Birthday Cards

Hello all,

I hope that the week is going well for you. I'm enjoying some relaxing days doing some crafting and some reading. If the weather is sunny again tomorrow, I may spend a few hours at the beach. The mornings have been foggy but the afternoons have been fairly sunny, typical July weather in San Diego. 

For my post today I have two birthday cards because I have several friends with July birthdays. Truth be told, my birthday is this weekend.

My friend LeAnne, who I believe also has a birthday this month, is the hostess with a fun color challenge this week for The Paper Players.  The colors are two of the new SU "in-color" shades for 2022-2024, Parakeet Parade and Tahitian Blue. I used a SU set from last year, along with the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder system to make my card.

I stamped the smallest flower from the set in a tight circle working my out to larger circles with the larger flowers. The darker ink shades are made by building layers of ink. (I'm a little disappointed with the Tahitian Blue ink as it is really bubbly. Not sure if it's a function of the sponge ink pad or if the ink pad is just too wet.) The color is really pretty though.

The original stamped panel was 5.75 inches square. I cut it down to 5.5 by 4.25 for an A2 card and used part of the cut pieces on the inside. The inside sentiment is from Honey Bee.

The color challenge for the second card is the current Monthly Mix Challenge from the Gina K Designs blog. This month's theme is black & white with a pop of color.  I actually used black and Ivory with a pop of rainbow color.

Stamps are from the GKD Beautiful Bees stamp and die set and I made a full size SlimLine card.

This is a fairly simple card. I stamped the flower image several times randomly over a half sheet of Ivory card stock, colored the tips with Copics using rainbow colors then cut out the panel with the GKD Master Layouts 10 - SlimLine die set. The bees and sentiment are from the same stamp set.

I added another greeting from the same set with a bee on the inside.

 

Happy Hump Day tomorrow, and thanks for looking in.

Colleen

Supplies-Card 1

Stamps: In Bloom  set by Stampin' Up, Inside Birthday Greetings by Honey Bee

Paper: SU Thick Basic White

Ink: SU Tahitian Blue, Parakeet Parade, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Misti, Gina K Designs Wreath Builder set, SU In-color embellishments 

Supplies-Card 2

Stamps: Beautiful Bees, Little Garden Silhouettes, and Bitty Botanical Mini sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: Gina K Designs Black Onyx, Ivory card stock

Ink: Gina K Designs Black Onyx & Embossing Ink, Copics, 

Other: Misti, GKD white embossing powder, heat tool, Gemini Jr, GKD Master Layouts 10, Tayfored Expressions black enamel dots, SU Dimensionals

Wishing You The Loveliest Day

 Happy Sunday peeps,

I'm finally back home after spending five weeks at my mom's house. It was a great visit with mom and my sister, who came for two of the weeks that I was there. Northern California temps are HOT this time of year so I'm enjoying the more moderate coastal temps here at home.

I'm also enjoying having all of my craft supplies available. I usually take a few things with me since I spend so much time there, but occasionally, I'm wishing for something that I know I have at home.  

For this post, I have a card using a new stamp set and new DSP from Stampin' Up's July-December Mini catalog. The sketch is this week's Freshly Made Sketches.

It feels strange making a Fall themed card this time of year, but I loved this new Hello Harvest stamp set and the new plaid DSP. The yellow plaid paper and the Cajun Craze mat are cut with the Gina K Designs Master Layouts 3 die set, and I colored the flowers and sentiment banner with Copics.

I had originally cut the plaid card stock in a larger square so when I cut the smaller square, I had a nice border that I used here on the inside. The HB sentiment is from another SU stamp set called Lovely & Lasting and the flower is an image from the Hello Harvest set.

Enjoy your Sunday evening! Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Hello Harvest and Lovely & Lasting sets from Stampin' Up

Paper: SU Basic White, Cajun Craze card stock and Gingham Cottage DSP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Cajun Craze, Copics

Other: SU corresponding set dies, GKD Master Layouts 3 dies, SU rhinestones, Gemini Jr, Misti, SU Dimensionals

Let Your Heart Be Light

Happy Hump day peeps,

I'm still visiting my mom in Northern California. I decided to go ahead and stay through the July 4th holiday weekend, then I'll head home.

When I drove up, I brought just a few stamping supplies with me, but, I had my July Mini Catalog and Sale-a-Bration Demo pre-order mailed to mom's house so I would have new "goodies" to play with. I packed the card stock and inks to match the colors in the new DSPs, so I am all set to make a few holiday cards.

For Joanne's sketch at the Paper Players challenge this week, I used some of the new holiday sets and papers and made two cards using her sketch. 

This first card took some time to make. While the sketch is pretty simple, I used a circle die that cut the DSP apart and  then I pieced everything back together. I think it was worth the time, but I probably wouldn't mass produce this card. Most all of the supplies are from the Lights Aglow Suite. Only the heart die is non-SU. Side note, I was unsure about the Succulent shade of green for a holiday card, but it works beautifully.

Making the second card was just the opposite, nice and easy, and quick.  Besides the card base and black matting, it is made using the memories and more card pack from the Santa Express Suite. One card is used for the background and another I cut up to make the horizontal greeting element.

While I had the Santa Express supplies out I made two more holiday cards. This suite is super cute! If you look closely, you will see two new embossing folders in the backgrounds. I added some light blue ink prior to running them through my die cutting machine. The stamped images are colored with colored pencils, the only coloring tools that I have here.

Have a great day! Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stampin' Up Santa Express and Lights Aglow Suites including DSPs, stamp sets and corresponding dies.

SU Basic white and black, Soft Succulent, Very Vanilla card stock, Gina K Designs silver card stock

Memento tuxedo black ink, SU Pool Party ink

Prismacolor colored pencils, Gamsol, Big Shot, Misti, Gina K Designs Master Layouts 1 & 2 die sets, SU dimensinals

Birthday Wishes to You

 Hi and happy weekend,

Another birthday card for my stash. I made this card using two of the current challenges, the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and the colors blue and green from Color Hues. I've used mostly pastel shades from Stampin' Up of Mint Macaroon and Pool Party. The stamp set is from Gina K Designs and is a Lisa Hetrick designed set. I love her floral drawings.

 

All of the stamped images are from the Choose Grace set except the sentiment. That is from the GKD stamp set called So Many Sentiments. The dies and embossing folder are all from GKD as well. Instead of coloring the vase, I decided to cut it from colored card stock and dry emboss it for added dimension, then used the same EF for the horizontal strip under the focal rectangle elements.

On the inside, I stamped the Bamboo along one side and added the sentiment to a flag die cut.

Have a relaxing weekend. Thanks for checking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Choose Grace stamp set with dies by Gina K Designs

Paper: SU Pool Party, Mint Macaroon and Basic White card stock

Ink: SU Mint Macaroon & Tahitian Tide, Memento tuxedo black

Other: GKD Master Layouts 1.2 & 4 die sets, GKD Double and Single Stitched rectangle dies, GKD Lattice Embossing Folder, Misti, Big Shot, SU In Color enamel dots

You Don't Look A Day Over Fabulous

 Happy Sunday peeps,

It's been a relaxing day of stamping and baking, more chocolate chip cookies. They are Yummy if I do say so myself.

Jaydee is our hostess for this week's clean and simple challenge at the The Paper Players. She has chosen a theme of One Layer Card. I was happy to comply with a pretty floral stamp from Altenew and some rainbow ink blending.

Starting with a top folding card base of SU Shimmery White card stock, I masked off the edges using 1/2 inch strips on both sides and the top and a one inch strip on the bottom, then ink blended a rainbow background using blending brushes.  Using my Misti stamping tool I stamped the large floral image using Gina K Amalgam black ink over the rainbow background. The sentiment was stamped after the masking paper strips were removed.

The inside is very CAS as well with just a Gina K Designs sentiment. 

A super quick, one layer, CAS card, and kind'a cute too.

Hope your week ahead is a great one,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Fragrant Florals set by Altenew and So Many Sentiments set by Gina K Designs

Paper: Stampin' Up Shimmery White card stock

Ink: SU Real Red, Altenew Marigold, Altenew Fresh Lemon, Altenew Parrot, Gina K Designs Blue Lagoon and Amalgam Black 

Other: Gina K Designs Masking Magic, Blending Brushes, Misti

Make A Splash

 Hi to all,

Celebrating summer with Clair's color challenge at The Paper Players with Red, White and Blue. I recently got some new Lawn Fawn supplies including this Pool Party set and dies, the Stitched Pond dies and the Stitched Ripple background cover plate. It all makes for a fun summer card.

The pond is cut from white card stock and colored using a blending brush and blue ink pad. I used a heavy application of Nuvo glitter gel over the surface, but as usual, the sparkly effect doesn't show in the photo. 

The rest of the images are stamped with black ink and colored with Prismacolor Colored pencils.

For the "sand" background I used a piece of kraft card stock and an SU embossing folder.

On the inside, the greeting is from the same Pool Party set and the palm tree is an older LF die.

Wishing you all a Magical summer! Thanks for looking in,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: Pool Party set with dies by Lawn Fawn

Paper: SU Basic White, Black, Real Red and Gina K Designs Kraft

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Real Red, Altenew Blue

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Ripple cover plate, Lawn Fawn Stitched Pond die, Lawn Fawn Palm Tree dies, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Gamsol, SU Embossing Folder, Nuvo Clear Glitter pen, Misti, Big Shot, SU mini Dimensionals, Connect Liquid glue

Hello Friend

 TGIF all,

I'm visiting my mom in Northern California for most of the month of June, and per usual, I loaded my car with some crafty supplies to use while here.  This trip, I brought less that I usually do, but I did do a SU Demonstrator pre-oder from the new July-December mini catalog and had it shipped to her house. My goal is to get a head start on my Holiday cards. (Christmas in July, LOL.) I packed card stock and inks to match the new DSPs in the order, so I should be all set. 

For today's card, I used some of the other things that I packed and made a card that works for the current Paper Players, Freshly Made Sketches,  and Color Throwdown challenges.

I love this new Embossing Folder from Gina K Designs. The detail is beautiful and it embosses very deeply. I used it on three panels of card stock, SU Vanilla, SU Parakeet Party, and GKD Kraft. I trimmed the green and kraft at angles and used liquid glue to adhere them onto the Vanilla panel. I trimmed this down and cut a black mat, and glued it all onto a Vanilla card base.

I stamped and die cut the small pears from the GKD One Day at a Time stamp set. The set has an image of small dots, so I used that to add color to the pears instead of coloring them in. For the sentiment strip, I liked it angled rather than straight, so I went with it.

The inside of this card uses more images from the same GKD set, but with a greeting from another. Like on the front, I left the pear uncolored, opting for a stamped image for color, but I did use colored pencils to shade in the leaves and branch.

I hope your weekend is a relaxing and fun one. My sister is driving down from Portland, OR tomorrow to spend the next week with us. I'm really looking forward to that. Later today, I'm going to stir up some chocolate chip and ginger cookie doughs and bake them off tomorrow. 

Speaking of baking, when I got to mom's house on Monday, we went to a nearby strawberry patch and I got a box of very ripe berries and made fresh frozen strawberry jam. On Wednesday, I made a lemon meringue pie using freshly picked lemons from mom's tree. I call it "kitchen" crafting.

I'm happy to report they both turned out pretty yummy!

Thanks for looking in, and have a great Friday,

Colleen

Supplies

Stamps: One Day At a Time and Succulent Spray sets by Gina K Designs

Paper: GKD Kraft, SU Vanilla, Black, and Parakeet Party card stocks

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Parakeet Party, GKD Kraft, Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Other: Tapestry Embossing Folder by GKD, SU green enamel dots, Big Shot, Misti, SU mini Dimensionals