You're A Spoonful of Sugar

Happy Saturday,

I have a quick post before I start packing for my vacation. Last night, while I should have been packing, I sat down and made a quick card for this week's Freshly Made Sketch Challenge. Since I mailed my holiday cards yesterday morning, I decided to do something totally different than a winter theme. Here you go:

This is the Concord & 9th set called "Let's Chat." I stamped the saucer and cup images both on Whisper White card stock and on SU DSP then fussy cut them out so I could paper piece them. Instead of using the banner element for my sentiment, I thought the spoon image would look good there, so I placed the sentiment under the focal image.  A few enamel hearts for embellishments and it's done.

So, I better get to it as I'm leaving tomorrow morning. My Paper Players post is all set to go for tomorrow, so be sure to check back. We have a fun theme challenge this week for you. Tomorrow is my second to last post as a Guest Designer, and I'm feeling a little sad about that.

Have a great rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Let's Chat set by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU heavy weight Whisper White card stock and SU Love Blossoms DSP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Blushing Bride, VersaMark, Memento Brilliance White Craft, Copic T3 and T4 Sketch markers, Hero Arts Cup O' Joe
Other: Pebbles enamel hearts, SU whisper white EP, heat tool, dimensionals

Happy New Home

Happy Friday!

For me it is indeed a happy Friday. My last official day of work for a month! And to be honest, I'm not doing a whole lot of work today either. I worked some longer hours this week in order to finish all of my reports, etc., so today is just taking care of things that come in.

A good friend recently moved to a new house and tomorrow she is having a combo Christmas and House Warming party. Last night after dinner I made a card for the occasion. Using inspiration from this week's Color Throwndown colors and the sketch from CAS(E) THIS SKETCH, I put this together.

The three colored houses are heat embossed with black craft ink and clear EP onto water color paper. Using Distress ink pads and a paint brush I water colored them in the challenge colors. After dry, I cut them out using the corresponding dies.

For the white background panel, I stamped the houses onto X-Press It Blending card stock using Memento tuxedo black and the Mini Misti to get them perfectly aligned. The sentiment is heat embossed using black craft and clear EP. 

The banners are water color paper smooshed with the Distress inks and cut with Die-namics dies and the heart is cut with a Lawn Fawn die.

I used fun foam to raise the white panel for dimension.

This may be a little "busier" than the Sketch intends, but I think it turned out pretty cool. 

The ladies over at Stamp, Ink, Paper have an embossing theme this week, so I'm playing along with it as well.

Have a great Friday afternoon everyone and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Home set by Stampin' Up

Paper: SU Basic Black, X-Press It Blending card stock, Fabriano Grans Fina cold pressed water color paper

Ink: SU Craft Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads

Other: SU Holiday Home dies, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flags dies, Lawn Fawn Heart die, rhinestones, the Big Shot, fun foam, dimensionals

Just Relax

Hey all,

It's "Hump Day" and I'm so excited because I only have two more days until vacation time. I'm frantically trying to get everything finished and packed for my trip to Europe. We leave Tuesday next week. I spent my Thanksgiving holidays finishing up my Christmas and December's family and friends birthday cards.

Using the current Sunday Stamps sketch, I made this card for my niece, Rachel, whose birthday is (sadly) Dec. 26th. She loves yoga and pink! Is this not the perfect card?

This is the MFT Pure Innocence set called Serenity. I stamped her with Memento tuxedo black and colored her with Copics. The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn and the cover plate is Die-namics.

Here is the inside:

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Serenity Pure Innocence set by My Favorite Things stamps and SU Endless Birthday Wishes set (inside image and greeting)
Paper: TE pink textured card stock, X-Press It blending card stock and SU Gable Green card stock, Lawn Fawn plaid patterned paper
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Comics, SU Blushing Bride Pink ink pad
Other: Die-namics polka dot cover plate and Stitched Square dies, Lawn Fawn heart die, pink rhinestones, the Big Shot, diemensionals

Believe

Hello and Happy Tuesday,

I've been furiously trying to finish up my holiday cards and I actually think that I have enough now. I made this one last night for the young guy that does our windows. We usually give hime gift cards to lunch spots like Panera and Rubios so he can grab a quick lunch while working.

I wanted a somewhat "masculine" looking card and found some great inspiration at Inspired By All the Little Things and CAS(E) This Sketch. Also, Merry Monday has a masculine theme this week.

I used a simple "chalk board" technique with the MFT Holiday Subway stamp set. Very quick and easy. To raise the black panel up I used some fun foam.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Subway set by My Favorite Things and Christmas Kitch set by Avery Elle

Paper: SU Basic Black card stock and My Minds Eye Necessities Wood Designer patterned paper

Ink: Memento Brilliance Moonlight White craft ink, Memento tuxedo black, SU Emerald Envy and Copics

Other: SU White EP, heat tool, Christmas Ktich dies, the Big Shot, fun foam

Ho, Ho, Ho

Good Morning from a very wet and windy Southern California,

Winter has finally arrived to my neck of the woods! After 90 degrees in the beginning of November, we are having a good old fashioned winter storm. The rain and wind hit around 2 pm yesterday and is supposed to continue all day today. We should even get some snow in our San Diego mountains east of the city.

Today is Sunday and time for a new Paper Players Challenge. You all really rocked Claire's CAS Christmas theme last week. It was super hard to pick favorites! This week, our very talented Sandy is our hostess, and she has a sketch for us.

I love sketches with a tilted panel. I know there are some that don't, but I think it really adds some interest, especially when using a patterned paper or "all over" stamping. For this week's card I pulled out one of my all time favorite SU sets called Scensational Season. Using Tim Holtz Distress Mini ink pads, I stamped some of the images from the set onto water color paper. The stamped images come out very blotchy, but if you take a paint brush dipped in water and go over the ink, it smooths out nicely. This is not a quick technique, but very fun to do.

After painting all of the images, I dried the panel with my heat tool then gold embossed the snowflake on the green cups. For the gingerbread people's faces and buttons I used yellow and red dimensional pearl liquid. For the sentiment element, I used the corresponding SU dies to cut out the red cup and steam images. The HO3 stamp is MFT as are the banner and Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies.

The DT has, as usual, some really awesome cards to share. Stop by their blogs to say Hi and have a look.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

I know you'll have fun with Sandy's sketch and I know we'll be seeing some great cards in our gallery again this week.

I've really enjoyed my long Thanksgiving weekend. Both Thursday and Friday were company holidays and I've used the days off to finish up my Christmas cards and my December birthday cards, (I have at least seven birthdays in December to make cards for). This is all because I have one more week of work before my BFF (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON) and I fly to Amsterdam on Dec. 6th. We stay in Amsterdam for four days, then we fly to Germany to go on a Viking Christmas Market cruise on the Danube River for 10 days, ending in Budapest. In addition to this fabulous trip, I'm taking the whole month of December off work! I've never had more than two weeks off at at time in all my years of working. I am so excited about it all!

Have a great week everyone, and as always, thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Scentsational Seasons set by Stampin' Up

Paper: SU Old Olive, Real Red and Gold card stock and Fabriano Grans Fina cold pressed water color paper

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress mini ink pads and VersaMark craft ink pad

Other: Gold EP, Heat tool, SU Scentsational Seasons dies, Die-namics Pierced Fishtail Flag and Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies, Fiskars corner punch, SU Snowflake EF, Dimensional Pearls, the Big Shot, paint brush, foam tape

Merry Christmas

Happy Day After Thanksgiving all,

I hope yesterday found you celebrating with family and friends. We had a quiet morning at home then we went to a friend's house for dinner in the early afternoon. Good food, good wine and  good conversation.

I'm still finishing up my holiday cards. I had stamped a bunch of the deer images form the Avery Elle set Kitch Christmas, colored them and cut them out with the corresponding dies a few months ago. I had them all in an envelope, but wasn't sure what I was going to make. Along comes this week's Freshly Made Sketch and I knew it was the perfect layout to for my little deer.

I had enough deer to make 12 cards. Since there are two deer images in the stamp set, six fronts had one and six had the other image. Here is a card with the the other deer image.

I love how these turned out too!

Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Kitch Christmas set by Avery Elle
Paper: SU Whisper White, X-Press It Blending card stock, Lawn Fawn Christmas Plaid patterned paper and SU retired Christmas DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Island Indigo
Other: Avery Elle Kitch Christmas dies, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle and Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frame dies, sequin, the Big Shot, dimensional

Let It Snow

Hello,

Welcome to this week's Paper Players post. It's Claire's turn to host and she has a Clean and Simple Christmas challenge for us this week.

I chose to use another uber cute Lawn Fawn set from last year. I love this little alpaca with his warm winter scarf.

Mr alpaca is stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock with Memento tuxedo black, colored with Copics and cut out with the corresponding die. Using the Lawn Fawn Forrest Border die, I cut a panel from SU Handsome Hunter and one from X-Press It Blending card stocks. I stamped Let It Snow from the Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Sayings set in Handsome Hunter ink, then layered the white over the green on the card base. It was just a little too "clean" for me so I added some SU sequin snowflakes.

Here's the inside:

I just love Lawn Fawn's punny saying stamp sets. You know what else I love, my fellow DT's cards! Here are the links to their blogs. Be sure to stop by.

The Paper Players Design Team

Claire Broadwater

Jaydee

Joanne James

Laurie Schmidt

LeAnne Pugliese

Nance Leedy 

Sandy Mathis

Linda Callahan

Hannelie Bester

We have a short, three day work week this week. I'm SO ready for it too. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and friends.

Thanks for looking in today,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Winter Alpaca set by Lawn Fawn

Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Handsome Hunter card stock

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Handsome Hunter, Real Red and Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Forrest Border die, SU snowflake sequin, the Big Shot, Dimensionals