All Hallows Eve

I have been a quick Halloween Card making mode.  I needed a few cards and with the big event happening tomorrow I had to whip out a few cards.

I had fun playing around with a few different Halloween sets.  This was created for my daughter who liked my card last year for her brother because of the eyes in the beaker.

 I decided to create a similar card but switch up a few of  the elements.

I stamped the beaker a couple of times to create the clear surface and gap for the eyes to float around.  I decided that I would add a second vessel to mix up some Halloween potions in.

The lovely sayings were from various sets (Stampers Anonymous) and the chemist containers from Inkadinkado.

I think she will get a chuckle out of her spooky card this year. 

I am entering this in "A Vintage Journey's October Challenge: Make it Spooky".   The design team's creations for the challenge as well as all the entries are fabulous. 

Happy Halloween!

Suzz

Eat, Drink and Be Scary!

Happy Halloween!  A little creepy card made for one of my cards I share to you as your Halloween treat!

 I have had this fun Inkadinkado set with beakers, eyeballs and other fun images.  I decided to create a mad scientist scene for my son's card.

 I started with placing my beaker/tube on the front.  I then cut out the opening for them.  I laid the stamped images onto the front of my card and traced the location to sponge in the colors. 

I masked off the area and sponged the colors over the front of the card.  I used the Neon green and coral colors from Tsukineko.  I then stamped the Hero Arts background over the background randomly. 

I created a whole slew of eyeballs, colored them with watercolor pencils and then added glossy accents to give them a glistening rounded effect. EEWW!  I mixed them with seed beads in the shaker card. 

Happy Halloween! 

Suzz

Thanksgiving

Time for another tag today inspired by Linda's Twelve Tags - Week #8.  Her challenge is sponsored by her store The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

 I loved the soft background she created on her tag and the Santa image and pops of red.  The images I had for Christmas wouldn't have worked from a size or following her design.   So I dug through my seasonal images drawer and found this Thanksgiving turkey image which worked well with the design.

I distressed my background using all the different Metallic stains with a touch of dark brown dye ink sponged around the edges.

I stamped the Inkadinkado image using black ink on the tag.  I then stamped it again on a separate piece of white cardstock and colored it with the distress inks and a waterbrush.   I cut them out and layered them onto the tag.

I distressed burlap using the metallic inks and cut for trim. 

I added in the background the Thanks Definition from Hero Arts along with Memory Box leaves floating in the background.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  I cut the clear sentiment so I could align it along the side.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

ColourQ & Moxie Fab Tissue Paper is Magic

Welcome to the fish bowl. A few of you commented yesterday that the background felt like it was an underwater scene. I too had the feeling after I finished my background yesterday.  I actually created a few fish to fit into that scene using the Colour Q colors.  Somehow I ended up with fish and flowers.  Hence a fishy post today! I had to create something to hold my fish and I used the colors from the  ColourQ Challenge #82 and crepe paper seaweed for the  Moxie Fab Challenge - Tissue Paper is Magic challenge. 

The background of the fishbowl and the crepe paper are misted with Chalkboard Glimmer Mist. (Decadence, Peacock, Sprout).

The fish are from Inkadinkado using their new clings. (They worked wonderfully). The fish are stamped on watercolor paper using Ranger black archival ink. Colored with watercolor markers and waterbrush.  They were highlighted with a little white gel pen.  The sentiment is Hero Arts.  The fun part was nestling the fish into the seaweed and putting on the acetate front. Which is bowed to create the bowl effect.

A great little birthday card for one of my DD's friends.

Here is the inspiration color photo:

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Dreaming of an Iguana

I am mixing my post between two very different cards today. Hence the funny title! 

Earlier this week, I pulled out my Hero Arts stamps to play with the technique of Kissing as this month's Hero Arts Challenge is about love and friendship with kissing as the technique.

The Hero Arts large flower pattern stamp has lots of background rubber to capture the impression of another stamp. Ink up the flower pattern with brown ink lay the Hero Arts Antique brocade flower stamp over and take off a little of the ink. Clear emboss.

 

Because I love the flowers I kept any additional touches to a minimum. The flowers are colored using the watercolor pencils with a touch of white gel pen.

I also had to create a birthday card for my brother Danny. I usually make him a Valentine's birthday card as his birthday is on Valentine's day. My mojo wasn't going there so I opted for another route. I have this fun set of Inkadinkado stamps that have little quips and cute images and I thought it would be fun to create a card using the iguana and my Hero Arts number stamps. 

Just a fun little card that I think he will get a chuckle from. 

Hope your day is filled with laughter. 

Suzz

Happy Thanksgiving - A little early

I know my kids and myself are eagerly awaiting next week when Thanksgiving arrives... Family, Time off, setting up our Christmas decorations...
All family time mixed in with just relaxing and spending time with friends too!

This morning I created a Thanksgiving card to give to my MIL who is hosting Thanksgiving this year.  She is a fantastic cook and it will be wonderful to bring something to the dinner (easy appetizers) but not prepare it. :)

I started with a sketch from a challenge blog called Friday Sketchers.  The design is  similar to yesterday's card. I used the lovely Memory Box paper from the Blackbird collection called Evening Roost. I love how it reminds me of my Grandma's old apron. The stamp is from Inkadinkado and something I purchased second hand as I wanted a turkey image and loved the scene with the gobbler and the pumpkins and wheat.

Very simple design. Although I admit I pulled the leaves off a fall decoration we are getting ready to put away in anticipation of Christmas.

Here is the sketch and the challenge is at Friday's Sketchers Challenge 128

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Hope Feathers

I took a quick peek at Mona's colors this morning and her card and they both were fabulous! So of course I pulled out my supplies before church and started playing around. Mind you nothing on this card was what I started with this morning. :) Mona's color challenge CR84FN4 this week is light purple, purple and grey.

Here is where my card ended up.

And here is the yummy inspiration photo:

The flowers were made from tissue  paper that came in my daughter's shoes. It had such a fun pattern that I pulled it and set it aside for future use.

I love this verse from Verses Rubber Stamps called: Hope Feathers QQ1007-D. The verse is:

Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches on the soul,

that sings a tune without words

and never stops at all. 

Emily Dickinson

And since I have a few bird stamps this comes in handy and is great to send to someone needing a little hope. The music notes is Hero Arts Cling stamp, the birds are Inkadinkado Dawn Houser. Inks: Hero Arts Lilac Shadow Ink, Memento London Fog, and Versafine Imperial Purple.   Other supplies: May Arts Silk Ribbon, Spellbinders Die Cuts Ovals, Labels 10, Doily. 

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

Suzz

Get Sketchy #58 - Challenge and some Pumpkins!

Happy Tuesday!

 I am in a circle groove.  Saw this sketch from Get Sketchy Challenge #58 and loved the circles and lines.

Can you see the lines and circles in my spiderweb?  I was thinking how to incorporate the lines and circles from the design and the spiderweb caught in my mind. The spiderweb is a Hero Arts cling and it is a really nice size spiderweb stamp.  The baby spiders and sentiment are from an Inkadinkado set. The Big spider is from a Hero Arts Designblock and I used it to get the shape and then colored it in.

I already was thinking Halloween because I created these fun Chipboard pumpkins Sunday and shared them over on the Outside the Box blog.

These pumpkins are glimmer misted, sponged with rusty hinge and black dye ink.  They are stamped using versamark or versafine black onyx  and embossed using clear embossing powder or zing orange embossing powder. The stamps are Memory Box Spooky Collage and Halloween Collage.  I also used these really fun Clearsnap design adhesives which are in the shape of the spider and web and are rub-ons. They are double sided adhesive so I can stick them on the project and then use glitter, flocking, foil etc.  Very fun. I used the Clearsnap black charcoal glitter to add the accents to my spiders. 

Thanks for dropping by!

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #49

Sarah selected  the colors for the Play Date Cafe challenge this week.
 

Another fun mix of colors to play with this week. The design team also had a second challenge this week to use a technique called Clipped Corners provided by our sponsor this week Technique Junkies.

I started with this card and had about 4 different backgrounds before I decided on this background. The flowers felt like they went with my temples and Buddha.  

After I finished my first card I realized that the technique called for only one corner to be clipped. So I created another card with this beautiful angel from Stampington.  

I am not going to include all the stamp credits and paper credits, but if you have questions about any of them, drop me a line and I will look them up for you. :)

Onto our wonderful sponsor this week:  Technique Junkies. I am always seeing the techniques from TJ on blogs and love the different techniques that are used. 

Technique Junkies is offering a wonderful  prize for the winner of the challenge. A three-year online-only subscription. The winner will have access to the online 2009, 2010, and 2011 issues. (Valued at 29.95)

Pat Huntoon is the owner of Technique Junkies and our guest designer this week, go see what she created using the technique and colors. Her blog is Pat Stamps.

Play Date Cafe Design Team

Sarah Anderson

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn
Andrea Ewen

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

Thanks for stopping by and look forward to seeing your entries in the challenge!

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #24

Welcome to another fun color combination this week from The Play Date Cafe.

Mona provided this creativity challenge. I love Lilacs and these colors are beautiful!
The colors inspired me to pull out a few stamps that I haven't used in awhile...
Mini Recipe:

1. Cut a circle from ivory cardstock. (I used the Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle)
2. Stamp the Hero Arts Cling Friends Definition stamp using Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Soft Lilac).
3. Stamp the flower (Inkadinkado - 95866 K) with versamark. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
4. Lay the Nestability over the circle and sponge on Memento Sweet Plum over the entire surface.
5. Cut ivory panel and emboss using Cuttlebug Embossing folder.
6. Stamp sentiment with flourishes stamp from Flourishes Sweet Violet set using Sweet Plum Dye ink on ivory cardstock.
7. Stamp friends definition on ivory cardstock using versamark. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder and sponge with plum dye ink.
8. Punch butterflies from definition background.
9. Fold prima flowers in half and glue dot together. Attach to edge of circle.
10. Assemble card. :)

Go take a look at all the other design team creations...
Sarah Anderson
Stephanie Kraft
Ruby 2 Shoes
Savannah O'Gwynn
Mona Pendleton
Julie Ranae
Lisa Somerville

and our guest designer ...

Kristen Powers of Kpink

who is also our sponsor this week on The Play Date Cafe!

Thanks for stopping by... Hope you are having a lovely week.

Suzz

Little bits of love

I have been wanting to play in the Hero Arts Challenge for Valentine's or Friendship this month but have been busy playing with other cards. Last night I decided to create a few valentine's cards for my kiddos.

We have a 14 year old boy, 12 year old girl and 8 year old girl. The idea was to create a valentine's card for each of them.

The first one is for my darling Kaeli... She is such a smart cookie. I created this card because she loves doing puzzles. She will love the puzzle and the charm will be something she can put on a necklace and wear.

The second one is for my youngest Tanya. She will love the dog on the card. I think she will think it is fun that he is red and white.

The last one I tried to create something more masculine and used the tickets as my starting point but I always struggle with teenage boys. This was intended for my son Zac, but I will probably create something else for him.

Have a lovely Friday... We have a nice long weekend because not only are the kids out of school on Monday, I have off work too! Yeah!

Suzz

Moxie Fab World - Tuesday Trigger

The Tuesday Trigger on the Moxie Fab world was selected by Maren B. Here is her inspiration picture from Pottery Barn.

Now you would think.... that if you had 3 porcelain plates purchased at a discount store with the intent of stamping on them..... that you would have had an Ah Ha moment when you saw the trigger....

Unfortunately some of us take a little longer. :) I love these plates I picked up and just this morning did I remember that they were sitting there and that they would look lovely with a similar idea.

The best part is I have had this poem from Verses which works perfectly with the image.

The hardest part about this project was finding something to put my cling stamps on that fit in the center of the plate. It only took me 5 failed attempts before I decided to look for a circle surface for my cling stamps. (glass jar top)

I stamped using my StaZon ink which takes nicely on the surface. If you make mistakes you can wipe it off using the StaZon cleaner. I don't have a sealant over my stamped image, so this will be a decoration only.

The verse in case you can't see it clearly is as follows:

Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches on the soul,

that sings a tune without words

and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

Products:

• Stampers Anonymous collection - Artful Flight
• Inkadinkado - 98170-K
• Verses - QQ1007-D Hope Feathers
• StaZon - Timber Brown

Off to Church and then cleaning up the Christmas decorations. The house always feels so bare after the holidays.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Happy Birthday Uncle Paulywog!

Second of my birthday cards for this weekend. Uncle Paul (BIL) is having a birthday too! The kids will call him Uncle Paulywog sometimes which I think is funny. He is a great uncle and the kids love to see him. (He has 3 dogs which doesn't hurt his fun factor either)

Paul's birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving. Don't know how that was a child... We always get birthday cake at Thanksgiving which is alright along with the pie.

This card was so easy to create as the paper I used is from My Minds Eye Bohemian. The background was this lovely washed out background and the dragonfly was part of the pattern. I decided to use that as my focal point and just add some branches and leaves.

I cut up the edges of the dragonfly to give it dimension. The stamped leaves where accented with a touch of color pencil. The dragonfly wings and body have some stickles (rock candy) on them.

Products:

• My Minds Eye - Bohemian
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia, Habernero
• Watercolor Pencil
• Ranger Stickles - Rock Candy
• Twine, Buttons
• Inkadinkado - 98793-MM
• Penny Black - Japanese Maple
• Stampers Anonymous - U1 - 1334

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are spending the day with family. Special blessings and hugs to you and all your family near and far.

Suzz

Happy Birthday Lexi!

This weekend I have to create 3 cards... I finished 2 of them and am still working on the third. I also want to send off a few packages which need a few cards too. The first card is for our niece Lexi. She is turning 12 and I am hoping she will enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed creating it!

These colors were inspired by the Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper. I have this lovely Inkadinkado butterfly stamp and had never inked it up but thought how perfect it was for this paper. The other background I had in my scraps pile an it seemed to work well with the color scheme.

I love these colors together. The yellows, pinks and turqouise are such fun colors.

Products:

• Inkadinkado - 993113-P
• Basic Grey - Urban Prairie - 6x6 Pack
• Hero Arts - Black and White Flowers
• Hero Arts - Birthday Messages
• StaZon - Fuschia Pink, Teal Blue, Yellow
• Memento - Rosebud
• Watercolor Pencils
• Stickles - Crystal, Blue

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge #24

This weeks tag challenge from Louise is a tough one... No paper!!

I created two tags but found it so challenging not to use paper.

Every time I went to do something I realized no can't do that...

The tag on the left is the back of a patterned paper pack. The cardboard used to keep the paper from buckling. I used that with some paints from ranger sponged on the background and stamped with versamark and embossed. The edges were touched up with a Krylon gold pen. The stamps are from Tattered Angels (tree), Hero Arts (Sentiment), and Stampers Anonymous (bottom half of tag).

The tag on the right was stamped on aluminum foil with a cardboard backing. I stamped using StazOn and ended up embossing with clear embossing powder. I added the touches of color using the new Smooch paints. I was fortunate enough to be given a few of them by a friend. They didn't dry on the foil very well.

The stamps are from rubber stampede and inkadinkado.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Halloween Stair Step Card

I have been wanting to try this idea since I first saw the stair step cards but wasn't inspired to create the layers. So I have been waiting for the right challenge and stamps to inspire me.
The last day at Stamptoberfest was yesterday but there was one more challenge open til today which was a last minute Halloween card. I decided that I was going to use my graveyard stamp, some Basic Grey Eerie paper and create a stair step card. I bought the fun graveyard stamp thinking this would look awesome on the stair step card.


The measurements are 11" x 5 1/2". You score at the following measurements: 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 4 1/4", 6", 8 1/4". Fold it like a fan. Then you basically design each layer to create a scene.

I knew I wanted my first layer to be the graveyard which was just stamping it twice on a piece of cardstock measuring 5 1/2" x 4". I then cut along the edges and colored with my copics.

I cut the Basic Grey paper larger than the areas and ripped the top edges and colored with my copics.

The fence was just white cardstock stamped with the wood finish stamp from Hero Arts.

The moon was sponged and stamped on with the Inkadinkado and Hero Arts Halloween stamp sets.

I hope you enjoy my pop-up Halloween Scene! I enjoyed creating it...

Boo to you and yours!

Suzz

Caardvarks Thursday Sketch

The Thursday sketch for the Caardvarks Sketch Challenge is:

Here is my interpretation # 2:
This inside says "Is 50?" I used my Silhouette for the branches. There is PP on the owls as a background from Basic Grey.

My first interpretation was mostly beautiful patterned paper from Basic Grey.
I stamped the poppies on the PP paper and cut them out and curled them up. The centers of the flowers are pretty glass beads which you can't see the translucense in the picture.

Products:

• Basic Grey - Wisteria
• Marvy Uchida - Butterfly Punch
• Penny Black - Poppies
• Hero Arts - Design Block
• Inkadinkado - Owl Stamp
• Hero Arts - Wallpaper Flowers
• Ranger Distress - Antique Linen
• Memento - Dandelion, Rich Cocoa
• Adirondacks - Sunset Orange
• Versafine - Imperial Purple
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Versamark

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Rock On in Foil

Making a few cards for a class I will be holding in October called Foiled.... The concept is to use aluminum foil on the cards.

This was a fun one to make and my tween daughters eye's lit up when I was done so I think I hit the age group I was targeting...

The frame is aluminum foil die cut and embossed. The stamps are all Inkadinkado.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday..

Suzz

More grids and tags!

Continuing on with the grids and tags... I created this card using scraps from Jacqueline. I wanted to do more of a patchwork quilt look and used the pieces with the sizes that I had and trimmed as needed.

I then created another tag which used the distress inks on my craft mat with water to get the deep colors and added layers of stamping and finished with the flowers and buttons.

Then I moved onto another grid tag...

Creating the inchies was so much fun. I used a ton of different stamps that don't get used enough!

The bee's wings are layered which doesn't show up on the picture but adds a great dimension to the little inchie.

There are little flowers punched out and attached to the asian leaves.

The number 13 is from a new stamp I just purchased in a shape of a playing card. Stamped and cut out!

The butterfly is from a collage stamp from Hero Arts and love the little butterfly. It was stamped on a distress inked background and highlighted with white gel pen.

The tag was created by stamping the Cornish Heritage Farms Lined Paper Stamp on ivory cardstock and cutting it out in a shape of the tag.

I ended up stapling the ribbons to the top because I punched a hole and ended ripping it trying to tie the ribbon in.

Too many products to name them all but a great mix of Stampers Anonymous, Hero Arts, B Line Designs, Inkadinkado, and Cornish Heritage Farms stamps. The inks are mostly Ranger Distress Inks along with my favorite Versafine Vintage Sepia. The patterned paper is Basic Grey.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Sorry it has been so long...

I have been busy with work and been trying to create a video. We ran into technical difficulties making the video but I still have plans to create a few videos. Stay tuned for those.

I have also been busy stamping... Just didn't get a chance to post them

I created two different projects for the Hero Arts blog Challenge: http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2009/09/14/in-celebration-of-learning/ The challenge this week is about learning. Looking at cards from when we first started and what we have learned along the way.

The second challenge is from Louise's blog. http://kardkrazy.blogspot.com/2009/09/tag-challenge-16-grid-tag.html She hosts a Tuesday challenge and this week's challenge is grid tags.

For me the tag was a new area that I had never explored and was learned along the way along with the uses of scraps, embellishments and even grid cards... So this encompasses alot of things I have learned along the way in my stamping journey.


This was made from some beautiful scraps sent to me from Jacqueline. Thanks Jacqueline!

The second card is a thing I am still learning... How to use white effectively or negative space in my cards. I do tend to like my colors.. :)




So this was a little challenge for myself to keep my card in the whites/ivories...

Card Products:

• QuicKutz Embossing Folder - Diamonds and Dots
• Versamark
• Clear Embossing Flowers
• Clay Flowers
• Sheer Ivory Ribbon
• Hero Arts - Old Letter Writing
• Hero Arts - Real Salvia
• Hero Arts - Everyday Sayings

Tag Products:

• Ranger Distress Inks - Peeled Paint
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Hero Arts - Monarch Butterfly
• Hero Arts - Purple Wash
• Penny Black - berry branch
• Hero Arts - Artistic Windows
• B Line Design - Bird Silhouettes
• Verses Rubber Stamps - Grow Old
• Inkadinkado - 96127 - CC
• Hero Arts - Old Letter Writing
• Hero Arts - Raindrop Background
• Hero Arts - Flower Word
  
  Thanks for stopping by...
  
  Suzz