SKELETAL GREETINGS

I have a terribly sad story to share with all of you. Truly.

You see, yesterday was World Card Making Day. 

For the past six years, I have worked retail, so was always scheduled to work on World Card Making Day, the first Saturday in October. So, I could never really enjoy the day. Sure, maybe I'd whip up a card that night after slaving away all day. Or maybe I told myself that, in my case, it could be World Card Making WEEKEND. And I'd do mine on Sunday. 

This year, however, I am not working. So I was looking forward to having the ENTIRE World Card Making Day, for a change, to myself, to create, create, create! 

Unfortunately, the other day, my husband came home and told me that we were invited to a family party about 100 miles away October 1, World Card Making Day. And, since we were already going to be in the area of our old stompin' grounds, we would spend a few hours with my parents. 

When he told me this, I turned my head slowly to the side and smiled sadly. He didn't understand my reaction until I informed him of my long-awaited plans. Alas. The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. 

Now, aren't the tears just streaming down your face??

Didn't think so.

Anyway, as soon as we got home and gulped down a quick dinner, I hastened downstairs to my Creation Station to at least do SOMETHING for World Card Making Day. I knew it would have to be a fast card, because I also had lots of homework waiting for me upstairs.

Not having any specific plans in mind, I plunged my hand into my Project Life card stash, and came up with the rustic dotted kraft paper background. The other side of this card was simply the words, "Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!" in black against the kraft background. Nope. Uh uh.

I right away decided I would make a Halloween card with the dotted background, and I wanted to use my Cookie Cutter SKELETON! While the gears were churning away, I happened to glance back at the Project Life cards, and there, because it was a gigantic 4" x 6" card, this adorable Halloween plaid stuck out. I grabbed it, and put it to work with my dotted background.

And this is what I came up with:

I'd embossed the little skeleton in white on Soft Suede cardstock, and punched him out with the matching Cookie Cutter punch. I then glued the little guy to a piece of black cardstock for more definition against the dots, and carefully cut out a black frame. I then used a couple Stampin' Dimensionals to pop him away from the background.

For my sentiment, I grabbed an old one. Remember the set with the haunted house and the spooky owl in the gnarled tree? Uh huh, this sentiment was from that set. I'd always always loved it because of the way the fonts in the words are formed and the addition of creepy crawly stuff. I mounted it against a cool strip of adhesive-backed cork. 

The sentiment piece bothered me a little bit because that upper right hand corner was blank blank blank.So, I got out my trusty Pigma pen and drew in a little wonky zigzag. Then I took the Cookie Cutter punch and punched out one of the large black dots in black, and the smaller one in Pumpkin Pie. To sort of echo the random stripiness of the background dots, I scribbled in some stripes on the orange dot.

That cute white zigzag trim was part of the 4" x 6" plaid piece, so I wanted to incorporate that whole white bottom into my design.

Being that that piece was 4" x 6" was a little horrifying though. I'd wanted to keep the card the traditional size of 4 1/4" by 5 1/2". So I was forced to cut off a little of the plaid so it measured only
5 1/2" tall. Then I cut my card base from black cardstock to measure 4 1/4" x 11", and scored and creased it at 5 1/2".

One final bone-y "hi".

After I finished the card, I dashed upstairs to finish some of my homework. So, World Card Making Day was celebrated, not as I'd originally intended, but . . . I MADE A CARD!

There! Now, aren't you happy with the way my sad story actually ended? 

Bone-y

Smiles.