spooky

I don't do spooky. I don't do Halloween- never have gotten it, but my kids enjoy the whole dressing up bit. Nothing spooky or scary, plain ol' fun. As a teenager, my BFF at the time decided we should dress up and trick or treat. I think my dad wanted to put an end to the shinanagins and took us to a haunted house afterwards. Big Mistake. I was scared 'poopless'! Not funny, not remotely close to laughter, just plain old scared out of my pants. Think that is why at 28 my hair turned early gray. So, I don't embrace the holiday. I am in the minority.

This card was made in honor of a customer of mine. She requested a card with bats. Now, remember my story.... I don't have stamps except pumpkins. Kris to the rescue. She just bought some Mindscape stamps. If you look closely, the bats are made up of other images. COOL huh? See the cats, spider webs, and the skull? She stamped out some images for me, Jenn will be thrilled when we do her card workshop!

Now, the challenges that this card completes are:
1) Twisted Thursday #24- use purple and orange
2) Our Creative corner- make a fall card- Halloween is in fall, orange is a fall color
3) ABC- Challenge- D is for Die Cut, to cut out shapes: bats cut out, oval is cut using my cricut and I used my zigzag for the edging and I cut out the flag for the sentiment.

Thanks for coming over today!

totally thursday

Thursday. One more day to get through before the weekend. School holidays are really messing with my head, can't keep the schedules straight! So, back into a groove and trying to get some creating done. Today, I actually completed a sketch that is about 2 weeks old. Love this site, Twisted Thursdays (aka s2gcraftingchallenges.blogspot.com)- this was a sketch challenge with a twist of red being the primary color of the card. Used a digi stamp of theirs, fruitcake angel. Can't really see the sparkle of the angel wings, but they are there! Papers are Flair, generic red cardstock and I think bobunny ribbon (scrap).

This card is a sketch challenge at Caardvarks. One of 3 to choose from, I went with this sketch #2. The image is a digi I won from Soft Pencil (cute cute cute stuff!), colored in with markers. My eyesight ain't what it used to be and even with my glasses, have a hard time getting those small places! LOL!!!. Sentiment from CTMH, prima flowers. Glitter on her wings and the dust on the flower. Papers are from Debbie Mumm, Baby Boy pack. Now, to pick up my kids from the bus, library for research, dinner, homework, and some time with hubby.

Have a great evening! See you tomorrow. Don't forget to come back on Saturday for a new challenge from Sherrod Studio and next week we have some sneaks of new stamps arriving in the store on 9/19. They are AWESOME!!!

3 to See!

This card was created for The Pink Elephant and Cute Card Thursday. Amazingly enough, both sites asked for Summer Themed Cards. Well, nothing beats the Seashore for summer images! LOL! This is Maize, she is a prize that I won from Twisted Thursday, during CHA week. She is sassy, cute, independent and I just love her. The paper is from DCWV, Fun in the Sun, even the colors I used are summery: breeze blue from CTMH, pink on the bucket, light greens and yellows. Even the paper is glittery, reminding me of the way the hot summer sun reflects on the granules of sand- temporarily blinding you!

Lovely Gracie's Birthday Card completed 3 challenges. Sherrod Studio , Card Positioning Systems #130 sketch design and Inky Impressions Paper Piecing challenge. Gracie's shirt and balloon were pieced using Basic Greys paper, same pattern line as the balloon DP. Birthday is a fabric sticker, I think from Anna Griffin????? The balloon was put on 3d foam to give the impression of floating.

And I actually completed a layout for a challenge on Unscripted Sketches. When I first started following US, this was the site that I could use for all of my backlog of photos. Scrapping seems to take so much time anymore and cards have become addicting! And less time consuming.... So, today I am by myself and am trying to do a few layouts before the day is done. I love this picture of my girls. They were walking down to the lake, way ahead of their father and I and it makes me think of the 3 musketeers. My girls can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. This day, they were united in their explorations of the world around them and I love it! I stamped on Burlap, gives that fall feeling, and made my own leaves- properly placing them so they look like they are free falling off of the trees. Hemp was the final touch that pulled this together.

Are you ready for fall?

many cards today

This card is too cute! This set, Gracie, from Sherrod Studio is so versatile! The teddy bears on here could indicate a Welcome Baby (neutral enough for either boy or girl) or it could be used as a birthday card for a toddler. The papers are from Basic Grey.

Love how this card turned out! This was made for Cupcake Craft Challenge #51, which was to make a project with a beach theme. I used the By the Seashore stamp set by Sherrod for the bucket and sentiment. Cut out a circle, and shadow from my cricut for the sun. Popdotted the bucket and used glitter to give the sand some summer shimmer!

This card is my favorite! I just rec'd my new DT fall stamps from Sherrod Studio. This floral set is called Friendship Blossoms. The sketch I followed is from the site Twisted Thursday- use polka dots. I used my swiss dots embossing folder to add the dots onto the floral paper. Hope that counts! Distressed all of my edges. I stamped the flower 3x on cardstock then cut out 3 times, each time smaller than the other to give height and dimension. Added glitter to the edges. Leaves cut on cricut, added hemp for extra texture. With everything going on, the card was left blank- the sentiment can be written on the inside.

attempt #2 on S2G challenge!

So, the challenge was to make a non traditional not a square not a rectangle card christmas card on S2G. I think I followed the directions this time! Cleaned my trusty Cricut (still acting up!) and this is my first attempt at doing something other than letters and circles or flowers!!! 5 1/2 house on the Christmas Cheer cartridge. I really am surprised and thrilled how this turned out! thanks for stopping by!

2 cards, 2 challenges (so far....!)

It has been another crazy week and I am behind in the challenges that I like to complete each week. In order to save time, there won't be any short stories- I will be back at my crazy table creating today! This card is for the 365 Card Challenge "Black and White, Red All Over", Day #136. Simple, yet portrays the message that you wish to get across to the recipient.

side note: ooopppsss! I just went back and reread the directions for the challenge and the challenge is to make a shaped CHRISTMAS card. back to the drawing boards....

I have been in the christmas mode this week preparing for a card workshop next friday evening. However, I can only take making so many holiday cards when the weather here is screaming SPRING, the girls are playing basketball and this weekend, my hubby and one DD are going to the shore for a softball tournie. I heard from a friend this week and I wanted to try to make one of these flower pot cards in her honor. She loves to garden and she will appreciate this card for sure! Twisted Thursday's card challenge was to make a card that is NOT the usual shape of square or rectangle. Without using my cricut (which is giving me trouble this week, 3 years old and already acting 80!) to make a holiday ornament or snowman, I used her to make flowers. The directions were on Splitcoaststampers.com, a great resource for new cards and techniques. Here's to you S2G, for making us think outside the box!

Challenge Day - how many can I complete?

Anyway- the above card is for S2G papercraft challenges, Twisted Thursday #18. Love how this turned out. They are giving away a free digi image for the challenge. Don't you just love this fruitcake angel? The other deets were: use digi angel, follow the sketch given and add something clear. See my clear button on top??? Actually, I forgot about this part of the challenge until I reread the criteria and really added this as an afterthought..... I glittered up the angel with prisma glitter and the papers are from Around the Block- holidays.

Card number two is for 365 Cards day #131- Ad Inspired and Our Creative Corner (red, white and blue) I love the color scheme which is what I based my card on. Followed red, white and blue (all CTMH papers). The stamp image is from Sherrod Studio (by the seashore set). Glittered up the sand with prisma glitter. Now: red white and blue- see the blue stripes on the towel and the shower curtain? red polka on the other towel? White shower curtain, reminds me of water droplets, hence the swiss dot folder used on the white c/s. Brown stool- brown sand. bathroom- water- seashore? dr. seuss in black on the bottom left- my "life is a beach" sentiment bottom left???? I think I caught the essence of this ad for my card. By the way, Bobunny did a challenge recently for an ad inspired layout- I WON!!!! Check out bobunny or my blog entry!

Now, off to "rest" the rest of the afternoon.......

Christmas in July?

That is the latest challenge at Twisted Thursday challenge #16! This week is to create a christmas card, using their sketch... AND distress! I chose the snowman stamp since most of my workshops are winter related, not Christmas related and I try to please EVERYONE (my downfall!)

Well, my cardstock was distressed by putting it through the cuttlebug swiss dots folder, the snowflakes are distressed by added blue ink to the edges, the one strip of paper is accordian folded- distressed more.....so, I think I pulled off the challenge. Maybe I will try this challenge again, using red, green, white and maybe a poinsetta stamp that I have in winter storage...?????? While I am there, I might have to see what other stamps I have "forgotten" about in the past few months.

Thanks "shirley 2 girls" for this challenge and the chance to add to my winter cards! Check out this site and the design teams blogs for some great ideas on holiday cards (the cats and dogs are the cutest whimsical stamps!)

Twisted Thursday Challenge!

Today, I am trying a new challenge site called Twisted Thursday. Yesterday was challenge #16, this is the sketch that was posted. Would you believe that the teddy bear, stars, clouds and saying are embellies from the $store??? I couldn't resist them when I walked in there to get paper plates for a tea party- got them in pink and blue (guess what I am making this weekend???more baby cards!) With the size of the bear, had to be presented on a larger card (6x6). The yellow corner tag is from Anna Griffin and it adds just the right amount of weight on the top to keep this card balanced. I have found that in order to make a card or layout pleasing to the eye- all additions must be in a triangle, in 3's. example: tag, bear and sentiment. bear, stars, cloud. bear, sentiment, corner tag. See what I mean?

I am anxious to see what other ideas for sketches this site comes up with and will definitely be back! Now, to find some sites that offer LAYOUT Sketch Challenges...... Know any good ones?