Sistah B-Day

I need to get this card in the mail today in order for it to arrive in the US next week. *sigh* wish my sister didn't live so far away.


The stamp is Stamping Bella: curlysurpriseabella (RAK from CardsbyKerry), the DP is DCWV - Blossoms & Butterflies with a little Stickles on the orange bow.

Skater Birthday

Quick Birthday card for my daughter's friend from school, he is really into tech decks - finger skateboards.

Details:
Paper: Li'l Davis Designs - Endless Summer, Clearly Cocoa, red, Certainly Celery, tan
Ink: Copics
Stamps: Dustin Pike - FBSSkateDragon, Studio G Clear Stamps - sentiment
Accessories: Buttons, SU scallop punch, Scallop & Circle Punch, SU Mat Pak

I needed an 8 x 10 photo to go above my new ledge shelf now that my Halloween montage has been stored away for next year. I new I wanted to use my kids Christmas card photo from last year so went digging around my digital scrapbook files for some fun shabby chic images.

I found this wonderful freebie kit by Courtney's Digi-Scrappin' called

Vintage Boy. Her one sample page has a little boy near the same age as my guy and they have the same name. It was meant to be that I download this kit. Check out the vintage hinges, too cute! She has some fabulous Quick Pages too, I downloaded more then a few.

Free Digital Scrapbooking Credits & Links:

Background paper: Shabby Princess.com - Dinner Party

Everything else (except fonts): Courtney's Digi-Scrappin' - Vintage Boy Freebie Kit

The fonts were in my CS2 menu.

Witch Candy Stand - Trick Or Treat Dish

I started this project last week. I initially saw a Trick or Treat stand at a local craft fair, two years in a row. Both times I mentioned to my hubby that I could make one myself. I finally got around to it.

This is a GREAT Dollar Store project. Believe it or not it only cost me approximately $5.00 to make this Trick or Treat goody bowl stand. The majority of the parts I already had in my craft stash.
The only items I purchased for this project, all from the Dollar Store, were: the candy bowl, the "Come In... " sign, the cat, the broom and the green craft paint. The green tutu was from my daughters dress up bin, but was originally purchased from the dollar store. She has a nicer green one from last years dance recital so gave me permission to re-purpose this one for my project.

The stand was built with 2x4's and spare wood. I had orange canvas type fabric on hand that I painted for the the boots and legs, which I then sewed together, painted with Acrylic craft paint and stuffed. *I wouldn't recommend making little swirly toes on the boots as I did - it was almost impossible to right side out the fabric once it was sewn.

The stand or base was painted black and then using the direction found here from Dollar Store Crafts.com, I used school glue to crackle effect with green craft paint.

I think I applied too much glue and green paint for the crackle effect, it started ooze down the base before drying. The oozing looks great for a Halloween, I would use less next time for a Home Decor project.


I hot glued the bowl, boot/legs, broom and cat detail onto the crackled base and voila a cute witch stand for your Halloween Treats.

There She Goes Again!

I can't stop coming up with ideas for these blocks. What a perfect baby gift for a neighbor who just had a little boy. I paper stained SU "Manchester" DP for the background and used paint for the lettering. Acrylic lettering would make this go a lot faster.


Using an old toothbrush, I speckle painted the blocks using brown and white paint before sanding the edges. I really like the effect.


The "HOME" blocks are a donation for my Local PTA Bingo Night.

I just love the bow detail.

Boo To You

Tired of putting out all the same old Halloween decorations, I decided to make new ones. Check out my inspiration found here at You Craft Me Up!

This was a super easy project. My husband cut the blocks for me from 2 x 4's. I painted them black, then used a Dremel tool to sand and rough up the edges. On white card stock I stamped the background with a Stampendous block stamp in black ink, then traced and filled in the letters from a dollar store chipboard alphabet set.

Using AMM Chocolate Paper Stain, I aged and antiqued the whole square making sure to darken the corners and edges.

Using home made Decoupage glue (3 parts white glue, to 1 part water), I fixed the finished card stock squares onto the blocks.

I also made a Halloween vignette in my ultra tiny front foyer, which isn't even large enough for a small side table. I am smushed up against the front door in order to take this photo.

I have often seen mini shelf wedges while out shopping and have thought of picking some up, but never got around to it. When I was inspired by You Craft Me Up!'s - "Wall Reveal", I of course was not able to find any shelf wedges any where - even Walmart because they are re-doing their home decor department. Finally at the last store I found a $ 5.00 wedge shelf in the Clearance bin, just the price I was looking for, especially since the non-clearance wedge shelves were going for $39.99 a piece.

The skulls in the martini glass are from the Dollar Store as well as the glass candle (pumpkin) holder, the spider webbing, ceramic pot, Spanish moss and the florist foam inside the pot. The branch is from my back yard. I haven't decided what to hang from it yet.

The grave stone was on Clearance at the same store I purchase the wedge shelf. The crow which I cut in half was purchased at Liquidation World for $ 3.00. Crow Frame tutorial found here at Dollar Store Crafts. I used the 'vintage newspaper' printed paper bag from my local Shabby Chic decor store as the background for my Creepy Crow Frame. I crinkled the paper then went over it with AMM paper stain. My crow unfortunately was hollow inside so I had a rough time gluing him in place. Believe it or not, white glue did the trick, I couldn't find my glue gun.

The Canicula Embalming Fluid bottle is real. My father in law gave us this bottle he found at an antique bottle show many years ago. I never thought of displaying it as Halloween Art until now.

Now I am itching to get my hands on a scroll saw to make some cut out lettering, but the blocks will do for now. As well as a Cricut, which has been on my MUST HAVE LIST for ages, I specifically stopped and showed one to my hubby when we were in Walmart recently, hoping he gets the HUGE *hint*!!!

Christmas Wreath - Clean & Simple

I have offered to donate a set of Holiday Cards for my local PTA's Bingo night. Because I've been making a conscious effort to watch my card-making pennies, I wanted a card that had very few layers.

I picked up this set by Studio G iClear a few weeks ago and have mulling around with a few ideas.


Details:
Stamps: Studio G i Clear - wreath, Hot Fudge Studio - sentiment
Ink: Memento - Cottage Ivy
Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, stock green

The Evolution of Rapunzel

I brained stormed last night and came up with a working layout for my Daughters Rapunzel invitation.
It's now a postcard style invitation.

I used Su - Crosshatch on the main body of the castle and the argyle from Su - Looks like Spring on the Turrets and Roof

Looks better then the free hand bricks on the mock up. I also have to tweek the Castle outline, I have noticed the it's not symmetrical. As well the light pink paper is from a random stack and is not quite thick enough quality for a postcard style invitation.

Stamps: Looks like Spring, All Year Cheer II, Crosshatch

Paper: Riding Hood Red, random pink

Ink: Ruby Red, Black, Versamark

Accessories: Nestabilities, jewel, ribbon, rickrack, flower decals

Rapunzel Invite

My daughters 5th Birthday is next month, but she really wants to have a Rapunzel themed Party at our local theatre when the Disney movie is released late November. We agreed to hold off her party until then.

I decided to mock up a potential card for her invites.

I found the instructions for a tri-fold castle card here @ A Path of Paper. I used only the back and middle portions as well as scaling it all down in Photo shop in order to fit a 5 1/5 x 4 1/4 card face.

I used rick rack for the hair. I am not satisfied with the brick work, but will mull it over some more.

CAS86 Sunflower thanks

I made these yesterday afternoon, but due to the rainy Canadian weather the pictures I took turned out to dark, so I had to retake them today which thankfully is sunny.

This is for the Clean & Simple Challenge #CAS86 inspired by Cookiebaker.

My take on an even simpler version of the above card.

Details:
Stamps: Hampton Arts - Square border, Anita - Sentiment, Inkadinkadoo - Garden Delight
Ink: SU: Summer Sun, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Memento: Rich Cocoa
Paper: SU
Accessories: Ribbon, Raffia

No Tape - No Problem!

I ran out of tape this morning so challenge myself to make a card that didn't require any. I like the CAS effect.

Fishie Bowl Wishes

I so love the Dustin Pike images and I am so glad I now have a few more Copics in which to blend this FishieBowl.

This layout was borrowed from i{heart}2stamp.com sketch challenge found here.

Quilled Flowers

I made these quilled paper flowers many years ago for a wedding gift craft I used to frequently give out. I have been pondering using them for a while now and was inspired by i{heart}2stamp.com - Jen's sample card for her August seventh's weekly sketch. I didn't follow the sketch, however, her flowers reminded me of my quilled paper flowers so I dug them out.

This is definitely not a card to put in the mail, there is much to much dimension to it.

The stamp is SU - Fifth Avenue Floral and the paper is DCWV - Blossoms & Butterflies

Hubby B-Day

Here's hoping my husband doesn't look at my blog before the end of the month. He is turning the BIG FOUR - Oh!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #123. For my image it made more sense to reverse the layout and sentiment.
I finally got some new Copics to help blend with the stater kit I received for Christmas. Such fun. I can't wait to get some more - it certainly makes quick work of colouring in.

Details:
Stamps: Pink Cat Studio - Party Animals
Paper: Imaginisce B-Day Bash: Wish Big, Hip Hip Hooray & Confetti, SU - Riding Hood Red
Ink: Copics
Embellishments: Stickles, scallop punch, scallop border punch, cut out sentiment from Hip Hip Hooray paper reverse side.

Fathers Day Feast

With fathers day fast approaching, I needed to whip up 4 cards. I usually send out duplicates to the Father and Father-in-Laws and something separate for my hubby, but this year I scrounged through my sample stamped pack and made individuals for everyone.

Pennyblack Bubbly Critters, DCWV The Fall matchstack dp, SU riding-hood red card stock, Copics, glitter gel pen and Studio G sentiment.

Dustin Pike digital art Fish Fear, coloured with Copics, SU from my scrap drawer and computer generated sentiment.

Stamping Bella beerafella, DCWV The Fall matchstack dp, SU riding-hood red card stock, Copics, glitter gel pen and Studio G sentiment.


The fourth Father's Day card for my hubby I won't post, he peeks at this site occasionally.

Here is one last card of thanks for my daughters Junior Kindergarten teacher.

Pennyblack Bubbly Critters, DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies dp, SU card stock, Copics, glitter gel pen, Studio G sentiment and sticker gems.

Casing Myself - Mothers Day

When I first made the card shown here, I thought it would make a good Mother's Day card layout. I ended up changing the image and sentiment. So I cased myself, it happens.

Details
Stamps: SU - Pocket Silhouettes, Studio G Clear Stamps
Ink: SU - Not Quite Navy
Paper: SU - Urban Gardens, Not Quite Navy, Not Quite "Kiwi Kiss", Shimmery White

Valentine Mock Up

My husband surprised me for Christmas with the Sweet Centers stamp set and 1 pkg of sweet treat cups from Stampin Up.

This is the mock up for my daughters valentine's day card for her junior kindergarten classmates. I will pick up a couple of packages of the pink and red Valentine themed Smarties (similar to M&M's) to colour coordinate, I just didn't have any on hand today.

At my daughters school board, like most school boards in Ontario Canada, only NUT FREE products made in nut free facilities can be sent to school. Smarties are one of the acceptable brands.

I used Flowerbug's Inkspot's idea of a tag slide inside the card to remove treats without destroying the card.

Gone INKognito has a layout using the tab slide in the front of the card mounted under what would be my dark pink mat, making the inside of the card look cleaner. I may play with this layout too to see what I like best.


Details:
Stamps: SU - Sweet Centers, Studio G Clear Stamps - 100% Sweet
Ink: Dollar Store - Pink pigment
Paper: SU - retired DP, white, pink
Accessories: Sweet Treat Cups, colluzle, round tab punch template