travels with a horrible cold and I'm not feeling too well. Luckily, I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, I just have some reports to finish, so I can make it an office day.

My sister's birthday was yesterday and since she has gotten her present and the card that I made for her, so it's safe to post a picture of her card. I made this last Sunday using a super cute SugarPea Designs set and the Sugar Sketch #33.

I stamped the image in Memento tuxedo black and colored it with Copics, then used a Die-namics circle die to cut  it out per the sketch. I love how these old SU felt flowers match the patterned papers. Unfortunately, I can't tell you where the papers are from. I have this bag of random paper scraps and these were in it.

Supplies
Stamps: What's Mew set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU heavy weight card stock and ??? patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU Chocolate Chip
Other: Die-namics double stitched circle and Pierced Fishtail Flag STAX dies, SU felt flowers, white gel pen, SU mini glue dots, the Big Shot

Happy Friday and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Hey There, Pumpkin

Hi and TGIF,

It was a very busy week for me. Many nights I got home pretty late in the evenings and after having a fairly late dinner, I sat down to do some coloring to relax before going to bed.

Leslie's The Challenge #46 is a color challenge this week. The palette is a nice fall one. The sketch is the current SugarSketch 31 from SugarPea Designs. The stamp set is also from SugarPea Designs and one of my favorites.

Here's the inside of my card:

Supplies

Stamps: Bountiful Blessings set by SugarPea Designs

Paper: SU Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and X-Press It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn Sweater Weather patterned papers

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU Cherry Cobbler

Other: Die-namics Stitched Curved Rectangle and Wide Fishtail Flags STAX dies, SU circle and flower punches, TE medium Scalloped Boarder die, sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals

I'm ready to relax this weekend because I have to get ready for another busy, busy week. I hope your's is nice and relaxing too.

Thanks for looking,

Colleen

I'm Dead Serious

Hello crafty peeps,

I made today's card with the new CanYouCaseIt #90 Halloween challenge in mind. Basically, anything Halloween goes.

As I've said before, I love to color and this SugarPea set is perfect for practicing. For my color scheme, I saw the ColorQ challenge #311 has a Halloween palette this week which worked perfectly for my card.

Her zombie boyfriend is on the inside:

These would be awesome Halloween costumes, for a party, but lots of work to pull off. Speaking of costumes, this week's Crazy4 Challenge is to make a card with someone or something in costume, so I'm playing along with them as well.

Supplies
Stamps: Undying Love set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Kiwi Kiss and X-Press It Blending card stocks. Bella Blvd Halloween Magic patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: SU black pre-cut spiderweb, Die-namics pinking and double-stitched circle dies, Wink of Stella glitter pen (hair bow and skirt), Crystal Effects (eyes), sequins, the Big Shot, dimensionals

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

Happy Fall Y'All

Well Hello,

Yes, it's been forever since I've posted on my blog. It's been a very busy summer so far for me. I've been doing traveling for work and for vacation, and my crafting time when I could squeeze some in, has mostly been devoted to doing some quilting. I'm making some baby quilts for a friend who is having twins. I will post my finished pieces once done.

I had two really, really fun trips over the summer. In mid-July I had my 60th birthday. My bestie and I went to the Oregon wine country and stayed at the Allison Inn and Spa for a long weekend. Talk about pure luxury! Then the last week of July and first week of August, Denis and I took our annual trip to Cape Cod with our Massachusetts friends. Our rented vacation house this year was only a block from the beach in the Dennis area. Being on the Cape is just pure relaxation! Here are pictures of our house and Mayflower Beach. The first day it was cloudy as shown in these pictures. The rest of the week was all sun.

I sat down this morning and made a card. Looking through my saved blogs, I noticed that this week's Mojo Monday sketch is the contest sketch for August so I decided to make a card using the sketch. The theme for my card comes from Stacy's Curtain Call -Orchard.

This cute SugarPea image is colored with Copics. Her overalls are paper pieced and I used YR23 and YR24 to do some shading on them. To compliment the stamp and keeping with the Orchard theme, I used some older SU DSP called Orchard Harvest. I added some rhinestones and an enamel heart on her pocket.

Supplies
Stamps: Bountiful Blessings set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU Raspberry Ripple and Early Expresso card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, SU Orchard Harvest DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Early Expresso, white gel pen, and Copics
Other: Die-namics Stitched Rectangles, Pierced Fishtail Flags, Spellbinders circles dies, Fiskars corner punch, TE sequins, Ranger Multi-matte medium, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Happy Birthday

Hello and Happy Monday night,

I've been adding birthday cards to my stash lately and I was in the mood to do some stamping after work tonight, so looked through some of my favorite blogs for inspiration. I found a couple challenges that looked fun. SugarPea Designs sketch 25 is up. I love my SugarPea stamps, especially for practicing my Copic coloring, and since I haven't played along there lately, I thought I would. Another challenge up today is Leslie's The Challenge #32 and this week we are to use polka-dots on our project. Who doesn't like polka-dots? I combined the two challenges and came up with this birthday card.

I kept the inside super simple:

Supplies
Stamps: Seaside Wishes set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: XPress-It Blending card, SU Tempting Turquoise card, Lawn Fawn polka dot patterned papers and ??? patterned papers. (single sheets that I have no idea the brand)
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics and SU soft suede, Uniball white gel pen (ocean waves), Wink Of Stella glitter pen
Other: Fiskers corner punch, Die-namics stitched rectangle and Fishtail banner dies, Doodlebug enamel dots, SU wooden banner element, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Love You Bunches

Hi and welcome to the weekend,

Do you have plans? Today is my craft group meeting. We try to meet monthly, but we have missed a few months due to the holidays and vacations. I'm the only non-retired person and even though I work full time and travel a fair amount for work, it seems like those retired ladies are busier than me, LOL. Usually, I put together a card or two for everyone to make, but today we are doing something different. We have a Zentangle teacher coming. I'm looking forward to seeing what this is all about.

On to my card. I've missed a few of the recent SugarPea Designs contests, but last night after finishing up some reports, I decided I was in the mood to be creative. Since I had saved the latest sketch from SPD on my desktop a few days ago, I decided to make a Valentine's Day card for my sister using the sketch.

It's a great layout. Simple layers, which I love to do. I will be using this sketch again.

Supplies
Stamps: Love You Bunches set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: Taylored Expressions blue textured card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock and Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" by American Crafts patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and Copics, white gel pen
Other: Die-namics stitched oval die, Spellbinders scalloped oval die, SU heart die, Fishers corner rounder punch, flowered sequins (I don't know the brand), the Big Shot and dimensional

I'm off for a crafty morning. Have a great day everyone and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Have a Whopper of a Birthday

Hello stampers,

I made this card Sunday for a friend who has a birthday next week. I know he doesn't read my blog so no chance he'll see his card before I mail it. I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch 253.

I stamped the image in Memento tuxedo black and colored it with Copics. I drew in the grass by using the "flicking" technique and used a cloud stencil to add the sky. The image was cut out with Die-namics stitched circle STAX and I used this technique by Debbie Olson to not cut the fishing hook off. A few enamel dots finish it up.

Supplies
Stamps: Great Catch set by SugarPea Designs
Paper: Taylored Expressions Buttercream card stock and We R Memory Keepers "Happy Campers" patterned papers
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, and SU Early Expresso and Soft Sky
Other: Die-Namics stitched circle STAX die, cloud stencil, large sponge dauber, enamel dots, the Big Shot, and dimensionals

Happy Hump Day tomorrow. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Sweet Sunday Cards x 2

Hello,

On Sunday I made another get well card. This one is for a friend that lives in Chicago, because she had foot surgery on Friday. Since the latest Sweet Sunday sketch was up, I decided to use it for my card.

I love Karen's sketch this week. Very easy to use and I think very versatile so I will be pulling it out again I'm sure. For my get well card I used a fall theme with papers from Fancy Pants and some TE leaf dies used to cut TE felt. It's bright and cherry IRL, so hopefully it will put some cheer into Jackie's day when she receives it later this week.

While I was at it, I decided to use last week's Sweet Sunday Sketch to make a thank you card for another friend. He travels abroad for work and the past two weeks he was in South Africa. He brought me a BEAUTIFUL scarf from his trip and gave it to me when we went to dinner at their house on Saturday evening. So thoughtful! It really is pretty too. Here's his thank you card.

I rotated the sketch to accommodate the image. This is a new SugarPea Designs set that I hadn't inked up yet. I had fun coloring it with my Copics. As you can see, his clothes are paper pieced with the same patterned paper that I used for the background.

Supplies
Card 1
Stamps: Sentiment stamp from Taylored Expressions set "Doctors Orders"
Paper: SU Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla card stock and Fancy Pants "Happy Go Lucky" patterned papers
Ink: SU Riding Hood Red
Other: TE leaf dies, TE sequins, SU wooden leaf embellishment, Fishers corner punch, sewing machine, the Big Shot, mini glue dots

Card 2
Stamps: Let's Fiesta by SugarPea Designs
Paper: SU Smoky Gray and Basic Black card stock, XPress-It Blending card stock, Basic Gray "Knee-highs" patterned papers
Ink: memento tuxedo black and Copics
Other: Die-namics pierced rectangle dies and pierced Fishtail Flags STAX dies, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Now to get everything mailed. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen