Butterfly Kisses

Happy Saturday peeps,

After the usual weekend chores were completed this morning, I had a chance to sit down and make a couple of cards. I decided to play along with this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. A super cool sketch this week with lots of possibilities. I actually made two cards, one portrait and one landscape, using the new Concord & 9th Butterfly sets.

I wanted to use some bright colors to go along with these butterflies. Both cards incorporate ink blending and emboss resist techniques.

For the first card, I used the Butterfly Love Turnabout set inked with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. After heat setting the powder, I used a blending tool with three shades of Distress Oxide inks. This background panel was trimmed and layered with first coral card stock then with yellow card stock per Lee Ann's sketch.

The focal butterfly is made with the Concord & 9th Beautiful Butterfly set die. It's cut three times from yellow, bright pink and coral card stocks. These were layered off-set and glued together. The butterfly's body is cut from coral card stock. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP on pink card stock.

On the second card, I did the ink blending first. Using the heat tool, I dried the ink, then stamped the Butterfly turnabout stamp with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with clear EP. This gives a more subtle background image and looks really pretty IRL.

The same butterfly die was first cut in black and using the colored segments left over from the first card, I glued them into the black outlines of the butterfly. I used a piece of Pineapple Punch card stock behind to glue everything down then fussy cut around the black. For the small pieces along the outside of the wings, I used yellow Stickles over the yellow card stock.

I'm not really sure which I like better. I think they both turned out pretty, and they were quite fun to make too.

It's relatively early in the evening here on the West coast, so I think I can do a little more stamping before I call it a night.

Thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Butterfly Love Turnabout set and Beautiful Butterfly set both by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Whisper White, thick Whisper White, Pineapple Punch, Calypso Coral, Pixie Pink and Basic Black card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Distress Oxide Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, VersaMark
Other: Misti, Gemini Jr, heat tool, SU clear EP, ink blender and sponges, Concord & 9th set dies, yellow Stickles, SU mini glue dots and dimensionals

Life's A Beach

Hello and happy Sunday,

It's kind of a June Gloomy day here in my neck of the woods. It's not unusual to have lots of overcast on the coast here in southern California in May and June, especially in the mornings. Yesterday, we saw blue sky in the very late afternoon. Looks like more of the same for today. A very good excuse (not that I ever need one) to stay in and make cards.

Since it is Sunday, Claire is the hostess for the new Paper Players Challenge. She has a Clean & Simple theme challenge this week, and when I saw the inspiration banner, I knew exactly what stamp set to pull out. (I love when that happens, LOL!)

The images are from an Avery Elle set called Aloha and the sentiments are from another Avery Elle set called Beside the Sea. To make my little grouping, I stamped the hibiscus, masked it, stamped the coconut drink, masked it, then stamped the pineapple. The paper is X-Press It Blending card stock. I think it's the best for coloring with Copics. After the coloring was finished, I stamped the sentiment under the images. I knew I'd need to do a layer because Copics do bleed through to the back, so I just used the largest SU Stitched Rectangle to cut out the panel, then glued it to a side folding card base made from the same card stock.

I also kept the inside CAS using just one phrase and a couple of tiny images from the Beside the Sea set.

As the sentiment says, Enjoy your Day!
Thanks all,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Aloha and Beside the Sea sets by Avery Elle
Paper: X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Summer Sun
Other: SU Stitched Rectangle die, Gemini Jr

When Life Gives You Lemons. . .

T.G.I.F and hello!

After finishing up weekly reports and a couple of conference calls this morning, I decided to do a little stamping. Looking around blog-land I saw that the Inspired By Challenge blog has a new challenge up with a very pretty picture. Great "inspiration" and I almost immediately had an idea. I needed a layout too and thought that the Sunday Stamps sketch was perfect.

I remembered that I had this Avery Elle fruit set and the corresponding sentiment always makes me smile. Using the lemons, the wood grain in the table, and the stripes on the napkins for my inspiration points, I put my card together.

The background is Whisper White card stock stamped using some Concord & 9th stamps from their Peak-Through Patterns set. The ink is SU Blueberry Bushel. To make the wood panel, I used craft card stock and the SU 3D Woodgrain EF. Before running it through the Big Shot, I inked one side of the EF with Soft Suede ink. The panel was trimmed and layered with Blueberry Bushel card stock per the sketch design. The card base is also Blueberry Bushel. For the lemons, they are stamped with Memento tuxedo black onto Whisper White and colored with Copies. The sentiment is stamped with Night of Navy because I wanted a darker shade of blue here. I used foam tape to raise the woodgrain panel over the stripped panel and then the lemon with the sentiment is popped up with Dimensionals. A few small yellow sequins finish it all off.

The inside uses a greeting from a Mama Elephant set and the heart stamp is from Gina K. The background stripes are stamped with another Concord & 9th set.

This was a super fun card to put together with all of the stamping. I hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks all and Happy Friday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Berry Good set by Avery Elle, Stripes and Sayings and Peak-Through Pattern sets by Concord & 9th, You Get Me set by Gina K, Scripty Notes set by Mama Elephant
Paper: SU Blueberry Bushel and Whisper White card stock
Ink: SU Blueberry Bushel, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: Berry Good dies, SU 3D Woodgrain embossing folder, Misti, Big Shot, Gemini Jr, foam tape, Dimensionals, yellow sequins

Wishing you. . .

Happy Thursday afternoon peeps,

I just returned home around mid-day from my latest work trip. Another quickie trip over to Denver.  I say "quickie" because it was only for three days this week. I'm happy to say, I have no plans to get on a plane in the next few weeks. That statement really makes me pretty darn happy!

For my post today, I have my Paper Players Challenge card for this week. I made it Sunday evening, but didn't get a chance to take the picture before I headed out to Denver. This week's challenge is a very pretty color challenge hosted by Anne-Marie, and the colors made me think of summer flowers.

I decided to use one of my Gina K sets that coordinate with her wreath builder templates. For this card, I used the smaller of the templates to make a square card. Using the three colors in Anne-Marie's challenge plus a little bit of Crumb Cake, I made this very summery birthday card for a good friend who is an avid gardener.

These wreath builder templates are pretty fun to use. I've had mine for quite awhile, but hadn't really played with it. I can say I'll definitely be pulling it out more in the future.

To assemble my card, I mounted the stamped square onto a card base of Whisper White. The center greeting is part of the Gina K set and it's stamped in Highland Heather then cut out using a small Spellbinders circle die. It's mounted to a layer of Highland Heather card stock cut using a Spellbinders Scalloped circle die. The outside frame die is Die-namics. Finally, because you all know that I love embellishing, I added some purple and yellow glass gems randomly around the stamped image.

Here's a look at the inside. The sentiments here are from Concord & 9th and the flowers are from Gina K.

T.G.I. F. tomorrow! I hope you all have a wonderful day and weekend and thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Gina K Wreath Builder bundle set, Concord & 9th Lots to Say and Piñata Party sets
Paper: SU Highland Heather and Whisper White card stock
Ink: SU Highland Heather, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green and Crumb Cake ink
Other: Gina K Wreath Builder template, Misti stamping tool, Spellbinders large scalloped and large basic square dies, small scalloped and basic circle dies, Die-namics stitched scalloped square border die, glass embellishments, Gemini Jr,

Congratulations Graduate

Hello,

My youngest nephew graduates today from high school. He has been awarded Valedictorian of his class. Yup, he's a smarty just like his older siblings.

Here's the card that I made for him. I combined several supplies from several different companies.

This Ellen Hutson bear stamp is one of my very favorite! He is so versatile! Using the corresponding die, I cut him out using X-Press It Blending card stock and then using the Misti, stamped him onto the cutout. I made his background using a cloud stencil and a brush. There are three ink colors in the clouds, Baja Breeze, Pale Plum and Powder Pink. The grassy hill is cut from Baja Breeze card stock using a Lawn Fawn die. The round balloon is also a Lawn Fawn die and the Mortar Board is a Taylored Expressions die. These are cut from metallic card stock.

The left side of the card is a piece of X-Press It Blending white card stock stamped using the Concord & 9th Stripes and Sayings set. The stripes are stamped in Baja Breeze ink and the sayings are stamped in Pale Plum. Using foam tape, the bear panel is raised up.

Here's the inside:

Unfortunately, since I'm working in Denver this week, I couldn't make it up to Portland to attend his graduation. Not sure why they held it during the week instead of on the weekend!?

I hope you're week is going well. Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: All Inside by Essentials by Ellen, Stripes and Sayings set by Concord & 9th,  and Dream Big by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Baja Breeze and X-Press It Blending and SSS metallic card stocks
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pale Plum, Powder Pink, Memento tuxedo black
Other: Cloud Stencil, All Inside set dies, Taylored Expressions Mortar Board die, Lawn Fawn Grassy Hill and balloon dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, cloud stencil, blending brush

Hi Friend

Hello again,

This is my second post this afternoon. I made this card using inspiration from the  photo at the Inspired By Challenge blog. I used this week's  Freshly Made Sketches sketch again for the layout.

I used the daisy flower for my main focal point and added a little boarder of lace using white craft ink and white EP.  The background is made using the SU Country Floral 3D embossing folder. Before using it, i inked the smooth side with light yellow ink. After running it through the Big Shot, I trimmed a small amount off one edge to allow the stamped lace along the edge of the Summer Sun card base to show.

The daisy is stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored with Copics then cut out using the corresponding die. The sentiment dies are also part of the set. They are cut from SU Basic Black card stock. I cut two sets and glued them together, then glued them onto the daisy. The dots over both i's are black enamel dots, and I brushed Wink of Stella over the words for a little sparkle.

Here is the inside of the card:

There you have it. Thanks again,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Mondo Daisy Stamp set from Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson)
Paper: X-Press It Blending and SU Summer Sun card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Summer Sun, Hero white craft ink
Other: SU Country Floral 3D embossing folder, Mondo Daisy set dies,  SU white embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Wink of Stella, liquid glue, Big Shot, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Stay Cool

Hello stampers,

I hope that you're weekend has been fun and relaxing. I've certainly enjoyed being home for a couple of days. Work travel took me to Montana last week and tomorrow I fly to Denver for this week's work. I'm really, really hoping that this travel calms down soon! I guess I can be thankful that I'm not having to go to these places in the winter.

Yesterday was spent doing some chores in the morning and then going to a Little League Baseball game. Our little friend's team was playing in the championship game, so of course we needed to go watch. Happily, they won! Today, I've been in my craft room and having a great time. I managed to make three cards too.

This first one is for the new Paper Players Challenge. Ann has a fun theme challenge for us this week called Summer Vacation. I have tons of beachy stamps that would be perfect, but I wanted to use another new Concord & 9th set that I got a few week's ago. It's called Cool Treats Turnabout set. I didn't actually use the turnabout stamp, but I used some of the greeting stamps and the corresponding dies. I also used the Concord & 9th Faceted Turnabout Stencil for the background. The layout comes for the current Freshly Made Sketch.

I started by sponging some very summery SU inks using the Turnabout stencil onto a white panel. Ink colors are Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Lemon Lime Twist and Strawberry Slush. The panel was trimmed about 1/2 inch and layered it onto a piece of Mango Melody card stock and then finally onto the card base of Lemon Lime Twist. Using SU card stocks in the same shades as the inks, I cut the popsicles using the corresponding dies. After layering all of the elements according to the FMS, I used my Wink of Stella pen over the popsicles so they look frozen. Perfect to cool off with on a hot summer day.

The inside of the card uses the large popsicle die from the Concord & 9th set. Before cutting out the die, I stamped a pice of white card stock using the Concord & 9th Polka-dot stamp using Mango melody. The inside sentiment is from the Cool Treats set.

Have a great Sunday evening and thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Concord & 9th Cool Treats Turnabout set and Dotted Fill In set
Paper: X-Press It Blending, SU Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Crumb Cake
Ink: SU Pineapple Punch, Mango Melody, Lemon Lime Twist, Strawberry Slush, Gina K black
Other: Concord & 9th Cool Treats dies, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Circle and Spellbinders Circle dies, Simon Says Stamp banner dies, Concord & 9th Faceted Turnabout Stencil, SU sponge daubers, Misti, Wink of Stella, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals