Merry Christmas!

I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas!
Enjoy...

Again?

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted! We have been busy with soccer tournaments (my son's team advanced and will play in the state tournament this weekend!), then we went on a wonderful vacation to the Great Smokey Mountains (the picture in my new blog banner is one I took while we were in Cade's Cove) and since we have been back, we have all had a yucky cold!



The card I have to show you today would be a fun card for a good friend. I used the cake image from My Cute Stamps Birthday Numbers set and added the "29" on top of the cake (the number candles are included in the set). The cake image doesn't actually have a face on it (the face is from another set called Sweet Kawaii), but I thought the little winking face would be perfect for this playful card. The sentiment "again?" was made using Doodlebug mini rub-ons. I got the idea to add the "again?" after seeing a card Debbie Olsen did a while back. I don't think you can tell from the photo, but I used my linen and canvas impression plate by PTI on the large white panel to keep it from looking too plain. Hope you enjoy-thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink-paper, ink, ribbon, impression plate, button, twine.
My Cute Stamps-stamps
Copic markers, Doodlebug rub-ons and nestabilities

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! Here are the last of my Halloween cards.



And this one was made by my sweet little girl!

Halloween Stickers

I found the dimensional Halloween stickers used above (haunted house,bat,skeleton) at Michael's last year. Because the stickers are dimensional and so detailed they make a great focal point. Stickers are also quick and easy if you are mass producing cards! The sentiment on the first card is by Amuse and the "trick or treat" rub-on on the second card is by Imaginise. Cardstock and ink by Papertrey Ink and Stampin Up.

Spooky...

Hello again! I had intended to post most every day in October, but some things came up this past week that needed attention, and the blog got put on the back burner. I am back tonight with a card that uses the PTI anniversay set called Everyday Classics. It is a cute set that is perfect for birthdays and everyday, and with a little tweeking, can also be used for Halloween! I used the teacup image, but inked only the cup part-omitting the handle and it became a bowl! I then stamped the cherry (omitting the stem) in a few different colors and then drew in the little triangles on either side of the cherries making them look like pieces of wrapped candy. I finished off the treat bowl with some adhesive rhinestones and added the spooky, green monster arm sticker (from Cosmo Cricket's Haunted line). I like how it looks like the arm is sneaking in and reaching for a piece of candy! The sentiment is from PTI's Spooky Sweets 2 and the patterned paper is by Bo Bunny.

Papertrey Posse October Parade of Blogs

As I mentioned before, I am the October hostess for the Papertrey Posse blog. For our Parade of Blogs challenge, I asked everyone to use their Halloween stamps to make a piece of home decor. Here is the inspiration for my project-the lable on my Bath and Body Works soap dispenser!

I used the idea of a haunted house to make this little wall plaque:

I used the house from Boards and Beams and stamped it on a piece of Smokey Shadow. I then used my gray (C1, C3, C5, C7) and black copic markers to color and shade some of the house. I then used a yellow and orange copic to color in the windows. It doesn't show up super bright, but instead makes it look like there is a soft glow coming from the inside of the house. I finished off the house by adding a little ghostie in the lower left hand window. I painted him on with my Shimmerz Blinz paint in Pixie Dust. Next, I stamped the tree from Falling Leaves (I masked it and only stamped part of the tree so it would be in better proportion with the house)and added the fence. The stars were made using Black Diamond Stickles and the bats are from Spooky Sweets. I just stamped them on shrink plastic, cut them out and shrunk them! I finished the project off with a sentiment from Spooky Sweets 2. I really like how this project turned out and I would love to know what you think!


PTI:Stamps-Boards and Beams, Spooky Sweets 1 & 2, Falling Leaves
Paper-Smokey Shadow, Summer Sunrise, Bitty Box Basics in Summer Sunrise.
Ribbon-Summer Sunrise
Making Memories:Black paint(scrapbook colors)
EK Success:moon and stars punch
Nestabilities die, stickles, shrink plastic, black adhesive pearls, copic markers, modge podge and shimmerz paint.

100th post!

Do you know what today is? My 100th post! I have been blogging since February, but I still can't believe I am already at 100. Anyway, I have another card tonight using pieces from the Boo to You collection by My Mind's Eye. I just love the big eyes on the pumpkins and the bat, especially the largest pumpkin-he looks really scared!

Easy Decor

Last year I found this candle holder (already filled with a pumpkin pie scented candle) at Wal-Mart for a few dollars. They had them in several colors, but I thought the orange one would make a perfect pumpkin. I brought it home and added the fun little pumpkin face rub on by Stampin Up. Super simple and a fun little halloween decoration! Hmm... I wonder if they have some this year in white so I can make a ghostie?!

Smell My Feet

(click to enlarge)
Very simple card tonight. I cut a strip of patterned paper (halloween buckets from American Crafts), layered it with a purple mat and then a stone mat and adhered it to the black/white patterned paper (We R Memory Keepers). I then added the rub on sentiment (Stampin Up) and a few tiny, adhesive dome stickers to one of the buckets.

The Count

Isn't this little vampire adorable?! He is from the Boo to You collection by My Mind's Eye. I thought he would go perfectly with the "blood donor" sticker by American Crafts. I finished off the count with a little jewel on his bowtie and paired him with some Halloween star patterned paper, also by American Crafts. Thanks for stopping by!

Bucket of treats!

For tonight's card, I used PTI's Boo to You set and made a Halloween treat bucket. I then added some little candy rub-ons from the Hallowhimsy line by Imaginisce. The sentiment is also a rub-on from the same collection.

Cutest little witch

Just a quick little card today. I used a sticker by Heidi Grace from a collection called Halloween. I mounted her on a piece of True Black cardstock so she would stand out and paired her with some houndstooth paper by October Afternoon. I then finished off the card with ribbon, some buttons and a bit of yellow floss. Very simple and easy card, but one of my favorites!
(click to enlarge)
Heidi Grace sticker
PTI cardstock and button
October Afternoon patterned paper
Basic Grey button
Stampin Up ribbon
yellow floss

Welcome to my laboratory...

Tonight I have a little project to show you that I made last year. I found the containers below at Target in their Halloween section. When I bought them, they were filled with candy and the test tubes contained some kind powder and goo. Most of it was gross (when the kids won't even touch it, you know it's bad!) so I dumped it out and repurposed the containers. I used PTI's Spooky Sweets 2 to make some vintage-ish labels and tags and then filled my containers with black feathers, spiders, eyeballs, a mini skeleton, and tiny bats. I think it makes a fun piece of Halloween decor and is very simple to make. I like to put little decorations all throughout the main part of our home and this one is perfect for the kitchen window sill. If you are interested in even more Halloween inspiration, check out the

Craft Critique's Halloween Blog Carnival!

Pink Pumpkins

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am the October hostess over on the Papertrey Posse blog. For our first petite challenge, I challenged the girls to make a Halloween card using the following colors: true black, plum pudding, hawaiian shores, and raspberry fizz. For my card I used the tree from PTI's Falling Leaves and one of the sentiments from Boo to You. The row of pumpkins is a stamp from the Blackbird collection by My Mind's Eye. I love that little row of pumpkins-for some reason it reminds me of the pumpkin patch from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

While I probably won't use this color combo for anymore Halloween cards, it was fun to step away from the usual and traditional Halloween colors and try something new.
If you would like to play along with the Petite Posse color challenge, head on over to papertreyposse.blogspot.com and check it out! Thanks for stopping by!

Let the Halloween Party begin!

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Anyway I am back now and I have a lot of fun Halloween projects and cards to show you. I am not sure why, but Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year to get crafty. I hope you will join me each day this month as I share something fun and spooky! Since I didn't get my act together yesterday, I will be sharing two cards today. So without further ado, let the party begin...




Both of these cards were made using pieces from the My Mind's Eye Boo to You kit (from last year). I love all the pieces in this kit, but that black cat is my absolute favorite! I also used stamps from PTI(faux ribbon), Amuse (sentiment) and My Cute Stamps (Oooga Boooga). Thanks for creeping by!

Potions

Last halloween jar card for while, I promise!



PTI-stamps: friendship jar, fall fillers
ink:true black, tea dye duo
dies-jar label, jar, jar banner
impression plate

Stampin Up-cardstock:kiwi kiss, concord crush

Copic Markers

Cute little spider

I detest spiders (the real ones), but this little googly eyed guy is quite cute. Spiders don't bother me so much in stamp form!


PTI stamps, ink, and cardstock
Martha Stewart border punch
Imaginisce patterned paper and rub-ons

Eat at your own risk!

Back to the jars agian! This card was inspired by one that Debbie Olson made recently. After I saw her candy corn jar, I wanted to make one of my own. For the main panel I used the jar and the candy corn filler from Fall Fillers. The label on the jar is a stamp from Spooky Sweets 2 cut out with an oval nestabilities. On the cream panel, I used the spider and web from Fall Fillers and the sentiment is from Spooky Sweets 2. I also randomly stamped the cream panel with Text Style in chamomile (from tea dye duo) for added interest. The Smokey Shadow base is stamped with Library Card and several more images from Spooky Sweets 2. Notice anything off about my card? After I had the candy corn all colored and ready to go, my son came in pointed out that I had colored them in the wrong way. It is supposed to go white, orange, and yellow on the bottom. Oh well, I spent way too much time coloring those suckers, so I used them anyway!

Too Cute to Spook

I still have a few Halloween jar cards to share, but I thought I would give you a little break and share something that doesn't involve a jar-it is still a Halloween card, though! I recently discovered a line of stamps by Claudia and Co. called Puddlejumpers that are adorable. The one pictured below is called School Time Lucy. ETA: I bought this stamp through allthatscraps.com, but they are also available at diecutsrus.com
Since I have been in a Halloween mood, I looked at her the other day and thought she would also make a bewitching (haha) trick or treater! So I ommited her stack of books and paired her with PTI's Tiny Treats:Halloween (pumpkin, bat, and sentiment). The purple polka dot patterned paper is from a new line by American Crafts and my orange cardstock is stamped with PTI's Text Style in Versamark Dazzle ink.

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by!
Cardstock-white(PTI), pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss (Stampin Up)
Ink-black (PTI), kiwi kiss (Stampin Up)

Gone Batty

Yes, another jar! This time I filled it with the cute little bat image from Tiny Treats: Halloween and some stickles. The patterned paper is by American Crafts (black) and Imaginisce (orange). The sentiment is from PTI's Halloween Tags.

(click to enlarge)

Jar of Ghosties

I have another Halloween jar card to share today. I stamped the little ghosts from Tiny Treats:Halloween then cut them out and adhered them to a dark jar cut out of Smokey Shadow. I wanted the jar to be dark so that my ghosties could glow-I just used some yellow chalk to to get the look. The fabulous patterned paper is by Pink Paislee, I just added the sentiment and the spider webs in the corner. The ribbon is sewn on and then I added some fray check to the back of the stitching.The fray check soaked through the paper and ribbon and added a nice little dark spot to the front of the card. A fun addition I hadn't planned on! Speaking of the ribbon, it is actually black and white so I just used by tea dye duo to darken it up. Hope you enjoy!

Witch's Brew

Hello again! Where have I been? Playing with my new Fall Fillers set-love it! I already have 6 Halloween cards to show you using this new set. I was going to wait until closer to Halloween, but I really don't want to wait. So, here is the first one..(click for a larger view)

For this card I used the origianl Friendship Jar set to make the "brew" and used a small circle from Beautiful Blooms 2 to add the bubbles. I then stamped my library card image and made and ingredient list using Library Ledger, several different words from the Friendship Jar series, and a few images from Spooky Sweets 2. I made the label with a stamp from Tiny Treats:Halloween. I am very happy with how this card turned out. I think Halloween cards might be my very favorite to make! What types of cards are your favorite to make?

Stamps: Library Ledger, Friendship Jar, Fall Fillers, Tiny Treats:Halloween, Spooky Sweets 2, Beautiful Blooms 2, Text Style all from Papertrey Ink.

Paper and ink: Kiwi Kiss and Rich Razzleberry (Stampin Up), True Black, White, and Smokey Shadow, Tea dye duo (PTI)

Jar and label die: PTI

Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee

Goo Border Punch:Martha Stewart

CPS sketch #5-Superhero

Just a quick post today. Things have been busy around our house. So busy in fact that I forgot all about PTI's blog hop last night! No, I didn't just forget to post, I didn't even have anything made. I had forgotten to even look and see what the challenge was for this month! I did look through some of the participants blogs, though, and there are some fabulous projects made with paper bags!

I used CPS sketch #5 for today's card:

And here is my take on the sketch. I am having trouble with my photo editing software-I can edit, but not save which does me no good! The chipboard stickers are form Michaels and the shiny red paper I found at Hobby Lobby. The pattened paper is retired Stampin' Up. Thanks for looking!

Get Well Soon!

My PTI goodies came in the mail today and I started playing immediately. I've had an idea in mind since I saw the little monster stamp on Betsy's blog during the countdown. While he is a very cute monster, I thought he would also make an excellent "germ". I saw an idea like this some time ago using a set from Cornish Heritage Farms (I think) and a jar, but I don't remember who made the card. For my card, I put the monster in the jar from Friendship Jar and added the sentiment with my Doodlebug rub-ons.

Since this card would obviously be going to someone sick, I thought I would also make a little tissue holder to go with it. I was inspired by Betsy's felt monster and I have since been looking through some books for ideas. I found a book at Michael's that had a little felt tissue holder with eyes on it, and figured I could make my own pattern at home. I thought "he" also needed a mouth so I added that on. The turquoise and cream felt are PTI, but the red and black are just some that I had from years ago. You can so tell the difference in quality between PTI's felt and the other felt!

Here is a picture of the card and tissue holder together. I think this little gift would definitely bring a smile to someone's face!

CPS sketch # 4-Paradise

Woo-hoo! Used even more of my stash for this card. The chipboard stickers are by Me and My Big Ideas and the sun stamp is PTI. The little rub-ons that spell "welcome to" are by Doodlebug.

Papertrey Posse August Parade of Blogs

Keva,our August hostess, challenged us to create something using our favorite technique or to try a new technique. Before I show you the technique I chose, I want to show you a bracelet I have had my eye on (and one of the reasons I chose the technique I did).

Isn't it cute?! This bracelet is by Fossil and they have several styles and colors of leather bracelets. I particulary love this teal one with the rhinestone bird. I have been waiting for it to go on clearance, so I can bring it home with me! Which brings me back to our challenge. When Keva issued our challenge, I went to splitcoaststampers.com and looked through their resource page and guess what I found-- this tutorial for grungeboard bracelets by Beate Johns! www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/grungeboardbracelet
Now I can make my own bracelets while I patiently wait for a good sale. I didn't have any of the grungeboard that is already embossed, so I took my plain grungeboard and ran it through my Cuttlebug with my PTI Woodgrain impression plate. I then painted it teal and applied a gloss varnish once the paint dried. I looked in Michael's for a hitch fastener but couldn't find one. But, it just so happens that I had one on a bracelet that I already owned. The nice thing about hitch fasteners is that they screw on and off. So, even if you only have one, you can switch them back and forth between bracelets any time you want. I was also hoping to find a cute rhinestone bird charm at Michael's, but no luck there either. So I just used a button I had and added an adhesive rhinestone to it with Crystal Effects.

You can see the texture a little better in this photo:

When my little monkey saw what I was making, she decided right away that she needed a bracelet, too!

For her bracelet, we used the Sunshine Impression plate to add texture and then painted it green. Instead of adding a button to the center, I used the Beautiful Blooms dies to cut flowers out of PTI's Vintage Cream felt and added a Pure Poppy button to the center. I attached the flowers and button with some silver stretchy cord and punched two little holes in the grungeboard to thread the cord through and tied it off (the button on mine is attached the same way). Instead of using a hitch fasterner on hers, I justed added another button to one end of the bracelet and added a loop of the silver cord to the other end.

See the texture on her bracelet? I was suprised at how well the impression plates work with the grungeboard!

Both of our bracelets all finished!

These bracelets were so fun to make and think of all the possibilities there are with differnt colors, textures, and adornments!

Petite Posse Challenge #6-Pretty Patterns

Keva is our hostess this month over on the Papertrey Posse blog and her first challenge for us this month was to create a project with patterned paper. I had origianlly planned to do a scrapbook page with all of the squares I cut from Cosmo Cricket's Joyride line, but it just wasn't working out. So, I made this card instead.

And here is the inside. I have noticed alot of cards with this little bug on the inside so I decided to try it. I paper pieced the bug and added the silver bling to tie the inside and outside of the card together. If you get a chance, play along with us!

Petite Posse Challenge #5...a little late

Challenge #5 was actually the last challenge of July, so I am a little late with this one. For this Challenge, Amy asked us to work with this sketch:

For my card I used a piece of patterned paper from Imaginisce's Wish Big line called B-day Bash. The blue is on one side and the brown with candles is on the other side. I paired it with the Wish Big sentiment from PTI's Big and Bold Wishes Stamp set and used a white gel pen to add the dashes.

I will be back tomorrow with the Petite Posse Challenge #6!