Hello Friend

 Happy Hump Day all,

I hope you're having a good Wednesday. I made this card for the current As You See It Challenge a few days ago, but forgot to post it. The current challenge is a color challenge and I thought the lighter shades would work well in a silhouette stamping technique, and I also wanted to try this SU fern stamp set for the stamping part. I think both worked just fine.

I used a die from the GKD Master Layouts 9 set, which was designed to use for masking all kinds of shapes. Gina included this window die in the set. I put down the mask and using blending brushes, I blended inks of each color into a window starting from the inside corner, getting lighter going to the outside of the windows. Then using black ink, I stamped some of the stamp set images into each window. When the mask is removed, this is what it looks like. I cut the whole panel using the GKD Master Layouts 2 set, including the black mat. The card base is Calypso Coral, one of the challenge colors.

For the sentiment, the hello is from the stamp set and the Friend die is from the GKD Master Layout 9 die set. For a little embellishments, I used some enamel dots from Concord & 9th that match the Calypso Coral shade pretty perfectly.

The inside greeting and stamped images are from the SU stamp set.

I had an eye doctor appointment this morning. It's been a few years since I've been. I knew something not good was up with my vision, and I was right. My right eye is completely cloudy due to cataracts. In fact, the Dr. said she would say I have mono-vision currently. Luckily it's a relatively easy fix. I have a consult with a surgeon next Thursday. Guess I'm at that age!

Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Forever Fern by Stampin' UP

Paper: SU white, black and Calypso Coral card stock

Ink: SU Calypso Coral, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, Crumb Cake and GKD Black Onyx

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layout Die sets 2 and 9, Altenew Feature Sentiments die, Gina K Designs Masking Magic, blending brushes, Concord & 9th enamel dots, Connect liquid glue

Coffee & Friends

 Hi Peeps,

This card fits both the Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and the current Coffee Chalkboard theme for the Fusion Card Challenge.

I have in my stencil stash a coffee themed stencil from Picket Fences that I bought a few years ago and I don't think I'd used it yet. I thought it would work well for the Stencil Press technique, so I pulled it out with the other stencils that I used on Saturday. I used a dark slate shade for the background and then blended each row of coffee pots in rainbow order using pastel shades, which works well for both challenges. Very serendipitous!

I followed the top cross option on the Tic-tac-toe grid and the sketch for the Fusion challenge.

All of the stamped images are from the Reverse Confetti set called Be a Barista. Here is the inside of this card.

I recommend checking out Jennifer's video here. It's super fun! 

Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Picket Coffee Pot Stencil, Reverse Confetti Be A Barista stamp set,  Gina K Designs card stock and inks, Concord & 9th Glimmer papers, Copics, Taylored Expressions Large Scalloped Border die, blending brushes, Big Shot, Misti, SU Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

Happy Birthday

 Hello,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Yesterday I had a very fun afternoon playing with the latest technique from Jennifer McGuire that she calls Stencil Ink Press. I made a bunch of panels, some with single stencils and a few with layering stencils. They all turned out well and really didn't take long to make.

I'm using one of the panels for my card for the current Sunday Stamps Challenge called Cool Winter Love, a color challenge.

This stencil is the SSS Painted Flowers Wreath. I followed Jennifer's instructions of making a hinge between the paper and the stencil, then used a brayer to ink up the stencil. I used GKD Soft Stone light gray ink. After inking, I put it in my Big Shot with the embossing mat and plate and cranked it through. I only used one layer of ink for the background as I wanted to keep it pretty light. I made sure that it was completely dry, then placed the stencil back over the panel and used blending brushes to color the flowers and leaves, using red and pink shades for the flowers and a darker gray for the leaves. The die cut sentiment is also from SSS. I cut the happy birthday dies twice each and layered them. After gluing them to the shadow dies, I added a very liberal coating of Nuvo clear glitter, then some glossy accents. For added embellishments, I added some silver enamel dots.

Here is the inside of this card. Sentiment and image are GKD.

Thanks for checking in and have a good week,

Colleen

Supplies

Stencils: Painted Flower Wreath from Simon Says Stamp

Stamps: Enjoyable Greetings & Take Care sets by Gina K Designs 

Paper: SU Thick White, GKD Dusty Rose, Stormy Sky, Cherry Red

Ink: GKD Cherry Red, Dusty Rose, Soft Stone, Stormy Sky

Other: SSS Happy Birthday dies, blending brushes, Big Shot, Misti, Silver enamel dots, Nuvo clear glitter pen, Glossy Accents, SU Dimensionals, Connect liquid glue

Warm Winter Wishes

 Happy Saturday,

I'm last minute posting for the current Silver & White challenge at the Color Hues Challenge. We went out for dinner with good friends last night and got home fairly early. I was looking through challenges and found the Color Hues, and thought I could do something  fairly quick with heat embossing. I ended up making two cards. One with a winter theme and the other with a summer theme.

The backgrounds of both are done with stencils. I used a sponge applicator to push VersaMark ink through the stencils, then heat embossed with silver EP. The first card is made with an Erin Lee Sun stencil and I cut a Hero Arts Sunflower from silver card stock for the center. The second card is made with a Simon Says Stamp Snowflake stencil. It's inked once, then turned 90 degrees and inked again. The sentiment is from the Gina K Designs Winter Wreath builder stamp set, stamped with VersaMark on black card stock and heat embossed with silver EP then cut out with the GKD double stitched circle die. I cut a silver mat with the corresponding single stitched circle die. I added a few sequins and silver gems to both cards for added sparkle.

Here are both cards with their inside greetings:

Thanks for looking in and have a good day,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: 

Hero Arts Color Layering Fall set with dies, Gina K Designs Winter Wreath Builder set

Stencils: Erin Lee Sun and Simon Says Stamp Rustic Snowflake 

Ink: VersaMark and Gina K Designs Black Amalgam

Paper: Gina K Designs Layering Weight and Heavy Weight white and Black Onyx card stock, Stampin' Up Silver card stock

Other: Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 & 2 die sets, Stitched and Double Stitched circle dies,  Gina K Designs Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder, heat tool, Gemini Jr., Misti, SU Dimensionals, blending brushes and Ranger Sponge ink applicators, Trinity Silver gems and Simon Says Stamp silver sequins

Crafty and Proud

 TGIF Crafty Peeps,

This card started with a search of patterned papers. When I saw the elements of Jen's sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge,  I thought patterned papers would be the ticket to putting together the layers. (For some reason, I don't seem to reach for patterned papers much lately, and I have enough to keep several paper crafters in paper for years, LOL.) In my search last night, I pulled out a plastic bag of random papers from left over 6 x 6 pads. Unfortunately, because I have just stuffed pages in the bag, I have no idea of the company each is from. As I was looking through the bag, I spotted the cork looking sheet and immediately put it aside. Further leafing, I found the other two papers and that sealed my "crafty" theme. 

I used the cork paper to stamp the Concord & 9th Crafty Turnabout stamp in shades to match the other papers. The focal scissors are from the C&9th Crafty die set, as are the 3 buttons , the top greeting is cut from the patterned paper and layered onto a long retired SU tag punch. The strip greetings are from Taylored Experssions.

Maybe a little "busy," but fun none-the-less. I used more of the TE strip greetings and another cut from the patterned paper on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a great Friday. For those of you in the path of the latest Nor 'easter coming tomorrow to the East Coast and New England, please stay safe and warm. (Even out here in Southern California, we are getting notifications about it!

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Crafty Turnabout set by Concord & 9th and Crafty Simple Strips by Taylored Expressions

Paper: Gina K Designs white layering, Kraft, Turquoise Sea & vellum, Stampin' Up Only Orange, Pink Passion, Silver & Early Expresso, stash patterned papers

Ink: GKD Charcoal Brown

Other: GKD Master Layouts 3, C&9th Crafty Turnabout dies, TE Strip dies, MFT Wonky Stitched circle die, Spellbinders Scalloped circle die, SU tag punch, kraft twine, Misti, Gemini Jr, Glossy Accents, SU Dimensionals, GKD Connect glue

You Make My Heart Smile

 Hello,

I finished my card, or cards, for this week's Paper Players Challenge yesterday. I say cards, because a great sketch deserves more than one card and I made several using Jaydee's sketch. I'm posting two now, since they use the same papers. 

For this first card, the main panel is made with an Altenew 3-D embossing folder. I don't own this one, but my sister does and when we were both visiting our mom during the summer, we each brought stamping supplies with us. She had a few of her Altenew embossing folders, so I just grabbed some card stock and made a bunch of panels. This is one of those. I cut it down to fit the sketch and then used white craft ink over the raised areas. The top piece I made yesterday with the Honey Bee Pineapple stencil and coordinating inks.

The sentiment is from one of my Altenew stamp sets. I cut it out with the oval dies in the GKD Master Layouts 1 die set, then trimmed it to fit on my card front. I used some SU black sequins cording across the line dividing the two panels, and also added some blackberry twine above that. To make the stamens, actually the anthers, stand out, I went over them with a white gel pen.

Here is the inside of this card. Sentiment is from a mini GKD set.

I didn't want the other pieces of the panels to go to waste, so I just reversed them for the second card and I like this one just as much.

The black postage stamp die is from another GKD Master Layouts die set and the embossed greeting is from a GKD mini stamp set. The black cording is again from Stampin' Up.

Here's the inside of this card.

I'm watching the Rafa semi-final match tonight as I write this. Hoping he keeps going. I also hope you all have a great Friday! Thanks for stopping by,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Gina K Designs sets You Get Me, Grateful Greenery Mini, Mini Blossoms & Snapdragon Build A Flower by Altenew

Paper: GKD layering weight white, Black Onyx, and Wild Wisteria card stock

Ink: GKD Wild Wisteria & Black Onyx, VersaMark, Hero Arts white craft

Other: Altenew Beautiful Bergenia 3-D embossing folder, Honey Bee Pineapple layering stencil, WOW white embossing powder, heat tool, Misti, Gemini Jr, Stampin' Up cording and twine, GKD Master Layouts 1 & 4 dies, white gel pen, GKD Connect glue, SU Dimensionals

Happy Valentine's Day

 Hello and Happy New Week,

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. I know some of you had some extremely cold temps, so hopefully you used that excuse to get in some crafting time. It was very nice here, weather wise. Warm in the mid-day, so I got in walks both days, and then some crafting time. We had dinner both Friday and Saturday nights with friends and played Five Crowns, a fun card game.

I have my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge, and I used the color them from the new Retro Rubber Challenge. It's a fun 50's color theme of pastels.

To make the background, I used ink cubes to smoosh ink onto a GKD heart stencil. I spritzed it with water and then turned it over onto a white card stock panel and made sure to press it down really good. After lifting the stencil, I dried the panel with my heat tool, then used blending brushes to blend the same three ink colors over the entire card. This is one of Gina K's 5 minute techniques. You can find it on her YouTube channel. She calls it a Bokeh technique, although she uses a stencil with circles. I think my heart stencil didn't have large enough openings to really see the water reactivity, but it's still an interesting look, so I used it.

The stamps are older sets from Lawn Fawn. The conversation hearts are colored with Copics in the Retro Rubber challenge colors. The Scalloped Square die is from MFT.

Here is the inside of the card.  This sentiment is from Taylored Expressions.

I'm waiting for the temps to get a little warmer here this morning, then I'll head out to the beach for a walk. My phone APP says it's only 49 degrees currently, so I'm waiting. It's bright and sunny thought! I hope you have a good day, and thanks for looking.

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: How You Bean and Conversation Hearts Add-On sets and dies from LawnFawn and Love & Hugs stamp set from Taylored Expressions

Paper: GKD Layering Weight white and Bubblegum pink card stocks

Ink: GKD Black Onyx, Bubblegum Pink, Innocent Pink and Red Hot, Copic Markers

Other: GKD Master Layouts 1 dies, My Favorite Things Scalloped Square Die, GKD Heart Stencil and blending brushes, Misti, Gemini Jr, Pink Baker's Twine,