Autumn Fairy

Good morning all, it's good to be back on the interwebs, being without power is tough! But, if you can believe it, I was getting so restless I decided to try to color with only a couple of flashlights for illumination. I only chose colors I knew worked together, I wasn't going to rely on color charts for coordinating! I was kind of worried what it would look like in daylight, so I tried to be very careful. Fortunately, it looked fine when morning came and I assembled it onto this card.

I chose 'Bumble Bee Fairy' for my card and colored her in autumnal colors to coordinate with these papers from an Authentique paper pad.

I added a simple sentiment from the clear stamp set 'Simply Sophisticated'. The pretty fall leaves were cut on my Cameo and I inked them with assorted inks and Stickles. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

I made it by the skin of my teeth! We just got our power back on half an hour ago, and cable and internet soon followed, imagine that! We've been out of power since Monday afternoon, and even with a generator it was NOT fun. The poor kiddies all along the East coast have no Halloween to speak of. Fortunately, my kids are older and don't mind it too much. They've been out of school all week and they're happy about that. 

Fortunately, we escaped from any damage to our home, we're all safe and sound, although our neighbors were not so lucky. They weren't home when a tree fell onto their house, so we can all count our blessings. I'm sure there are thousands of other families who were not that fortunate and are struggling with being displaced from their homes, keeping warm and/or feeding their families. It was a terrible storm, very scary.

I just wanted to pop in and share a Halloween card I had ready a while back to share this morning. I actually have quite a few others, but wasn't able to take pics yet.

This card features stamps from Waltzingmouse, Authentique papers and Memory Box apothecary jar dies.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween, thanks for stopping by!

Li'l Wizard

Good morning friends! I keep wishing that Lili of the Valley would make some Halloween or Autumn themed stamps, imagine how cute they would be!! I know, I know Halloween is not a big thing in the UK, so I have to be content with this adorable little guy dressed up as a wizard, 'Abracadabra'. I'm afraid he couldn't be spooky no matter how hard he tries though, ha ha!

He's colored with Copics, cut out and mounted on this awesome spider web frame from the Silhouette Store (digital die cut).

Papers are from Authentique, and the sentiment seal is Catslife Press.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

Haunted Hills

Hello everyone, how about a Halloween card today? Halloween cards are one of my favorite kinds of cards to make. I don't really give out any :-o  but I love making them all the same. This one is a hodge podge of several different digital and clear products.

The cute witch and her sidekick is from Mo's Digital Pencil (at least it was, I can't seem to find it in her web store anymore!), I think it's called Trick or Treat. I colored them up with Copics.

The papers are digital as well, from Design House Digitals 'Halloween Vintage Findings'. If they look familiar, it might be because I believe there's a paper pad from My Mind's Eye that has these same papers. I freehand cut some rolling hills using different patterns to create the background. I also stamped the haunted house and trees in the BG with a clear stamp set from Inkadinkado, I think. 

And last but not least, the Haunted House ticket is a printable from the Silhouette store. I really wanted coordinating ribbon too, but of course had nothing even close in my stash. So I striped a plain piece of grosgrain with a ruler and Copics. It actually bled a little and I thought I ruined the ribbon, but after tying it into a bow, turns out I LOVE the effect! One of those happy accidents I will be using again in the future, kind of an 'ombré' look to it. 

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Bounty

Well now that the cooler weather is upon us, I am thinking all things Autumn. The trees are already showing the slightest signs of turning colors, which makes me feel excited and a bit sad at the same time. In a couple of weeks I plan on just taking a scenic drive with maybe a picnic lunch and drive the country roads until I find a beautiful spot to enjoy the colors. 

In the meantime, I've created a card to reflect my mood...

I love the way the embossed background came out, it almost looks like tooled leather. This was done using an impression plate rather than an embossing folder. Lighter impression but much finer lines and detail.

Thanks for peeking in on my blog, have a great weekend!

Autumn Roses

Hello friends! I think I'm going to be slowing down on the blogging for a while, I'm feeling a bit burnt out. It's been almost 4.5 years of faithful blogging and it's getting harder and harder to do it regularly. I'm going to take it easy for a while, see what happens.

I haven't felt like coloring much either lately, so it's back to simple color stamping for me. I like these multi step roses from Papertrey Ink.

Rust colored roses and Autumn colors. I love Autumn colors!

I know most of you are here to see my colored cards, and I will keep posting my Lili of the Valley projects, but I'm also doing other things that I love. Which could be a CAS card, or a 'no coloring' card. This hobby is something I do to make me happy, help me relax, and release some of my creative energy, and I share what I love to do. I hope you'll stick with me, but if not, I understand.

Take care!

Abra-ca-dabra! It's Bellarifiic Friday Sketch 16

Hello everyone, isn't this terrible, I've only posted one card this week! I just could not get any more done after our little weekend get-away. I came back on Monday, caught up on all the chores and it was back to work on Tuesday. Not much more time left after all that, poo!

But anyway, I felt like a little Halloween and pulled out 'Monstah Bash' for this week's card. 

For some reason I wanted to water color these cute little monsters, so I pulled out my Tombows and water color paper and quickly brought these guys to life. 

The papers are last year's Basic Grey Halloween paper pad. The fancy frame is a free cut file from Shery K Designs. Her blog has tons of free files, they're wonderful! 

Hopefully I'll have some more things to share this weekend when I have a chance to get caught up, stop by and see me soon!
Thanks for visiting!

A Spooky Day

Good morning everyone! I have the weekend off and there's no kids and no significant other, so I am enjoyin' the peace and quiet! After work last night I settled down on the couch, and watched about 4 episodes of 'The Tudors' on Netflix, I can't tell you how long it's been since I've been able to do absolutely nothing! 

Well, I'm up bright and early (had to place my Papertrey Ink order nice and early before everything sold out, lol!) and I have another Halloween card to share. Now, to be perfectly honest, I don't really give out Halloween cards. Sometimes I sell them, or stash them in a box in case I might need it, or on the very rare occasion, give it along with a Halloween treat to someone special. I just love making them, I don't care about the 'What do I do with it?'. Cards are a miniature art form to me, the process is what makes me happy, it's my therapy!

So, how about some details... I found this gorgeous landscape background digital stamp from Motivet some time ago and just knew I had to color it. I don't do these types of cards very often, but sometimes I just have the urge to color up a whole scene. Problem was, after I colored the background, I couldn't find a cute little matching witch that was in the right proportion. I wasn't about to reprint and recolor the background so I set it aside. I find if I set something aside, eventually something will turn up that will work perfectly. Sure enough, this little cutie from SU's Greeting Card Kids was the answer.

I even made a matching postcard to go with the vintage card theme, it's kind of tucked in the back, a lot of it covered up. Oh well, the cool spider stamp is visible and that's the best part! This card was a lot of fun to make...


Thanks for peeking in on my blog, have a great weekend!


Stamps: SU, Motivet digital stamp, Catslife Press, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Distress, Adirondack, Versafine
Paper: PTI, Hammermill, Basic Grey
Tools & Accessories: Postage stamp die from PTI, striped grosgrain ribbon, Baker's twine, Copics, Spellbinders rectangle Fleur de Lis die, Stickles

Pretty Little Witch

Hello folks! I had such a hard time putting together this project, it sat on my desk for weeks. I didn't want a traditional Halloween theme, and I just couldn't figure out how to do it otherwise. Night after night I searched through my stash of patterned papers, but nothing appealed to me. Until I found this oldie but goody from Cosmo Cricket's Gretel collection. I love old CC, I wish they would do more of these old-time designs. Wonderland and Gretel are two of my all time CC faves. 

So once my paper was selected, the rest came together much more easily. I colored this digital stamp from Wee Stamps, 'Hazel' with Copics. She's so pretty! The fancy black frame was cut on my Gazelle from a Penny Duncan file.

I'm thinking about framing this instead of making it into a card, I haven't mounted it on anything yet. I'll have to stop at the craft store to see if anything catches my eye. This would look so good hanging on my wall, don't you think?


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Wee Stamps, Catslife Press
Ink: Versafine, Distress
Paper: PTI, Cosmo Cricket, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Gazelle, Copics, McGill circle punch, gingham ribbon, EK Success bat chain punch, Prima Lace

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!

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

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!

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. 

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

Witches flying by...

Hello folks! Finally a day off from work, and there is so much to cram into just one day, I feel seriously overwhelmed. I've been working on this particular project for a couple of weeks now. It started out as a small card (the square part), but it didn't seem complete. So I put my thinking cap on and worked on something to add. 

This is what I came up with...

It's a little wall hanging perfect for hanging on a door for Halloween. (Not outdoors, maybe an inside door though.)
Here's the lowdown on how it all came together:
First I chose some patterned paper to choose my colors from. In this case, it's Cosmo Cricket's 'Haunted' collection. I colored Gracie from Waltzingmouse Stamps' 'Gracie at Halloween' with some pretty red violet Copics. Isn't she just beautiful? I love the the Vintage look to this whole stamp set and I really love that they are made to color! (More please Claire!) Gracie was completely cut out and I mounted her onto a simple moon. The moon is just a circle die cut from water color paper that I spritzed with some Candleglow Glimmer Mist.

The square was cut out of black cardstock using the Spellbinders Fleur-de-lis square die. I actually cut two so I could sandwich the ribbon between them. I added some cream 'pearls' all around the border with a cream Viva Decor Pearl Pen.

I love the Nestabling rhinestones that coordinate with the Spellbinders dies. These are the black rhinestones that fit perfectly in the Fancy Tags II die cut. It's a bit tricky lining them up just right, if anyone has any tips on how to do that easily, please feel free to share! I just the Gothic feel it gives the whole project, eerie yet elegant!


I adhered all the elements to some 1.25" wide striped grosgrain ribbon from SU with some heavy duty Sookwang double sided tape. I just sandwiched it between the layers so the back looks just as nice as the front, not that anyone is going to see the back, hee hee! I added a bog bow to the bottom and last but not least a gorgeous purple felt rolled rose. 


For such a poor start to this project, I am very pleased with how it turned out! I'm glad I didn't give up on it, fortunately I set it aside and went back to after working on other projects for a while.  


I have several more projects using this wonderful stamp set planned, Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays so I have a blast with these!


Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps 'Gracie at Halloween'
Ink: Versafine, Memento, Distress
Paper: PTI, water color, The Paper Co. shimmer cardstock, Hammermill, Cosmo Cricket
Tools & Accessories: Copics, Glimmer Mist, Nestabling, Spellbinders dies, SU ribbon, antique silver brad, wool felt, MFT rolled rose die, Viva Decor Pearl Pen, Swarovski bicone crystal

Gliding by...

Hello blog friends, I know it's been a while since I've shared anything. We took a long weekend spent at the lake a couple of hours away from us and it's proving difficult to get back into the groove. It seems like any interruption to the creative process stalls my engine and takes forever to get started back up, lol!

So I'll share one of the cards I sent off to CHA with Impression Obsession. This cutie is called 'Little Witch'.

I wanted to color the entire background and knew doing it with Copics would take forever AND not look the way I wanted it, so I chose to airbrush it. I'm not 100% in love with the Copic ABS system, when I can get it to work the way I want it to. I used some liquid art masking fluid to paint over the stamped image to keep it white and when it dried I airbrushed the BG with a dark blue Copic. The masking fluid rubs right off with an eraser and I can color the main image as usual. I like using masking fluid for detailed images instead of tape or Post its, a lot easier to paint over it with a small paint brush than trying to cut all that detail out with scissors! I wish I'd found this stuff a long time ago....


Anyway, tomorrow it the LOTV challenge, be sure to stop by and check it out!


Thanks for looking!


Stamps: Impression Obsession Little Witch and Gliding By
Ink: Distress
Paper: PTI, Hammermill, Graphic 45, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: Cuttlebug EF, striped ribbon, Spellbinders Labels, Copics, Copic ABS system, Stickles

Impression Obsession Orange Challenge

Hello everyone, it's time for our IO Thursday challenge, and our theme is ORANGE. This one kind of scared me, because me and Orange do not get along real well. But then I got to thinking that Halloween is all about Orange, and I love Halloween! Clear as mud right? I don't get it either. I hate orange unless it's for Halloween, lol.

Well once I had my plan for a Halloween card, it was simple to pick a stamp. I've been itching to color this little baby up. It's called 'Trick or Treat' and it's by the new artist Claudia Pearl. Have you seen all the new stamps by this wonderful artist?! They are adorable! 

I water colored the image with Distress inks and a water brush. I went back after it was all dry and deepened some of the shading with a chisel blender using a dry brushing technique. 

The patterned paper was stamped with a couple of Cover-a-card stamps; Gingham and Distressed Corduroy. I wanted some speckles all over it too, so I got my old toothbrush that I use specifically for this technique, watered down some black and white acrylic paints and spattered some on the paper. Love that effect.


We'd love to have you join in on the challenge with us, head on over to the IO blog for all the details on how you can win some IO bucks!


Here's the rest of the DT ladies that are joining in on the challenge too:

Jeanne

Jenny

Julie

Daniela

Dina

Laura

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession Sweetest Pumpkin, CAC Gingham & Distressed Corduroy, Trick or Treat

Ink: Versafine, Distress

Paper: Fabriano w/c paper, PTI, SU, Heavenly White 

Tools & Accessories: PDC spider web cut w/ Gazelle, Glimmer Mist, Spica pens, polka dot ribbon, Americana acrylic paint, old toothbrush

The House on the Hill...

When it comes to Halloween, I love making really eerie scenes. I love the cutesy stuff too, but the Gothic creepiness is what I really love! Here's a perfect example of what I mean:

I wanted to make a really old looking, distressed frame for this haunted house image, something that could be hanging on the walls inside it. To do this I simply cut some strips of paper and mitered the corners like a real picture frame. I painted them with black crackle paint before putting it together. I also did some sanding to age it a bit more and bring out the base color through the crackle. 

The main image was stamped and embossed on some Memory Box patterned paper. I wanted the full moon to be lighter than the rest of the scene so I masked it with a post it and did some light sponging in black. 

The damask background paper was also stamped with a resist technique, using PTI's Damask Designs stamps.

Thanks for dropping by!

Stamps: Stampin' Up, PTI
Ink: Versamark, Distress
Paper: PTI, Memory Box, Stardream silver shimmer
Accessories: SU striped ribbon, black embossing powder, EK Success bat chain punch, dimensional paint, Crackle paint, clear embossing powder, brayer