Final Halloween Card

Good thing my sister doesn't live across the country since I didn't get her card in the mail until yesterday. I've been wanting to use the negative die-cuts like this & decided the MFT Primitive Pumpkins might work. Hard to tell, but the top panel is attached with foam tape.  I hand cut around the tops of the pumpkins after embossing them on black cardstock with Zing! Apricot powder. The splatter stamp is by Magenta--love the look & need to remember to use it.  Finally used a piece of Washi tape on a card (mostly it holds my dies in place--LOL!) & added the black glitter strip made with Score tape & MS glitter.  The black glitter stickers tied right in & I finished off the card with orange trim. I'm entering the October Halloween challenge at Magenta & Anything Goes at SSS Wed.
Thanks so much for stopping by.

Final GDT Card

CCCB Inspiration

It has been so special to join the talented DT at City Crafter Challenge Blog for the month of October.  Thank you all!  The month is almost over--how did that happen?!  Stripes is the theme & it gave me a chance to use this neat paper I've had for ages.  I again used my MFT Primitive Pumpkins stamp set & dies. The stars are stamped in Versamark on the purple cardstock.  I sprayed the pumpkins with Glimmer Mist & mounted the small one with foam tape. I've been wanting to do glitter strips & it worked perfectly for this card.  I used my score tape & black MS glitter.  The purple & white twine was in a close-out package & a couple tiny black gems are a fun way to make the letters look like eyes.  

Be sure to check out the wonderful projects by the DT: Kirsty, Ros, Char & Stella.  Why not join the challenge? Thanks for your visit.

Faux Stained Glass

As you probably know, I love the PTI MIM challenges. Somewhere I have a bag full of acrylic pieces I've saved from packaging, but it's hiding--LOL! Fortunately, I have a couple pieces waiting to go into that bag.  I was surprised how easy it was to stamp this poinsettia from PTI Peaceful Poinsettia using Staz On ink.  I colored on the back with Copics RV09, 19 & Y06.  It is so fun to learn a coloring technique a "coloring challenged" stamper can do--LOL!  The stained glass technique I learned many years ago just involved using glitter & I couldn't resist adding some to the berries.  
By putting it on the backside the glitter is protected & can't rub off.  I used Spellbinders to make my frame & stamped the rows of flowers (from the same set) in Memento Luxe Wedding Dress on the vellum panel. The sentiment (same set) is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  I've been wanting to use one of my doilies & it worked perfectly here, using the layout from Viva la Verve sketch October week 1.  
I also used a couple scraps so will enter at Pixies Snippets Playground. Your comments are greatly appreciated--thank you!

PTI Blog Hop, Card #2

Just in the nick of time for my second PTI Blog Hop card.  I recently got a few more PTI inks including those needed for this color recipe.  Since they are non-traditional, I'll also add this to the Merry Monday challenge.
That PTI order also included the 1920's Stamp-A-Faire set just made available & it was on my table. I added WOS to the 3 large images & gems colored with a COPIC to match the Raspberry Fizz.  The sentiment is from PTI Peaceful Poinsettias--one of my first PTI sets.  I love this beautiful Cuttlebug folder--finally used it!  

I did use a scrap, so will enter over at Pixies Snippets Playground & this makes #5 for Anything Goes at SSS Monday.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

PTI Blog Hop

I try not to miss the PTI Blog Hops & it's always fun to try their color combos.  I have tons of Christmas stamps, but not too many that are PTI. Turned out Snowflake Flurries was perfect to use with this color combo--all PTI inks I happen to have.  

My layout comes from the week 3 sketch at Viva la Verve.  
I hand cut the sentiment panel & it's mat & used Lil' Inkers stitched rectangles for the card front & panel. Stickles adds sparkle to the center of each image & the word "Joyous." Even with the foam tape I may not need extra postage.  I have to say, this turned out to be one of my favorite cards--love the clean, cheerful look. May have to make more of these.  
The colors are non-traditional, so I'll enter over at Merry Monday--one of my favorites challenges!  Anything Goes at SSS Monday, so also entering there.  

Pumpkins

I'm really enjoying my MFT Primitive Pumpkins stamp set & dies this year, so I've made more Halloween cards than usual. The fun grid sketch for MFT WSC challenge provided my layout & the colors & pumpkins on the napkin in the photo were my inspiration. 

We have a lovely boutique in our little town--mostly I just admire the beautiful items & occasionally buy a gift there. Fortunately, they also carry lots of May Arts ribbon which they sell by the yard. Couldn't resist a yard of this pretty one which turned out to be perfect for this card.  
Simple to make, except for keeping the grid pieces in order before getting them glued down! I thought I did, but no--finally had to look at the Cuttlebug Embossing folder package after 15 minutes of struggling--LOL!  I'll also enter the PaperCrafts October Gallery challenge, SSS Monday & Fusion.
Thought you might like to see how color totally changes a card. The glue showed through my felt the day after I took the picture of THIS card & I wasn't really happy with it anyway. Here's the re-do which I like much better. 

Thanks for taking time to visit my blog.

Another Christmas Card

ScrapRDV Bingo

I do so love making Christmas cards & this one fits in 4 challenges: A2Z Scrapbooking (2 HA products), Hero Arts Holiday (White Out), SSS Monday (Anything Goes) & ScrapRDV (Alexandra's Bingo--Red, Christmas, Stamping).  I heat embossed the snowflake from HA Enjoy The Seasons using a very old powder called Winter Wonderland--white with glitter. The sentiment from HA 
Merriest Christmas Wishes was stamped in VersaMagic Red Magic & clear embossed on a strip mounted with foam tape. Finished off with red pearls.  This would be a great design for mailing--just use glitter or a flat gem instead of pearls. I love reading your comments--thank you. 

Birthday Card in Fall Colors

Often I make birthday cards in colors I know the person likes, but sometimes it's fun to use seasonal colors. That's what I did for this card.  I'm entering the challenges at ColourQ, SSS Mon & Cuttlebug Mania--I used my Big Shot & Penny Black leaves dies & stamps.

Don't think I've ever used black leaves on a card, but think it works since they're really an embellishment & they're covered with WOS for shimmer.  I fussy cut the flowers & used punched dots from the green cardstock with Stickles for the centers since my gems weren't the right color.  My layout inspiration came from this sketch done by my friend, Alexandra, in this post.

Sketch by Alexandra

Our weather has changed to normal, rainy Fall--pruned roses yesterday afternoon just in time & then made Biscotti.  Time to have some with my coffee & visit your blogs.  Enjoy your day, my friends.
Edited to add:  First time to enter the challenge at Shopping Our Stash.

An Emerson Quote

INSPIRATION PHOTO

Time for my 3rd post as a guest designer for City Crafter Challenge Blog.  This week we are to make a project including stars, moon, sun, rain, cloud or snow--lots of options!  I bought this Wordsworth stamp many years ago & used it for a card published in Stampers Sampler the July after the 9/11 terror attacks.  Not sure I've used it since then & thought it'd be perfect for the challenge.  I began by making the watercolor background with my new wc paints using a purple & 2 blues on 140 pound wc paper.  The beautiful quote was heat embossed & then I spritzed the panel with Shimmer Spritz giving a wonderful shimmer.  I used a Spellbinders square die to make the black frame which is mounted with foam tape.  
The little wooden star was painted with Lumiere Super Sparkle to tie in with the shimmery panel.  Hope you'll check out the talented DT:  Ros, Char, Stella & Kirsty.  Thank you so much for your visit.

Let Us Begin

The deadline is almost here for the current ODBD challenge: Anything Goes with ODBD stamps.  I used the "Let Us Begin" stamp set & one of the Beautiful Borders dies. I added Stickles, pearls & satin ribbon to embellish my card.  Brown, cream & aqua is a combination that works anytime of year, I think. 
I don't usually participate in Our Beautiful World, as photography is not one of my strengths. However, I couldn't resist showing what Autumn is like in my part of the world--Western Oregon.
Here's the neighbor's tree I've been showing every few weeks & now you can see the one next to it also has color.

Here's a shot from our last camping trip with temps still warm, but you know it's actually Fall when you see the leaves changing color.

And here's puppy Fritz on Critter Watch! I admit he looks like this no matter what season we're camping, but the leaves on the ground show it's Fall. 

Thanks for sticking with me for this long post & I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Dipped Leaves for an Anniversary

I do love the PTI MIM challenges--always learn something new to try.  I've actually embossed the edges of die cuts before, but don't think I've ever die cut leaves from patterned paper or layered the vellum image on the bottom & I did both for this card. My sister & BIL are celebrating this week & I wanted to make something different for them this year.  The dipped leaves in the video were beautiful & appropriate for a Fall anniversary, so I pulled out PTI Rosie Posie.  My BIL likes green & I found this double sided paper in my stash with designs that would work. I love gold, but they go more for silver, which I didn't want to use. Decided instead to focus on the green, so sponged the edges with Encore Ultimate Metallic Honeydew & embossed with clear ep twice.  I stamped the small leaf from the same set in Distress Ink antique linen & the sentiment is an old one from Posh Impressions stamped in the Honeydew.  The stitched rectangles are by Lil' Inkers.  The button is one I bought at the stamp store in Berkeley when my sister & I met my blogging friend, Sue.  Wish I had a pack of them--perfect color for the cream cardstock from Michaels.  I really like how this came out, so guess I'm a simple girl at heart.  I used some scraps so will enter at Pixies Snippets Playground.  I'm also entering Cuttlebug Mania (I used my Big Shot). Thanks for taking time to visit my blog.

Peace

Playing along in 2 challenges with my all white Christmas card:  Merry Monday Silent Night & MFT WSC (entered via Flickr).  I've kept to my rule of not buying new stamps, dies, etc unless I win a gift certificate--for the most part--LOL! However, when I saw the new Taylored Expressions release included a snowfall embossing folder the rule fell by the wayside as I've been looking for one like this for a year!  The MFT products are the snowflakes, flag & sentiment.  

I die cut the snowflakes from a beautiful shimmery paper I got on sale & from vellum.  I always layer vellum on top, but the current PTI MIM video shows vellum on the bottom & I love the look!  I softened the look of the card by using a panel of vellum on the card front & a row of lace along the sentiment flag.  Peace is stamped in one of my favorite Brilliance inks, Starlite Black, which has a lovely shimmer.  I used some of my overflowing white cardstock scraps, so I'm entering at Pixies Snippets Playground.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Greetings from Oregon

Inspiration Photo

Time for another challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog where I have the honor of guest designing this month.  The Scrabble tiles immediately made me think of camping, since we always play Up Words which is a version of Scrabble that allows tiles to build up 5 high. Hubby usually wins, even though it's my favorite game & I'm the one who got good grades in English!  Back to my card--camping in Western Oregon means Evergreen trees along with a lot of deciduous ones.  I used a very old stamp from an Oregon company out of business & stamped it in PTI Ripe Avocado using the generational technique.  I added splotches of PTI Summer Sunrise & Distress Ink Fired Brick to represent the deciduous leaves.  The sentiment stamped in Summer Sunrise is a wood mounted stamp with no company information.  I used a PTI Impression Plate to add texture to the kraft cardstock.  

My card design is a simplified version of what Maile Belles showed here.  Please check out the wonderful projects by the DT: Stella, Kirsty, Ros & Char.  I hope you're inspired to play along! Your comments brighten my day, so thank you.

Friendship

Made a lot of progress today catching up on blogs, so took some time out to make a card for the PTI MIM challenge to dry emboss over heat embossing.  The trees are from PTI Through the Trees & the sentiment is from PTI Lovely Leaves. I love white embossing on kraft & decided to add blue ribbon & gems for a bit of color. Prisma glitter was added to the trees using my Glue Pen--really pretty in real life.  I need to get another PTI cover plate, but for this card I really like the look from the hexagon, thank goodness! The Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangle makes a great card base, don't you think?  I've really gotten into using splotches. These were made with my waterbrush using Distress Stain tumbled glass & Distress paint picket fence.  I used cardstock from my scrap pile, so can enter at Pixies Snippets Playground.  Even though the time away was wonderful, it really feels good to get back to making cards.  Wishing you a lovely week & thanks so much for taking time to check my blog.

Neon Christmas

We're having a beautiful Fall, so took another camping trip on my days off.  Feels like ages since I stamped, so had to take some time before bed to make a card! The Merry Monday challenge is to use Neon colors. I don't have neon inks, but I do have Zing Neon Pink & Green embossing powders.  I made a simple card using Hero Arts stamps.  Hard to see, but I also stamped a small HA circle in the background with white paint.  I thought it needed some sparkle after I added the white sequins, so topped them with tiny gems. 

Thanks so much for all the sweet comments about my new DT duties & don't think I've forgotten you--I'll be around to your blogs soon!
Edited to Add: Entering Virginia's View CAS challenge & the Hero Arts Holiday Challenge Anything Goes category.
Edited to Add: Also realized this qualifies for the challenge at A2Z Scrapbooking challenge.

"Special Guest Star"

CCCB Inspiration Photo

I got a surprise e-mail from Kirsty--she wanted me to be the "Special Guest Star" at the City Crafter Challenge Blog for the month of October!  I accepted, of course--truly an honor.  The theme this week is Leaves.  I don't know why they're so appealing--maybe because of all the shapes, sizes & colors.  My alcohol inks are mostly ignored as I'm never happy with the backgrounds I've tried to make.  

Bonnie reminded me you can often use them for die cutting, so I made another piece with that in mind.  The inks are lettuce, wild plum & caramel.  MFT Thankful Leaves are die cut & then sponged with Delicata Golden Glitz.  They really are beautiful in real life.  The sentiment by Impression Obsession is stamped in Distress Ink walnut stain & the embossing folder is by Darice. Hope you'll play along in the challenge. I really do appreciate your comments.

My First Design Team!

I am thrilled to let you know that I am now a member of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge DT!  Penny Black was one of the first companies I was introduced to & loved when I began stamping over 15 years ago.  The October challenge is Halloween or Halloween colors.  I thought it'd be fun to make an October birthday card.  The PB tree stamp (splendor) has always been one of my favorites, but I hadn't used it for awhile.  This time I decided to watercolor my embossed image instead of sponging on the inks.  I used Distress Ink spiced marmalade, dusty concord & peeled paint.  I really love the sentiment (from the set: every happiness) & that it has 2 fonts.  Even though it's small it stamps beautifully and I didn't have to use detail embossing powder.  For lots of inspiration, check out the wonderful creations my teammates made & I'd love for you to play along this month! Thanks so much for visiting my blog & brightening my day.

Colorful Pumpkins

I didn't want to miss another MFT WSC challenge & CCCB's pumpkins other than orange challenge sounded fun, so I combined them.  I used MFT Primitive Pumpkins dies & stamps & MFT felt.   The burlap paper was cut with MFT Dizzy Doily.  Doesn't look like a Halloween card, but kind of fun!  Last post until I have the computer back.