Happy Halloween - Another Christmas Card

Happy Halloween everyone.  Off to my daughter's today for the week end.  I am taking many things to a rummage sale at a scrapbook store.  Hope to make a couple dollars but best of all get rid of lots of stuff.

Today I am sharing a quick Christmas card I made.  I had this tree gift tag hanging out in my room so decided to use it for a card.  The dots were already on the tag.

I embossed card stock for the base - dots to go with the dots on the tree.  I put the tree at an angle.  I saved the ribbon from the tag and tied a little bow and glued it to the hole in the top of the tag.  The sentiment was stamped on vellum and clear embossed.  Some silver bling was added to the circles.  I may still add some glitter spray on top to add some sparkle.  I did put some gold spray on it so it does have a little sparkle.

I had good news yesterday.  One of my projects won so I have some nice prizes coming.  I will share it all in the future.

I'M A Winner

And no - it is not because I am playing games on my phone or computer and it says I am a WINNER - it is because I actually won a contest.  I entered three creative projects in the Fabric Editions contest; I had so much fun creating.  My first love was fabric and sewing; I don't sew anymore but I love to incorporate fabric into my cards or canvases.

This is the project that won.  It is an 8 x 10 canvas.

Here is what I wrote for the blog post on the Fabric Editions Blog.

The canvas was covered with tissue paper and then painted with cream acrylic paint.  I used Rebekah’s stencils and added dimension with brown inks and paint.  The sunflower was created out of the Waffle Muslin.  I cut a pattern with my Silhouette.  The muslin was adhered to grocery bag paper with iron on adhesive.  The flowers were cut out by hand and painted with an assortment of paints to get the color I wanted.  After they were painted I wet them and crumpled them up and let them dry so I got extra texture.  I took another piece of the muslin and cut the center for the sunflower.  I then did messy French knots to mimic the look of sunflower seeds.  To create depth while assembling the sunflower, thick glue dots were used in between the layers.

The stem and leaves were made from the Wool Felt.  I cut strips of the felt and colored them with acrylic paint.  I then rolled the felt and did some hand stitching to make it round.  For the leaves I used the same method but to create the leaves I  tied a knot in the center and then formed the leaf shape.

The outside of the canvas was trimmed out with two layers of patterned paper.  Over the top of the paper strips, I centered strips of fabric.  I also tied a bow out of a torn strip of the fabric.
Before adding the elements to the canvas, bronze acrylic paint was splattered over the canvas.  The flower, stem, leaves, buttons, and bow were added using hot glue.

At this point, I misted gold spray in the air and let it fall onto the flower and canvas.  Everything has a beautiful sparkle to it.

The sentiment was embossed on paper which was painted with blue acrylic paper and cut out.  It was adhered to the canvas with gel medium.

I am so excited to win product and a new Sizzix die cut machine.  My Cuddlebug is popping its sides off it has been used so much.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday's Christmas Card

I think the hardest part of writing a post for your blog is coming up with a title.  Most days I am not a creative wordsmith in my titles - thus the boring "Friday's Christmas Card."

I was out looking at Pinterest yesterday and found a wonderful card that I am casing.  It is on this board.  There are some wonderful card here.  Here is the link to the card I cased.  The original card used watercolor.  I used inks.  I do like the original version better than mine but mine is OK.  I did make four of them.

I dabbed ink through different stencils for the background on cream paper.  The green snowflakes are stamped.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  The deer I have had for years and it is unmounted red rubber so I have no idea what company it is from.

Two days in a row I have made flat cards.  I think I should go to the doctor.  I never make flat cards.

Have a wonderful Friday and now I need to go figure out Saturday's card and get more things ready for a scrapbook rummage sale.

Thursday - Another Christmas Card

My challenge to myself this week is a Christmas card each day.  I am doing pretty good so far.  I am combining three challenges for this card.

The first challenge is the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch.  I believe you can see the sketch in my design.

The second challenge is at Time Out Challenges where the challenge is to make a Christmas card with the added twist of purple or pink.  I love to make non traditional color Christmas cards and I just happened to have this purple background already made.

The third challenge is Shopping your Stash.  Their challenge is to go paperless which means no patterned paper.  Just about everything I make has patterned paper - many layers of patterned paper on it.

The background paper is watercolor using a purple distress ink.  It may be the new color but since the paper had already been made for awhile, I don't know for sure.  The stamp set I used is from Hero Arts.  Everything is embossed in silver with white splatters on top.  I had never used the set before but I really like it.  The brush trees are beautiful embossed in white and silver.

I really like how the card turned out.  Love the tree.  Enjoy the remainder of your day.

Christmas Card Every Day

This week I have been making a Christmas card each day.  This is good and I am using some things I have had around for awhile.

This card follows the monthly Christmas theme on Happy Little Stamper which is poinsettia.

This poinsettia was on a gift box I made many years ago and I believe it was published.  It has been floating around my craft room so I decided to use the poinsettia for a card.  The little box is not in the garbage.  I feel better, I cleaned up something (don't tell anyone it was one small thing).  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  The paper is from several different companies.  I wanted it to look somewhat old fashioned.

I am also entering this card in the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge which is Anything Goes.

The weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps is Holiday.

Everyone enjoy your day.  I am having dinner with my car pool buddies.  Two of us have retired so we do have to catch up with the poor soul who still is working.

Another Christmas Card

One must get busy on their Christmas cards.  The holiday season is fast approaching and I don't have too many done.  I am afraid to count.  Maybe I should count how many I need for sure and then see how many I have.  Either I will be happy by how much I have accomplished or I will be spiraling into a deep depression.  Let's hope for the first one.

I had this sweet snowman already colored so when I saw the challenge on Merry Monday Christmas Challenge for lights and glitter, I was half way to completing the challenge.  I believe this is an Art Impressions Stamp.

I had gessoed a dictionary or book page.  I stamped in black ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I colored the image with different types of coloring tools:  Copics, Inkintense Pencils, Distress Ink.  I also used Stickles (glitter) and my Wink of Stella pen on the card.  The sentiment is placed at the cocky angle - not because I felt cocky - but because - I had red stuff that needed to be hid.  Shhhh - don't tell anyone.

I am also entering it in the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge where the challenge is Anything Goes.  This fits in quite well with that challenge.

I thought the sentiment worked so well for a challenge for lights and glitter.  Enjoy your day.  I have a dental appointment early and then going to the movie in the afternoon.  Hope to find more time to create another Christmas card - wait - Thanksgiving is coming also - I should make a couple thankful cards.

Oldie Moldie Monday

It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.  This image has been floating around my design table for awhile so I decided to make it into a card when I saw the current challenge on Jingle Bells which is a sketch.

The recycled white cardstock has been embossed for a base layer.  I must confess I did use my new Lawn Fawn die cuts for the curved area and a new sentiment stamp.

The stripe is not even Christmas paper but it did have the colors in it that coordinated with the scarf on my snowman.  At least this little image won't be haunting me on the design table.  I am being smart as I work on my holiday cards to complete the insides also while all the paper is available.

Remember to show some love for that older paper.  It can make fun cards.

Happy Fall

This is a card I sent for a fall exchange.

The scarecrow is a napkin.  There are some wonderful napkins out there that you can use to make cards with.  You just need to remove all the layers of paper so you have the image as a single layer.  There are different ways of adhering your napkin.  I prefer Wonder Under Lite but many people use Mod Podge.

The sentiment sticker is from SRM Stickers.  The bow is fabric.  I love to use fabric on my cards.

I hope the recipient loves the card.  I have two more scarecrows laying on my table waiting to be made into cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Spooky Scary Halloween

I am in a private group on Facebook and each month we do an exchange - this is the card I sent for Halloween.

The focal point is fabric.  When I use fabric I fuse Wonder Under Lite to it and then adhere to card stock to give it some stability.  Don't you love the wiggle eye on the house.  I couldn't resist adding one.

I hope the person who receives the card likes it.  It was fun to make.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  I am working on some Halloween cards.  All the paper is from the Halloween/Fall folder.  The little mummy is a new stamp from Michael's for $1.  Sometimes you find the cutest stamps in that bin.  He is stamped in black and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The Trick or Treat stickers are from SRM Stickers.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Happy Birthday Annie

Recently, when I attended Bella Crafts Connection in the Twin Cities, Cindy Shepard inspired us to try and draw a bird.  Well she did inspire me, I was so surprised that I could kinda draw and I just keep drawing birds.  I look on Pinterest for inspiration and then go from there.  This particular bird started with a curved arrow.

I decided to make the bird into a birthday card for my friend Annie.  Annie I became online friends many years ago and luckily we are close enough that we can be friends in real life and create, shop and inspire each other.  If you look closely there is a little Zentangle on the bird and then just some doodling.

I added some embossing paste dots to the background and decided to make them stand out more, I outlined them with a fine black pen.  The sentiment seemed perfect for a bird.

Be brave, try to draw.  Can you find the original arrow that starts the bird?

Thanks for stopping by.

Halloween Card

Gee another great title for a blog post.  Sometimes I think the hardest thing for a post is to title it.

This card started out as an ATC for a challenge.  You can see the post about this here.  I have been trying to get a few Halloween cards made to send out this year so decided to use the ATC on a card.  I dug into my folder of Halloween/Fall papers and found these scraps of paper.  The purple card base is more recycled card stock.  Slowly I am using up this purple. I am thinking maybe I should make some purple Christmas cards this year.  Stay tuned.

The cat and pumpkin were fussy cut from patterned paper and layered over the stamped background.  On the stamped background, the Happy Halloween was at the bottom of the background.  I cut it off and glued it to the top so that you could see the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Halloween ATC

I decided to make an ATC for the challenge on Wicked Wednesday ATC which is Trick or Treat.  I have my folder of Halloween/Fall out and found the cat and pumpkin image on a sheet of paper.  I thought they would make a cute ATC.  The background was also in the folder.

The background was colored green with an Inkintense Pencil.  The cat and pumpkin were fussy cut out of a sheet of paper and glued down.  Stickles were added to the eyes of the cat and pumpkin.  I fingered on an edging of purple Dylusions paint.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday - Halloween

Decided I needed to make some quick Halloween cards.  I have several elderly special women in my life so I thought I would make some quick cards so I had something to send them.  I still have a couple more to make.  Hopefully that will be next Monday's post.

I keep a folder of all my Halloween and fall papers in so it is pretty easy to make something.  Both of these images were in the folder.  I believe I had printed them from somewhere but they sure helped make the cards come together very quickly.  I am always happy when I can find a use for my recycled purple card stock.

I did add some Wink of Stella to the teeth of the cat and the moon.  On the pumpkin I added it to the spider web, the eyes, nose and teeth.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Drawing Birds

A couple week ends ago I was at Bella Connections and a class I took from Cindy Shepard - she had us drawing birds.  Well I really enjoyed that and just keep drawing birds.  I have to have an idea and then I see if I can do my version.

Yesterday I decided to draw an owl.  I had so much fun drawing the owl and coloring it.

The October Challenge with Mou on the Faber Castell Blog is to use black chalkboard paint and an owl.  A double whammy.  Thanks for stretching my limited drawing skills and making me try to draw an owl.  I really like how it turned out.

The canvas board has 3 layers of black chalkboard paint on it.  The owl was drawn on a book page and colored with Gelatos and Inktense pencils.  A Faber Castell black pen was used for outlining the parts of the owl.  The owl was added to the board with gel medium.  I outlined the image with a pen I had.  I stamped the sentiment twice.  Once on teal colored book pages and once on pink colored book pages and cut them out.  I love this sentiment.  After everything was adhered, I rubbed some pink distress paint along the edge and then did white splats.  I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't be afraid to try to draw.  If I can do it so can you - or maybe I will call it whimsical doodling.

Putzing on a Sunday Afternoon

A couple weeks ago I spent the week end in the Twin Cities with my friend Annie.  We went to the first annual Bella Crafts Connection event.  Such great fun we had.

On Sunday, we had a crafter's delight day - we stayed in our PJ's all day and made backgrounds with stencils, stamps and then made card fronts.  It was such great fun playing with all of Annie's fun stamps.  Love the humor in these stamps.  This was given as a birthday card to one of my Ya Ya's.  I love that pop of pink/red on the card front.

I always think it is so much fun to just sit down and play and see what you come up with.  I have 10 card fronts done.  I actually have the valentine cards for my daughters done.  Wow - of course - will I be able to find them come Valentine's Day - that will be another question to be answered in the future.

Have a wonderful day.  I am taking it easy; I had some oral surgery done yesterday but taking it easy does mean I should be able to putz with my craft stuff - not clean the garage.  (Insert grin)

Winter Card

I am part of a private group on Facebook of card makers.  One day I was cleaning out some paper and decided to do a kit challenge.  I made six kits.  I included the paper and a couple stamped images.  the only rules were that you had to use at least two of the papers and the stamped image.  Here is the kit I sent.  I had a non winter stamp I was going to use but I thought make it more of a challenge with the snowman.

This is always a fun exchange to do because everyone does something different with the supplies you send.  Here is my card.

I cut the base with my Silhouette.  The blue plaid paper you can see is extra paper I added.  I used four papers from the kits:  brown, pink, polka dots and blue behind the snowman.  The snowman and sentiment are both from Paper Smooches.  I did add some snowflake rub ons and a small die cut snowflake.

I am entering this card in the weekly challenge on Jingle Belles.  The challenge is The Hanukkah Song, Verse Two.  If you did not make a Hanukkah card you could make a winter based card which is what I chose to do.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Going to visit a friend today.

Oldie Moldie Monday

The worse thing in the world to have to make is a sympathy card.

On this card I used some Authentique paper and a favorite Penny Black stamp.  The sentiment is a sticker from SRM Stickers.

Remember to show some love to your old supplies.  They still make beautiful projects.

Happy Fall

I am sharing today a very simple card that I made.  I received this stamp at Bella Crafts Connection.  It is from Gina K.  I am so happy because I love trees and leaves.  I added gesso to a book page.  The image was stamped and then heat embossed with clear embossing colors.  I colored the trees with Inkintense pencils.  The background was also done with the pencils.  The sentiment is a sentiment from SRM Stickers.

I did some digging and found the address of the hospital where the young man Chris Mintz is recovering from his wounds.  Chris is the young veteran who charged the shooter at the college in Oregon.  The card was mailed to him on Saturday.  I know several of my fellow card makers have mailed him cards also.

Enjoy your Sunday.  I am trying to get some things done in the house and then maybe I can create.

Happy World Card Making Day

I have been lazy and not posted lately.  I have created but was taking a break from blogging.  I have lots of exciting things to talk about so hopefully I will share it all in the next couple weeks.

Today is a day near and dear to all card makers.  Papercrafts created this day to celebrate card making.  There have been so many wonderful things to look at on blogs today.  Simon Says Stamp had a beautiful card on their post today and are asking people to link up what they are working on.  I worked on this card all day since it has many layers and they had to dry.

The base for the image is a book page which has a layer of Gesso on it.  I have started doing some drawing so found a "how to" on Pinterest on how to draw a cupcake.  So Simple and I had so much fun doing it.  I drew the cupcake in pencil.  I colored the cupcake with two shades of purple and two shades of orange.  I then drew around the cupcake with a black pen. After this was dry I colored the background with another Gelato.  If you look closely you can see that I used a beaded/glitter gel through a stencil to add another layer.  The Paper Smooches sentiment was stamped and cut out.  I then went a little crazy adding black splatters.  It is matted in black on a purple card base.

Normally the person receiving this card gets a card with a monkey on it - the monkey will have to be on the inside.  I hope she is not too disappointed.  Maybe when I tell her it is original artwork she will be very excited.

Have a wonderful evening.

Mixed Media Mojo October Challenge

It is the first of the month and time to get our mixed media craft on with the challenge for October at Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge for the month is Halloween with the added element of wings.

I chose to do some fabric ATC's for our monthly challenge.  Fabric was my first love before paper so I enjoy being able to play with it for projects.  I found fabric that had all these Halloween images on it in little blocks so it was very easy to cut out and use.  The ATC's were done for a swap and each one is a little bit different.  They each used the same cat image on them.  Wonder Under Lite was my adhesive for the project.  No sewing was done.  I made a total of seven ATC's.  Here are three of them.

 I used scraps of fabric on many of the ATC's.

Come back later in the month to see a card I make using another image from my Halloween fabric.