Liebster Award!!

Wow, I am so very HONORED to see that Kathy  nominated me for the Liebster Award!  I do not know her, but I am very familiar with her work from the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge . Thank you so much...I am so incredibly surprised by this notice!
You all must stop by Kathy's blog Stamps at Play and see the wonderful work she creates!
Here are the rules for the nomination:

1. Be sure to thank the blog that nominated you and be sure to link back to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions that the blogger asked you.
3. Nominate 11 of your favorite blogs with under 500 followers and ask your own 11 questions.
4. Make sure to let each blogger know about your Liebster Blog nomination on their blog (leave a comment and link back to your Liebster Blog post).

Here are my answers to Kathy's questions: 

1.  How long have you been crafting? As far back as I can remember I have always loved to color with crayons, and then my mother taught me to sew, so I loved making clothes, especially when I had two daughters, and my husbands "Nana" taught me to knit when I was in college, then I started painting on material, then it led to paper crafts and after discovering rubber stamps first, I am now in love with the clear stamps (so much easier to place images on the page!)

2.  What's your favorite product? Oh, can I just say I love Papertrey stamps and dies?  I have a lot of them!
3.  How much time do you spend each week making cards and things? Probably way too much time, but what is a retired person suppose to do?

4.  What are your favorite challenges to play in? Of course I faithfully do the Merry Monday Challenge, and the Festive Friday Challenge too, I enjoy the Make it Mondays for PTI, and I have a whole list of others on my sidebar that I try to get to as often as possible.

5.  If you were to learn a new technique, what would it be? I think I would like to learn how to use the distress inks more and even the markers.

6.  What got you blogging? My first blog was started to share things with the family, and to post pictures and also for a way for me to remember things *wink, then when I learned about challenges and maybe prizes, I jumped right on getting a card blog up and running!

7.  Where do you get your inspiration? I think most of my inspirations come from the many designers on different teams and all the other blogs that I go to, WOW, there are so many talented and gifted people out there!

8.  If you could only use one stamp set and one die, what would they be? it would probably be a flower stamp and a leaf die.

9.  What advice would you give someone just starting to craft?  First I would probably have them come over to the house and "play" with me...use my paper, and products and then give that person some links to my favorite blogs and challenges and tell her/him to just have fun!

10. What's your favorite color combo? it changes, but I am loving aqua mist, spring rain and berry sorbet ( all Papertrey colors!)

11.  Tell us one thing about yourself that people would be surprised to know.  I use to run races...like 5K's!!  Ha, can't see me doing that nowadays, maybe that is why my knees are so bad!!

 Here are the blogs I like to visit, I hope you will stop by and congratulate them too!

 

Linda: http://linscraftcorner-linda.blogspot.com/

Lindsey: http://occassionalcrafting.blogspot.com/
Pat: http://patqcards.blogspot.com/
Kay: http://willtradesleepforstamps.blogspot.com/
Brenda: http://inkspiredtostamp.blogspot.com/
Greta: http://ggnursecreations.blogspot.com/
Polly: http://creatingwithspirit.blogspot.com/
Nina: http://ninascardart.blogspot.com/
Erin: http://erintaylor718.blogspot.com/
Marcia: http://marciasstampinpad.blogspot.com/
Anja: http://scrappietoo.blogspot.com/


 

 

Here are the questions I would like you to answer:

1. Tell me your favorite three stamp companies.

2.Do you enter challenges?  If so, what are your favorites?

3. How long have you been making cards?

4. What is something you cannot live without in your craft arsenal?

5. What is your style of card making?  (CAS, layered, shabby chic, etc)

6. If you could visit one place in the world (and money was NOT an issue) where would it be?

7. What do you do with all the cards you make?

 

That is all, I will let you go and get busy, and if you need to know what this Liebster Award is all about you can go HERE and read all about it...I have only run across this a couple of times and never really knew what it is all about.  It is about paying it forward and giving honor to those who taken the plunge in this world of blogland have a small following, and maybe I have helped to give you some new visitors to your blog and thereby, giving you more opportunities to check out others and learn from them!  Thank you again Kathy for this honor!

 

Go out and make it a great day!

Heart Hugs to you all!

Colleen

 

 

Seize the Birthday ~ No toppings

Welcome back to Seize the Birthday!!

Today there are NO extra toppings,

"Anything Goes" for your birthday card this challenge

I really like these balloons from Fresh Squeezed Stamps: Life of the Party!

It just seems like they are floating away...

I love how the ribbon tails are designed.

I used some really fun colors for the balloons:

PTI: melon berry, summer sunrise, terracotta tile, berry sorbet, and orange zest!

I also used Lil' Inkers Stitched mat rectangles.

And the sentiment is a fun font from Stamps of Life: Pinwheel

 

I hope you will join me and the rest of the design team and ink up some birthday cards to

Seize the Birthday Blog

please go check out their amazing cards for your inspiration!

 

 

 

The party lasts until Tuesday, March 11! 

go out and make it a great day!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

 



 





Merry Monday # 97

A lovely color combination for this week's challenge over at the

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge .

I made my own stencil with the "merry" from PTI Holiday words,

laid it on the paper and then put some Viva Ferro Silver embossing paste over it.

I had to be sure to adhere the two little pieces in the "e"...but then I was all set!

It is really pretty and shiny and has a bit of texture to it.

The Silver Bell is from Lil' Inkers. 

The stars are some silver confetti that I bought at Micheals.

 

I hope you will play along and get ahead of your Christmas stash!!

 

thanks for taking a look!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

PTI February Blog Hop

The monthly Blog Hop is going on over at Capture the Moment and this is the inspiration photo:

I loved the soft pastel colors in the photo.

stamps:  Friendship fillers:  Spring, Bells & Boughs, Beautiful Blooms II

dies:  Rustic Wreath

Inks:  some distress inks (for the wreath), winter wisteria, harvest gold

copics

 

 

Thanks for taking a look, we have sun and wind today!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

The card Concept # 4

 the Card Concept  challenge this week is a floral theme.

I pulled out the Sweet Life and Mega Gracious Vases.

I think I would still consider this to be Clean and Simple.

I added some dots from here for the roses to just give a little dimension.

 

PTI stamps:  the Sweet Life, Mega Gracious Vases, Beautiful Blessings

ink:  sweet blush, berry sorbet, spring rain

 

Thanks for taking a look...

we have sunshine!!

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

  



Festive Friday # 25

A fun inspiration photo over at Festive Friday :

This is a Hero Arts stamp...stamped with pure poppy on a Lil'Inkers stitched mat.

I tied a little twine to hold the ornament.

You still have until next Wednesday to enter this challenge.

 

Thanks for taking a look...

we are getting lots of rain...

good day to stay inside and play!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

MIM # 152 Second card with layering dye and pigment inks

I had a few requests for sympathy cards,

here is another one for this Make It Monday Challenge.

I stamped the background basics:  text style with white pigment ink

To hurry along the process, I dried it with the heat gun.

I stamped the flower from PTI Flower Garden with pure poppy and the leaves

with ripe avocado. 

the Sentiment is from Boutique Borders: Sympathy

 

I think I might try this one more time using a different background.

 

Thanks for taking a look,

have a great short week!

Heart hugs,

Colleen

MIM # 152 Layered Dye & Pigment Inks

Over at Capture the Moment , Heather Nichols has a video showing this technique of layering dye ink over pigment ink,also known as velveteen stamping.

I took the Polka dots Basic II set and stamped it up the page using white pigment ink.

Then using winter wisteria, spring rain, and spring moss, I stamped the Beautiful butterflies.

you can see the dots come through the dye ink...a nice soft look to the butterflies.

 

I had a great weekend watching my 12 year old granddaughter play volleyball at the San Jose convention center this last weekend.  There were 149 teams in the 14 and under division.

Her team took 4th place!

We took a tour of Santa Clara University...and had to have a picture on the court.

As a team we also walked the Stanford campus.

I loved watching her play and step up her level of play!

Now I need to catch up on my sleep!!

 

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

 



Merry Monday # 96 ~ HOLLY~

I won the Guest Designer spot on Feb.10, so here is my card for this challenge.

I was asked to create a card with holly on it.

I took it a step further and added a Holly Jolly sentiment too!

If you want to play along, you can go HERE

There are awesome "holly" cards to inspire you by the team, so be sure to go

and check it out and get ahead of your Christmas cards this year!
A HUGE thank you to the ladies who voted for my card to be the winner,
I am honored!

Stamps:  PTI Holly Jolly, Polka Dot # 9, Holiday Spirit Sentiments
ink:  ripe avocado, pure poppy, versamark
 gold embossing powder, Lil' Inkers stitched mat
paper: select white, pure poppy, gold shimmer




 

The Card Concept #3 Monochromatic Pink Challenge

You still have a few days to play along with this challenge, it ends on Monday Feb. 17 at noon PST.

The challenge is to use pinks!

You can go HERE to access this challenge.

stamps:  Lil' Inkers Stay Beautiful

dies:  Lil' Inkers stitched hearts. MFT stitched squares

paper:  sweet blush, hibiscus burst, raspberry fizz, white

 

Make it a good Holiday weekend friends!

 

Heart Hugs,

Colleen



PTI Building Blocks Day 9 Card 2

This is how the die rolled this second time:

1. hawaiian shore

2. Berry sorbet

3.New Leaf

4.kraft

5. congrats

6. watercolor

7. glitter

8.baker's twine

and the sketch is number 2

 

I do not do well with watercolor...and can you believe I do not have a congrats die? 

 how did that happen?

so I embossed with aqua zing to make it pop a bit...

 

stamp:  Bigger Bloom

 

Not my favorite, but then I don't do well with an "artsy" look!

 

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

 



PTI Anniversary Day 9 ~ Building Blocks

Oh what fun today at the PTI Anniversary Challenges.  Each team member has six numbered selections for a specific *Building Block* category.  Roll a die or use a random number generator to select which item number you will need to work with from their list.  This is what I rolled:
1.dark chocolate
2. raspberry fizz
3.summer sunrise
4. fine linen
5. Just Because
6.generation stamping
7.adhesive pearls
8.embroidery floss

I used Bigger Blooms and did some generation stamping, which means you stamp once, then stamp again to get a bit lighter shade.  My sentiment was heat embossed on dark chocolate, even though it looks black in the picture!  I think I am going to roll the die again and see what I can come up with!
Thanks for taking a look...I won't be able to participate in tomorrows activities as I am heading to San Francisco with my older daughter and my granddaughter for a big volleyball tournament in San Mateo and San Jose...it should be fun..we will have a the afternoon to roam around and see some sites! 

Seize the Birthday ~ Hearts or Love

In honor of Valentines Day our "toppings" option is hearts or love, but still with a birthday theme.  You must check out what the design team has for you because there are some awesome cards by these talented ladies.  It just so happens my DH has a birthday on the 23 of  this month, so I made this card for him.

Using a Simon Says Stamp stencil:  Falling Hearts, I added a drop of Hawaiian shores reinker to Wendy Vecchi embossing paste and applied it to the card base, just on the two sides as I knew I was going to add a center panel.  I embossed the sentiment with Zing leaf powder and the heart with aqua Zing powder.  Simple, I know, but he is a simple kind of guy!

HEARTS/LOVE

topping option

                                    
                                

This challenge will run until Tuesday, February 25, 9 am PST, remember you can always choose to just make a birthday card, but if you want to add some toppings, add some love and or hearts to your card!  Go check out the challenge over at Seize the Birthday!!

 

Festive Friday # 24

Festive Friday has a really pretty picture for the inspiration challenge.

I pulled out a Hero Arts set that had lots of snowflakes and an ornament, it doesn't have a name as it was a demo product that I won.

What I saw in the picture was lots of white and gold and twine and also some pinecones.

The design team has some awesome cards for your inspiration too.

I think this challenge is getting ready to end, so better hurry if you want to join in the fun!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen



PTI anniversary Day 7 ~ Stripes!

Day 7 of the Anniversary Challenges is all about stripes.

I used BB Super Stripes in spring moss, winter wisteria and lavender moon.

The flowers are all from Bigger Blooms with a little wink of Stella added for some shine!

 

Can you believe this has taken me all day and into the night to make one card...

Okay I confess to taking a nap after sitting for hours

and not making one thing to show for it!

Well, I do have scraps of things to show for it...

you know all sorts of stripes that overlapped or didn't match, or left too much space in between...

you get the idea...

I managed to salvage this one, so this will be it for the night.

I think I will go watch some Olympics now.

 

the rain is back

the snow is melting

it was fun while it lasted

 

Heart hugs,

Colleen

Merry Monday ~ use an animal

This week the Merry Monday ladies are looking for an animal on the card.

If you want to play along go Here to Merry Monday  

and check out all the inspiration!

stamps:  Lawn Fawn Winter bunny, PTI BB Evergreen, Paper Smooches: Motifs

dies: same as above plus the hills die from PTI

SSS falling snow stencil

Wendy Vecchi embossing paste

PTI Day 6 ~ Words Card 2

Another "word" card for the 6th day of anniversary challenges.

Stamps:  Birthday Style, Wonderful Words:  Birthday

die:  Birthday trio, fabulous Frames

ink:  winter wisteria, spring moss, lavender moon

 

I die cut the birthday using some masking paper, I laid it down first.

then I started stamping the balloons all over the word, above and below it. 

When I was done with all the balloons, I lifted up the masking and VOILA!

There is the word
birthday!

 

Happy Birthday again, PTI!!

Thanks for so many fun challenges this year!

 

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

PTI day 6 ~ words ~

Today the focus is on a "word", my word is of course, "birthday"! 

stamps:  Wonderful Words:  Birthday, Tremendous Treats:  Birthday, Autumn Pattern Pieces

Paper:  select white, aqua mist

inks:  aqua mist, Hawaiian shores, spring rain

copics

 

I hope you all are playing along with all the fun challenges going on at

Capture the Moment !!

Happy 7th Birthday PTI!!

So much fun over at the Papertrey Blog...every day there are new challenges and chances to win $$!

Today they are asking us to make a birthday card for THEM and then mailing it to the warehouse so all the employees that package up our stamps and dies can see how much we appreciate all their hard work and diligence in getting the shipments out promptly, right??

 

so this is a BIG thank you and a bigger HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Heart Hugs,
Colleen



HAPPY BIRTHDAY PTI!!

I am one of those not so clever people with computers, I know there is a way to have your pictures all on one post, but have them separately be posted...well that isn't going to happen, so here I am with the card I made for PTI!

 

thanks for taking a look!

have a great Sunday!

Did I tell you we had freezing rain late yesterday on top of all our snow?

Well, you can imagine everything was glistening and shiny and treacherous ..even our Pastor cancelled two of the daily masses and told us to make our own decision if we can make it or not.

Well, since I live on a hill, it would not be great to go out and end up in a ditch on the side of the road...besides, no way am I driving in anything like that!

Sure is fun to see it through the windows of the house!

 last night ....you can almost see the glistening snow...and there is a

deep pond right there, but it is totally filled with ice and snow!

this is the "drift" I have mentioned...it follows the edge of a patio path and the grass...it is about 3 feet deep now!  and it is a sheet of ice on top...talk about treacherous.

 

Heart Hugs!

Colleen

ATC # 7 4th day challenge

 I used two different washi tapes and then a sentiment from Script Sentiments

ATC # 6 for day 4

Another Heart 2 Heart ATC card..

ATC continued...# 5

A sweet little ATC 3 x 4...using the Heart 2 Heart # 4

ATC Cards for PTI 4th day challenge

This card is for the PTI Trading Card Challenge.  It is 3 x 4, rounded corners this time.

I used the Autumn Pattern pieces for the bottom portion and the Heart 2 Heart balloons .

Pretty simple and easy...I discovered the Heart 2 heart stamps are good for this size card!

Another ATC card for the 4th day of Challenges at PTI

I used the Doodlie-do set again and embossed the flower with red zing and the leaves with leaf zing powder, the sentiment was embossed with the black zing.  I colored around the embossing with copics, stitched around the edges and added a back layer.

 

I am going to keep going because I am home bound due to SNOW!!

It is so pretty and we are getting so much of it...you know that the rain will come tomorrow and then we will have floods everwhere.

The sad thing about all this wonderful snow is that it is so dry, we can't even make a snowball let alone a snowman.

But the kiddos have been having fun sledding!!

 

Heart Hugs!

Colleen

Another ATC card for Day 4 Challenge

I used a piece of lemon tart paper cut to 3 x 4 and I embossed the image from

Doodlie-do with white embossing powder, then colored in with some copics.

I ran my sewing machine around the edges then applies a backing piece to the card.



ATC Tading cards ~ PTI Challenge

It sounds like there is going to be a Monthly Challenge over at Papertrey called:

The Monthly Moments Trading Card Challenge.

The card needs to be 3 x 4, flat, no folds, but you can embellish it, layer it, stamp it, any way we wish.

here is my first one...pretty easy peasy.  Layered the love die cut onto some valentine paper, added another little sentiment and I call it good to go!!

Thanks for taking a look!



PTI Color & Sketch Card # 7

Phew, finally did the last card for the 1st day of sketches and color combinations.

I used Daydreamers and the sentiment is from Doodlie-do.  The inside says:  Wish Big

because those flowers remind me of "whishers"...you know when the dandelion goes to seed!

 

Off to make some more!

Heart Hugs,

Colleen

 

 

 

 



PTI Anniversary color and Sketch Card # 6

Feather Finery has been sitting on my desk waiting to get inky, today is the day!

Here is the color combo and sketch that I used:

 

fillable frames die cut # 4,

fillable frames # 1 sentiment

 

Wow, do we ever have snow...we have drifts up to TWO feet deep!! ha ha!

 

Heart Hugs!

Colleen

PTI Anniversary Color & Sketch Card # 5

I am getting through the sketches and color combos!  Slowly but surely!!

I have an awesome granddaughter (well, I have 6 awesome grandchildren), this one

lives next door to us and she is such a great athlete we love to watch her play basketball

and of course volleyball which is her first love.  That girl can make 3 point shots like you wouldn't believe!  And one BB game there was only 4 seconds left of the game with the score tied, she stole the ball and shot from CENTER  COURT and made it for the win!!  I was thinking of her when I made this card.  And the other awesome thing is she always comes over and asks "Papa" to give her more VB lessons, or to take her to breakfast...and they go and just chat forever. 

It surely does warm my husbands heart!


stamps:  Super Stars