Halloween Wreath

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Good evening, and welcome. I've only gotten one card made, and that is for Mr. He likes Halloween. Also snapped some photos of our pretty trees that we can see from our house.

First though, let me thank all of you who sent good wishes for the CT outcome. I'm very sad to say, we did not get good/happy news. I don't want to go into this subject a great deal, but we will be very busy with health issues in the upcoming weeks, possibly months. So I will be MIA a lot of time, or possibly on hiatus dealing with this matter. I didn't want to just disappear and not say why. I won't be entering challenges, nor probably have time for blogging. Or in the mood to make cards either I expect. Enough on that. Any prayers would be most gratefully welcomed and thanks!

Here's the card:

At the moment, don't remember the maker of this image, but it was pretty easy to color. Has some Sakura silver gel pen on the spider webs, WoS on the pumpkin faces and teeth, and used Nuvo drops for the red eyes on the spiders and bats. VOS from a Halloween 6x6 pack and a 8x10 glitter pack for the background. S/Binders circle and scallop circle for the dies.

Now here's a few pretty fall trees to share. The red maple is in our yard, the more 'umbrella shaped' one is in our neighbor's yard.

It's sort of like Fall arrived here in just a few days. These trees were all green just last week I think! Hope you enjoyed seeing our neighborhood. Take care, until we talk again!

Blessings & Hugs.

August Twofer Challenge - Geometrics

Good evening, and welcome. I'm skating into the August Twofer Challenge by the skin of my teeth!
This month I tried very hard to play as the theme is Geometrics. I have circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, you name it. So it ought to have been super easy, right? Here goes, and see what you think.

Here's the 2 cards done using a skinny Double Stitched Rectangle, Set B, Sue Wilson. (hope this link to Walmart works. Mine came from Oozak when there was a 50% off, and it's no longer showing at the site).

Also used the S/Binders Wonky Rectangle as a mat.

 

 

-SnS sunflower image was inked with DI markers onto 140# c/s. Then used a water brush to pull the color out.  The skinny stitched rectangle cut the focal image. Then used larger sized rectangles from that set to cut the frame. Adhered a previously made Brusho background onto cream cardstock. Adhered the frame rectangle piece, then inlaid the watercolored piece.  Added a stamped sentiment, 3 wooden look sequins, and decided to do a few score lines.

- Northwoods Halloween image was colored with copics. Used the same skinny stitched rectangle to die cut the scene into thirds. Wasn't sure how this would look with the separation in the scene, but I think it turned out ok. A background of DOX was created using Dusty Concord, Mermaid blue and Carved Pumpkin. Sprayed this lightly with some Tattered Angels silver-y spray (which of course doesn't show. It made spatters I was proud of though!) Tried to use an unmounted plain rubber spiderweb stamp to black emboss - I've learned that unmounted stamps do NOT stamp well for me, so will be hunting up that mounting stuff I have somewhere. Decided to dry emboss a SU spiderweb, which worked ok, although not much of that shows either. Purple glitter paper was die cut with the Wonky rectangle (which needed a little artistic license. The large die in the set didn't quit fit for the trio of rectangles, so drew around the outer edge to lengthen it enough that the images would fit better. Then fussy cut ). Last bit was to use another snippet of the green brusho piece to heat emboss the Halloween sentiment, add some purple rhinestones. One Halloween card down!

I'm having blogger issues with comments again. I have deleted the email address, saved, waited a bit, then re-added the address, saved. But still not getting the comments. This started yesterday. So bear with me.

Off to link up with the August Twofer Challenge. Thanks for joining me this evening. Hugs.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome and a Spooky Halloween to you! Thanks for checking in and I hope you're planning a special day. Do you hand out candy tonight? We normally buy a couple bags with the items individually wrapped or sealed. The past few years, we've varied from having lots of kids to just a few, with candy left. Surrounding areas frequently bring kids in cars to our neighborhood as well. We don't need to eat the leftovers; it's hard to find places to donate it to (safety reasons, even if the places know who we are & the bags are still sealed); the neighbors all have their own leftovers to push on their grandkids. One year the ladies in our doctor's office told us "We can't give it to the kids, but WE can eat it". So this year, we just got one big bag of candy bars, and when it is all gone (if it is!) - we'll turn out the porch light and hope we get no tricksters.  We both enjoy seeing the little kids, but sometimes we get ones old enough they should be buying their own candy. Most of them seldom even say "Thank you" either. Still, we do it for the littles.

 

OK...another card that didn't get an insert made, so guess it will go in the stash. Hope I remember this next year and mail some out in time. Also hope next year will not be so stressful as this year has been.

 

The Gina K die cuts the stitched scallop piece, with a separate frame. Colored that green, inlaid the scallop back into the rectangle. Adhered that to a kraft card base, which I then covered up with angled strips of different Halloween themed dp.  I was chuckling as I colored the image, at that kitty's goofy look. (I'm very allergic to cats, so I seldom do cat images! Once in a while though.)

 

Big hugs, and thanks for visiting. Hope you don't get any tricksters tonight.

 



Happy Halloween Punkin Pair

Good morning and welcome to a scheduled post. Trying to get some things caught up. I made a few Halloween cards - alas, never got time to do the inserts in time for timely mailing. I have become the Excuse Lady, sorry! Last week we spent a couple days helping #1 brother clean out a utility room. (Mostly his help was when we showed him the stuff, he'd say "pitch it" and some of the stuff he thought neighbors might want. )  We still have some of that to finish, in addition to an outbuilding that contained SIL's gardening equipment. It really brought home all the 'stuff' we collect, know we should weed out-- but don't want to face the chore. Perhaps doing these things has contributed to my cleaning mood of late!

Anyway, I thought these lil' punkins were cute, they were fun to color. Don't remember the stamp company. Stripe paper from a 6x6 pack - who knows when it came to live here. S/B label die. The orange cardbase is a bit smaller than the usual, but it was on the desk. MS punches from black c/s and some WoS applied. Think the die cut sentiment is a M.Box, 2 layers of black c/s, then 2 layers of a snippet of yellow d/p that had a pattern. Thought it would work as a shadow outline, and it did!

Hope ya'll had a nice weekend. Ours was quiet, overcast, rainy at times, and we both took a long afternoon nap each day, as we were tuckered out :-).

Added some cards to the Cards by Friends which I hope you have time to check out. And here are the pictures of the front porch and some of our pretty fall trees. Some are turning into the autumn colors, but a lot are still fairly green. In one picture the azaleas off the side of the front porch still have blossoms. Normally they would be in their fall state by now...ditto on the crepe myrtles in the front flower bed. Those have lost the pretty magenta color blossoms we enjoyed all summer, but leaves are not the fall/winter brown as yet. Those leaves will brown up, wither and blanket the mulch under those trees.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our part of the world. Thanks for popping by and come again when you  can. Blessings and Hugs.

Halloween Cat

Good evening and welcome. Hope all of you had a pleasant weekend - we did. Great weather. Thought for sure we'd get some rain yesterday afternoon, but it was a no show. Did we ever get some today, though! We had to go out for an appointment, and it was raining then. When we finished the appointment and left that building, it really was storming, got quite nasty. I was thankful I had a good driver at the wheel.

Been trying to work on some Halloween cards. Got some images ready, but only one made into a card so far. Here it is. I believe this is a Stampendous cling image, corners are Martha Stewart corner punch*, and the bat is also MS punch. Used a gelly roll on the punkin eyes after going over the black with a black WoS pen for some glitter. Not sure if I like the gelly coloring, but it's done now. The camera really picked up on that.

We've got some of the Fall stuff out on the front porch, and will try to share some of those pictures in the next post. Cleaning gig is still going on, but progress is being made, which makes me feel good. Other family things interrupt my chore schedule, but the cleaning takes a back seat to family every time.

Ya'll have a good evening, be safe if you're in the 'weather path', and come back when you can. Big hugs, and God Bless.

*This punch is actually for decorating the corners of paper - not cutting out pieces. Used scissors & trimmer to cut them into outcuts that I could apply to this card design.

A Halloween Skeleton (from DH)

Good afternoon on an absolutely beautiful Thursday. Finished up the window washing chores (except for 3 - one in garage, 2 in attic...but at least the ones we look through every day are cleaner!)  DH helped some, but we have different ideas as to what clean is. His help was appreciated though.

He was sending a package to his ole navy buddy in Oklahoma, and wanted to make a card for the fella. DH used to make Halloween cards, but he got tired of it. So when he asked if I'd help him (which means find the supplies), I said of course. That night he set to work. He'd previously pulled out some design papers, which I'd found. Just thought I'd been rummaging and forgot to put these back in the stack, so of course I did just that. Then he couldn't find them. Picked out his stamp, told me his idea. Since he had chosen dp, not c/s, I wasn't sure the heat embossing of a very detailed image would be effective. See what you think.

- Stampendous Cemetary wooden block stamp, one I'm certain he picked out to buy. Not my style choice as to subject. It's extremely detailed as well. He inked generously with WOW embossing ink (seems to work better for me with these very detailed stamps - more so than Versamark), then sprinkled WOW white opaque embossing powder. It was his idea to put on the red 'pearl' eyes. He used the stamp press he'd bought for me, as this block stamp is pretty large, and needed a good deal of pressure to stamp as well as it did. With the embossing, it was not easy to see if it had stamped nicely, until it was heat embossed. I think he got a very crisp image...It looks much better IRL than the photo shows. (that's the photographer's problem, not his!)

Image glued to orange glitter mat & then to  black top fold card base, which is not showing up against the background of the DIY photo booth. It is a black card base though. This turned out better than I thought it would, with that blue crackled DP. DH likes Halloween.

Now that windows are (for the most part) cleaned, the baseboards need to be cleaned, so that's my chore this afternoon. Goal is 2 rooms at a session, so my back doesn't get too mad at me! I'm trying to go with the flow on this burst of cleaning energy. Can't explain why or where such came from, except looking at the dust & grime for so long, really was getting on my nerves, -- making me feel like a worse housekeeper than I know I am :-) It won't last long, I expect!

 Sure hope that you are having a lovely afternoon with pretty weather. It was coffee on the front porch this morning. Grass still wet with dew, and the neighborhood was quiet, except for the occasional noise of a far-away lawn mower. Very peaceful and pleasant.

Thanks for joining me - I'm trying to return all comment visits before posting something new here.
Ya'll come back, heah? God Bless and Hugs.

Halloween by Northwoods

Good evening. Welcome. As promised, back with my 2nd Halloween card. This one is for DH - so excuse the skull motif. He likes that look, I don't! (shudder). So let's get 'er going:

- Northwoods wreath image (from Stampaway show - yippee). Stamped with Tuxedo Black on copic Xpress paper, colored with copics and WoS, a Sakura silver star gel pen on the spider webs. Fun & fast to color. Die Cut with an MFT Stitched circle that fit the wreath size & DI Weathered wood smudged along the edges of the die cut with a finger dauber.

- orange background created with Silk acrylics - orange and yellow shades, puddled on a craft sheet, and spritzed with water. This paper was Canson Mixed Media paper - think it's 98#...fairly lightweight. Smooshed c/s through the puddles, and got 3 backgrounds with one play. [Used 140# W/color on one that is pleasing, but too heavy for this card]. While the piece was still wet, spritzed with a gold Tattered Angels spray; dropped in some orange Brusho crystals with a very light 'fifft' Sepia Color burst (which is more powdery and harder for me to control placement.) Used a very light touch with the Sepia, but still got a big blob in a hidden spot. The Sepia has some pretty shading to it, but am finding the crystals give more exact placement for me. Used an old C/B EF to emboss once it dried over night.

- black paper chosen for the skull motif - from 6x6 Recollections Halloween Basics, purchased recently.

- Spiderweb border from a snippet of black glitter paper (lightweight) punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

- Sizzix Halloween thinlets dies to cut the spooky & Halloween sentiments..both from snippets. Bats & witches punched from small Bazzill snippet using an MS punch. Debating on whether to add some black WoS for a little pizzazz.

There's a big party going on over at the Snippets Playground to celebrate Week 200! YAY! I am a latecomer to the show, but I hear there's been ROWDY doin's and I wanted to be certain I didn't miss out on too much. There's already some superlative entries into the challenge, and Wow on the highlights too. Awesome. I hope I have enough snippets on this one, that Parsnip will let me slip through the gate. If you hurry, there's still a bit of time left with Mr. Linky and Miss has a good prize this week. Check it out!!!

Also do check out the Cards by Friends tab at the top of _this_ blog, as another wonderful card has been added - which is going on the mantel with the others we've been blessed to receive.

As always thanks for popping in to visit. A friend reminded me today - always choose to be Happy, no matter what the day brings. I know that, but every now & again, it's good to get reminded.
Big Hugs & come again when you can.

Halloween

Hello and Welcome! Before sharing today's card - finally got a Halloween card made {sigh}, let me give big shout-out to a new follower: Henriette van Mierlo. I'm trying to find a link so as to share Henriette's blog, but alas, I've not been successful. So Henriette, if you pop back for a visit, could you please share your link, and I'll post it so that my blog friends can perhaps become YOUR blog friends too!

Here's the card, and it's for the DD:

- Northwoods stamp purchased at the August Stampaway show - wood block. I LOVE their stamps, always have. The fact that the company was a vendor at this show was one of our reasons for making the drive to Cincinnati. Some others were to meet up with blog buddy Brenda W., having never been to this particular show, and also the fact that DH was originally from this area of Ohio....long ago.
Colored the image with fine line markers, except for copics on the ghost; WoS over the witchy sox,
then added some glossy accents.  The spider has a little dab of G.Accents, as does the cat's head. Used a Sizzix rectangle die to cut, then sponged with DI Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey.

- MFT stitched curved die cut the background papers...the orange is from an old 12x12 Halloween pack (probably DCWV) and the stripe is from a 6x6 - newer purchase...of a Halloween pack.

- spooky sentiments from Sizzix Halloween thinlets by Tim Holtz - there are 2 different sets for Halloween. Provided an Amazon link to show the die set, but think mine came from local Hobby Lobby, using a coupon. These were cut from a snippet of black glitter paper.

Hope the Daughter likes it....we included a 'lunch on us' check, so we hope she'll enjoy.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to get round to all my visitors today. Still got one more Halloween card to make for DH - it's his favorite holiday, so can't forget the guy who chauffers me around, now can I?

Big hugs, and Blessings too. Come again when you can.

=

Halloween Punkins

Good afternoon. There's another gorgeous day in Upstate South Carolina. We have certainly had some lovely Fall days this past week, but today our temp shows 80F, even though the air is pleasantly cool. I am playing 'catch up' on the house stuff that is behind, since yesterday was a class day. 

Met my friend about 8:45am, and set out on what is - at worst - a 45 minute drive. Well it took us over 2 hours plus to arrive, and be 45 minutes late for the class. Two very serious accidents on the interstate had bumper to bumper traffic. We called to let the shop know why we'd be late. There were some other folks that were further behind on that interstate than we were. Karen Burniston & the shop staff were very considerate to make sure we didn't miss any of the class presentation - caught us up on what we'd missed. It was a very large class too- think there were 30-40 students. It was hard to concentrate until some of my traffic stress had dissipated, and there was a lot to absorb. It was a very productive class - so was very happy to learn all of the class cards are covered in online Youtubes. Had taken my swing card along to have an expert show what I did wrong. Now I know!!! Learned a couple very simple tips that will help me (I hope!) in making future cards with this die. Will share the class cards in a later post.

Here's today's card:

 

 

- image is from a Hampton Arts clear set, colored with copics, WoS, die cut with S/B label.

 

- card base embossed with SU spider web. Inked the EF with Delicata gold prior to embossing, and it looks quite nice.

 

- Sue Wilson Border die from the Austrian collection, and a Cheery Lynn sentiment die. Very simple ingredients, just took time to assemble them into a card.

 

Broke a tooth this morning while eating, so have an early dental appointment on Monday. Called the office emergency phone and asked to please get me in fast, so fortunately they did.

 

Don't forget today is the 25th, so the monthly challenge of Rudolph Day is open over at Stamping for Pleasure.  I hope to get 2 cards finished up so that I can play along.

 

I have to apologize that once again I am behind on visiting & commenting, but will do my best to make the rounds. Thursday DH wanted me to go with him on some errands & I'm pleased to be invited after more than 50+ years of togetherness. It was a beautiful day, we had a lovely lunch along with a pretty ride along some country roads. Then finished up at a stamp store. (trying to be restrained since I knew I'd be at the class in another store on Friday!). I have to confess that an outing with DH on a beautiful day, with promise of lunch, tempts me a lot more than sitting at the computer, to be looking outside the window at the sunshine. Don't give up on me visiting...I'll get there!  I would wish the same for each of you: that you have somebody you love to go enjoy a pleasant day in their company & are able to do so. Life is short. We have to make the most of each day we are given.

 

Come again when you have time. We'll sit on the porch-- (#2 brother stopped in on his morning walk, and we had coffee on the porch- which is when my tooth broke!). Big Hugs, and have a terrific day.

 

PS: I've been seeing some beautiful cards done by international friends using Brusho crystal watercolors. Dick Blick was the only USA source I was finding, and the product was expected to be in stock on 10/23. Checked the site on 10/23, some sets in stock,  but no time to place the online order until last evening. Once again, showed out of stock but I phoned, and was able to get the 24  color set ordered. Just passing along the info, in case any USA crafters are looking for this product.

Halloween Witch with Textures

Good morning, and here we are at another Monday. Yesterday afternoon I took some time to play catch up with all the blog visits I was so behind on, which made me feel more productive than usual. Have got to get me out of the lazy routine I seem to have fallen into. Have great intentions of creating a card, then I just don't get rountoit. Do you ever do that? I hope I'm not the only one that's guilty of that trap. Need to get caught up on some Halloween cards that should get in the mail soon.

Here's a quick card, using a previously created background from a play/experiment. I'm still working on the embossing paste techniques & trying to improve.

- mixed media paper (Canson #90) was colored with brush strokes & dibs & dabs of leftover inks, left to dry.

- added some gold embossing paste over a stencil. Let that dry. Came back with some black Dina Wakely paste over a leaf stencil. Finding that I don't like the harsh black, and also see in the photo were it didn't cover well. Can fix that with some black paint I think. Covered one place with a foil leaf (which is not showing well in the photo, but looks ok on the card itself). Thanks to Miss Brenda at Inkspired to Stamp for sending me these foil leaves and the acrylic leaf that is added to the tag  - along with the pumpkin showing to the side of the card.

- Witch image stamped on a snippet of white c/s, trimmed and used an SU tag punch top to create this tag. As you know, I don't do many tags. This image was small, so thought it would work this way. Colored with copics, some WoS for glitz; added all the embellies. The bat was a DH purchase of some dimensional Recollection products - and {sigh} will require extra postage.

- sentiment stamped with Memento Espresso Truffle, punched with a SU punch, edged with DI colors in Scattered Straw & Spiced Marmalade as it was way too white (part of the same snippet that the witch was stamped upon). If you should have any questions about products, let me know.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Monday. Thanks for visiting, and big hugs.

DeeDee's Digis Halloween Pirate YoHoHo

Good afternoon, and please help me welcome some lovely new followers:

Lynn Platt (and I'm sorry I don't have a blog link - so Lynn if you will contact me with that info, I can add your link in a later post)

Laurie of Stamping up North

Lucy Woods of Little Lucy's Handmade Cards

Brenda of Floral Fantasies  (Brenda has several blogs so I hope I've linked to the correct one)

Lynn B. of Crafty Linby

 

I saw the numbers in the followers' section change, but could only account for the names shown above. If you are a new follower here, and I missed giving you a shout out for your blog, please let me know so I can be sure to do that. I appreciate all my followers - hope you like what you see here, and it's always so lovely to meet new folks and see their work too. It's equally nice to be able to invite readers to visit some inspirational blogs to get new ideas and enjoy crafters' work. So thanks for taking time to become a follower here.

 

Secondly, in trying to add the Hover P (Pinterest button) to cards I post, with help from the very kind Lisa  of A Mermaid's Craft, I've discovered that some of the blog HTML code in this blog, is rather hosed up. If anyone knows how to repair HTML code, I'd love to have some help. Lisa was very helpful in her suggestions & advice, but then we became concerned that our 'fixing' would damage the blog. I don't want to lose my posts, and even more importantly, all my lovely followers. So I need someone who knows how to edit code to give me a shout if you would. If you know of someone who designs blogs, I'd appreciate a contact. Thanks so very much to Lisa for her time in trying to help me with this, and thanks to anyone else who might be willing to give some assistance.

 

Now onto my card for today.

 



_DeeDee's Digi's Freebie for World Card Making Day . DeeDee offered this really cute puppy pirate and his parrot companion free over this past weekend. Didn't get my card finished & posted in time to celebrate World Card Day, but the image is still available in the store Newest Releases and is priced very reasonably. Do check out these newest images, as there are some adorable sets for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also for October's Digi of the month, there is another cute set available for just $1.25 and the challenge is open until November 2. It's a great way to build up your digi stash. Some of the talented DT have presented some wonderful inspiration for the October Digi to give ideas of how the set can be used.

Here's how it works:
If you are new to the Digi of the Month challenges, it's not too late to join in the fun! This is a monthly progressive freebie challenge. You can purchase this month's featured set for just $1.25 in the shop, or get it for FREE with any $10 purchase of Deedee's Digis products. NOTE: Deedee will email this set to you after payment clearance of your qualifying purchase. Create and share any wholesome project made with this set by the challenge deadline, and you will be sent  next month's featured set for FREE. Keep playing, and keep collecting freebies -- it's as easy as that! :-)  

image was printed twice, one die cut with a S/B label and airbrushed with various copic colors while still in the die. Second image fussy cut, and shaded with copics and some Spica pens. Used a stylus on the pumpkins, hat & the puppy's ears, but don't think the photo shows this. Did the same treatment on the treasure map.

- background was 2 triangular snippets used from a previous project, and liked the colors with my puppy's background.

- Washi tape covers the paper join and the sentiment is washi as well.

A very, very easy card - once I got started on the process! Life has just been getting in the way of card making & posting. I'm sure all of you know how that goes! Since this card has some snippets, and since some nice prizes are on offer, I'm off to visit the Snippets Playground, Week 145 . 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. I hope to get some more cards finished up and posted. Halloween is getting closer & there's cards to get ready! Have a wonderful afternoon, and if you have time, please do visit my lovely new followers, DeeDee's Digis & the Snippet Playground. You'll be glad you did! Big Hugs.

Cemetary - Halloween

Welcome, and thanks for stopping to visit today. We're working on Halloween cards at our house -  so here's another one to share.  But first: A big warm welcome to Connie of Crafty Home Cottage. I just met Connie through another blogger's TCBH blog (Kay of 505whimsygirl). I am so enjoying reading all these Monday posts to learn more about my blogging friends and in the process, making some new friends. What fun. Check out Connie's blog, because she has some spiffy makeovers for lots of things you have around your house, and some really interestin' schtuff.

- Stampendous wooden cemetery stamp, inked with Versafine black - stamped using Bonnie's stamp press - over a Dylusions and Lindy's starburst sprayed index card. Edged with DI weathered wood and soot. irResistible pico clear liquid applied over the 31, dark spots on the skeleton and some of the tombstones. IRL this gives a bit of shine.

- Halloween phrases were from Silhouette online store, resized for the card, and some of the elements of the purchased phrase were ungrouped and discarded (oh, I'm trying to learn). Cut from white card stock, colored with Copic 110 black, and then used Black Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel - 2 coats for the shine.

- Purchased Recollection crows were added, and the gold thing-ys were also from a Recollection Halloween pack.

- Black mat had the inside portion removed, and then this was adhered to a chartreuse card base.

Hope you like it. Have a wonderful day, and big hugs to all my sweet visitors.

Dance Macabre

Welcome to my Monday afternoon. We had a very quiet weekend, a bit cooler temps, and DH has been wrestling with a bad migraine off & on. Thankfully he seems better today, so hopefully the prescription that he got on Friday evening is finally beginning to take effect.

Today's card is done with a stamp that Mr. picked out at Michael's, using a 40% coupon. It's a rather large Stampendous wood stamp, and the background was done with some sprays, then inked with Versafine Black.

- background created from Dylusions and Lindy's Starburst sprays on a lightweight index card (an experimental spray session).

- Stampendous Dance Macawbre inked with Versafine Black ink, and stamped using Bonnie's Best Stamp press since it is quite a large stamp. Was not sure how this ink would work with the sprayed background, and it could have shown up a bit darker I think. The stamp was well inked, so the lightness has to be due to either the paper or the sprayed background.

- edges inked with DI weathered wood and black soot using a sponge, and some irResistible Pico clear fluid was applied in some of the areas - not showing well in the photo, but looks quite nice IRL. (It's on the umbrella, handle, dark spots on the skeleton and on the bottom scroll design).

- lettering cut with the Silhouette, using white cardstock. Colored with Copic 110, then applied black UTEE - 2 coats - for shine & dimension.

- black mat - interior portion removed, on a chartreuse card base. Done! One down for Halloween.
Can I just say I don't like skeletons or any spooky stuff like this, but DH does...Halloween is his holiday. Hmmm...wonder what that means???

Ya'll have a great afternoon, and thanks for joining me. Come again when you can. Blessings and hugs.

Halloween

Good evening, and I'm back to share 2 lovely Halloween cards we received. Our Trick or Treaters are beginning to wind down, I think, and soon we'll turn off the porch light. We are still getting an occasional visitor. Some have been so cute, some look like they need to be out earning money to buy their own candy! Oh well, we do it for the little ones. At least this year everyone has been polite.

We got these 2 beauties and I wanted to share with you, along with a picture of our maple tree that I took today. We were expecting rain tonight, and I wanted to get a snap before the leaves fall off.

Gloria's Card

Inside of Gloria's card

My friend Gloria says she is learning to use copics. I think she has passed the learning curve as this very intricate design has been colored to perfection. The bat is elevated as is the spider medallion. So striking. And the inside is just as awesome. Not sure if you can pick up on all the elevated pretties, but the 31, witch, skull bottle and the poison circle are all raised features. This is so impressive. And I especially loved the orange burlap fabric behind the stamped focal image. Yep, I think she is way past the learning stage, don't you?!

Next is from my friend Candee (http://cardcornerbycandee.blogspot.com/).

Candee's Card

The 'border area' is a sort of envelope that the sentiment part of the card is stored inside. I raised up this part for display. I'm not sure what this is properly called, but it is so really pretty. Both these cards are on display on our hearth. Thanks Candee & Gloria for thinking of us with these lovely & well done cards. We have thoroughly enjoyed each one, and are thankful for such talented friends.

This is our 10 yr old maple tree that is in our front yard. It is not growing very rapidly but each year we get a blaze of color from this tree. I should have taken the picture earlier, as you can see by the ground underneath. We had rain predicted tonight, and I figured the rain would demolish a lot of these leaves. I try to snap a picture every fall. We have another newer tree in our back yard, that is called an October Glory Maple. It is supposed to be a flame red color, and so far, all we've gotten is yellow - pretty - that's true, but not the red I wanted. This tree is growing three times as fast as the one shown here, and we're beginning to think we planted it too close to the house! (been there, done that before). 

Also wanted to let some of the blog followers know that one of our Playground Friends, Redanne ( http://bollyanne.blogspot.com/) has suffered a fall; so if you're one of her following, might want to visit & leave some good wishes. Another blogger let me know of Anne's accident. Anne does fabulous takes on Tim Holtz tags, vintage altered wonders, etc, and has always been so supportive to me personally with this blog. It's a joy each time I visit to see the marvelous art she's produced. So here's hoping she recovers quickly and will soon be home, able to craft & blog again.

Goodnight, and I hope your Halloween was all you wanted it to be. Hugs

A Halloween Friday Fun Day Challenge

Hi, and welcome to another Friday Fun Day challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack. Today the challenge is Anything  but a Card, with a Halloween theme, and our sponsor is Bugaboo Digi Stamps.  Now I don't scrapbook, am not into making baskets/boxes/treat bags or the like - yes I know I am rather set in my ways! But there you have it...a truth about my character. So what to make? Here's what I came up with, using this really spooky digi, printing it out on plain whiteWalmart GP Brand cardstock.

Halloween

Welcome, and here I am with one more Halloween card. It didn't start out with the idea to make it a Halloween card, but as I worked on it, began to seem as though it _should be_ a Halloween theme.

- Memory Box Lamp Post Frame die cut using plain black paper, embossed with a Darice wood grain EF. I ran the EF part way through the Big Shot, just to emboss the tree trunk area.  I didn't want black grass, so fussy cut a green snippet to cover the ground. In retrospect, I should have used a grass punch at the top, ..oh well. Also hand cut the card base to fit the die shape as I wanted to take advantage of the shaping. I'm going to try die cutting the card base next time, and shimming over the tree & post, to see if I can just get the frame shape. As I said, this one sort of evolved as I worked on it.

Friday Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack

Good Morning, and if it's Friday, it must be Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack. Today - for Friday Fun Day Challenge #21 - our challenge theme is being hosted by Amanda, and she chose the theme "pick your favorite technique". Of course mine was going to be something with copic coloring and if I could throw in some Dylusions sprays, then all the more fun. I picked a cute image from one of our sponsors Limited Runs Digi Stamps, the very cute Scarecrow Girl, who was such fun to color. Here she is:

 



- Image printed on Copic Xpress paper, colored with copics, diecut with S/binders Deckled Oval and then edged with DI Vintage Photo & Rusty Hinge. I used copic G0000 to shade the background, then replaced image in the die for sponging the Distress Ink.

- Traced outside of S/Binder die & handcut the faux mat- using a previously created Dylusions background of various shades of dark blues & purple-y colors.

Punkin Head

Happy Monday and hope that your weekend was great. Ours was alternately busy & lazy. Sunday was the lazy day. I had things I had intended to do, didn't do 'em! (One thing was to photograph some of the goodies I brought home from last week's stamp convention). But I did sit down for a relaxing read, got drowsy and took a little nap. Lovely.

So here's the card I planned to post yesterday....

- Stampabilities image, on sale from Hobby Lobby, stamped on Cryogen paper, colored with copics. I airbrushed the background in BV00, trying for a sort of spooky, mysterious background. What you think? Is purple more mysterious than the blues I usually use? The jury is out on that here in our house!

- the sentiment is from a $1 package rub-on. I never really know how to use these things.

- matted using S/Binder Gold Rectangles One - which I've found to my disappointment only embosses. I used the 2 outer dies for the embossing effects and just trimmed the image to fit the background dp, using the Genesis cutter. Edged around the white framing mat with the same copic BV00 that I airbrushed. I used the brush nib against the outside of the die using it as a straight edge.

Halloween

Hi, and I certainly hope you're not getting sick of Halloween cards! At our house, someone likes Halloween cards. I do too, but not as much as I like Fall & Christmas cards. Anyway, I saw a card on Pinterest pinned from kittiekraft.typepad.com . I had DH come see it, told him we had the dies to make this one. He was all for it. Now, Kitty does fantastic cards, and she has certainly inspired me on quite a few occasions. Sorry but I don't know how to show her beautiful card here, but at least I can give her the credit for the original look.

I didn't have the same papers, and I think she used Impressions Obsession Haunted Hill diecut (I did too), but it looks much different against the orange, white & black striped paper on her card.

Here's my take on Kitty's card: (and I hope I've done the acknowledging part properly!)

I used the IO Haunted Hill die, along with a MBox Tombstone die.(both cut from a snippet strip that was just right to use for both dies) Adhered the tombstones first, had to remove/reposition 2 stones that were behind the house. When I adhered the IO diecut over the 1st diecut, I used popdots to elevate it just a bit. I also added some bits behind the house windows and the punkin for the glowing windows & face.

Pulled apart a small piece of a cotton ball to get the fog for the tree, which is entangled in the branches. Moon is from a circle punch, EK Success bats added from snippets. Ghost is also an EK Success punch, 'nother snippet.

paper is from Authentique Thrilling Collection, 6x6 pack.

Sentiment is from a pack of Martha Stewart borders that I've had for a while. Came from Michael's I think.

OK, I've been MIA at the Snippets Playground for a while, since I couldn't get round to visit & comment. I think we might be back on track for a few days, so I'm going over to visit the Playground. First, there's some terrific cards. Also - some nifty prizes. So let's away...to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground, Week 90. You won't be disappointed at what you see.

Thanks for visiting, and lots of cyber hugs. Come again when you can.

Halloween

Good Afternoon, and it's another window cleaning day (Arrgh). Trying to get 6 or 7 more done today.

Here's another Halloween card, very simply made.

 

 

- Great Impressions solid image stamped in Memento Tuxedo black on white card stock. Used Memento Canteloupe to layer the yellow tones I wanted for the background. Then started adding Lulu Lavendar, and adding in the blues with a sponge to create the sky. Just kept adding layers until I decided 'Stop'. Intended to go darker on the sky, but thought I should leave well enough when I got to this point.

 

- DH added a punched circle moon on some textured DP, and of course - his signature Bat silhouette over the moon.

 

- Memory Box ghosts, brooms and the sentiment. The ghosts & brooms are on a die set that has 2 sizes of cauldrons, a punkin with a handle and a tiny witch.

 

- used yellow, orange copics on the flames, then added some spica pens - yellow & red. Also used the Signe white pen to add dots along the chair frames. An orange round rhinestone was on the desk, so added it to the pot flames. It looks like an 'eyeball', doesn't it?

 

- trim is an MS border punch. Card cover is a snippet & the green & white dot under the spider border is the reverse side of the orange paper. 

 

Enjoy your afternoon. I will enjoy being finished with these darned windows! Thanks for visiting, and ya'll have a good day. Hugs.