Hey, I'm one of the Undead....

Boo!! Happy Halloween!! And yes, I'm really not dead. lol I have not had the mojo the last few weeks, but I had one little tidbit to share with you today - and since today is Halloween, I'll share our pumpkin carvings instead of cards. I hope you enjoy them - it's the first time I ever did "fancy" carvings using those stencil books.... however I was pretty excited at the results. Here they are - both are lit up, but one is in the dark and one is in the light... just for the effect of both.

Have a Spooktacular Day!!

I'm on a roll....

Yep, it's ANOTHER Christmas card. I promise to change things up again soon, but I just couldn't resist. Honestly, I'm one of those ladies who is first to complain when I see Christmas displays in stores in September. lol I hate thinking about winter before I absolutely HAVE to. However, when it comes to making those Christmas cards, I just have to get started early i fI can becaus ethe shopping season and the chaos involved in planning and get togethers and all that, I always seem to run out of time to get those cards going. So humor me if you can, and keep checking back to see if I make anything else! lol
And don't underestimate the usefulness of the personalized stamps SU! makes... I had this "blessings" stamp made a few years ago and I LOVE having it, so I just have to hand write our first names and I'm all set. And this sentiment works for all occassions, not just Christmas. Keep it in mind for your cards this year!

Sets: Circle of Friendship, Riveting (retired), Season of Friendship (snowflake on bottom)

Colors: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou

Other: Cuttlebug snowflake EF, sponge brayer, scalloped circle and 1 3/8" circle punch

Notes: After embossing the snowflakes on the white layer, I used my sponge brayer to add Soft Sky ink to highlight the snowflakes. They show better and it adds character, too.

Another Holiday card idea

Not my best photography, truly. But, another holiday card idea is just the ticket for this time of year (though I LOVE making Halloween cards, which I should probably do soon!), if you want to get started early. I had the coolest idea - to run a transparency (acetate) sheet through my Cuttlebug for some clear snowflakes! It looks cute in person, but I am not too sure about the photo (due to the glare). Anyway, with some color coordination and the right snowflake stamp, this background compliments these cute little snowmen, don't ya think? it's a simple design, but when you're making many multiples of one style, you gotta have something that's easy to reproduce... so this is one that whips up quickly. Here it is:
Sets: Circle of Friendship, Season of Friendship (snowflake), Season by Season ("christmas")
Colors: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss
Other: Red grosgrain, acetate, CB snowflake EF, glue dots, dimensionals, blender pen

Holiday Greetings

So I finally decided to get things started with my holiday cards this year, and I made up this dozen or so cards using some of last year's InColor products I had. Soft Sky is featured, along with the Soft Sky DSP. It's a bit hard to tell, but there are snowflakes all over the panel with the tree, but they are also in Soft Sky so they got washed out in the photo. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I really like the softness of these cards. I may just make a few more of these. ; )
Some of them I mixed patterns and some I matched them. It just depended on what I felt like at the moment. I'm unpredictable that way. : )

Sets: Season of Friendship, Sincere Salutations
Colors: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou
Other: scalloped edge punch, white eyelets

Shellabrate!

In my quest to be ahead of the game for holiday cards this year, I made a handful of them with my favorite theme - beach!! A few years ago I wanted to get my hands on a set of SU!s called Sunny Seasons Greetings, and I never got it. I have wanted it ever since. So this year when I saw a beachy theme for the holidays, I wasted NO time in purchasing that set! So this is the first one I came up with, but there will definitely be more to come! It's also using the SCS sketch SC196 (sortof). Here's the card:Sets: Shellabrate, Totally Tabs
Colors: Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Barely Banana, Kraft
Other: tab punch, SU markers, paper piercing tools, clear EP, 2-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, hemp twine, CB swirl and Swiss Dots embossing folders

To get the sentiment shiny, it's my Close to Cocoa craft pad and clear EP over the top. The shell "tree" is super glittery all over, but you only see highlights in the photo, as usual. I hope you like it anyway!

Recipe Fun!

I love love love swapping 6x6 recipe cards with my stamping friends! Not only do you get great page and stamping ideas, but you get great recipes for your kitchen! (If you're in my swap and don't want to spoil the surprise, don't read or look on!).

I almost always tend to make my pages using earth tones, just because earthy colors say "food" to me more than other color families (although bright colors say fru-fru drinks better than any others)... and this page is no exception. Here's what I did for my italian sausage recipe (my mom's italian sausage is incredible!):
Tee hee, I bet you just spent time trying to read the recpie now, didn't you?? BUSTED!! If you can read it, more power to you (and be sure to tell me how much you like it once you make it), if not, you had to be in the swap to get the goods! ; )

Sets: Sock Monkey, Voila to Go
Colors: Garden Green, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red
Other: Cuttlebug Mesh EF (embossing folder), Weathered DP (SU!), blender pen, Real Red eyelets (SU!), paper peircing tools, white gel pen (SU!), dimensionals

Yum Yum... enjoy!

In Color Birthday Wishes

So I decided today to make a handful of birthday cards for some friends who are having birthdays this month, and I also wanted to use more of my InColors since they haven't gotten a whole lot of wear so far... and this card ended up being not only easy and fun to make, but it would work for both men and women - you can't get more versatile than that, right? So to create this one, I stamped the grass in the background with Versamark to not overpower when I stamped the sentiment over it in black. I then stamped the leaves in black Staz On on Confetti Vanilla cs. Then using stipple brushes, I pounced some color over the leaves to make them pop. Gold brads and coordinating brad washers with a bit of piercing complete the look.

Sets: Inspired by Nature, Upsy Daisy (sentiment), Organic Grace (hostess L1)
Colors: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Confetti Vanilla
Other: Piercing tools, gold brads, 1/4" circle punch, dimensionals, stipple brushes

Have a beautiful day, everyone~

You're On My Mind

Ahhh, new stamps. The beautiful clean rubber and wood... the excitement of creating something completely new using something you have never used before - the feeling is something magical to me. So I played with colors that are Earthy and warm since the weather is finally getting cooler and Fall is officially in the air now, and here's what I came up with: To create depth in the flowers, I used my SU! markers directly on the rubber, in both Summer Sun and More Mustard. Then I went over a few areas in Summer Sun directly to the cardstock to blend, and I am really happy with the results! I also dug out my old Hodgepodge hardware kit and used a couple of the pieces I've been hoarding for a couple of years. Ahh, to use what I have is a beautiful thing!

Sets: Inspired by Nature, Upsy Daisy

Colors: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Garden Green

Other: Hodgepodge in Aged Copper, Mustard and Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon

WSCC6 - Floral

So I finally participated in my own color challenge (see a couple of posts below for details), and here's the card I came up with using the three colors in the challenge. This was another chance for me to use my new stamp sets, as well as my new embossing folder (swirls and birds) from Cuttlebug. Here it is: Set: Eastern Blooms
Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Pacific Point, Pink Pirouette
Other: CB Birds & blooms, pink rhinestone brad, 1/2" circle punch, dimensionals