EEK!

So here is another Halloween card I worked on this week.  I love Halloween, and I LOVE clearance stuff.  I bought a bag of K&Company Die Cut Glitter Cardstock Kelli Panacci Halloween early in the summer on clearance at AC Moore.  They are so fun!  I made my own spooky background by inking white cardstock with Close to My Heart Autumn Terracotta and Gold Rush inks and edged it with my Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  I glued the house die cut to a piece of orange cardstock and cut it out – just because I wanted the windows to look like there were lights in them.  Well, I was not happy with the way it looked, so I got out my trusty yellow Stickles and filled in the windows.  Much happier with that effect!  The little Mummy is a stamp from Close to My Heart – it’s MANY years old…I don’t even remember the name of the stamp set.  But I stamped it on white cardstock and took my Spectrum Noir markers and put some grey around him, just so he looks dirty (you know, it’s hard to keep mummy gauze clean for hundreds of years!!).  I glued a couple more die cuts to the card and voila, a cute and fun card! 

Hallo Scream!

Yesterday I told you that my good friends got me a stamp from the clearance bin at ACMoore.  Or was it Michael’s?  Doesn’t matter I guess, but what I failed to mention was that these same good friends got me a TON of stuff from the clearance bin. Lots and LOTS of stamps, especially the little Studio G stamps that usually cost about a dollar.

So as I laid the no less than 6 sets of Studio G Halloween stamps in front of me, I wondered what I would do with such small images.  That’s when the checkerboard idea hit me.  So I stamped 6 of the little images on 1” X 1” squares which I then matted with 1.25” x 1.25” inch orange squares. I also added two Jolee’s Boutique dimensional stickers and a googly eye to a three squares for interest. I arranged all the squared on a black 4.25” x 5.5” card front leaving a space on the bottom for a strip of patterned paper.  I finished it off with the “Hallo Scream” stamp that I embossed with purple embossing powder. 

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Halloween?

Back after a week vacation and a week recovering from vacation!! Hope to start posting now on regular basis, especially when school starts again in a week!

So yesterday I had a couple of my "besties" come over and we spent the day crafting. My friend Lynda is a FABULOUS crochet-er (ok crochet-er is not really a word, but the word for someone who crochets is a hooker…and I don’t really want to call her that!) Anyway, if you’re looking for some cute crocheted gift ideas, check out her Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/LandVThreadz

During our craft day I made this cute Halloween card (have I mentioned how much I love Halloween?) The cute ghost I cut from my Cricut, using the “Mini Monsters” Cartridge. I inked the edges of the ghost with grey ink and added two googly eyes. The background is a piece of white cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug using the “Bricked” folder by Tim Holtz by Sizzix “Textured Fades.” I then inked that with two colors of grey ink (retired Close to My Heart grey wool and Bazzinks). Both have been in my stash for MANY, and I do mean MANY years. I finished it off with a black piece of cardstock that I stamped with the “Happy Haunting” sentiment that a good friend gave me and embossed it with Close to My Heart purple embossing powder then snipped the ends to make a flag shape.

Happy Haunting!! I’ll have more Halloween cards to come!!

Happy Halloween!

Ok, I know it's only August, but anyone who knows me is well aware that my FAVORITE holiday is Halloween! Not sure why. Don't know if I'm trying to relate to my "dark" side, or if I just love dressing up and pretending, even if just for one day, that I am someone else. So, the last post I showed you the beginnings of my canvas. I loved how it turned out. Started with a layer of Gesso Canvas Primer, then I painted a layer of Silks Yellow Rose all over the canvas. Then I put down a layer Ranger Distress Crackle paint in vintage photo. Last layer was just black ink and voila, I had a spooky background. Just added some die cuts and the finished product is an adorable decoration to hang in my house. Give it a try sometime. It's just all about the layering! Keep playing until you get the effect you want!

The start of something spooky!

One of my goals at CKC was to learn how to play with paints. So, I took quite a few mixed media classes and fell in LOVE. Spent over $50.00 at the Splash of Color Booth, but hey, you only live once! This week ACMoore had canvas on sale. I got my courage up and bought a couple so I could create a Halloween project. Never mind I had NO idea on how I was going to make it happen, but I was determined. So last night I sat down with my canvas, and after a few moments of hyperventilating, I decided to take the plunge. A few hours later, I had the background of my project complete. I am quite happy with it and decided to share it so I can inspire others to play with paint. It's really not scary once you do it!

Hopefully in a couple days I'll have the completed project to share. I'm flying by the seat of pants here, so who knows what the final product will look like!

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Here in Northeast PA it was a dreary, rainy day - the kind of day you just want to stay in bed, curled up with a good book or magazine and the TV remote. But alas, duty calls and I dragged by butt out of bed, dropped the kids at camp and did my required 8 hours at work. Then off to ACMoore and Michaels with a good friend. Good friends are what inspired me for today's card. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stamp set from Close to My Heart. Being a former consultant I know I may be biased, but the quality of the My Acrylix stamps from CTMH really can't be beat. This set was a stamp of the month (don't ask me when) and it's called Friendship Bouquet. I got it from drphilscraps.com. Well, actually I got it at CKC Lancaster but it was from Dr. Phil Scraps! Hope you enjoy my little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day!