The first two Halloween cards have been created and will go in the mail today. There’s just one week for them to reach their destination. Wisconsin doesn’t seem so far away, but the time for delivery of a letter or card varies widely. I try to make sure there’s at least a week before the event.

The first one is for Caleb, and the color choices came from The Addicted to CAS Challenge: Black, Purple, and Green. I hope the spider web doesn’t disqualify the card from being CAS, but I enjoyed using those colors regardless. I’m also sending this off to the Festive Friday Challenge where I used: Black, Spider, and Ghost from the list.

I started with a Royal Purple card base (Simon Says) and added a black web from Papertrey Ink’s, “Caught in the Web.” Last year I bought these creepy spider stickers by Jolee, but never used any of them. I decided Caleb would enjoy it. The ghost is from the only new Halloween set I purchased this year, Ghost, from The Stamp Market. The sentiment cut from a green scrap is also from that set.

I die cut a larger ghost for the inside and stamped my sentiment from PTI’s Sentiment Staples: Halloween.  I gave this ghost some green eyes

Hannah’s card uses the more traditional orange and black colors. 

I used a lot of different products to create this card: the ghost is from Ellen Hutson’s Ghost Hugger. The ghost is holding a pumpkin stamped, fussy cut, and shaded with Copic markers from Grateful Home by right at home. The card base is my favorite orange-Orange Zest by PTI to which I added a Circle Cover Die by Reverse Confetti in black. 

I added some dimensional tape behind the pumpkin so the ghost’s “hands” also had some dimension. The cute die cut sentiment is from PTI’s To Die For Sentiments: Halloween. 

I used two stamp sets for the sentiment: Happy Halloween from The Stamp Market and Sentiment Staples: Halloween from Papertrey Ink. The little ghost is also from the Happy Halloween set.

 I’m sending both cards to another challenge: Inspired By: Ghosts. 

Considering how many flower-themed cards I create, you’d think I’d have a card in each and every gallery for The Flower Challenge. Alas, not so. No explanation for it, either. However, I was determined to enter a card for their 7th birthday challenge. I didn’t have a lot of crafting time over the weekend, and I was disappointed with the one card I made, so I started a new card last night and finished it today.

For this card, I pulled out one of my favorite Pinkfresh Studio florals, Magnolia Background, and it’s accompanying set of stencils. On Saturday, I received the ink cubes for their new sets of color and was anxious to try them out. I knew I would love the Napa Valley set–a beautiful set of purples, and I also used two of the colors in the Green Gables set.

I decided to try a “spotlight” design, cutting the center from the card, adding a narrow gold frame and repositioning it with some dimensional tape. It’s the first time I’ve tried this, and I think it worked very well. The stamping was gold embossed so I chose a gold embossed sentiment from Pinkfresh’s Perfect Sentiments.  

In addition to The Flower Challenge, I’m adding this to the Just Add Ink Challenge: Spotlight Technique. 

 

World Card Making Day was October 7th, and we were already on the road to Sarah’s. Fortunately for me, Pinkfresh Studio’s link-up doesn’t end until tonight. Thus the reason for two blog posts in one day! I knew exactly what I wanted to do. When I was cleaning out my craft room I came upon a hot foiled panel I had made previously. It was foiled in gold on black cardstock, and right before we left I acquired the Christmas metallic watercolor set by Iuile. So last night I sat down to watercolor the panel, and I am so happy with the way it turned out.

This beautiful design is Lush Leaves by Pinkfresh Studio. It is definitely in my top ten Christmas themed products. It’s beautiful even when it’s just foiled on the paper without the watercolors. However, I do love these metallic watercolors, and they are so easy to use.

The sentiment was also hotfoiled in gold on black cardstock. It’s from another favorite Christmas product, Pinkfresh Studio’s Perfect Sentiments: Holicay. Getting good photos of metallic papers or paints is always a challenge, but I think you can see some of its beauty here.

My intention is to get one card made everyday. I have a lovely box of unused stamps and dies on the shelf behind me, and I need to get crackin’ with my Christmas cards! I’m sure there will be days when I’m not home long enough to get a card completed from start to finish, but that’s certainly what I hope to do!

 

There are multiple challenges now focused on pumpkins and fall themes. We’ve just returned from an 11 day road trip to visit Sarah and her family. On our way, we visited with my cousins in Cleveland. The granddaughter of one of my cousins and her husband hosted ten of us for dinner. I wanted to send them a special thank you note, and chose a pumpkin theme for my card.

Last month, I pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Fall Basket dies to fill a pick-up truck. This time everything on the card is from the Fall Basket set except for the sentiment. I started out with a group of already die cut shapes and added some Distress Oxide shading to them. I “filled” the basket with leaves (you can see them peeking through the slats as well as poking out from the top.  

The sentiment was also previously stamped (so long ago, that I don’t remember which stamp I used.) I have a whole set of these sentiments stamped on different colored strips. The card design is the result of a mistake I made at the very end of the first card design. I cut down that card, framed it with some orange cardstock and added it to a card base created with some Simon Says woodgrain cardstock that arrived while we were away. The truth is the card is much improved because of the mistake–not the first time that’s happened!

I’m entering this in four challenges all of which feature pumpkins in their inspiration photos.

Just Us Girls: Word Week-Pumpkin,

the Double D Challenge-also looking for pumpkins,

Color Throwdown: Orange, Yellow, Green (I hope  the neutrals are OK)

The Four Season Challenge where “anything fall” goes. 

It’s not often I post twice in a day. If you’re looking for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt post, it’s right below this one

The Time Out Challenge hosts an annual Cancer Awareness Challenge.

This card is for a dear friend who has been battling pancreatic cancer for over two years. She’s outlived her prognosis by over a year, and never wavers in her positive attitude and good nature. 

Recently I commented on a friend’s card on Instagram that used this beautiful Round About Fall Foliage die from The Greetery. Marcia kindly die cut several and put them in the mail to me. (Many thanks, Marcia!) I used some finger daubers and some Distress Oxide Inks to color it. Although I’m happy with the end result, I learned a few things about using both for ink blending. I have a much heavier hand than I need! 

The die cuts just one half of this wreath, so I glued the two together and added them to a cardbase of Ellen Hutson’s Woodgrain cardstock. Now that Ellen is retiring, I need to find a new source for woodgrain paper. 

   

The sentiment (just perfect for the recipient) is from The Stamp Market’s Foiled Card Phrases.  I added a few Pinkfresh Studio gold pearls as a final accent. 

I’m also adding this to the gallery at Addicted to Stamping and More where the challenge is to use a die cut or a stencil and to The Card Concept: Country Style. I used both the wreath and three of the colors (although my red is quite muted) as my inspiration from the photo. As usual, I think my card fits their “Clean and Simple” category the best. 

Clearly, it is not Wednesday, but yesterday was the first time I was able to get this card completed for this month’s Woodblock Wednesday, hosted by Amy Tsuruta

I pulled out a favorite snowman image so I could add another card to my Christmas collection. This stamp by PSX even lists the date-1995. I’ve been at this long before I started blogging; actually before I had a computer.

I stamped the snowman on a piece of textured cardstock I found on my desk and die cut it, as well as the background, with Simon Says Stitched Rectangles. The background was stamped with My Favorite Things Snowfall Background and embossed with a sparkly Bridal embossing power which was also a PSX product.

I colored the scarf with Copics, used an orange Stadetler Fineliner for the nose, and Jane Davenport’s Golden Age pen to outline the halo. I also added glitter to the wings which proved to be very difficult to photograph. The sentiment is from Savvy Stamps.

 

 

In the past month or so, Spellbinders has had a couple amazing sales and I managed to pick up a couple dies I’d been eyeing for a long time, but unwilling to spend the money for them. During the sales, everything I bought was 50% or more off the original price. Here’s a card that features a pick-up truck that can be used for every season of the year. I needed a card for a male friend who’s birthday is in October so it was the perfect opportunity to break out the die.

I die cut the truck and all its parts from scraps. The pumpkin, leaves, and wheat were die cut last fall and filed with the Pretty Pink Posh Fall Basket dies.  I layered it all with some dimensional tape on a piece of Ellen Hutson’s woodgrain cardstock after adding a piece of patterned paper from My Favorite Things to ground the truck.

Another buy during the sale was Spellbinders So Many Sentiments giving me ample sentiments for the license plate. 

Amazingly, I had nearly a complete set of sentiments stamped on orange and die cut with Pinkfresh Studios Basic Banners: Celebrate. The two leaves added with some dimensional tape from the Pretty Pink Posh set were all the embellishment this card needed.

This will be my second entry into The Four Seasons September challenge, and my third entry to Seize the Birthday, working with the Topping (Fall Colors) once again. And since the truck is making its first appearance, another card for NBUS.

The Flower Challenge has been on almost all month and the challenge is to use a die cut. It happens all too frequently that I put off getting a card made until nearly the last minute. The Altenew Stargazer Lily die has been on my desk at least all month, but finally I made a card with it.

I die cut the lilies with the. Spellbinders Specialty flower paper which does make it easier to shape the petals once you’ve colored them. I pulled out my ink daubers for these and used several different inks from Pinkfresh Studio. After I assembled the lilies, I splatter some white ink over the them.

For the background I chose a piece of Smoky Shadow cardstock which I die cut with Altenew’s Dotted Scales Debossing Cover die which adds subtle, but lovely, texture to the card. The sentiment is from The Ton’s Easy Expressions: Birthday. 

In addition to The Flower Challenge, I’m entering the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion, and another entry to Darnell’s NBUS–the lilies first run!