Happy Halloween from Count Dachula

Happy Halloween from Count Dachula! I just love this digital image of a dachshund dressed up like Dracula with fangs for Halloween! LOL I added some double-sided dsp with cats and made sure the eyes appeared on the bottom to look a little spooky:) The punched sentiment is from SU as well as the tiny "boo" tag. I added a touch of orange gel pen to the spiders on the sentiment panel, as well as white gel pen accents to the dogs fangs and eyes. I enhanced the purple on his cape with a Fluorescent Copic marker and added a purple mini brad to attach the BOO! tag.

I'm sliding this one into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to create something Halloween/Spooky just a couple hours before the linky closes. I seem to be doing this more and more as time just flies on by!

Have a happy and safe Halloween and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

TMS #477

We're back with another Tuesday Morning sketch challenge and this time we're working on sketch #477 designed by Melissa Craig. With Autumn in full swing, I decided to use a Sweet'n Sassy Cocoa's Pumpkin image and make a Thanksgiving card.

I used Copics to color Cocoa and die-cut both the image and orange mat with MFT stitched circle dies, then placed it on a white panel that was embossed with a Darice fall leaf ef. The strip of dsp is from SU!, while the sentiment is from SNSS and die-cut with a MFT fishtail flag frame die. The vines were cut with Precious Marieke dies and some snippets of green cardstock.

Be sure to visit the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge blog for some inspiration to get you started with this sketch. Our DT always has such diversified uses for each weekly sketch and I love how we all go in different directions with our creations.

The prize up for grabs this week is this embossing folder by Darice:

Thanks for stopping by and do have yourself a great day whatever you do!

Carol

Artichoke and Gold

Here is my 2nd post for today (what?!) LOL I'm skidding in by the seat of my pants to enter it before the challenge closes later this afternoon because I've been waiting for some sunshine to properly photograph this card. I'm clearly running out of time so I'm going to post it anyway. The colors look much prettier IRL and you'll just have to take my word for it.

This is done with vanilla cardstock - not white. No matter how I adjust the colors it still looks white, but take my word for it, it's vanilla. The ef is from SU! and the Rose is from Gina Marie Designs. I added some gold stickles to the negative portions of the rose and heat-embossed some Hero Arts leaves with gold ep on retired SU! artichoke dsp, fussy cutting them and popping them up on dimensionals after curling around a pencil. The sentiment is a SU! retired rub-on that I found in the artichoke color, and I placed it on a piece of vanilla, matting with mirror gold cardstock. I punched a few small gold circles for embellishments and added them just for fun.

This is going over to the Freshly Made Sketches #360 challenge

Typical of my style, I added and embellished more than the sketch shows, but it's just how I roll. I can't seem to stop myself :)

Thank you for your visit(s) today and make it a great Monday!

Carol

Rowdy Reindeer Cheer

I have a bit of a snarky card today for those guys who enjoy hunting and have a sense of humor. I started with an embossed background done with a SU! Woodland textured ef on kraft cardstock. I sponged the raised portions with white craft ink, but wanted more white, so I used a white gel pen to add highlights on one side of the trees. I still wasn't happy, so I added diamond stickles on top of the white and then I was happy with it, but the camera did not pick up the sparkle.........sigh. I added a piece of vanilla that was cut with a Lawn Fawn stitched hillside die and added more Diamond Stickles, adding a SU! sentiment. As for Rowdy Reindeer, he's from Lil Inker and he cracks me up with this face you can stamp which shows him sticking his tongue out. It's a bit of a payback to the hunters if you get where I'm going with this :) I fussy cut him and placed him partially behind the hillside with his front legs on top. The little red bird was done with a Gina Marie Designs small birds die.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Cards 4 Guyz #206 - into the woods

Cute Card Thursday #553 - sparkles

Repeat Impressions Anything Goes challenge #02418

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is off to a great start!

Carol

Quilted Snippet Cards

I had half a sheet left of some Gina K Bubble Gum pink cardstock and wanted to use every last possible piece of it, so I thought I'd make a few quilt cards to use it up. I also used some SU! dsp along with left over snippets of grey, white, and black. For this card, I added a Simon Says Stamp Dahlia die that I cut from pink and grey and inlaid all the pink bits (whew, that was hard on the eyes!). I added a few hand-cut leaves, and several die-cut white stems and leaves from my snippet box, along with a silver candi dot in the center of the flower. The quilt die is from MFT and the sentiment was cut with silver mirror card using a Lil Inker die.

I'm entering this card into the Snippets Playground #338 where all you need to do is use snippets to make your card.

 When you make multi-colored quilt cards, you are left with lots of leftover bits, so I made a 2nd and 3rd card with the leftovers. For this version I finished the center with an IO die-cut button and wove 2 shreds of the pink cardstock through the center to look like thread. The sentiment was done with an Elizabeth Crafts die.

I'm sharing this card with the Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies challenge 

Here's the 3rd one with a different sentiment but using the same color bits as the first two.

This card is going over to Craftyhazelnut's patterned paper challenge for October 2018.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have yourself a wonderful day!

Carol

October Rudolph Days

I used to own this SU! retired stamp set and gave it away some time ago, but I had a couple stamped images left and made this card with one of them. I matted it with dark brown cardstock after some traditional Christmas coloring, and then used some green glitter cardstock behind the brown. The plaid paper needed a touch of red, so I added a red embossed panel done with a retired SU! snowburst ef and dotted it with Nuvo glitter drops. The sentiment is by recollections and I added a snippet of a scalloped border die beneath it, dotting with some red Nuvo drops.

I'll be sharing this with the October Rudolph Days challenge that runs from the 25th to the end of the month and all you need to do is make a Christmas card.

Christmas is just around the corner now, so I hope you've been playing along all year and have a nice stash of Christmas cards ready to go :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thursday!

Carol

TMS #476

Hello and a very happy Tuesday to everyone. We're working on sketch #476 over at the Tuesday Morning sketch challenge, and here's the sketch.

With Halloween right around the corner, I opted to make another Halloween card. I used some SU! retired Halloween dsp from last year with a night sky, and added an embossed spiderweb panel on the right in lime green. The purple panel was cut with a Gina Marie Designs stitched oval, and I die-cut a MB creepy spider in the center, then cut another creepy spider from dsp and placed it inside the purple oval. I added 2 googly eyes after it was finished. The orange border was done with an EK punch, and a Martha Stewart goo punch, and I stamped the sentiment there. I lined the back of the jack-o-lanterns with a strip of black cardstock to show their faces. The little ghosts were die cut with Impression Obsession dies and embossed with Lawn Fawn glow-in-the-dark embossing powder.

So what will you make with this sketch? For some inspiration, be sure to check out the Tuesday Morning Sketch blog for some inspiration by my DT members.

This week there is a surprise package from Pink and Main that you're going to love, so you'll want to play along for sure!

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a fabulous day!

Carol

Thanksgiving Card

I have another Thanksgiving card to share today. This one includes some  leaves and acorns done with Spellbinder dies, and colored with Distress inks, then clear embossed with a heat gun. The circle was done with a MFT stitched circle die and stamped with a Unity sentiment, adding a brown pearl, gold gemstone and a sequin. I tied a piece of copper cording around the gathered leaves. The side panel was embossed with a Darice ef and I added a strip of early espresso cardstock to separate the embossed panel from the leaves dsp.

I'm sharing this with the Dies R Us Challenge #107 - Anything Fall related.

Here in PA we've gone straight from summer into a very chilly autumn.  I hope we have a few comfortable autumn days before old man winter unleashes his wrath again! LOL

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Halloween Fun

Today I have a Halloween card that was made with an Elizabeth Dulemba digital image called Halloween Pumpkin Witch. I printed the image on white cardstock, then colored it with Copics, using fluorescent colors for the inside of the hat, the hat band, and facial carvings. I used an aqua brush and some not-quite-navy ink to color in the night sky, adding some bats done with 2 different sized stick stamps by Judith. I added a Martha Stewart punched fence along with a die-cut black cat perched upon it and just for fun, I added an I.O. die-cut ghost that was embossed with Lawn Fawn glow-in-the-dark embossing powder. I over-heated the ep and it turned dark in a few places, so I just smudged black ink here and there to make it look scary in the darkness of Halloween night. The sentiment is by Tim Holtz.

I'm sharing this with the Little Red Wagon challenge #468 - Digi-Do -use a digi 

Wishing you all a wonderful Thursday and thanks for checking in today!

Carol

13th Birthday Card

One of my granddaughters will be turning 13 very soon, and her favorite color is purple, so I made her birthday card today. I saw this "Thinking of You" card on Darnell's blog and have wanted to CASE it ever since I saw it, so this is my layered up version :) I only used 3 of the MFT stitched panels and interchanged them with SU! Gorgeous Grape dsp pieces after cutting. I die-cut the 13 with I.O. dies and layered it with white and lavender die-cut circles and then used a Gina Marie Designs birthday wishes die cut set for the sentiment. The little cupcakes were done with a Martha Stewart punch, some purple mirror card, a scor-board, and a Sizzix/Hero Arts Chevrons & Flourishes ef. What is a cupcake without swirled icing, right? I also added WOS to the frosting on the cupcakes along with a lavender gemstone to the top of each one. I also dotted the "i's" in the sentiment, and placed a few more randomly around the card. The final touch was to add some itty bitty star sequins here and there to add just a tad bit more sparkle.

I'm sharing this with the Double D Challenges which is stripes and dots

Also sharing with the Seize the Birthday challenge which is anything goes.

Thanks for checking in today and I hope your Wednesday is a good one!

Carol

TMS #475

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for another Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge and this week we're working on sketch #475 designed by Melissa.

I had no clue where to start with this sketch as I have nothing with a paisley design, but eventually it occured to me that snowflakes would be nice, so here's where this sketch led me...

I dug into my stash and pulled out some soft blue SU! dsp that's been long retired. It reminded me of snow with the delicate patterns, so I used 3 different snowflake punches and 2 other mini punches to make the centers. I dotted each of the snowflakes with sparkling Nuvo drops and they look light blue on top of the navy punched elements. I also added a few scattered Nuvo drops around the card randomly as well. The sentiment was die-cut with a Cottage Cutz die and some matching Navy cardstock.

Ok, now it's your turn, but before you go - be sure and check out my fabulous DT's creations over on the Tuesday Morning Sketches Blog for some wonderful inspiration.

Here is the prize you'll be playing for this week:

Happy Crafting and make it a great Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by:)

Carol

A Gift for Coffee Lovers

I've accumulated soooo many die-cut/printed elements through the years and just toss them into what I call my "doo-dad" box as I go along without using them. I decided to just sort through the box and pull out some elements and make something with them, and I came up with this gift card. I'd printed the Starbucks logo for a project a long time ago, so that's where this gift card holder started. I pulled die-cut white and kraft circles, along with a stitched heart die cut, and layered them all up on a die-cut circle that was cut from a herringbone background I'd made with strips of Coastal Cabana dsp. I pulled out the green and teal cardstock snippets and designed a gift card. Here is what it looks like opened...

The stamped sentiment panel was done with a Gina Marie Designs stamp and I added a couple strips of matching dsp and cardstock to dress it up inside. There is no gift card in the slot - just a piece of white card to show you how the card is inserted. I used the SU! word window punch to create the opening to hold the card.

I'm going to enter this into these two challenges ...

Pixie's Snippets Playground #337 - must use snippets

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - anything but a card

Thanks for checking in and I hope your Monday is off to a good start!

Carol

CASEd Christmas Card

Last year I made this Christmas card, and I decided to CASE it and make another one for this year. I colored the Stampendous Santa image a little differently, and added a Unity sentiment along with a little touch of black this time around. The embossed panel was done with a Sizzix Snow Globe ef, and the card base is SU! Cherry Cobbler, with some matching Cherry Cobbler ribbon that's been long-retired. I just love this stamp and try to use it every year to make at least one card.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Craftyhazelnut's CHNC 407 - Christmas a/g - optional add a stocking

Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge for October 2018 - anything goes with an optional twist of ribbon

MLCCB#3 - October Anything Christmas Goes

Thanks for stopping by and make it a wonderful week ahead.

Carol

Harvest Twofer

It's time for the 10th Twofer challenge and this month the keyword is "harvest." A lot of things come to mind when I think of that word, but for my cards I chose a wheat bundle stamp by Rubbernecker which reminds me of the harvest season.

Here are my cards along with a portion of my dining room chair LOL 

I made a birthday card by stamping the image on chocolate and embossing with gold. I placed it on a vanilla card base along with a piece of burlap. I pulled a couple pieces of the burlap from the edges and tied them around the wheat bundle and added a birthday sentiment panel along with a neutral gemstone. I used a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die for the card base, a Gina Marie Designs stitched oval die for the image panel, and a Lil Inker stitched banner die for the sentiment panel

For my second card, I stamped the wheat bundle on kraft to make a frame. adding gold paint pen to the wheat which the camera didn't pick up at all. I die-cut the sentiment with an Elizabeth Crafts die and some black and copper-colored mirror cardstock and layered them up,  then added the SU! punched black cat to the bottom. I put it all on a cajun craze card base.

That's going to do it for me today, but thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful weekend as Autumn makes it's way into our neck of the woods.

Carol

Thanksgiving

Years ago I bought an autumn-themed paper pad by Tim Coffey and I liked it so much, I kept all the leftover snippets after cutting into the sheets. I decided to make a background with those strips by weaving them together. I placed it on a sage card base and die-cut a GMD stitched oval for the main panel. The leaf is a die-cut from Spellbinders that was sponged with a lot of autumn-colored distress inks and finished with some versafine ink and an overall clear embossing powder coverage. The Tags 4 You sentiment is by SU! and I added a few gemstones for interest. I shredded a strip of dsp and wrapped it around a pair of tweezers to curl it, then attached it to the leaf along with a neutral twine bow.

I'm entering this into these challenges:

The Shopping Our Stash SOS #375 challenge - give thanks

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #313 - holiday

Craftyhazelnut's October 2018 Patterned Paper challenge - use patterned paper

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C455 - make a card for WCMD a/g

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a great day whatever you do!

Carol

TMS #474

Another week has rolled around to Tuesday already, and today we have the Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge #474 designed by Debbie.

Here is my take on the sketch...

I used an older SU! retired set for the image and colored the stamp with markers before stamping to get the two-tone look. I used some Rose Red cardstock for the card base and mat, and some green snippets for the ferns which were cut with a die from Precious Mariecke. The tiny flowers were done with SU! mini punches, and they were dotted with black Nuvo drops. The sentiment is from the SU! set Healing Hugs and was matted in black. The embossed background panel was done with a Sizzix Damask ef. I flipped the sketch to a top fold for my card, overlapping the sentiment panel onto the image panel and adding the ferns and flowers for texture.

Now it's your turn and we can't wait to see what you do with this easy sketch. Be sure to have a look at what my fellow DT members have created over on the TMS challenge blog and have fun being inspired by their creativity. 

Here is the prize up for grabs this week

 Thanks for stopping by and as always, have yourself a most wonderful day!

Carol

Halloween Matchbook Treats

I have lots of Halloween dsp left over from last year, so I decided to make a few matchbox treats for this year. Here is one of them with a Memory Box die-cut spider and I dotted his eyes with a white gel pen to make him creepier. When you open this up, here's what's inside...

The photo on the left shows the inside with the double-sided paper found at Tuesday Morning years ago. The Trick or Treat sentiment is by Lawn Fawn, and I added a little IO die-cut ghost that was embossed with Lawn Fawn glow-in-the-dark ep. The photo on the right is the inside of another matchbook that was made with SU! dsp, a Unity white-embossed sentiment punched with an EK ticket punch, and what these treats are filled with - a WAWA coffee thin! I wish I'd never discovered these wafer-thin coffee/chocolate bites of deliciousness because they are a bite of heaven!! If I enjoy them this much, I'm sure other coffee/chocolate lovers will too, so those are my treats for this Halloween. I'm grateful they are sold individually and NOT sold in bags, or I'd be in a sugar coma by now!

Here is the assortment I've made using all stamps, dies, stickers and elements from my Halloween stash. These are SO much fun to make and a great way to use up those little bits of dsp and cardstock too! 

If you need any specifics for products used, just email me with your questions. My email address is on the sidebar. I used the Splitcoaststampers tutorial for making these.

I will enter this project into the following challenges:

Just for Fun Rubber Stamps October 2018 Challenge - Halloween

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge October 2018 - use patterned paper

Memory Box Challenge #42 - Halloween or Candy themed

 LTCCB #27 - October Anything Goes

LTSCB #114 - Fall Back *make any fall creation*

Dies R US #106 - A/G using dies by companies carried at the Dies R Us store

Thanks for spending a few moments of your Monday with me, and I wish you a wonderful week ahead! Happy Crafting :)

Carol

First Thanksgiving Card for the Year

I found a great sketch challenge to make this card, but unfortunately it closed yesterday before I could finish this and get it posted. I used a Class Act Inc. stamp to create this card. I colored the image with Copics, and matted it on some Chocolate Chip card stock, then used a snippet of gold that I'd cut off a previous project that was embossed with a Darice leaves ef. The sentiment is by SU! done on a snippet of Pumpkin card and it's all on an Artichoke card base. I added a few dew drop gems along with 2 snippets of neutral and chocolate twine and called this one done.

This is heading to the following challenges:

House of Cards October challenge - Autumn Flowers and/or Colors

The Snippets Playground #336 - anything goes/must use snippets

Double D Challenge - Scare'n Up Some Pumpkins (Scarecrows and/or Pumpkins)

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful early Autumn weekend!

Carol

Patient Pup

Today I have a Christmas card that includes an adorable Stampendous Patient Pup image. I colored the image with Copics and did the lower border with a Martha Stewart doily punch, stamping the sentiment before adding a piece of red ribbon and 3 green mini brads. This went together quickly after coloring so I will probably make a few more before I put this stamp away for another year.

I'll enter this into the following challenges:

MLCCB#3 Merry Little Christmas October Challenge  - Christmas A/G

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Let's Get Ready for Christmas

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #550 - A/G

Craftyhazelnut's CHNC #405 - Christmas A/G w/option S (Santa Hat)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're ready to kick off a wonderful Autumn weekend with lots of fun outdoor activities to enjoy!

Carol

Baby Boy Card

 Today I have a baby card made with a Sweet'n Sassy Cocoa Mouse image that I colored with Copics. I used my Big Shot to cut the image panel with a Gina Marie Designs stitched square die along with the MFT stitched tiny tag done in 2 colors. I added a tiny punched white heart (SU! owl punch) and some twine tied into a bow. The plaid dsp has been in my stash for years and was purchased at QVC.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Hello New Baby

the Crop Stop October Link Party #44 - A/G using a manufacturer's item sold in their store (MFT) plus an option to use plaid.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #312 - Make Your Mark (Copics)

Love to Craft Challenge LTCCB#27 - October anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a great Wednesday with lots of warm sunshine and lots of smiles :)

Carol

TMS #473

We're back with another Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge and this week we're working on sketch #473, designed by Melissa.

Here is the prize you'll be playing for this week - just in time for those Halloween/Fall projects!

I made a masculine card with a Mark's Finest Papers stamp set called "Western Cowboy." Unfortunately their store has been closed for some time now, but this has been one of my favorite stamp sets in my collection. I stamped the cowboy and wolf on kraft and clear embossed both images before adding a touch of color with Copics. The glittered grey frame was a leftover from a previous project and I thought the subtle shimmer was perfect. The 3 horses are from the stamp set and so is the sentiment. The PTI Soft Stone cardstock base was embossed with a Darice horseshoe ef. I omitted the bow from the sentiment panel because a bow just doesn't belong on a cowboy card, right? 

Before you give this sketch a try, please check out what my DT members made right here on the TMS blog! I'm sure you'll find lots of good inspiration as they've all done some amazing things with this sketch!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic Tuesday!

Carol

Wild Thing...

I found this stamped lion image (possibly by High Hopes?) along with the sentiment in my doodad box and decided to make a card that I'll be sending to "cards for hospitalized kids" within the next week or two. I hope the child who receives it won't notice the coloring boo-boo I made! I see it clearly and most of you will too, but hopefully a youngster won't! Talk about coloring out of the lines! LOL

The background was made with a piece of green cardstock that was stenciled  with a Dina Wakley Media Jungle stencil in white craft ink, but the image was so large it covered most of it up!! However; I did cut a strip off for the inside to tie it all together. The sentiment was stamped at my friend's house so I'm not sure who makes it, but everything was colored with Copics and glaze pens. Now I have that song in my head like an ear worm :)

I'm sharing this with the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies challenge #19 which is always to use a critter on your creation. I don't know that I'd consider a lion to be a "critter" but on a card I guess he's tame enough to fit into the critter category? 

Enjoy your Monday and thanks for stopping by!

Carol