Hello

 Good Monday to all,

I'm happy to be back home after spending time with family and friends over the holidays. I drove home (San Diego) from Sacramento yesterday where I spent the weekend with my Bestie. Prior to that, I was at my Mom's in Redding since 12/28. So yes, it's good to be home in my own space. I have some "maintenance" appointments this week like dental hygienist for cleaning and a hair cut appointment, but other than that it should be a quiet week.

Since I didn't tale any stamping supplies with me this time, it's been awhile since I've made any cards. I thought I'd get started this morning and make a card that works for both the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge and this week's Paper Players Challenge.

I ordered some SU supplies during the Demo Pre-Order period for the new mini catalog, but haven't had a chance to use any yet, until this morning. These images are from the new Hello Ladybug Bundle, stamp set and punch.

Since the ladybugs are a little large for a portrait card, I turned it for a landscape layout. 

Here is the inside of the card:

This is such a sweet set, and I can't wait to use it some more. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Hello Ladybug Bundle from Stampin' Up, SU Basic Black & Just Jade card stock, Gina K Designs Layering Weight white card stock, SU Pale Papaya and Calypso Coral inks, GKD Black Onyx ink, SSS Detail Petal Cover Plate, black enamel dots, SU dimensionals

Happy Birthday Friend

 Hello all,

It's the first Sunday of 2022 and time for the first Paper Players Challenge of the year. Ann is hostess with the monthly theme challenge, and we are challenged to use sparkly items on our projects.

Before I get to my card, I want to say congrats to the 2022 Guest Designers, Cindy, Christy and Jennie. You will have a fun year!

My card today is a shaker birthday card I made in November for a friend, but never posted. It fits the theme with metallic sequins and black rhinestones, that I used for the dots on the "i's," and I covered the die cut words with Shimmery Crystal Effects.

 

For the background, I used the Concord & 9th Weathered Wood Background stamp with gray and pool inks. 

To make the shaker, I used some recycled plastic packaging and double-sided tape. 

The stamped image is from  a Concord & 9th stamp and die set called Heartfelt Blossoms. I stamped it on watercolor paper with permanent black ink and used Zig Brush water color markers to color the flowers. The image is cut out using the corresponding set die and popped up over the shaker background with foam tape. 

The greeting is made by cutting three layers of each word and gluing them together. The top layer is cut from Kat Scrappiness shinny black card stock. Before gluing the stacked words onto the card I covered them with SU Shimmery Crystal Effects and let it dry really well before gluing the words onto the card. The word dies are from the SU Well Written die set. After the top panel was completed, I glued it to a purple note card.

Here is the inside of the card. The flower image is from the same Heartfelt stamp set and the sentiment is from a SSS set.

Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Weathered Wood Background and Heartfelt Blossoms sets by Concord & 9th

Paper: Gina K Designs Lovely Lilac, Layering weight white, Tim Holtz water color paper, Kat Scrappiness shinny black card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Amalgam black, Sea Glass, Stormy Sky ink, Zig water color markers

Other: Stampin' Up Well Written dies, Shimmery Crystal Effects, Sequins, black rhinestones, Misti, Gemini Jr, foam tape, double-sided tape, Connect glue, 

Happy New Year, and a Concord & 9th 2022 Calendar

 Happy New Year to all!

For the last several years, I've made my bestie a desktop calendar for one of her Christmas gifts using the Concord & 9th calendar. After the first couple of years, she now requests this gift, LOL. 

It's a true labor of love, and it takes me several hours to complete. I start by looking through my catalog of stamp sets and decide what I'll use for each month. I usually use mostly C&9th stamps for the calendars, but I've used other brands to fill in as needed.

For this year, I ended up with all C&9th stamps, and this year's calendar may be my favorite one yet. Concord & 9th made this year's calendar format in 5x7," so it was a little easier to come up with layouts for each month than in past years when the format has been smaller, usually 4x6". On a couple of the months, May and June, I've CASE'd ideas from cards on the C&9th Instagram feed. You'll notice that November has a birthday theme, since my friend's birthday is in November.

Pictures were a little difficult to take, so forgive the photography. The first picture is all 12 months together, then pics of 4 month blocks, making the details easier to see.

Wishing you all a healthy 2022 (most importantly), and a crafty one too!

Colleen

Supplies

Calendar, stamps and dies from Concord & 9th

Ink and card stocks from Concord & 9th, Gina K Designs, Stampin' Up

Thank You So Much

Hello Peeps,

LeAnne has our last Paper Players Challenge for 2021 and it's a color challenge with colors perfect for finishing up our Holiday cards. I pretty much am done with those, in fact I mailed mine out on Sunday, so I used this challenge to make a Holiday Thank You card.

The stamping uses one of my favorite Concord & 9th Turnabout sets and the large greeting is made with a Pink Fresh hot foil plate and die.

Here is the inside with a greeting from a SSS Thank You set.

Mom and I are heading from her house in Northern California to San Diego tomorrow, so we have about a 13 hour drive. We'll be getting up fairly early so we can head out  early. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Botanical Turnabout set,  Thank You set by Simon Says Stamp, Gina K Designs card stock and ink cubes, Pink Fresh Hot Foil plate and die, Spellbinders foil, Misti, Gemini Jr and Gemini Hot foil system, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 2 die set, Trinity gold pearls, Connect liquid glue

Merriest Christmas

 Hello,

I'm finally wrapping up this year's Holiday card making. I've been making cards for my family to give with their gifts. Today's is one of those. The person that this is for doesn't read my blog, so it's safe to post.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch and an older MFT Christmas stamp set. That pretty background is made with a SSS slimline cover plate that I used with gold hot foil on red card stock. It worked really well and is super pretty IRL. The sentiment is also done with hot foil. 

I colored the images with colored pencils and used Gamsol to help with blending. They are popped up on a Lawn Fawn snow hill with trees. I used a Nuvo clear Aqua Shimmer pen over all of the trees, but as usual, my photo doesn't show the shine.

Here is the inside.

Have a wonderful Friday, and thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Cuteness by My Favorite things

Gina K Designs card stock

Gina K Designs inks

Lawn Fawn Slim Forrest Border die

Simon Says Stamp Detail Bohemian Slim Plate

Pink Fresh Studio Christmas Sentiments Hot Foil Plate

Spellbinders gold hot foil

Gemini Jr and Gemini Hot Foiling system

Misti

Colored pencils and Gamsol

Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen

SU Dimensionals

Hope Your Holidays are Cool!

 Hello peeps,

I made today's card to participate in two challenges. The theme works for this week's Paper Players Challenge. Jaydee's theme challenge is Winter Wonderland. The technique works for the Gina K Designs December Monthly Mix Challenge, which is ink blending.

To make the background of colorful snowflakes I used the GKD small Wreath Builder Stencil. I didn't use the wreath builder part, just the three small snowflake images that are also on the stencil. There are two snowflakes that are exactly the same except one is larger than the other. I blended the two on top of each other with GKD inks and the small blending brushes. The inks are a variety of the turquoise blue shades, the purple shades and Jelly Bean Green. In the spaces between these snowflakes, I added the last image on the stencil in Innocent pink, overlapping the first images.

This panel and a black mat are cut using the Master Layouts 1 dies. The sentiment and penguin images are from the GKD Playful Penguin Holiday stamp set and co-ordinating dies. The penguin is colored with colored pencils using Gamsol for blending. My original thought was to stamp the greeting over the stenciled snowflakes, but I then thought a sentiment panel would be better to give the penguin a grounding element. Finally, I added several tiny rhinestones around the panel for sparkle as well as some Nuvo Aqua Shimmer on the booties and the hat's pompom.

Here is the inside of the card. The sentiment is from the same Penguin stamp set.

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Gina K Designs White layering, black and Innocent Pink card stock, Lovely Lavender, Wild Lilac, Sea Glass, Blue Lagoon, Turquoise Sea, Tranquil Teal, Jelly Bean Green, Innocent Pink, Black Onyx inks, Playful Penguin stamp set and dies, Master Layout 1 dies, small blending brushes, Small Wreath Builder stencil (snowflake background) SSS tiny rhinestones, Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen, Misti, Gemini Jr

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