PaperArtsy Vases

Hi!  I am here with you today to share a card made with pretty supplies from Topflight Stamps.  A panel of watercolor paper colored with Lavinia Dinkles Paynes Gray became the backdrop for this trio of vases. To get that gorgeous gray-blue color, I sprinkled the Dinkles powder onto dry watercolor paper and spritzed with water several times, until the color created interesting pools of light and dark.  While it dried, I stamped some vases and one flower from PaperArtsy Scrapcosy 41 stamp set on white cardstock, colored with markers, then fussy cut them to arrange on the 'table'.  For the flourished corners, I used AALL & Create Festive Dies with some gold glitter paper.  Along the bottom of the 'table' (just some distress inked kraft cardstock) I stamped a sentiment from Crafter's Companion Thankful and Blessed that says, "sending blessings."  A perfect way to thank someone for their hospitality!

Supplies Used From Topflight Stamps Store:

PaperArtsy Scrapcosy 41

Crafter's Companion Thankful and Blessed

AALL & Create Festive Dies

Lavinia Dinkles Paynes Gray

Thanks for joining me today!

Hope you have a great day!

Blessings Abound

Happy Sunday, friends!

What a perfect day of the week to share these faith-full cards with you. 😊

Short supply lists are in each photo caption.

Verve 'Jeremiah 17:7' - Stampin' Up! flourish stampin' wheel (can't remember the name!), tan corduroy brad  - My Favorite Things Die-namics Traditional Tags die

Flourishes 'Garden Fresh' sentiment - canned goods and strawberry recycled from a calendar - patterned paper from Stampin' Up! 

Memory Box 'Scalloped Banner' dies - L'il Inker Designs 'Stitched Rectangle' die - Papertrey Ink 'Everyday Blessings' sentiment (Isaiah 41:13)

Papertrey Ink 'Everyday Blessings' sentiment (Ecclesiastes 3:1), 'Monthly Moments Mini Journal Card' die - K & Co. 'Julianna' patterned paper

Avery Elle 'Winter Wreath' stamps - Papertrey Ink 'Everyday Blessings' sentiment

I've got more cards to share with you all.  I photo-edited them all (from 2016 through several months ago - whew!) and loaded into blog post drafts.  Little by little, I can get the posts published to show you what I've been up to, crafty-wise. 

Thanks for coming by today!
God bless you, have a wonderful week!

Sunflowers, Daisies and Tulips

Hello there!  I realized as I sit at the computer to share these cards, each one involves scraps from the Stampin' Up! scrap bags I buy from my friend.  What I love about using the goodies I find in those bags is the special challenge it gives me.  Not knowing what my friend's projects looked like (for her SU stamping club), I have to pull together my supplies and come up with something worthy to finish them.

The first card was SUPER easy, because the whole focal panel was already stamped for me!  I mounted it on a pale gray card base, with an orange panel and gold mirror cardstock strip.

stamped panel from scrap bag, all SU supplies

The next one has a pale gray base, too.  I always have a stash of pre-cut, scored card bases ready to go, but when I run out, and all I have is pale gray...well, then you'll see lots of gray cards. 😉

Stampin' Up! sunflower, leaves - Papertrey Ink 'Keep It Simple: Sympathy' sentiment

The next card was a little more challenging for me.  This white panel had bright yellow and coral inks (and a tiny bit of blue) sponged onto it and a navy branch with berries stamped in one corner.  I started by matching up some Groovy Guava die-cut flowers and decided to go with Tempting Turquoise or Taken With Teal (can't remember) as a coordinating color.  I layered on the flowers, alternating colors and heights.  The house was stamped, trimmed and left in a black and white state to draw attention to it amidst the riot of color.

My Favorite Things/Die-namics 'Sensational Stitched Flowers' dies - Stampin' Up! 'Holiday Home' house stamp

As you can see by the next card, there must have been a few projects going on at my friend's stamp club that involved these colors!  The stamped panel came as-is, so I added the die -cut flowers, rhinestones, and tag with sentiment for a 'Congratulations' card.

Stampin' Up! 'Absolutely Fabulous' sentiment - My Favorite Things 'Sensational Stitched Flowers' dies

The last card began with a panel of gold/cream patterned paper, which for some reason reminds me of The Flintstones t.v. show I watched as a kid.  LOL  It had a square stitched frame opening, but it was not cut straight (which is probably why it was in the scrap bag! 😄).  I didn't want to waste any of the gold paper but cutting it down further, so I looked for a way to disguise the wonky opening.  I added the other piece of cream stitched square die cut center, putting it back in place basically, and then topped it with a garden of tulips that I stamped and hand-cut.  My hope is that they camouflage that opening.  I also put two ivory enamel dots near the bottom to draw the eye away from the center.

Blockhead Paper Arts 'Flower Garden' - gold/cream patterned paper from Stampin' Up!

Thanks so much for your visit, and God bless you!  Have a wonderful day!

Give Thanks for Autumn

Hey there, hi there, ho there!  We're approaching Thanksgiving in America in just a few days. I have plenty to be thankful for. Every night at dinner, after we say grace, my family and I each say one thing we are grateful for. On a particularly hard day, when it might seem like there's nothing to be thankful for, we can say simply that we are grateful for the food in front of us.

I made this Thanksgiving card in a rather eclectic fashion. :-) I was actually trying to use up some scraps that were on my work table, and this design emerged.

The leaves were fun to make, using Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves dies and oodles of Distress Ink sprays.

The sentiment and tag are from Papertrey Ink's Tiny Tags collection, and the wreath die is also from Papertrey Ink.

I've had some time this evening to edit a batch of card photos.  I'm putting together a post to share right after this one goes live, so you can see a bit of what I've been up to, creatively speaking!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Falling Leaves on Pumpkins

I was playing around with Distress Ink Sprays one day, and came up with this beautifully-mottled background. In order to keep it part of the focal point, I added sparing details:  stamped pumpkins, a sentiment, and a few stamped leaves. Then, I surrounded it with an embossed frame.

The pumpkins (Stampin' Up! Autumn Harvest) were stamped on lined paper, inked with Distress Inks, then trimmed out and placed on the background. Sentiment is from Inspired By Stamping's Little Phrases.

As you can see in the picture below, I stamped the leaves (also from Autumn Harvest) directly onto the background, and then once on lined paper, trimmed out and popped up on foam tape.

This was such a joy to make! I love autumn, my favorite time of year. And as I get older, I appreciate the profound meaning of our Thanksgiving holiday...but my heart has thanks-giving in it every day of the year. My life is full of blessings from above.

Thank you for coming by today!

Beaded pumpkin on a table

Available at Arts Plus Gallery 

How gorgeous is this beaded pumpkin sticker?  Yes, it's a sticker! I added a Baked Brown Sugar twine bow to it, and set it on a "wooden table" in front of some plaid "wall paper". (I like to envision a scene as I create, and translate it with my papercrafting supplies)

The sticker is from Jolee's Boutique, which I bought at a JoAnn's store a few years ago.  I love it! So much texture with all those microbeads.

On the top corner of the card, I added a paper maple leaf and a die-cut acorn (Top Dog Dies Fall Foliage), to which a little bit of gold paint was dabbed on.  Oh, the plaid paper was from a bit of packaging from a Pier 1 Imports candle, and I mounted it on a white cardstock panel. That panel received the gold treatment too:  I ran my Krylon 18kt Gold Pen along the edges before adhering to the card base.

The interior of the card was left blank, so it can be used for an autumn birthday, or Thanksgiving, or 'happy fall', or whatever!

Thanks so much for joining me here today.
May your day be filled with blessings!

Giving Thanks with a bucket of apples

Any crafters out there remember this bucket of apples stamp? It's from the Stampin' Up! set called Give Thanks.

Though I do like new stamps (who wouldn't?), it gives me an even greater pleasure to use older stamps. They feel like "buried treasure" to me.

The already-stamped-and-colored image was in my box of Unfinished Objects (my friend Bonnie's term). I die-cut it with a Deckled Rectangle from Spellbinders, and gently inked the area around the bucket with pale linen ink. Due to photo-editing, that subtle ink just about disappeared. 

I used my sewing machine for a bit of stitching along the top edge of the card, added a tiny sentiment tag, two singular sequins, and a string of sequin 'ribbon' under the main panel.

This card is part of my Thanksgiving 2015 Collection. Maybe most folks think of cornucopias and turkeys when it comes to Thanksgiving, but a rustic metal bucket of apples is a different, unexpected take.  The bright red, subdued orange, and bright citron papers echo the apples' colors, and inject a modern feel to a very traditional holiday.   

Stamps: Give Thanks - Stampin' Up!; sentiment - Wonderfully Whimsical - Papertrey Ink Paper: white - Papertrey Ink; Ruby Red - Stampin' Up!; orange pattern - Mariposa Stack - DCWV; citron pattern - Whisper - Colorbok Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Antique Linen - Ranger Fibers: gold sequin 'ribbon' - Stampin' Up!; vintage thread Accessories & Tools: Copic markers; Deckled Rectangle die - Spellbinders; Double Embossed Dotted Lace border punch - EK Success; sewing machine; thread; gold sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; Pierced Traditional Tags die - My Favorite Things

Autumn, framed

Hello everyone!

Had some fun with Distress Ink Sprays by Ranger not too long ago, and this is one of the resulting cards.  I LOVE how this turned out! I started with an ivory card base, and hit it with bursts of color. While it dried, I stamped a Fancy Frame from Glitz Design, and trimmed it out. The subtle patterned paper behind the frame was from some saved packaging. Those Tattered Leaves (Tim Holtz) are made of coffee filters, which also had been sprayed with Distress Inks. I made a bunch of leaves earlier this summer with coffee filters and have them on hand to use as needed. 

The Verve sentiment says it all, though I have taken to giving thanks every day of the year, not just on the Thanksgiving holiday. Life is much better with an attitude of gratitude! 

I added a small piece of gorgeous gold braided trim, snugged up underneath the sentiment panel. A scattering of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh dressed everything up.

Our computer is having fits again.  It's slow, sometimes it just shuts off while we're in the middle of using it - with no warning. Very frustrating.  We've got to make due with it for now, too many expenses hitting. 

Thanks for coming by!

Stamps: Fancy Frames - Glitz Design; sentiment - Happy Fall - Verve Paper: white, Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; coffee filters; pattern - packaging Ink: Early Espresso - Stampin' Up!; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: gold trim; cream twine - American Crafts Accessories & Tools: Distress Ink Sprays - Ranger; Bronze, gold, Espresso sequins - Pretty Pink Posh; Tattered Leaves die - Tim Holtz / Sizzix

Wrought Iron Gothic Window

Hey, yes, you're in the right place!  I was just trying something different...

It all started with the sentiment tag from Stampin' Up!'s You Brighten My Day.  I had stamped a few on white cardstock, then hit 'em with assorted Distress spray inks from Tim Holtz/Ranger.  In fact, you've probably already seen another card on my blog using this tag.

So, the vibrant colors were my jumping-off point, and lying on my desk near this tag was a snippet of an old store-bought greeting card, whose orange color seemed perfect (along bottom of card).  Then out came a ruby card base, and that made me think of bricks, so out came the embossing folder, which made me think of a city wall, so out came the window and flower box dies.

Originally, I had planned to put the sentiment tag inside the window frame, but it didn't look right. The idea of wrought iron popped into my head, so I used a flourish die from My Favorite Things to achieve it.

And what's a flower box without some greenery?  My Martha Stewart Branch punch got a good workout here.

Kind of a long-winded way to explain my card, but I wanted to explain the thought process on this "un-Colleen-ish" card!

Stamps: You Brighten My Day - Stampin' Up! Paper: snippet of old greeting card (along bottom of card); Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Basic Black - Stampin' Up!; white - Papertrey Ink Ink: assorted spray inks - Ranger; Whisper White - SU; Black Soot - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukienko Fibers: twine - Creative Impressions Accessories & Tools: Fancy Flourish die - My Favorite Things; Gothic Arch Window & Small Flower Box dies - Memory Box; Branch punch - Martha Stewart; red rhinestones - Queen & Co.; Bricked embossing folder - Tim Holtz/ Sizzix 

Something To Be Thankful For

Hello!  Isn't this the best sentiment??  It's from Stampin' Up!'s You Brighten My Day.  (I used another cute sentiment from the set in a card on Wednesday; you can see it HERE.)  

I think the overall design has a Thanksgiving-ish feel to it, but I'd love to give it at any time of year. There truly is something to be thankful for every day.

In the background, you can see the Hardwood stamp from Stampin' Up!, a new-ish purchase for me.  Then, I layered on bits of a salvaged store-bought greeting card (the orange, red, and glitter), and a fun tag.  The tag is from a friend, and it had some buttons attached to it, though not these, and also the satin ribbon.  I strategically covered the holes with vintage buttons and the sentiment, which had been colored with Distress Ink sprays by Ranger.  Had received a bunch of them for Christmas, and this is the first time I played with them.  

Very thankful YOU dropped by today!  Enjoy your weekend!

Stamps: You Brighten My Day, Hardwood - Stampin' Up! Paper: Close to Cocoa - SU; white - Papertrey Ink; orange, red, glitter strip - salvaged from an old greeting cardInk: Frayed Burlap - Ranger; Chocolate Chip - SU; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade spray inks - Ranger Fibers: wavy jute rick rack ribbon - TJ Maxx Accessories & Tools: tag with satin ribbon from my friend; vintage buttons; topaz rhinestone - Recollections

Loving lavender!

Welcome!  It's no secret that I love purple, if you've followed my posts for some time.  I don't always reach for it in crafting, but when I do, I get a little thrill.

I found a card with this sketch in one of my older issues of Papercrafts Magazine, and earmarked it. It's simple in design, but those two rounded corners give so much more interest.  All supplies used are at the end of the post, but I want to point out the sentiment:  it's from Verve's Joy For The Journey.

I love this sentiment!

Stamps: Joy for the Journey - Verve Paper: Pale Plum; Wild Wasabi - Stampin' Up!; white - Papertrey Ink; damask - Luxury Stack - DCWV Fibers: lace Accessories & Tools: assorted roses - iamroses.com; Branch With Leaves die - Sizzix; corner rounder punch - Fiskars

In everything, give thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

I'm thankful for YOU.  =)

Enjoy your holiday weekend!  See you soon.

Stamps: Happy Harmony (sentiment), Autumn Splendor - SU