JUGS Challenge #5

Whew, I am getting this one in just under the wire...the Halloween wire, that is! Today's Just Us Girls challenge is to make a holiday card for a photograph. Kristin didn't say exactly WHAT holiday, so I made one last Halloween card. (And make sure you visit the blog....they have CANDY!).

Anyone who reads my blog knows that we are hosting a woman & her brother while she gets a guide dog, who will help her with migraines and balance issues from brain tumor surgery. They "graduate" tomorrow and today they had a Halloween party, complete with costumes, so yesterday, we sat & cut out felt petals and used black pipe cleaners as a framework so that Dutch could be a "black-eyed Susan". I was fortunate enough to get a pretty good picture of Dutch wearing his costume---he looks a little forlorn, but really, he's quite happy! I made it into a big easel card and I will give this to Lynn as a special reminder of the time she & Dutch spent with us:

He & Lynn won a prize for being the best look-alikes!! Here they are:

The card itself is very simple; I used Basic Black, Whisper White, & Summer Sun cardstock, making a 5 1/2" square card. The witch hat is embossed in White EP using White Craft ink. The other images are from Crafty Secrets' Halloween set, the "happy" is from SU's Happy Everything set and the words are computer-generated. The directions for the easel card can be found on SCS here. If you have any other questions, just shoot me an email! Hope everyone has a safe, happy Halloween!!!

A Few Little Fun Things

I had a workshop for a stamping friend last night and so I made a few little goodies to take as samples and door prizes.  One thing that I love about stamping and stampers is their willingness to share ideas..I don't think there are many industries out there where creative secrets are shared as openly as in the stamping world!  That being said, most of these ideas (if not ALL) were cased from people more creative than I!!!

This hostess gift is two Boxes #2 adhered together and punched to make a handle, then decorated with some seasonal decor.  I added a couple more goodies after seeing the idea for these on Donna's blog, Butternut Sage:

Just a little candy favor using the Top Note as a topper....

And a little gift bag & candy treat:

The Santa idea came from Dawn; the reindeer from CeeCee; and the candy treat from Becky.  I don't remember whether she had the turkey idea, or someone else, so if anyone remembers, let me know & I'll give the credit!!!  I need to run, so if anyone wants any details, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you!  And check out my good news here!  Woohoo!!!

Think Pink Ink

 

This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge #14 (check it out--they have blog candy!!) is to use pink to make your card, and the Saturday Sketch Challenge #122 at Stamping 411 is to make a square card with this layout:

I took a little bit of creative license and did not use squares, but stamped & cut out the heart image from Sweet Centers for my VERY pink card:

I only have a few more days to get my photo "studio" back, so meanwhile, you have to put up with the "homey" look of my stamping table, plus it is dreary, dreary, dreary, here today!  Anyway, this uses lots of pinks and is really a little more busy than I would have preferred, but it was a fun card to make and certainly highlights a lot of products, so it will be a good sample for my camps and workshops!  Thanks for visiting again today!

• Stamps:  Sweet Centers, Short & Sweet
• Paper:  Melon Mambo, WW, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Tea Party DP, Razzleberry Lemonade DP
• Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo
• Acc:  Scallop Border Punch, 3-Heart Punch, Circle Punches, Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals

Happy Harvest

While watching the Phillies win last night, I did some watercoloring to make a nice fall card for a special friend:

The floating pumpkins are stamped on SU's watercolor paper and colored with reinkers; textured cardstock that was embossed with the Autumn Type CB is DCWV; sentiment is from PTI stamped on a SU Lots of Tags diecut. Ribbon is from my stash. There is a little sparkly stuff on the pumpkins that you can't detect here, but it gives a nice dewy look! I think I will be able to get in some stamping time today, so perhaps I'll have a second post!!! Thanks for visiting today!

Color Throwdown #66

Happy Wednesday! It's my turn to host the Color Throwdown and I have (as usual) challenged my team with my three colors of Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant and Bordering Blue....(for some reason, they just don't like the blues!!!) I was enthralled by the flowers that Mona made for the Just Us Girls Challenge Week 4 and I thought the rich colors of the challenge would look great with this technique. (She has a video tutorial, so check it out!) If you don't have these exact colors, feel free to substitute as we want everyone to play! Here is my sample:

I think this is an elegant color combo and although I would not be able to put this card in an envelope, it would be a nice card to tuck into a gift bag for some lucky recipient!

Check out what the other designers have done, then be sure to post your own creation on the CTD blog via Mr. Linky! You've got a chance to be a Featured Stamper or a Guest Designer! Good luck!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Cathy - Crafty Thoughts
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• And our October guest designer, Lisa Kind - Kind Creations

• Stamps: Baroque Border Wheel, On Your Birthday
• Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue, Brushed Silver, Confetti White, tissue paper
• Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue
• Acc: Rhinestones, Nestie Ribbon Tag Trio, Crimper, Tissue Paper, Brayer, Ret SU Organdy Ribbon

Diva Coffee Break Designs #151

Today's Diva challenge is a sketch, and this one was a real challenge for me!  I needed another Halloween card, so I pulled out all my Halloween stamps and went to town!  Here's the sketch:

and since I was doing a Halloween theme, I used the colors from Stacey's Stamping Stage Curtain Call Color Challenge #8:

Here's my not-too-spooky creation:

 
There are layers and glitter and ribbons and more glitter!!!And I even decorated the inside:

 

Be sure to stop by the DCBD blog and play along!  Link your creation to Mr Linky and you could be chosen as the Featured Stamper of the week!

• Stamps:  Little Boo, Eat, Drink & Be Scary, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Holiday Blitz, Holiday Best (Hostess)
• Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, WW, Night & Day Specialty Paper
• Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Stazon
• Acc:  1 1/4" Circle Punch, Slit Punch, CAD, SAMJ, Gingham Ribbon, Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelet, Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, DD Glitter & Glue Pen

Thanks for visiting today!

A Garden is a Friend....

Today's SCS Clean & Simple challenge is to use brads or eyelets on your card....I am not sure my card really qualifies as a CAS, but it's all my poor brain could come up with after an extremely stressful weekend...never so glad to see a Monday arrive!  So here we are:

And see that fancy little watermark up in the corner?  A special friend made that for me this weekend!  The one highlight of my day!!!  Anyway, this is pretty basic:  Early Bird DP; CHF garden sentiment and a SU flower from Enjoy Every Moment, stamped in Pixie Pink on Confetti Cream.  Ribbon is retired SU; Build-a-Brad makes the flower center.  I have to admit that I do not like the flower off center, but I made it that way so it didn't come over to the side of the card too far.....I would have also preferred a whiter shade but the Early Bird paper is all cream-colored, so I went with the Confetti Cream.  Oh well, it is still kinda cute; Pumpkin thought so also:

 

Enjoy your day! 

An Assortment of Beauties

No time to stamp today but I thought I would share a couple RAKs with you:

A sweet, fun card from Janine.....

And look at this cutie from Denise (peanutbee)....

And this is actually one of my own.....using a brayer to color the Night & Day DP from SU!!!  And finally, I just had to brag on the beauties in my family:

These are my nieces, Paige and Kelly, and my daughter, Dana, at a wedding this past weekend.  And by the way, these are all NATURAL haircolors (except for that dark stuff under Dana's!!!)!!!  Thanks for visiting today!

Christmas in October

Last night was another Christmas card stamp camp, so quickly, here are the cards the girls made:

(I cased the above card from my sideline, who I know cased it from someone else out in blogland, but I don't know from whom!!  Sorry! )

The above card uses the SC250 from SCS, which was last week's sketch challenge.  Now, I am off to clean up the mess!!  I stayed up to watch the Phillies win the NL Championship!!!!!  Go Phillies!

Color Throwdown #65

Danielle really threw me for a loop with this color challenge!   But I persevered and managed to come up with something!!  Be sure to check out the CTD blog to see what they've got up for grabs this week.  I am sure you'll want to play along!

This is little Agnes Ketto--isn't she sweet?  I experimented with my Copics, using them on SU's Shimmery White cardstock, which probably was not the best to use, but I wanted that all-over shimmery look.  I still have a long way to go with these---my CTD companions make it look soooo easy!  Since I didn't have any Pomegranate cardstock left, I made do with Rose Red and some BG Pink Lemonade DP;  I know there is not much Taken with Teal in here (remember my struggle?) but the sentiment and the little bling meet that requirement, barely!  I did add lots of shimmer with a Gelly Roll pen and some DD glitter:

Be sure to check out the designs the other CTD girls have come up with and post your creation to Mr Linky there as well!  If you have any questions about anything posted, just shoot me an email!  And thanks so much for visiting me today!  And, oh I just had to add this:

This is Pumpkin, laying on my computer table, which is quite unusual for her.....do you see what she is laying ON?  Does it look familiar?  Yes, my CTD card for today....and such a disdainful look.  Oh well, a little cat hair never hurt anyone, right?!  Thanks for visiting my little corner of blogworld today, and blessings to you!

Diva Coffee Break Designs #150

I wasn't sure I was going to like these colors when I first saw the challenge!!!  But after I began working with them, I really enjoyed the combo!  I needed a hostess thank you card, and usually I try to use a hostess set, but I thought Lovely as a Tree would look, well, lovely!  So what do you think:

 

I didn't think that I had any DP in these colors, then I remembered that Tall Tales had some Certainly Celery, so that's where I began.  My leaves are stamped in Basic Gray, then watercolored with ink and an aquapainter.  Lots of speckles from Itty Bitty Backgrounds helped give the Naturals White cardstock some "texture".  I also distressed my Really Rust mat, and used the direct-to-paper technique on the Really Rust strip.  The card is a little smaller than a standard card, 4x5", and it is Basic Gray textured cardstock as well.  I stamped a single leaf and popped it up for a little stand-out embellishment.  Here's the inside:

My layout came from  Stamping 411's SSC121 sketch:

 

So be sure to go check out the Diva Coffee Break Designs blog and play with us this week!  Just link your creation to Mr Linky so we can see what you come up with!

Fast & Fun Note

I haven't done the color challenge at SCS for a while, and while I should be doing lots of other things, I took a break and decided to play.  CC241 uses Bravo Burgundy, Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke if you want. I pulled out Fast & Fun Notes, which I haven't used in a looong time!  I watercolored the image very loosely in the challenge colors and highlighted my flowers with a white gel pen.  It is a beautiful sunny day here in PA, so I photographed my card outside.  Can you see the little bug that landed on my card?:

 

If you can't see it, that's good!  He is a little itty bitty speck there above the flower.  Anyway, I used another long-lost set, Fresh Cuts for my Cameo panel (stamped in Craft White) and the sentiment stamped in Always Artichoke.  I added a little brad from VV HPH as well as a little ribbon.  The Artichoke panel is a little paisley piece from To the Nines.  This also uses Fall to Layout#64 from the Clean & Simple blog:

Thanks for visiting today---now I am off to work the blood drive at church.  Stop back tomorrow for the Color Throwdown challenge as well as the Diva Coffee Break Designs challenge! And here are a few little treats my from around my house & porch (I am so bad, I rarely water this Christmas cactus, and all of a sudden I realized it had blooms.....I so do not have my father's farmer genes!):

These are roses from one of the bridesmaid's bouquets that my daughter made last weekend for her cousin's wedding....my sister & I DROPPED the box they were in and these broke off.....ooops.  So we "saved" them in my sundial birdbath!  My daughter was NOT pleased.  (But they never knew!)

Sharing in your Sorrow

The clean & simple challenge #37 today at SCS was to make a sympathy card....and I am sure lots of people used the Thoughts & Prayers set, but it has such great sentiments, it's just a natural go-to set:

I stamped my image in Certainly Celery, then went over it with a Chocolate Chip marker, coloring in the trunk and stems.  Retired Certainly Celery ribbon and a little Certainly Celery flower punched with the Flower Trio punch adds a simple touch; I carried the floral theme to the inside as well:

Rather than use a brad in each of the flower centers, I used my stylus to make a "center", then colored it with my Chocolate Chip marker.  Thanks for visiting today!