PEACE - LOVE - JOY

Happy Weekend all,

Cecile and the ladies at Freshly Made Sketches  have another great sketch for us this week, and I spent some of yesterday making my card. I had in my mind to make a buffalo plaid background with a wreath for the focal image. Obviously, the wreath didn't happen for this card. I did make a wreath, but it turned out a little too large for the sketch, so I used it on another card. 

The buffalo plaid background is stamped using the Concord & 9th plaid background stamp with black and red GKD inks. I used my Misti to repeat stamping so that the ink is nice and dark. For the focal images, I used some GKD stitched circle dies and the Peaceful Dove stamp and die set by W Plus 9. This set doesn't have any sentiments included. I used a couple of GKD Holiday sentiment sets for the outside and the inside greetings. 

That's it from me today. Have a relaxing  and crafty weekend.

Colleen

Supplies

Plaid BKG stamp set by Concord & 9th. Peaceful Dove set and dies from W Plus 9. Seasonal Greetings and Peace On Earth sets by Gina K Designs. GKD white, black and Cherry Red card stock, GKD Black Onyx, Cherry Red, Soft Stone, Slate, Innocent Pink, Prickly Pear, Fresh Asparagus and Dark Sage ink cubes, GKD Master Layouts 1 die set, Misti, Gemini Jr, sequins, SU dimensionals

This Calls For Mimosas! & Hello. . . A Two Card Post

Hi again all,

This is my second post today. After finishing up with my work, thankfully a little earlier than I expected, I thought I'd post two more cards that I made earlier in the week.

The first card is made using this week's Freshly Made Sketch sketch. I'm using a relatively new set from Avery Elle that I ordered a few weeks ago called Mimosas. I love mimosas, but I love just the champagne even more! This stamp set has several word stamps and I thought it would be fun to use them stamped in a line for the top horizontal elements in Kim's sketch. The colors are from this week's Color Throwdown challenge. The colors this week are light yellow, blue and green. I just received a set of the Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks and used them to stamp the words. Love the look of these inks!

The second card is made using another color challenge, this one brought to us by Sunday Stamps Weekly Challenge. The inspiration photo this week is succulents, but I used flowers from a WPLUS 9 set.

I was watching this video by Kathy Racoosin the other day where she was coloring with a very dark shade Copic marker and a very light shade Copic marker, then using the colorless blender to blend them together. I think she called it ink smashing. I thought I'd give it a try and this card is my result. Kind of fun and a very different look from just regular Copic coloring.

The background panel is water color paper and Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks in greens. After drying with a heat took, I splattered purple over the panel and then dried that. The card base and scalloped circle border are retired SU Lovely Lilac. (It used to be one of my favorite SU colors). There were lots of steps to make this card, but oh so fun!

Thanks for stopping by again,
Colleen


Card 1 Supplies
Stamps: Mimosas set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU So Safforn and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide, Memento Black, Copics
Other: Avery Elle Mimosas dies, Die-namics Stitched Oval die, Fiskars corner punch, enamel dots, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Card 2 Supplies
Stamps: Doodle Buds set by WPlus 9
Paper: Strathmore water color, X-Press It Blending and SU Lovely Lilac card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide
Other: Die-namics Stitched Scalloped Circle Frame die, the Big Shot, foam tape, Sharpie white paint marker

Big Smile On Your Face

Hello,

What a busy week back to work I had! But it's the weekend and time for stamping and relaxing. Since it's Sunday, it's time for a new Paper Players challenge. Claire is this week's hostess with a fun color challenge.

This Primary Color combo is perfect for those back to school cards that so many of you make each year and I know we will see some great ones. I didn't go that route simply because I don't actually have any "back to school" stamps. How can that be? I guess since I don't have any kidos, it didn't seem like something that I would use much.

I have a friend who is feeling a little under the weather so I made a card to cheer her up using the Happy Birds set from W Plus 9. Who wouldn't smile when looking at these cute little creatures?

I started by stamping the birdies on X-Press Blending card stock in Memento tuxedo black ink and coloring them with blue and red Copics to match the SU color shades. After they were colored I cut them out using the matching dies. The top white panel was cut with Mama Elephant dies. I mounted it onto a Real Red panel with some Lawn Fawn red and yellow plaid patterned paper peeking through  the circle. Before gluing in the plaid, I stamped the wire in Memento black. The red panel is mounted onto a Daffodil Delight card base. The birds are mounted with dimensionals. The sentiment from the same set is stamped in Memento black too. Embellishments are the red, yellow, blue and black sequin.

The inside is super simple. I stamped the bird with french fry, colored him with Copics and added a Taylored Expressions sentiment. The white panel is mounted onto SU Pacific Point card stock.

Here are the links to the other PP DT blogs. Be sure to stop in for more awesome inspiration and to say hello.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

I'm hoping my coming week isn't so busy as last, although it sure makes the days go by fast. I hope you all have a wonderful one. 

Thanks for stopping in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Bird set by WPlus9 and Doctors Orders set by Taylored Expressions (inside sentiment)

Paper: SU Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn plaid patterned paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black , SU Old Olive and Real Red, Copics

Other: Happy Bird dies, All Prettied Up dies by Mama Elephant, sequin, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Happy As A Bird With A French Fry

Good Morning Stampers,

Welcome to The Paper Players challenge # 292. Claire has a great sketch challenge for us today. It's right up my alley! I love layers and I know many of you do to. 

I'm using another "new to me" stamp set, which I think is just too cute! Especially this image and sentiment that goes with it.

I wanted to do a water colored background for this little guy in some nice bright hues. I used Zig water color markers on an acrylic block to smoosh yellow, pink and orange onto water color paper. The vertical layers are simply cut and I used the top layer to stamp the sentiment. I debated this placement, but finally decided I liked it. The image is cut out with a Die-namics Pierced Circle die and popped up on dimensionals. Finally, my favorite embellishments, sequins, were added.Though I didn't take a picture of the inside, I made this card a thank you card.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you make with this great sketch from Claire. You can check out the rest of the DT cards here:

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

Have a great Sunday and week ahead. I'm excited because I only work four days and we are flying to NYC on Friday for a week. Just to hang out and have fun.

Thanks for coming by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Birds set by W Plus 9

Paper: SU Ballet Blue and Yoyo Yellow card stock, X-Press It Blending card stock, water color paper, Lawn Fawn plaid patterned paper

Ink: Zig water color markers, Memento tuxedo black, Copics

Other: Die-namics Pierced circle die, sequin, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Just A Note

Hello stamping peeps,

It's a very pretty Saturday morning here on the SoCal coast. Lot's of sunshine! We are heading out around noon to go watch a wee friend play some Little League baseball.

I finally got into my craft room this past Thursday to do some stamping, and it felt good to put a few cards together. After being out east for work for a week, then traveling up to Central CA for the weekend after I returned, I hadn't had any stamping time.

Today's card uses the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.

I used a Stampin' Around Wheel stamp to make the background. Remember those? It took me a while to find the wheel holder because I had it stashed. I couldn't say when I used one of these wheels last, LOL. Stop by my blog for tomorrow's Paper Player's post and you'll see another one.

This is one of those very quick 10 minute cards, but fun none the less.


Speaking of traveling out east, I had the great pleasure to meet LeAnne Pugilese when I went to her area for my work. She invited me to lunch to meet her family, and then she and I spent the afternoon at Longwood Gardens. I SO enjoyed meeting LeAnne and having the chance to visit for the afternoon. If you follow LeAnne's blog, she posted this picture of the two of us at the Gardens.

I hope you have a great Saturday afternoon.

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Stampin' Around Wheel "Watercolor Joy" and WPlus 9 Doodle Buds set (sentiment)
Paper: SU Whisper White and Coastal Cabana card stock, SU Coastal Cabana polka-dot DSP, Crate Paper patterned paper
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Die-namics Fishtail Flag Banner die, Fiskers corner punch, Creative Memories paper flower, enamel dot, the Big Shot, foam tape