Winter Fun and One More Sympathy Card

Happy WET Monday!

It's been absolutely pouring rain here since very early this morning. This is our third day of rain, and it's the day with the most and the hardest. I believe it started around 4:00 am (PT) and is supposed to rain non-stop until 4:00 pm (PT). I'd like to go to the postoffice to drop off the sympathy cards that I've made, but I'm not sure I want to brave the streets.

So, I do have one more sympathy card, this one is for another cousin, the brother of my cousin that passed recently. I've used the Winter Trees layering stencil set from Concord & 9th and the Freshly Made Sketch again.

I added a very simple sentiment for the inside. It's from the SSS XL Greetings set.

Here's to not having to make another sympathy card for a long while!

My second card is a much more fun one. Claire is hostess for the new Paper Players Challenge this week with the monthly Clean and Simple challenge. Her theme to go along with is Winter Fun. I pulled out an older set from Pink Fresh Studio, ink blended some snow hills on the front of this one layer card, then stamped and colored these cute forrest animals having a fun ski day.

To make the ski runs, I cut masks and lightly ink blended Sea Glass and Stone inks along the edges.  All of the images the sentiment are from the PF stamp set, as are the inside images and sentiment.

Personally, my idea of winter fun is to play in my craft room, but these guys seem to be having fun.

Enjoy the day and the week ahead, and thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies Card one

Stamps: Sketched Flowers and XL Greetings sets by Simon Says Stamp (sentiments)

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight White and Black Onyx

Ink: Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated various Greens and  Gina K Designs Amalgam Black

Other: Winter Trees Layering Stencil set by Pink Fresh Studio, Blending Brushes, Simon Hurley Gold Lunar paste, Simon Says Stamp Thin Frames dies, Misti, Big Shot, Gina K Designs gold dots, foam tape, Connect glue

Supplies Card two

Stamps: Skiing By to Say Hi set by Pink Fresh Studio

Paper: SU Basic white thick

Ink: Gina K Designs Amalgam Black, Sea Glass, Soft Stone, Innocent Pink, Peach Bellini, and Christmas Tree Green

Other: Colored pencils, Misti, Blending brushes

Sympathy Cards

 Hello peeps,

I'm squeaking in just under the wire to post my card for the current Paper Players Challenge. Anne Marie's color challenge this month is Black & White with a bit of color. These are usually fun to do and lend to so many creative possibilities.

One of my cousins passed recently after a short illness, and I thought this challenge would be good to make a few sympathy cards, one for his wife and one for his mom.

This first card also uses the current Freshly Made Sketches layout, although my card is a little more layered than the usual clean designs for this challenge, but I'll post it there anyway.

All of the images used for this card are from Gina K Designs. I made a cloudy sky background for the balloon and for the strip down the side of the card using pastel rainbow shades and a cloud stencil. I wasn't going to add color to the balloon, but in the end it felt it needed some.

The second card uses the Spellbinders Betterpress system and the January 2024 plate of the month. I first ink blended some GKD Coral Reef ink from the bottom of the white panel getting lighter as I approached the middle before running it through the Betterpress system using just black ink. After the ink dried, I cut the panel out with a stitched die and popped it up with some foam tape onto a black card base. The sentiment is heat embossed.

These cards are never fun to make and I don't make them ahead for my stash. In this particular case, it was SO not something I wanted to do.

On a brighter note, we are having a little neighborhood happy hour this afternoon and that will be fun.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies Card 1

Stamps: Vintage Summer set with dies from Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Layering Weight White card stocks

Ink: Gina K Designs Amalgam black, Innocent Pink, Peach Bellini, Lemon Drop, Applemint, Sea Glass, Lovely Lavender and Copics

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 12 dies, Misti, Foam Tape, Connect Glue, Big Shot

Supplies Card 2

Stamps: Spellbinders Fill My Heart Sentiments

Paper: Spellbinders Betterpress Cotton card panels and Gina K Designs Black Onyx card stock

Ink: Spellbinders Betterpress black, Gina K Designs Coral Reef and Craft white

Other: Spellbinders Betterpress system, Big Shot, Spellbinders Betterpress plate Poppy Greetings, Gina K Designs Fine Detail White EP, heat tool, blending brush, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 12 dies, foam tape

 

With Love and Prayers

 Hello,

I'm almost late getting my Paper Players Challenge card posted! Jaydee's sketch is a great one for this huge Peony stencil from Gina K Designs.

I started by cutting a 4.75 x 4.75 inch square of white card stock for the background and stenciled the leaves with GKD Dark Sage ink. On a second square, I stenciled the Peony, which is a two set layering stencil using GKD light and dark Lilac inks and Key Lime and Fresh Asparagus for the leaves. This panel is cut using the Master Layouts 3 dies. Both stenciled panels are layered with black mats. The sentiment is also from GKD and is pre-printed. I cut it out with a Sentiment Strip die.

For the inside, I used a sentiment from the GKD So Many Sentiments stamp set and a mini bloom from the GKD Pretty Posie mini stamp set.

My Aunt asked for some Birthday, Get Well and Sympathy cards, so this will go in her box.

Enjoy your Friday, and thanks for checking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: So Many Sentiments and Pretty Posie Minni sets by Gina K Designs

Stencils: Layered Peony and Lush Leaves by Gina K Designs

Paper: Layering Weight White, Black Onyx by GKD and Lilac by Taylored Expressions

Ink: Dark Sage, Light and Dark Lilac, Black Onyx, Key Lime, Fresh Asparagus by GKD, SU Blends

Other: GKD Pre-printed sentiment strip, Master Layouts 3 dies by GKD, Blending Brushes, Misti, Big Shot, GKD sentiment strip dies, Micro Disco Ball sequins, Connect Liquid Glue

Sending You Sunshine

Happy Friday evening to all,

I'm glad to be home from the desert. It's still hot, hot out there and on Thursday it turned humid as well. Very sticky. Luckily, I'm finished with the project there for now, so I won't have to go back next week.

Today's card is one that I made last weekend for a co-worker who lost her father recently. These sunflowers are from a Hero Arts set from last fall called Color Layering Fall.

No challenge with this one, just a fairly simple design. The flowers are stamped with various SU gold and yellow inks and the stems with various greens, then cut out with the set dies. The background is made with embossing paste and a brick wall stencil. The circle is vellum. The card base is kraft.

I didn't take a picture of the inside, but it was a typical sympathy sentiment.

We're having dinner with our neighbors tonight, which will be fun. Tomorrow I'll be back in my craft room. Yippee!

Thanks for looking in and Happy Weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Color Layering Fall set by Hero Arts
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm, SU Whisper White, kraft vellum
Ink: Various SU yellows, golds, greens and Crumb Cake
Other: Hero Arts set dies, Die-namics Pierced Circle die and Brick wall stencil, SU embossing paste, Gemini jr, Misti, dimensionals

With Sympathy

Hello stampers,

Sadly, our neighbor Christina's father passed away this morning, so I turned the card that I planned to make today into a sympathy card for her.

Using the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch!, and the inspiration photo from Inspired By All the Little Things, here's what I came up with.

I was inspired to use the fall colors in the flowers and the pumpkins for a fall-ish themed card. The pumpkin washi tape is from Paper Source. The Asters are from Altenew. Using the Misti Stamping Tool I stamped the two flowers on X-Press It Blending card stock using some Hero Arts inks. I cut them out with the corresponding dies. The white panel is a piece of wood grained paper from a pack that I got years ago. I placed a strip of the washi tape down on it and then cut it with the Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die. I layered the flowers on one end and cut off the overhanging pieces, then glued it down to a Really Rust card base. The sentiment is stamped with Memento tuxedo black and is from Simon Says Stamp.

Here is the inside:

The sentiment is a really old wooden stamp that doesn't have a label on it. Not sure what company it's from.

It's a beautiful Saturday here in Southern California. Since I live close to the coast, it's not hot at all, but mid 70s and not a cloud. I went walking early and got in a 4.5 mile walk, so no guilt sitting and stamping this afternoon, LOL.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Build a Flower - Asters by Altenew and With Sympathy stamp by SSS
Paper: SU Really Rust and X-Press It Blending, wood grain card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Hero Arts
Other: Die-namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, Altenew Asters dies, Paper Source pumpkin washi tape, gold enamel dots, the Big Shot, dimensionals

With Sympathy

Hi all,

I'm finally back to stamping! We had a fabulous three week vacation to Portugal and Spain. Everything was great, even the flights. I've been back to work for a week and trying catching up on mail, bills, etc. Today, I decided I had time to make a couple cards.

Unfortunately, one of the cards that I need is a sympathy card. My friend lost his father unexpectedly yesterday. I used this week's Dynamic Duos colors of Pear Pizzazz and Basic Black for my starting point and then went with the tried and true reverse masking technique for the image. So simple, yet looks so elegant.

The image is stamped on some really old SU black and white DSP. I don't recall the name of this paper, but I liked the black sponging and lines in the paper. I think that it adds some nice depth to the sponged and stamped image.

I rounded the corners of the two upper layers, added some black twine and green bakers twine along with the new SU candy dots in black. (love these. I ordered all 4 color groups)

Supplies
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree set by Stampin' Up and With Sympathy by Hero Arts
Paper: SU Pear Pizzazz and Basic Black card stock and SU DSP
Ink: SU Pear Pizzazz and Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Other: SU Top Note die, SU baker's twine, black embroidery floss, SU black candy dots, Fiskars corner rounder punch, sponge, and the Big Shot

I hope your weekend was a fun one, and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Sending You Sunshine

I picked up some very thin cork sheets a few weeks ago at one of my local stamp stores. I wanted them to use with my TE and Die-namics scalloped border dies. When I saw Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #108 this morning, I had in my mind to make rolled roses out of it for an "organic" look and feel.

I have to confess, this card did not go together as easily as I expected.  It turns out that it's not as easy as it may seem to roll very thin cork. (it crumbles) But persistence paid off and in the end, I think the look is pretty cool.

(click image to view larger)

Unfortunately, I need a sympathy card for one of my co-workers who lost her father this past Friday. This one will be in the mail to her tomorrow to let her know I'm thinking about her and to give my condolences.

Supplies

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Friendship Blooms and It's a Banner Day 2 sets

Card stock: SU basic grey and baja breeze textured and TE choice snow white, cork sheet

Patterned Paper: SU DSP retired

Ink: SU old olive and not quite navy

Other: Classic circle, scalloped circle and labels 3 Nesties, TE It's a Banner Day 2 die, Die-namics rolled rose dies (3 sizes), SU butterfly die, SU corner rounder punch, SU old olive ribbon, Kaiser black rhinestones, sewing machine, the Big Shot, pop-up glue dots, small glue dots, and dimensionals

I hope everyone has a good coming week. Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen