Halloween Treat

Before you know it, Halloween will arrive. And that means that I need to get busy on some Halloween projects. While going thru everything on my laptop's hard drive, I came across the instructions for this cute little treat holder. The stamp is from a retired Stampin' Up set, the striped paper is from the Bold Brights Designers Series Paper Pack and the Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon matches perfectly--all used with our black cardstock. The candy is in SU's 3x5 cellophane bags. In the past, I often used the plastic bags you can purchase at HB or Joanns or Michaels. But a friend suggested that I try SU's cellophane bags. I followed her advice and now I use SU's bags for all of my treat projects. They are thicker, clearer and just present so much more nicely. Not very scary, this is the perfect little Halloween treat for teachers, co-workers and others you want to remember on Halloween or at any time during this Fall season. Find yourself a little stampin' time!

What color Is the Moon?

When the Cricut girls were here on Sunday, I was showing them some of the images I downloaded for free and cut using SCAL. The witch and moon was an SVG file I found (but did not write down who posted it) online. One of the ladies said I should have cut the moon in yellow. I said the moon was white. So we joked and laughed about it and the next day I put this card together. I got to thinking and decided that I would sponge some yellow and orange ink around the edges. Not only is the moon white & yellow, but it now has some dimension. The bat is from a punch I have--not part of the free SVG file. The Top Note diecut sponged with black makes for a perfect background layer. When I recreate this card, I will not be adding the stamped spider. It seems so out of place. As I am typing, I am thinking about ways to cover it up on this card--a chance to embellish! Happy Saturday!

Friend

Today's card is one that we will be making in my next card class. The colors are Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive and the stamp is from the Simple Friendship set. I used a texture plate, corner rounder and circle punches. The print paper is from the Brights Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack. The finishing touch is retired Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon. Have a great Friday!

Denami Sketch Challenge

Here's my entry into Denami's sketch challenge. I cut the big flower using SCAL and an SVG file that SVGCuts offered as a freebie. The smaller diecut flowers are from a punch I have. The word "Hugs" is a Denami stamp as is the button from Denami. Everything else is Stampin' Up. I just think that the oranges and Rich Razzleberry make for a really pretty Fall color combination. Enjoy!

Time For a Card

I have been spending so much time playing with SCAL and researching computers, that card-making with Stampin' Up products has taken a back seat. But I made this card earlier today and wanted to share it with you. I used Very Vanilla and Early Espresso so it has a "Fall" feel to it. And once again, the Just Believe stamp set works beautifully. As a reminder, just about any stamp set you have can be used to make a "Fall" card by using ink and cardstock in browns, purples, oranges, etc. Happy stampin!

Birthday Fishes!

My husband is celebrating his 60th birthday today and looking forward to a dinner celebration with our children and granddaughter later. Since John is a fisherman, I once again used Riley the Moose as the focus for a card. While at the store one day I purchased a fish/sea themed stamp set and it came in very handy when making his birthday card. I used Copic markers for all of the coloring and cut the "60" on my Cricut. When my husband retired 4 years ago, I started an album for his fishing and hunting photos. So for the last 4 or 5 days I have been putting together some pages that will be added to the album. Again, I am using SCAL, so there have been quite a few trial and error cuts in addition to looking for hunting and fishing images that I could cut using my Cricut. The cut images on thepage to the left were made with SCAL after purchasing a hunting set on line. The page to the right was cut using the Cricut Lite Wildlife cartridge. By the way, if you need to make hunting pages or cards for anyone who is into hunting, the Wildlife cartridge is a must have. I know that I will be using it numerous times in the future. Have a great day!

Sure Cuts A Lot

A while back I attended the CHA show that was open to the public. While there, I came pretty close to purchasing a Pazzles, but common sense took over as I really don't need another die cut machine. I have my Cricut and I have my Big Shot. At that time, I told myself that I would look into the SCAL program. And I have been doing just that. I researched and compared products and purchased SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot). By using this program, you are voiding your Cricut warranty, but since my Cricuts are out of warranty, for me it was no big deal. These are practice cuts I made using images I found online and/or received with my purchase.From here on out, I will be noting where I obtained a cut file so that I can share that info here. By using this software and images I have downloaded to my computer, I hope to complete a number of scrap pages I have that need embellishing. I have spent many, many hours watching video tutorials and then practicing what I watched. I have made numerous mistakes so then I would rewatch a video tutorial and try again. Now my house is pretty dusty and I have paper scraps all over the place, but I have gained knowledge--and knowledge is a very good thing. Have a great day!

Happy Labor Day!

Our family usually celebrates the Labor Day weekend with a party at our house. When the kids were little, the Schaumburg Septemberfest parade would go past our house on Labor Day. We would invite all of our friends and line our chairs up along Summit, the street we lived on, for parade viewing and to just have great fun. Now the kids are grown up and we no longer live in Schaumburg but we continue to have a Labor Day party. My husband celebrates his 60th birthday on September 16th, so this year's party would also be a surprise birthday celebration. Our granddaughter was so excited when she heard about the suprise, that she had to get busy. One of the things she was busy with was making a "put the bobber in the fish's mouth" game--similar to "pin the tail on the donkey". She knows how much her grandpa likes to fish and that his cake was going to have a fish theme. We had so much fun playing her game and she was thrilled to hear and see all of us adults laughing and having a great time. It was too much fun and we were laughing until our sides hurt. John and I are blessed with a beautiful and loving family, wonderful friends and a good life--all things that we worked to achieve. Happy Labor Day to all and remember to find some time to enjoy life--after all, we have all worked very hard (and continue to work) to live the American dream.

Digi Stamp Purchase

Earlier last week, I received an email from Stephanie Barnard and there was this adorable Birthday4cookie stamp set. As you know, I prefer rubber stamps, but the set was so cute that I was going to order it even if it was a clear stamp set. As I was looking at it, I saw that there was an option to purchase it as a digital set. I decided to try purchasing the digi set. This card is very simple, but I was able to download the set to my computer and then get the stamp to print. All I did was color in the bow, punch it out and use it on a card. I printed up the stamp in various sizes and then played with my markers. So now, not only do I need to practice coloring techniques, I need to learn about using all the images in the set so that my little dog can be wearing a birthday hat instead of the bow!

Happy Birthday

I received my paper pack of neutrals pattern papers. The majority of the colors are very pretty, although the very vanilla on white is my least favorite of all. You can barely see the Vanilla patterns on the white background. On the other hand, the gray on white is gorgeous as is the chocolate chip. The Crumb Cake patterns were used for this card on a Crumb Cake base and Very Vanilla cardstock. Since there are a few males having birthdays in our family, this card is a great "boy" card. The candle flames were stamped using a retired SU set with Stickles used to color the flames. The photo corner punch, a little twine and the birthday sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set finishes it off. I had scraps from some of the Tangerine Tango pattern papers, so I made this little 3x3 gift card using the same idea but different colors. The flames on the gift card are punched hearts turned upside down with Crystal Effects to add a little shine. Have a great Friday.

Digital Stamps

Lately I have come across many projects using digital stamps. Curiosity finally got the better of me and over the last couple of days I have been researching digi stamps. There are many websites offering digi stamps and video tutorials. The card to the right was a free digi stamp from Squigglefly. And I followed her tutorials in downloading the stamp. I will say that I need a lot more practice on downloading the digi stamps, but I was impressed that I got so far as to actually use the stamp! I colored the image using Copic markers. I used SU Tempting Turquoise and Real Read cardstock and retired Tempting Turquoise ribbon for the card. I am looking forward to really understanding digi stamping so that I will be able to use such images without needing a couple of hours to download and resize and use. In the meantime, I am going to create with what I understand--cards using my Stampin' Up rubber stamps.