Spooky Treat Jar

Good morning everyone! Can you believe September is just about over already?! Where does the time go? 

I've been wanting to make a jar filled with Halloween treats for a while now, especially with the Ghost shaped Peeps peeking through the side. So cute! I decided NOT to make it the recipe mix, since I read the comments that the bars didn't come out so well, so I just made it a treat jar. 

Stamps are all from Waltzingmouse. I colored the Gracie tag from 'Gracie at Halloween' with Copics.

 I covered the lid of the jar with SU's waffle paper, curled up the edges and added some Cosmo Cricket patterned paper circles. 

The jar needed a 'knob' to lift the lid so I fashioned one from a glass bead and some Vintaj bead caps. 
I adhered a label stamped with the sentiment from 'Cicely at Halloween' and from 'Very Vintage Labels No. 5' to the front of the jar with some super sticky double sided tape. 


How cool would this be to give your older kids?! They come together very simply and look so much cooler than a plastic baggie, LOL. I know my daughter, who is 14, has dibs on this one.


Thanks for peeking in on my blog, see you again soon!

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge 'Button it!'

Hello everyone, here we are with another Thursday challenge for LOTV. Our theme this week is to use buttons on our projects. No problem-oh! I love using buttons, and use them frequently. Here's what I came up with...

I decided to make a cute little wool felt tree with buttons for the Christmas 'balls'. I simply cut out two triangles from felt, stitched them together, and added some pom pom trim and button embellishments.
I used the Kitty Gifts stamp, colored with my colored pencils. 

The snowflake was a last minute addition when I discovered it already made in my old discarded embellishments box. Perfect!I knew there was a reason I saved all that stuff that never ended up on a card! LOL. 


Feeling inspired to use those buttons? Create your own card using a LOTV stamp, then enter it for a chance to win some cool prizes on the LOTV blog. I can't wait to see what you all come up with.


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Heavenly White, Neenah, Stardream, Karen Foster, SU
Tools & Accessories: Wool felt, PTI buttons, gingham ribbon, EK Success tiny scallop punch, Cuttlebug Snowflake die, Martha Stewart snowflake & branch punches, Glass Glitter, colored pencils, OMS, pom pom trim, Glimmer Mist, embroidery thread, SU scallop edge punch

Warmest of wishes...

Good morning folks, I'm putting a pretty good dent in the Christmas card pile, and it's still nice and early so I should be good in time for Christmas. How's it going for you?

This is a very traditional style card, which I love, using a variety of stamps. 

The Poinsettia is from Papertrey Ink, embossed in pearl white and water colored with Peerless w/c's. I did three separate layers and cut them out for more dimension. 
The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley's clear sentiment set and the gorgeous frame embossed in gold around the label die cut is from Waltzingmouse Stamps. 


The papers were printed from a digital kit from Raspberry Road Designs, 'Christmas Remembered'. 


Thanks for stopping by!

Shimmering Foliage

Good morning everyone, this is my second attempt to write up a post. Blogger completely went kaput and didn't save a single thing on my last attempt. I'm going to be smart and save my work as I go along this time. Nothing like repeating myself over and over, lol...

Anyway, do any of you ever get stumped for card ideas? Sit there for hours trying to come up with a good card design? I know I do and with Christmas coming up quicker than you can blink, I know I need to get on the roll. So a couple of months ago I was perusing a catalog at work for custom personalized holiday cards. There were a lot of really nice cards in there and I thought to myself, I could replicate some of these with the supplies I already have! I saved the catalog and brought it home. This card is a direct result of inspiration from that catalog. 

Can you believe the pearl white embossing powder I used to stamp the background of this card is about 15 years old?! It's from the now out of business PSX company, that's how long I've had it. Still worked beautifully though! I used it to stamp a bunch of foliage from SU's Peaceful Wishes and PTI's Leaf Prints all over the card stock.

I then used some chalk inks to stamp a pinecone cluster that I cut out and popped up with foam tape over the background. A pretty red gingham bow and a little Christmas sentiment in the corner, and another card for the Christmas stash is done!


So if you're in a rut, start perusing through mass produced cards, guaranteed you'll find some inspiration there!


Thanks for stopping by!

Light a Candle

Hello fellow Lili of the Valley fans! It's time for our Thursday challenge. This week we are using Aqua, white and glitter. No problem for me, I love Aqua. Blue greens are my favorite spots on the color wheel, dark or light! 

Here's what I came up with. Since I love Aqua, I went with my all time favorite LOTV design, 'Christmas Candle'. Out of all the absolutely beautiful stamps, this is the one. 

I chose to use this gorgeous vintage damask digital paper from Scrap Girls, 'Holiday Time' kit. So pretty! The adorable little girl was colored in darker blue green Copics.

I'm still waiting for the perfect Poinsettia die (hurry up Spellbinders, I'm dying here! lol) So until then, I was on a long quest for a cut file for my Gazelle. I tried TONS of them, but they just didn't look very realistic to me. I now have a pile of rejected Poinsettias on my craft table. Here's what I eventually did...
I had an old PDF for a crepe paper Poinsettia from Martha Stewart on my computer. I had made it once before, but you have to cut out almost 20 of them by hand in various sizes. Too much work. So I converted the file for my cutter and in minutes they were all cut out. The long part of this project was shaping each petal. But so worth it, right? I love the way it came out! Cover the edges in Glass Glitter and added yellow 'pearls' to the center with a Viva Decor pen. 


The pine sprigs were cut on my Gazelle too, I am so happy I finally got one of these, saves so much time!


Thanks for dropping by!

The absolute cutest penguins...ever!

Wouldn't you agree?! I spied these little cuties over at Funky Kits and they were in my basket and checked out faster than I could blink! When something is this cute, I don't even have to think about it. They're mine. Now this doesn't happen to me as often as you might think. It used to when I was a new stamper, everything was a must have! Now I like to think I'm a bit more discriminating, lol. Normally I think about things a while before I hit the 'checkout' button. Sometimes too long, and I end up not getting it at all. When that happens, it's usually because I have a feeling I won't be that crazy about it for long.

Enough rambling, let's get on with the cuteness, shall we?

Colored these pudgy Penguins with my Copics, added some Flower Soft to the fur on his hat. 

The sentiment seal is from Catslife Press. LOVE the sentiment! I feel like that about 3 weeks into the Christmas season, lol! I may have to get a sweatshirt with that printed on it.


Thanks for looking, have a great week!


Stamps: Sugar Nellie, Catslife Press
Ink: Memento, Versamark, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: Hammermill, Bo Bunny, Stardream, PTI
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, polka dot ribbon, PTI button, Copics, Stickles, Flower Soft, Martha Stewart edge punch, cream embossing powder

Old World Christmas

Hello blog friends! I came across a gorgeous digital scrapbook kit called 'Christmas Past' from Scrap Matters and fell in love with the plaid and ticking patterns. I love old world Christmas style, and this kit would be perfect for the Pines & Poinsettias set from SU. Lots of lace, gold papers, and chunky glass glitter was what I envisioned. Here's the end result...

I used SU markers to ink all the individual elements, then spritzed the stamp lightly with a Mini Mister to moisten the ink. This works much better for me than 'huffing' on the stamp as I used to do. It gets rid of the stroke marks from the markers too. 

The gold ruffle on the bottom edge of the image is just a strip of Waffle paper pleated behind it.  


It's hard to see the glass glitter on the pinecones, but it looks so cool IRL. Just like ice crystals have formed after a particularly freezing night. 


Speaking of freezing... it got COLD here a couple of nights ago! One day it's steaming hot and muggy, the next the temp drops down to the low forties overnight! What a shock to my system. I had to start digging out sweatshirts and cozy blankets to wrap up in. Well, that's the weather here in the Poconos!


Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Stampin Up
Ink: Distress, SU markers
Paper: PTI, SU, Scrap Matters digital collection
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Label die, satin ribbon, glass glitter, Crystal Lacquer, Prima lace, Sizzix embossing folder, EK Success tiny scallop punch

Moonlight Wishes

It's Friday! And I have the weekend off, woo hoo! Saturday is my sweetie's birthday so I'll be taking him to our favorite Italian restaurant for dinner. It's been quite a while since we went out for dinner.

The card I'm showing you today is almost completely digital. All of the papers were printed from the Snow Folk kit at Nitwit Collections. I LOVE all the adorable little embellishments from the kit. I printed off two of the candy canes and cut them out. I wanted them to be nice and glossy so I heat embossed them several times with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. 

Moonlight Wishes was colored with Copics to coordinate with the papers. 

This stamp would also be great for a baby card, I'd just mask out the stocking. Cute! Thanks for dropping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley- Moonlight Wishes
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Nitwit Collections, Stardream, Hammermill, Heavenly White card base
Tools & Accessories: SU Northern Frost die, bakers twine, Copics, Stickles, Wild Orchid Crafts pearls, UTEE, Spellbinders Labels, sheer ribbon

Impression Obsession Fall Challenge

Good morning everyone, it's time for an Impression Obsession challenge. We're celebrating fall this week. Lots of fun fall themed stamps from IO, just hard to choose which one! I went with this adorable little guy, 'Boy in Leaf Pile'. Coloring the leaves was a lot of fun, I used my Copics.  I scribbled a lot of different colors onto a piece of acetate and just dipped YR21 into each one. This way I was able to get a lot of color variation very quickly. 

I used the Gingham Cover-a-card stamp for the card base. I don't have too many fall themed papers, and no gingham papers at all, so this type of a BG stamp is a must. I can create any color in a matter of minutes. I always use a brayer to apply ink to the CAC stamps, I find I get smoother, even color. 

A cute fall sentiment completes the card. (Happy Fall)


Now head on over to the IO blog for more fall inspiration from the rest of the design team, then you can create your own card and enter for a chance to win some IO bucks.


Thanks for visiting!

Jeanne

Jenny

Daniela

Dina

Laura

Deb

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge Red, White and Green

Hello folks, time for another Lili of the Valley challenge. This week we're challenged to use the colors red, green and white on our cards. I really wanted to try to use the colors for any card except for Christmas, but I just couldn't get it to work. A Christmas card is what I settled on. 

I colored the image with Copics, and used lots of snowflakes to embellish the snowy scene. 

I love using this diagonal striped twill ribbon, in this red color it looks like peppermint candy! A few mini jingle bells and my red, white and green card is complete.


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley Christmas Bears Sledge and Christmas Circular Sentiments
Ink: Memento
Paper: Bo Bunny 'Blitzen', Stardream, Hammermill, Heavenly White card base
Tools & Accessories: SU Northern Frost die, twill ribbon, bells, Copics, Stickles, Martha Stewart edge punch, Sakura Glaze/Souffle pens, McGill circle punch

Indian Summer

Hello everyone! My weekend was too short, and here it is time to go back to work again. Not a happy time, lol. But I did get some stamping done and I have some cards to share with you. 

This one was made using PTI's new Harvest Berries set, a must have for me. I love the shape of Ginkgo leaves. They're so unique! I've only seen real Ginkgo trees a few times, they're not really common around here, but they are absolutely beautiful.  

I stamped these in two colors, Cranberry and Caramel Adirondack inks. It goes perfectly with the Indian Summer papers from Basic Grey.

The doily die is from Cheery Lynn. I cut it in half so more of it would show behind the Spellbinders Label die cut. Those dies are so beautiful it's hard to cover them up at all, hee hee!


Well I'm off! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: PTI, Gina K
Ink: Adirondack, Memento, Versamark
Paper: PTI, Basic Grey
Tools & Accessories: PTI satin ribbon, Martha Stewart tag punch, Spellbinders Label, Cheery Lynn doily die, brown EP, Stickles, PTI Harvest Berries die

Harvest Time

Hello everyone! I wanted to share this harvest themed card with you all, with one of my favorite stamp sets from Papertrey Ink. I LOVE pumpkins! Pumpkins for Halloween, snowflakes for Christmas, can't get enough of them. 

I left the Copics alone and opted to color these beauties on kraft paper with colored pencils. I really love the look of colored pencils on kraft. I've done it a few times before, I should do it more often. Maybe try other neutral colors of c/s too, like grey. 

I have no idea who makes this paper, I wish I did so I could order more. I love it! It might be older Bo Bunny, but I'm not sure. I'll have to do a bit of searching. If anyone knows who makes this paper, please let me know!

Here's last year's Halloween dangly. Click on the pictures to make them bigger. I have a new one planned for this year using bits from an old necklace. I'll share it as soon as it's finished. 

 

Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend!


Stamps: Papertrey Ink 
Ink: Memento
Paper: PTI, unknown patterned paper
Tools & Accessories: seam binding, colored pencils, OMS, Martha Stewart Tag punch

Jolly Japes!

Good morning blog friends! Here's another spooky Halloween card for you using the wonderful Waltzingmouse Stamp set 'Cicely at Halloween'. When I saw the sentiment 'Jolly Japes' I laughed out loud. It sounds so innocent! I have never heard this phrase before, but I could pretty much guess at it's meaning. I looked it up anyway:

jape  (jp)

v. japed, jap·ing, japes

v.intr.

To joke or quip.

v.tr.

To make sport of.

n.

A joke or quip.

---

[Middle English japen, probably from Old French japer, to yap, chatter, nag, of imitative origin.]

Perfect for a vintage looking Halloween card. LOVE it!

I printed out this digital background paper from the 'Hallow's Eve' collection from Raspberry Road Designs. Then I went to work hunting down some spooky cut files for my Gazelle. The row of grave stones is actually a font, a set of Halloween dingbats. 
I colored Cicely with my colored pencils and cut her out completely. I wanted her to be a part of the whole scene, sneaking through the cemetery on All Hallow's Eve, lol! 

I dyed some seam binding with homemade spray mists from Adirondack reinkers. I never have the color ribbon I need for a project when I need it, which is funny because I have tons of ribbon, lol. 
Gotta run.
Thanks for visiting!

Lili of the Valley Missing You Challenge

Good morning everyone! We're getting drenched with rain again. It's been 48 hours of non stop rain and it's getting to me. Fortunately, I get to stay home today, so it won't be too bad. 

Our challenge this week is to make a Missing you card. I went through all the LOTV stamps I had trying to decide which one to use when I came across this furry cutie, 'Messy Messages'. She just looked perfect, holding up her piece of paper ready for me to stamp any message I want on it. I used PTI's alphabet set to stamp the sentiment on it. 

I wanted really bright, cheerful colors and settled on this polka dot and stripe from My Mind's Eye. I added a matching flower cut from wool felt using a PTI die. 

This is actually a tiny card for me, A2 size. I'm so used to making giant 6" squares that when I make a smaller one like this, they seem dwarfed! I should try to make 4" squares cards, or even 3"! That would be adorable!


Well, thanks for swinging by, have a great day everyone!
Stamps: Lili of the Valley, Papertrey Ink, Whimsey Stamps postmark stamp
Ink: Memento
Paper: PTI, Memory Box, MME
Tools & Accessories: PTI flower die & button, Copics, Stickles, PTI ribbon, SU scallop punch

Building a Snowman

Good morning everyone! I tried to make this card with a shaped base as I've seen a lot of people doing, but it didn't quite work out as planned. I have some more experimenting to do with my Gazelle I guess. But, I did manage to cut out the shaped layers OK, and am pretty happy with the result. 

This darling little image is from the previous Christmas release, called appropriately enough, 'Building a Snowman'. I colored it with Copics.

Here are the supplies used for this card:


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Building a Snowman'
Ink: Memento
Paper: Heavenly White, Hammermill, Prima 'North Country', PTI, Stardream
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart PATP & snowflake punches, satin ribbon, jingle bells, jump rings, Copics, Stickles, Glass Glitter, Penny Duncan Creations Shaplies Cut file


For those you who expressed interest in my car Dangles, here's the Christmas one I used last year. Very old world looking, which is exactly the look I was going for. I might be making a new one this year though, I have a new vision, lol.

 

Thanks for dropping by!

Twinkling Star

Good morning friends. Should I take a break from Christmas cards yet? That's hard to do since it is my favorite holiday. I love all things snow, Santa, snowmen, trees, holly, berries and the list goes on. I never get tired of it. Not to worry, I've got some other projects up my sleeve that do not involve Christmas. I think...

Anyway, I am so pleased with this card. I rarely use silver so it was a bit of a challenge for myself, and I am so happy I tried it. I colored a TON of images while our power was out this past week. I just sat out on my back deck with my Copics and a stack of stamped images. Since I didn't have a particular color scheme from patterned paper I would use, I just winged it and used whatever I wanted. So now I had this pretty little doll in green and white fur and I didn't have matching PP. This called for some neutral colors. 

As I was digging through my stash, I came across this flocked snowflake paper from Stampin Up. Right on my table was a scrap of silver shimmer cardstock. I tested it and it looked perfect together! So the white/silver/green color scheme was born.

A few silver flourishes from a Marianne Creatables die, some snowflakes and silver ribbon finish off the card perfectly. 
I may be keeping this card...lol!


I thought I'd share another project I just finished, nothing to do with cards. I'm sure I'm not the only paper crafter out there that dabbles in several different hobbies, and one of the other things I love to do is beading/jewelry. I am obsessed with Swarovski crystals! I have tons of them in so many gorgeous colors my mouth waters when I pull out my bead box and start digging through them. I could spend hours shopping for beads! Anyway, usually I make simple necklaces, cell phone charms or charm bracelets but about a year ago I started making these dangles to hang from my rear view mirror in my car. I spend a LOT of time in my car driving to and from work everyday, so it makes sense to have some bling in my car, right?


Here's what I'm talking about...

It's simply strung on some invisible elastic string with a loop on top that easily fits over my mirror. If you could see the way these crystals sparkle and shimmer in the sunlight, it's amazing! There is nothing like Swarovski IMO!

A close up of the cluster on the bottom of the dangle...

I came across these beautiful matte Lucite leaves in an Etsy store and knew I had my autumn car bling project ready to go! There's even an acorn crystal to tie in with the autumn theme. I've been making different dangles so I can change them out for all the seasons/holidays. I'll show you all more if you'd like to see them.


Pheww! Long post! Are you still with me? Thanks for visiting, I hope you've gotten some inspiration today!


Card supplies-
Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Twinking Star' & Verses clear set
Ink: Memento
Paper: Heavenly White card base, Hammermill, Stardream, Bazzill, Silver Lustre, SU
Tools & Accessories: silver satin ribbon, snowflake charm, Copics, Marianne Creatables dies, Martha Stewart snowflake punches, Viva Decor Pearl Pen, Stickles

It's Snow Time

Hello everyone! I have an 'icy' winter card to share with you all today using some of Impression Obsession's latest stamps. This one is called 'Snowman and Kids'. Very cute designs from this artist!

I water colored the image using a combination of SU markers and Distress inks. I made the patterned paper with the Cover-a-card Snowflakes stamp. I did a simple emboss resist technique using Glimmer Mists to add splashes of blues and blue-greens. I almost didn't want to cover the paper up it looks so pretty IRL. 

The sentiment is from the 'All I want for Christmas' clear set. 


Thanks for stopping by!

Count Your Blessings

Hello everyone, I wanted to share this pretty fall card with you all today. With the nights getting cooler, back to school for the kids, it's time to start thinking autumn. Spring and fall are my favorite times of the year, both bursting with color. Although fall is by far the most beautiful with all the reds, golds and yellows of the all the trees, it makes me feel slightly nervous about the coming winter. 

I did a simple rock 'n roll technique with these Papertrey Ink leaves, first inking with the lighter colors, then adding darker colors to the bottoms and edges of the leaves. Thank goodness PTI has coordinating leaf dies for this stamp set, cutting them all out by hand would be tedious work!

The first Label layer was cut out of double sided adhesive paper so I could apply the burnished velvet technique to it with Glitter Ritz. The camera doesn't show the true sparkle and beauty of it. 
I wanted some tiny pip berry branches among the colorful leaves, so I had to come with something on my own. I didn't have any premade in my stash. I took some leftover wires from paper flowers I had and colored them brown with a Copic. I twisted them in bunches of three, then with some Viva Decor Pearl pens, added the 'berries' to the tips. LOVE the look of these!


Thanks for visiting!


Most supplies from Papertrey Ink except ink: Adirondack, ribbon: twill, Spellbinders Labels and Martha Stewart edge punch. 

Festive Fairy

Good morning blog friends! I have another peek of one of the new stamps Lilli of the Valley is releasing soon. This one is called Festive Fairy and she is a beauty. (aren't they all!) 

She's colored with Copics to match these gorgeous papers from an older Stampin Up collection. I added lots of sparkle with Stickles to all the snow. 

The rose is from Wild Orchid Crafts. I didn't have a red one, so I sprayed a white rose with Red Velvet Glimmer Mist. There's only one problem when I do this though, the glue doesn't hold and it falls apart. Not really a big problem, I just glue them back together after it dries. You can always make do with what you have with a little ingenuity! I've also colored them with daubers dipped in ink pads, which works a little better because they don't get saturated. The color isn't as vibrant though. 


So which new images are your favorites from the upcoming release? Have you all been seeing the DT's gorgeous creations with them? I'm glad they're being released well in advance of the holidays, gives me plenty of time to get a head start on my Christmas cards. 


Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Festive Fairy', sentiment from 'Merry Christmas' A5 stamp sheet
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Heavenly White, SU, The Paper Co., PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Lacy squares, SU twill ribbon, WOC rose, Glimmer Mist, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Copics, Stickles, EK Success tiny scallop punch, McGill decorative label punch

Vintage Witch-y

Good morning all! We finally got our power and internet back yesterday, happyhappyjoyjoy! I don't like being without internet, it makes me feel lost. 

I have a lot of card blogging to catch up on, so let's get to the good stuff. 

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. Probably because I love all things creepy and spooky. I chose to make a card using a Waltzingmouse Stamps image from  'Cicely at Halloween'. I love this set of stamps, so classic, so vintage, so adorable!

I colored the image with my Copics and matted it on several different colored layers of scalloped circles. 

Then I created a 'ruffle' to go around the lacy circle using crepe paper I dyed with some Glimmer Mist. A pretty striped twill bow too...

I decorated the inside of the card using the same papers and the sentiment from the stamp set. LOVE the fonts used in this sentiment. 

Pretty creepy, huh?


Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Cicily at Halloween
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, Distress
Paper: PTI, Hammermill, Scrap Girls 'Spellbound' digital kit
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities/Fleur de lis squares, EK Success bat punch, crepe paper, Glimmer Mist, Copics, twill ribbon