Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween

Today I thought it would be fun to post photos of my little grandbird, Dexter.  His little beak looks just like candy corn!  The beak started out black and was turning this candy corn color as he matured.  The picture on the left is one year ago.  The picture on the right was taken yesterday.  He is a beautiful Eclectus.  I love the little guy and his pretty Candy Corn beak.  Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Last Halloween Card

That is, unless I see something extremely cute over the weekend!  Today's image comes from the Penny Black stamp set, Bewitched.  I do think I got my use out of this stamp set.  It is such a cute set with adorable images.  I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color today's image after I stamped it in Versafine Black ink and heat embossed using clear powder.  The black polka dot paper is SU's retired DSP and the lime green paper is Lawn Fawn's~~a great match.  The Stampin' Up black stars and the sequins add a festive touch.  I know that many of you will be going to Halloween parties over the weekend, so enjoy!  And all weekend long I will be cheering for the Cubs~~GO CUBS GO!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Birthday Squares

I have a whole lot of Designer Series Paper and I am making a real effort to use it.  I know that the squares on this card are only a drop in the bucket compared to what I have, but I used retired rather than new!  I used the new square framelits and then I used my score board to add decorative lines above and below the squares.  The balloon was stamped with Bermuda Bay ink and punched.  I adhered it to the middle square with dimensionals.  An enamel star next to the sentiment adds a little contrasting color.  Have a great day!

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Mouse Halloween

Here are the cute little mice again!  The image is from Penny Black's Bewitched stamp set.  I colored this image using Spectrum Noir markers after stamping and heat embossing the image.  The "boo" and "happy halloween" are from  Stampin' Up! retired sets.  Tangerine Tango and black are a striking color/Halloween combination.  The twine and the little adhesive Halloween dots were perfect embellishments for today's card.  Have a great day!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Fall Fence

My friend, Nancy, brought her Sizzix Fall Fence with Leaves embossing folder to Cricut Sunday together with the pretty card she made using the folder.  After embossing the cardstock, Nancy sponged the background and colored in the leaves, etc.  While the ladies were here, I made a few embossed layers for future cards.  I have every intention of creating a card similar to Nancy's, but for now I just created a very easy and pretty Fall card using one of the  white embossed  layers.  I adhered the embossed layer on Rich Razzleberry cardstock and adhered that to a white card base.  The sentiment, stamped in Rich Razzleberry,  is from a My Paper Pumpkin kit stamp set that I saved from a while ago.  Today's post includes two pretty Fall cards~~either of which would be nice to find in your mailbox! Have a great day!

Monday, October 24, 2016

From Sydney

This weekend, Sydney and I had a girls' weekend.   We watched Property Brothers, played with
Nipper, ate junk food, watched tv in bed with Nipper and went house-hunting with Matthew!  When I was making dinner on Saturday, Syd and Nipper were down in my scrap room.  She told me she was working on a surprise.  After dinner she and Nipper went back to work.  I took my time cleaning up the kitchen and when I went downstairs she had a good portion of her creation layed out on the counter.  I promised not to look while she worked.  She did ask me to put pearls on little purple flowers.  When she was just about finished, she told me to come look and I saw this beautiful Nipper Frame!  I was thrilled.  I know she is 12, but she was able to figure out how large to make the squares and the layers and put it all together to fit on the 12 x 12 cardstock piece.  She used punches, the large SU letter framelits and the new Square framelits.  I have extra frames in my storage area, so she even put it in the frame.  I love her and I love that she made this for me all on her own.  I surely am a very proud Grandma Gay.  Jen and Mark are raising a beautiful person.  I love my family so much and I am so blessed.  Have a great day!

Friday, October 21, 2016

Halloween Nuggets

Today's favor was created using the 2 x 8 cellophane bags that were introduced in the Annual Catalog earlier this year.  I actually saw this on Pinterest.  The Hershey Nuggets fit inside perfectly.  So I wrapped two nuggets in Halloween DSP and made a little black cardstock tray for inside the bag on which to slip the nuggets. After tying the bag with twine and a tag, I cut the cellophane top.  The favor now is 4-1/2" long.  By cutting down the bags to fit two nuggets, not only do you have a cute little favor, but two nuggets per favor is less expensive than four or five per favor. To complete the favor, I added a few little sequins to both the bag and the tag.  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time! GO CUBS GO

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Popcorn Favors

I recently posted the Halloween favor bags that my friend, Kathy Z, made which I thought are very cute.  Kathy used black polka dot bags she purchased on line.  Not paying attention to the size of the popcorn bags, I got out my mini treat bag dies, made a bag and guess what?  The popcorn bags were too big for the mini favor bag!  I did not have orange or black favor bags, so I improvised.  I used a piece of Designer Series Paper cut at 7" x 8 1/2", folded it to fit the popcorn bag and adhered the back to front using Scor-tape along the bottom and the back seam.  I then pulled out a tool I have not used in ages~~the crimper!  I crimped the bottom of the bag, wrapped the bag in ribbon, added tags and tied a pretty little bow.  Have a great day!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Clean & Simple Watercolor


The idea for today's cards came from a card on Stampin' Up's demo site, posted by Peggy Noe.  I recreated her card using Shimmery White cardstock (rather than watercolor paper), ink and an aqua painter.   After creating the thank you card, using Soft Sky ink, I stamped the sentiment which is from Endless Thanks.  The card is pretty and you can't really see it in the pictures, but the Shimmery White does sparkle a bit. So, I then created the Thinking of You card.  I used Flirty Flamingo ink and the sentiment is from a Just Rite set, Large Fancy Sentiments.  I used the little hearts from the In Colors enamel accents for both cards.  For a birthday card, you could use a little star accent or even a little balloon.  Don't have enamel accents?  Use my favorite embellishment, sequins.  There are numerous possibilities using a variety of sentiments and colors.  I am going to make a few more and these cards with envelopes will be a nice hostess gift during the holidays.  Have a great day!

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Sending Hugs and Love

When I had my Shimmery White cardstock out last week, I wanted to once again make a shimmery watercolor background.  I tapped my craft mat with both blue and purple distress ink pads and spritzed that with water.  I then laid the Shimmer White cardstock directly on the puddle of color. Once I lifted the Shimmery White cardstock I moved the puddle on the cardstock around.  Once the entire piece of cardstock was covered, I let the excess drip off and then dried it with the heat gun.  I should have used more purple, but the background is very pretty and shimmery.   It created the perfect backdrop for the pretty white tropical flower and the word die cut "hugs".  The stamped sentiments are from the Simon Says/Hero Arts stamp set, Prayers. Since SU's Shimmery White cardstock is a little thicker, it will take some water, but it cannot be drenched.    Have a great day!

Monday, October 17, 2016

Hello Fall

Yesterday was Cricut Sunday at my house.  This group first started seven years ago.  We all had our Cricuts in common.  Each month we shared projects, worked on our own projects and we got to know each other.   At any one time, you could hear three or more Cricuts running.  Things have changed and we no longer work strictly on Cricut projects but we do enjoy our Cricut Sundays and our friendships.  Yesterday, Kathy Z. was working on her Thanksgiving cards.  She brought her stamp set and embellishments so that I could make a similar card.  We used retired stamp sets for the scene on the die cut leaf and the sentiment.   All of the pieces, including the gold die cut leaf, were adhered to Crumb Cake cardstock that was stamped using Chocolate Chip ink and the Hardwood background stamp.  I used gold paper that I had and I do wish I would have used Stampin' Up's Glimmer paper.  The gold of SU's Glimmer paper was a much deeper gold and showed up much better against the background.  I know what is on my next order!  Nonetheless, the card is very pretty.   Have a great day!

Friday, October 14, 2016

Popcorn Treat Bags


Today's posts are from my friend, Kathy Z.  She was at my house yesterday working on some very cute Halloween treat bags she is making and I just had to post one of them.  The polka dot treat bags she purchased online and fitting inside is the ACT II popcorn pictured.  Her husband was at the Jewel where he saw the popcorn and called to tell her about it.  (I am smiling as I write this because our husbands really do pay attention to us, when we least expect it!)  She stamped the owls in a variety of colors~~orange, purple and green~~using sequins for the eyes.  A circle of yellow for the moon is waiting for a little tag that is stamped with the words "happy haunting".  Have a great weekend and enjoy the color that is beginning to appear in all the trees!  And~~Go Cubs Go!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Happiness Always

My nephew is getting married this weekend to a wonderful girl, Nicole.  I took out my Blisssful Bride stamp set and Shimmery White cardstock and created today's card.  I always liked this stamp set and it is one I will probably always keep.  The sentiment is from another retired Stampin' Up set, Whimsical Words~~such a pretty font.  Congrats and best wishes to Larry and Nicole.   Have a great day!

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Taupe & Black Thinking of You

GO CUBS GO!  And now on to today's card.   I purchased the Ghoulish Grunge stamp set and instead of using it on a Halloween card, I used it as the background for the twine and seashell on today's card.  The color combination is Black, Tiptop Taupe and White.  I tore the edges around the white cardstock and then inked the edges with Tip Top Taupe ink.  The sentiment is from the retired Sincere Salutations set.  Lately,  I seem to be using retired sets more than current stamp sets.  I sure got my money's worth out of stamp sets such as Sincere Salutations.  Have a great day!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Sending Smiles

Today's card was a fun card to create.  I used WPlus9's stamp set, Happy Mail and coordinating dies. The card actually started because I had a leftover piece of water-colored paper and I wanted to make a little scene.  I colored all the little pieces with Spectrum Noir markers.  I was all set to layer the stitched squares until I received my new Stampin' Up squares. I then replaced the white stitched square with the scallop square.   The Designer Series Paper is retired, but is a perfect background for the little squirrels.  Using a variety of product, I created a cheerful, cute card for someone special.  Have a great day!

Monday, October 10, 2016

Gold Embosed Grateful

I very recently watched a video on the My Sweet Petunia blog during which the presenter embossed leaves on watercolor paper, watercolored the leaves and then lightly watercolored a background surrounding the leaves.  I stamped leaves in Versamark on watercolor paper and heat embossed the leaves using gold embossing powder.  I then watercolored the leaves using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints.  The leaves turned out really pretty.  Watercoloring the background didn't turn out so well!  The background looked splotchy, nothing like that which I saw on the video! I was not happy with the result so I decided to fussy cut the leaves from Stampin' Up's Vintage Leaves.  Another thing the presenter on the video did was heat emboss a die cut word.  I die cut the word "grateful" covered it with Versamark and sprinkled it with gold embossing powder.  I repeated those steps and the gold die cut turned out very pretty.  So even though the card is not exactly what it was supposed to be and not nearly as vibrant as the one on the My Sweet Petunia blog, it is elegant for this Autumn season.   Have a great day!    

Friday, October 7, 2016

Halloween Treat Bags

A  4-1/2" x 6-1/2" piece of paper, a hole punch and adhesive is all that is needed to create today's little treat bags.  Put a little ribbon through the holes and it is done.  I embellished my bags using Stampin' Up's Labels and Tags dies.   Inside the bag are Hershey's Halloween kisses that are so cute!  I have always used Hershey Hugs and Kisses for the favors I create.  But lately, their themed candies are just adorable.  When I first purchased the red, white and blue mini Herhsey Bars and Kisses for patriotic holidays, I was thrilled to be able to fill little treat bags with those.  Then a couple of weeks ago when I purchased the birthday Kisses, I just thought they were perfect for the little plastic boxes.  And now they have these spooky little Halloween Kisses.   They are so cute and with all the paper crafters around the country, we will definitely keep Hershey in business!  Have a great day and weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

New Home

Our friends recently purchased a new home and that called for a card.  Once again I used the Sunny Studio Stamps' Happy Home stamp set for their card.  I colored the image using Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut the house.  With all the straight lines, it is a very easy image to fussy cut.  Since this image does not have a chimney for little hearts, I added a little singing bird.  The sponged area around the house matches the Pool Party Designer Series Paper used for the card layer.  Another item I used on this card (which I am using more often) is a Stitched Rectangle die from Lawn Fawn.  It adds a little texture to the white space.  I wish the family much happiness in their new home.  Have a great day!

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Watermelon Treat Box

I realize that watermelon season is over, but when I saw this watermelon box in a video on the Lawn Fawn blog, I just had to recreate it.  Isn't it just the cutest?  I cut the scallop treat box using Watermelon Wonder cardstock.  The green striped wrap is Lawn Fawn cardstock.  The watermelon seeds were created using raindrop dies I have.  Since I did not have Lawn Fawn's  Tiny Tag Sayings and dies, I used a SU sentiment and punches for the tag.  Turned out just as cute!  Now I need to find what type of watermelon candies are out there besides watermelon flavored Jolly Ranchers.  Have a great day!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Watercolor Basket

The other day one of my friends mentioned water coloring the images in the Basket of Wishes stamp set.  I don't know why, but watercoloring the images did not even enter my mind.  So, I had to try it.  I stamped the images using black Stazon ink on watercolor paper.  Using my SU ink pads and a brush and water made it quite easy to watercolor the images.  Rather than using one of our aqua brushes filled with water, I left it empty and I dipped the brush into water.  That way it was easier to control the amount of water when painting the little leaves.  The watercolored basket looked so pretty when I was done that I used it to create a quick card.  I added a die cut sentiment and wrapped linen thread around the stamped layer, adhering that to a piece of Cajun Craze Designer Series Paper.  This is a pretty card and took a minimal amount of time to create.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Monday, October 3, 2016

Matt's Birthday Card

Yesterday was my son's birthday.  I used the Balloon Celebration stamp set with  Marina Mist ink for the balloons and little stars.   In addition to the little clusters of stars, the single stars are the enamel shapes that Stampin' Up now sells.  The balloon strings were stamped using Smoky Slate. I used retired stamp sets for the sentiment and retired Designer Series Paper for the one layer.  The Balloon Celebration stamp set was a good purchase. It is getting a work out with all the birthday cards I have been making.  Have a great day!