BOO TO YOU!

I just have a few Halloween-flavored projects to share with you -- BOO TO YOU!

I made some of these cute pumpkin pails for my Stamp-In Club members. Buckets from the Target Dollar Spot, they came with chipboard tags in the shape of a coffin. I was about to throw the tags away, when -- WAIT! They are shaped like COFFINS! I had wanted to make tags to hang on the buckets anyway.

So, I sanded the glossy surfaces of the tags a bit to give them some tooth. I then covered one side of each tag with Anywhere Glue Stick, and adhered a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock. After smoothing the paper in place really well, I trimmed off around the shape. I then stamped it with an old Stampin' Up! Trick or Treat stamp. So far, so cute, eh?

I then applied Anywhere Glue Stick to the flip sides of the tags, and this time adhered some retired Stampin' Up! Halloween DSP, trimming around the edges once again. I then took my sanding block and sanded the edges to bond the paper to the tags.

After filling Stampin' Up! cellophane treat bags with an assortment of seasonal treats, I placed the closed bags inside the buckets along with some purple crinkly basket filler, and tied the tags onto the handles.

On this Halloween greeting, once again a hybrid card, the image was created in MDS and printed out,  then cut to size. The black cardstock on which I mounted the pumpkins was run through the Big Shot inside the Woodgrain Embossing Folder to give it a little more of an eerier feel. I punched out green circles with the 1/2" Circle Punch, inserting some old square purple brads in the center of each and applying to the embossed background with Glue Dots.

Some thick black crochet cotton wound a few times around the subtle candy corn DSP, then adhered to the Whisper White card base finished it off.

I hope your Halloween is just as spooky as you want it to be!

Boo

Smiles.

SPOOKY

Hope you're gearing up for a spooooooky Halloween!

Do you remember the sour cream containers -- especially popular a few years ago -- that were meant to hold treats for any and all occasions? I've made a few. But, it always bothered me that, unless you opt to go without the treats contained within, you needed to somehow destroy the container to get at them. I mean, otherwise, what is the purpose of a treat container? To contain treats, right. But, you want to be able to enjoy them too. And who likes ruining something so cute just to get at some yummy calories?

I decided to change things up a bit and made my own version of the traditional sour cream containers:

See that nifty purple bull clip on mine? I left the top of the container open to add the treats, then just "closed" it with the bull clip. The clip keeps it securely shut, looks cute, and is easy to open and close back up again without wrecking the container.

They are such odd-looking containers, it is really a challenge to show a decent image of a sour cream container, especially if you've never seen one before. 

There are many videos on YouTube if you'd like to try to make one of your own. But always remember to use a very strong adhesive, such as Stampin' Up!'s Sticky Strip. 

Spooky

Smiles.

DOIN' IT MY WAY

I am one of the thousands and thousands of subscribers of Stampin' Up!'s monthly subscription kit, Paper Pumpkin. Don't you just love their projects month after month?

Normally I am totally enamored with them. Last month's kit, however, was an exception. The kit came with all the supplies (except adhesive) to create four cards that were to look like this:

Well, by now, you all know my style. And this isn't it. I am so NOT a WAHOO kind of person. I felt so bad about not loving it. What to do. What to do. I knew that if I made these four cards, I would never find occasion to use them. That seemed like a huge waste.

Well . . . The card base with its circular graphic was kind of cute. And I love the button and the Baker's Twine. But ... Nope. I just couldn't do it.

After giving it some thought, this is what I came up with:

Definitely more ME, wouldn't you agree? I preserved the elements that I liked, and added a few of my own touches. 

And, now I have some leftover elements that I can use in a future project.

I am so sorry Stampin' Up! I feel quite disloyal. 

But, you all know the purpose of Paper Seedlings: Planting Creative Paper Ideas. I guess I planted little paper seedlings in myself, and acted on them, bringing them to full flower. If something doesn't speak to you, switch it up to make it YOUR OWN! 

Let me know what you think.

Wahoo

Smiles.

FISHIN' AROUND

At my Stamp-In Workshop in September, my attendees made a cute almost-any-occasion card. In that, it says, "Thinking of You" on the bottom. I mean, for any occasion, if you are sending someone a card, you ARE thinking of them, right?

When I saw the precious single stamp, "Fishin' Around," on page 58 of the big catalog, yup. You guessed it. I HAD to have it.

And, of course, the first thought in my mind was PAPER PIECING! Those little fishies were simply begging for it!

See what I mean??

This cute card is fairly easy to create. Would you like to recreate one of your own? Here's how:

Supplies:

Curly Cute stamp set (retired -- so sad)

Fishin' Around stamp

Pumpkin Pie cardstock

Coastal Cabana cardstock

Naturals White cardstock

Watercolor Paper

DSP in oranges in a small print

Coastal Cabana ink

Baked Brown Sugar ink

Black StazOn ink

Stampin' Write Marker in Crushed Curry or any other "treasure" color you prefer

Big Shot

Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Circles Collection Framelits

Chalk Talk Framelits

Pumpkin Pie Taffeta Ribbon (retired)

Mini Glue Dots

Paper Snips

Aqua Brush

Stampin' Dimensionals

3/16" Corner Punch

Instructions:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Naturals White cardstock in half, creasing well with a bone folder.

Run the front of the card through the Big Shot inside the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. Use the 3/16" Corner Punch to round ONLY THE TOP TWO CORNERS of the card front.

Create an open-topped tag from Pumpkin Pie cardstock with the Framelit from Chalk Talk. Adhere the tag to the card front. Tie a piece of the Pumpkin Pie ribbon into a perky bow and attach it to the tag with a Mini Glue Dot.

On a piece of watercolor paper, stamp the fishbowl image in Black StazOn. Use ink in the lid of the ink pads to color the water in Bermuda Bay and the sand in Baked Brown Sugar with an Aqua Painter. Color the treasure with the Crushed Curry Stampin' Write Marker.

Choose scraps of DSP for your fish. They can be different, as in my sample, or the same. Your choice. Stamp the fish in Black StazOn onto your DSP. Carefully cut them out with the Paper Snips. Adhere them over their stamped counterparts inside the fishbowl.

Use the circle Framelit to cut out the fishbowl. Adhere it to the tag with a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals.

Adhere the 1/2" x 4 1/4" Pumpkin Pie strip and the 1/4" x 4 1/4" Bermuda Bay strip to the bottom of the card, leaving a bit of white between the colors.

On a 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of Naturals White cardstock, stamp the sentiment in Black StazOn ink. Adhere this to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Fishin' for

Smiles.

DIMENSIONAL SUNFLOWER

Here comes the <sun> second of the four cards I was pleased with from my World Cardmaking Day marathon:

I was playing around with a shape/color combination for a different card idea I had . . . when . . . hey! That would make a darling sunflower! So I grabbed sunflower colors: Crushed Curry, So Saffron and Soft Suede. 

Using two of the Framelits from the Floral Frames Collection, I cut the petals from the yellows. A circle from the Circles Collection of Framelits created the center of the flower. To give the center a little more dimension, I ran the circle through the Big Shot inside the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. NOTE: After having completed the card, I now wish I had sponged the edges of the circle. Well, maybe next time.

I then raided my button collection jars and dug out a variety of neutral-hued buttons in various sizes, and glued them in place to represent sunflower seeds. Uh huh. Use your imagination.

Unfortunately, the photo doesn't quite show all the dimension of the card. It REALLY pops! Including the buttons, it stands more than a half inch away from the card base. 

Anyway, I think it turned out pretty cute. Let me know what you think.

Sunny 

Smiles.

GENTLE BEAUTY

I would like to give you a gift. A gift of beauty.

I'm not sure why, but I seem to have noticed and enjoyed this autumn and its gentle beauty more this year than in recent years. Maybe it was because the weather was more conducive to being out and around our property. This fall is proving to be fairly rough for me on several levels, and I searched for and found solace in nature's wonders.Whatever the reason, I took a plethora of photos that portrayed the beauty that surrounds us. Perhaps, at times, we are so blinded by what is going on in our lives and our world that we miss a lot of the really good stuff.

And now I'd like to share six layouts of my autumn photos that I created in MDS. I hope that by sharing them with you, you too will experience the grace and gentle beauty of this season.

These photos are for your viewing pleasure only. Please respect my ownership of my images and enjoy them solely on my blog post. 

Grateful

Smiles.

HALLOWEEN HAPPINESS

Remember the four cards I was pleased with from my World Cardmaking Day creating? I would like to present to you the first of the four:

This is a hybrid card. I had purchased the Halloween Happiness digital stamp through MDS (My Digital Studio). I "painted" the image in MDS in the colors I wanted, then printed it out onto white cardstock.

After cutting it to size, I adhered it to a Basic Black mat. For the background of the card, I ran watercolor paper through my Big Shot inside the Stylish Stripes embossing folder from the new Holiday Catalog. I haphazardly painted each of the raised stripes in a pattern of green, orange and purple inks.

The image mounted against the striped background was cute, but . . . Hmmm. It needs SOMEthing! Buttons!!

I raided my button jars and grabbed buttons to match my stripes, adding a little white baker's twine tied in a bow to the central, larger purple button.

To me, this card definitely does personify "Halloween Happiness". sigh.

Smiles.

TURKEY CLUB

I have a big announcement to make. I am the new president of the highly esteemed Turkey Club! Yup. You heard it right. Would you like to know how I was appointed to this desirable post??

Well, you see, yesterday, as I'm sure you are all very aware, was World Cardmaking Day. And, how did you celebrate this (eighth) annual phenomenon??

I wasn't scheduled to work, so I decided to take full advantage of this wondrous occasion. By doing what, you may ask? I was going to use the whole day to MAKE CARDS!

It was a little bit of tough getting started. I was sort of at a loss as to how to proceed. I never have a whole day that is dedicated to creating. But, never fear, I figured it out, and was crafting my little heart out in no time, enjoying every minute of cluttering up my space even more.

This is actually what the area looked like when I was finished. Yes, I am a bona fide certified pig. (And, you can see that I often get distracted in the process: notice the spools of Christmas wrapping ribbon teetering on the edge). Where is that crafting fairy when you need her? Probably buried under all my supplies, I'm sure. Poor thing.

Back to World Card Making Day. I ended up making five cards, four of which I am thoroughly pleased with. The fifth one: not so much. It was actually the second card of the day that I made. I thought I had such a FABulous idea for it.

Uh huh. You got it. This is the card that guaranteed my spot of president of the Turkey Club. Can you understand why?

I thought I was doing everything just right. 

I chose fallish DSP for the big turkey feathers and created them from a form of tea bag folding. 

I then thought I was being really clever by making that red thing that hangs on his face . . . OK. I didn't think that sounded very good, so I googled "that red thing that hangs on a turkey's face", and -- THANKS, GOOGLE! -- his WATTLE and his little pointy feet from sections cut from the Tasteful Trim die in my Big Shot.

Hmm. Still not so great. Add some more.

Continue with the fallish colors throughout. Texture. Rounded corners on the sentiment done with my new Envelope Punch Board. Paper Piercing. Strips of texture rather than a complete sheet. Add buttons. Baker's twine. 

Well, when I deemed this creation finished, I had clinched my title for president of the Turkey Club. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go dig up my copy of Robert's Rules of Order.

P.S. I will share the other four cards in upcoming posts. I can guarantee they are better than this turkey.

Wattle

Smiles.

A NEW ROOST

A few days ago, my mom and dad moved into an assisted living facility. It was a very tough move to make, after living in their house for 59 years, but they seem to have settled in somewhat. Each day gets a little better.

Since I live over a hundred miles from them, and, although I saw their  new apartment empty right before they moved in, I have yet to see it filled with all their possessions. You know, all the things that really make a place a "home". I can't wait to see how they've made it their own.

I decided to make a "new roost" card to send to their brand new address as a little welcome.

In my card, I used a variation of emboss resist. After embossing the bird in our luscious Pewter Embossing Powder, I sponged on a fall color combo of Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie and Soft Suede. I then cut out the image with one of the Framelits from the Window Frames Collection and sponged the edges with Soft Suede. I cut another piece of Pear Pizzazz with the next larger size of Window Frames, embossed it with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder and sponged the edges with Soft Suede. 

The backdrop piece is of Soft Suede embossed with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. I sponged the edges as well as some of the woodgrain with Soft Suede. I didn't want to cover up too much of the lovely woodgrain,, so I opted to place an elegant Antique Brad  below the focal point. Added to a sponged-edge card base of Naturals White set it all off perfectly.

I even used my new Envelope Punch Board to create a "matching envelope". I also created a seal for the back of the envelope by embossing in pewter the same bird, and using the smallest of the Window Frames dies to cut it out. Adorable, isn't it?

I hope my little card brings a smile to Mom and Dad's faces.

Smiles.