Witchy Woman

Don't you just love the look on this witches face! - I love Halloween and thought it would be fun to feature this card today in honor of the holiday.

I started with a card base of Basic Black and added a layer of Pumpkin Pie. The next layer is Basic Gray that I ran part way through my Cuttlebug machine and then highlighted the circles with a white craft pad. I added a strip of the Creepy Crawly designer paper as well. I stamped the greeting & Witch with Basic Gray ink and colored my witch with various markers (Really Rust, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Gable Green, Blush Blossom). I then punched the witch out using a 1 3/8" circle punch and distressed the edges with Mustard & Summer Sun Ink.

Next I punched out a larger circle (2 1/8" - McGill) from textured More Mustard Card stock and a punched star of Pumpkin Pie. I edged the star with Pumpkin pie ink and mounted it onto the mustard circle with foam mounting tape. Then I added 3 black brads. When I glued the witch image down I tried to make the mustard circle look like a crescent moon. This piece was then mounted to the card using the foam dimensional tape to complete the card.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone.!!!

BCG - Designer Poinsettia Wk. 18

You know I was going to "skip" this weeks challenge just because I really didn't feel like doing it and then this morning I looked at all the other's blogs and said to myself, "You can't skip this week" now so I thought about it awhile & this is what I came up with.

I had just got the 5-Petal punch yesterday and decided I would use it for my card. I started by punching 2 flowers on some light-weight cardboard and then punch 2 more flowers on designer paper (SU Dashing) and glued them on top of my cardboard flowers. - Then I sponged the edges with some Purely Pomegranate ink and highlighted them with Frosted Lace stickles. I layered them on top of each other to form my Poinsettia and added a Rhinestone brad (SU Fire Collection) to the center. Then I punched 2 small ovals from another piece of the DP and shaped them to form my leaves which I also distressed with some Old Olive ink.

My card base is Real Red layered with Old Olive that I stamped the (SU Aida Cloth BG) stamped and distressed the edges. To that I added a layer of the Striped DP. Then I cut a strip with decorative scalloped scissors (Fiskar) of the Red Dotted DP and stamped the sentiment in Old Olive ink. I glued this down on some Real Red card stock and used the decorative scissors to cut a border of red card stock under the designer paper. Then I added a piece of Red Grosgrain ribbon and used dimensional tape to raise my Poinsettia up. I added large photo corners (Photo Corner Punch) also stamped in the Aida Cloth BG with Old Olive ink and added a Red Brad to the corner, then mounted them with the foam dimensional tape to complete my card.

I think it turned out pretty cute. - We had a couple of new members join this week so be sure to check out their creations as well. I've added their names to the Blogger's Challenge Roll on the sidebar on my blog.

Butterfly Friendship

Last week was my monthly Stamper's 10 Club meeting so I thought I would share with you the cards we made at the meeting.

I try to keep my stamp club cards a little less complicated then some of my other cards due to the time frame that would be needed to create more elaborate cards/projects. We usually do just 2 cards per meeting. Even then it's often close to 10:00 pm before the last one leaves & I start cleaning up. It's FUN though.

For this card I started with a base of More Mustard and stamped the Large Swirl from (Priceless) in the lower right hand corner with Basic Gray ink. Then in the upper right hand corner I stamped the sentiment (All Holidays) with Versa Mark ink.

Next a smaller piece of Old Olive was stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp in Craft White. I added a strip of Basic Gray card stock stamped with the Aida Cloth background stamp and Basic Gray ink. Then I punched out a scallop of Old Olive, pierced it. The butterfly from (Pricless) was stamped with More Mustard on Whisper White twice. Then one was punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch and the other was cut out & layered to the punched one with a piece of foam mounting tape so that the wings could be liften up.

BCG - Teapot Inspiration

It's Friday once again (what a fast week this has been) and time for the Blogger's Challenge.

We are now on Week 17 of the challenges and this week was "Inspiration" week where we create projects that were inspired by something in nature, a picture, magazine article, piece of clothing, even another card project done by someone else.

A few days ago I happened to be at my mom's house in her kitchen when I spotted her tea kettle and a "light bulb" suddenly went off in my head. I just knew that I was going to use her tea kettle as the inspiration for my project this week. I started out trying a totally different stamp set and idea but didn't like what I was coming up with and was starting to get very frustrated that nothing I was trying was turning out right. Then I thought about a card that I had received from one of the ladies in my Stamper's 10 Club and what she had done with it and I also liked the layout of a card on the cover of the Stampin'Success magazine that we "Demo's" receive so before long I was creating again and am happy to say I love the way my card turned out. So this week I was inspired by 3 separate things that all came together to create one card.

#1 - The Tea Kettle for the Colors & the Apples.
#2 - Karen Okerlund's card for the portion of the Apple Bucket.
#3 - The Stampin' Success magazine card for the layout of my card.

Materials Used: White Card Stock (Papertreyink) as it's heavier then Whisper White and I was layering so I wanted a sturdier card stock.

Ruby Red Textured Card Stock, Creamy Caramel, Handsome Hunter & Very Vanilla Card stock.

Ink Pads & Markers: Creamy Caramel, Handsome Hunter, Basic Black, Ruby Red, Craft White

Stamp Sets: Give Thanks, Holidays & Wishes, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Wonderful Weaves (retired) & So Many Sayings.

Punches: Mega Circle & Giga Scalloped Circle (Marvy) Horizontal Slot

Other: Paper piercing tool, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Scallop Scissors, Plaid Ribbon (Santa's Workbench - Purchased at JoAnn Fabrics), Crystal Effects.

I used Paper Piecing to do the bucket and covered the Apples with Crystal Effects so they are very shiny in real life.

Be sure to check out the other members of the Blogger's Challenge group - found on my sidebar to see what they have come up with for this weeks Inspiration Challenge.

BCG - Ornaments

This week the Blogger's Challenge Group was assigned,
Ornaments for our projects. I have to say that I am very CHALLENGED in this department as I tend to mainly be a card maker and so seldom get out of that mode to make something other then a card. Also this week has been an extremely BUSY week for me. I've had something going on every day of the week and just didn't have the time nor the energy to come up with an Ornament idea.

Plus I have limited supplies on hand with which to create an ornament as well and the idea that I had needed a few things that I didn't have. So where is leading to....well let's just say I am presenting an OLD idea that I actually made last year. I was challenged by this tutorial (Amanda Sewell) http://inkspirations.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-here-tutorial-for-pinecone-balls.html created and I actually managed to make ONE of these which I hung on our Christmas tree last year. It was certainly a labor of love as I had sore fingers from pushing in all the pins this ornament requires and working with a thimble isn't my forte either so needless to say I didn't make any more of these babies after the first one. Still it was fun & I did like how it turned out.

If I find time later this month to come up with another ornament idea I will post it as well but for now this will have to do for my challenge entry this week.

Please check out the other Blogger's Challenge groups blogs (listed in my side bar) to see what they have come up with for this challenge. I know you won't be disappointed.

Halloween Music

I couldn't resist after seeing Julie's cute little Halloween box & her "Boris The Spider" image to add the actuall song by The Who to my blog for October only. Enjoy!

Black n Orange aren't just for Halloween

It's that time of the week again...Time for the Blogger's Challenge Group to post all their FABULOUS creations. This week our theme was to use (Black n Orange) for our projects. Of course with Halloween just around the corner my first thought was to make a Halloween card as those are pretty much standard colors for the event. Then I thought why not stretch my imagination a little and create a card that wasn't for Halloween but still used those colors. So this week I have TWO cards to share with you!

Card One is my Halloween card. For this card I started with a base of Only Orange card stock that I stamp the bat from Papertreyink (Spooky Sweets) set with Versamark Ink. Then I layered a piece of black/orange/white plaid designer paper (source unknown) and added a strip of black card stock with "faux stitching". My focal image is this really cool epoxy sticker from Creative Imaginations. I layered it to a circle of Only Orange and then onto a square of Basic Black that I also faux stitched. This was raised up on dimensional tape to complete the card.

Card Two is an Autumn card. I found my inspiration for this card from none other but fellow Blogger's Challenge Member Lori Tecler. You can find her great card here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs1cwIMcX4kcHE0TLhnG0i4f9-8n-kNUscdpI6iGbIXeSgsJg59j1uQ06M40Cs4ztw5Z2VPZPo9W9D_x92kzV-oupT62AsJij_3nY6LLte3U8Km6zhsNGcmWe7elbAWpueJ-vno9YS7HT/s1600-h/AGCC003-Batty.jpg - Thanks Lori for the inspiration.

For my card I started with a base of Pumpkin Pie card stock and stamped the Weathered BG stamp in Pumpkin Pie ink on it. Then I took a piece of Glossy White card stock and created a Polished Stone effect using, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange reinkers & Metallic Gold (Tsukineko). This is a fun but rather messy technique but I loved how it turned out. I cut the finished piece in three strips and layered them to Basic Black Card stock. On a second piece of the polished stone paper I stamped a leaf from Autumn Leaf Prints (retired) with Basic Black ink, cut it out & layered it to another piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock. I cut it out again and edged the leaf with a Pumpkin Pie marker for a little more definition. I added a piece of Black Grosgrain ribbon and mounted my leaf with foam dimensionals. To the upper left hand corner I punched out a photo corner in Basic Black and added two 1/4" circles of Pumpkin Pie card stock. I stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts) with Basic Black ink to complete my card.

Hope you enjoy my creations. Do check all the other blogs for what I'm sure promises to be another fantastic week of great stamping. You can find the Blogger's Challenge Group on my side bar.

Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys

Today's entry is a combination of a couple of challenges. I belong to a fantastic stamping group known as (Sensational SU Swappers) or (SSUS) and our fearless leader Kerry challenged the group to a sketch challenge with a bit of a "twist" in that we had to use designer paper and stamp on it (sentiment excluded). Then I happened to be browsing some of my favorite blogs today & saw where Anna (Sweet Miss Daisy) and, Lindsey (Jacksonbelle) had done one of their fabulous "Showdowns" with each other. They both did Western Themed projects but had to use "leather" of some form in their project. It could be real leather, faux leather, leather lacing etc...so once again I thought why not do a card that also matched their challenge to each other.

You can see their great creations here: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/2007/09/jacksonbelle-sh.html

and here: http://jacksonbelle.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/09/29/its-a-showdown-with-anna/

I so admire their artwork and while my card isn't near the caliber of theirs I do like how it turned out.

I chose Chocolate Chip for my card base & followed that up with a layer of this cool leather looking card stock called (Football) by The Paper Company which I just happened to purchase at a JoAnn Fabric's store a couple of years ago and had yet to use it. I added some extra matting layers to Kerry's sketch to complete the overall look that I wanted. The left hand side layer is Sage Shadow with a piece of Outlaw Designer paper stamped with the spur image from the retired set (Wild Wild West) in Sage Shadow ink. Then I layered the reverse side of the designer paper onto a piece of Really Rust card stock & stamped the swirl image from (Bronc Buster) with Chocolate Chip ink and added 3 brads (Little Black Dress) that I dyed with a brown permanent sharpie marker to match the rust tones. I colored the Cowboy image with various colors of ink pads and a blending pen and then added a small amount of Aztec Gold pearl ex powder to the vest and sealed it. It's hard to see in the scan but it has a slight shimmer to it. I matted that to a slightly larger piece of Chocolate chip card stock and then raised the image with foam mounting tape. I couldn't decide if the card needed a sentiment or not so I left it blank.

This was a lot of fun & I say thanks to Kerry, Anna & Lindsey for the great challenge.

Cattitude Monday - A bit of a yarn

You know I keep forgetting to post my "Cattitude Monday" entries but I found a cool look rug this morning while looking through a magazine and I thought to myself, "Hey that would make a great entry for Cattitude Monday. You can purchase this rug here:http://www.potpourrigift.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=R76031

It caught my eye because of the various colors of the cats and the circular pattern. I bet it would look fantastic in real life but I'm not about to spend $100 to find out!

I've also included picture of one of our own cats, Miss Blackie taken while she was outside for a brief time this morning before she headed back to the security of her own little bedroom. She's a "wary" cat for sure and you can see that in her eyes. Ever on the lookout.

Have a great day!