PPA62 Ginger Halloween

Wow, two posts in one day!!  While on vacation this summer, DH and I did some thrift shop-hopping and I came across this cute little tin:

I LOVE old tins!!  It was a great price…I think a dollar, and look what was inside:

As some people may know, I hoard my buttons, but I did give in and use some of these on my Pals Paper Arts challenge card today, which was All Buttoned Up!

This card will go tucked inside a little Halloween ebay item I had for sale…I hope the buyer likes it!  The image is an old SU set, A-Haunting We Will Go, with the sentiment from Fangtastic.  I FINALLY got the pleated ribbon thing going…I used a skewer to hold my pleats in place.  I wish I had put some threads through the ribbons, but I started this card at 1am, and wasn’t really thinking too clearly! LOL!  Papers are from Crafty Secret’s Earthy pack.  Here’s the inside:

Gotta run, I am baby-sitting today! :D

Basket of Apples

I did this card a few days ago while playing with Carolyn King’s Whimsical Autumn; I had already pulled out some paper from Basic Grey’s Kraft pad, so when I looked at the apple basket image, I noticed a “theme” so I went with it:

I loved how the various brown strips of DP mimicked the slats of the basket….although I am not sure my humongous crinkly-ribbon bow fits in there!!! LOL!  But my friend Georgette gave me a great hint on how to make regular seam-binding turn into this great crinkly ribbon and I just had to try it!  Simply take your seam binding (mine was some red I just picked up at a yard sale!), wet it, lay it on a piece of aluminum foil and roll the whole kit and caboodle up into a little ball.  Put the aluminum foil ball on a cookie sheet and put it in your oven at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  If you’re baking something, throw it in there while it bakes…I imagine that you could do it at a lower temp for a little longer---experiment!  (Don’t just toss it into your oven like I did….it falls through the racks!)   Once it’s cooled off, unfold the foil and you have marvelous crinkly seam binding---and Georgette says it works for ribbon as well as seam binding!  So of course I had to use almost the whole piece for my bow….it takes a little experimenting to see how much you actually need!!!  

Anyway, the image was stamped in Stazon and watercolored with reinkers…..and then overstamped with Linen background stamp.  The sentiment is from Fun & Fast Notes.  I notice when my camera photographs the color RED, it never quite looks correct in the photo.  Anyone else have that problem or a solution?  IRL the ribbon is not quite as intense as it seems here.

Anyway, this card qualifies for the Little Red Wagon challenge 48 this week, which is to make your own embellishment!  Thanks for visiting---if you’re on the East coast, stay dry!

My daughter sent me a new picture of my little sweet cheeks:

Hmmm, that little cupcake looks good enough to stamp!

Punch Sharpening

If you’re looking for today’s Color Throwdown post, click here.

A couple people emailed me about my comment that my punches needed sharpening in this post.  The jury is still out on whether or not I really think this technique works, but I am going to share it anyway.  Truthfully, I think that if your punches have been well-loved and well-used, eventually they are going to get dull and need to be replaced.  This may help prolong their life a little bit; it’s cheap and easy, so if it works, why not try it?

Okay, this is ALL you need:  an soda can, some utility scissors and your punches:

Make sure your can is washed out thoroughly, then cut the top & bottom off with your scissors:

The metal is much lighter in weight than you think, so it is easy to cut, but do be careful about the sharp edges…trim them off.

Then, just punch punch punch as many times as you want; supposedly this will sharpen the edges of your punch. If you’re really “green” you could use these little punchouts for some fun project.  I was not in the mood to use them for some fun project, so I tossed mine in the recycle bin!  One reader asked about a liquid product to use on your punches; a friend just recently brought some of it to my house for a trial, and I really did not see any difference at all.  I think it was more for a lubricant than a sharpener; but I could be wrong! 

Anyway, as I said, this is quick & easy, doesn’t damage your punches and it may help—I’d be anxious to hear if it’s successful for you!

Color Throwdown 112

Happy Wednesday! Barbara is our hostess today with this  cozy combination that is sure to inspire you to create something warm and wonderful!  Pixie Petals is our sponsor today; check out the CTD blog to find out all the details about both the sponsor and how to play with us!

  My card only has a tiny bit of stamping on it, since the flower from Pixie Petals is pretty bold!  I used a sketch from my sweet friend Donna at Butternut Sage:

 

(I believe the bottom panel measurements are a little off, but you get the general picture!)  So, here we go:

  

I used papers from October Afternoon’s Thrift Shop as well as Cosmo Cricket’s Joy Ride and SU’s Old Olive Patterns.  I stamped my sentiment from CHF on a tag from SU’s Lots of Tags dies, then layered it on another tag that I trimmed to fit, and embellished it with a glittery butterfly from the Beautiful Wings diecut:

In addition,  I stamped the swirl from Season of Joy with Versamark and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder….it may be a little difficult to see here, but IRL it gives it a special glimmery effect:

My card also qualifies for the City Crafter Challenge 24, Flower & Frills!!  This was a fun card to make, thanks to Donna’s sketch and Barbara’s colors----now let’s see what you can create!  Hop on over to the CTD blog and play along with us.  Now here are links to the other CTD designers:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• Kristen – Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Silke Ledlow – My Life – our last week to enjoy Silke’s creations!

• Stamps:  Birthday Centers, CHF; Season of Joy
• Paper:  Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Old Olive Patterns DP, Thrift Shop, October Afternoon; Joy Ride, Cosmo Cricket
• Ink:  Versamark, Riding Hood Red
• Acc:  Pixie Petals flower, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, heat tool, EK Success border punch, Lots of Tags Die Cut, SAMJ, Beautiful Wings Die Cut, Chantilly Lace, Nesties

ColourQ52

Please do not adjust your screen….there is nothing wrong with your monitor…..Arielle has just chosen THIS as the color combo for this week’s ColourQ:

NO COLOR!  Just kidding….she wants us (and you) to use your favorite ColourQ combo from the past!  I like so many of them, I couldn’t choose, so I actually chose one I DIDN’t do, #22:

And since I didn’t know if I would be able to do a Christmas card over the weekend, I decided to challenge myself to use these colors for one:

I wish you could see this Santa IRL---he is COVERED with Dazzling Diamonds!  Maybe this is better:

This is called Faux Diamond Dust….ink your image, then apply Versamark ink all over the paper, dust with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat it up!  VERY cool effect! 

So run on over to the ColourQ blog to see what the others did with their favorite combos!  Can’t wait to see theirs and YOURS!

• Stamps:  Snowy Woods, Artistic Outpost
• Paper:  Sahara Sand, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, CC Patterns DP
• Ink: Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Versamark
• Acc:  MS Snowflake Punches, Satin Ribbon, Nesties, Lattice EF, Rhinestones, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat Tool

And you know I can’t resist another photo; propped up on Grammy’s blanket:

I just wish you could have seen the SHOES!!!  Have a blessed day!

More Swaps

It’s a gray, rainy, lazy day here in PA and I have stamped anything yet today, so I thought I would share with you the remaining swaps I got at my WeeInker meeting!

This little cutie is from our hostess Laura;

This gorgeous creation is from Georgette;

check out the inside, using a portion of the embossed image from the front:

 

and another beauty from Charlette;

And just because Georgette is so nice, she made a special card for me:

and even though Penny couldn’t attend, she brought this pretty card over later:

I have so enjoyed these cards, and am looking forward to Regionals in Baltimore on October 2!!!  More swaps!  Hopefully I’ll be back later today!

Paper Players 17 Inspiration Challenge

It’s my turn to host the Paper Players this week, and I chose this photo as my inspiration challenge:

Now, you don’t think I have little baby girls on my mind, do you? Isn’t she a cutie??? So let’s see what you can come up with using this photo as your inspiration! By the way, this comes from zulily---they have some really cute kids’ clothes!

I have a stamping friend who is going through some reconstructive post-breast-cancer surgery, so I thought I would use these colors to make her a card. My first thought was to use the breast cancer ribbon, but I wanted something a little more fun than that! So I went with the little Valentine girl from Greeting Card Kids:

I paper-pieced her dress, and added a little sparkle to her heart:

And I thought the front was a bit too busy for a sentiment, so I added it to the inside:

Hmmmm, I think my punches need “sharpening”!!! Anyhoo, I think this is a fun & funky card---and I hope it will cheer her up! Now why don’t you zoom on over to the Paper Player’s blog, see what the other designers did with this inspiration and play along as well! We’d love to have you!

• Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Greeting Card Kids
• Paper: WW, Basic Black, Regal Rose, Regal Rose Patterns DP
• Ink: Stazon
• Acc: Lots of circle punches, Markers, Dimensionals, Oval Nesties, Satin Ribbon, Dazz Diamonds Glitter

And here’s my little fashionista:

More Halloween

Looking through my samples, I realized I hadn’t posted some of my Halloween cards, so here they are!

These all use Halloween sets from the Holiday mini as well as an assortment of Halloween DP!  The last one uses the Spider Web embossing folder that had been inked with Craft White ink (on the inside portion that is “flat”); a piece of Basic Black cardstock was then inserted and run through my Big Shot…..the only thing that would have made it even cooler was some glitter on that web!  Maybe next time!

I also wanted to share with you the gift that I made my downline, Laura.  She always hosts our WeeInker meetings in her fabulous barn studio and I like to make her something a little special.  I had some black foam core board so I made her a Halloween wall hanging with a few papers and embellishments:

I believe this was about 9” square….I just layered a few different pieces of DP from Wicked Fun Specialty series and a bingo card from Nite Owl; there’s a little owl from Animal Stories sitting on the “s”…..and some Silver Glass Glitter adhered to a piece of Sticky Strip running across the center.

I stamped the bingo card with Sanded to give it more of an eerie effect.  There are glimmer brads in the corners, too!  I adhered a ribbon hanger on the back with Pop-up Glue Dots so that it can be hung on the wall. 

And here are some pix of my own little goblin:

 

She wouldn’t scare anybody!  Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps:  Fangtastic, Fright Night, Animal Stories, All Holidays, Sanded
• Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Concord Crush, Pumpkin Pie, WW, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Wicked Fun & Nite Owl DP
• Ink:  Stazon, Craft White
• Acc:  Markers, Nesties, Circle punches, Oval punches, Modern Label punch, Glimmer Brads, Grosgrain Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Silver Glass Glitter, Dimensionals, Blender Pen, Jelly Roll pen, Tag punches, Spider Web EF, Brads

PPA61 To Autumn

I should be getting dinner ready, but I am going to post this QUICKLY!  It’s for Pal’s Paper Arts, here’s the sketch:

and here’s the card:

I used a clear set that I’ve had for ages….nary a name on the package!!  The background words are stamped repeatedly with fall colors—clear stamps are so easy to line up!  I also stamped on some twill—that makes a fun effect—and did some direct-to-paper distressing on my little “sign”!  I was also excited because I just came across the poem (ode) from which this circular sentiment came—it’s called “To Autumn”!  TFL! 

• Stamps:  Clear Autumn set (no name), Curly Cute
• Paper:  Naturals Ivory, Riding Hood Red, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie
• Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, So Saffron, More Mustard
• Acc:  Nesties, Twill, Diecut, Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Distresser