Happy Owl-O-ween

 TGIF Peeps,

I'm just squeaking in my card for this week's Paper Players challenge. Jaydee has a fun sketch this week and I've used it to make a fun Halloween card. (It will be time to send them out before we know it.)

The stamps are from Taylored Expressions and are fairly old.

As you can see, I rotated the sketch to fit the stamps. I originally thought I'd make a gate fold card, but decided to just make a regular landscape design. The papers are from my stash of fall paper scraps. I used a Gina K Designs cloud stencil to make the cloudy background.

For the inside I used another Taylored Expressions Halloween stamp.

Thanks for checking in. Wishing everyone in the U.S. a fun and relaxing Labor Day long weekend. I'll be hanging in watching US Open Tennis and a little baseball.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Owl-o-ween and Trick Or Treat sets by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Gina K Designs Kraft and Tangerine Twist card stock, misc patterned papers

Ink: Gina K Designs and Copics

Other: Gina K Designs cloud stencil, Master Layouts 13 dies, Simon Says Stamp Nested Domed Arch dies, Glossy Effects

Birds and Butterflies in Red and Blue

TGIF Peeps,

The current Color Hues challenge is red and blue. Initially, I had pulled out some of the recent nautical dies from my Spellbinders collection to use, but then totally switched gears. I was looking through my stencils and embossing folders for a background and ran across an older Taylored Expessions stencil that makes four card fronts at once, with images of birds, flowers and butterflies. I decided to see how they looked in red and blue. The colors may be a little unexpected for these images, but I kind of like how they turned out.

The TE stencil set came with some pre-printed strip sentiments. I hot foiled them with some red foil to use on the cards then added some embellishments to each card. 

Enjoy your weekend,

Colleen

Supplies

Fit and Flutter Bundle by Taylored Expressions includes layering stencils, dies, strip sentiments

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Taylored Expressions Burlap embossing folder, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, Fuse Foiling System, Red Velvet hot foil, misc embellishments

You + Me

 Hello, 

My CAS card for LeAnne's "things with wheels" challenge at the Paper Players. I pulled out my favorite friends, Gus and Gertie, heading out for a road trip. 

First, I stenciled a rainbow for the background with red, orange and yellow. I stamped the car and friends image on another piece of card stock and colored it with green and blue, cut it out and layered it over the rainbow. The rainbow colors were completed with purple hearts on the large arch. I colored in the pebbled road and called it done.

The inside uses one of the other images from the Ride On set. I just love this line by Taylored Expressions.!

I'm off to upstate NY tomorrow bright and early. I'm meeting my sister and nephew at the Albany airport, then we are headed to Cooperstown for the HOF induction weekend. Should be amazing for us BB fans!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Ride On stamp set by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Neenah Solar white card stock and retired SU DSP (inside mat)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K Designs and Copics

Other: Rainbow stencil by Paper Smooches, blending brushes

Graduation Congratulations

Hello,

It's graduation season and I have three kiddo friends who are graduating this year. Two from high school and one from the eighth grade. 

Today's card is for one of the high schoolers. She lives just down the street from us. They moved by us when she was around one years old. Both of her parents are veterinarians and that is her goal as well. She will be heading to college and my alma mater, Sacramento State University here in Ca.

Using Joanne's theme of old and new for this week's Paper Players challenge, here's her card. I'm also posting to the current Just Us Girls challenge as it's Die Week. I used many dies for my card.

My new is the background made with a previously unused Betterpress plate from Spellbinders. It's the March 2025 Betterpress Plate of the month aud has coordinating layering stencils to color it with. I used the plate in the Glimmer hot foiling system foiling with gold before using the stencils to add the blue shades.

My old is the graduation cap die and the sentiment. Both are from Taylored Expressions and I'd say they are at least 10 years old, if not older. I choose Navy and white for the caps because the school colors are those. Seemed appropriate.

The 2025 numbers and dies are also from Spellbinders. They are Betterpress plates which I again foiled in gold onto navy blue card stock and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP on navy card stock. 

The inside is simple with another sentiment from the same Taylored Expressions Graduation stamp set as the front sentiment.

I'm feeling somewhat better, but the drippy nose remains. Hopefully, only for a few more days. I need to feel well enough to get a Mother's Day card made.

Enjoy your week,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Dream Big stamp set by Taylored Expressioins

Paper: Gina K Designs

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Spellbinders Betterpress Plates Quilted Memories and Large Numbers set, stencils and dies, Taylored Expressions Graduation Cap die, Brutus Munroe Alabaster embossing powder, hear tool, Glimmer Hot Foiling System, Spellbinders gold foils, blending brushes, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set, foam tape, Connect liquid glue

JOY

 TGIF Peeps!

It's a very Fall day today. Very foggy, (thick marine layer) and cool. Perfect excuse for staying in my craft room (although I really don't need any excuse for that).

Today's card works for two challenges. I've combined the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches with the stencil challenge from Just Us Girls.

I've used the Simon Says Stamp Layered Holiday Grid stencil for the images and the greetings on the front and inside are from the SSS Christmas Blessing Sentiment set with coordinating dies. For a little texture I used the TE Falling Snow EF and for a little sparkle, some Frozen rhinestones from GKD.

Here's the inside. I used the holly leaves stencil to make the package bows.

Enjoy your Friday!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Blessings Sentiments set by Simon Says Stamp

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs

Other: Layered Holiday Grid stencil by Simon Says Stamp, Falling Snow embossing folder by Taylored Expressions, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 dies, blending brushes, Gina K Designs Frozen rhinestones, Connect liquid glue

You Lift Me Up

Hello Peeps,

Before I head out to PT this afternoon, I have a cute card to share. I've used Amy's sketch for Freshly Made Sketches and Jaydee's theme for this week's Paper Players Challenge for the inspiration.

The stamps are Gus and Gertie, Besties from a line of sets by Taylored Expressions, and I think they are just the cutest. They are friends who, according to the stamp set themes, have lots of fun adventures together.  

The card is simply made with a cloudy background from both an embossing folder and a stencil. The image is stamped with black ink and colored with Copics then die cut and popped up over the clouds.

The inside has a sentiment from a different Gus and Gertie set.

Enjoy your day,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gus & Gertie and  Gus & Gertie Ride On sets by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Gina K Designs card stock

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Gina K Designs Powder Blue, and Copics

Other: SU Clouds embossing folder, SSS cloud stencil, MFT Stitched Rectangle dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies (banner), Misti, SU Dimensionals, blending brush

Sending Birthday Wishes

 Happy Thursday peeps,

I have another card using another much neglected background stamp from Taylored Expressions. This one is the Wildflower Background stamp. I thought it perfect for this week's Color Throwdown colors of aqua, yellow and celery. I ended up making a mini-slimline card.

After stamping the image in Memento black I colored it with various yellows, blue-greens and green Copic markers. After coloring, I cut it out and made a mat using the GKD Master Layouts 7 die set. The card base is made from retired SU Certainly Celery card stock.

For the front greeting I used dies and stamps from the SU Sending Smiles stamp set and coordinating dies.

For the inside, I stamped a tiny section of the background stamp and used a sentiment from the Honey Bee Inside Birthday stamp set then cut it out with the GKD ML 7 dies as on the front.

Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Wildflowers Background stamp by Taylored Expressions, Sending Smiles set by Stampin' Up, and Inside Birthday Sentiment set by Honey Bee

Paper: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Sea Glass, and Layering Weight White, Stampin' Up Certainly Celery

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Gina K Designs Embossing Pad, Copic Markers

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 7 dies, SU Sending Smiles dies, Gina K Designs Fine Detail White EP, heat tool, Misti, Big Shot, Gina K designs black pearls, Connect glue

From My Craft Room to Yours

 Hi all,

Our friends have departed and yesterday my craft room was put back together. This afternoon, I got busy and made a card for this week's Paper Players challenge. LeAnne has a fun crafty theme for this month's Clean and Simple challenge.

I pulled out a long neglected Taylored Expressions Crafty background stamp, along with the matching Crafty Simple Strips stamp, and the coordinating banner die to make this card.

I started by cutting three sizes of circles in mylar to use as a stencil and then ink blended the three circles.  Next,  using some GKD Masking Magic strips in 1/2 inch width, I masked the edges of the white panel before stamping the background. It's stamped with craft black ink and heat embossed with clear EP. After embossing, I cut the panel down using a SU Stitched Rectangle die.

I used two of the sentiment strips and popped them up with thin strips of foam tape.

The inside of the card uses another of the strips glued over a stamped pair of scissors. I think this sentiment is funny and perfect for us paper crafters. The scissors are from Concord & 9th. 

Needless to say, I'm super happy to be back in my craft room. Have a great Thursday, and thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Art from the Heart Background stamp from Taylored Expressions, Simple Strips - Crafty from Taylored Expressions and Brutus Monroe, Crafty Turnabout from Concord  & 9th

Paper: Stampin' Up Basic White Thick and Gina K Designs Layering Weight White and Sea Glass card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Lovely Lavender, Applemint, Sea Glass, Amalgam Black

Other: Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Banner dies, Stampin' Up Stitched Rectangle dies, Spellbinders Circle dies, mylar, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Big Shot, foam tape, Gina K Designs Masking Magic strips, Connect glue

Wishing You A Happy

 TGIF Peeps,

Happy St. Patty's Day to all.

I signed up for the latest of Kristina's and Jennifer's On Line Card Classes, this one on creating with stencils. I have quite a collection of stencils by now and I love using them, and I knew that I'd learn more from these two ladies and the rest of the instructors. I've only been able to watch Day one so far and my card today is one of the techniques taught in day one.

The technique is simply turning the stencil after using it in the way it was meant to be used. This stencil is from Taylored Expressions. It creates boxes out of the lines. I used it as intended ink blending with some rainbow colors. Next I turned the stencil 45 degrees (1/4 turn) and used lighter shades of the same colors.

My eyes see something close to hexagon shapes, so that's the embellishment shapes I used for the tree circles in Judy's sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. These dies are last month's small die of the month set from Spellbinders, and they are super cute! (The black hexagons behind are Hexagon Nested Infinity dies from Hero.)

Here's the inside of my card. The birthday image is from C&9th and I added a few more Spellbinders die cut flowers.

Enjoy your evening and weekend.

Colleen

Supplies

Stencil: Topsy Turvy by Taylored Expressions

Stamps: All The Birthdays by Concord & 9th

Paper: Taylored Expressions Misc. colored card stock, Gina K Designs Layering Weight White and Black Onyx card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs ink cubes

Other: Spellbinders Floral Minis Tiles (Feb 2022 sm die of the mo), Hero Arts Hexagon Nested Infinity dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 dies, Gina K Designs Pre-printed sentiments strip, Gina K Designs sentiment strip dies, Gina K Designs Pearls, Blending brushes, Big Shot, Misti, Connect glue, SU Dimensionals

Rock Star

 Hey all,

I hope this week has been going well for you. I've not had much stamping MOJO this week, but I did manage to finish a card using a couple of challenges. It was a struggle as I kept changing things up, but in the end, I think it turned out okay.

Using LeAnne's music theme for this week's Paper Player's Challenge and the sketch from the current Sunday Stamps Challenge, this is the card I came up with.

It turns out that I don't have many music themed stamps in my collection. I found two sets that would work, both older Taylored Expressions sets, and I decided to use this one called You're My Hero which has several Rock N Roll images. 

The patterned papers are from my stash and I have no idea the company, but I'm sure they came in a TE Key Ingredients monthly set from years ago. (Probably with this stamp set.) The images in the paper are of headphones. There are two sheets with the same coloring and pattern. In one the headphone images are big, and on the other sheet, the headphone images are smaller. 

I stamped the rock peeps on the sheet with the smaller headphone images and cut them out using a Spellbinders circle die and cut a black mat with a large scalloped circle die. The two squiggly stars are stamped using SU Lemon Lime Twist ink. Before die cutting them, I stamped the sentiments over the stamped stars with black ink. The embellishments are small die cut stars, cut from black card stock with black Stickles glitter added. 

Here's the inside. The images are stamped on another piece from the same patterned paper stack. 

That's all from me for today. I have some Valentine's Day cards that I've made over the last few weeks that I really should get in the mail soon. Maybe I'll work on that this afternoon.

Thanks all, and happy Thursday.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: You're My Hero set by Taylored Expressions

Paper: SU Black and Lemon Lime Twist card stock, stash patterned papers

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Amalgam and Wild Lilac, Stampin' Up Lemon Lime Twist

Other: Spellbinders circle and large scalloped circle dies, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 dies, Avery Elle various size star dies, black Stickles, Misti, Big Shot, SU Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

You + Me = ADVENTURE!

 Happy Hump Day Peeps,

I had a fairly early dental appointment this morning, then home in time to put together my card for LeAnne's Paper Players Challenge. This week is Clean & Simple week, with the added them of wheels. I have many stamps that would work and after looking through my sets, I decided on Gus and Gertie. This set is called Ride On, so it's pretty perfect for the theme.

The new Freshly Made Sketches challenge starts today and Jacquie's sketch made a great start to putting together my card.

My idea with the houses was to have the BFFs skating through the neighborhood. The DSP is from SU.

Here is the inside of the card:

My afternoon plans are playoff baseball and I'm starting a new crochet project.

Enjoy your Wednesday afternoon/evening and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Gus & Gertie Ride On set by Taylored Expressions

SU Basic White thick card stock and Rings of Love DSP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics

Other: Set dies, Connect glue, SU Dimensionals, Nuvo glitter pen, Misti, Big  Shot Switch

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                                                        

Best Friends Forever - Valentine's Day Cards

 Hello,

Happy Wednesday afternoon. I hope the day is going well for you. It's a beautiful clear and warm day in Southern California. The weather app on my phone is reading 77 degrees on the San Diego coast. I made a run to the post office to mail Valentine's Day cards to family and friends, then washed my car and when I finished with that, had lunch. 

Speaking of Valentine's Day cards, I mailed some of these today. This is a small group featuring the Taylored Expressions Gus & Gertie stamp sets and dies. Could there be any cuter BFsF?! These cards also fit Laurie's theme for this week's Paper Players Challenge.

Here is a picture of the group.

For my Paper Players Challenge card, I'm using the Ride or Die card. The perfect sentiment for Laurie's Friendship challenge. This is a 4.25 x 4.25 inch square note card. I stenciled a cloudy sky background using the SSS cloud stencil and a blending brush. Next, I stamped the red heart flowers from a long retired SU set along the bottom, then glued a piece of black card stock along the bottom. I cut it all out using the stitched square die from the GKD ML 3 dies set, and cut the mat from more black card stock. Using a white gel pen, I drew the lines for the bike path. Gus & Gertie are colored with Copics and cut out with the set die. I cut 3 extra die-cuts to stack behind the colored one for some dimension without using foam tape.

These next two cards I sent to two sweet little boys, one my new great nephew who was born just after Thanksgiving, and the other to a friends little boy, who is two. I made each of them a banner using the Mama Elephant Favor Bag Dog Dies. 

This one goes to my great nephew. I did an emboss resist using the stars in the background by first blending yellow ink, then using a sponge dauber with VersaMark and heat embossing with clear EP. The rest of the background is ink blended using lavender and blue shades. I replaced the stars in the die with hearts cut from holographic card stock. This is also a 4.25 x 4.25 inch square card. 

This one goes to the two year old. I used a TE heard background stamp with VersaMark and heat embossed it with clear EP, then blended very light shades of pool and mint inks over it. The white fence and border of flowers are old TE dies.

These are the banners that I made for the kid's rooms. They are made with felt and hot glue. They are basically the same, just different colors and ribbon.

The final card is a mini-slimline style. I used a wave cover plate die to cut masking paper, put that down on white card stock and ink blended many shades of blue ink. The top sun is a stencil from GKD. I added a few clear sequins randomly around the card front. 

I just got the February SCT Sampler package today, so I'm going to see what's there. Maybe make something. Thanks for checking in. Hope you don't mind such a long post.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamp: Taylored Expressions Gus & Gertie sets Best Buds, Ride On, and Gus & Gertie, Heart Bkg stamp,  and Valentine Defined by Stampin' Up    

Ink and Card Stock: Gina K Designs, Copics & VersaMark

Kat Scrappiness Holographic card stock

Other: Avery Elle Waves cover die, Simon Says Stamp Falling Stars and cloud stencils, Gina K Designs Sunshine stencil, Taylored Expressions Fence and Flower border dies, Avery Elle and Paper Smooches small heart dies, GKD Master Layouts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7 die sets, SU clear embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, GKD Disco Ball mini sequins, Connect glue

Banners: Taylored Expressions felt, Stampin' Up Heart dies, Mama Elephant Favor Bag Dog Die set, hot glue and glue gun, ribbon, Big Shot