Retro Mummies

I tried something different today.  Not sure what to call them other than maybe hanging paper plaques.  They pretty much evolved as I went along.  So I'm calling them Retro Mummy Plaques.                                                        I started with paint chips from Lowes that I have accumulated to reuse somehow in my crafts.  I  took your old standard first aid gauze (left over from my recent surgery, unused of course!), wrapped it around the paint chip                       

securing it on the back with craft tape.  Then, I wrapped that cool Halloween trendy tape on top of the gauze here and there to add a splash of color.  What mummy doesn't want to keep up with today's fashion?  LOL!                                                                             Next, I adhered plain cardboard (reused from inside an old frame) to the back of the paint chip a little more support and stiffness.  The background is craft paper with painted watercolor paper on top of it.  I sprayed Dylusions paint on watercolor paper to get the orange/yellow background paper that I put behind the mummies and also used for the dangling sentiments too.   I finished off all the paper with rippled decorative scissors. 

At first I was just going to attach a ribbon to the top for hanging and then remember these mini hangers I had.  So, I attached the ribbons to the hangers and then inside the cards at the top and again at the base to hold the sentiment portion;, and made ribbon bows with buttons for the hanger tops .  Those cute little 3D spiders are from my sticker stash.  And of course the mummies needed eyes peering out of their gauzy faces so I used some of my Halloween googly eyes.

SPIES:
Stamps:  Sentiments (G Studio).
Paper:  Watercolor paper; Paint chips; Kraft paper; cardboard.
Ink:  Jet Black(Staz On).  Lemon Zest and Postbox Red Dylusions (Ranger Ink).
Extras:  Gauze; Trendy Tape; Rectangle spellbinder; ripple scissors; black polka dot ribbon; Halloween googly eyes; green button; orange button; mini hangers; spider stickers.

CHALLENGES:

1.  The Kraft Journal - Challenge #91 Reuse-Recycle
 

              The Kraft Journal - #91

2.  Daring Cardmakers - Incy Wincy Spiders

Woo Hoo

I'm just stamping away these days.  I almost believe I have more creative mojo than I can handle at the moment.  So many ideas and they just keep coming faster than I can get them out!  Not a BAD problem to have!LOL

I love the final outcome of this card.  It's not how it started out, however.  The whole inspiration for the card came from that cute owl ribbon.  I haven't used it much for paper crafts, only to make fall baskets.  The top layer I embossed with a tree branch emboss folder.  The cute little owl on the branch is a stamp I colored with Copics and cut out.  Both papers are from Basic Grey's Pyrus Paper pad.  Such cute colors and patterns!

I finished the card off with the sentiment, some lace behind the owl ribbon and turquoise dots for more punch.  I used the sketch from the Sketchbook Saturday Challenge and also entered it in the Basic Grey Ribbons & Lace challenge.

SPIES:
Stamps: Owl-Autumn Silhouettes (Kanban); Sentiment (G studios).
Paper:  DP-Pyrus Paper Pad(Basic Grey); white cardstock for card base.
Ink:   Jet Black (Staz On); Teal (Craft Smart); Egg shell, Sanguine, Teal Blue & Ice Ocean (Copics).
Extras:  Owl ribbon; lace ribbon; teal dots; leaf branch emboss folder (Cuttelbug).


CHALLENGES:
Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #80
Basic Grey - Ribbon & Lace Challenge

WOO HOO!

Witchie Purple

Love, love, love this color combo.  I came up with so many ideas of how to incorporate them but just not enough time.  I am going to make those ideas a reality, just not in time for the challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.

I even did a little painting on this card.  I used a paint dabber (purple twilight), dropped droplets here and there onto watercolor paper then spritzed with water.  I let some of the paint run down for a more runny effect then splotched it in places with a kleenex before drying it all.  I love how it turned out and I have plenty more of it to use on other projects!  It's hard to tell in the photo, but I trimmed around the "spooky" sentiment to make make a little head over the eyes and applied quotation marks for eyebrows.

I almost forgot about the black mesh on top of the purple border.  It was a mesh bag containing something I bought and I saved to re-use/recycle. Of course it was sitting in a basket for months until it hit me like a ton of bricks today that it would be perfect for Halloween crafts!

SPIES:
Stamps: Frames, silhouette (Recollections); Witch, Skeleton(Stamper's Anonymous); Sentiments (Pink Paislee).
Paper:White cardstock. Watercolor paper.
Ink: Jet Black (Staz On); Purple Twilight Paint Dabber (Ranger Ink).
Extras: Black plastic net; quotations punch; Royalty emboss folder (Couture Creations); googly eyes.

Scrabble Love

 

So I was busy this weekend crafting for World Card Making Day and cooking dinner for my youngest son, who graced us with his presence for one night to he could get a haircut and do laundry before rushing back to Chapel Hill this afternoon to study for mid terms.

In all that excitment, I almost forgot to post this for the Tuesday Trigger challenge at Moxie Fab World.  I have more to post but will be doing later as the other challenges don't expire tonight!

I loved working on this card.  I have had the scrabble paper for a long time --- 10 years in fact!  As I was digging through letters, I remembered it was in my drawer and then I remembered I had those wooden scrabble letters as well.  The designer paper pack, Hello Summer, from Echo Park goes perfect with the scrabble paper.  I did struggle a bit with the scrabble letters at first.  I had spelled out "forever" and it was just too long so I just took a letter and covered it up with the red heart button and placed a number four sticker on top.

I thought the pinwheel added a good playful touch in the top corner and also carried over the polka dot paper.  I didn't like a traditional bow behind the pinwheel so I just did a layered ribbon look.  Voila!

Soup To Nuts - Tues Trigger

Moxie Fab World

SPIES:
Stamps:  None
Paper:  DP:  Scrabble (EK Success); Hello Summer (Echo Park). Kraft cardstock.
Ink: None
Extras:  Scrabble letter tiles; Fancy Square Framelit (Sizzix); Pinwheel die (Tim Holtz); Scallop border(Fiskars); blue buttons; red heart button; #4 sticker; light blue ribbon; twine; blue elastic twine.

Thankful Tag

For World Card Making Day I've been playing around trying new items and new techniques.  So, pretty appropriate that my first post for the day is of a tag, not a card.  LOL

I bought some of the Dylusions ink spray by Ranger and just had to try them out.  Here I used Lemon Zest and Postbox Red along with some Walnut antiquing solution for the tag background.  The images I stamped in Staz On Jet Black and then sprayed the whole tag with Pearl Glimmer Mist.

The pumpkins are a stamp I stamped on DP with the same Staz On ink.  I then sprayed some of the Dylusions onto each pumpkin as well for the various color tones.  Finally, I applied Glossy Accents to each pumpkin to give them more shine so they would stand out more against the background.  I cut out each pumpkin before adhering for more texture and definition.  My finishing touches were stamping the sentiment and inking around it, inking around the entire tag and adding a ribbon.

My inspiration for the tag was the challenge over at Cupcake Inspirations:

SPIES:
Stamps: Pumpkin & leaf vines(Inkadinkadoo I think) ; Stalks(Inkadinkadoo);
Paper:  Tag; DP -Black Widow (We R Memory Keepers);
Ink:  Staz On Jet Black; Lemon Zest & Postbox Red (Dylusions); Vintage Photo distress ink(Ranger); Walnut antiquing solution (Tsukineko); Pearl Glimmer Mist(Tattered Angels).
Extras:  Glossy Accents(Ranger); cream satin ribbon.

Autumn Air

Wow!  Already it is October!  Autumn IS in the air, you can smell it!  I tried my hand at another gift bag using the tree stamp again I used on a previous card.   The leaves have yet to change here in the Triangle of North Carolina, but this bag has made me want to break out my sweaters.

As I mentioned I used the tree stamp from Autumn Silhouettes and used Staz On Timber Brown ink.  I cut it out and then used chocolate brown, ruby red and gold dimensional pearls for an even more 3-d effect.   I placed it on the doily die cut I cut using My Favorite Things doily die cut through my Big Shot.  The background was made from brown cardstock embossed  with Spellbinders M-Bossibilities Imperial folder.  I adhered a rectangle of DP from Crate Paper Farmhouse collection, which I stitched a border around beforehand.  I also added a scallop border on one side of the DP, using Taylored Expressions large scallop border die cut. 

The banner was made from Sizzix triangle framelits, cut and then sewn to add some texture.  Then, I cut out stamped leaves I colored with red, yellow and green inks and dimensional pearls. The banners were glued onto kraft rope.

I inked the sentiment stamp with three different colors at once and placed on a border matching the cardstock used for the scallop border and placed a couple of stamped and cut out leaves alongside it for the finishing touch.

Challenge #143 Use Big Shot/Die Cuts

Challenge #168 Banners

SPIES:
Stamps:  Tree (Kanban); Leaves (The Paper Co.); Sentiment
Paper:  White bag; Brown, blossom cardstock; DP-Farmhouse (Crate Paper).
Ink:  Staz On Timber Brown; Scarlet, Sunbeam, Pistachio ink.  Dimensional pearls.
Extras:  Triangle Framelits (Sizzix); Doily Die Cut (My Favorite Things); Scallop border die cut (Taylored Expressions); brown thread; kraft rope.

Wings of Love

Hello again.  More posting going on tonight.  This card was created with the stamp set Imagine from Raisin Boat, the online stamp rental site.  It's a neat site that enables you to rent stamps for a monthly fee.  A great way to try new stamps without actually buying them.  It's the Netflix for stamping! 

First I created a white card, placed black cardstock on top.  Next I used a blanket of decorative cardstock, gossip white, from KI Memories.  This is what it looks like by itself.  I adhered the embossed stamped background on top of this.

This was a pretty  stamp set.  I loved the background splash, as I call it, with the word "love" embedded into the design.  I stamped it on white cardstock, embossed the cardstock with an emboss folder.  Then, cut a heart with the Sizzix heart framelit, stamped the background onto the heart and embossed it with the same folder to pop up ontop of the previously stamped cardstock.

The butterfly is also a stamp from the set.  I stamped it with Versamark, embossed with black emboss powder and "colored" it with the same ink from the background stamp and a lighter pink using felt tip applicators.  I cut it out, added black gems, black plastic string for antennae and black polka dot ribbon for trails behind the butterfly.  Last touches were black gems and black polka dot ribbon to match those on the butterfly.

Moxie Fab Focal Challenge

Moxie Fab Gallon/Quart/Pint

SPIES:

Stamps:  Imagine (Raisin Boat).

Paper: White and black cardstock.  DP, Gossip White (KI Memories).

Ink:  Raspberry and light pink (Hampton Art). Versamark.  Black emboss powder.

Extras:  Black gems; black polka dot ribbon; plastic twine. 

 

Super! Gift Bag

 

Happy Sunday!  And Happy NFL Sunday!  Just sitting here  multitasking -- watching my New England Patriots battle the Baltimore Ravens and blogging.   Not sure how much blogging I'm actually getting done!  LOL.

 I have finally been able to get back in the groove of things this past week and hopefully for good, crafting and otherwise.  2012 has not been the year I expected -- two surgeries, which have resulted in most of the last nine months recovering with a bit of traveling in between.  Tomorrow marks five weeks from the second (and hopefully last) surgery for a while.  I feel very lucky and blessed, as neither were life threatening nor due to anything life threatening and I had the best personal nurse, my Hubs (a real ER nurse by profession) sticking right by me through all of it.  And, with one month to go before a much anticipated birthday (50th) trip to NYC with my BFF (who shares my same birthday), I'm trying to just increase my energy and stay healthy.  

So let me get on with more important business --- crafting!  LOL

A cute and whimsical gift bag I made for one of the Moxie Fab World challenges using the Sweet Stop sketch.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  I love the little VW bug stamp.  So so cute!  The picture doesn't show it much, but I used the Cuttlebug large dot emboss folder on the background DP  and on the solid cardstock of the flower for texture.  For the Moxie Fab Movement challenge, I placed the paper ribbons and flourishes, along with the sentiment behind the car to resemble smoke or exhaust.

 The Sweet Stop #177

 

Moxie Fab World Movement Challenge

SPIES:
Stamps:  Car (Suzanne Carillo); Sentiment (Recollections).
Paper:  Red, Lime cardstocks; DP-Olivia (Basic Grey) & DCWV.
Ink:  Staz On Jet Black; Copics.
Extras:  Blossoms Framelits (Sizzix); Flourish die(Sizzix); large dot emboss folder(Cuttlebug); red button; decorative buttons.

Have a great week fellow crafters/bloggers!

Ghostly Haunt

A clean and simple ghostly card!

The ghost was made from an old oval stencil with the bottom portion cut off, then sprayed with pearl glimmer mist.  The eyes and mouth were an oval die cut inked with versamark and black emboss powder.  I used a wood grain texture plate for the card background smoothed with Glossy Accents.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment with the Versamark and embossed with black powder, cut it out and adhered to the top left corner, applied the spider sticker and orange bow.

For challenges at CASology and Moxie Fab World.

CASology #11 White

Moxie Fab- Gallon Quart Pint Challenge

SPIES:
Stamps:  Halloween sentiment (G Studio).
Paper:  White & black cardstock.
Ink:  Versamark; Black emboss powder; Pearl Glimmer Mist(Tattered Angels);
Extras:  Oval die cut (Sizzix); Oval stencil; Wood grain impression plate (Taylored Expressions); Glossy Accents (Ranger); corner punch; 3D spider sticker; orange/black ribbon.

Autumn Thanks

Happy Fall to ALL!  My first post in about four months.  And, it has been an eventful three months for sure, not what I was expecting or planning!  Explanation to come soon, but for now, a card for the Tuesday Morning Sketch and Color Throwdown challenges.

I love the effect I got here with the Autumn Silhouette stamp set.  I had embossed the background DP but you can't really see it but it does add a little texture to the card.  Thanks to the September 2012 issue of CardMaker for the technique I somewhat used to stamp my trees and pop out squares.  Love the fall colors of Color Throwdown.  And the Tuesday Morning sketch was perfect with it.  However, I have to say, the card is very reminiscient of another project I did earlier in the year making a calendar insert.

Tuesday Morning Sketches

SPIES:
Stamps:  Autumn Silhouettes (Kanban); Sentiment-So Much Thanks (Fiskars).
Paper:  Buttercream & chocolate cardstock; DP: Farmhouse (Crate Paper).
Ink:  Pistachio (Memento); Scarlet, Sunshine (stash); Orange (Colorbox); Timber Brown (Staz On).
Extras:  Emboss folder (Couture Creations); postal edge (Spellbinders); Red elastic twine; red, yellow, gold gems.

So until next time...

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.  ~Elizabeth Lawrence