Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to my  Haunted House!
Come visit it if you dare!    MWahhh ha ha!

Simon Says Stamp and Show  challenge is to show a house. I knew I had to throw together a quick haunted house today before Halloween had passed!

The house is made from Authentique pattern paper. I used tissue tape to hold together the seams and the roof on the house. Let's just say if the wolf came a knocking my little piglet wouldn't be safe. hee hee...

Then I stampe the tree and tombstones and cut them out.  (Hindsight I probably would have done my tree on acetate.)  The bat is cut out from black cardstock and covered in tissue tape.  The letters are from Stampendous clear set.

**** Edited to add the house with acetate tree****



The ghost is a cheerio inside of tissue paper.  (I was eating my honey nut cheerios this morning and thought it would work out!)

I added some fake spiderwebs from decorations around the house. I won't ever use this again... it is soo sticky and kept getting stuck on everything. :)

I hope you have a wonderful spooky fun filled day! We are going trick or treating later. I can't wait to see all the fun Halloween costumes. My youngest is a dead prom queen and her costume looks great! She is happy about it!  (A little glimmer mist, distressing, ribbon and stickers from mom!)

Have a spooktacular day!

Suzz

Saturday, October 29, 2011

CR84FN41 & Paris Re-Visited

I get to share my second card for  CR84FN41:


I stayed with the Paris theme and created another shabby chic card. The images include: Stampendous Jumbo Cling Songbird, Stampendous Eiffel Tower.  The papers is My Minds Eye Lost & Found. 

The inspiration photos for CR84FN41:


For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa SomervilleCheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Stampendous Monthly Challenge - CAS Holiday Card

This is the last weekend to play in the Stampendous Monthly Challenge.  The challenge is to create a CAS holiday card.

This is my version of a CAS card:

I found this super funny paper and it works perfectly with the handsome Santa. The pattern paper is all about letters to Santa.  Too funny!

I stamped the Stampendous Believe in Santa Jumbo Cling on whitewashed music sheet and colored him using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. The rest was just layering and ribbon.

The prize this month is a Cling Jumbo Sparkle Joy set to a random winner. You have until Thursday, November 3 at 11:59 PM EST to add your link to the linky tool on the Stampendous blog.


To see the new designs by the Design Team: 



Have a fabulous Saturday!! 

Suzz

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Holly & Berries

I was playing with my newest Memory Box dies and stamps and created this for the Outside the Box Blog.


 There is a new window die cut that I love and the scene outside the window is a new Winter Collage stamp that is so lovely.

I just dragged the ink pad to create the textured background which I love.  Sweet and simple Holiday card.

I also have been working on some cards for the November Kit at CupCards to Go and here is a sneak peak of one of my projects.


Still working on a few other fun projects.  Will be back on Saturday with a card for the Stampendous CAS Holiday Challenge that is finishing up this week.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Dewdrops in the Grass

 Click to Enlarge

I created a wall hanging using the color yellow which is for the Lessology Wall Art challenge and the Simon Says Stamp and Show one Color challenge.

The base is a metal sign that was purchased on clearance. I painted over it with two coats of white acrylic paint. I stamped the Stampendous Rose Hips stamp multiple times around the edges using a water resistant black ink. (Ranger Archival Ink).  Then stamped the verse in the corner. The verse and the bird are a new Stampendous jumbo cling stamp set. The bird was stamped on white cardstock using the same ink. everything was colored using watercolor pencils for the flowers and the bird was sponged with yellow dye ink.

Finished off with seam binding dyed to a yellow and paper flowers dyed to match.

Hope your week is going well!  I have been busy working on some commitments and haven't had much time to play.

Suzz

Saturday, October 22, 2011

CR84FN41 - Paris

The colors this week for  CR84FN41 had me inspired right away. I created two cards really quickly. You get to see one of them now, the other is for next week. :)



How about Paris in Spring?  I started with the focal image of the Eiffel tower and just kept layering it on. :)

The stamps are all from Stampendous.  The main image is a new stamp and the background stamp is from the Eiffel Tower set. The background paper is My Minds Eye with a little stamping and distressing.


The inspiration photos for CR84FN41:


For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa SomervilleCheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Simon Says Stamp and Show Stripes

 I had to squeak in an entry at the Simon Says Stamp and Show some Stripes and at the same time the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection.  I had my supplies from my last card sitting out still so the color tones are the same only I added a hint of green. 

I started with the Hero Arts lined paper stamp in the background and added my favorite Pussy Willows from Serendipity Stamps and then a few Impression Obsession Butterflies. Finish it off with a Hero Arts Stamp. The damask in the background is from Memory Box.

A mix of some of my favorite images. :)

Hope your Saturday is lovely. We are going to have some pretty fall weather today. I am going to go out and prune back my roses. I hate to do it as they still have lovely flowers but next week we are dropping into the lower temps.

Suzz

Friday, October 21, 2011

Subtle Textures

I have been working on a project all week that is keeping me pre-occupied and not getting much done. I hate when I get stuck in the midst of a project and can't let it go and it blocks all my creativity.  I decided last night to put it aside.  I used the same background paper to create a card for the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection and  Mojo Monday Sketch #211.


Details:
Old sheet music with a layer of white paint smeared and brown chalkboard glimmer mist spritzed across the front. A few drips and rings in the same chalkboard ink were added for more texture.
The bird is die cut from the sheet music with a stamped image of french post card.
The birdcage is die cut from white cardstock and stamped with the same postal card stamp.
The ribbon is white silk which was died with Antique Linen re-inker and spritzed with the same brown chalkboard ink.  The other paper used on the background is a textured cardstock sanded to show the embossing.

Here is the sketch:

and did you ever have one of those bad hair days.... 
My daughter wanted a picture of this hair-do on her barbie yesterday... Apparently she won the crazy hair contest. :)

Hope that gave you a smile...

Suzz

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Golden Days of Fall?

The Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection challenge is about using texture. I decided to take a sheet of music and distress it with some paint and glimmer mist chalkboard ink and use it my base.

That paper is the base for a project which is taking me a couple of days to complete so you will see that again soon! :)  The leaves are Hero Arts and are stamped using versamark and embossed using Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel. The embossing powder is fun as it has a mixture of gold and black so you get an uneven surface with black peeking through.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Monday, October 17, 2011

Time

I had a couple of challenges to share today.  I was playing around with the cream and black from the City Crafters Challenge this past weekend and finished this card a little bit after  my other CCCB card.

The background is from this really cool stencil from The Crafters Worksop that is made up of large distressed clocks.  I loved it and wanted to create a card around the stencil.  The background was sponged onto cream cardstock.  Then the telegram stamp from Artistic Outpost Ephemeral Backgrounds was stamped randomly in the background.  The other images are from Artistic Outpost Wonderland Collage and Whimsical Melange.
I hope the card applies as the challenge said primarily cream and black. :)

My second card is for the My Minds Eye - Sketch Challenge and Embellish Magazine Buttons Colors Trend Challenge.

The paper is from My Minds Eye - Lost & Found collections. The stamps a combination of Nina B. Crafts Meow and B Line Design Secret Garden.

Hope your week is off to a good start!  We had ton of wind this past weekend but lovely sunny days.  Very crisp and fall like. 

Suzz

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Christmas Tag - CR84FN40

This is the second week of the  CR84FN40 colors. I was happy to make two projects as I love this color combo.  

For my second project I pulled out a piece of recycled corrugated cardboard to create a tag. 

The cardboard tag was distressed with vintage photo and acrylic paint. Then a layer of pattern paper (Teresa Collins Traveler) torn and distressed was layered onto the tag. 

The Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods plate provided the sentiment and the image stamped in brown and red ink. I added a few rusty snowflakes as accents with snowflake gems to finish it off. 

The inspiration photos for CR84FN40:


For all the details on the challenge visit the  CR84FN blog. 

The fabulous CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa SomervilleCheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Spooktacular Sketch and Color Combo

Sorry about my second post of the day. :)  I wanted to share a card created for the ColourQ color challenge #106 and the Card Patterns Sketch #137.

Here is my card:

Sparkle Rubber Creations is hosting the Card Patterns challenge this week so I thought I would pull out Mummy Oliver to play along.  The sentiment and image is from Sparkle Creations. The background bats are from Artistic Outpost.

I colored Oliver and then added some sparkle to his wraps. :)

Here is the sketch and Color Inspiration:




I will be back later for the CR84FN colors and post.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

P.S.  Here is a picture of our puppy (almost three now) Emma... Very windy here today.. Blew her ear back. Just like all my girls she makes a funny face if I try to get a photo!

Hero Arts Scramble

The Hero Arts Flickr group has short challenges they only last 90 minutes and are  hosted by different group members. Today I am hosting the challenge over there.

My challenge was to use the same stamp/s that you used on your last project  loaded into the Hero Arts Flickr Group

Here is my last project loaded into the group:

It was created for a tag scramble. I had fun creating it but then I had to come up with a few samples for my challenge.  Here is what I created:

and:


It was difficult without having a sentiment. :)

All the cards use the Hero Arts Snowy Village stamp and Stampendous Kaleidoscope Embossing powder which gives it the beautiful glistening effect.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Suzz

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cream and Black

The City Crafter Challenge this week is Cream and Black and the Mojo Monday had another fun sketch. I combined the two challenges together to create my card. 

I really struggled with this one for some reason. But finished it off and tried a new effect with the black glitter. 

I started with a few scraps (Yeah) the embossed panel and the die cuts were in my scraps from another project. I wanted a mostly cream card with touches of black but ended up using glimmer mist on my lace to turn it black.

The image was stamped using black ink and I wanted to add texture so I added a line of glue with Stampendous Ultra-Fine glitter around the edges.  I love how it looks like lace.

The rest was just layering and assembling.

Products: Stampendous - Ultra-fine Black glitter, Stampendous - Rose, Stampendous - Cherub, Hero Arts Antique Engravings

Here is the sketch:


Hope your day is going well!

Suzz

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Flourishes - The Name Game Challenge

The Flourishes blog challenged players to come up with new challenge ideas and you could win a chance to be the hostess of the challenge and one of the new stamp sets in the release. Well... I suggested a challenge idea and it was selected. Yeah!  Today is the day for my challenge over on the Flourishes blog. My challenge is called the Name Game.
 
How to Play: Simply use your monogram as the inspiration for your creation! So, if your name starts with an “J” – add jewels! What about “B” –add a bow! How about a “P” – use a punch! Just that simple! Just make sure you share your initials and the things you used on your creation that were name inspired! 

I created two cards using the new release Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.  

My initials were "S" - Stamping, "L" - Liquid Pearls, "C" - Coloring 

The set has this beautiful row of mistletoe. I thought since the set was all about mistletoe which led me to think of  love,  that I would create a heart shaped wreath of mistletoe. 
Recipe: 
  1. Curve the row of mistletoe clear stamp on the acrylic block to create the right half of the heart.
  2. Ink up with black ink and stamp on white cardstock. (This took a few times to get it right as it requires a little more pressure to get an even stamp if you curve the stamp.) 
  3. Lay the acrylic block over the stamped image and reverse the stamp on the acrylic block following the lines of the stamped image. 
  4. Ink up the stamp with black ink and stamp next to the image on cardstock. 
  5. I also could have die cut a heart and lined up my stamp using the guideline of the punched image.
  6. Color heart using watercolor pencils and waterbrush. 
  7. Stamp additional mistletoe bunch using black ink. Color with watercolor pencil and waterbrush. 
  8. Accent berries using white liquid pearls. 
  9. Cut out heart and mistletoe accents. 
  10. Shadow inside of heart with pink watercolor pencil. 
  11. Stamp sentiment in center of heart using black ink. 
  12. Die cut shapes from white and green cardstock. Sponge edges of white die cut using pink dye ink. 
  13. Cut background paper (Memory Box - Yuletide) 
  14. Round opposite corners. 
  15. Tie ribbon and bows. 
  16. Assemble Card.
The second card uses  "S" - Stamping, "L" - Layering, "C" - Coloring

The card was a simple stamping, coloring and accenting the berries with a touch of glitter. 

For all the details on the fun challenge go to the Flourishes blog.  For more fabulous inspiration visit the DT: 

Christine Okken
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Makiko Jones

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A Paper Bag Journal

I apologize up front for this post... A really long one as I wanted to share lots of pictures of my journal. I created this for the Lessology Doggy Bag Challenge, Simon Says Stamp and Show some Wings and the Kraft Journal To Die Cut Challenge.

I was inspired by a class at my LSS. The class was showcasing some beautiful paper bag journals done in a few different themes. I decided to see what I could create using some re-cycled paper bags, lots of beautiful pattern paper from My Minds Eye, Pink Paislee, and Websters Pages.

Here are all the pictures of the journal...





Here is the journal front by itself:

Between each page there are multiple surfaces and layers to embellish, stamp, paper up! 

For each long page there is an opening for a journal card to be slid in. This shows how they fit in the page. 
This is one of the journal tabs.  I used so many pretty papers to cover the kraft tabs. 
Phew.... I always forget why I don't scrapbook and this is a good reminder... So much details and work to create a layout. :)  I love how this turned out and I was able to use some of my papers that I have been hoarding.

The products are so many I won't mention them all in detail if you see something specific that you want to know about, drop me an email and I will get the details to you.  The stamps are a combination of Hero Arts and Lily Bee Design.  The Verses are  from Verses Rubber Stamps.  The papers are Websters Pages, Pink Paislee, My Minds Eye - Lost and Found.
 

Hope your week is off to a good start! Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

Saturday, October 8, 2011

CR84FN40 - Christmas Wreath and Star

Love the colors this week at  CR84FN40.  The red, kraft, and brown colors make a rich color combination.

I pulled out my Memory Box stamps to create an early Christmas card.

Part of the background is created by stamping the Peace collage on white cardstock using brown ink.  The other background pieces are created using Ranger Archival Crimson ink with a touch of brown ink and the vintage holiday words on white cardstock.  The background pieces were sponged with vintage photo.

The wreath was stamped using black ink and colored with glimmer mist. Cut out the wreath and place over star which has been sponged and the sentiment stamped in the middle.

Products: Memory Box - Vintage Holiday Words, Peace Collage, Poinsettia Wreath, Wish you a Merry Christmas. 



The inspiration photos for CR84FN40:


For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The fabulous CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville

Time for a new guest designer and this month we are lucky to have Cheryl Lea.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Card Patterns Sketch #136

I am guest designing this week at Card Patterns!  The sketch is a fun one to play with and inspired me to pull out my pattern papers to create a patchwork background. 

The background papers are from My Minds Eye - Lost and Found II.  I sponged the edges of the ivory card base and the papers with Ranger Distress ink - Vintage Photo.  The main image was stamped two times using brown ink on pattern paper.  The flowers and leaves were colored with watercolor pencils and highlighted with white gel pen.  I hand cut the flowers from the second image and pop dotted them to create layers. The sentiment is from Verses Rubbers Stamps -  Let us Be Grateful - QQ0852-F.

Here is the lovely sketch:

For all the details on the challenge visit Card Patterns.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Treat Yourself

The Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger this week is a delicious treat.  I saw the picture and immediately knew I wanted to pull out my alcohol inks and see if I could capture the yummy colors in this treat.

I ended up with two cards using an  alcohol ink background:

The second card uses a smaller piece of the same background:


Now I bet you are wondering what was the inspiration photo was that was food related. :)


The background on the cards was a combination of Alcohol Inks - Butterscotch, Rust, and Caramel. How appropriate that two of the colors were ice cream toppings. :)

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps - Happy Happy Happy - BB0431-D.  I am happy happy happy that I just added two masculine birthday cards to my stash. Always need more of these. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz