Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Thistles

At Flourishes this week, they've given us an inspiration photo and asked us to create based upon this picture:


If you click on that pic and enlarge it, you can see the purple mums and cream-colored porch pillars that inspired me.


I used only one stamp:  the thistle from Stampin' Up!'s Nature's Pace.   With kraft ink, I stamped it across the card base, and then on a separate piece of cardstock for the focal point. 


Just think of all the possibilities with this clean layout and only one stamp.  Pumpkins, spiders, Christmas trees, pinecones, and so on.

This past weekend, my family and I visited with my friend and Play Date Cafe teammate, Andrea Ewen and her family.  We had dinner and hung out.  The kids all played together, the husbands talked about their shared hobbies, and Andrea and I sat in her craft room (no crafting this time, just talking).  I think we were there for almost 7 hours!  We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.   Andrea gave me a bag full of goodies from the sale at Ranger Industries she had attended that morning.  Thank you so much, Andrea, for your generosity!

Recently, I received a box in the mail from another Play Date Cafe teamie of mine, Jinny Newlin.  Jinny gave me a beautiful card and some stamps that she thought just looked like my style...and they certainly are! (I've had these photos for a while.....but did not get a chance to photograph the wonderful stuff from Andrea)

French themed - hooray!

Pure Jinny Newlin goodness!
Today I went shopping at TJ Maxx, and I found these DCWV large 12 x 12 paper pads for $5.99 each!!
Got two of these:

One of these:

And one of these:
(I had a very difficult time tracking down a photo of the cover of this pad, called Four Seasons. This is the best I could find on the web.)
I also got a couple of stamp sets, and even began Christmas shopping!

I'm giving myself a little shout-out for the two badges I recently won, hope you don't mind.
From The Paper Players for THIS card -


and from The Ribbon Carousel for THIS card -


And one more thing:  one of my cards was accepted for publication in Paper Crafts Magazine for the March/April 2012 issue!  (I also have one appearing in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue) 

Thanks for hanging in there for my VERY long post!  Have a great day!

Colleen

Stamps:  Nature's Pace - SU
Paper:  white - PTI; Basic Black, Crumb Cake - SU
Ink:  Crumb Cake - SU; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko
Other:  kraft seam binding - SU; pearl; Copic markers; dimensionals

23 comments:

LeAnne said...

Woohoo! You are QUEEN today!
You know that I cased one of your cards last week for our ColourQ 2nd anniversary, right? Maybe you don't! So you're a queen again!

Lisa Elton said...

First BIG CONGRATS & HUGS on all of your good news!!! Now about this card...BEAUTIFUL!!! Who knew a thistle could be so darn pretty!!! You made this one shine my friend :)

Benzi said...

Colleen, you are all over the place..congrats on the upcoming publications.
Your thistle card is BEAUTIFUL. And, I love that thistle...don't see that everyday.
Great buys at T.J. Maxx (The Maxster as I call it). And, what a beautiful card and goodies from Jinny. Dinner with Andrea...now that has to be fun.

Andrea Ewen said...

What a beautiful card, Colleen...and would you look at all those accolades coming in! There's no stopping you! I can certainly see why, your cards are always well-thought out, superbly accented and fabulously designed!
Can't wait to hang out again, next time we'll have to get an earlier start! Shootin' for 12 hours, baby! ♥♥♥

Bev J. said...

Congrats on all the good things coming your way and I love that thistle card-so pretty.

Donna B. said...

Oh Colleen - I love that card. It's just so pretty and purple is my favorite color!! Congrats on getting in Paper Crafts again - I'm a total PC 1 hit wonder!!!! But I keep trying. And big congrats on your 2 new badges - you totally deserve them! Love your new papers too :)

Ann Schach said...

Yowza! You are on a roll, Colleen! Congrats on everything!

Rosemary said...

what a gorgeous card... love that you focused on the purple instead of the "regular" fall colors... and congrats on all your wins and your pubs!!

Bonnie said...

Congratulations on your awards and being published again! I'm so happy for you! I love this card. The stamp set is on my list and the layout is such a winner! And I love the colors you used.

NanaConnie said...

Colleen, your thistle is so rich and elegant! Love the way you stamped the card base, too.

Linda Callahan said...

Congrats Colleen on all of your wonderful accomplishments! You are one talented lady!

Emily Keaton said...

This is such a beauty, Colleen! Elegant and classic. I love how you picked up your colors from the photo! And you really scored some awesome deals at TJMaxx. Good for you!! I'm drooling over your finds. :)

Erin (Homemade Cards by Erin) said...

Beautiful card and what fun to get crafty goodies from blogging pals, I'm confident you'll put them to good use.

Cindy Haffner said...

Simply GORGEOUS!~

Mona Pendleton said...

Those lavender flowers look so pretty Colleen! Love your take on the inspiration photo! Thanks for joining along with Flourishes!

Heather Rogers said...

Very pretty...I love how you pulled the purple. Thanks for playing at FTTC.

Sounds like you had loads of fun, and got lots of goodies. :)
Hugs~

Stacey G.-2 Craf-t-4u said...

So pretty Colleen! Love that you have that beautiful back round with the same stamp used on your top layer! Great new goodies too! I just got the luxury stack at TJ Maxx too, but did not see the others!

~Tammy~ said...

CONGRATS MY FRIEND!!!! All good news!

I can't wait to see what you create with your new goodies! Fun Fun!

TJ Maxx really....lucky girl! What a score!!! (like I need more paper...I can't find a home for the paper I have)

Congrats again love and I love your card! I got caught up in all the other excitement that I forgot to comment on your beauty you shared here!

Leslie Miller said...

There's so much to love in this post! First, the inspiration photo -- I'd love my front porch to look like that. Then your card is a CAS beauty! The subtle background stamping is so soft and lovely, and your coloring beautiful. The kraft ink and ribbon are perfect with the thistle! Then, there's Jinny's card -- thank you for sharing that pretty little treasure. You're a lucky girl with all those new goodies. Unbelievable that you got those gorgeous large paper pads at such a teeny tiny price! The prints are mouthwatering and I know I'm going to love what you do with them.

Erum Tasneem said...

Look at you, you lucky duck! I am sure you will make beautiful projects out of these fabulous goodies.
I loooove your card, it is SO gorgeous and SOO very elegant. A total beauty.

Jinny Newlin said...

Aw! You're just too sweet, Colleen! And I'm so glad that you love your goodies! Thank you, too, for featuring my card! I'm honored! And I adore what you did with the background stamping and coloring of those thistles. They're BEAUTIFUL!

Silke Ledlow said...

Colleen, your card is simple beautiful! Love this CAS design and how you stamped the background :) ! Thank you for playing the FTTC with us...hugs ~S~

Shirley said...

Where to begin! Your card is too too elegant for words! Jenny Newlin's card is lovely and Andrea's stuff is pretty great too!

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