Shine Bright

Happy Sunday Peeps,

Yes, Sunday means time for a new Paper Players Challenge. It's CAS week and hostess Anne Marie's theme is metallics, which gives us a little different thought process for making our cards. It's also a good theme for adding to our Holiday card stashes, which is exactly what I used it for.

The stamps and dies are from the new September release from Concord & 9th. The metallic papers are also from Concord & 9th. I really, really like the way my card turned out.

In addition to being able to use these fun metallic glimmer papers, I also used my new Gemini Foiling system for the sentiment. I think that I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought it for myself for my birthday in July. I haven't used it too much and I have to reread the directions each time I do. I also don't have many dies for it yet, but I do have a set of sentiments from Spellbinders that had the perfect one for my card.

The stamp and die set is called Merry Shapes. Only the dies are used on the card front.  The ornaments are cut from the glimmer papers and the ornament tops from smooth gold metallic card stock. There is a die that is a line of dots which I used to make the strings for the ornaments to hang with, and I backed them with more gold metallic paper that shows through. The colored centers of the ornaments are popped up with dimensionals to give a little dimension to the card front.

For the inside, I used stamps from the Merry Shapes stamp set. Keeping with the metallic theme, the J, Y and parts of the O - ornament are heat embossed using gold embossing powder.

This was actually the second card that I made. The first card didn't really fulfill the CAS theme, so I went back to work. It also uses the same stamp and die set from Concord & 9th. Here's the front of that cards.

The card base is a pre-printed note card from Concord & 9th. I used the same glimmer papers to cut the tree shapes and the same foiling sentiment. The stars above the trees are heat embossed with gold EP. I do like the way it all worked out, but it seems kind of busy for CAS, hence my second card.

Anyhoo, two more holiday cards added to me stash. I'm happy about that.

Thanks for looking in and have a great Sunday evening,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Merry Shapes set by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Whisper White thick card stock, Concord & 9th glimmer and metallics papers, Concord & 9th preprinted note card
Ink: VersaMark, SU Lemon Lime Twist
Other: Gemini Foiling System, Spellbinders foiling die, Concord & 9th Merry Shapes dies, Gemini Jr, SSS gold EP, heat tool, Misti, dimensionals, liquid glue, SU glue dots

A Very Merry

Happy Saturday Peeps,

Yay for the weekend! I don't have much planned and I'm good with that. More craft time! We are going to friends for dinner tonight, but other than that, some weekend chores and my craft room.

Last night after I turned off the work computer, I pulled out my new Concord & 9th September release stamp sets. All are Holiday/Christmas sets and all are gorgeous. I decided to make a card using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! layout. It's a simple and fun sketch with tons of possibilities.

The plaid background is stamped using the new Woven Stripes background stamp. It's layered onto a Cherry Cobbler panel, then both onto the kraft card base. The flower is from the new Christmas Florals set. It's stamped on Whisper White and colored with Copics, then cut out using the set die. I also used the set die to cut the shape from the kraft square panel, which is popped up so that the flower is inset. Unfortunately, it really doesn't show up in the photo. For embellishment, I used three gold pearls from SU in the center of the flower, and added some Wink of Stella over the petals.

Here is the inside of the card. Images are from the Christmas Florals set.

I had made a card for last week's sketch, but never got around to writing a blog post. Sometimes that happens when I have a week with pretty long work days that include lots of driving. Anyhoo- here's last week's card and sketch. These stamps are from an older MFT set called Fall Friends. The background is stamped using the Concord & 9th Gingham Background stamp.

The paper is SU Neutrals Ivory, and I think that is why the background is rather splotchy. It kind of goes with the country feel of the stamp images.

Thanks for looking in. Have a wonderful weekend!
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Woven Stripes Background and Christmas Florals sets by Concord & 9th
              Gingham Background set by Concord & 9th and Fall Friends set by My Favorite Things
Paper:   Neenah Desert Storm, SU Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
             SU Garden Green and Neutrals Ivory
Ink:       Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce
             Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Garden Green
Other:   Christmas Florals set dies, Die-namics Stitched Square die, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU gold pearls
             MFT Fall Friends set dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU green enamel dots
             dimensionals

THANKS

Happy Thursday Peeps,

Wow, I feel like it's been a long week! Work has been hectic and stressful this week so I'm really glad to see the week coming to an end.

I made my card for this week's Paper Players Challenge on Sunday evening, but didn't have time to write the blog post. This week Ann has a pretty color challenge.

I've used new Concord & 9th dies from the August release to make a pretty fall card.

To start, using blending brushes, I blended each of the three SU inks onto white card stock. After the ink dried, I cut each piece with the Concord & 9th dies. Then, using the Concord & 9th Sew Essentials kit, I stitched each leaf using thread that closely matches the SU ink shades.

Black is used for the "neutral" color and the card base is SU Pretty Peacock. I used an embossing folder to dry emboss the black piece.

On the inside, I used another 2 of the C&9th dies from the set, stitching one of them as well.

These stitching dies are kind of fun. I wasn't going to get into these, but. . .  (you all know how that goes!)

Thanks for looking,
Colleen


Supplies
Sew Sational die set and Sew Essential kit both by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU Pretty Peacock, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Whisper White
Ink: SU Pretty Peacock, Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot
Other: SU embossing folder, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

I just HERD the news

Hi Peeps,

It's rather late on Thursday night, but I was bound and determined to get a card made for LeAnne's theme week for the Paper Players.

Work has me traveling to Los Angeles or Orange County all week, so with traffic I'm not getting home until after 7:00 pm. Everyday, I would plan to stamp but just too tired. Since it's Thursday, I had to do it tonight. It's not the most creative of cards, but pretty cute after it's all put together.

Using blending brushes and some Distress Oxide inks, I made the sky and barnyard. Next, the fence was stamped and colored with a dark brown Copic. The rest of the images were stamped, colored and fussy cut then arranged.

Here's the inside.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm certainly looking forward to the weekend.
Thanks,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Green Acres set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Early Expresso and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Early Expresso, Copics, Distress Oxide blues and browns
Other: Misti, TE blending brushes, dimensionals

You're All Kinds of Wonderful

Hello again,

This is my second post with another card for the Sunday Stamps Sketch Challenge. I've used more Concord & 9th sets. The same Plaid Background combined with the Winter Wear set and the Everyday Bouquet Turnabout set. I must have been in the mood to make Fall and Winter cards because the temps were pretty warm in the wine country, LOL.

The plaid background is stamped on SU More Mustard card stock with Gina K Plum Punch ink, SU Rose Red and Mossy Meadow. I used other Gina K cubes to stamp the Turnabout set. After stamping,  it was cut with a Die-namics Zig Zag circle die. The images from the Winter Wear set are stamped using Memento tuxedo black and colored using Stampin' Blends. I fussy cut them and popped them up with dimensionals over the circle. The sentiments are layered with Die-namics Fishtail Flag dies.

Here's the card inside. More images from the Winter Wear set.

Thanks again,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: All Concord & 9th, Plaid Background, Winter Wear, Everyday Bouquet Turnabout sets
Paper: SU Whisper White, More Mustard, Taylored Expressions purple card stocks
Ink: Gina K, SU, Memento tuxedo black, Stampin' Blends
Other: Misti, Die-namics dies, Gemini Jr, dimensionals

Grateful

Hello,

Well, it's back to work today for me. Sigh! I hope you had a nice Labor Day long weekend, if you reside in the U.S. that is. We were on a little get-a-way to the California Central Coast Wine country. It's our favorite place to go for long weekends. We were actually there for nine days and had a wonderful time. Tasted some excellent wines, great dinners and enjoyed our friends.

I managed to take some stamps and supplies and was able to make a few cards during the week. I've got a couple that I made using the current Sunday Stamps Sketch Challenge. I'm posting the first here and I'll do another quick post with the second card so I can link them both to the challenge.

Using a couple sets from Concord & 9th, I made this fall themed card.

The background is stamped with the Plaid Background set using SU More Mustard, Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler inks. The pumpkin and leaves are from a new set called Autumn Harvest. The images are stamped in Memento tuxedo black and colored with Stampin' Blends markers. After coloring, I used the set dies to cut them out. The sentiment is a die in the set too. It's cut from Cherry Cobbler card stock and layered over white card stock.

The images for the inside are also from the set.

Thanks for looking,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Plaid Background and Autumn Harvest sets by Concord & 9th
Paper: SU More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White
Ink: SU More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow,  Stampin' Blends
Other: Concord & 9th Autumn Harvest dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, SU enamel dots, dimensional

The Sweetest Pick

Hello and Happy September,

Today is our last day in the Central California Wine Country. Boo-hoo. Even though we live in a beautiful beach area, there's something about the Central Coast Wine area that makes it my happy place.

While here, I did some work projects and also made time for stamping, since I did load up the car with supplies. Today's card is made using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch. One last tribute to summer's fruit bounty.

This is another Concord & 9th set. I think it's from a few releases ago, but I hadn't used it yet. It's pretty cute. The card base is Neenah Desert Storm card stock. I stamped the berries using some Taylored Expressions ink cubes in Fruit Punch and Pink then cut them out using the set dies. For the background plaid and the berry tops, the inks are a combo of SU Call Me Clover and TE Lime Twist inks. The circle dies are Die-namics.

I've used another sentiment from the same set for the inside greeting with one of the small berries. I also added some of the left over background that I stamped.

If you've not been to the California Central Coast wine country, the main town is Paso Robles. Highway 101 runs through the area. People refer to the "west" side and "east" side. The west is everything west of the 101 to the coast, which is about 20 miles away. The landscape is rolling hills and oak trees, and of course, lots of grapes, olive trees, some almonds and cattle ranches. Here's a representative picture of the hills, trees and grapes.

Happy Labor Day tomorrow. I hope it's relaxing and fun.
Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Strawberry and Gingham Background sets by Concord & 9th
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm and Solar White card stocks
Ink: Taylored Expressions ink cubes in Fruit Punch, Pink and Lime Zest, SU Call Me Clover and Rose Red
Other: Sweet Strawberry set dies, Die-namics Double Stitched Circle dies, Misti, Gemini Jr, Dimensionals