Happy Holidays

Hi stamping friends,

I've been working on some more Holiday cards this weekend. I still have many more to go before I have enough made. Luckily, Kim has a great sketch for us at Freshly Made Sketches this week. I took advantage of it to make this holiday card. I love the little animals in this Winter Woodland Wonders set by Avery Elle!

This is a simple card and was a quick one to make. I love the color combination in this new SU DSP, and Kim's sketch is perfect to showcase it. I stamped the bear on X-Press It Blending card stock and colored the image with Copics, then cut it out with the set dies. It's popped up with dimensionals on a square cut from DSP with a small Die-namics Stitched Square die. The square is layered on Old Olive card stock cut with a Die-namics Large Fishtail Flag die. The small white, star-shaped snowflake is from a package that I found at Paper Source last year. I added a small clear rhinestone to the center for some sparkle. The sentiment is from the Avery Elle set and it's stamped with Old Olive ink.

For the inside, I used another of the Large Fishtail Flag dies and a sentiment from a new Christmas SU set.

I was gone all week last week working in Los Angeles and I'll be traveling again this week, but only Tuesday through Thursday. I'm headed to Colorado this week and hoping it's not too cold yet.

Thanks for stoping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Avery Elle set Winter Woodland Wonders and SU Snowflake Sentiments
Paper: SU Whisper White, Old Olive, and X-Press It Blending card stock and SU Merry Little Christmas DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, SU Old Olive
Other: Avery Elle Winter Woodland Wonders dies, Die-namics Large Fishtail Flag dies, Remarks Dimensional Snowflake stickers, clear rhinestone, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Peace On Earth

Hello,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I made Christmas cards both days, and got about 20 made. I usually make them all year long, but this year I didn't and so I really needed to get cracking, since November will be here next week. How the time flies by!

I got this SU stamp set called Carols of Christmas when it was released for demos to order. I have not used it since it arrived! I'm sure it was feeling very neglected. Linda has a great sketch this week for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and so I pulled it out and went to work. I kind of used a little "creative license" with the sketch by using the trees for the smaller circle element.

I started with some new holiday SU DSP called Merry Little Christmas and cut it to cover the whole card front. I love the olive green shade with black. It's very versatile. I heat embossed the sentiment with silver EP and cut it out with a Die-namics circle die. It's layered with a Spellbinder circle die cut from black card stock. The SU trees are cut from black card stock, and using a VersaMark pad, I inked them all over, then sprinkled glitter EP over them and heat set. I did this step twice to give it a nice thick coat. They are layered over the larger circle per the sketch. I used some new SU silver twine along the bottom of the horizontal element, and finished the embellishing with three red rhinestones at the top of the sentiment circle.

The inside uses a sentiment from another new SU holiday set called Hearts Come Home.

I really liked how this card turned out and so I made 9 more.

We are doing a Sunday neighbor dinner tonight, then I have to come home and pack for a work trip to Los Angeles. I'll be gone Monday through Friday this week.

I hope your week is a good one! Thanks for stopping in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: SU Carols of Christmas and Hearts Come Home sets
Paper: SU Basic Black, Old Olive and Whisper White card stock, SU Merry Little Christmas DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black and VersaMark
Other: Die-Namics and Spellbinders circle dies, SU Carols of Christmas dies, silver and glitter EP, heat tool, SU silver twine, red rhinestones, the Big Shot, dimensionals and mini-dimensionals

You Say Witch. . .

Hi again,

Here's my post with the second card that I made using this week's Sketch Saturday challenge.

The stamp set is from Simon Says Stamp and this sentiment gave me a chuckle when I saw it, so I had to order the set.

The patterned papers are Echo Park-Halloween. I cut some of the strips so the chevron points are centered, then placed them so that the middle strip is going the opposite direction than the outside strips. I used a TE grass border upside-down for another spooky element. The small bats and the moon are brads that I found in my stash. The hat is colored with Copics.

Here's the inside using another hat and sentiment in the SSS set.

Thanks again and have a wonderful Friday,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: If the Hat Fits set by Simon Says Stamp
Paper: SU Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive and X-Press It Blending card stock, Echo Park-Halloween patterned papers
Ink: SU Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Other: SSS If the Hat Fits dies, black rhinestones, halloween brads, the Big Shot, Dimensionals

I Love You More Than Candy Corn

Hello peeps,

It's Thursday evening already! This week seemed to fly by, but I'm good with that since it means the weekend is here shortly.  I've had a couple very long days that started very early, so I'm ready.

I'm playing in the Sketch Saturday Challenge today. I don't know that I've played along with this one before. Their sketch this week caught my eye as it looked like a great one to use some fun patterned papers.

I ended up making three cards using this sketch I liked it so much. Another just like this one, but with some SU DSP with candy corn, and one with a witch's hat that I'll put in another blog post.

I used Doodlebug patterned papers and Lawn Fawn stamps and dies, following the sketch just like it's drawn.

Here is the inside:

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Candy Corn add-on (to How You Bean? set)
Paper: SU Basic Black and X-Press It Blending card stock, tan velum, Doodlebug Halloween 6 x 6 paper pad
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, SU Pumpkin Pie, Copics, Hero Arts craft white
Other: Doodlebug enamel candy corn embellishment, Hero Arts white EP, heat tool, LF co-ordinating dies, the Big Shot, twine, dimensionals

When Witches Go Riding. . .

Hello,

Well, two cancelled appointments today and I'm home way earlier than I expected to be. Unfortunately, it means that tomorrow will be a long day making up the meetings in addition to my already scheduled work.

I've been making Halloween cards like crazy the last two evenings. For today's post, I'm sharing one that I made using this week's Paper Players challenge. Laurie is the hostess with a CAS Spooky Halloween theme.

I always have trouble with determining if something is really CAS. I'm hoping this qualifies.

I started off with a Whisper White panel and using a cloud stencil, sponged Distress Inks in Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone to create the "Stormy" sky. The witch's dress and sentiment are from an older Taylored Expressions set called Toil and Trouble. I love the spooky sentiment! I first stamped the sentiment on the sponged panel and then over the die cut moon (circle), matching up the letters for placement. The dress is stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Copics. I fussy cut it out and popped it up as if floating in the clouds. The bats are from a package of Halloween sequins.

Here's the witch's riding companion on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy hump-day tomorrow,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Toil and Trouble set by Taylored Expressions
Paper: SU Concord Crush, Whisper White, So Saffron and X-Press It Blending card stocks
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Distress Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone, SU Concord Crush
Other: Cloud stencil, sponge, Die-namics Stitched Circle die, the Big Shot, dimensionals, bat sequins

Warmer With You

Hello and Happy Monday afternoon to all,

I hope that the week has started off as a good one for you. I had a relatively easy Monday, but beginning tomorrow, work will ramp up for the rest of the week. I'm happy to say that by Thursday, I'll have one big project completed for a customer. That is always a great feeling!

Today's card, which I made last week, is for the Sunday Stamps Challenge. Bold and Beautiful is the theme this time with vibrant colors of blues and reds. I had just received some new products that I ordered from Simon Says Stamp and of course, I had to use some of it right away.

I stamped the Christmas Sweater background stamp using Cherry Cobbler ink onto the Real Red card base. I used my larger Misti stamping too so that I could ink it up several times to get good coverage. I saw on one of Jennifer McGuire's videos that you can use rubber stamps in the Misti by removing the foam pad. It works really well and I've used this technique many times since.

The snow family are from a Gina K set called Warmer With You. They are stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock, colored with Copics and cut out with the co-ordinating dies. I used a very liberal amount of Wink of Stella over them for sparkle. I stamped the sentiment onto a really old SU color called Bordering Blue, which is one of my fave SU shades, and used an Avery Elle heart die to cut it out. The enamel dots are SU. I used Nuvo white drops to add more dimension to the hats and ear muffs.

Here is the inside of the card:

This was a totally fun card to make!

Thanks for looking in,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: SSS Christmas Sweater background stamp, Warmer WithYou set by Gina K
Paper: SU Real Red, Bordering Blue, Night of Navy and X-Press It Blending card stock
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Pacific Point, Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Hero Arts white craft
Other: Gina K Warmer With You dies, Die-namics Stitched Oval die, Avery Elle Heart die, Lawn Fawn House Border die, Wink of Stella, SU enamel dots, Nuvo drops, Hero Arts white EP, heat tool, Misti Stamping Tool, the Big Shot, dimensionals

Ghouls Night Out

Hello,

I hope everyone had a fun, relaxing weekend. It was nice weather here in San Diego and I did some walking, and lots of stamping. I've been trying to get Halloween cards made in time to send.

Today's post is a Halloween card that I made using this week's Freshly Made Sketch #308. The sketch looks like a picture that's been snapped and that's the direction I went with it.

I pulled out this fun Lawn Fawn Halloween set called Booyah with it's coordinating dies and some old SU Halloween DSP called Motley Monsters. The images are stamped on X-Press It Blending card stock and colored with Copics. The sentiment is stamped in Tangerine Tango, and I added the #selfie/#friends stamps from the LF Elphie Selfie set. (It seemed fitting.)

Here's the inside:

Thanks for stopping by,
Colleen

Supplies
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Booyah and Elphie Selfie sets
Paper: SU Basic Black, Whisper White and X-Press It Blending card stocks, SU Motley Monsters DSP
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics, Tangerine Tango
 Other: Die-namics square, Wonky Stitched Rectangle, Fishtail Flags dies, LF Booyah dies, glitter Boo embellishment, Wink of Stella, the Big Shot, dimensionals