Baby, Baby

Nothing more exciting then finding out a friend is pregnant!!! Such an exciting little miracle! This is my first card in like a year! I Took some time off for my own pregnancy and now birth of my sweet daughter! But with this exciting news it was time to celebrate by making a card! Everything is Stampin up minus the heart and rhinestones...

Mojo309

www.mojomonday.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Colleen G.

I hope that's where my wrinkles show...

YEEKS was this a ROUGH layout for me. I think it is because I started with the wrong paper in the wrong places and then just couldn't pull it together, so, tore it apart and flip-flopped the green paper and the colorful one, resized them. Then used the leftover for the long skinny rectangle piece. Then I had too much green at the top... grabbed the perfect stamp and WALAH- Here it is!!!! :)

Week 4 of the Viva La Verve contest on SCS. Didn't think I was going to be motivated to play, it's been one of those weeks, but today is a me day....

OH, Hey now, leave some love if you came all this way! ;)

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

Friendship

Nothing sweeter then this sweet stamp from Inky Impressions. This is the second card I have done for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. Thought it would fun to pull out the copics and give it a whirl.

Recipe:

Stamps from Inky impressions

Copics

Tim Holtz spray and ink

Stampin Up butterflies and twine

Paper is Basic Grey

Enjoy!

Colleen G.

The Journey!

The sentiment is a random stamp from one of the big box stores... a fave of mine. Such a reminder that life takes us places and we experience things that forever change us.
Sometimes I look at a card and it just makes me smile... this is one of those. The patterned paper (Bo Bunny) is just fabulous. I originally bought it thinking I would use it for Smash booking, but that never came around, AND I am so glad I decided to just dive in and tear it apart. FUN paper!!!!
This card is for week 3 of the Viva La Verve June Sketch... more details on SCS.

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

Undeniably YOU

Loved this stamp set by Unity since the day I got it... such a fun dressform and cute sayings... My first official rosette too. Borrowed the Tim Holtz die from a friend. Cute to use... Hard to stick! Working on the best way to get them to stay put...

This is for Week 2 of the Viva La Verve June Sketch Challenge.

Recipe:
Unity Stamps
Tim Holtz Distressed Paper
SU Button and Perfect Plum Paper, Twine

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

LIVE THE LIFE

FUN FUN FUN!!!! Loving 6x6 paper pads. I think this will be my new obsession for awhile, gotta get to the store and BUY MORE!!!! HA! So I did something crazy! Thanks to a good friend I worked on a sketch and am going to enter for my first design team... YEEKS! I never would have dreamed of doing this a year ago, but here's to wishing and a good attempt. The sketch is from this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, you can view details here...
After I stamped the words they didn't quite fit, so decided to cut them up and then paste them on, LOVING how it turned out! TH fabric flower is one of my faves to use, so fun to color them the right color too.

RECIPE:
Paper is Tim Holtz and Bo Bunny
Stamp is Tim Holtz

ENJOY!
Colleen G.

VLV - Week 1 - Courage

LOVE this stamp set... and how fitting it seems. It has felt great to get all my supplies back it, It felt like Christmas searching through it all and finding things. I was even confused to why I owned some of the stuff I had and what it did again. HA - it's only been like 8 months, WOW 8 months! Here is my take on the sketch for Week 1 June 2012 VIVA LA VERVE Challenge.

Recipe:
Verve Stamps
Basic Grey Paper

Enjoy!
Colleen G..

First card in a long time...

I recently just reconnected with a friend who was the first person to take me to a Stampin Up meeting. And so I made this for her, we all know I am terrible at sending cards out, but this one just might make it. Hoping to get to start spending more time in my Stampin space, or lack thereof...
So nothing better then a little mojo monday to get me back in the swing of things.

DIY Coat Hanger

This is one of my favorite projects so far - I found these 5 cabinet door fronts at a thrift store for $2.50 - bought some paint, painted them and then sanded and distressed them. Then I found the knobs for $4.50 - TOTAL PRICE $7!!!!!!!! With the help of my hubby we put it together!!! Love how this turned out and how fun it was to create something and see beyond the white boards -

Burlap Wreath

I just finished making this burlap wreath yesterday! LOVE IT! Last weekend I bought the plumbers foam stuff and was hoping to use that for this wreath - but with sticking pins in it and it being hollow in the middle, I didn't think it was the best idea - I was terrified of pins falling out and Jayden finding them, or some other kid - SO I went back to Michaels and bought the expensive foam wreath (with a coupon of course). I found this on pinterest and gave it my best shot... for some reason my bubble's look nothing like the one I saw, but that's okay... I am a big fan! Here is the link to where I saw it first... I plan on making floral arrangements to attach to it for each season... haven't dabbled in florals yet, so I may need to phone a friend... :)

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

VLV July Week 4

Viva La Verve! The final sketch. This is for week 4 of the VLV Friday sketches. Both the heart and swirly frame are stencils I have that I traced and cut them out... YEAAAAH for stencils! :) Loved watching this card come together. I love that ribbon on the bottom and the rolled flower was made out of Very Vanilla Ribbon, SOOOOO CUTE! (a touch of hot glue and a burnt hand). 

Happy Hotness!!! :)

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

MOJO 200

So my favorite part of this card is the background.... I MADE THAT - well, with stamps of course.. they are Glitz Stamps and totally new to me!!! LOVE Them--- Going to have a fabulous time playing them, I have a total of 10 diff designs. :) The other thing that was kinda fun, was the stitching, first time I have used that stitch, and I think it went well with this card. 

Another Mojo Monday - They are celebrating their 200th Mojo Anniversary! Offering some random prizes! Always fun to play along... and be inspired by the design team! The Circle with the bird and branches is from a cricut cartridge, not sure which one as I used it at a friends house.  Sentiment is from Verve Stamps - TFL

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

Get Your Diva on -

This is the first time I have participated in the Get Your Diva On Challenge by Verve Stamps. You had to take a store gift card and be inspired by that to make your card. Well lets just say this was EXTREMELY hard for me, to take something flat and put dimension to it, and not to have a plain card, and not know if a sketch would look right, I had this vision of using the dress form as the guy, so I started there (would soooo much rather follow sketches) LOL - but hey it's how I will learn right!

So anyway, I only had a DSW gift card in my wallet and it was super boring, so I googled some of my fave stores, and ones I have had in the past and this is what caught my eye....

And this is what I came up with.... 

I started with stamping the Tim Holtz dressform, then used a stencil on the side, Then used a mask and sponged over it, then added the purple strip and sewed, then stamped the No. 5 then had a heck of the time figuring out how to attach the key, I didn't have any black twine, so I found this wire and just scrunched it and threw it in there... Overall I think it works... what do you think????

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

Courage...

Ah, I just love this phrase! So many things I want to do and try... and it is so scary to get out there and even try... this phrase just screams at me and gives me hope that it doesn't matter if I fail... it just encourages me to TRY. Just give it shot!  Who cares what others think! I just wanna be me!!!!!!!

This is for Week 2 of Viva La Verve sketch you can see more details here  . Had so much fun using colored thread to stitch this together. I just picked up pink and orange the other day! Glad I did!!! On the bottom of the card layered over the pink is tulle! Pretty sweet, eh! :) Hope your having a great Sunday. To see how I did the background read my previous post here. 

Recipe:
Stamp: Blue Skies-Verve
Ink - Early Espresso
Paper - Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

MOJO198 - Dance in the Rain

I am taking a Beth Moore bible study about David - We just talked about how David was so excited to be carrying home the ark of the covenant successfully and was rejoicing in the Lord and just starting dancing uninhibited before God. It was joy he had and faith and hope in who God was... even when things didn't go David's way, most of the time he learned to dance in the rain... 

Now if only I could embrace life's moments of rain... and JUST DANCE. :)

Now onto the card another MOJO MONDAY There is still time to play head on over to see some fabulous work. It is hard to see the sewing on the card, but I used a new stitch down the middle, I really liked how the stitching turned out... if I knew I was adding black to the card I would have used that. BTW -I am loving these butterfly's & how everything looks shimmery with my new Ranger Pearl mist!!!

NOTE to self: White Ribbon will melt if using heat gun! :)

Recipe:
Stamps: Blue Skies-Verve
Paper - Baja Breeze DP
Ribbon, Whisper White, Rose Red

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

Hello Butterfly

So much fun! The center butterfly paper is TH Kraft resist paper. LOVE this! You can color it any color and get an amzing design. the Butterfly on bottom left is from Blue Skies, by Verve Stamps. The butterfly was saturated in Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist...(which is amazing and my new fave!) 
Designed for VLV JULY Week 1 sketch. 


Enjoy!
Colleen G.

VLV June 2011 Challenge

It's been about 2 years since I played in the Friday VLV Challenge (Verve Stamps). I remember not really playing again because I was sooooo awful! I still have a long way to go, but finally feel like I have it figured out and can get something accomplished a whole lot quicker!!! 

 Love this stamp set every time I use it. Love that there are no faces to color or hair!!! :) Used SU water color paper to stamp the image on. The flower is on grunge board and inked with the refill ink and then a little bit of Paint on it to give it some texture. 

Week 1 

Recipe:

Stamp - Unity Stamps: Rain or Shine

Paper - Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry

Flower - Fun Flowers Die Cut

So Burlap is pretty much my favorite. I bought a light color to dye it with the Tim Holtz Distressed Stains. I love everything about these stains!!! I will own every color one day! 

Week 2 Recipe:

Stamp - Verve Stamps: Blue Skies, Tim Holtz heart stamp

Paper - Rich Razzleberry, Not Quite Navy, 

Burlap - Ranger Distress Stain: Blue Jeans

Butterfly - SU sizzlets

Love this card. Nothing but paint - used a Tim Holtz stamp set, can't find the name of it.... but I just love that this is all me, my art, my take. Just me! Will keep trying to perfect this! 

Week 3 Recipe:

Stamp - Tim Holtz Stamp set

Ink - Ranger Pain Daubers

Paper - Taken with Teal, Early Espresso

So I received my first Verve Stamp Set this week. I have not been a big fan of Acrylic stamps as I find most stamps are not quality and don't leave a clean crisp image. WELL these are just fabulous and work fabulously with all my ink.  I will def. be purchasing more. The flower again is on grunge board and painted with the Ranger dauber, I was impatient and heated it dry and it gave a lot of texture! Love when mistakes work out great!!! 

Week 4 Recipe:

Stamp - Verve Stamp: Blue Skies

Paper - Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy

Leave some love!!!

Enjoy!

Colleen G. 

Book Covers

I fell in love with this card  from Julee at Poetic Artistry - She then linked a video that she followed which is by JournalArtista - it is a 2 part video - isn't she amazing. So watch both. Which that then inspired me to make these:

Dress form was a foam Stamp by Donna Downey. Flower is die cut from Stampin UP - Used lots of paint and Tim Holtz Distressed Ink and Stains (PS I LOVE the new stains, absolutely fabulous). The plate was in a drawer, I think it came from my sister.

I used the SU word Window punch to to punch out for the date. I used the SMASH stamp. Loving this whole idea of a smash book and journal book. Not sure which will be which or how many more I will make. I am just loving this. This one I Mod Podged everything to seal it.

What are your thoughts? Leave some love.

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

MOJO 195 & a little bitta TIM!

So I am from the suburbs  of Chicago and that makes me spoiled... I can drive to any store I want within 20 minutes... BUT now I am in a small town with 1 craft store, and it's def. not my favorite one. UGH!!! Driving to Louisville is about 45 minute drive and requires planning and seems more like a field trip to find the other stores! :)

Anyway - the store in town just started carrying new FUN products and that makes me have fun!!! :)

Enjoy!
Colleen G.

So here is where I started

So yesterday I started with this card, but wasnt sure and went to bed. Today I did the other card, and then decided I might as well try finishing this. I got the sentiment and then sewed. Yesterday my sewing machine was sewing upside down... like the design was on the bottom I think this was because of the bobbin being upside down? Anyone know if that was right? Anyway, today it worked. Love sewing on cards. But sooo scary to do it and not worry about ruining it!!!

Circle flower under my tutorial tab.


Enjoy!
Colleen G.