Happy Halloween!

Tomorrow is the big day for the kids and the big kids, too!!! Halloween is my son-in-law's favorite holiday so he and Syd will be enjoying the afternoon~~rain or shine.  You have seen a number of little favors I have made for Halloween and today's photos are of the last ones I made Wednesday.  I finished  the remaining Haystack bags from the My Paper Pumpkin kits that I needed.  I then wanted to use the Spooktacular stamp set and dies from Lawn Fawn, so I made these cellophane bags with toppers for the neighbor kids.  And finally, I have to share the photo of the favors that my friend, Kathy Z. made.  I think she made something like 70 of these.  She used the SU Fry Box die and  Tag Talk Stamp set.  I am not sure which set Happy Halloween came from but the favors are very cute and the teachers who receive them will enjoy them much.  And now, it is time to think about Christmas!  Have a fun Halloween and a great weekend! 

Lucky Stars

I finally am using the Lucky Stars embossing folder that is in the Annual Catalog.  I have many scraps of paper from the  Cherry On Top DSP stack and I just can't throw them away.  So I decided I could use a couple of those and the Lucky Stars embossing folder to create a very quick birthday card.  The sentiment is from the Cottage Greetings set and was die cut using a framelit from the Chalk Talk Framelits set.  This was quick and simple and could be made in multiples very easily.  Have a great day!

Hershey Kiss Tent

I have seen Hershey Kiss favors by Brenda Quintana over the past few years, thinking they were cute.  But I never made one until the other day when I watched her video that showed how to make a
little tent for a single Kiss.  I thought they were adorable, so decided to create a few.  Since I have plenty of Halloween favors (I have been working on a variety of them for the past few days!), I made the one Witch Hat favor and then used the Simon Says Stitched Pumpkins and Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves for the other two, thinking Fall/Thanksgiving.  Brenda had a really cute snowman favor, but I do not have that stamp set and/or dies.  I especially like the leaf tent that I adhered to layered Labels & Tags die cuts.  Great little gifts for co-workers or place setting cards for any occasion, depending on the die cut you use to embellish the tent.  Have a great day!

Watercolor Love

In the last couple of weeks I needed two "love" cards, one for an anniversary and one for an engagement.  I looked at my shelves of stamps and decided that Watercolor Words would work just fine.   The card on the left was created using Coastal Cabana and Strawberry Slush.  I embossed the top and bottom of the white cardstock using a retired embossing folder and added a score line to each using our score tool.  For the congratulations card, I used Coastal Cabana and black.  I can see these cards being perfect for Valentine's Day--maybe in red and black or pink and black?  Have a great day!

Meet Dexter

After my last post about Toby, we had hoped for the best but things did not end well.  The poor little guy was very sick.  We were all very saddened by the situation, especially Sydney.  So Jen and Sydney took a road trip to meet little Dexter.  He is 16 weeks old and a handsome bird.  They decided to bring Dexter to his forever home.  He is still young enough to bond with Sydney and as you can see from the pictures, he is already doing so.  We were able to meet him and he is a beautiful Eclectus.  We are thrilled that Jen, Syd and Mark finally have a little bird in the huge cage that has been in their family room for months.  Congrats to Jen, Syd & Mark.  Have a great day everyone!

October My Paper Pumpkin

Earlier in the week  I received the October My Paper Pumpkin.  The kit consists of everything needed to create 12 cards, four of each style shown here.  I do like the fact that the cards are various sizes and colors that I have not used together very often.  Most of all, I like the stamp set that is included.  It has flowers, leaves and sentiments in a font that is different from the usual sentiment stamps we have.  The other thing this kit includes is the thicker Very Vanilla Baker's Twine.  I have not purchased any of the thicker twine and after using the twine in this kit, I will be purchasing the thick twine which is available in a variety of colors in the Annual Catalog.  Have a great day and a great weekend, too!

Real Leaves!

Yesterday was a beautiful Autumn day here.  As I looked out my office window, the tree in the front yard was so brilliant that I had to take a picture of it.  When I stepped out of the garage, the tree at the side was just as gorgeous.  The photo on the left includes the tree in the front yard with the tree in the side yard beyond it.  The photo on the right is a photo of just the tree in the side yard.  As many of you know, I truly love the colors of the changing leaves.  With the sun shining on them, these trees were absolutely magnificent!  I hope they brighten your day as much as they have mine the past few.  Have a great day!

4 Squares

The stamp set in last month's My Paper Pumpkin is very cute and I wanted to use it for more than the little tags on the bags. So last night I created this pretty Fall card.  I inked each of the little stamps with SU Many Marvelous Markers and then cut perfect squares using our square framelits.  I embossed a Mossy Meadow piece of cardstock using the brick wall folder and adhered that to a Cajun Craze card base.  Some linen thread and dimensionals for the stamped images completes the card.  The Brick Embossing Folder is certainly being put to good use.  Have a great day!

My Little Paper Pumpkin

I have posted things I made with the monthly subscription, My Paper Pumpkin.  Well today I am posting a photo of the little paper pumpkin I made after watching the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.  I started out with paper strips that measured 11" x 1" but due to my messing it up, I took the pumpkin apart and cut the strips down to 8" x 1".  The leaves are from Lawn Fawn's Small Stitched Leaves dies and the stem of the pumpkin is a small piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock run thru the crimper and then rolled up and adhered to the top of the pumpkin.  The pumpkin itself was glued to a scallop circle which I used as the base.  It really is much cuter in person, but you get the idea!  Have a great day!

Stamp Sale!

All stamps are on sale for the next few days.

 

 

Details:

• Dates: October 19-23, 2015
• Host stamp sets, rotary stamps, and supply list stamp sets are not eligible for the 15 percent promotional discount on stamps.
• Bundles are not eligible for this promotional discount, but they will retain their current 15 percent Bundle & Save discount. The stamp set from the bundle may still be purchased ala carte with the 15 percent promotional discount.
• Stamps purchased using a 50 percent Stampin' Rewards discount will not be available for this 15 percent promotional discount. Stamps purchased using Stampin' Rewards discounts will still be 50 percent off retail value of the stamp set.
• All order types qualify for this promotion.
• There is no limit to how many discounted stamp sets can be placed on an order.
• There is no minimum purchase required for this promotion.

Stars Today

As I was cleaning up the mess on my island and on my counters down in my scraprooom, I came across the Hero Arts Ombre stamp pad I purchased last week.  And since the Perpetual Calendar stamp set was still not put away, I decided to use the stars in it to create a card similar to yesterday's leaves card.  Using the Ombre Ink pad and the background stamp from the Perpetual Calendar set, I stamped three times.  I then stamped the cluster of stars using Pool Party ink.  The stars were cut using Stampin' Up star framelits and Night of Navy became the "other" color because of the small portion of navy in the Ombre ink pad.  The sentiment is from Cottage Greetings and a little silver thread and a few glitter stars adds a touch of bling.  Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

More Leaves!

It is Fall, so you get another leaf card!!!  I started out using the retired colors of Baked Brown Sugar and Crisp Cantaloupe.  But the Crisp Cantaloupe just wasn't bright enough for what I was thinking about.  So I switched to Pumpkin Pie with the Baked Brown Sugar.  I die cut a Pumpkin Pie leaf and sponged over it with Baked Brown Sugar ink, crumpled it up and flattened it out.  It looked good.  After stamping the white cardstock using a stamp from the Perpetual Calendar set and a background stamp from Happy Watercolor I adhered the leaf.  I stamped the sentiment from For All Things in Pumpkin Pie and sponged the edges in Baked Brown Sugar, adhering it using dimensionals over some linen thread.  A few Baked Brown Sugar sequins should have been enough, but no, I had to add the Clear Wink of Stella glitter.  I wish I would not have done that.  It pooled on a couple of  the folds from the crumpling and I just am not pleased with how it looks on this particular card.   Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Open Sea Birthday

First off~~CUBS WIN~~yeah!  Very exciting and I hope they can keep it up.  That being said, my husband is a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan~~so he is not very happy!  Now on to stamping stuff!  On yesterday's card, I had inked the white cardstock directly using the Night of Navy ink pad.  Well, when I went to do it a second time, there wasn't enough ink on the pad to make another dark Night of Navy background.  It actually looked very denim-like.  I wasn't sure that the water stamping would work on the lighter background so I saved it for today's card.  Out came the Open Sea stamp set. I stamped the images on white and then sponged Night of Navy around the torn edges and onto the images.  The sentiment is from the And Many More stamp set.  And three little candy dots were the perfect finish for this card.   Have a great day!

A New Technique

Yesterday I watched a video Jennifer McGuire did and she used a Distress Ink pad to ink a piece of cardstock and then spritzed a stamp with water and stamped on the background.  So I decided to try it using  a Stampin' Up! ink pad.  For this card I used Night of Navy ink and then stamped with water spritzed on the Blended Bloom stamp.  I actually tried it a couple of times with Early Espresso and those didn't turn out quite like Jennifer's.  The card posted today turned out pretty okay, but still not what I was hoping for.  So I am wondering if it is because she used Distress Inks for her cards.  Maybe later or tomorrow I will try the technique using Distress Ink.  At any rate, I used the Labels and Tags framelits and the Watercolor Wishes stamp set for the sentiment.  I used White Perfect Accents in each of the corners and after I looked at the completed card, I was thinking I should have put those little accents at the corners of the label.  That would have been nice, too.  Have a great day!

A Christmas Card Already?

I don't need any more Halloween cards.  I am sure you are getting tired of seeing leaf cards.  I thought maybe I should use new Christmas products.  So out came the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set and coordinating dies.  I embossed white cardstock with the Woodland Textured Impressions embossing folder and then cut it down and layered it on Cherry Cobbler cardstock. After die cutting the word "peace" and adhering that over the embossed white cardstock,  I used two of the stamps from the stamp set to complete the sentiment.   The card was pretty plain, so I added Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine and a few Shimmery White snowflakes cut from a Lawn Fawn die set.   It still needs a little something so I might add a little Dazzling Details or rhinestones to the snowflakes.  I will think about that.  Have a great day!

Nipper and Toby

Instead of a card I am going to share my cute little Nipper and Toby updates. I have had Nipper for about 7 weeks now and he is a good little friend.  He is very content to just be sitting on my shoulder, but in the evening when I watch TV, Nipper totally enjoys being held in my hand while I pet him.  When Sydney is here, he loves it as she plays with him almost non-stop.  Here is a picture of her getting ready to take a picture of Nipper on her cell phone.  Instead he got on her cell phone and was checking out what was on the screen.  Jen & Syd's little Toby is growing.  Last week he was not feeling very well (enough so that we were very worried)  but the owner of AJ's Feathered Friends in Elgin, IL took him home with her and gave him some special attention~~like hand feedings at three in the morning.  Yesterday we went to visit with Toby and he was playing and back to investigating and looking for cuddles from all of us.  I never thought birds could be such good little companions.  But they certainly are!  When we go to AJ's to visit Toby, we play with a number of the birds and each one has their own personality. Lola is a favorite!  She is a cockatoo and when you sing Copa Cabana she dances!!  Stanley is a Severe Macaw who will be going home soon, but he comes right to me when I talk to him.  He is a little cuddler, too.  There is one little green parrotlet left at AJ's and if I wasn't so taken with Nipper I would consider a second parrotlet.  But for me, one little bird is all I need.  Life truly is better with a bird!!  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Sending Hugs and Prayers

Every once in the while I need a card that let's someone know I am thinking about them and including them in my prayers.  So when I saw that Simon Says had teamed up with Hero Arts for the Prayers stamp set with die, I knew it would be the perfect set to have on hand.  I stamped the sentiment and die cut the "prayers" using Coastal Cabana ink and cardstock, a favorite retired Stampin' Up! color.  The word "prayers" can also be stamped if you prefer.  After stamping the sentiment and adhering the die cut, I wanted to add flowers.  So I used Lawn Fawn's Penelope's Blossoms stamp set and dies.  As pretty as the flowers are and as much as I wanted a set with little flowers, I spent a whole lot of time stamping the little flowers and die cutting them. It was rather tedious lining up the little dies with the stamped image.  Next time I use the image at the bottom of the card, I will color the stamp in using markers rather than stamp it all in one color and then adhere die cut flowers over the image.  In the end, the time spent on the card was worth it.  Have a great day!

A Thanksgiving Card

As I was driving yesterday, I noticed that the beautiful leaves are beginning to get more brilliant as the weather gets cooler  .When I was thinking about a card for today's post, it had to have something to do with Fall.  I used the Simon Says Square Quadrangle Frames and Small Stitched Pumpkins dies together with the Lawn Fawn stitched maple leaf which is sponged in Meadow Moss, Crushed Curry and Cherry Cobbler.  The sentiment is from the Amuse Studio stamp set,  Sentimental Essentials Too.  The pretty ribbon is retired Blackberry Bliss ribbon which I wish I would have purchased more of when I had the chance. Oh well~~something better always comes along and now I can get that same ribbon in some of my favorite regular colors.  Have a great day! 
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Scallop Top Favors

I wasn't sure what to make for today's post until I saw a favor by Chelsea Comer of Amuse Studio on Facebook.  I knew then I would create my version of the favor using Stampin' Up supplies for today's post.  The favors were all created using the Scallop Tag Topper Punch.  After cutting the cardstock the correct length, I scored it and then punched each end.  So the first favor was 1-1/2" wide by 5", a little too small to fit the "Boo!" die cut on it.  The next one I cut 1-3/4" wide and the same length.  Much better fit for the "Boo!".  And finally, I wanted to make a favor using a different die from the Boo To You die set and it was the little pumpkin.  So this last one I cut 2" wide and 6" long.  I then scored the cardstock at 2-1/2" and 3-1/2" before punching the scallop top..  The sequins are again from Pretty Pink Posh's  Halloween assortment.  I absolutely love the colors in that assortment.  After experimenting with the three sizes, I have decided that when I make more of this type of favor, I will cut them 1-3/4" wide and 6" long.  They perfectly fit a Hershey Nugget which is wrapped in coordinating paper and adhered to the favor bottom using glue dots.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stmapin' time!

White Brick Wall

Happy Monday!  Here is the plain untouched brick wall I mentioned I should try in one of my previous posts.  The wreath against it is very striking, more so in person.  After adding the sentiment at the bottom of the card, the upper left corner needed a little something so I just fussy cut a few leaves from another wreath.  And I just love the wreath!!  Thank you Kathy Z. for reminding me about the baby wipe technique!  Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Today is another special day for me and my family.  Our son, Matthew, celebrates his 37th birthday.  I will be meeting him for breakfast shortly, but I wanted to share the card I made for him.  He loved Scooby Doo when he was a little kid.  And I saw this  Paw-some Stamp & Die combo on Taylored Expressions and the dog looked so much like Scooby Doo, that I had to have it to create Matt's card.  Isn't it cute?  So what is worse~~spending $6 on a Hallmark card or spending $17 for a stamp set and die to make a birthday card?  Hahaha!!!!  I will be using the stamp set and die more than just once!  Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

The Other Wall Card

This wall has a totally different look from yesterday's card.  First off, yesterday's brick wall was vertical and today's is horizontal.  With the new 6 x 6 embossing folders the card front can fit in the embossing folder in either direction~~a nice feature.  Secondly, today's brick wall is much lighter toned.  I used Crumb Cake and Smokey Slate on white embossed cardstock and layered that on Crumb Cake cardstock before adhering it to the white card base.  (Have I mentioned lately how much I like the new heavier weight white cardstock SU offers?)  Once I was pleased with the brick color, I then wondered what I should use to embellish it.  Of course,  the Vintage Leaves called out!  The leaves are stamped in Crumb Cake on white cardstock and then sponged in Cherry Cobbler, Hello Honey & Meadow Moss.  A layer of clear Wink of Stella was brushed on the leaves and a little of the gold thread added behind them.  The sentiment was cut using a die from the Hello You thinlits. The brick embossing folder is one I highly recommend adding to your collection.  Maybe tomorrow I will post a card where I use the embossing folder just as it is without any ink sponged on.  Until then, have a great day!