Spooky

This card is the closest I come to Halloween.  We don't, and never have celebrated that day.  Instead, we focus on Autumn and Harvest.  I do love pumpkins and my daughter loves owls.  I will have to find a reason to give this to her.  This is such a CUTE (free) image of pumpkins and owl by Faith at Designed2Delight.  I am so happy her monthly challenge is back.

The sketch is CPS 284

I colored the image with Prisma Pencils.  The night sky is SU Vintage Violet that I rubbed onto the white cardstock.  Leaves and "Harvest" are stickers.  The border around the main image and around the DP is made with strips of stickers from an OLD SU scrapbook kit.

Challenges:
CPS
Designed2Delight - use monthly image
Crafty Friends - Halloween

Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon

Wow!  That is reaching back into the archives.  1967 to be exact.

What fun it was to color this and then add the bling and dimensional flowers by Kurio.
I've had pieces of this DP for a long time.  It came in a pack and I have loved using it.
The stamp set, Adventurous,  is an ittybitty by Unity.
Sketch is : Viva la Verve Challenge

Challenges:
Unity Friends with Flair 
Love to Create -  anything
Simon Says -  anything
StampTV -  transportation
Stamptacular Sunday -  bling

Dream But Remember

  There are a lot of you, who like me, hate to use your beautiful designer papers, especially if they are double sided.  The Lost and Found pad by My Mind's Eye torments me.  So I took the plunge and used several sheets.  Yes,(gasp) using adhesive on one of the fabulous sides.  When I started this card, my plan was to use all paper, no stamping.  But I love the sentiment in the Ippity set Now and Always so I did end up stamping that. It is important to dream but not to the point of not living in the present and paying attention to what is important and memorable right now.

  I tried to keep the newsprint theme of the papers.  Should I let you in on a booboo?  I glued the black paper ribbon on the wrong side!  But it turned out okay anyway. I am glad I decided to use paper instead of ribbon.

Here is the sketch I used:

Hope you like my card.  I am trying out for a DT position so would love to know what you think.  And I would love to hear about your paper phobias. LOL

Challenges;
Sweet Stop - sketch
Love to Create - anything
Stamp and Create - anything
Party Time Tuesday - anything
Simon Says - anything
Wags n Whiskers - circles
Great Impressions - sentiment

It's Official

Yes, it's officially Fall as of today (and it feels like it).  So how about a second post for the day with another Fall card?   You know me and my love for Autumn.  I have to take advantage of the situation.  Besides,  I have made so many cards the last few days with the Fall theme, with so many cute and beautiful images, I want to share them with you.

Here is another card made with this cute scarecrow by Laurie Wilson, Doodle Pantry.  Just had to use him again because he is just soooo cute.  I used a colored version but then added some Prismas Pencil to change some of the colors a bit.  By the way, jump over to Doodle Pantry Blog and play in the challenge.  But hurry because there are only 2 days left to enter.
The sketch is CPS  283



I had fun with this sketch by using the fence die cut, the grass die cut, and by doing some fussy cuts.
Fence is by Verve and grass is by Your Next Stamp  

Challenges:
Stampin Sisters in Christ - fall, harvest
Ribbon Carousel - fall
Party Time Tuesday - 3 fall colors
Di's Digi - more than one die cut
Your Next Stamp - anything
Really Reasonable Ribbon - autumn
          

Can't Keep UP

Am I getting slower?  Am I losing my concentration?   Am I not paying attention to details?  Is my MoJo on vacation?  Maybe all of the above, but it seems as if I am playing catch up, especially with challenges.  I finish a card just to find out that I missed a challenge or more by a day, or worse yet by a few hours.  Oh, well.  Maybe this is good therapy for my challenge addiction!!  LOL
So, this card is a CASE of Lois Bak and I was going to enter it for a Speedy TV challenge.  But you guessed it - I was too late.   I love Lois' card and I love how mine turned out too.

Mine:

Here is Lois' card

For my card, I used a stamp set "Signs of Autumn" by Gina K Designs.
I was planning on putting three brads of three different colors in the lower left of the front panel but because I have not cleaned my desk for awhile, I ended up with a speck of ink right where the red brad is now.
(I am determined to clean off my desk of all clutter and wash the top of my work surface tonight.)
I used the pillow top technique for my BG paper but will use more ink next time  like Lois did. 

These are the challenges that I am still in time for (smile):
Stampin Sisters in Christ - harvest or fall
Stamptacular Sunday - clean but elegant
Kraft Journal - lavishly layer
Ribbon Carousel - fall
Really Reasonable Ribbon - autumn
Clearly i Stamp - fall
Stamp an Create - anything

Harvest Blessings

We had so much rain this spring which resulted in my pumpkins seeds rotting after I planted them.  I planted a second time but too late.  So I am disappointed not to have any pumpkins this Fall but I do have lots of corn stalks for decorating.  And still eating corn, yellow neck squash, and ......
This pre-colored digital image and sentiment are by Doodle Pantry.  Just a great image depicting harvest.  This is part of the mid- month release.

Sketch is at Sweet Stop

Originally I was going to make the card with the diagonal part folding but decided to make it a panel - so much better for the cards I send to OWH; easier to insert into an envelop and more space for writing on the inside.
Buff Ivory cardstock - Kraft Outlet
Tobacco seam binding ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon


Challenges:
Stampin Sisters in Christ - harvest
Pile it On - stitching
Kraft Journal - layers
Ribbon Carousel - fall into fall
Really Reasonable Ribbon - autumn
Party Time Tuesday - 3 specified colors
Chocolate, Coffee, Cards - down on the farm
Speedy TV - Autumn and sentiment
Word Art

Leaves Are Falling

I love Autumn.  Are you getting tired of me saying that?  Sorry.  But I just love all the colors, smells, and our nice warm temperatures.  Did you ever jump in piles of leaves when you were a kid.  So much fun !  We had a huge maple tree near our house when my kids were growing up.  Every fall they spent hours raking the leaves in a pile and jumping in. 
I also love this sentiment.  If we break our lives into seasons, I am in the Autumn.  And I can attest to this statement that God is good all the time.  Even when I go through tough times, He is still good and has my best interest in mind.  Psalm 34 verse 8 says " Oh, put God to the test and see how kind He is!  See for yourself the way His mercies shower down (my note: like Autumn leaves) on all who trust Him."

This is a sketch at Stamp TV.  The tree and sentiment are GKD stamps.  All the leaves, except for the metal one, are punched out and layered on to of each other.  DP is a scrap.  I backed the sentiment piece and the DP piece with yummy brown kraft card stock from Kraft Outlet.

Challenges:
Great Impressions - sentiment
Stampin Sisters in Christ - fall
Clearly i Stamp - leaves
Kraft Journal - layers
Word Art Wednesday
Stamp and Create - anything

As You Can Clearly See

Why not make a card with a bookmark?  But, at the same time,  how to make a simple card for a boy?

As you can clearly see (sorry for being corny),  I used a piece of clear acetate on the front of the card, slipping the bookmark under the clear acetate.  In order to keep the bookmark from sliding through, I used a piece of ScoreTape on the bottom  edge of the acetate and then covered it with a piece of rick rack (matching the rick rack on the bookmark) so the tape would not show through the acetate.   I secured the top edge of the acetate with eyelets.
The images and sentiment are Gina K Design,  "Just So Hoppy"

Sketch is the Craft's Meow

Challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - tag
Stamp and Create - anything
Incy Wincy - bookmark
Wags n Whiskers - circles
The Craft's Meow - sketch

Blushing Fish

I've heard of a Blow Fish but never a Blushing Fish but here it is in this cute digital set by Paper Shelter.

The patterned paper comes with the image.  You know me - I love these colors.  Right now, these are the colors of our Autumn.  Still lots of green but with beautiful shades of yellow and orange.
  Don't you love this ribbon?  It is from Ribbon Carousel.
What an easy card to make with the pre-colored image and paper. .  I love that kind, especially if I am short on time and don't feel like coloring.

The sketch is CPS

Challenges:
Stampin Sisters in Christ - bright colors
Wags n Whiskers - circles
Pile it On - patterned paper
Sentimental Sundays - humor
Cutie Pie - no flowers
Really Reasonable Ribbon - autumn colors

Mid-September Surprise

Don't you love surprises?  Well, Laurie Wilson at Doodle Pantry has a mid-month release for us.  And talk about cute digital images?  Love them.   Here is one:

Isn't he just one of the cutest scarecrows you have ever seen.  In fact, he is so cute, the birds even love him! LOL
I used the color version and two strips of the beautiful paper Laurie has with the set.  Here is a pic of the set:

 This set even includes a separate image of the fence with 1 bird, a separate image of the pumpkins with the birds, and a separate image of just the scarecrow!

You just must go visit Doodle Pantry Blog.  You are going to want these sets.  And, as usual, there is a free set with purchase.
For this card I used the sketch at MFT

Challenges:
Pile It On - patterned paper
Cutie Pie - no flowers
Choclate, Coffee, Cards - Down on the Farm
Mema's Crafts - Pumpkin Patach

Enjoying Autumn

Here in the Pacific NW, we usually have beautiful Indian Summers.  This year is absolutely wonderful.  Temps in the high 70's, tipping in at 80, dry, blue sky.  The leaves are slowly turning the most glorious shades that Autumn can bring.  Next year I am going to plant more plants to give me a variety of color.  Right now I have a few shades of purple and a ton of Rudbeckia which are so bright and sunny.   Because Autumn is my favorite time of year, I will be making a lot of Autumn cards.  Here is one of the first:

The BG paper is digital by GKD
Vine ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon
The sketch is at Speedy TV
This card is also going into the drawing at the following challenges:
StampTV
Pile it On - patterned paper
Your Next Stamp - friends
Mema's Crafts - fall colors

Not Too Shabby !

I don't do shabby chic/vintage very often.   But I did try my hand at it again . 

Not much explanation is needed.  I embossed the top leaf and the sentiment to make them stand out, distressed the dictionary page.  Die cut is Marianne. Sketch is the Craft's Meow

Challenges:
Stampin Sisters in Christ
A Blog Named Hero - emboss
Cutie Pie - no flowers
Ribbon Carousel - bows
Simon Says - stamp
Do You Stack Up - birthday
Raise the Bar -Fall
Lothian - use Marianne die
Mema's - Fall

Friday Came Quickly

Yikes!  This week went fast !  It is already Friday so that means time to post another card for Unity's Fridays with Flair as well as for some other wonderful blog challenges:

I wanted to see what I could do with the sketch for My Favorite Things.

The stamp set I used is Thankful For You by Ippity.
Usually I make masculine cards as Hero cards to send to OWH but our deployed women need our thanks too.  This is one of the cards of thanks that I am including in the box headed to our shipper.

Challenges:

Crafty Cardmaker
Great Impressions - sentiment
 Simon Says - stamp
Unity Stamp Co.

Very CAS Thank You

In the process of getting a box of cards ready to send to Operation Write Home , I was shocked to see that I had not made any Hero cards for awhile.  So I got busy and made two today.  Going to make a few more before closing up the box.  And they are going to be  simple so I can get this in the mail by the end of this week.  Here is one I made today.

It is great to find sketches which use up some of my scraps.  This sketch is at Stamptacular Sunday 

Verse is by Our Daily Bread Design

Challenges:
ODBD - stitching
A Blog Named Hero - emboss
Cutie Pie - no flowers
Simon Says - stamp
Craft 4 Eternity - less is more
OWH ODBD
Stamptacular Sunday - sketch 
Word Art Wednesday

YeeHaw Partner

Sometimes a card just comes together and you end up loving it.  This is one of those cards.

This little guy is sooo cute.  It is a 2 CUTE rubber stamp. The sketch is Sweet Stop 

I had a piece of embossed red cardstock in my scrap box.  It is embossed with paisley which I wanted to incorporate into the card even before I found the scrap.  The boots piece is a scrap of vellum and the middles piece is a scrap of DP from an old Christmas stack.
After I colored the image and glued it onto the red circle, I added the gold brads and then popped up the whole piece with a circle of fun foam.  I use that quite often - just the right thickness for some dimension.

Challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - emboss
Stamp and Create - anything
Simon Says - anything
Pink Gem - boy
Sweet Stop - sketch
OWH VCMP challenge - western
Our Daily Bread - stitching

Second Post - More OWH Challenges

Here is another card I made for the VCMP weekend at Operation Write Home.
This was a new technique that I had never tried.  Donna challenges us and gave us a great tutorial.   Check out her cards.  They are lovely.

Flowers are from a Unity set, Now and Always.  The butterfly is Our Daily Bread Design.

Three of the flowers were outline images so I filled in a little color.  They just looked too plain.

Challenges:
Crafty Cardmaker - wings
Craft Your Passion - floral images
Paper and Such - wings
Simon Says - anything
Craft 4 Eternity - less is more

Last of the Summer Memories

I've never been surfing.  The coastline in Washington State is not conducive to surfing.  But these surfboards by Tiffany Doodles is so cute and I am entering several challenges that I thought they would be great in.

The sky is sponged and the rest of the card is paper pieced.  Sentiment is by Raindrop Echo.

Challenges:
OWH - sports
Crafty Creations - summer scene
Simon Says - anything
Pink Gem - boys
Craft for Eternity - less is more
Wags and Whiskers - sports
Speedy TV - CAS and sentiment
Great Impressions - sentiment
CDAC - progressive challenge

Just Monkeying Around

The first of another month so you know what that means?  Doodle Pantry Release.  Here are two cards today using two of the new digital sets that Laurie has designed.  The first is "Lil Cowkids".  It comes with outline and colored images.  I chose to use a colored image because as you probably already know, I have three grandchildren from Ghana and how perfect that Laurie included colored images with darker skin colors.   One of my granddaughters just got a pair of cowgirl boots so how perfect to use this new set for a card.  Just an amusing note: my Ghanaian grandchildren say they are brown and that we are peach colored.  I love the fact that we are not into the black vs white thing.    Color is not a big thing to them or to us.  In fact my 8 year old (bio) and 9 year old (adopted)  granddaughters dressed alike for the first day of school and thought it was so funny because then no one would be able to tell them apart !  Oh, if all of us could be that color blind !

This was a fun card to make.  I used a new banner/pennant die by Verve and a hat die by Cuddlebug.  Flowers were punched out and I added liquid pearls to the centers before putting them on the banner.

Entering this card into these challenges:
Pile it On - something with p
Sentimental Sundays - stitching
Love to Create - handmade flowers
Digital Tuesday - coral, tan, digital
Party Time Tuesday - anything
Simon Says - anything
Speedy TV - hard to sketch, no sketch

 Here is another card made with the outline versions of  "Mister Monkey"

  
Check out the new images at Doodle Pantry then join the challenge here. 

Receive this set for playing.   And one more thing - there is a Labor Day sale that you will want to get in on.
Check out the details HERE

Have a great weekend.