Holly Jolly Birthday

Good Afternoon!

It's the 2nd Thursday in November! How did November come up so fast? Anyway, it's time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday.  Ashwini is our hostess and for our Toppings this time, she has chosen "Use Christmas Supplies".

Seize The Birthday #317 Toppings 

I do have several people in my life with December birthdays and some close to Christmas.  So, I made a literal Christmas themed birthday card.  Usually I don't send those because I know some people with birthdays near Christmas would like regular birthday cards.  However, with this theme, I decided to go literal.  

I pulled out a layered holly stencil by Catherine Pooler for my background using a blueish teal, pink and red inks.  Then I pulled out that cute little gnome die by Spellbinders and cut everything in the same colors as well as the label for my birthday sentiment.

If you're not a "Toppings" kind of crafter, there's our Anything Goes challenge as well, just make sure it's a birthday card.  Stop by the STB blog and check out all the other scrumptious cards created by the rest of the Design Team and our Party Guests, Johanna and Liz!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”

 – Twyla Tharp

Nance

 

Hocus Pocus

 👻 Happy Halloween! 🎃

Are you ready for spooks, ghouls and trick or treaters? We're ready here.  The Hubs is breaking out the Pooh costume.  Got the treats ready.  In honor of Halloween, here's on final spooky card...

This witch/crystal ball I recently got from Crackerbox Stamps and really needed to use it this year.  I stamped her, then made a mask, masked her and then ink blended my background before stenciling over the inkblending with a bat stencil.  Then I removed the mask, color the witch, ink blended the ball a little and added my sentiment.  Then I added a top colored layer of just the witch to bump her up slightly.  I used a postage stamp frame die for some extra interest.

For Following Challenges:

Stencil Fun Challenge - October Option: Anything Halloween

Have a spooky, creepy, and joyful Halloween!

Nance 🎃

Feather Hugs

 One more post for this evening - - - not a Halloween card either!

A CAS card: three feathers, two colors, one sentiment and an emboss folder.  Emboss folder is Tim Holtz. Sentiment is a sentiment strip by Waffle Flower. The feathers are Catherine Pooler Designs stamped in Catherine Pooler inks Flirty Fuschia and Dress Blues.

For Following Challenges:

CAS On Friday #320 - Feathers

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

EEK, Minions!

Ok, so I had a few more Halloween cards! LOL

And this is another Minion card! I was on the Crackerbox Stamps shop and saw the Franken Minion and had to have it to make a trio. My thought was to make a haunted like portrait of them.  So I masked off the Franken one to stamp my ghost Minion.  Then I masked them all off to stencil my background.  

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Minions (Crackerbox Stamps).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; 

Ink: PIxie Dust, Grape Crush(CP Designs); Copics.

Extras: Frame die (Penny Black); Word dies (CP Designs).

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

BOOP!

Hello!

Another Halloween card to share.  This one was quick and easy.  When I stamped the image, I decided to make it a black and white card and give it a bit of a vintage feel.

For Following Challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #267 S is for Spooky

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Ghost with cat & Sentiment Stamp - Paranormal Positivity. (Unity Stamps).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; Black cardstock.

Ink: Midnight (CP Designs).

Extras: Fancy background die (Honey Bee Stamps); Scallop oval die (Sizzix); oval dies (Ellen Hutson); Orange gems.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Gone Haunting

One more Halloween card - 

I turned my Sasquatch into a Pumpkin Monster silhouetted in front of a Halloween color inspired forest using the Wintry Forest stencil by Pinkfresh Studio.  I used two shades of orange and four purples. I thought the sentiment was perfect for it.

For Following Challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #267 S is for Spooky

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment (Crackerbox Stamps).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; Black cardstock.

Ink: Bellini, Orange Twist, Sugar Plum, Pixie Dust, Grape Crush, Drive-In(CP Designs).

Extras: Sasquatch die (This Calls For Confetti Stamps); Jackolantern die (Simon Says); Speech bubble die (MFT Stamps); Forest Stencil (Pinkfresh Studio).

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Bountiful Blessings

Happy Tuesday!

It's a cold rainy day in central NC, perfect to be nice and cozy in my craft room with a hot drink and listening to podcasts.  The only day this week that's quiet with no agenda.  Calm before the storm of a busy rest of week. I've had a lot of unfinished projects on my table and today finished some of them up.

I love this pumpkin stamp by Impression Obsession.  I've had it a couple years and have had it stamped but never got around to coloring it until now. I chose the color combo from Color Hues and think it worked out quite well. The background I created by just smooshing some purple dye inks with water onto watercolor paper. I swirled it around and mopped up excess to get a more smooth and full coverage. 

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Succulent Pumpkin(Impression Obsession); Sentiment - Hats Off To You (House Mouse). 

Paper: Neenah Solar White; Watercolor paper (Strathmore); Spectrum Smooth paper for alcohol markers.

Ink: Crushed Violet, Serenade (CP Designs); Versamark; Copics.

Extras: White Emboss Powder (WOW); Classy Frames (Penny Black); Foam tape.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

 

Honk If You Love Halloween!

Hello there!

Been having fun making Halloween cards this past week. I probably have enough for several Halloweens to come. I don't care, it's my favorite holiday so I will be content to line them up on my mantle as decor! LOL

This one is with some new stamps I got last month from Unity Stamps.  These geese are just hilarious I think.  We have alot of Canadian geese around our NC town all the time and I'd love to see some of them dressed up! 

For Following Challenges:

Sunday Stamps - SSC371 Lined Up

Double D Challenge - Halloween Colors

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Geese & Sentiment- Goosey Ghouls(Unity Stamps) 

Paper: Neenah Natural White; Black cardstock (Stash); Patterned Paper - Feline Spooky (CP Designs).

Ink: Midnight (CP Designs); Copics.

Extras: Postage die (CP Designs); stitched banner die (MFT Stamps).

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Hello Autumn

 Good Afternoon!

Hope you're having a good day. It's a nice, sunny, cool day here in Cary, NC.  Nice and Fallish! I've been playing around with some backgrounds in my UFO stash I made a while back.  Backgrounds mdae with real leaves and a Gel plate.  I had almost forgotten about them.  Not all of them are complete cards yet, but I did one for The Paper Players challenge this week.

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment- Hello Autumn (CP Designs) 

Paper: Neenah Natural White; Teal cardstock - Stash

Ink: Daydream (Catherine Pooler)

Extras: Gel Plate (Gelli Arts); Postage die (CP Designs), Leaves (My tree outside).

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Favorite Fall Treats

Hello there!

Are you ready for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday? It's time!

AND I'm hosting this challenge, my first since joining the STB Team a couple months ago.  I'm excited.  It also happens to be my birthday today, so a double celebration for me! 

I had to choose the Toppings theme as part of my hosting gig and I chose Favorite Fall Treat.  If you've been to my blog recently, you know Halloween is my favorite holiday besides Christmas and Fall is my favorite season besides spring.  I love the cooler weather, leaves turning and sitting by a fire outside.  I also have fond memories of falls as a teen, our church youth group would spend a Saturday picking apples at a local orchard and then making apple cider on the church parking lot with an old hand turning cider press made by one of the church members.  I think the most fun was picking the apples as we got to climb the trees too.  We would bottle the cider and sell it to raise money for a trip or charity.  We would always end the day with pizza and a small bonfire with marshmallows. Oh, the days gone by. 

SO, the Toppings is Favorite Fall Treat, which can be anything - a hot beverage, apple pie, pumpkin pie, smores, etc.  I chose apples/apple cider for mine.  I still love a mug of hot cider with a cinnamon stick or maybe a shot of Fireball Cinnamon whiskey too!

If you're not a Toppings kind of crafter, there's our Anything Goes challenge as well, just make sure it's a birthday card.  Stop by the STB blog and check out all the other scrumptious cards created by the rest of the Design Team and our Party Guests!

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Apples - Appley Ever After (CP Designs); Sentiment- Birthday Icons (CP Designs) 

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; Neenah Natural White; Patterned Paper - To The Orchard (CP Designs).

Ink: Rockin' Red, Cove Blue, Buttercream, Spruce, Sand Castle (CP Designs)

Extras: Mug and steam dies (MFT Stamps); Apple basket (CP Designs); Coordinating apples dies for apple stamps (CP Designs); Coordinating banner die for sentiment (CP Designs); EF - Basketweave (Cuttlebug).

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Hope you come again soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Hello there on this crisp sunny Wednesday!

To me this truly is the most wonderful time of the year - Fall/Halloween.  I like the leaves changing colors. I like when the temps are in the 60/70s. I loooove Halloween - the decorations, costumes, candy, apple cider, corn mazes, hay rides, pumpkin patches, haunted houses, horror movies! So how is it not wonderful?

Thinking of Fall also always brings back memories in my teen years, our youth group at church made apple cider. We picked the apples at a church member's apple orchard, brought them to the church parking lot where we had an old manual apple press and spent a weekend afternoon pressing apples into cider.  If you wound up with a bee in your cider, you got EXTRA blessed! lol Fun times!

So I pulled out this lovely pumpkin mug by Ellen Hutson for the main character of my card.  I stenciled a background, paired it with an embossed panel and an ink blended scalloped border.

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment- Boos Inside (Ellen Hutson-EH) 

Paper: Neenah Natural White; 

Ink: Pebble, Cotton Candy, & Buttercream (Catherine Pooler)

Extras: Mug and steam dies-Pumpkin Mug (EH); Stencil - Floral Mosaic (Honey Bee Stamps); Scallop die (MFT?); EF - (Spellbinders)

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  

Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

You Are Spooktacular

 Hello Again!

I had some time in my craft room yesterday and got some things made for a few challenges. Can you believe Halloween is just about two weeks away? Time is flying way too fast!

I've been wanting to put these cute little trick or treaters together for a while and finally did yesterday.  They are from Simon Says Stamp. I paired them with some patterned paper from Whimsy Stamps to make my spooky scene.  I added a black "metal" fence and a creepy tree to add more depth and interest.  I mean, most cemeteries have a creepy fence around it.  I also added the large bat on the cross for extra creepiness.  

For Following Challenges: 

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment- Spooktacular Postage Collage Set (Waffle Flower) 

Paper: Neenah Natural White; Haunted Patterned Paper (Whimsy Stamps)

Ink: Midnight (Catherine Pooler)

Extras: Treaters dies - Costume Ghost Parade (Simon Says Stamp); Iron fence die (Lawn Fawn); Tree die (Tim Holtz); Bat die (Stash).

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  Henry Ward Beecher

Be Spooky!

Nance

Hugs & Cuddles

 Good Morning Monday!

Happy Indigenous People's Day!

It's finally a nice and cool Fall feeling day in central NC. It's about time too. One quick post this morning before off to do errands with the Hubs.

Playing with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch by Judy this week.  I pulled out some neglected patterned paper and some neglected stamps.  Who am I kidding - most of what I have has been neglected for a long time. So I'm trying to remedy that.

This cute little fox and acorn are by Photoplay Stamps. My paper is from Echo Park and the sentiment is from Penny Black.

For Following Challenges:

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”  Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Grateful Pooh

Hello there! A late post this evening. I've had some time in my craft room this week.  Never as much as I'd like, but some is better than none.  I wanted to play in Color Hues this time. So I pulled out my Pooh dies I haven't played with yet and went to town! 

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment (Catherine Pooler) 

Paper: Neenah Natural White; Rusty, yellow cardstocks(Stash)

Ink: Terracotta (Catherine Pooler)

Extras: Winnie the Pooh die (Spellbinders); Frame die ( ); Flower dies (Spellbinders); Leaf Frame die (Taylored Expressions); Leaf EF (Taylored Expressions).

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” - Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

 

Frequent Flyer

Happy Weekend!

It's a cool one finally here in Cary, NC. A little rainy. I'll take it. Was beginning to wonder if we were going to stay in a perpetual summer here. I haven't even bought any pumpkins yet. BUT, I've been watching my horror flicks and pulled out more of my Halloween decor. Guess you can say I'm in my Halloween Era! 🤣

So today I have a Halloween card to share.  I got a couple new Halloween stamps from Crackerbox Stamps.  This one I think is pretty wicked.  My hubs is afraid of it.  He refuses to watch Wizard of Oz because of the flying monkeys.  Says they traumatized him as a child. 

 

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Flying Monkey & sentiment(Crackerbox Stamps); Sky icons (WaffleFlower).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock; 

Ink: Tiki Torch, Orange Twist, Tutti Fruiti, Midnight (CP Inks)

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” - Henry Ward Beecher

Nance

Splashy Birthday

Good Afternoon!

This week is flying by! It's already time for another challenge at Seize The Birthday. Shirley is our host for the next two weeks and she has selected Splish Splash as our Toppings.  

I chose this cute image of Newton the cat and a birdbath (Newton's Nook Stamps) for my interpretation of Splish Splash.  We love watching the birds splash around in our birdbath. Sometimes they even use the dog's outdoor water dish to splash around. So I thought it would be fun to also create an extra "splash" by stenciling a water puddle under the birdbath.  I stenciled it first, masked it off and then ink blended the grass.  I also took a Copic marker to go around the puddle to define it more.  Then I stenciled the clouds, colored my images and foam taped them  to the background.  I did add a party hat to Newton to make it more festive.  

Please stop by the Seize the Birthday blog to see all the rest of the Team's creations for our Splish Splash Toppings. Then, why not play along and share your birthday card with us.  Of course, if you're not a toppings kind of person, you can still play in our always Anything Goes Birthday Challenge. 

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Birdbath set (Newton's Nook); Sentiment(Avery Elle); Party hat stamp (Catherine Pooler).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock

Ink: Blue Raspberry, In The Park, Midnight (CP Inks); Copics.

Extras: Cloud stencil (My Favorite Things); Rolling hill stencil (My Favorite Things); Puddle stencil (Whimsy Stamps); Coordinating dies for Newton and birdbath (Newton's Nook), Coordinating party hat die (Catherine Pooler) Birthday sentiment strip (Simon Says Stamp).

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” - Henry Ward Beecher

Nance